Ni No Kuni Looks Stunning. And it is coming to North America.

I'm sold on this game just on the basis of the cel-shading used to make it look exactly like a Studio Ghibli feature, which is good as Studio Ghibli has a hand in it. One of my biggest disappointments with the PS3 has been the relative lack of truly gorgeous games with non-realistic art-styles and this is a breath of fresh air for me. Using the power of these systems to make just realistic looking games is a waste.

Games I want on the Virtual Console, Vol. 1

So... I've been pretty obsessed with digital distribution lately, especially considering Nintendo's Virtual Console*, so I thought I would cook up a new article series about games that have yet to show their face on the service.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is a game published by Nintendo that still hasn't shown it's face on the Virtual Console. I honestly thought it would've shown up by now, at least before Yoshi's Story did, but nope. I have owned this game both back when I had an SNES as a kid and the port to the GBA as a teenager, but I'm craving to play it again, and this time I won't be able to fall back to my bad habit of selling games if I get it on the Virtual Console. Yoshi's Island is a cutesy game, but its looks doesn't detract from its excellent gameplay and the 'just right' challenge of difficulty.

Terranigma actually never came out here in the states or Canada, but it would be an excellent game to release on the virtual console so those of us in North America can enjoy it. I watched a review of it on 16-bit gems and it piqued my interest. I feel like I should play more Action RPGs, and this one would probably satisfy my curiosity for the genre.

Another action RPG, but a little more well-known, though not by much. Secret of Evermore is Secret of Mana's less popular little brother. This was also reviewed by 16-bit gems, but that's not why I became curious about it. I first saw this game in a retro game shop and the cover art on the cartridge really interested me. As I read up about the story, my curiosity only grew more. I hope that square enix will decide to release this gem on the VC eventually.

Treasure is no stranger to putting up their games on the virtual console, even import games like Alien Soldier and Sin & Punishment (though that was partly Nintendo's doing). This, however, was one of the few N64 games they worked on, and it's a bit of a cult classic. I've watched gameplay on youtube of this game and I would love to play it. It would also add to the lacking variety of N64 games on the Virtual Console right now...

You know this was coming. I've played Earthbound, most everyone here at PK Gaming has. I do not own a cartridge or anything, so I had to play it on *gasp*, an emulator. I wouldn't mind actually owning it on the Virtual Console though. Again, Roo explains why Nintendo might not have put it up on the VC just yet in his review. Though... I'm not buying the explanation really, I think Nintendo is just holding out on us. Why else would they keep Yoshi's Island back for this long? I'm suspecting that they're afraid they'll run out of games to release in the future so they're spacing them out very sparingly... but the Wii has already had a great run and its successor is just over the horizon... so what are they waiting for? Do they just want to keep those other unreleased VC games for the launch of the successor? *shrugs* Who knows.

Anyway, those are my first five games that I wish will make it to the Virtual Console sometime soon. I'll do another article about this again sometime soon once I think of more games. While waiting for that, why don't you readers tell me a game that you have been wanting on the virtual console?


*Comments about 'just play it on an emulator' will be ignored and eaten. I have been discussing this with people for quite a while and I feel that it may make a good debate topic in one of the upcoming podcasts, either here or on one of Negative World's podcasts.

Gaming on a Budget: Amazon Atlus Monday Sale

Since our noble leader Paleo is down with a case of computer failure, I'll at least do one day of Gaming on a Budget for his sake and I choose:

Amazon Atlus Sale

If you are a fan of Atlus and RPGs and want to pick up a few on the cheap now may be a good time to do it as several of their most recent games are marked down a hefty bit. I'd personally recommend Persona 4 and 3D Dot Game Heroes. Or if you are really weird the party game collections they apparently made. But this is only for today so be quick as supplies are limited.

Gaming on a Budget: Fragile Dreams & Eternal Sonata

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

Price New: $18.99

This is a game I've been wanting to try for a while now. From what I hear, it's a bit of a survival horror, but very unique. There's a lot of exploration as well. I may try to get this game myself in the near future.

Eternal Sonata (360)

Eternal Sonata (PS3)

Price New (360): $13.92

Price New (PS3): $16.99

If you can get past the unskippable cutscenes in this, I've heard that this is can be a pretty lengthy, and high-quality JRPG. 

