This seems to be the week for me to get stuck on boss battles in the various games I’m playing.  Reached the Barrier Trio in Mother 3, and I just have not been able to get past them yet no matter what strategy I try; time to go grind a few more levels out, I guess.  Meanwhile, in FFIV for the DS, which I had tackled with renewed vigor, I keep getting my ass handed to me by Rubicante in the 4-Fiend battle.  The trick there is that instead of grinding even more levels out, it just encouraged me to put the game away and finally start up World Ends With You, which I did yesterday morning.  Finally, prior to the holiday, beat Tales of Vesperia after around 40 hours; an excellent game, and a definite turn-around for the series after the dreck that was Tales of Legendia.

-Joel

Having recently regained the use of my left thumb after three weeks of having a hand that looked like it went through a meat grinder (car accident), i’ve triumphantly returned to the world of videogames.  I spent most of the last couple of days playing through the first Penny Arcade episode again, to get my characters in better shape to import into episode 2, which i got for my b-day.  Unfortunately, if you’ve completed and saved a character from episode one, that’s the last time you can touch them, which meant if i wanted to level him up any more, i had to start completely over.  I’ve also, like Joel, been spending a lot of time in Fallout 3, trying to walk the moral path while simultaneously stealing every medic kit and ammo crate that I can find, like the Stimpak and Bullet junkie that i am.  Last but not least, I’ve been putting quality time into Sonic Unleashed, which i think has gotten somewhat of a bad rap from reviews…sure, the werehedgehog scenes can be annoying, but they’re also short, and the running scenes are some of the most amazing Sonic levels that i’ve played since it first appeared on the Genesis.

-Jeff