Regular readers will notice that I’ve been playing the Nintendo DS game Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia a lot lately. In fact, I’ve been neglecting my PlayStation 3 because of it. The reason is because I was stuck on one particular stage, and became obsessed with defeating it. Well, today during my lunch hour, I finally defeated that stage. I feel immense relief. And a soreness in my right arm and shoulder.

First, a little background. You may remember about how addicted I am to the Castlevania series of games, especially the ones on Nintendo’s handheld systems. I recently finally finished Portrait of Ruin after playing it for like two years. At that time, I said I was going to rush out and buy the next game, Order of Ecclesia. But then I started researching it. The reviews were almost unanimous that the game was interesting and somewhat different from the other CV games, but that it was also punishingly hard. And if the reviewers, who are hardcore players, are saying it’s too hard, then it must be impossible for us more casual players. But the lure was too strong and I gave in and bought it.

And the reviewers are right. I don’t remember ever playing a CV game this hard, except maybe some of the ones on the old original 8-bit Nintendo system. The enemies and obstacles are formidable and the AI actually shows some signs of intelligence. The game doesn’t give anything away – you have to work hard for every inch of progress. In past CV games, if you had trouble getting through a certain area or defeating a certain boss, you could always backtrack and build up your experience level (known as “grinding”) until you reached a level where you were powerful enough and had enough maximum health points to bull through whatever the game throws at you. In Ecclesia, it’s harder to grind. And going up a level or two doesn’t always help you. The game is very spare with providing you with health restoring potions and items. Expect to die a lot. There’s one early level where you’re forced to go through a forest and these flying cyclops octopus things swoop down on you, where they latch onto your head, and lift you up in the air and suck out your life force. They are difficult to avoid and to hit, at least until you acquire the axe weapon. There are swarms of them, and at the same time you’re trying to avoid and/or kill other enemies, including axe-throwing armor guys and arrow-firing skeletons. It’s incredibly frustrating, but also satisfying when you finally make it through.

The bosses in the game are also extremely difficult to defeat. They often appear at the beginning or middle of an area instead of the traditional end. There’s a giant skeleton in the Prison Island level that can only be defeated by carefully hanging out at a strategic spot using a magic sling/tether thing and tediously lobbing axes at it for several minutes until your fingers cramp up or bleed. But that’s nothing compared to the giant crab at the beginning of the Lighthouse area. OMG! That’s the thing took me so long to finally defeat. Normally in a case like this, I would just continually grind until I got to a high enough attack/defense level. And/or I would buy enough health restoring items, in order to take my hits and just mash at the thing until it dies. But extra health doesn’t really seem to help much with Crabby Boy. In fact, it’s pretty easy to learn his patterns early on and avoid taking damage. The problem is that the boss fight occurs in multiple vertical-scrolling stages inside a tower. Between stages, you have to leap up platforms in order to escape the pursuing crab. If it just involved leaping, it wouldn’t be so bad. But this stage of the game requires you to master a play mechanic (the aforementioned sling/tether thing, aka “Magnes”) that is extremely wonky and difficult to control. Most of the time, I ended up accidentally flinging myself into the crab instead of away from him. That means almost instant death.

I did have to end up doing some grinding in order to defeat the crab. I rose up a couple of experience levels in order to increase my health meter. I figured out how to get the shopkeeper to finally sell me health potions, and stocked up on those and meat (which also restores some health). So then, instead of relying on my magic Magnes slinging abilities, I was able to actually get the crab to “push” me up the tower in the final stage of the battle. Every time I fell into him, I would lose a lot of health. But by constantly restoring my health and not dying, the crab’s body ended up propelling me within range of the platforms I had to reach without having to engage the stupid Magnes. Then I just had to drop an elevator on his butt and I was done.

That doesn’t mean I’m done with the game. In fact, I’ve completed a very low percentage of it. From reading the reactions of other players on various forums, it appears that the crab battle is where most people who bail on the game give up. It’s kind of like those introductory engineering classes in college where they try to weed out the people who think they’re fit for an engineering career but really aren’t. I don’t envision clear sailing from here on out, but at least I feel more comfortable in the boat. I’m feeling less frustrated and I think I may have a chance with the rest of the game.

