a.k.a. Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS 2. I have very fond memories of the first game, even though I died 14 times in 4 hours and concluded it just wasn’t for me. I’m playing Sabaku no Majou with the same “I’ll quit when it gets too much for me” mindset, but after 6 hours and only 3 deaths, I think I’m finally getting the hang of this Mystery Dungeon stuff.

I’ve been able to make better progress this time due to a number of factors:

1. This game has more of a story than the previous one. It involves a demon castle and a princess with special powers, nothing too unique but fun in its own way. I’ll save you, Princess… whatever your name is!

2. The game is easier because you don’t start over from the very first dungeon whenever you die. You do lose your items and go back to level 1, but you get to try again from the bottom of the dungeon you were currently working on.

3. It’s also a lot easier because there are helpful items like a bank, recovery pots, revival herbs (auto-revive once), Take Home scrolls (flee the dungeon with everything you’ve got), healing bracelets, etc. All these things may have been in the first game, but I never got far enough to find out.

4. I actually paid attention to the explanations and instructions this time round. Last time I tried to play anyhow and figure things out as I went along, but this time I took the time to pay attention to what people said and what items do. Thanks to that I’ve been able to make good use of the storehouse, the blacksmith and the training dojo to prolong my life.

5. I actually use whatever I pick up this time round. Trying to hoard items when you’re on the verge of death is an extremely foolish idea. Why die now when you can die later? So I’ve been using the scrolls and staves and pots like there’s no tomorrow. You’ll lose them all if you get yourself killed anyway.

6. I’ve gotten a bit more experience in dungeon crawling over the past year and a half, and now I’m used to unfair dungeon design and cheating bosses. I don’t take it personally when I die any more, it’s all part of the game.

Doesn’t mean I’m going to finish it, but I’m doing to play a little longer and see where the game takes me. If nothing else I’d like to beat the battle in the Tenshuukaku place where the full-moon ceremony is being held. I made it to the boss last time, but I had no healing items left so he killed me in one hit ;___; Won’t make the same mistake next time.

Btw, you might have been expecting me to be playing Phantasy Star Portable 2 by now because of my last post. I thought of it. I want to. But I’m holding myself back for three reasons. One, I just finished playing an Action RPG in the form of Star Ocean. Two, it hasn’t even been three months since I finished the first game, gotta let a little time pass first. Three, there’s no Phantasy Star Portable 3. If I rush into this and finish it too quickly then I won’t have anything else to look forward to. Then what’ll I do, huh? Huh? Sega should take stuff like that into account when designing games from now on.