I had to go to bed early yesterday, so I woke up early again. I’ve been playing FFTA2, and have done a few of the clan trials. My clan abilities are now maxed out, and I got a few nice clan privileges. The one I will be using the most is probably the “Bonus AP”, since it makes learning skills a whole lot easier. I also got “Regenga” which heals my units every turn for a fair amount of HP. I’m going to take a break now, and will continue later.

Another few hours invested. I advanced the story, and solved a few side quests. I think it’s about time to start planning my endgame party, so I trained a Viera Archer/Sniper, and a Nu’Mou Sage. My main character is currently a Paladin/Fighter, but right now he’s training as a Thief to unlock the Ninja job (so I can improve his speed and learn a few useful skills). My Summoner started learning red magic to supplement her summons. My Banga will probably be a Defender/Gladiator with a few levels in Trickster for speed. My Moogle is a classic Thief/Juggler, so he isn’t very useful in battle, but I use him for loot stealing. I’m also training a Moogle Fusilier just in case.

EDIT: I’ve collected all the star coins from the third and the fourth world of New Super Mario Brothers. I’ve also found all of the secret passages on the map (including all the cannons). I haven’t played Final Fantasy…

EDIT2: Just cleared the fifth world of New Super Mario Brothers…

EDIT3: World 6 cleared!

So after another long break, the summer has finally begun. I got a bunch of games I missed trough last year, and I’m currently catching up on TV shows I missed. I recently finished New Super Mario Brothers for the second time. Right now I’m collecting all the gold coins I missed (the first two worlds are cleared). I’m also playing Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, currently about 25 hours in, and nowhere near the end. I’ll try to get some work over the summer, so I can pay for my tuitions (and maybe invest in some new entertainment gadgets), but mostly, I’ll be playing games. I will also try to turn my blog in to a daily routine.

EDIT: I invested a few more hours in FFTA2. It’s really a great game. I managed to become region champion in all regions of the starting continent, and I did a few item auctions already. I got a Genji Helm, and a few other nice items. My main character is now level 36, and I’m planning to train him as a ninja for a few levels, because he’s really slow right now. I also tried Civilization Revolution for the DS. I like it, but it could have been better. I really hate the constant animation stuttering. It’s pretty obvious that the DS wasn’t the primary platform.

I had a lot of work to do for the last month, and I still do. Plus, the European soccer championship started, so I spend what little free time I have watching the games. I did play some games also tough. I finally have my DS operational again, so I’m mostly playing all the DS games I planned. I finished Ninja Gaiden (I had to play from the beginning), and I recently also completed Summon Night Twin Age. It’s a hack & slash game similar in style to Diablo. It’s nowhere nearly as good as Diablo, but it isn’t bad either. I finished the main story in about 12 hours, and completed the Ex chapters in about 2 and a half hours. I also started playing Super Mario 64 DS. It’s a great remake, and the graphics are actually better then on the Nintendo 64. I got about 35 stars collected, and have also unlocked Mario (you start the game with Yoshi). I tried some miscellaneous other games, but none of them are good enough to mention. I have about two weeks of exams left, and after that I will be spending most of my time playing games that got released recently. I promise I’ll try to post more often…

After wasting allot of time on Viva Piñata (the games is great, but there’s no real goal in it), I decided it’s time to return to one of my previously installed games. I decided to play Wizardry 8. It’s a great game, that didn’t get the attention it deserved. It’s one of those old school Might and Magic style first person role playing games where you actually have to use your brain to advance. I haven’t played it for a long time, so it took allot of time to figure out where I am and what I need to do. I killed a few enemies, solved a few puzzles, recruited a new party member and gained a level or two. It really is a great game.

Finally, the exams are over, and I started playing games again. Sadly, I had to reformat my hard drive the other day, so not all of the old games are working now. I also installed two new ones; Viva Piñata and Space Rangers 2. I was mainly playing Space Rangers, and have only started Viva Piñata yesterday. Space Rangers is a great game, by the way (provided you’re not a graphics whore, like many people are these days). It’s a bit like Freelancer, only the camera is top down and the economy isn’t broken. I played allot of this one, and I think I’m already nearing the end of the main quest. I destroyed a faction of the Dominators called Kelleroids, upgraded my ship to the point that almost no one can touch it, and I’m now clearing the known universe of the remaining two factions.

