Cranky-D

I wrote a little blurb about the direct to disk movie over at Protein Wisdom. There are also plenty of old posts over there whose linkiness changed at some time, so they are no longer linked properly in my archives, but you can find them, if you’re interested, by searching on my handle, “cranky-d.”

Basically, my day consists of reading blogs, watching some teevee, playing RPGs on various Game Boy incarnations, and writing code (the last one is what pays the bills). Mostly it’s writing code and reading blogs, but some days, like today, it is more reading blogs and writing code.

Anyway, I bought a DS a while ago, and I finally started using it last week after I completed yet another run-through of Dragon Warrior III. Right now I’m playing Final Fantasy III. It’s an amusing little RPG. I find myself using the touch screen a lot, since the game kind of encourages it. So the screen is smudged and will likely remain so for some time. I have no idea how long the screen protectors are supposed to last, but you definitely need them. I have seen no reason to use the stylus so it’s just naked oily fingers instead.

What’s sort of funny is that I have started about four or five final fantasy variations and have yet to play one to completion. This has more to do with what interests me about the genre than me not being able to finish anything. Once you’ve done all the pre-requisites, the only thing left is to level up enough to tromp the last “boss” and win. I only finished DWIII this last time because I thought there was supposed to be more coming afterwards. I guess I took a wrong path or something. However, I played DW I-IV on the 8-bit system and finished them all many times so I already know what happens. Obviously I get replay value from the series.

FFIII is probably not supposed to be a complete level grinder but sometimes that’s how I play these things. Today I had to go to the laundry, so I used that time to grind away to increase the stats. Oddly enough, I have never played D&D, and I have only played a smattering of computer-based RPGs; that probably puts me in a minority among my peers. I’m still considering moving on to WoW. I would probably like it, and when I bought the laptop I’m using to write this I made sure it could play WoW just in case, but it seems that I don’t have the time since I waste too much of it doing other stuff.

If that’s wasting it. I’m not sure.

Anyway, if you like RPGs you could do worse than get a DS. The graphics are pretty nice, the screen is bright, the unit is small but is still okay for adult hands, and it plays GB advantage games as well so there’s a catalog of games you can play. Plus, there are walkthroughs on the tubes if you get stuck, and the ones I’ve seen are usually pretty good. I have found that ebay is a good source for older games, but I tend to buy new if I can because then I know that the cartridge hasn’t been in and out of the unit a lot of times. There are a few titles out on the DS right now, and it looks like Dragon Quest IV will be released in the US fairly soon (DQ IV is the same as DWIV which was on the 8-bit NES); someone has already discovered that the chip released in Japan has an English translation already on it. I’m hoping they follow with DQV and DQVI, which I have never played but look forward to. They are definitely going to be released in Japan, but I’m not enough of a fanboy to deal with a Japanese-only version of the game.

I still have DQVII and DQVIII to play on the still-unused PS2. Maybe when I get back home “for good.” Somehow I think I’ll still be here in S0-Cal a lot more than I was before. Such is life, I guess.