Swimming through the Star Ocean - SaturPLAY

Welcome to SaturPLAY!  This week I played one game in particular, and that was Star Ocean: The Last Hope - International.  I have tried playing this game before, but I could never have the motivation necessary to get through more than the introduction of the game.  It's not because it's a bad game, in fact, it's far from that.  It was just too slow at first for me to keep my interest.  However, in order for me to get the full story of the series, I wanted to play the games in chronological order.  That meant play The Last Hope first, followed by First Departure, Second Evolution, and finally Till the End of Time.  There's another game, but I don't have the handheld system for it, so I will just forget about it.

Anyway, my characters are all at or near Level 20.  Currently, we have reached Cardianon.  I saved the game before leaving the Calnus, and that's where I stopped playing this evening.  I am really liking the story up to this point.  I especially like how each planet has it's own story along with those of the party members.  And, I really feel for the party members as they travel around and experience the events throughout the game.  In particular, I nearly cried when the party came back to Triom, only to find that the infected townsfolk had turned to stone.

And that is only the second world I have been to.  Now that I am on the third, I expect a great story as well.  All of the Star Ocean games I have played a little bit of have made me enjoy playing them.  But like most games, I have never completed any of them.  So far though, The Last Hope hasn't been difficult.  I haven't even seen a Game Over screen yet.  I think that will soon be seen though.  It's only a matter of time before I see a Game Over screen.  After all, it's me we're talking about.

And so far I have received two PSN trophies.  Both are for defeating the bosses I have come across.  Most of the trophies on the list are for collecting things.  Items, Battle Trophies, etc.

Anyway, I really like the game so far.  I hope to be able to finish it.  Well, that's all for this week.  So, until next time, I hope you see no Game Over screens.

Michael, aka me3lingual

Little Entry for LittleBigPlanet - SaturPLAY #8

Welcome to SaturPLAY, where I talk a bit about what I have been playing over the last week.  This entry will be shorter than normal.  I didn't play many games this week.  I did play one really nice game though.  I have been working on LittleBigPlanet this week.  It's really fun.  It's pretty simple, and I like simple.  Anyway, I like the concept of it.  Playing as a little sack person is neat.  And I like it when I earn trophies.  I guess if I were to describe it so far, I would say it's quaint.  The kind of game that I could play for hours and not realize that so much time has gone by.  I really like it so far.

Anyway, that's all I have been playing this week.  As always, I hope you enjoy this entry and every other entry I write.  I apologize for this one's length.  I just haven't done much this week.  Anyway, until next time, I hope you see no Game Over screens!

Michael, aka me3lingual

Taking a side - SaturPLAY #7

First, I should probably address why there was no Review Thursday a couple days ago.  Well, I haven't finished any games recently, and so it didn't feel right reviewing a game that I haven't finished yet.  And that made me think, maybe I should have some other segment to do on Thursdays in the event that I don't have a review planned.  So, I am going to post some gaming videos I make whenever I don't have a review written.  That way it will also give some exposure to my YouTube channel.  But more on that on Thursday.

 

As for what I've been playing this week, it's most just Final Fantasy XIII and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  I am trying to get a Platinum trophy on both of these games, and I am finally at a point in both where I can say that I am almost there.  In Final Fantasy XIII, I have made it to Gran Pulse.  Now I can focus on grinding for the experience needed to finish the Titan's Trials, all of the Cie'th Stone Missions, and master each of the roles for the characters.

And in Skyrim, I am nearly finished with the story for the Thieves Guild, and I am also working on the story about the war between the Legion and the Stormcloaks.  I want to purchase the DLC for this game, but I first want to get all of the trophies before I add more to the list of trophies I need.  Anyway, to be more specific, in order to complete the Thieves Guild stuff, I only need to restore the contacts throughout Skyrim, and I will be named the leader.  As for the war, I am working on the missions near Winterhold.  I chose to take the Legion's side of the war.

 

And there are some new additions to my collection coming soon.  I have both LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2 coming next week.  From what I have seen of the gameplay, I think I will like it.  And I also think it will be a nice game for my family members to play as well.  And then I will be getting the new Square Enix game Thief later this month.  I will writing a review on it, for both EnixOrigin and this blog.  And then next month is when I will be getting both Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster.  I will so glad when those two games arrive.  I have had them paid for for months.  I only have to wait four weeks and three days more, and then I will be so happy.

