Thank you!

So you picked up Atelier Iris 3. I don't plan on skipping it either. It'll be the next game I play in the Atelier series, whenever it is I get back to that.

Wow, you already beat Radiata Stories. Nice pace! I didn't even have time to start it yet let alone catch up . I saved your write-up so that I can read it once I've finished. I know next to nothing about the game so I don't want to colour my impressions before playing.

It's not looking good. I was supposed to start Kingdom Hearts on PS2 already. Also, if you will notice the games on my Now Playing list...well, that doesn't leave a whole lot of wiggle room for progress.

I beat Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball on the Nintendo Entertainment System this evening!

Dusty Diamond's has always been a part of my life and it started in my childhood. My brothers loved NES baseball games and I think we played, rented or owned every single one of them on the system. One year, my brother came from college with Dusty Diamond's as it was a game none of us had ever seen or heard of before. It instantly became a multiplayer classic and just an absolute blast to play with friends. It infected my friend and his little brother as it took forever for him to find a copy. From then on, I'd play with them the same addicting multiplayer experience. Last year, my friend and I went to a gaming convention and he bought Dusty Diamond's in the box, so he sold me a copy of the game and I finally had a copy of my own. After playing it for over 27 years, I finally sat down and played through the game single player.

Besides the multiplayer action, Dusty Diamond's is the most unique baseball game on the NES. For one, it is soft ball, so you can either do a fast pitch or a slow lobbing pitch. I've only ever done slow pitch, so the game feels less competitive of trying to strike each other out and more like a scoring affair. Also, there are no teams. You have a character selection screen of 60 characters, each with their own unique stats, abilities and look to them. Characters such as a demon named Diablo or a witch named Zelda or a guy named Froggy who bounces instead of running are all part of the roster. Also, each place to play is different. You play in a schoolyard where if you hit a window, you are out. The park has a small lake in the middle while the sandlot looks like it is full of dirt. All of this makes for the most fun and unique experiences with baseball on the NES. It feels like a bunch of kids getting together, picking sides, making rules and then playing a quick game of softball. It doesn't feel serious and is just a good time had by all.

Overall, Dusty Diamond's will always have a special place in my heart and childhood for what it is. It was one of those games that I thought I'd never own and has such a lore to it. The game is a staple to me and my friends. The game play isn't perfect or all that deep. With everybody having fast throwing and moving slow, you only a get single or home run. But, for a multiplayer baseball game that is a blast to play and completely unique, Dusty Diamond's can't be beat.

Hey, Happy Birthday!

Mine wasn't too bad. Just added another game to my backlog. The salt in the wound was my mother saying "You're a little old for Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, so I got you this instead." I was like 'oof.'

Happy Birthday, Markies.

I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on Saiyuki, once you've completed it. That's a PS1 SRPG I've always had my eye on. Have you ever played Guardian's Crusade?

I beat Radiata Stories on the Sony Playstation 2 this evening!

I love the developer, Tri-Ace. I mostly love them for the Valkyrie Profile series, with the major games being some of my favorites on each of their respective systems. They make beautiful looking games that are incredibly deep and very unique. So, Radiata Stories has always been a game on my radar, but I never quite pulled the trigger. Finally, my friend gave it to me as a Christmas present and the hype was on. Honestly, I try to avoid hype because it always leaves me disappointed, but I couldn't help myself in being hyped for Radiata Stories. I made the resolution to play through it in 2019 and thankfully the Cookie brought that much earlier than expected.

Radiata Stories is the funniest game I have ever played. Games don't usually make me laugh, but this game did and in spades. The cutaways and one-liners are fantastic. It has this joyful mood to it, which is a shock considering most of Tri-Ace games are very depressing. The story in the game is utterly superb. It makes sense, the good guys and the bad guys motivations. And the overall plot actually makes sense too. It is all understandable and really relatable. With a good story comes good characters and the characters here are so real and wonderful. Some of them are so beautiful and very few of them feel like caricatures. They feel like real people with real problems and real motivations. I just loved talking to all of them and I just wanted to get to know them better. The world is also a wonderful place to explore. It's never too large nor is too small. It never overstays its welcome and never too long.

My two major gripes would be that recruiting characters is very hard and would be impossible without a guide. From finding them to solving all their problems, it would take forever and I wish it was easier to just jump in and do it. Also, the battle system is really simple. You basically mash one button the entire time and it kind of falls apart during heavier boss battles.

Overall, I basically devoured Radiata Stories during my free time. Thanks to some bad weather, I played this game for days at a time. I got sucked into it once I started and I really enjoyed every moment of it. The game is not perfect, obviously, but I could see the past the flaws. It's an enjoyable experiences and one of the most unique games I have ever played.

Out of everyone on here I was hoping you would be the one to notice!

Yeah, I had no idea that was going to happen. I didn't even know that song existed. Hahaha! Let's see if I can get focused and double my rate this year?

I love your banner! Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (for me) were the best Fire Emblem games by a HUGE margin.

Happy new year, Markies!

Your 2019 gaming line-up looks awesome! Depending on my gaming progress, I might join you in doing my Radiata Stories playthrough this year.

I beat Power Stone 2 on the Sega DreamCast this evening!

Back in 2016, I played through the original Power Stone game on the DreamCast. I thought it was fun and rather original game. It had its flaws, but I liked Capcom taking a risk in a different fighting game genre. Obviously, I became interested in trying out Power Stone 2, which was also released on the DreamCast. It took a while to finally find it as the game is a bit expensive and I had to pay a little more than normal for it. However, the intriguing fact about the game was that they changed it from a 1 Vs. 1 fighting game to a 4 Player Free For All. I was curious to see if it mattered or how the game would play out. Thanks to my 2019 Fortune Cookie Marathon, I got to play through it all on the first day of 2019.

The best part about Power Stone 2 are the characters. Capcom usually has some unique characters in their fighting games, but they also have some repetitive ones as well. Here, there are so many characters that you don't see in other games. A little boy who is the son of an inventor, basically Jasmine from Aladdin, Voldo from Soul Calibur, a crazed chef and a Victorian woman dressed in a Victorian Dress are all the crazy characters you will see. And they all play vastly different and very unique. It was fun to go through the game and see each special move. The four player mechanic really didn't do much for me. Though, the two winners of two stages would go on to face a boss together and that was a very interesting mechanic. The fighting is very fast paced and it is hard to see what is going on some of the time.

The game is incredibly short, like almost too short. There are only 5 stages, 3 regular and 2 large bosses. And the final boss' stage is the worst as you have to fight waves of enemies and then the boss all in one life. Unless Power Stones randomly drop, you become severely handicapped and can be killed in moments. Also, you get the same ending with each character which was a shame because the characters were my favorite part.

Overall, I think Capcom tried to create a Smash Brothers game with Power Stone 2. Unfortunately, it made it feel more generic and took away any of the strategic combat. It became more of a button masher. The fighting was enjoyable and the characters were good, but it just did not have that tense or satisfying element compared to the first game. A unique idea and a fun game, but somewhat lacking.

Thanks!

That's cool that you do cookie marathons like that. It's how I was going through my 3DO backlog at one point, but I dropped it prematurely. I should give the console's library another go, soon...

So you select several games for marathon via fortune cookie? Nice idea.. I only select one at a time... I'm glad that you were lucky with 2019 year fortune cookies.