Short updates on four games, since I haven’t done that much gaming this weekend.

EarthBound: I’ve kind of lost the plot, so I’m just plodding on from town to town seeing the sights. I just got to Fourside after the lengthy Threed saga. Now I think I have to go back to the desert and check if the digger I helped has found any gold yet. Personally I wouldn’t mind keeping the Runaway Five captive for a little longer so I can watch their funky concerts at any time. I’m seriously loving the soundtrack to this game, and the rest of it isn’t bad either. I may have accidentally hit a glitch though, when I was fighting Master Belch. First turn, Polly hits him with Freeze B for 200, Ness throws the Fly Honey at him and he grabs it, Lewis (Jeff?) hits him with the Big Bottle Rocket for 650. Master Belch has been defeated. …Wait, what? Bit of a lucky break there, I guess.

The only issue right now is that I still can’t play more than 30 minutes or so at a time. Given the way Ness’s Dad not-so-subtly urges him to stop playing all the time, maybe the game was designed to be consumed in small doses. Or maybe his Dad is killing my will to continue with his incessant nagging. Chicken or egg, chicken or egg? Anyway, I’ll keep going, I’ll finish eventually. I was supposed to play Dark Cloud 2 this month, but first things first.

Doukyuusei 2: “Classmates 2” in English. A SNES visual novel I read when I don’t feel like playing EarthBound. Has a highly unlikeable protagonist who is a rude, violent, lazy, ungrateful, wannabe-playboy slacker. Also has more girls than I know what to do with. I’ve met at least 10 in three in-game days, and this is just the Prologue. Unlikeable MC aside, it’s pretty well-written (as well-written as a galge can be, anyway) and makes a good time-waster. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish it, though.

Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki: 17 hours and still counting, but barely. It’s shockingly boring for a game with such an interesting premise — imagine how different history would be if we could go back to 1913! — but I’m not ready to give up yet. I have a fairly good tolerance for outright bad games, but when a game is so weak, so lukewarm, so namby-pamby, I seriously don’t know what to do with myself. The voice of experience tells me to quit now and not come crying 10 hours down the line when it still sucks. At the same time, hope springs eternal in the human breast. I’ve only managed to kill one of the Crimson Axe honchos and there are at least three more, then I have three or four Aonians to polish off as well, so it’s going to be a long, long journey. I should really just give up, but no, no. I’ll hang in there a little longer.

Arc Rise Fantasia: Just cleaning up some odds and ends, putting a few bonus bosses in their place. I bought all the Casino weapons and hideous Casino outfits. I did a few extra Arena battles, but I can’t bring myself to fight my friends. I got all the “Ultimate” weapons, but apart from L’Arc’s, Rastan’s and Serge’s, they’re not that good. I was making my way down the Allwise Maze and was almost at the end when I ran out of steam. What happened was I was halfway through the final stage with all the Feldragons when I was called away, and now I don’t feel like doing it all over again. Maybe I’ll save him for another playthrough one day.

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And that’s the gaming situation heading into this week. I might be able to finish one of these this week if I really try, but I doubt it.