I’m just not looking forward to the inevitable level where you must scale a different tower, one with moving platforms and turning gears, while Medusa Heads try to knock you back down and/or turn you to stone. There’s one of those in every CV game and they’ve nearly made me explode with frustration and anger in the past.

I apologize for the long video game digression, which I’m sure bores and/or mystifies most of my gentle readers. But y’know, there’s few things in life more important than Castlevania!

Next: More Batman.

Latre.

Pet Peeve of the Day: How a certain commonly searched-for phrase in Google leads to a post of mine even though not all the words in the phrase appear in the post. And my post is #1 under the search results! I don’t like this because 1) this search term is not necessarily how I want people to arrive at my blog, and 2) there are so many instances of the term in my statcounter statistics that it ends up pushing other phrases off the results (statcounter only saves the last 500 pageloads unless you upgrade to a paid account). Hint: The target post title has “swindle” in it.

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: I don’t have one, since the good phrases keep getting pushed off.

Videogame(s) Played Recently: Guess.

The Atari 2600 console only had a joystick for a controller, with a single button off to the side. That kind of game is easy to recreate on the iPhone. Instead of a joystick, you have the accelerometer/tilt sensor in the iPhone, which you use to move your pixel around. Instead of pushing the button to drop an object, you tap the screen anywhere. It’s that simple! Moving around takes a little getting used to, but that wasn’t the most straightforward, tightly controlled thing on the old Atari anyway. I like how you can get out of the application at any time, and when you get back in, it starts up exactly where you left off. No leaving the console on!

I downloaded it and I’ve been playing around with it some, including defeating the game on “Easy”, which takes just a few minutes. Wow, nostalgia time. Tonight I think I’ll make some non-microwave popcorn and watch reruns of Dallas.

Latre.

P.S. But of course what I really want is this.

Jogged Today: Yes (@ 27°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:

• “Beauty On The Beach” (Hugh Cornwell)
• “Bombers Bay” (Echo & the Bunnymen)
• “No Surprises” (Radiohead)
• “I Swallowed a Dragonfly” (Heartless Bastards)
• “Green Is Green” (Fretblanket)
• “You’re Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned” (Alan Parsons Project)
• “(the crux of the cameraman)” (Hallelujah the Hills)

Pet Peeve of the Day: The CDs I’ve bought lately online have the security tag stuck to the tray card itself instead of the jewel case. In order to get it off, I end up destroying the tray card somewhat. Aaargh!

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “someone stole my fork”.

Videogame(s) Played Recently: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)

Since the next DS Castlevania game, Order of Ecclesia (love those names) is coming out today, I decided it was time to go ahead and finish off the previous game. I am totally addicted to the Castlevania games. I started playing them back on the old 8-bit NES, but I really became attached to the ones on handheld consoles, and I believe I have gone all the way through all the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and DS games in the franchise. Portrait of Ruin, the second CV game for the DS after Dawn of Sorrow, came out almost two years ago. I probably bought it shortly after it was released, so I’ve been working on it for a loooong time. Of course, there were periods when I didn’t play it for months as I concentrated on other games or other activities. I like to savor the Castlevania games. In fact, I was up to the part just before the battle with the final boss for many months now, but I choose not to do battle with him and instead was concentrating on completing all the side quests, finding all the items, weapons and spells, getting 100% on all the maps, and powering up the characters. But yesterday I decided I might as well go do that final battle and get it over with even though I wasn’t 100% on everything. It didn’t take me long to win either. So I finally got to experience the “good ending” and the end credits.

