A Gaming Diary
GBA
Gunstar Super Heroes
Nov 3rd
Played through the first level.
Moves along fast you like without a hint of slowdown, so far.
Lots of shooting. And kicking.
Incomprehensible story.
Some endlessly respawning enemies. Run!
Quite a few save points in the first level, although there isn’t one right before the first boss (who took me two attempts).
I’m playing on Normal difficulty, which could be a mistake, given how hard Treasure like to make their games.
Basically, it’s Gunstar Heroes / Astro Boy. Or, to put it another way, exactly what I expected.
Final Fantasy I
Nov 1st
I’m mainly Nanowrimoing (it’s a word! shush!) right now, but I did do some wandering and random battling while on the toilet earlier.
And then realised I’d gone back the way I’d come from last time I played, so I had to wander back again.
D’oh!
Final Fantasy I
Oct 25th
A highly productive half hour bus ride. I found the guy who I was meant to give the Rosetta Stone to (more or less by accident) and I also found a landing spot near the town I thought it was impossible to get to in the airship. So now I’m on course again. No more wandering around randomly for a while!
And everybody levelled up.
Oh, and can just mention once more how utterly gorgeous the Micro’s screen is, please?
Final Fantasy I
Oct 25th
Played it on the Micro in bed last night.
Notable for two things -
1) In a darkened room the Micro’s screen was just too bright on the highest level, so I had to turn it down a couple of levels.
2) The sound out of the Micro isn’t nearly as bad as I expected it to be.
I got to a boss in the Lifespring Grotto I just could not beat. I tried a couple of times, but there wasn’t really anything I could do. If I ever replay the game I’m not going to start with a Thief. They’re just far to weak when it comes to the big fights.
I suppose I better go and see if I can find that last crystal. (Luckily, the game teleports you outside the dungeon when you die. Which is nice of it.) Oddly, it’s the third one I’ve not got, as shown on the pause screen. You think they’d list them in order. Strange.
Final Fantasy I
Oct 24th
So, on the bus this morning I opened up the SP and did a couple of levels of the Lifespring Grotto. Got a cool knife that steals health from enemies. Really doesn’t work well on the undead though. Ouch.
But then, at work, the postman came…
GAME BOY MICRO GET!
Famicom edition, if you’re interested. Looks gorgeous. Non-gaming-geeks in office also thought it looked good.
Couldn’t charge it, but it seemed to come with a little bit of charge, so after gazing at the lovely shiny metalness of it for a while I shoved the Final Fantasy cart in and turned it on.
The screen is lovely. Absolutely lovely. I was concerned at first that it would be too small, but some FF play has put paid to those fears. In fact, I think it’s easier to see the battle numbers flying by on the Micro than it is on the DS. Something to do with the smaller screen and the brightness and the general crispness of it, I suppose.
Anyway, I didn’t play it long. Just long enough to get to an annoying level with disappearing pathways. The Micro’s on charge now. Luckily it didn’t blow up when I plugged it in. Yes, I used a step down converter, but I was still worried.
Anyway, I need a good session or two on it, but the Micro certainly seems like a lovely piece of kit. I worked out that it’s my seventh Game Boy. Nintendo must love me.
Final Fantasy I
Oct 21st
Not much today.
Just a quick boss battle. Actually, it wasn’t a quick boss battle. It took about fifteen minutes of two people attacking, one healing and one casting ice magic. Got a judgment staff from it, but I’ve not checked to see if it’s any good yet.
Why don’t you get experience points for these boss battles, anyway? Tch.
Final Fantasy I
Oct 20th
Ah, bus journeys are ace.
I got four levels down into a dungeon. It’s… a bit easy right now. No difficult enemies. In fact, the enemies are scared of me.
The party trod warily through the depths of the dungeons, torches flickering on the walls. (Which was odd, as they were underwater, but we’ll let that one slide.) They trod carefully, quietly, but their efforts to go unnoticed went in vain. Without warning – an ambush! Three giant snakes stood (can snakes stand?) before them. Unready as they were, they fumbled for their weapons, giving the pythons time to launch uninterrupted attacks…
“The python ran away.”
“The python ran away.”
“The python ran away.”
“You gained 1 exp.”
The way forward was once again clear and the party breathed slightly more easily…
See? Rubbish. And even if they do attack they either miss or do 1 hit point of damage. (Even my weakest character has about six hundred hit points now.)
And yet it’s still fun. There are loads of games around right now that should be boring or annoying but somehow aren’t. I need to write an essay about it. Possibly.
Final Fantasy I
Oct 20th
Played it for the first time in ages on the bus this morning.
Went into what I think is another optional dungeon, because I don’t know where the next real thing actually is.
Anyway, before the sun got too bright and killed my SP screen I managed to find a mermaid village in the dungeon, where there seems to be some sort of mystery…
Game Boy Micro
Oct 17th
Oh Game Boy Micro,
Where are you?
I want to play you,
On the loo.
The postman comes,
The postman goes,
But where you are,
Nobody knows.
Arrive my pet,
And dry these tears,
Arrive to quell,
My thieving fears.
Has postie fallen,
For your charm?
If this is so,
I’ll do him harm.
Please come and find me,
By bike or van,
Please come and find me,
If you can.
Final Fantasy I
Oct 13th
Oh Nintendo, I love you again. I kind of stopped when Super Mario Sunshine came out, I admit. And the Gamecube, while host to some excellent games, is definitely my least played of the three main consoles this generation. But, oh, your handheld consoles are things of beauty. Not in the looks sense, of couse. The DS is as ugly as rotting zombie Santa. The SP and the Micro are nice, though. In fact the Famicom SP is absolutely gorgeous.
And the batteries last a good long time. Long enough to get me from Maidstone to Stansted Mountfitchet, stay overnight and then come back again. Not that I was playing the SP for the whole time… just most of it.
Got lots done in Final Fantasy. Most importantly I got my class upgrades. I haven’t actually done much with them – I’ve not bothered buying spells for my two characters who can now use magic – but my party now look much better. And being a ninja is obviously cooler than being a thief.
I just finished the third crystal dungeon, which opens up another optional dungeon place. Unfortunately, it’s out in the middle of the ocean, so I can’t land my airship there. Time to find out where I left my ship…
