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Good luck! There's more than one level? Hah, I kid, but seriously that's one tough game. Only ever beat the first level a few times. Had better luck with that than the turbo tunnel in Battletoads though... As for me, still working on GT6. Of an interesting note, I played it for about 2 days now, and have over 7 million credits. Money in this game comes WAY easy... but you know what? I like that. While "grinding" certain races would make you good money and helped you master a few tracks, it got old in GT games of the past.

Ever play the original on NES? If you're looking for a difficult game, I'd recommend it for sure. Not even "cheap" difficult like a lot of NES games were, just well designed, but difficult.

Forgot to point out that I finished up Fez. Great game overall. Best way I can think to describe it is if you took an early Legend of Zelda game, took away the combat, and gave the player all but one hint as to how to complete the game's puzzles. Oh, except you don't tell the player what ANY of it means directly. It was honestly rather refreshing, not being held by the hand at all, and told to figure it out. First impressions of GT6: -It's quite pretty -The opening video is quite different from what you might have expected if you played previous games -The game funnels you into what IT wants you to do a little too much for a SIXTH entry in the series. Now, sure, it's entirely possible that there are a lot of first time GT players joining us, but forcing me to buy a particular car with the initial funds you get in the game is irritating. Sure, the Honda Fit is a nice car in real life, but I can think of far more entertaining entry level cars that could be bought with your initial money. Other than that, I'm having fun. In the past with GT games, I tend to upgrade my way to victory. However, proud to say that I've beaten the initial races without purchasing a single upgrade. I'm trying to appreciate the challenge of the game this time, and even the Novice level races have proven fun this way.

Sean, I sometimes think those youth jobs that we have are some of the most interesting, for all the reasons you point out and more. Working the video store was definitely a mixed bag of experiences. Ever seen someone get arrested because you caught them stealing an ice cream bar... on their birthday? Turns out the dude was a bit of a serial thief, and had warrants out for his arrest, and an ice cream bar was the one that finally got him hauled off. We had a bit of a laugh with that one.

I knew I was forgetting one... Valkyria Chrnoicles 2. I absolutely LOVE the first game, it's great. The sequel introduced quite a few new classes and a fresh cast, what's not to like, right? Well, for starters, the game felt neutered. Gone were the expansive maps, the feeling of large scale you know, battles in a larger war. The game felt less engaging, and more like an RTS, in the sense that you manage resources on a map. Don't get me wrong, VC2 isn't a bad game by any means, but it definitely wasn't as good as the original. I think I made it about halfway through the game before realizing that I just wasn't having much fun with it. ...and yet here I am, hoping that they'll remake it for PS3, and bring back the cohesiveness the original has.

About the closest thing I can think of to creepy, always seemed to involve night shifts. I worked at Blockbuster for a few years, and when we would do inventory, we had our scan guns connected via a LONG cord back to the computer. Every time you scanned something, you heard, "BEEP," into headphones that you were wearing. Well, being as busy a store as we were, we had oh, about... 40,000 items to scan in a night. Needless to say, the beeping became a torturous sound, and would deprive one of sleep. For days afterward, you would begin to question your own sanity, eventually lashing out at a customer whose sneeze just happened to sound a bit like a "beep." It wasn't their fault, but it is what tends to happen with those first jobs. But hey, free rentals, woohoo! I guess there was that one time when I was on the freight team at Home Depot, the power went out. We're not a big city by any means, and when the power goes out, you're left with what little star and moon light there is. However, inside a building with foot thick concrete walls, and nearly no windows to speak of, it is DARK. With only the spaced out flash of the alert light on the lift machine I operated to provide any sense of spatial awareness in such a large building, my imagination may have gotten the best of me. Worst one though, was for a job that I fortunately DIDN'T take. I was getting a drink at the gas station that a friend's mom worked at. Buddy of mine and myself are in the store with the night clerk, and this one guy comes stumbling toward the store. Something just felt... off... about this guy. Strange guy shuffles in, finds his way to the coffee machine, and grabs a cup. He then proceeds to fill said cup with sugar packets. Next, he begins to eat the sugar packets. Note, he is not opening them and eating the contents of said packets, he's just eating them, paper and all. Ok, so that's a bit odd, sure, but all the while, this guy is muttering to himself about how there are spiders everywhere. I can't say I recall everything he was saying, it were the utters of a madman, clearly. Eventually the clerk gets the guy to leave, but man... it was a tense few moments. It was then that I decided that the Clerks life was not for me.