Well, we have come to the end of this seventh edition of SaturPLAY.  I hope to see you here for the next one.  And don't forget to stop back in on Tuesday, when I will have the next issue of 3³ Gaming NEWSday up and ready for viewing.  So, until then, I hope you see no Game Over screens!

Michael, aka me3lingual

Completing my Focus - SaturPLAY #6

Welcome back to SaturPLAY, your weekly dose of what I am playing because everyone loves hearing about what other people do in life.  This week I focused on two games, and that is so much different than what I usually do.  Anyway, let's begin.

First up is Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned.  A kid that I used to tutor comes over once in a while when my brother is asked to watch him, and he likes to play games with cars and drive around.  So during one of his visits, I let him pick which one he wanted to play.  He chose the one with motorcycles.  The kid doesn't like the whole mission aspect of the game, so I had to go through and complete the initial mission.  After that, we just drove around and caused an uproar in Liberty City.

Anyway, after the kid left, I thought about deleting the save file.  However, I hadn't ever completed The Lost and Damned before.  So, I kept the save file and have been working on completing it.  I have recently earned the "TLAD: The Lost Boy" PSN Trophy, by becoming the leader of The Lost.  I haven't gotten much farther than that, because I have been working on completing the races.  I wish the trophy associated with the races was to simply finish all twelve races, and not something that is nearly impossible for me.  I have not hit anyone off their motorcycle yet.  I have hit people with the bat, but none of them have fallen off.  It is going to be a difficult trophy to get.

Up next is Final Fantasy XIII.  Yes, I am still working on this game.  I buckled down and got through the Sunleth Waterscape, even though I love the background music there.  I can always listen to it online over at YouTube or something.  Anyway, I recently just finished the fight against Brynhildr.  The scene before that fight is probably one of the most emotional ones in the whole game, I think.  Even after having seen it several times, I still get a little choked up when I watch it.  When Vanille is standing in front of Sazh, who has nearly given up on life, and Sazh stands up and shoots the Eidolon; that part gets me every time.

Now I am trying to rescue the locked up Sazh and Vanille on the Palamecia.  I think I am at the Save Point right before the two parties meet.  I will be glad when I get to Gran Pulse, and can work on getting the rest of the trophies of the game.  I still have about a month before my copy of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII arrives, so time is running out on reaching my goal of getting the Platinum trophy for Final Fantasy XIII and completing the story of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

And finally for this week, I earned five trophies while playing around in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  Here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

 With Friends Like These: Join the Dark Brotherhood

 Bound Until Death: Complete "Bound Until Death"

 Wanted: Escape from jail

 Hail Sithis!: Complete "Hail Sithis!"

 Standing Stones: Find 13 Standing Stones

I was looking at my profile over at psnprofiles.com, and saw that there are quite a few trophies I am lacking.  Mainly the ones that were side stories of the main quest line.  So, I figured I should go and earn them.  I am working on the ones for the Thieves Guild.  A friend of mine told me that it takes a lot of side quests that I will have to do in order to complete that story.  As much as I want to just hurry up and get the story finished, I guess I will have to do more side stuff.  I hate side quests sometimes.

Well, that's all for this week's SaturPLAY.  Make sure to stop back in on Tuesday for the next edition of 3³ Gaming NEWSday.  So, until next time, I hope you see no Game Over screens!

Michael, aka me3lingual

Trophy Hunter - SaturPLAY #5

Welcome back to SaturPLAY, where each Saturday I recount my gaming exploits of the past week.  I had a plan for what games I wanted to play this week, and I stuck to that plan for the most part.  Basically, because of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII being released in a couple weeks, I wanted to go back over Final Fantasy XIII and try to get the Platinum Trophy for the game.  I started over from the beginning because I deleted my previous save file at the beginning of the year.  Right now, I am at the Sunleth Waterscape, playing as Vanille and Sazh.  It is my favorite area of the game, because I love listening to the background track that plays while running around looking for monsters to fight.  As for the trophy collection, I have 50% of them.  That may seem great, but those were all trophies I earned before.  I haven't earned any new ones.  But the thing is, I can't earn the ones I am missing until I get to Gran Pulse.  So I have my work cut out for me.

The second step in my plan was to finally complete the story of Final Fantasy XIII-2.  I have had the game for quite a while, and I have yet to finish the game once.  I am not even trying to get all of the trophies.  I just want to finish the game before the final game of the series comes.  Right now, I have completed the story of New Bodhum 3AF, and Bresha Ruins 5AF.  Everything else is just waiting to be traversed.  And I also went and purchased the DLC for the game, so now I have the full complete game to play.  And I haven't even touched the story bits.  I did go ahead and purchase all of the fancy weapons from Chocolina though.

