Blog - /Personal

I received my new Playstation 2 on Thursday. I purchased the memory cards for it late Friday night. Since that time, I've logged at least 40 hours playing Final Fantasy X. Here are some thoughts on it.

I think I can only handle a few hours at a time in that game. I find myself playing just for the cut-scenes (movie-like scenes where you just watch) instead of enjoying the action. After about 4 hours, I find myself getting sick of having to constantly fight battles. Now that I am near (I think) the half-way point, I am becoming annoyed with the storyline.

Perhaps it is a bit unfair to compare this game directly with Chrono Trigger, the first (and only, until 2 days ago) Square (Soft or Enix) game I ever played, but such comparisons naturally come to mind. When did Square decide that its female characters should dress badly? Why is the most pointless expression of camaraderie between the two leading characters shown on the back cover?

But perhaps this is my tiredness from overplaying the game that is speaking. Or maybe the novelty of having a keyboard for an input device again rather than the gamepad makes me wax eloquent.

One thing that really bothered me was that I sensed the annoyance of the people across the hall while playing. This may be due to my rather animated and occasionally loud outbursts directed at the game, or even the volume (or repetition of sounds) in the game. So, another reason to tone down gameplay a bit.

On a positive note, I am very happy with the Playstation purchase (games and components included). I feel quite unique, since I never even saw a Playstation 2 at Bethel, only X-Boxen. The games were about a third of the price of similar titles for the Gamecube (and X-Box, for that matter). Many games that I have heard of through checking out soundtracks and remixes are playable on it. I remember that there were a few games based on anime series that were made for it, like Website: Love Hina, if I recall correctly.