Edward's self absorbed filler

Japan's Last Stand

Circa July 2008

Since October 2003, I've played the following jRPGs:

Dragon Quest 5 (2003)
Xenosaga: Episode 1 (2003)
Chrono Cross (2004)
Front Mission (2005)
Final Fantasy I (2006)
Dragon Quest 6 (2006)
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (2007)
Final Fantasy XII (2007)

Dragon Quest 5 is an all time favorite. Even by 1992 standards the game was showing its age, but the game is great because of its simple yet awesome story: a man's journey from childhood to adulthood.

The rest? Not as enjoyable. FFXII was especially disappointing after the excitement I felt from watching the trailers. Maybe I've become way too jaded now, especially since jRPGs usually suffer from some (if not all) of the following flaws:

1) Formulaic storylines: (ie, protagonist rises against the oppressive, totalitarian regime)
2) Generic character designs (ie, girly girl, tough muscle bound type, the rebel without a cause, the entire cast of Xenosaga)
3) Mindless level grinding
4) Excessive Random battles
5) Overly long plot sequences with zero gameplay which can be very riveting (Xenogears) or extremely tiresome (Xenosaga)
6) Rigid plot structure: strictly linear until the endgame.
7) If the story and/or character development stink, the game is usually toast

Rarely, do I quit in the middle of the game. I can only think of incidents where I had quit: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (this game was awful awful) and Castlevania: circle of the moon (I didn't feel like level grinding in order to beat the final boss). For some reason, not finishing what I started really bothers me. This leads to flaw #8.

8) Games tend to last at least 20 hours and since I'm too stubborn to quit, I just end up complaining most of the time.

So I decided this was do-or-die for jRPGs and me. If I did not thoroughly enjoy the next jRPG, I am strongly considering avoiding this genre in the future.

So I chose to play Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King because the game had the following going for it:

Strong reviews from online and print publications
High metacritc user score
Voted #4 all time by Famitsu readers

"There are two major flaws with this game: the lack of experience and gold earned from random battles. Online FAQs provide decent solutions to these problems.

Beyond these flaws, this game is awesome. Nothing radically new, but everything is executed well. 3^rd person view for the large overworld map is a nice touch and it makes exploration fun. The first ending is solid while the second ending (available after finishing the game once) is very satisfying and it does an excellent job of tying up loose ends"

The game has single handedly renewed my faith in the jRPG genre and it has reminded me why I love this genre (when done correct).

1) The best plots and endings
2) Best soundtracks by far. Usually upon rehearing certain tracks, I'm personally uplifted by a strong sense of nostalgia.
3) Memorable characters
4) Because of the time invested, a bond is forged with you and the game that is unlike what you find with shorter games. It is as if you have been journeying alongside your videogame counterparts. In life, what you put into it is what you get out of it, so this rings true for excellent games of the genre especially when the final payoff (aka the ending) hits its mark

posted by Edward @ 2:42 AM

Tipping point

I'm starting to believe my entire way of thinking is wrong. Change may be needed.

posted by Edward @ 2:02 AM

More time for writing

According to the doctor, I have strained my LCL, so that means painkillers and rest for 6-8 weeks. I figure I'll have a lot of spare time now.

posted by Edward @ 1:19 AM

Musings

My "premonition" about UFC 96 involved my favorite fighter Rampage getting badly stunned by a punch (his eyes rolling back into his head) and the ref (Troy Waugh) stopping the fight prematurely.

The premonition didn't come true as Rampage won a close fight. Although there was a bizarre situation involving the ref (Yves Lavigne) in another fight. Basically, the ref looked like he stopped the fight, but instead urged the fighters to continue. Ultimately, the fight was a late stoppage as one fighter was very hurt and stumbling around badly, but Yves stupidly didn't stop the fight.

Good signs for my career.

posted by Edward @ 2:12 AM

Problems

It's been quite obvious for a few years now.

The bulk of my writing has been done at night. I don't think I've ever written anything in the morning. But I need to maximize the amount of sleep especially since I'm a poor and undisciplined sleeper. Hence my reduced output because the two are at odds with each other.

For morons, who think sleep is for the weak or when you're dead, I bet you couldn't tell me your resting heart rate, squat poundage, anaerobic threshold, weekly mileage or vertical jump. Thus proving my point.

Then there's the large number of research articles showing less than optimal performance (mental and physical) that comes with sleep debt.

posted by Edward @ 11:32 PM

Musings

Last night, in a dream, I had a bad premonition about UFC 96. I won't find out whether it came true until I get off work on March 18. Granted, it's not really a premonition since I had the dream after the actual event, but since I haven't seen it, it might as well have not happened at all.

I'm really hoping the above premonition didn't come true, because I've had much much worse premonitions in past dreams regarding my career and it could be a bad sign.

posted by Edward @ 10:12 PM