And all of that stuff ended on Wednesday.  Since then, I haven't had much motivation to play anything.  On Thursday, I was too tired to play after I came home from work.  Friday was spent playing 10-15 minutes of like twenty games, and then resulted in me deleting all of the save files because they weren't worth keeping and continuing to work on them.  And then today I woke up with the desire to kill people in Skyrim.  So I played that all day.  I want to raise my trophy level on PSN, so I have been working on missions I haven't tried.  Specifically, those of the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood.  I am also considering purchasing the DLC for Skyrim as well.  More content does mean more greater access to trophies.  Now, if I could just decide whether it would be cheaper to purchase the DLC from PSN, or to just buy the Legendary Edition of the game and then sell my copy of Skyrim.

And that has been my week.  I am kind of lucky that I won't receive my copy of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII until March (because free shipping is free), so I have plenty of time to get the first two games finished.  I just have to buckle down and play them.  Anyway, that's all for this week's SaturPLAY.  Don't forget that this Tuesday is 3³ Gaming NEWSday.  So, until then, I hope you won't see any Game Over screens.

Michael, aka me3lingual

A big key, but unlocks nothing! - SaturPLAY #3

Welcome to this week's SaturPLAY post!  I hope your gaming this week went well.  My start off okay, but I hit a wall a few days ago.  Or rather, a gate.  I am stuck in the same place I was the last time I played Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.  I can't defeat Vexen as he guards the gate to the mansion in Twilight Town.  I have looked up strategies online, and asked friends who have played the game.  Nothing is working.  It sucks, because I really thought I was doing well. It is probably a good thing that I am playing the version on Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMIX.  I sometimes toss controllers when I get frustrated, and so it's a good thing the PS3 controller is wireless.

I became too frustrated with that game, so I started a game of Fallout: New Vegas yesterday.  I am already at Level 5.  Everything is going okay so far.  I reached Primm today and cleared out the Bison Steve hotel.  Now, I am back at Goodsprings at the Doc's house.  I had three crippled limbs when I got there.  It took what seemed like hours to get back there.  I really need to learn how to not pick up every weapon ever, just because I may use it.  I would get places faster if I would just use the weapons I have and not worry so much about keeping them maintained.  It won't break just because it is fired once.

I am still making movies in Pokémon Black 2.  I only have one choice at the moment, and that's the third installment of the Red Fog series.  I still really like filming the movies, but I am ready to move on.  I want to catch more Pokémon, especially Water-types.

When my DS needed recharged one night, and I was still not sleepy, I went and got my PSP out and started a file of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.  I am playing as Ventus as the moment.  I like his story so far.  It is really different from Terra's from what I can tell.

I was hoping to have Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories finished, but that didn't happen.  I will work on it for next time. And with that, we've come to the end of this week's SaturPLAY.  I hope you enjoyed it, and that no Game Over Screens cross you path!

Michael, aka me3lingual

"Feel the Heat!" - SaturPLAY #2

Welcome back to SaturPLAY!  In this edition, I will talk about the games I played this past week, as well as what I am playing right now.  And of course by right now, I mean today; because I am typing this post right now.  Anyway let's begin.

I finished Grand Theft Auto III on Friday.  It was only the second time I have ever finished the game.  For it's time, it is a nice game.  I certainly don't like how Donald Love just up and disappears suddenly, with the game not even finishing the storyline properly on that regard.  But, I guess it does fit the main character's personality.  Since he never seemed to care who he worked for, as long as they paid him.

My favorite vehicle in the game was the Yakuza Stinger.  My favorite character is probably Joey Leone.  And I have always liked the talk radio stations in all of the Grand Theft Auto games, and Chatterbox is no different.

After finishing Grand Theft Auto III, the next game I played was one I knew I could get through quickly.  And that was The King of Fighters XI.  I don't really like fighting games, because they are more about memorizing abilities and button pressing.  Fighting games are a genre I prefer to watch being played rather than playing them myself.  

I played using two teams of characters.  First, I used Real Bout Fatal Fury Team, which consisted of Terry Bogard, Kim Kaphwan, and Duck King.  I lost after the fourth match.  I then played using Agent Team, which was Vanessa, Blue Mary, and Ramon.  I like Ramon, because he is faster than other characters I usually play as.  I could do without Vanessa.  She's too slow.  And Blue Mary was alright as a character.  But really, the only reason I like using her is because of the dog that appears when she prepares for the fights.  I don't normally use those characters I mentioned.  I usually play using Athena Asamiya, Sie Kensou, and Momoko.  So using these other characters was a nice change.