And since I saved right before that battle, I can still go complete those other quests at my leisure and then do the final battle again, even more fully powered up. Or I can start all over again with many of the items I had at the end. Or I can start again on a harder mode, or as different characters I’ve unlocked. There’s a lot of replay value in these games. Assuming I keep playing, I’ll probably do the first. I never did make it all the way through the Nest of Evil, so I definitely want to go back and complete that. I guess I still want to go to 100% and then do the ending again. Or maybe I’ll just buy the new game and start on that and forget the old one. Ah, the dilemmas of a video game addict.

The Castlevania games on the handhelds are fairly formulaic. They are old fashioned side-scrolling 2D games where you play a character who can wield many different weapons and magic spells. (Weapons-wise, I like the whips the best, which is all that were available in the original NES CV games.) You traverse through a huge castle battling monsters from horror and mythology, until you finally meet up with some version of Dracula whom you have to best. Along the way, you rise in levels and power depending on how many foes you kill and items you find. Each game tries to mix it up a bit and vary the formula. Portrait let you play as two different characters (male warrior Jonathan and a female magician Charlotte), who could be on the screen at the same time. You could switch at any time between which one you were controlling, and the other one would flail around doing semi-logical things to help out. It was pretty cool, but I would often turn off Charlotte because she wasn’t very powerful and would just get in the way, making things confusing if there was lots happening on screen. I’m glad the new game is going back to the one-character scenario.

There are some who say that the Castlevania games have run their course, but I say keep bringing them on! True, they do need to vary the enemies more – the same ones keep popping up from game to game. And the level designs need to be a bit more innovative, creative, and artful. But no matter what they do, I’ll keep buyin’ ‘em and playin’ ‘em!

Latre.

Pet Peeve of the Day: Bicyclists in downtown rush hour traffic talking on their cell phones while peddling. C’mon! Do you have some kind of death wish?

Happy Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “i don’t believe in god and im very happy”.

Videogame(s) Played Yesterday: Linger in Shadows (PS3). I downloaded this from the Playstation Network because it looked interesting and mysterious, and was only $3. It’s not really a game per se, but “interactive art”. Really hard to describe unless you’re experiencing it. There’s some 3D animation that you can make go backwards and forwards, and you can also manipulate objects within the animation. Doing certain manipulations in certain ways causes a breakthrough to the next scene. I played around with it for a half hour or so and managed to wrack up a number of PS3 trophies. I’m not sure exactly how I did it. The goals are not really defined. That also unlocked more scenes supposedly. I’m not sure how to get to them. The artwork is very nice and it’s fun to play around with, though I think recreational drug users would get more out of it. This is actually the kind of thing that I’d like to see more of on the Playstation Network. At least it’s showing some level of creativity not normally associated with videogames. It’s awfully weird but engaging and there’s a sense of humor about it. Oh, those wacky Europeans!

Latre.

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “why does the monarch hate dr. venture?”.

Note: Commenting was accidentally turned off in yesterday’s post. Sorry about that. It’s back on now. Thanks to InfK for the heads-up.

Dear Greatest Customer Ever,

-The Netflix Team

As if I can afford, in this current economic climate, to spend $1 more on movie rentals a month! The hubris! Harumph, I’m on the cheapest plan and I usually don’t watch movies fast enough to get my money’s worth as it is.

What about the people who mostly watch DVDs but only rent the occasional Blu-ray? You’re paying the additional money for Blu-ray access, not per disc. So those people are screwed.

What’s next? Are gas stations going to start charging more for premium fuel??

In other news, all undecided or McCain voters should read this week’s Rolling Stone cover story about the “Maverick”. I realize it’s a hatchet job by an admittedly liberal-biased periodical, but if even half of what it says is true, this man is not at all fit to run the country. Scary stuff.

In really funny news, the U.S. National Debt Clock has run out of digits! Get it – the National Debt is now too big to display there in its entirety! They had to use the dollar sign slot for the extra digit. Ha ha! Isn’t that humorous?!?

Two more reasons why it must be fun to live in Dubai. Why wasn’t I born a rich oil sheik?

Finally, an explanation of why I’m not a very good video game player: It’s genetic! Was that TMI? (Yes, I know that The Daily Show mentioned this in a recent episode, but I wrote this before I saw that.)