Flash Friday: Realm of the Mad God

Oh man, do I have an exciting game for you guys this Friday. Have you ever wanted to play an MMO, but just don't have the time or the patience for one? Well, this game is for you! It takes the basic goals of an MMO: defeating enemies, looting, going through dungeons, and defeating large powerful enemies... and puts it all into one very fast and streamlined game. And best of all about this game, that it's an actual MMO! So you can invite your friends to join you for short bursts of playtime. The only downside is that once you die, your character is dead. But don't worry, it's not very hard to level up another character, since the game levels you up so quickly. Your character is also automatically saved if you exit out of the game without dying.

Realm of the Mad God

Playing The Classics: Chrono Trigger: Vol 6

-- Part One -- Part Two -- Part Three -- Part Four -- Part Five --

I loved that once you enter Lavos' shell, you can hear his heartbeat. Then as you creep further closer to him, the beat gets faster and faster. This game just continues to ooze atmosphere... until the bitter end.

Lavos showed himself and the final battle began. Right away he launched an attack which killed Crono and took Ayla down to under 100 HP. Marle was also hurt considerably. This definitely wasn't the last time he'd use this move either. However, this attack presented me with a useful and surprising strategy. I instantly fully revived Crono with Marle's Arise move (which revives and fully heals). As for Ayla, I kept her intentionally at that ridiculously low HP level. Her Haste Helm came as a great partner for her Dino Tail move. This didn't hurt the center body much but it took over 2,000 HP off both of his arms for a total of over 4,400 HP per turn. Very nice. With both arms gone, the battle got fiercer. He attacked not that often, but when he did, it was powerful. Luckily, the triple tech that I had, the only triple tech I had, the Final Kick, came in handy with it's 3,200 or so attack power.

I was successful and then a dialogue scene occurred. It was great seeing my characters determined to save their land. You don't get such a great sense of this from other games. Chrono Trigger definitely delivers on the epic-nature front. I love that the second final form of Lavos came with even more epic music and a totally new background. You just KNEW this was it... the final battle. It was now or never.

I continued essentially the same techniques as before. It became quickly obvious that the center had to be diminished first and then the right. This I learned based on it's attack patterns. I was using Final Kick a bunch but I found that using Crono's Luminaire, Ayla's Triple Kick, and having Marle heal and Haste, allowed me to take down Lavos for good. I felt so victorious at using a truly final, Final Kick in every sense of the name. Lavos went down like a chump. Suddenly the world began merging again as time flashed before my eyes.

Many smart movie scripts have 'bookends'. This is when the ending of the movie or script reflects and references the very beginning. I liked that after beating Lavos, I woke up in my bed, just like when the game started. Instead of being free and a little lazy, I was a warrior but I was apparently captured. I later found out that this was the 'standard ending' of the game. Ending 01, Beyond Time. I was excited to see where this would go. I laughed quite when I realized that the King was joking! What a nice surprise. A reunion of time at the castle. I'm glad to see the Kind wasn't being a douchebag for once. Then we had the Moonlight Parade. It was a nice touch. The lights reminded me of Christmas time so that felt appropriate considering what month it is.

I made my way north and I realized this was all bittersweet. My friends were leaving. First Ayla and Kino. I like how she threw his stupid ass into the portal and followed. I'm proud that she's the start of the timeline in this whole thing. It felt appropriate that she was there fighting till the bitter end. When Frog left, it was also quite nice. I enjoyed Marle kissing Frog. It was a sweet gesture to see the princess kissing a frog. I also thought it was appropriate for Magus to leave without saying a word. No sentiment for him. Very true to the character. Then came Robo...his oil tears blurring his vision. It was very poignant the whole lack of assurance in Lucca's heart that he'd still exist in the future. I hope he's a happy and productive robot in the future. He deserves it. Then when Crono's mother entered the screen... I just knew what was going to happen next. Her entering the portal was pretty hilarious. That moment started a great end credits sequence. Normally these can be a bit boring but Chrono Trigger's was epic, just like the entire game itself.


Now that I have completed it, knowing damn well I missed a bunch of side quests and alternate endings... I see why this game is so popularized and praised. It deserves every bit of it. From the first quest, till the game truly opens up, and through till the final battle with Lavos...the game is legendary. My game time was 25:25 without the Lavos battle, which was probably rounding me to 26 hours including the end credits. Every second was enjoyable. It was the perfect length for an RPG too. I also thought that the final chapter, the final sequence, perhaps because I went through the Black Omen, was a great lengthy finale. Many games these days have endings that are abrupt or too short. The ends don't justify the game and all you played to get there. This is most certainly not the case with Chrono Trigger.


