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dmxratedYesterday, Vincent called me about taking me out to lunch. Unfortunately, no one else from the Dowling Project was able to come, and I suggested we eat out at La Marguerita. I ordered two slices of pepperoni pizza and four garlic knots. While we were eating, me and Vincent talked about video games. He told me that he has some friend who plays Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and participates in tournaments for that game.
I called Matthew yesterday for the first time since last Summer. We weren't on the phone very long, but I did tell him about my translation project. I also told him that I now own Whacked!, which we used to play a year before he left Long Island. On his end, he's getting ready to go back to school, and he's taking two online courses and one physical course. Can't remember what they were, exactly.
I also ordered a USB capture device, with which I'm going to record the gameplay from Makeruna! Makendou Z. Upon asking the seller, s/he said that that thing can record video game footage, but didn't say whether it could copy content from commercial videos or DVDs, only that doing so is illegal. But, we can cross that bridge when it comes time to hosting the Mon Colle Knights series on YouTube.
For dinner last night, Mom made some kind of Italian dish, but I was too full from lunch to eat anything more than a salad. Upon coming home earlier, she had brought some eclairs for all of us except herself, with which to celebrate Brian's birthday one day early. Marie asked me if I was gonna have mine that night, but I told them I might have mine for a snack today. Mom said that I could have mine with everyone else.
Anyway, last year, I ranted about the nostalgic spark that came on about 7th grade. Right now, after having played Whacked! once again, I'm starting to look back to 12th grade. At that time, after having halfway completed Chronicles of 7th Grade (and abandoning some 11th grade memoirs that I started a year earlier), I kept a record of events (much like this blog), which I dubbed Senior Year. 11th grade, by far, is my least favorite year to look back to, but even though I still didn't have Mon Colle Knights back until halfway through my first year of college, looking back to 12th grade is one of my favorite years to look back to, only second to 7th grade.
(Speaking of Mon Colle Knights, I did indeed watch an episode the other day, so that I could have played Whacked! and watched an MCK episode on the same day.)
And yeah, Whacked! was one of the most prominent games I've played that year, as were others such as Earthbound, Hentai Columns, Chrono Trigger, and Super Valis IV. But, the main attraction of that year was...
(Drumroll, please...)
GRANDIA II for the Playstation 2.
That's right! It all started when I paid a visit to Grandma Barbara's house in August 2003, and watched Cousin David play his Dreamcast copy of the game. Although I had seen a GamePro walkthrough for that game a year earlier, it was that game that snapped me out of the worst gaming drought I have ever had. Until then, I had been looking for ROMs of anime-style SFC/SNES games and downloading them (see Re: [Former censorship of anime-style games]), along with some non-anime games such as Batman Returns and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. Most of the games in question--that I even did play--were either unplayable due to language barriers or just lame. The most enjoyable of these were Mahou Poipoi Poitto, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, the Power Rangers game, and the aforementioned Super Valis IV, but of course, they paled in comparison to Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which I already had downloaded months earlier.
What appealed to me about Grandia II were the battle themes (especially the boss themes) and the battle system. When I read the aforementioned GamePro walkthrough, I thought it would've just been another RPG, but in fact, this was no Final Fantasy knockoff. This was another step towards realistic combat in video games. I wanted this game since having watched David play it, and rented it when we bought the Playstation 2 on New Year's Eve. The following April, I bought the game on Ebay to play for Easter Break.
That whole year, though, what I wanted even more, was for Mon Colle Knights to be released on DVD. I started my Mon Colle Knights petition just shortly after completing Grandia II. Let me tell you, though, it's epic games (and fanfiction) like this that make me want to write Monster Collection Chronicles at some point in my life. I'll never let go of MCK, even in favor of Makendou. It will always have a place in my heart!
I called Matthew yesterday for the first time since last Summer. We weren't on the phone very long, but I did tell him about my translation project. I also told him that I now own Whacked!, which we used to play a year before he left Long Island. On his end, he's getting ready to go back to school, and he's taking two online courses and one physical course. Can't remember what they were, exactly.
I also ordered a USB capture device, with which I'm going to record the gameplay from Makeruna! Makendou Z. Upon asking the seller, s/he said that that thing can record video game footage, but didn't say whether it could copy content from commercial videos or DVDs, only that doing so is illegal. But, we can cross that bridge when it comes time to hosting the Mon Colle Knights series on YouTube.
For dinner last night, Mom made some kind of Italian dish, but I was too full from lunch to eat anything more than a salad. Upon coming home earlier, she had brought some eclairs for all of us except herself, with which to celebrate Brian's birthday one day early. Marie asked me if I was gonna have mine that night, but I told them I might have mine for a snack today. Mom said that I could have mine with everyone else.
Anyway, last year, I ranted about the nostalgic spark that came on about 7th grade. Right now, after having played Whacked! once again, I'm starting to look back to 12th grade. At that time, after having halfway completed Chronicles of 7th Grade (and abandoning some 11th grade memoirs that I started a year earlier), I kept a record of events (much like this blog), which I dubbed Senior Year. 11th grade, by far, is my least favorite year to look back to, but even though I still didn't have Mon Colle Knights back until halfway through my first year of college, looking back to 12th grade is one of my favorite years to look back to, only second to 7th grade.
(Speaking of Mon Colle Knights, I did indeed watch an episode the other day, so that I could have played Whacked! and watched an MCK episode on the same day.)
And yeah, Whacked! was one of the most prominent games I've played that year, as were others such as Earthbound, Hentai Columns, Chrono Trigger, and Super Valis IV. But, the main attraction of that year was...
(Drumroll, please...)
GRANDIA II for the Playstation 2.
That's right! It all started when I paid a visit to Grandma Barbara's house in August 2003, and watched Cousin David play his Dreamcast copy of the game. Although I had seen a GamePro walkthrough for that game a year earlier, it was that game that snapped me out of the worst gaming drought I have ever had. Until then, I had been looking for ROMs of anime-style SFC/SNES games and downloading them (see Re: [Former censorship of anime-style games]), along with some non-anime games such as Batman Returns and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. Most of the games in question--that I even did play--were either unplayable due to language barriers or just lame. The most enjoyable of these were Mahou Poipoi Poitto, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, the Power Rangers game, and the aforementioned Super Valis IV, but of course, they paled in comparison to Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which I already had downloaded months earlier.
What appealed to me about Grandia II were the battle themes (especially the boss themes) and the battle system. When I read the aforementioned GamePro walkthrough, I thought it would've just been another RPG, but in fact, this was no Final Fantasy knockoff. This was another step towards realistic combat in video games. I wanted this game since having watched David play it, and rented it when we bought the Playstation 2 on New Year's Eve. The following April, I bought the game on Ebay to play for Easter Break.
That whole year, though, what I wanted even more, was for Mon Colle Knights to be released on DVD. I started my Mon Colle Knights petition just shortly after completing Grandia II. Let me tell you, though, it's epic games (and fanfiction) like this that make me want to write Monster Collection Chronicles at some point in my life. I'll never let go of MCK, even in favor of Makendou. It will always have a place in my heart!