Question: Why isn’t the iPhone Developer SDK available for Windows?

Latre.

Pet Peeve of the Day: Direct mail election ads. I got about a thousand of them yesterday.

• NetFlix is talking about charging extra for HiDef movies. Though I suppose it’s inevitable, I’m not happy about it. I came really close to canceling my NetFlix subscription awhile back because I wasn’t watching DVDs fast enough and so was losing money on the monthly subscription. What convinced me to stay with them was the fact they carried Blu-Ray discs at no extra cost. I knew I was going to be getting a PS3, with its built-in BR player, and I also knew that I was not going to go hog-wild crazy buying discs this time like I did with DVDs. I was going to concentrate on renting, and NetFlix made that easy. If you add a movie to your queue and say you have a Blu-ray player, then it sends you the BR edition of the movie if there is one, the DVD version otherwise. No muss or fuss, no decisions to make. I did end up getting a PS3 and sticking with NetFlix, and that’s worked out well. What we’ll usually do is get the movie from the library if it’s on DVD only, and rent from NetFlix if it’s available on Blu-ray or if the library hold list is too long. I’ve been a very good boy and have only bought a few BR discs – ones I know I will watch more than once or twice. If NetFlix is going to raise the price for BR discs, I’ll probably just complain but stick with them. The library doesn’t carry BR discs (yet), so I suppose I don’t have much choice. I certainly don’t want to start purchasing a lot of discs again. I don’t got the money or the room. Someday they may not even carry DVDs at all, though I’m sure that’s a long way off. Blu-ray is not going to replace DVD any time soon. But when it does happen, they’ll probably raise the price on DVDs, since those will be “rare”.
• I saw a commercial that says Comcast is giving away Nintendo Wii’s to new customers who sign up for their “Triple Play” deal. Tempting, but not even that can get me to sign up with The Devil. I’m happy enough for now with my DSL for Internet and my Dish Network for TV. What amazes me is that Wii’s are still pretty hard to come by, aren’t they? Nintendo has a big problem keeping up with demand in the US. And yet they’ve allocated some huge number of them to Comcast to give away in a promotion? Feh. That sucks.
• Spellchecker agendas. I was sending an e-mail to my co-workers the other day about Barack Obama. The spellchecker in Microsoft Outlook said that “Obama” was misspelled and it suggested an alternative. Can you guess what that alternative was? Hint: Microsoft is a tool of the right wing. I guess this explains the frequent faux pas on Fox News – they must use Microsoft products for spellchecking in their crawls and such.
• Bird poop. Forgot to mention that after the reunion dinner on Saturday night, we got to my car in the hotel parking lot to find the front of it covered in mounds of thick bird dung. I actually didn’t see how bad it was until the next morning. I was parked under a tree, so maybe there was a nest of very big birds up there. It looked like I had driven the car into a pile of manure. Took me awhile to clean it all of. That’s never happened to me before.
• Cars that decide to take control when they think you’re in danger. That’s just all kinds of wrong. How am I going to weave in and out of traffic on a busy highway if the car keeps putting the kibosh on it? I have enough trouble just getting the car to accelerate properly when I’m making a mad dash left or right turn into traffic. I don’t need artificial governors on my aggressive driving.

Okay, I guess there’s no theme after all.

Latre.

Jogged Today: Yes (@ 63°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:

• “(Nadia Opening) Blue Water” (Shiroh Sagisu)
• “Greenland” (The Kingsbury Manx)
• “I Take Bribes” (Close Lobsters)
• “That’s What She Said” (The Greenberry Woods)
• “Blue Side” (Rooney)
• “Mondo Sinistro” (Al Stewart)
• “Yourself” (Manic Street Preachers)

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “immature passive-aggressive sex fantasy responsibility therapist”.