Godspeed Crono! Now if only I could get a means to play Chrono Cross...the title song alone made me want to play that years ago, but as I explained in our first podcast (releasing very soon), it was not meant to be. Perhaps the future holds it for me, waiting for the tale of time to continue.

Playing The Classics: Chrono Trigger: Vol 5

-- Part One -- Part Two -- Part Three -- Part Four --

At last! The final frontier! The finale chapter of this epic time-travel saga! Lets see how this all turned out. I bet you're all eager to find out!

That wave of destruction was quite terrifying, even for an SNES game let alone a more recent DS game. Many games don't come close to that kind of somber feeling of despair. I was so sad to see the world as it had become, with all that death. I was surprised too that Crono was in fact gone and that I had to continue on without him.

Any good movie, or story in general, puts the characters at their greatest low just before the final act so that they can rise up against insufferable odds. Chrono Trigger does this when they remove Crono and then we find the characters on the Blackbird, item-less. Our heroes are at their very worst off right now. The stealthy seciton is pretty great. Having to sneak around and collect your stuff adds to the tension. As Ayla, I was able to fight but nobody else could. I don't know if this is because Ayla only uses her fists or not, but it was useful so that I could fight off some baddies. Then after all this came another plot-twist.

Magus has joined the party. Well ain't that unexpected. This game is pretty good with going in different directions. Also, he has the coolest way of moving. While Alya's running on all-fours is cute, the Magus flying pose is bad-ass. He makes for a cool addition to the team. Despite his level being so high, he isn't as strong as Ayla or Marle is seems.

Then came Death Peak. This is hands down the stupidest part of the game. You have to use the little helpers and the trees to hide you from intense winds. The thing is, the catch, is that you need to be right next to the tree and running in it's direction the whole time while the wind blows. The problem that lies is that unless you aim it perfectly, you will run past the tree. There is hardly any time to correct an ill-placed aim so it can get unbearable. I realized though that you will literally stop in front of the creature if you don't talk to him (and thus transform him into a tree). That little tip helps make the first part easier and luckily I discovered it was a rather short portion. The other helpers come into play later in other ways. As I encountered other enemies in this area I realized how nice Magus' speed is for his blue attack bar. He's not the fastest character but I'm glad he's up there with the rest of the best.

For a game about time travel, it's about time that plot point paid itself off. The doppel-doll replacing Crono just before his death was great. Way to stick it to the man Marle and company! In watching that whole sequence play out, I was glad to have Marle, Ayla, and Magus in my party. Magus was great with his amazement of the process, while Ayla was cute with her prehistoric cave-babe dialogue, and Marle, who has a real connection with Crono from the start of the game, got her well deserved reunion.

The Hug of a lifeTime.

His time was short lived, but once Crono was back, I put Magus away. I'm sure Frog will hate that Magus is chilling at the End Of Time with him, but maybe they can resolve things while Crono, Ayla, and Marle are saving the world. However it's an example of this game's humor and consistency that Magus stands way at the other end of the room... He wouldn't wanna cross paths with Sir-Croaks-A-Lot. I decided to keep Marle, not only because she's a healer but she's also the love of Crono's life. I want her to fight beside him, till death do they part. I also decided to keep Ayla because she's already fought so hard for the group and I find her adorable. Plus, her high HP and that 'Cat Attack' were the reasons the team beat all those Lavos Spawns we fought to get to that peak.

Now though I found myself on a quest to fight Lavos. I decided to go through the Black Omen for two reasons. First, I could use all the experience points I can get. My characters are at levels 36 through 39, with my main party of Crono, Ayla, and Marle all being 39. Still, I could use more. The second reason being, the Queen really needed her ass kicked.

As I battled through the Black Omen, I reached a boss or two and realized that Ayla wasn't very effective. I had the Haste Helm on her which was nice but her physical attacks weren't good against all the enemies who were resistant to that. So I swapped in my flying-demon-man, Magus. I got to Zeal, but I decided to switch to Ayla again. I wanted the backup healer in case Marle died. While fighting Zeal I realized this might not be necessary but Ayla came in handy because of a stupid decision I made. I gave Crono the Berserker Ring. During the Zeal fight, if you hit either of it's hands, you either lose all but one hit point, or all your magic points... and well, Crono, being all berserked up, didn't know this. He was a waster for a lot of it but luckily he got in some strong hits still. Ayla saved the day here. Go Cave Babe! So not to make the same mistake with Lavos, I took the Berserker Ring off and threw on the Golden Stud again because it'll help with the magic point consumption. The Lavos Shell was actually really easy. Since it mimics old bosses, by this point I'm at Level 45 for my party and thus I kicked a lot of ass in that battle. Then I entered the Lavos Core and said one thing to myself...

