I throw Suikoden 5 into the Playstation 2. Time to get my quest groove on. Okay, that sounded weird. Don't tell anyone about it, all right? Okay, then.
I had just met the warrior Belcoot and he joined my group after I saved him from some local ruffians that don't want him winning the tournament and marrying my sister, the princess. We go back to the Inn he's staying at, where the Inn Girl, Marina, is quite pleased to see him. I mean, she's really glad to see Belcoot. Reeeaaallly happy.
So she makes a gigantic meal for all of us as a reward for saving him. Finally, someone who understands gratitude in these games. During the meal, Belcoot reveals he's an escaped gladiator, who wants to win the Sacred Games and win the hand of my sister so that he can abolish the current gladiator system for good. Okay then.
He falls asleep and Marina tucks him in. I bet she does. We leave the inn, and there's a nice cut scene where my aunt, Lady Sialeeds, who is also my Wind Mage specialist, shows off a lot of cleavage in her barely legal outfit, while flirting with Georg, her protector knight. Thanks for that, game creators! I get the chance to say nice or mean things about Belcoot. I choose to say nice things, since I have to recruit him to my 108 stars later, obviously. Cause when I say nice things about someone, I have an ulterior motive. Count on it!
We go back to the arena area we are staying in and go to bed.
A really nice cut scene shows clips from the rest of the tournament. I'd have liked to have seen a little more of it, but it only really features Belcoot and Childerich, the champion of the main noble Gizel. They both make it to the finals.
It's the next day, and we go to the inn to ensure Belcoot is well protected in case more thugs try to hurt him. But Marina's been kidnapped! What? Who will cook for me now. Will we rescue he? Er...bah...okay!
Belcoot joins the party again and we're off. I sharpen his weapon up to level three at the blacksmith, upgrade one of my own characters' skills on the Suikoden report card like system, changing my accuracy from E to D. I buy Belcoot some real armor, and we're off to the Western Woods, where the kidnappers' note said that Belcoot needed to go alone to a hut that used to be run by woodcutters, but is now abandoned.
Lady Sialeeds knows a special back route since she used to hang out in the woods a lot when she was younger, and engaged to Gizel before they broke it off. Anyway, I wander around the wilderness fighting monsters! Fearsome monsters that include...
Hairballs! They look just like the McDonald's Fry Guys. Nobody steals my French Fries!
Blade Bunny! Yes. It's a big bunny with a sword. HAHAHA. He dies after one hit from Georg.
I find the West Woods, and enter it. Save point, very nice. We proceed down the secret path known by Lady Sialeeds. We are encountered by the fearsome menace known as....
...Snails! Huh? They aren't even called Giant Snails. Just snails. They die easy.
Along the path we run into a Creeper and his Holly Boys. I know, sounds like a German punk rock band right? The Creeper is a giant plant that actually can take a few rounds of hits. The Holly Boys are...leaves. I think they can do some nasty magic, I encountered them in a wooded area in Suikoden 3. Anyway, I kill them before they get anything off. Nice treasures. Ooh, Creeper Beads and a mystery pot that I'll have to indentify at an appraiser's office later.
I get to the hut. Nice cut scene with Georg hiding behind a tree figuring out there's five dudes guarding the front and my other guardian knight girl, er, What'sHerName, spies two inside through a window. Belcoot goes all Wolverine! He busts down the door and then busts the two inside. Marina's okay, she's tied to a chair.
The five other guys run in and we jibber jabber back and forth. They still think that we are imposters, and that there is no way they can allow a foreigner to marry the princess.
We fight! Five on Five. But, we take them out in four rounds of combat and I am never in jeopardy. Cut scene afterwards, we tie them up, and secure them for the town guard.
Marina and Belcoot share a tender moment, its obvious they are in love, which makes it awkward that Belcoot might win the tournament and marry my sister instead. Hmmmm. Good conflict plot writing, the screenwriter in me says.
Marina joins the party in a support role and provides free healing once in a while during fights. Cool Beans. I fight my way through the woods, and reach the save point.
And that is that. Story Advanced. Checkmark Received.
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Since Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories took me such a long time to complete last round, I figure I'll pop it in and see what we have in store this time around. I go back to J.D.'s and apparently the police are about to come in and raid his place. He has a license, so that's not the problem.
The problem is, his prostitutes are currently taking care of Don Leone! Oops. I rush to the front of J.D.'s theater, hop in the limousine just as the cops pull up, and we're off. I have to lose the cops and fortunately the car paint shop isn't too far away. I get in there, and now the cops can't find us anymore.