One of the big announcements was that Sony is going live with its video download service tonight, with support from many major studios. So now you can download SD and HD movies and TV shows directly from the PlayStation Network (PSN) to your PlayStation 3 hard drive and watch them from either the PS3 or the PlayStation Portable (PSP). There are different pricing options for renting and purchasing. Seeing as how it takes me a very long time to download game or firmware updates from PSN due to my apparently slow wireless and DSL connections, I don’t see this as a service I’m going to be using any time soon. The thing would be downloading all night. I’ll stick with NetFlix. But it’s an interesting idea and undoubtedly the wave of the future.

It looks like Microsoft and Sony had a lot of interesting things to announce, but Nintendo not so much. They’re resting on their Wii and DS laurels. There’s still not much in the way of interesting third-party games coming out for the Wii, and their announcements do nothing to nudge me any closer to purchasing a Wii. The most interesting (and unexpected) Nintendo announcement was the unveiling of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS. Nintendo finally gets a GTA game, and it’s on the DS instead of the Wii! Bizarre. It’s likely I’ll be picking that up when it comes out, especially if the gameplay and use of the stylus is innovative.

Which brings me to a Pet Peeve of the Day: The useless divisions in video game fandom. People, especially younger people, seem incredibly invested in supporting a single company, to the point of endlessly slagging the others. Really, you people reading this who have no exposure to the video game world (probably most of you) wouldn’t believe how strong the vitriol is. I’ve never quite understood it. If I could afford to, and had time to play more games than I do, I would own a Nintendo Wii and a Microsoft Xbox 360 as well as my Sony PS3, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Xbox (I recently traded in my PS2, since my PS3 will play my PS2 games). The main reason I bought a PS3 instead of a 360 or a Wii was because of the Blu-Ray drive. The second reason is that despite the lack of games, it seemed to me like it had the most potential and longest lifespan. That doesn’t mean I don’t see the value in the other machines. The 360 has an incredible library of games and the Wii has some really innovative and fun gameplay. I did actually consider the 360 before I made my PS3 purchase, because it was also going to get GTA4 and Bionic Commando like the PS3. And though the PSP is a more powerful handheld machine than the DS, I still find myself playing the DS more often because of the interesting design and because there are more of the kinds of games I like to play on it.

But you see a lot of very immature and vulgar rantings in the forums and blogs and such about how one particular box is the best and the rest are crap. It doesn’t make any sense. It takes brand loyalty too far. They’re all good systems. It’s like someone’s choice of a video game system is a reflection of who they are, and so they have to defend it to the death. Well, we are talking about teenagers here, for the most part, and they’re still trying to find their identity.

I pay particular attention to the Sony announcements because my main machine is the PS3. But I also keep track of what’s interesting in the other worlds. It’s all connected. Someday there may be a killer must-have 360-exclusive game that will make me run right out and buy a 360 system. Heck, I bought both a PS2 and an original Xbox. And if Wii’s ever become readily available, I may pick one up to use as a party machine. It’s all good, as someone once said.

So, can’t we all just… oh, never mind.

Latre.

Jogged Today: Yes (@ 69°F), though it was a short run with no tunes since the iPod battery was dead. It’s been awhile since I last ran because I managed to pull some leg muscles or something when I was doing yardwork, pulling weeds, on the 4th of July weekend. Yes, I’m pathetic.

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “hate my prius”.

Not only did I finish God of War: Chains of Olympus on the PSP a few weeks ago, I also just completed Portal (one of the games in The Orange Box compilation) on the PS3. I first mentioned Portal way back in this post about the Jonathan Coulton song “Still Alive”, and now I’ve finally fulfilled my promise and played and finished the game.

Portal is not your typical computer/video game. It’s kind of a like a first-person shooter in that you’re looking through the eyes of a character holding a gun, but the gun is actually a “Portal Gun” that opens up teleportation doorways. It’s more of a puzzle game. Although there is some pretty intense action in the later stages, it’s all about figuring out how to get out of each room (or “testchamber”) by placing the portals properly and using them to redirect things or to go through them. There is some very dark humor, as the computer-voice antagonist GLaDOS who initially acts like she is trying to help you eventually taunts you and then tries to kill you. The dialog she spouts is very, very funny and filled with double meanings. She keeps promising you “cake” as a reward, though as the game goes on, the prospect of actually getting any cake seems dubious. (As the graffiti on the walls says “The cake is a lie”.)

