Still strumming along...
Job? Still looking. I did manage to score a few good leads at GDC, lost another lead(things seemed promising then I just stopped hearing from this one company.) I'm getting some game development out of my system. HUGE thanks to my friend Kyle for engineering and support. The game isn't quite playable yet but at least there's a source control system in place now.
Playing? The Japanese import of Etrian Odyssey 2(whether the game gets that name for a US release is beyond me.) I do love this quirky series of DS RPGs. They're markedly old school, but what intrigues me the most is how utterly well balanced they are. At one point or another, you are very likely to need just about every skill that the game boasts. In the first game, I actually had to stop and power level a new band of characters just to get past a very long series of battles. I had a party built to destroy opponents in a few turns but they completely lacked the ability to survive long fights. EO2 gets rid of a lot of the abilities that were "cheap" in the first game, makes a number of very useful abilities a lot easier to access. Players have a lot more freedom to tweak stats. I can now pile a bunch of points into agility for a typically slow character, allowing them to act first, etc.
Also playing through Lost Odyssey. What's with all these "Odyssey" games lately? It's...typical of a JRPG. Unfortunately, I think I've got a great big sign on my back that says "SUCKER" that only Japanese RPG companies can see. Not that I disdain Western ones(I am very impressed with Mass Effect, I might add.) I guess JRPGs are my equivalent of reading celebrity tabloid magazines. At least, very typical games like LO feel that way. There's plenty of JRPG gold that shouldn't ever be lumped with anything lesser. Or I'm just playing through it to pass the time until Tales of Vesperia or something really good comes my way.
Audio Surf. That Romanian disco track that we all know as the Numa Numa song is one heck of a stage! I've been sticking to Mono Pro(occasionally Ninja) and I still need to futz aroudn with the other play modes.
When I get money again, I'm picking up Bully for 360. And Echochrome for PSP.
I also have a strange bout of guilt. I know a game reviewer. Said reviewer had a game that wasn't their cup of tea. However, it was mine. After much frustration of being unable to pass this one mission, I was given the controls. The mission was hard, and I failed quite a few times. Later, I checked the game's official site. It touted some game mechanics that would make the player's characters more powerful. Possibly enough so to pass the mission. If this feature is so widely touted, why wasn't the reviewer able to pull it off? They sounded like they'd never heard of the mechanic.
To be fair, I wonder how this game taught the reviewer to use this powerful mechanic. If the game did at all. Then again, I skipped the Ring tutorial in Lost Odyssey. BIG mistake, given how integral they are to game play and doing well in battles.