Thank God for a Save Point!

I was hoping they wouldn't screw me like that and neglect a save point for this entire process. I would have been pissed. That said, these are my stats for the final part of the game and what I went into the core with.

Crono / Lvl 45 / HP = 856 / MP = 85

Weapon: Swallow

Helm: Vigilant's Hat

Armor: Nova Armor

Accessory: Golden Stud

Ayla / Lvl 45 / HP = 900 / MP = 81

Weapon: Fist

Helm: Haste Helm

Armor: Prismatic Dress

Accessory: Power Crest

Marle / Lvl 45 / HP = 999 / MP = 88

Weapon: Sonic Bow

Helm: Vigilant's Hat

Armor: Aeonian Suit

Accessory: Golden Earring

I decided to keep Marle wearing the Golden Earring because if I had taken it off I would have sent her 263 hit points down to 736 total. I didn't wanna do that considering she's my healer in the battles. She should be the Miltank of this game, the high HP healer. Ayla is designed to have good defense while hitting hard and Crono is just meant to kick some Lavos butt with his force (both with magic and strength).

I'm going to face the final battle tomorrow after a good night's rest. You'll hear how it went in the conclusion to this running Chrono Trigger edition of Playing The Classics. Then I can finally get back to Golden Sun: Dark Dawn which I started neglecting heavily to finish Chrono Trigger up. Stay tuned for the stunning and shocking and epic conclusion! (I hope.)

Read Part 6

Playing The Classics: Chrono Trigger: Vol 4

-- Part One -- Part Two -- Part Three --

It's been a while since I've updated my progress with Chrono Trigger here. I am nearing the end, I can feel it. After just having my ass handed to me by Lavos there is a great sense of peril with this world. The plot, while not insanely unique, probably was more unique upon it's original release. Irregardless of that though, the story is pretty dang engrossing. The battles are fun but the story is what really keeps me engaged.

My primary party most of the game has been Crono, Ayla, and Marle however I changed Marle for Robo during the Golem Sisters fight. Afterwards when you have to lose to Lavos, I expected to be able to try and put up a fight but even with my characters all being in the early level 30s, everyone was taken down in one move. Obviously this is a plot point but I still would have liked to try. Crono just essentially has been turned into a glistening speck of pixie dust... of course I'm sure that's not the true case but that's what it seems like at the time I'm at. Also, if I remember correctly, was that Magus the bad guy who was trying to help me stop Lavos? Ain't that a plot twist out of left field.

This game is good. There's no arguing that. I think I'm nearing the end though and what's most interesting about this experience is how unlike other RPGs this game is despite being released so long ago. I guess I haven't been playing the copycat RPGs, or this game is just that unique. Anyway, time to see where this is going to go... Lets finish this.

Read Part 5

Playing The Classics: Chrono Trigger: Vol 3

-- Part One -- Part Two --

I don't think I'm honestly THAT far into the game but still, I've made significant progress since I last checked in. I'm glad I have this game for one. It's been a lot of fun so far though early on there was a lot of just mashing the A button to attack. There still is that factor sometimes but more and more strategy has come into play as my magic abilities grow and such.

The plot picked up quickly and while I knew this game was about Time Travel, I still found it surprising and fun when things got all Marty McFly on us. Lets hope Crono doesn't disappear while rocking out on the guitar. I didn't expect Lucca showing up so soon but she did and it was great having another member of the team. I fought my way through finding the Queen who had been kidnapped, though I had trouble that made me feel ridiculous. For instance, it took me quite a while to notice those faces on the wall in the secret chamber of the cathedral. They removed the spikes and wow,... I felt stupid after realizing that. Then again, I also had to GameFAQ it for learning how to save. I didn't know how for a while but then I saw I could anytime while on the Overworld. That changed things, haha. After the trial, which was a neat little segment, I escaped the castle. I vaguely remembered fighting on that bridge and when I came to that boss, I had no problem with my strategy. Destroy the head. Then the wheel. Then the body. Once all that was over, I made my way through the Ruins to the Arris Dome. That first patch of 'ruins' was the last place I got to the first time around oh so long ago. I was pleased to be past that point and experiencing the game for real.

