Wasting bandwidth since 1996

Well, story mode is finished at least. You know how it is with Phantasy Star – it’s very easy to get a bit obsessive about the online mode, but I’m not going to. Oh no. I’ll have a wee go, sure, but I’m not going to get carried away The last couple of chapters of Story mode were particularly good, although the boss fights were a bit on the simple side. They did, however, yield the easiest 400 gamerscore point thingies ever.

So – guardian license acquired and obigatory ‘Bague’ character created. Not sure how to go about getting a screenshot without resorting to a digital camera, but I’ll try.

Well, it’s been out a good couple of years now, but I’ve finally finished Half-Life 2 – and it was completely awesome, if incomprehensible. I still have no idea what any of it was about, but I had a lot of fun not knowing.

High Points:

1. Pitched battles with Striders in the streets – I hadn’t found the infinite rocket launcher ammo supply crate, so had to do it with what I could scavange. Very intense.
2. Rampaging through Nova Prospekt with an army of Antlions helping out.
3. The gravity gun becoming an uber-powerful singularity gun in the last chapter.

All in all, an awesome game.

It is complete – at a little over 50 hours, and I reckon there’s 2-3 hours of optional stuff and at least 10 hours of fishing quests still in there. The ending was as epic as games get, really, with lovely protracted titles showing events in the world after the end of the story.

Spoiler Alert – skip this bit if you don’t want a bit of a final-boss giveaway.

Still reading?

Well, the climatic boss fight with Ganondorf was completey ace – his final (fourth!) form was the longest and toughest section (although still not HUGELY tough) – it was a gimmick-free straight up walled swordfight. No tools, no hookshot or bow required – just the shield and the Master Sword against the Big Bad. And it was fab!

So, chalk up another completed Zelda to Mr Gubbins – not only that, but I think it’s the first game I’ve completed since my Castlevania binge at the beginning of the year. Time to get on with Paper Mario methinks.

Guhh! Death’s second form is quite breathtakingly hard. Fortunately you’re free to go and find a save point after his first form. Which is just as well, because I’ve spent well over three hours play time being killed by Dracula, going off and getting up a level, coming back, getting killed, levelling again, etc. By the time I finally defeated him I was level 51 and started the fight at level 46.

Anyhoo – I ended up equipping as much defensive gear as I could and then staying as far away as possible at the top of the room, listening for his rushes (74% health lost in one rush == gnot gnice). Anyway – he sometimes does two rushes in a row, sometimes three and sometimes four – no way to tell except to listen for the rush sound, wait and see if there’s one immediately afterwards and then rushing down to find him and hit him with a thunderbird summon if not.

So there he is – ganked horribly. And even though I’m in the middle of Final Fantasy III, Puzzle Quest, and Children of Mana, I must start Portrait of Ruin, just to remind myself what Castlevania games became like when they weren’t as ROCK HARD as Circle of the Moon. An utterly, utterly ACEBEST game.

Oh yes indeedy – it is c0mpl3t0rat0red! I can’t really say much about the ending without giving spoilers, but I will say that this is one of the best and more entertaining RPGs I’ve played. Sure, it’s a little (lot) on the easy side, but it’s funny and clever and never gets dull. The closing titles rolled at a little over 25 hours and everything in the story was neatly wrapped up with a huge gaping space where several sequels can fit.

Hopefully we’re seeing the beginning of a series here because the DS needs games like this – interesting RPGs that don’t stretch into a hundred hours of levelling drudgery. Top marks!

w00+! Aria of Sorrow is c0mplet0r1z0red! (or something). Not as substantial as Harmony of Dissonance, but still an awesome game. The end of game boss was so easy he practically beat himself, but by that time I was too knackered to deal with a hard boss anyway – the guy (no spoilers, please, we’re British) just before him was hard enough.

All in all, beautiful. Faster paced than Harmony, and certainly prettier, but overall less engaging. But only just – we’re talking 9.5/10 against 10/10.

The final boss was a bit of a bugger, but loads of fun. The first form can be done without taking any damage and the second just requires a lot of mobility and the death soul to take care of the flying gobs of doom. So, loads of potions later and it’s closing cutscene and an unlocking frenzy! Huzzah!

Harmonised! My first game this year! All three endings – sad, meh, and happy – so Boss Rush mode and music player mode are both unlocked. I was level 49 at the end and finished it with 100% so the boss, like the other bosses in the game, was pretty straightforward. All in all, despite getting off to a bit of a shaky started, Harmony of Dissonance is an excellent game. It clocked in at a shade over ten and a half hours, in the end, and no frustration in sight.

Some of the bits of Dracula were a real git to find, and you need them for the good ending (and even to reach the final-final boss) but worth it in the end. As ever with metroidvania style games, there’s a significant amount of back tracking, but by the time you get to level 40 none of the baddies pose much of a threat.

So onwards and upwards – time to finish Dawn of Sorrow.

Complet0rised! The last day in court seems to have been pretty much real time – it took hours. The story was coming so thick and fast, though, that I was carried onwards with the momentum, meaning the last half of the day was done in one sitting.

I think I got the ‘glum’ ending because I presented the wrong bit of evidence to Edgeworth out in the lobby. Not to worry though. It’s still an ACE game and one of the best I’ve played this year – definitely up there beside Resident Evil 4.

Trouble is, I want a sequel NOW!

Phew! The last boss was a tough one! Took me three attempts, but I got there in the end. The last save was standing at a little over 35 hours, bringing the cartridge total to about 60 hours. In both Final Fantasy I and in II, there was a lot more levelling, optional sub quests, and item gathering I could have done. I think I could probably have added another 15 or so hours on.

As well as that, I’ve unlocked two sub-games, one in each of the main games, where you play a few dungeons as secondary characters. I’ll do these eventually, but for now I’m all Final Fantasied out. Which is a shame really, as I managed to pick up Final Fantasy VI for the PS1 in Game the other day for three quid

So – verdict – ACEBEST cart – one of the best on the GBA. Two tips for those of you following in my footsteps, though (and I know there are at least two of you):

1) Talk to Paul before you enter the cyclone. He has some stuff which you’re going to need and you won’t be able to get it after this point.

2) Talk to the Widow in the castle where the Wyvvern was after the Wyvvern has hatched.

If you don’t do these two things, the final stages of the game will be very very difficult. Trust me.