So, finally opened up Gran Turismo 6 the other day. Started off by checking for updates. Eleven GB later, I start the game up. Now it's installing... and installing... and installing. Man, this is worse than MGS4 here. I've been staring at a progress bar suggesting that there are "0 secs remaining" for about five minutes now.

Those were for picking up over the air signals, correct? Been a while since I've seen one. However, it's not like they've been entirely made obsolete, it's just that more people use a form of satellite, if they get their TV from somewhere other than the internet.

Mike, I'm curious, what did you find to be a flaw in FF2? I know I enjoyed playing it, but I breezed through it in something like a week or two, back in a period of my life that the memories are a bit fuzzy in general. As for the ambivalence toward FF8, you're starting to sound like the main character, Squall, so maybe the game didn't miss the mark entirely haha! Good choice picking up Silent Hill though... And err... wait. You've never played FF9? You sir... owe it to yourself. I'd wait for the re-release this summer though, supposedly they're fixing something that made the battles take a long time. Frankly though, I played it on PS1, and can't say I remember any odd delays?

RPG's will definitely be high on this thread's target list. I think an rpg either needs good pacing, or a dedicated player. Some fine tuning of the battle rate certainly helps too. I mean, it's one thing to teach me the system, it's another to constantly bombard me with pointless fodder battles. Every FF game that I've played, I tend to go through it at least twice. Once to tinker with the battle systems, learn the game, grind a bit, usually end up breaking the poor thing, then another run where I'll rush through it as quick as possible. Basically, divided the game into a game play, and a story play. The only rpgs I can say I have a firm grasp on the story would be FF7 (repeat exposure), Vandal Hearts (great pacing), Suikoden (it's fairly short), and to an extent, Suikoden II (again, pacing). The list of rpg's I've played quite a lot of (we're talking totals of over a thousand hours, maybe two thousand?), but can't seem to remember more than character art / style, combat mechanics, and the odd bit of music or atmosphere, let's see... -Dragon Quest 8 -FF4 -FF6 -FF8 -Xenogears -Parasite Eve -FF9 -FF10 -FF12 -FF Tactics -Suikoden 3 (bugger all, there's hardly anything to it, and a huge missed opportunity by not focusing on Thomas as the main character, whole game through... no, I'm not bitter... promise.) -Suikoden 5 There are likely others, but you get the point. I have a terrible memory.

Not much love for licorice around here... I must be the odd one then. I've always appreciated bitter candy though. Between licorice (especially the black twizzlers, very strong flavor!) and dark chocolate, yum. Explains why I like Jaeger and most folks I know can't stand it...

You know something, I realized today, why FF7 struck such a chord in me today. One of the major themes of the game, was that death can come suddenly, and that it isn't glamorous or always an eventful thing. Well, I lost my best friend to a hit and run accident in January of that year, then my grandma to a short bout with cancer that March. 1997 was a REALLY rough year on me, and to have one of the main characters taken from me like that? That hit me harder than any scene in any movie that I've ever seen. That was Grave of the Fireflies sad, right there. Although, taken out of context? It's just a game. Depending on your circumstances though, it could hit close to home. Plus, the music made the scene. Watch it on mute, it doesn't carry nearly the weight that it does as when you hear those first couple notes following that "ping" sound... Anyway, enough of my story, go read Elentor's thread. Especially you Mike, give it some fresh eyes and see if you don't like it again. Ten chapters, that's all I'd ask of your time on this.

I never understood this myself. If you don't think my drink is "macho" enough, then don't order one, and you can piss off for all I care. Problem solved. Then again, while I do appreciate a good drink now and then, I can't stand going to bars. Waste of time, waste of money, and at least where I live, a prime source of drama. No thanks.

Prices for PSM are generally reasonable. Can typically pick up an entire volume of 13 issues (12 months plus their holiday extra issue) for around $15-25. All in good time though. I'm building a car at the moment, so funds are a bit tight, but I do intend to contribute to the slush fund so we can pick up and get PSM scanned someday. I already have the entire run, would love to have the entire run digitally as well...

You could very well be onto something there. Personally, I can't watch Mike play the games solo. The pausing to read the chat bits really get on my nerves. Fortunately, the internet is FULL of other things to enjoy these days. Bootsy though, I think that guy might actually just BE the Wizard...

