Gaming Tuesday

So, it goes without saying really that the majority of my time has been sunk into Blue Dragon. Since my last update I've done a quest in a "Forest Of Exile" and gone through a laser abused landscape that looked not too dissimilar from those cheese levels from the old Worms games. I realise now why people referred to JRPG as grinding slog-fest affairs. I've not even had to go through grinding up my levels to fight a boss yet. But it still feels like I've been grinding through. There's a lot of pointless cut-scenes as well, which I normally would enjoy. But when you're hunting down an elusive save point so you can go to bed or even just stop playing for a while you end up getting bogged down with a pointless array of 30 second cut-scenes with the little yellow thing screeching "LOOK A *story related item*!!! LOOOOOK THERE IT IS!!!". I'm almost paraphrasing the subtitles with that as well. Even after my criticisms though I am going to finish it. Or at least get to disc three. But then I may as well finish it? Oh dear.

Apart from careering through that monstrosity I've continued to dabble on my Newcastle managerial career on Fifa 10. Achieved promotion and in my second season in charge I'm sitting quite happily around 6th in the table. Bizarrely after my conquest of the FA Cup I'm also in Europe. What area is not specified, probably UEFA Cup though. Celtic are in it. Hopefully I can drag myself away from Blue Dragon to continue this although I've heard upon the rumour mill of glitches and bugs in the achievements for the mode. Not that I'm a big stickler for achievements (anymore) but if the patch that's coming out very soon is going to fix the niggles then is it worth waiting? Probably, saying that I've still got around 90% of the season to go anyway so by the time I get there it may well be fixed.

Finally there was even a little bit of time for ODST. Been a few weeks since I played but I had a friend how suggested Firefight and it seemed ridiculous to say no. Its great fun still, I really need to put some more time into it because it is more fun than Horde I'd say and on a similar level to World At War's zombie mode. It is intrinsically different though as well, no sacrifice to that Halo flavour we're all so accustomed to. At least I can rely on the fact that a lot of people will hold on to their copy just for a bit of that Reach beta. Still plenty of games to come.

Lost & Blue Dragon

I kind of fell out of the loop with Lost after season one. So its been a while since I watched the show. I'd been waiting for the show to arrive with great excitement but somehow when it did I wasn't as keen as I expected to watch it. In fact it took me a good few days (and a good few beers) to pluck up the courage to dive in. I can understand why my sub conscious was against me now, the deja-vú is pretty horrendous. He's on smack, he dies, ignore the polar bear. The lessons from the episodes I've already seen showed through very strongly. If only I could apply that ability of recollection to my academic studies. Still, I'll persevere. Two episodes down. A lot more to go.

Oh dear. Its happened. I've not only got into Blue Dragon. I've let it consume me. I'm currently bathing in the blind joy of getting to disc two. Its been frustrating, confusing, boring and down right annoying at times. At other times its been alright. I've not really enjoyed much of it so far. For some reason they introduced this small yellow shouty thing into the game early on. I sat and let the solitary tear run down my face as I knew that little crap-shit was going to be with me for the rest of the game. Eight hours maybe he's been screeching in cut-scenes and wobbling in the battle field. I hate to blame the Japanese for this but what is it with crazy-ass annoying side-kicks? At least Western media has the wise-cracking one. Its annoying but at least its not that annoying. Anyway, disc 2. Undoubtedly I'll have sunk another 12 hours of my life into it by Tuesday. I hope not. But its inevitable.

Nathan Barley (yeah?) & Blue Dragon

I remember watching Nathan Barley when it was first on telly in 2005. I didn't really get it to be honest, I was 15. I was loving Coldplay's X&Y album. I really wasn't ready for it. I watched it all again the other day on 4OD. I really need to remember about 4OD more often, literally years of television available to stream for free. Its brilliant to say the least. As is Nathan Barley. Its got Brooker written all over it as well with the fashionista cunts being made to look and sound like the dicks they are. What struck a chord with me most was the constant searching for a new word to describe anything. "That's so Jackson" being one that perhaps would be less "ironic" now than it was then. Witty, funny and also worrying how little has changed in 4 years. Young people are still wankers and not even just in London now. They're fucking everywhere. I'm probably one. I have shit hair and a penchant for drinking and swearing. Still worth watching, its free after all. Yeah?

Going from one end of the spectrum to the other. Blue Dragon is a nerdy as hell JRPG about saving the world from a robot shark controlled by an old purple guy. Or something. So I figured that if I can't find anything useful to do with all the time on my hands I may as well find a good time sponge. A Bounty for my wasted life. JRPGs are good for this, people can sit in their pants and play them for 200+ hours. I'm good at sitting in my pants and I have the time. I think I'm qualified. I'm about 1 hour into the game. Well probably more like half an hour. But I pissed about fighting a load of robots. Then I went to town to meet someone and couldn't find a save point first so left it on. So my game timer is actually about 3 and a half hours. Its alright so far. The characters are lame and annoying but the graphics are pleasingly bright and cartoony. A refreshing change from brown and grey shooters and the constant green and weird faces of Fifa. I'll see how long I can put up with it. Considering there's a mail strike now as well I'm going to be stuck with it for a while waiting for the next treat from Swapgame. It'll probably be something I regret having on the list anyway. I'll die before they send me Batman.