September 1st, 2010

So it's back! We'll see if it sticks this time, my original lasted closed to three years! I figured today marked both endings and beginnings, endgame of FFXI and the start of XIV, finishing Valkyria Chronicles I and moving on to II. Both series are high on my list and mean a lot to me, so it seemed like a good day to get started again!

Final Fantasy XI (PC): Not too much... DynaDeviants cancelled Dynamis again, I got Clearite killed accidently in Boyahda Tree, did a Level 1 Besieged against the Undead Swarm that took about 30-40 minutes, far more than L1 should, messed up the Tactics Pearl quest and only got my NPC 2900 instead of the max 5800 EXP I could've, and got Stardust Typhoon, my chocobo, to learn the Gallop ability. So I guess it was at least forward movement, even if it was sloppy.

Final Fantasy XIV (PC): Oh, wait, this shouldn't be on here! First off, the installer doesn't want to work with me, second, the open beta (that requires registration and your application to be selected by Square, making it not an open beta) is overloaded and not accepting new entries at this point. Ah well, they're already disappointing me with this Fatigue System crap (and I suppose numerous things since the 32-bit era), so why am I surprised?

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (360): Turns out the download heroes (Juggernaut, Magneto, Black Panther, Carnage, Cable and Psylocke) had been re-added to the Marketplace, so in preparation of playing it soon with Frank while he's in town, I snapped them up!

Phantasy Star Portable 2 Trial Edition (PSP): Not much, got it onto the PSP and fired it up long enough to lock in my guild card number! It's pretty high already, like 20k? 2k? Either way, pretty high! I did import Dyne from the first game, and... yeah, I don't see how it imports, it looks NOTHING like Dyne!

Hopefully Lindz is around soon so we can play!

Valkyria Chronicles (PS3): I had started up the sequel and made it a couple missions into it, but it just didn't feel right leaving the original unfinished. After a frustrating battle against the final boss, we won, and finally I could say I had beaten VC.

And the ending was so fitting with the rest of the game, just very sweet and heartwarming. I really need to watch the anime sometime.

The downside? Having unlocked New Game+, it was hard not to keep playing! It was wonderful to see Marina, Nina and Wendy back, my three casualties from the first play through.

Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP): Woohoo, it's finally here, and I even received it the day after it shipped. Unfortunately, I had to buy it from GameStop to get a couple pre-order missions. Regardless, I was ready to play!

Or not, because you can't just play a game anymore. First, I entered the code for my GameStop missions on PS3, then transferred them to the PSP. Then I brought over my VCI save. Then I added in the passwords from the VCII website to unlock various things, including all of Edy's Detachment (whoa, way cool!).

Good to go, so I hit up the Tutorial... only to read online you need to have Phantasy Star Portable 2 data on the memory card BEFORE you started a game in order to get Emilia, and Sega is releasing the two games in reverse order here with PSP2 a few weeks off. So I nabbed a Japanese save and started over... only to learn that information that I needed a save before starting was false.

There's apparently even more stuff you can unlock, mostly characters from VCI and the manga Valkyria: Wish Your Smile, so hopefully all that good stuff gets a US release.

Anyway, the game! Just did the first couple missions, and it feels like Valkyria Chronicles. The graphics are quite a step down, and the areas are now segmented into smaller zones that make up one level, presumably because the PSP couldn't handle the massive, fluid levels of the original. The storyline has a potential to be epic, but right now it is a little high-school drama shoujo-ish. Not a bad thing, just departures from the original.

But serious complaint time: why can't I save in mid-battle on a portable system, when I could on a console? If anything, it should be the other way around!

Hopefully I'll get to sink my teeth deeper into it over the next few days... I do so love VC!