Whoa, didn't even realize it's been that long since we started here on Backlog. Where does the time go?

i love valkyrie profile, but it's real confusing on a first playthrough, especially because so much of it is counter-intuitive compared to other RPGs. anything in particular you want advice on? the tutorial is kind of complete garbage lol :V

Ah, that AnimeEigo panel must have been cool! The original Bubblegum Crisis is what made me a Japanese animation fan. Up until about a year ago I was keeping up with new series (I really got into Flowers of Evil for instance), but there's something about the late '80s/early '90s art style and animation techniques that I really miss. I feel like most shows are too high-gloss these days.

Running the dealer's room is definitely a year-round commitment, but most of the work happens at the con itself. I used to work as 2nd in command for the events committee and that was actually a lot more difficult, in part because we run small events for the local community every month. But I get a lot out of volunteering; to me, it's much more fulfilling that most other work, so I'm happy I still have enough time to do it.

Thanks! I'm not sure what to expect at PAX, but it'll be a learning experience no matter what!

Yeah, Mega Man 1 is crazy hard. Guts Man's level is very frustrating at first, but I find that if you stick with it there is a real rhythm to those platforms that allows you to time yourself. Some of the other stages, such as Fire Man and Ice Man, are frustrating and have no built-in rhythm like that. At least not that I could find. I probably could not beat Ice Man's level without using the Magnet Beam bonus item. And everything gets about ten times harder in Dr. Wily's. All without Es or passwords!

Congrats on beating PS1!

How was Otakon? I used to do the convention circuit in the Rocky Mountain states before I returned to school and ran out of time. I actually run the exhibit hall/dealer's room at Utah's largest anime convention, Anime Banzai. Right now I'm getting set for PAX Prime. It'll be my first time attending.

Apparently! And I'm still not really any closer to finishing my Backlog. lol S'okay though, at least I have over half my games beaten/completed.

Oh nice. How's the game play? Always kind of wondered how it worked. So the writing is pretty trashy, huh? Like, in a funny way or in a bad way? lol

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the Nerd movie as well. I'm thinking as long as we leave before 6 tomorrow (I'm thinking 5:45 or maybe even 5:30 may be best, trying to anticipate potential traffic), we should be alright.

Happy ring day, yo!

Hi! It's going well, mostly.

I really love the 8-bit Mega Mans. The X series is very well-designed, too, but I prefer the bare-bones feel of the older games. MM2 is definitely my favourite of the bunch, possibly in part because it was one of the first platform games I played. My siblings and I rented that game so many times as kids, enough to have bought it many times over I'm sure, be we could never find it for sale. I did own MM1, 3, 5, and 6 for the NES, though.

I may not make it all the way thru 1, though; the Yellow Devil is just super irritating.

I am a big fan of the Phantasy Star games. I've only beaten the first one so far but I'm looking forward to replaying the others once I get around to them. Alis is one of my favourite RPG heroes. I feel that the Phantasy Star series was much more influential than most people realise; I think the Cosmic Phantasy and Lunar franchises, for example, owe most of their cast and setting to Phantasy Star.

Good luck saving Algol!

Sadly I haven't played another game in the serie, they're pretty hard to find where I live, but I'm sure I'll seek them out some day.

Hey, I saw you playing Fire Emblem Awakaning, what do you think of it? Personaly I thought it was amazing.

Haha, then just focus on 1 game, and play other games after beating it and so

Really? I don't even know what they aired or what's airing anyway, I was waiting for the new Higurashi anime, but.. it's seems they postponed it or something!

Hahaha, I know that, don't worry, i'm into Shoujo Ai and Yuri

Hmmmm! well, I don't care about the art if the VN's story is good, and I can't decide if I like the characters before playing the VN so... I will see it myself then

Oh! since you're new to VNs, let me recommend good ones to you, just play all of Nitro+ VNs, and start with Saya no Uta, I played this VN two times over the years, and planning to play it again soon

Hello~ you're welcome and thanks to you too

Oh! haha, well, I hate stalling games or simply just not beating them, so I always make sure to finish them, even if i started to hate the games I play

Really? haha, I haven't watched an anime for a long time now, I need to catch up with what I left, I think it's 3~4 seasons? lol

Sure! Accepted it, thanks

Oh! I noticed that you're playing Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo, because I was planning to play this VN soon, so I wanted to see if it's good or not.