I thought that might have been the case, memory was a bit fuzzy. Agreed on the second part though... I agree. The guy has a very positive attitude, good work ethic, and would do wonders as a mentor to younger generations. Heck, even generations closer to my own, from what I see of folks these days.

I uh... he's been writing you letters? Now THAT is creepy indeed. Joking aside, I'm sure being of higher intellect in his era would have proven a bit difficult, especially as a child. Figure back then, nobody took kids seriously, no matter how smart they were. So you are dismissed by your mental peers on account of age, and completely bored with your physical peers on account of intellect. I can see how a person would end up a bit twisted. Also like to point out how I wish more people could disconnect a person's work from their beliefs. What a person says matters far less than what a person does, in my book. No worries, I can't imagine anyone minds random discussion in an off topic section of the forum? You make a good point there though, they probably were coming to a natural end as a band by then. Would love to have seen what they could have done if Kurt had sobered up though... Then again, there's that old saying about the brightest flames... Can you IMAGINE, getting the three of them around the same table? Especially given they're all older men at this point (if not passed?), I suspect you'd rather enjoy that comedy show, and hey, dinner too! Man had a point there. I think we'd all go crazy if we never forgot things. Even more so if you could connect the dots between everything you've ever taken in... One thing is for certain though, we'd be a much sharper and more cynical people, especially concerning politics and history.

I was gonna say, I snagged the first four issues that were brand new, still in the padded mailing envelope they came in, for something like $60... I got the entire run of the magazine for somewhere around $500, so if it's ever at a point where it's selling for that much per issue... I think I'd probably cash in. Interesting. Perhaps a bug in the link I had?

Press a button get a cookie? Gee, that's exactly what I want my game ending challenge to be. If I could roll my eyes harder I'd probably fall over. Watching James & Mike (of AVGN) play through Batman was a lot of fun. Mike is really talented at these old games, and even he had a hard go with those last two battles. You know, I remember putting a lot of time into that one as well. About all that really stuck with me though, is that the game was beautiful, the atmosphere was neat, the characters all felt very unique, and it was a lot of fun to tinker with the battle system, particularly into the monster hunting part of the game. There was one turtle like thing that I finally gave up on, for whatever reason I couldn't ever beat or capture or whatever it is you did with the monster hunts... Still, I picked up the PS3 version, would like to play again some day.

True enough DP, I'd also recommend a lot of the stuff that OCR has done over the years. Their Chrono Symphonic album is absolutely beautiful.

So, probably about 2/3 of the way through Fez, and I gotta say... it's a LOT more complicated than appearances lead you to believe. I figure it sucks you in with simple gameplay, but to get through the whole thing, you really have to start using that brain. To say it scratches the archaeological itch is a bit of an understatement. Full disclosure, I've had to resort to looking up about 4 or 5 of the secret rooms so far, and one of them is flat out confusing. Speaking of the 6-cube tetronimo puzzle room if you're familiar with the game. The solution really didn't make much sense, given the clues you have. Entirely possible I just missed a clue, but man, there's puzzling bits of games, and then there's downright cryptic in places.

I'm curious as to what makes you think that Nirvana was basically done as a band by then? I think In Utero was probably their most solid album, myself. To tie the bands together though, the song Marigold was written LONG before FF was a band, but it was never really a "Nirvana" song as I understood. Perhaps it is possible that they would have kept together as a band and ended up basically making the music that FF made anyway? Err, edit to point out that I just ended two posts basically the same. Perhaps that point is stuck in my head. Thoughts?

Sorry to bring this thread back (yet again) but I had to share this, from Lewis Black: As for me, I've always had a bit of a sweet tooth. Some candy was better than others, but almost all of it was good to me.

As someone who has listened to VGM to fall asleep for the past oh... 12 or 13 years now, I recommend just about any FF or Chrono soundtracks. Suikoden has some nice songs as well, throughout the entire series. Bad as the game was, FF7 Dirge of Cerebus has a nice OST as well. Wild Arms, another good one. Just comb through them and remove any songs that might shock someone awake... Fair warning, once you start them on the path of listening to music while sleeping, they're likely gonna need it to ever sleep haha.

So, came across this one this morning: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Psm-magazine-6-8-/172146976353?nma=true&si=9ZDJOdaKx%252BDSjoR%252FBA2AUJuOY0Y%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 It's issues # 6 and # 8, apparently sold for $300. I'm calling BS on that one, can get more or less the whole run of the magazine for that much. What about you guys, ever come across a listing that's just a bit strange?