From there it is a nice calm ride back to Don Leone's mansion. He tells me I did a good job, and that maybe Vincenzo is taking up too much of my time, I should see him personally in the future, he'll take care of me.
That means I now have 4 people I can go see for missions, things are really opening up in this game. Anyway, unexpectedly easy checkmark. That whole thing took less than ten minutes from when I popped in the disc. HaHAHA.
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More Epic Questing, I put in Rogue Galaxy. I have a three person party of my character, Jasper, no I didn't name him, Kisala, my knife wielding pirate, and Deego, an axe-wielding dog man.
Our mission is to get back to Deego's girlfriend, Angela's bar. I hustle over there. This game has battles every thirty seconds. Crazy monsters appear in the middle of the street in cities. It doesn't really make sense, but I have a ton of characters, and I welcome the experience points.
I fight my way over there, takes about twenty minutes to do, especially since I am also checking out the Cowboys-Redskins Sunday Night football game. As a Giants fan, that game is pretty much must-see-tv.
Anyway, we get to the bar, major cut scene. Gale, Deego's once former military mate now nemesis who runs the mob, burned the bar down. Angela is okay.
Flashback cut scene: We finally get to see what ruined Deego and Gale's life. They are aboard a ship fighting, Deego realizes that they were lied to, their enemies are civilians. Deego tries to stop the carnage and gets blasted. Gale goes nuts and storms into the field.
End Flashback. Deego explains that they both quit the military after that, and their lives went badly from there. But, Gale has finally gone too far, and needs to be stopped. Time for us to head to the mines.
However, I have advanced the story, so that's a checkmark.
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Time for some mindless carnage. I put Star Wars: Battlefront into the PS2. Since I won the first battle at Naboo, I get to choose the location for the next battle. I accidentally hit the button with the cursor on Bespin. Oops! I guess I'll have to complete Naboo later.
This game is on Easy Mode, and that's what it is. This arena is pretty fun. There is a base in the middle and then The Empire and us Rebels each have three bases on the other side of the corridor. So basically, it's a log jam in the middle as everyone tries to get across to the other side.
I die 10 times. But I blast 37 of them to smithereens. Most of the time I play a rebel soldier, but I give being a Wookie a try out and its fun for a while. I prefer being able to lob grenades as a soldier to the weird time bombs that the wookies have, but the bowcaster is a great weapon.
After we take their last base the 20 second countdown starts and I am annoyed because they only have one guy left. Coward! Come out and-
He jumps down at me from above! I blast him. I kill the last guy! HAHA. Sir, you died with honor and recieve my respect. Now let me loot your pockets. What do you mean no looting in this game?
We smooshed them with 87 of our guys left alive. That's a checkmark.
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Here's the scoreboard: Round 3
MIND TEASERS: 2 of 6 defeated
Chess Titans - 2
Gabriel Knight - 2
Mahjong Titans - 3
Sherlock Holmes - 2
Spider Solitaire - 3
World Series of Poker - 2
STRATEGY: 0 of 6 defeated
Civilization - 2
Europa Universalis - 2
Gladius - 2
Space Empires - 2
Suikoden Tactics - 2
World of Mixed Martial Arts - 2
SHOOTER: 1 of 6 defeated
Crysis - 2
Fallout 3 - 2
Freedom Fighters - 2
Killzone - 2 (Note to self: Stop getting shot in the head.)
Ring of Red - 2
Star Wars Battlefront - 3
PURE ACTION: 1 of 6 defeated
Devil May Cry - 3
God of War - 2
Madden Football - 2
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams - 2
Soul Reaver 2 - 2
Soul Caliber - 2
SWORD SLASHERS - 1 of 6 defeated
Champions: Return to Arms - 2
Dark Cloud - 3
Drakengard - 2
.Hack Infection - 2
Oblivion: Elder Scrolls - 2
Shadow of Rome - 2 (Must get better at hitting armed guards from behind with clay pots)
EPIC - FANTASY - 1 of 6 defeated
Dragon's Age Origin - 2
Dragon's Quest 8 - 2
Final Fantasy 12 - 2
Suikoden 3 - 2
Suikoden 4 - 2
Suikoden 5 - 3
EPIC - OTHER GENRES 1 of 6 defeated
Kingdom Hearts - 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 2
Mercenaries - 2
Rogue Galaxy - 3
Star Ocean - 2
Xenosaga - 2
ROCKSTAR MISSION BASED 1 of 6
Assassin's Creed - 2
GTA: Liberty City Stories - 3
Hulk - 2
Manhunt 2 - 2
The Warriors - 2
Urbz - 2
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