You mentioned most of the things I like about that game, the soundtrack especially. I don't think there's a bad song on it, though I got tired of the default battle music sooner than you did. ^__^ Actually, I was listening to that music tonight as I played Yoshi's Island DS cause I can't stand modern Yoshi's sound effects.

This was one of the first JRPGs I ever played, back when I was 13ish. I had only done Dragon Quest 1 & 3, Final Fantasy 1 & 4, the Zeldas, and Cosmic Fantasy beforehand, and the story still didn't impress me that much, to be honest. What I did like was the three character's personalities (so far as they have them), and the rather sad ending. I think it's cool that the developers were willing to have Dyluk be unsaveable, the boy never be accepted by his village, and Flammie & the Sprite disappear altogether. While some of this felt unmotivated to me, it's much more thought-provoking than just giving everyone a by-the-numbers happy ending. Actually, I also really like how this is like the one game in all of history (slight exaggeration) where a girl is trying to rescue a boy, instead of the other way round.

I loved the the wacky bits, too! ^__^ Scorpion Army and cannon air travel all the way!

Hooray for finishing Secret of Mana! What did you think of the end? The Dark Lich and Mana Beast boss battle are some of my favourite on that system! I also really dig the ending song. ^___^

Yay, you guys are kicking butt on S.o.M.! ^_^b

Oh wow, I didn't know there was a Columns spin off for Sakura Wars! I haven't played any of those games yet, but they are on my radar. And as much of an anime nerd as I am I still haven't seen the anime version, either. Some day.... The mechanic you describe sounds cool, similar to the chaining abilities in Puyo Puyo but much easier to control and plan with.

Yeah, Muramasa defintiely has awesome art. I've only played a few hours on either of the two characters, but so far the difficulty hasn't been bad, either. (If memory serves, you may be able to select your difficulty level? Not sure on that.)

I really liked the songs and characters in Rhapsody, too! I had several minor nit-picks about the game but it was really the blandness of the dungeons that got to me. I have only tried the PS1 version. Although I liked the strategic element of moving around during battle I think I would probably trade that in for an dungeon map system. That would probably make it much more playable to me.

I don't blame you for getting impatient with difficult games. I used to love hard games, but I am so busy these days that I find myself gravitating toward less demanding ones. Then, too, it's not easy to find a game that is challenging without feeling cheap.

Hey, thanks!

I started chatting with your brother randomly and when he mentioned that you were playing Secret of Mana together I thought I should add you, too. ^_^ I was wondering about the game on your banner: I don't recognise it but the layout reminds me of various Puyo Puyo clones. What game is it?

I got Glory of Heracles because I had enjoyed the 8-bit Heracles games translated for emulation, but I really haven't played the new one enough to have an intelligent opinion on it.

I have played a fair way into Muramasa, though, and I really like it. It's an action platformer but much more heavy on the action side than on the platforming; it's a lot like the old Ninja Gaiden games but not nearly as difficult (at least not in the early parts I've gotten to). I don't know of any modern games that play quite the same way so I don't have any more recent comparisons. Very cool art style and fun combat. The story isn't the best but I don't really play that kind of game for the story anyhow.

That's cool you're playing Rhapsody, although I must admit to getting bored with it myself. I was so excited when it came out but the gameplay didn't live up to my expectations. ^^;

Apparently there's now a plain old "Game Boy" option under the system category now, if you would to include that. I did that, forgot how annoying rearranging systems was on this thing. Hope I won't have to do it again for a while, though.

Yeah, that's really bizarre. Since this game only came out about one year ago. And the other ones are even older then that. Not to mention that some of them *coughblackknightcough* weren't too well received.

Happy backloggiversary, bro!