Some have complained that the game is too short, but I thought it was the perfect length. There are 20 testchambers (0-19) and you can get through the first 15 or so pretty quickly, but then it gets really, really hard. And then the last testchamber is very long. It seems almost as long as the whole rest of the game put together. Eventually you have to match wits directly with GLaDOS while the clock is ticking down, and it gets very intense. Took me awhile to get through that final battle, but I finally did it today. I was very happy. I finally got to see the final scene and the end credits and to hear “Still Alive” in context as it was meant to be heard. My girlfriend is just happy she no longer has to hear the annoying computer voice, although she has memorized some of the dialog and hits me with it from time to time.

It’s been a long time since I’ve completed two video games within a year, much less within a month. I’ve also been getting back into Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin and have started playing Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the DS, and now I’ll finally get back to Grand Theft Auto IV and Heavenly Sword on the PS3. Although I have a really strong desire to go back and play Portal again with the added challenges that got unlocked when I completed the game. There’s no better high than figuring out how to complete a level and outwitting GLaDOS!

Latre.

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “someone stole my wd mybook”.

Barely made this post under the wire!

Although maybe the tainted food is actually celery?? That would be cool too.

Thankfully, Taco Bell doesn’t use cilantro. I think. But they are into taunting me. In today’s paper, there was another coupon for a Spicy CrunchWrap Supreme for $2.89. Aaargghhh! This is driving me frakkin’ crazy! I want to drive down to my local TB right now and present that coupon and see what they do. But I have to go to bed. Plus, only the drive-thru is open at this time of night, and that wouldn’t quite work. I need to wave it in someone’s face.

Why must they torment me so??

Latre.

Jogged Today: Yes (@ 63°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:

• “OK Apartment” (The Oranges Band)
• “Unwashed Uncool” (Butterfly Child)
• “The Man With the Blurry Face” (Firewater)
• “Don’t Make Me a Target” (Spoon)
• “Day One, Amanda Year” (Baskervilles)
• “My Life In Reverse” (Maxïmo Park)

Pet Peeve of the Day: The new 2.40 system update firmware for the PlayStation 3, which introduces the in-game cross-media bar and a new “trophy” achievement system at last, is apparently causing some people’s PS3s to stop working. The problem is widespread enough that Sony has pulled the update. Of course, I downloaded the update this morning as soon as it was available. I haven’t had any problems, but I only briefly tested it out this morning by playing a little Portal. Apparently there are no reports of problems after a successful install, so I guess I’m okay. I don’t want no $500 brick.

The Top Three Monster-Related Search Terms Of The Day That Led To This Blog:

1. “mothra belly”
2. “gamera the flying turtle”
3. “jody foster airframe”.

Portrait of an obsession:

I haven’t talked about video games in awhile, mostly because I haven’t been playing them as much as I’d like. I got derailed playing Grand Theft Auto IV on the PS3 when I bought The Orange Box and started playing one of its games, Portal (more on that later). On the Pennsylvania trip, I brought along my Nintendo DS and my Sony PSP, though I ended up not playing the DS at all and the PSP only a little. You never have as much “leisure” time on vacations as you think you’re going to have.

The only game I played on the trip was God of War: Chains of Olympus. And actually, by that point, I had gotten to the very last stage and was fighting the last boss. It’s a pretty short game, but it took me a long time to get that far because of all my various other distractions and the PS3 games. I usually only play the PSP when I’m away from home or when I’m at home and can’t use the TV to play the PS3 because the girlfriend is watching it. But I swear, it probably took me nearly as long to beat Persephone (the last boss) as it did to play the whole rest of the game. As I’ve said before, even though I have a lot of games and systems, I’m just a casual gamer. And I’m old and my reflexes are slow. However, I wanted to prove to myself that I could finish the game on Hero (Normal) mode, instead of Easy mode, which is how I played the original God of War (1) on the PS2. I always regretted not going back and doing it again on Normal or Hard.