As I said, I also tried out Viva Piñata yesterday, and I must say I like it. It’s funny, weird, fun, and a bit sick if you really think about it. I got to chapter 3, upgraded my shovel a few times, and got a few new Piñata’s. I’m off to play now, so I’ll see you later!

It was on hold during the Assassin’s Creed craze, but I just had to return to this great game. I decided I didn’t like New Reno very much because all of the quests where about killing someone. That’s why I decided to leave Reno and continue to New California Republic. Once there, I was asked to gain access to Vault 15. Since I was going there anyway, I decided to help out. It seems some people settled on top of Vault 15, and now they won’t leave. After some investigation, I found out the people where being fooled by some Kahn raiders (the same guys the Vault Dweller took care of in the first game. After offing their leader, I convinced the settlement to join New California Republic. After accessing the Vault 15 computers, I’ve also found the location of Vault 13. After joining the New California Rangers (an abolitionist group), I continued to Vault 13. There I encountered a friendly tribe of intelligent deathclaws. They settled Vault 13 after the original residents left. Now they have a problem with the main computer. The voice module is broken, and their claws are t0o big for keyboard input. Luckily, I obtained a voice module somewhere (Gecko, I think), so this was quickly taken care of. While repairing the computer, I’ve finally found the G.E.C.K.! On the way back to Arroyo, I decided to take a quick stop at the old Fallout Military Base where I killed a bunch of super mutants and found my first Power Armor. After the military base, I continued west, and stumbled in to San Francisco. I’ll clear the quests there, before returning to Arroyo.

Broken Hills were on the way to Reno, so I cleared all the quests there first. Well, all except for one where I have to get a part from Reno and then return. Reno wasn’t very nice. It’s a dark themed town with mob families running everything. There are lots of quests, but most of them are bad karma for me, so I won’t be doing them. My car got stolen while I was there, but that ended up being a good thing, because the guy that stole it offered me some upgrades for it. I now have better mileage on it. I didn’t play much, because of lack of time.
Assassins Creed is out, and with any luck, I will be playing it tonight already, so Fallout will go on hold for a while.

This is an awesome game. It’s much longer than Fallout, so I barely made it past about the first third (based on the amount of map squares I explored). I cleared the second town, and solved most of the quests in The Den which is the third town. Then I travelled to Vault City, and discovered a farming town on the way. In vault city I had to get citizenship status in order to enter the Vault there (Number 8). I helped a ghoul town in the mountains repair their nuclear reactor, which stopped the Water pollution of Vault City. This got me citizenship. In the Vault I accessed the central computer, and discovered the location of Vault 15. After clearing all the quests in Vault City, except two, I returned to the town I discovered on the way from The Den. One of the quests there led me back to The Den, so I could deliver a car part I got in Gecko (the town near Vault City) to a local engineer. After giving him the part and paying 2000 vault dollars, I got myself a working car! I decided to visit New Reno afterwards, but I have discovered a raider camp on the way. I tried destroying them, but they are way to powerful right now, so ill return to them later. I’m going to Reno tomorrow.

In the sequel, I decided to play a smarter ranged character. In Fallout, my character was a dumb, close combat ox, but this one is smarter, and uses a rifle. The game starts in a tribe that worships The Vault Dweller who saved the world a few centuries ago. Their village and the nature around it are dying, children are getting sick, and crops are withering. I had to prove that I am The Chosen One and pass a test within their temple. I needed to get the robes of the Vault Dweller (actually a Vault 13 uniform). I did this, and also finished a few miscellaneous quests before leaving to village. The village elder asked me to find The Garden of Eden Creation Kit (or G.E.C.K. for short). This device should help with the famine and illnesses. I should be able to find it in Vault 13, but the problem is, no one knows where the Vault is located. After leaving the village, I visited a city nearby. There, I helped a guy defend a herd of two-headed cows, and killed a Rat God (yes, this game also has giant rats). Right now, I’m at the pub, trying to figure out what to do next (ammo is scarce, by the way).