FINALLY managed to save the earth on hard level, can now progress to OMG CHEER GIRLS AHHH. (At least, considering the general advanced difficulty of Oeundan 2, I expect the cheergirls will hurt.)

The lack of lustre

Maybe I'm just too picky in my old age. But if there's one thing that's most commonly known for putting me off a game purchase - without even trying the demo - it's seeing a bunch of reviews refer to the plot, writing, or dialog as lackluster. "Okay game, but mediocre writing... fun combat but really lame story..."

This is a particular problem in adventure games, which are now something of a niche, produced mostly by just-above-amateur enthusiasts or by developers from foreign lands whose English is a bit shaky. A lot of them focus on puzzles. And a lot of adventure players want puzzles. But I want story, and so every time a review for a new adventure comes out and mentions that the story and the characters are pretty weak, I sigh and write another game off my list of things to try.

Same for budget RPGs. The plot tends to be the LAST thing they consider important.

Now, this doesn't really mean I'll never play them. You've seen me going through Titan Quest and not even bothering to read the dialog blocks half the time. But what it does mean is that I tend not to buy these games at full price. I bought Titan Quest off ebay cheap. I'm considering getting one of those game subscription services, which will contain a lot of adventures and RPGs that I wouldn't have bought new because they were kind of lame, but don't mind playing cheap.

and i have a dent in my hand

Still haven't unlocked the cheer girls in Ouendan 2. Getting closer though.

this is what happens if you play simple games too often....

... they EAT YOUR BRAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwC544Z37qo

i am more erudite than you

http://grandtextauto.gatech.edu/2007/08/31/when-musicians-play-interactive-fiction/

This is funny. If you played a lot of text adventures.

That's, what, three of you out there?

in which I continue lifting content from other blogs

Hey, I'm busy right now. But http://www.maragos.org/?p=98 sounds like it's bound to be cool, for fans of the OLD games. :)

Love your SNES? Go and see.

Free Game!

Seen on Tales of the Rampant Coyote
- apparently EA is now offering up the original Command and Conquer for free. I'm sure someone out there will appreciate this more than me. (RTS, not my thing really.)