So… I read all the tips I could on that last Chains of Olympus fight and it still didn’t seem to help much. It was driving me crazy. I played that battle over and over again on the trip and only once made it through the first stage of the two stage battle. And after I got back, I would pick up the PSP every once in awhile and try it again and still not make it. But over the last week or so, I told myself I was going to beat the thing if it was the last thing I did. I was definitely getting better at it. I got to the point where I could make it through that first stage pretty easily and without losing hardly any health (which doesn’t really matter, since health gets replenished at the end of that stage anyway). But the second stage was kicking my ass. I understood the defense and the patterns and the play mechanics, and like how you had to reflect the fireballs back at Persephone and all that. I got pretty good at that, but I still couldn’t seem to knock that last bit of life out of her to trigger the final endgame. Her attacks would just get more and more relentless, and mental and physical fatigue would set in before I could finish her off. Last night, I picked up the game before going to bed and ended up staying up till 12:30 trying to beat it, even though I knew I was getting up at 5:30. “Just one more time, just one more time!” I even left the PSP on all night, so I wouldn’t have to start the battle all over from the first stage) and played it first thing when I got up in the morning, still no go. And what do you think I dreamed about all night?

But finally… finally… tonight I did it! I came home after work, took a much-needed nap, ate dinner and watched a few TV shows, and then picked up the PSP. It actually took me a few tries to get through the first stage of the final battle, so that had me worried. But then I started to get into the “zone” and things picked up. It took me probably three or four tries on that second stage, and then I had her. I didn’t even change my tactics all that much – I think my brain and my hands were just finally to the point where they were working as a team. When Persephone fell on the ground and the dark mist surrounded her and I stepped into the circle of light to fire the sun shield and trigger that last game-ending mini-game, it was the greatest feeling in the world. Okay, there are some greater feelings, but not many while you’re holding a glowing battery-operated piece of plastic in your hand. According to a study, men experience a more intense level of activity in their cranial “reward zone” than women when succeeding at videogames, supposedly a throwback to the caveman days of conquering and dominating. So at least there’s a gender-specific biological reason for my addiction.

I watched the final cutscene, which didn’t interest me all that much except as a reward for my hard work. And then I even sat through the endless credits – apparently it takes as many people to produce a video game these days (even a handheld one) as it does to make a summer event movie. And then there was yet another final cutscene, which I think leads into the first God of War (the PSP game is a prequel), but I can’t remember, since it’s been a long time since I played that one.

Chains of Olympus is definitely the best game I’ve played on the PSP and probably the best game for the system. I was they were all like that, as the PSP is lacking in that department. I rate it a 9 out of 10 (I really don’t like the button-press mini-games). It was a really fun game with great production values, cutscenes that looked better than some computer animated movies, good voice acting, finely tuned controls, and an interesting story with some emotional resonance. And boobies. I love the Greek mythology background of the game, since I’ve been really into that stuff ever since junior high or so and the GoW games seem to be pretty accurate within that realm, from what I remember. Although I don’t think Persephone had wings and could hurl chunks of earth around. I did not think the game was too short, which was the primary complaint of critics. Maybe it was too short for the hardcore gamers, but not for us old dudes. Heck, look how long it took me to finish it! Now that I’ve beat the game on Normal mode, it unlocked God (Very Hard) mode as well as a series of “Challenges”, some costume changes, and some videos and such to watch. I’m not sure I want to do any of that right now, as I need to get back to the PS3. But it might be fun to try some of those challenges and to beat the game at a higher difficulty level. Although N might kill me if I start screaming even louder at that piece of plastic.

I am Kratos! I am the future God Of War! Hear me roar!

Now I can sleep. And now my hands will stop cramping. Amen.

Latre.

Pet Peeve of the Day:

Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “taco bell crunch wrap cost”.