Anyway, it was really easy for me to get through the story.  I am not sure if I will go and play more to get all of the characters.  I don't even know how to do that.  But I am satisfied with completing the story once and earning the top score in Arcade Mode.

After that, I spent some time playing the demos and watching the videos on the Xbox Demo Disc 13.  I found this disc while I was in my mother's closet one day looking for something else.  I don't even remember what it was, but it was something that my mother was looking for and she asked me to find it.  While I was looking for it, I found this disc and a couple others.  I asked her about it, and she said that she forgot she had them and let me keep them for the Xbox.

Anyway, the only game I liked playing on this Demo Disc was the Toe Jam and Earl game.  Everything else was not interesting for me.

And all that brings me to what I am playing now.  I am still working on Pokémon Black 2.  I have two badges now.  I decided to work on making a great Water-Type team, rather than solely training Oshawott, now a Dewott.  Which means I finally caught that Psyduck I was wanting.

However, I haven't been doing much traveling and training lately.  I have been at PokéStar Studios filming all of those movies.  It's fun.  And challenging.  It isn't my favorite side quest in the series.  That honor goes to Pokémon Contests.  But filming the movies is still enjoyable.

And the console game I am playing is Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.  I have both the PS2 and PS3 versions of the game (which is why I chose to put the 1.5 HD ReMIX picture on here), and decided that I would play the PS3 version so I could get the trophies.

Currently, I have finished the first three floors; having played Traverse Town, Wonderland, and Olympus Coliseum.  I have never finished this game before.  The farthest I have gotten was Twilight Town, in front of the gate to the old mansion.  I am hoping I will be able to finish the game this time around.  I sure hope so, considering I am playing on the Easy setting.  It would be really embarrassing if I am unable to complete it while I am playing Easy Mode.  Oh well, even if everything is easier, it still has posed a challenge sometimes.  I won't be getting the trophy for finishing without using a Continue.  I died once during the fight against Hades.  I wasn't healed before the fight, and lost after two big hits from him.

And that's the end of this week's SaturPLAY.  If you have any thoughts on what I have played this week, or if you have any suggestions as to what I should play next, feel free to leave a comment.  Make sure you come back on Tuesday for the next edition of 3³ Gaming NEWSday.  Until then, I hope you see no Game Over screens!

Michael, aka me3lingual

Psy, I, I! - SaturPLAY #1

I am going to first try and explain the sort of schedule I hopefully will have in 3³ Gaming.  Every Tuesday, I hope to have some gaming news stories.  Now, whether this will just be reprints of the articles I write for EnixOrigin, I don't know.  As much as I wouldn't mind that, because I love Square Enix games; it doesn't really serve the other genres of games well.  If I were to get news on the basic genres (RPG, shooter, sports, etc.), then I would be pleased.  I will be calling it 3³ Gaming NEWSday.  Lame, I know; but NEWSday rhymes with Tuesday, so it works.

On Thursdays, I want to post reviews of games I play.  Now, most of the games I play are at least five years old.  I figure that if I review older games, it may inspire other gamers to dust off their copies of these games, and also introduce older titles to newer gamers.

And on Saturdays, I will update readers on what I am playing.  Saturday entries will be called SaturPLAY.  Basically, what I am playing at the moment, what I have played in the last week, and what I am planning on playing.  Pretty simple concept, I think.  Anyway, it's Saturday here; so let's have the first SaturPLAY!

The first game I played this year was Spyro the Dragon.  It is a classic game that I have practically mastered in my years of owning the game.  Although, the first time I finished it, I didn't own it.  My brother's friend brought his copy of it one night that he stayed over.  He said I could play it, and I had it complete by the time my brother and his friend woke up the next morning.  I like platform games.  Most of them are easy for me to finish.  Anyway, since that first time finishing the game, I have played it maybe 20-30 times.  When I played it on January 1, 2013, I had the whole game finished within a few hours.