The rats the stole my potions were douchebags and I didn't appreciate them. I also didn't really like the real-time battling because it was so stressful. Still, at this point I kept it as it was. The plot continues to thicken and I was having fun. The constantly swapping of heroes has been interesting. Now though, Lucca permanently sits in the time world and I am using Crono, Marle, and Robo. Once I earned Robo, that was about the time I decided to switch to the wait system for battling. There isn't too much of a difference but honestly, I need that extra moment to think. I'm not used to the menus and it only pauses when I'm selecting a move after I've already decided to do one. I don't feel bad about it anymore, though I don't know if this was in the original SNES cart or not.

When I made it to the blue creature with the water moves, the Heckran. That's when things got hard and tricky. I died multiple times and felt like I was stuck. There's no place to really level up or grind, but I've heard that's not really necessary in this game anyway. After setting the game down and going back to it later, I realized my problem quickly. I was attacking through his taunting phase. If I didn't though, he wouldn't attack me. This made things easy. I'd use Robo and Marle to heal and Crono to kick ass. That Heckran went down easily. I felt proud.

I ended up in the caveman times and I wasn't sure where to go. That's the one major problem I have with this game. Sometimes you just have to look really closely but sometimes it's just a plain mystery on where to go next. I got all the way through to some area after fighting hard enemies and then I realized I was a section or two ahead of where I was. I went back to my own time and now I think I'm on track again but it sucks there was nothing to stop me from wasting my time with the Flintstones for that little while. So far so good though. I'm pretty sure Lucca's been leveling up with me despite being on the bench and for that I'm thankful. It would suck to want to use her later in the game and have her still at Level 13 when everyone else is at 20 or 30.

Read Part 4

Review: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

I seem to have come down with the sniffles, but I will attempt to do a review today, though it may be shorter than my previous ones. I appreciate Dr. Finkelstein contributing this week, so go check out his articles! Anyway, onto the review...

I bought this game at the beginning of this year and... well, I didn't finish it, until now. I just restarted the whole game because I don't like to pick up a game after several months of not playing and then try to beat it, especially if it's an RPG or action/adventure. I've been a big fan of the Mario RPGs, I've played and beaten every single one, with the exception of Partners in Time, which I did have at one point, but, like Bowser's Inside Story, I didn't finish it when I first bought it.

Out of all the Mario RPGs, this one probably has my favorite story and writing. Bowser eats a bad mushroom from the main protagonist and he sucks in all of people in Peach's Castle. The main protaganist in the game is a little guy named Fawful from the first Mario & Luigi who speaks almost like he was hilariously mistranslated from Japan to the US, but that was completely intentional. I suppose Fawful was chosen as the villain because he has had a big cult following and the fans wanted to see more of him.

Like the other Mario RPGs, the battle system in this game relies on timing and expects the player to pay attention when the enemy is attacking so you can avoid damage or counter. With that system, the game feels like an action rpg without being one... if that makes any sense.

Other than the battle system, there are various mini-games through the story that Mario and Luigi will have to complete inside Bowser's body. You won't be doing the same mini-game too often, each one you will only have to do 3 or 4 times throughout the entire game. One special mini-game is a short shmup that allows Bowser to become gigantic, and that takes you to another battle system where it's like a turn-based fighter. These segments were my favorite part of the game. You turn the DS on it's side, book style, and you use the stylus to control bower's actions. It feels very satisfying to slide the stylus and see Bowser punch your enemy halfway across the battlefield.

The Verdict:

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is a fine installment in the series. I'm not entirely sure when we'll see another game like this, since it's been announced that the next Paper Mario will be on the 3DS, will there ever be another 2D Mario RPG? Well, if there isn't, this is a good close for the series if they decide not to make any more.

What I liked:

-The writing and Fawful: I HAVE CHORTLES!!!
-Fun turn-based fighting Bowser segments.
-Battle system that requires attention.

What I didn't like:

-The ending felt abrupt, but maybe it's just me.

Playing The Classics: Chrono Trigger: Vol 2

-- Part One --

Last night after the movie I attempted to play some more Chrono Trigger. I made my way through the story and was transported to 600 AD in search of the girl I met at the fair. That fair tune is one of my favorite songs from any video game ever and I was glad to hear it at the source. However, shortly after I time travelled I neglected to estimate properly my HP and I died... well the game hasn't let me save yet so I lost all progress.

