Only nine more nights of this...

[mousme]

Was awoken by a poorly-timed phone call at 11:30, and couldn't for the life of me go back to sleep, in spite of the garbage bags (which worked pretty well, all told). After lying awake for about an hour, I decided to break out the PS2 and play a few hours of DragonQuest VIII, which I hadn't touched in about a year. Well, a little less than that.

I am still feeling spoiled by FFX, since the story and characterization in DQ VIII feel extraordinarily flat by comparison, and there are *long* periods in which I get really bored. Currently I'm stuck in a puzzle involving making walls go up and down. Lemme tell ya, I'm not a fan of puzzles in games: my brain just doesn't work that way, and on top of it all running in circles trying to make the right wall go up/down so I can just for the love of God please move on to the next area is not my idea of fun. I'm thoroughly disoriented in dungeons, so I'm a little frustrated. Not nearly as frustrated as with the *&?@$% butterflies in FFX, luckily. Eventually I shall prevail, I hope.

Mainly my "problem" is that I play these games for the story, so anything that keeps me from advancing in the narrative frustrates me, especially if it's my own lack of technical skill.

I ended up getting another hour's sleep or so, for a combined total of five hours. Bleah. I better get more sleep than that today. I have another nine days of this, and if I don't get any sleep, I will be cranky.

Comments

[rowen26.livejournal.com]

Well, if you have no qualms about cheating over puzzles, so you can advance in the story, you can always check a walk-through on www.gamefaqs.org .

Personally, I have to be REALLY stuck and have tried everything I could think of before I cheat. And I feel really bad if I do it, so I usually don't, except for some very rare cases. And it usually turns out that I had the right idea, but only a small detail was forgotten. :P

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Heh. The depth of my ineptitude is such that I have trouble even following the walkthroughs on the puzzles. Yes, I am that lame. Thanks for the suggestion!

[luvenditti.livejournal.com]

sorry dude.

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Not your fault. :)

I can barely keep up with my own schedule, and thus don't expect other people to magically know it. Also, totally not your fault that I couldn't get back to sleep afterward.

We need to get together. Otherwise, we shall need name tags. :)

[toughlovemuse.livejournal.com]

I hate to tell you but as far as I know, Final Fantasy X is the pinnacle of storytelling in a game. However, you might want to try Final Fantasy XII -- not my cup of tea, but some people like it better.

If you're looking for a game to play, you might want to try out Rock Band. It's like the guitar game we have, but with a guitar, microphone, and drums -- essentially it's a video game where you're in a band. The drum kit is like a practice drum set -- apparently if you can play Rock Band drums well, you can play drums. The set is $160 with the game, a microphone, guitar and the drum set (or you can buy the game for $50 and just the drums for $80). Pricey but I hear the game is a lot of fun. (Actually, once we move we'll likely be getting it for the Xbox if you want to try it.)