I got through the last of my PS2 games, or so I thought. Here's what I got to this week. 

Princess Peach Showtime is out and in the game, Peach gets a starring role as she dons new outfits in stage plays.  So I thought it might be neat to go through all the outfits she has and what they are like.  But keep in mind there may be some spoilers here and there, so watch out for that.  OK, let’s pull back the curtain and start the show!

One of the most recent downloadable titles for from Square Enix is one of their 32-bit classics,  SaGa Frontier. Originally released on PS1 in 1997 in Japan and in early 1998 in the US, it was one of the first games after FFVII that I bought for my new PlayStation. It certainly didn't have quite the razzle-dazzle of FFVII, but it had a style I really liked. Unlike a lot of other Square classics, SaGa Frontier never got a re-release as a Greatest Hits title or a PS1 Classic, though it was popular enough in Japan to be included on their version of the PlayStation Classic. It seemed destined to be lost to the ages, until now. SaGa Frontier Remastered is now available on the PS4 and the Switch, which is remarkable when you consider that when it was originally released, Nintendo and Square weren't on the best terms, as well as PC, iOS, and Android. I chose the Switch version.

Games of the Decade: Expansion Pass #3/Blog a Day #28

Gaming on Sunday. Absurdist lunacy filled in the gaps between games and all during. Appearing that day were such dadaesque creations as Captain Crunch (The one who crunches too much, not the cereal character) and Boo Bop from Tway (the one who speaks the undecipherable nonsense language which strangely sounds like variations on the McDonalds "I'm lovin' It" jingle). Read on if you dare (actually much less crazy than this opening paragraph).

I always start by looking at the weekly rewards on Xbox. This week I figured out how to complete challenges on Bing. Then I checked the sales and almost bought Civ VI because it was just under $20. Then I went into Game Pass rewards and played the weekly game challenges. Finally, I made some progress in a few old games, then starting my bowling simulation play, and finally got back to Dragon Quest XI. Phew. It was a full day. 

Two things I disliked in games the last few days were niggly piggly exact platforming and stealth. Two things I liked in games this week were tough melee fighting and exploration. 

Games of the Decade #1

Games of the Decade #25/Blog a Day #06

Games of the Decade #27/Blog a Day #04

As of January 1, 2020, we're entering a new decade in gaming (let's not go into pedantic debates about the.year zero here). It's hard to believe, it just seems like 2010, a time of Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and Kinect, was just yesterday, and the world of the 2000s was still fresh in my mind.

The next few weeks are going to be loaded to the gills with games for me. 

So we've just had E3, and the year is half over. We have the PS5 and the Xbox Scarlet on the horizon, as well as rumors of a Switch hardware revision. But there are a lot of games coming down the pipeline, including some games which finally havs a release date after God knows how many years. So here is what I'm looking forward to. 

So we're entering another year, with another round of games, another BaD, and another round of GOTY blogs.

 A Legend 20 years in the making

In 1998, Final Fantasy Tactics got me into strategy RPGs. For years, FFT was the basic template for most console SRPGs. Ten years later, Sega brought the genre into the contemporary generation of consoles in grand style by releasing Valkyria Chronicles in the US.

One of my favorite things about playing strategy/role playing games is the sense of satisfaction that comes from executing on a well-laid plan. The thrill of deftly maneuvering units into place for a swift and deadly strike after multiple turns of meticulous consideration is something that few games deliver. I love strategy/RPGs, and I was excited to tear into Valkyria Chronicles 4; a return to form of sorts for a series held in high regard by a rabid fanbase, and a franchise I have little experience with. Sadly, instead of tearing into this game because I couldn’t get enough, I will now need to tear into this bizarre title that not only doesn’t reward sound strategy but does everything in its power to undermine player agency.

I gave in and bought another Wii-U game and saw a very cheap game I wanted and added that to my PS3 collection. Then I got caught up in The Last of Us. 

You will believe a bear can fly

I finished Halo 3 in about 5.5 hours. That's the shortest of the series yet. I was surprised by that. Seems Halo 2 is the longest so far at 8 hours. 

Not any game stuff at the moment other than I tried Middle-Earth: Shadows of Mordor. I suck at it.

At the tip top of Amazon’s page reads a banner: “New and interesting finds.” Never knew that was there. Did you? Apparently it's a feature they introduced a few months ago. I clicked around, surprised at the many artistic, unique products. I was amused, bewildered. By the end, I laughed, I cried, I lol’d.