Going through this a second time now, I decided to not go to the fair right away first. I went to the nearby forest leveled up a bit. I'm determined to keep the "live" battle system going as opposed to the waiting one but I do find it frustrating. I'm sure I'll get used to it in time though. I made my way south a bit and investigated a nearby town. I love the little touches in this game already like the monster who plays the piano at the bar. He excitedly asked me if I wanted to hear an upbeat tune or a sad tune. Both were nice and I hope this game is riddled with little touches like these.

One thing I've noticed already, after moving up a couple levels, is that the HP gained is pretty significant. In past RPG's I've played, notably the Super Mario-based ones, you only move up 2 or 3 hit points on average. In Pokemon, this is the same way. In Chrono Trigger so far I've been making much greater leaps. At least double that of the aforementioned games. I wonder how this will come into effect later as I expect the bosses I'll be fighting soon to be hugely strong. I also wonder who the key antagonist is in this game. I know I'm not deep enough in to find out but so far all the issues I've had are by natural monsters and Lucca's machine going nuts when the pendant was inside. If I remember hearing correctly, there was some kind of over-arching antagonist, so I look forward to seeing more about this world's enemies. Maybe I'm wrong though and it's specific to the time I'm in specifically. I'm not sure if I'll enjoy that more or less but eh, I'll find out soon enough.

Before writing again in this series, I'll wait to get a bit farther into the story so I have more to discuss. For now though, the start was slippery, but pretty much that's because of my own issues. I must ask though, when and how do I save? Unless I'm just purely ignorant, I haven't yet had the opportunity. Is this coming? Also, I wonder if it's smarter to save my money or to upgrade weapons and armor at every stop... I'm not looking to find out the best things to do as per a FAQ or something but feel free to answer the basic question in the comments as well as my save query.

Read Part 3

Playing The Classics: Chrono Trigger: Vol 1

I have never played Chrono Trigger. *GASP* Yes, I know that's shocking. I consider myself quite the "hardcore gamer" if I had to label myself but just like with movies and music, I can't have tried all the classics. When this originally released, I wasn't very much into RPG games. I owned Dragon Warrior for years but never did much with it. I never made it far through the original Final Fantasy for the Gameboy. In fact, I had owned a Genesis well before a Super Nintendo so that was yet another reason I never got a hold of Chrono Trigger. Then one day a long time ago, I tried the rom version. It was a little glitchy and I generally don't like roms anyway because I find keyboard inputs to be cumbersome. So after playing just past the prologue, I stopped. So okay, I technically have played it but you know what I mean. Years later I was very hyped for Chrono Cross. The theme song alone blew me away and I knew I had to play and own it. Problem was, being solely a Nintendo gamer minus my Genesis, it took way too long for me to get a Playstation and even then it was such an old model, it wouldn't play Chrono Cross when I rented it from the local Blockbuster. So that dream died too. This is my history with the Chrono series. I love the music I've heard, I love the word Chrono itself, but I never got to truly experience the series and be a part of the love that radiates from its core....until now. I purchased Chrono Trigger DS from Amazon the other day and it came in this afternoon. I am going to play through this classic for the first time and provide at least a couple of entries about my progress and thoughts. I really encourage our readership to chime in also but please don't speak about things farther than I am at. What good would that do me? So that all said, here's the first installment of a blog-series I hope to continue with for a long time coming, "Playing The Classics". Chrono Trigger, you beautiful bastard, now's my turn to try you.


This first post was intended as a backstory on my history with the legacy and to set up the blog-series in general. Right now as the DS sits on my desk, Im loving these cutscenes and this intro. The music is incredibly epic and the animation is superb. I know that these cut scenes and such are only from a later version of the game and we obviously not in the original SNES version but they definitely seem to add something to the game already. I can feel emotion and tension from these characters that might help immerse me even further into the actual game itself. I press A. That classic ticking pendulum rocks and the logo appears. I am in for something special, I can just feel it. I hope, though can't promise, that I'll finish this game before my highly anticipated Golden Sun: Dark Dawn arrives. Still though, it feels good to be playing an RPG again. It's been a while. As much as I like being able to think about my strategies with RPGs, I think I'm going to play it with an Active Battle mode. If I recall correctly, this was the original way of playing and I'm quite intrigued on how I handle the need to think fast on my feet to cast spells or attacks. Maybe it'll immerse me even more as if I was really in danger and really fighting against all these enemies.

...

The seagulls flock and the festival begins... and with that I pause. Hey, there's Harry Potter tonight, I need a nap. But I will write back soon in this series with the point of continuing my journey through Chrono Trigger.

Read Part 2