After that was finished, I brought out Atari Anthology.  It is a collection of 85 classic games from the Atari age of gaming.  I chose to play Double Dunk, a basketball-esque game.  In it, you play as a team of 2.  The characters are Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside.  I don't really understand the mechanics of the game, because basketball itself doesn't interest me.  I enjoy the statistical information of sports more than the actual sports themselves.  Anyway, it was all luck that I won.  I played three games total, and stopped playing when I finally won once.  The first game I lost with a score 2 to the other team's 10.  Then in the second game, I lost 3-11.  Finally, I won the third game 10-9.  Again, it was all luck, because I had never played that particular Atari game before in my life.  It was okay as a game.  However, it is painful to play games like that, because everything is all so...old.  But, games had to start somewhere.  I am sure if I had grown up playing Atari games, I would probably still love them to this day.  But I was raised on the Nintendo Entertainment System, so I will probably never know the appeal of Atari games.

It only took me fifteen minutes to play and win a game in Double Dunk, so I decided to play another classic game that I could finish quickly.  That game was Rugrats: Search for Reptar.  It was one of the first PlayStation game I had ever owned.  That, Crash Bandicoot, Disc 2 of Metal Gear Solid, and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces were the first games I ever owned on PlayStation.  Anyway, I managed to find all of the puzzle pieces for Tommy's puzzle within one hour.  I played the training level to get a boost in Reptar Bars, then completed the mini-games within the main game for some added Reptar Bars.  Sadly, the disc has had some major wear-and-tear over the years, and some of the levels are unplayable.  One of my favorites is Chuckie's Glasses, and I can't play it now because the disc is so scratched up.  So now I have to play only the levels that I know will work for me.

Normally, I leave Ice Cream Mountain for when I have someone playing with me, but I did the single player version when I played the main game this time around.  Other levels I played were Grandpa's Teeth, the Mr. Friend level, Mirror Land, the level in the Toy Store, the level in the Supermarket, and the one where Tommy has to get the light out of the refrigerator.  Each level I played reminded me of the episodes of the show that I would watch when I was younger.

And just today, I finished playing Katamari Damacy.  I wanted to play something fun and would keep me from being bored as I spent the day wrapped in a blanket because it was so cold outside.  I had to go to the store this morning, and I was really cold when I got back home (I ride a bike everywhere though, so I'm used to it).  This game was perfect for that, because I could just roll up my cares and worries and not think about the cold weather.

I was really skeptical when I first bought this game.  I saw it on the shelf at the store a few years ago, and I didn't know what to think.  The clerk working in the video games section was fangirling about it, saying that it was such a good game and highly addictive to play.  I can see why, because it is such a great game.  You can't help but be smiling as you roll up animals, people and buildings onto your katamari.  And the constellation levels are especially fun because they have a theme associated with them, rather than the regular levels in which you can just roll up any object.

And now I have two games I am currently playing.  I try to have a handheld game and a console game in my lineup.  The console game this week is Grand Theft Auto III.

I have only ever finished this game one time before today.  It is probably one of the hardest Grand Theft Auto games I have ever played, and it isn't really that hard to complete.  Right now, I have completed "Pump-Action Pimp".  I am only 4 missions into the game.  I am hoping to get all of the Hidden Packages this time around.  Right now I haven't found any of them.  But just so you know, I am not above using the Internet to help me in situations when I need help with a video game.  That is how I found forums and whatnot.

The handheld game I am playing is Pokémon Black 2.  I have owned the game for several months, but I never played it because I had been working on Pokémon White (and still haven't finished).  Right now in Black 2, I am at Floccesy Ranch.  I have caught six Pokémon so far in the game, but I have only spent time making Oshawott stronger.  I want to try and play through the game using only Oshawott, but I still want to try and do the whole PokéDex thing and catch them all.  I normally train a specific type of Pokémon when I play any of the games in the franchise.  This time I want to train water types, especially after seeing that Psyduck is in this game.  I haven't caught one yet, but I hope to catch one.  But the only training I will do with Pokémon other than Oshawott will occur once I have an Exp. Share, if there is one in this game.  But you know, I just caught an Azurill, and I have never had an Azurill in any of the games I have played before.  I think I want to play with it and make it stronger.  I still want that Psyduck as well.  I'd bring all of the water types from the different generations together and be a better Water trainer than even Misty.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this first edition of SaturPLAY.  I know I am going to enjoy writing it each week.  Make sure you come back on Tuesday for the first edition of 3³ Gaming NEWSday, where I will come up with some gaming news for you to sink your teeth into.  And expect a review on Spyro the Dragon this upcoming Thursday.  I hope that by then I have a catchy (and cheesy) title for Thursday entries.  So, I guess that's all from me for now.  Again, thanks for stopping over here and reading this.

I hope that you see no Game Over screens while we are apart!

Michael, me3lingual