In fact, that is the reason why I entered Vana’diel to begin with! To fight wyrms like Nidhogg and Fafnir with my friends, to go against monsters that are larger than life and do it with my friends. That I did. I never defeated any of the big important ones, but we fought them. That was enough for me. Then two things happened.

I was finally meeting resistance from my other friends. One of them started out with us and never got past level 4 BLM (Black Mage) because he could never figure out how to get his spells. So his ridicule was mostly because he was jealous of our levels, or because he was upset at his own failure. The other was from people who actually did matter. Specially from a certain woman.

I was also, kind of upset on where my life was going. I was working this dead-end job with the local news paper (El Nuevo Dia). They are going through rough times there. They kept switching around our times to save themselves from having to pay for work during holidays. Basically the only way I could advance in my line of work was if my superior either retired or died. I really couldn’t wait for that long.

So I decided to leave it. Final Fantasy XI is seriously for the hardcore. It is unforgiving to anybody who doesn’t really spend all of his/her time in it. That woman I was talking about that was preoccupied about my life because of my ‘addiction’ to FFXI, shes level 64+ in WoW. Obviously, thats a way more casual game. I would spend hours and hours farming just to be able to party to get Merit points.

I would spend hours and hours doing Sky runs and making our way through Chains of Promathia to access Sea. When this was not going on I’d be playing with my Mannequin with the new Puppetmaster job class and fending off hordes of enemies in Aht Urghan. It was time consuming. It was awesome. It was addictive. It was a problem.

The endgame kept getting bigger and further away. I was never going to be able to make it into the linkshell I needed to be in to be able to fight Jailer of Love and get subsequently owned by Absolute Virtue. I was never going to be able to figure out what was up with the mounted knight that would randomly appear through Bhaflau Thickets.

So in August 2006 I left.

Now the news that a new boss fight takes about 24 hours to finish does not surprise me in the least, it actually, makes me wish I still had that kind of time and could just spend countless hours without worrying about my job, girlfriend or future.

Until we meet again, Vana’diel. Farewell from Morouxshi (75RNG/37NIN) member of RagnarocK, and a proud Elvaan archer from the Republic of Bastok on Leviathan!

Just the announcement of Diablo III boosted the sales of the Diablo II battlechest to the top of the Amazon.com sales charts. Incredible what a press release can do. I was amongst one of those people who immediately went out and picked it up fromm my local GameStop (this is the third time I purchase Diablo II… always make sure you take your games with you if you move >.>). As the screenshot shows, I am quite happy playing with my Lv 6 Amazoness. How does this make any sense? I have a PS3 and have beaten MGS4 3 times…

Well turns out its not about that. Its not about how good the graphics are or how great the soundtrack is. It is not about how many countless hours of development went into the product. Its about the game bringing something to the table that is simply unique. Something that can’t be replicated. I don’t consider myself a retro-gamer but I love me some Tetris. I always have to play Galaga or Raiden whenever I see one of those wonderful arcade machines somewhere, even though I have experienced the challenge of Ikaruga. I don’t even own a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP and yet I only have one game in my hacked iPhone, Super Punch-out!

Classics are games that remind you of why you play games. With Super Punch-out! it is the simplicity of the controls that makes it so fun to play during my commute to work.

It can be anything really, new classics are created all the time. In fact, let me point out the breakout hit of 2007, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Even with its quirks it is a beautiful piece of software. The costumization options you get and the RPG type elements are a welcoe touch to the genre, not saying this is the first time that has been in a FPS, they just made it exciting and interesting. It will most likely be a game that will be talked about years from now. Just like Halo II was discussed before it.

Games are about having fun. I can still remember beating Psychonauts and how interesting the level design was in that game. I remember the years (about 3) that I spent playing FFXI with my Lv.75 RNG/NIN. I remember when SSX Tricky came out, how fun that was with my brothers.

Theres games that I remember because they just meant something to me. Final Fantasy VII, the first game to ever make me shed a tear (I am dying for a re-make of that one, specially after Square-Enix teased it), showed me what storytelling in a game can achieve. The first time I played Metal Gear Solid I was literally scared when I was trying to fight against Psycho Mantis. How did he know what games I had been playing and how did he move my controller? (note: MGS was the first game to feature rumble for the PS2, if not the first then amongst the first) Ten years later, with Metal Gear Solid 4 I finally get closure to what happened that day, and it is just amazing at how the game has matured and grown with me ( MGS4, Act 4, -amazing-).

It is these things that stay with you. A video game is no longer just going up and down and hitting a square with your rectangle. They tell stories, they involve you into their world. They force you to make desicions that you do not want to make (Bioshock or GTA IV anyone?).

As the video game market keeps getting bigger and new people get drawn in and get to experience games for the first time it will be very interesting to see what games get staying power. After all, with the Wii, this is the most amount of people that are able to experience a Mario game ever, hopefully they take the time to go back and get to know their roots.

I have a fulltime job, I have a girlfriend, I have a mortgage and I have a incredible love for the worlds I visit when I turn on my games.

I will now go back to playing Diablo II and getting psyched about StarCraft II and Diablo III. Happy 4th of July everyone, Happy Birthday America.

–Warning: Total Geekery Ahead –

Just wanted to point out, Square-Enix announced that they would be bringing some PS1 titles to PSN, twelve in total. It is unclear which titles these will be, but in Japan two were already released, Xenogears and Einhänder. I had a total geekout when I heard the news. If you have not played either of these games, I suggest you ebay them RIGHT NOW and you go play them. If not, wait for them to come to PSN and then play them.

Xenogears has a fantastic engaging storyline that is told through anime and you get to either fight as a person or as a Gear (mecha). If that is not enough of a draw for you to go get this RPG, I can’t help you.

Einhänder is one of the best sidescrolling shooters ever made. I already called my brother and asked him to mail me my copy of it asap, I can’t wait to play it again. I think I have already pointed out how much of a sidescrolling shooter fan I am in this post. But seriously, the music is amazing and the action is fast paced and engaging. Not to mention you fight bosses that dont fit in the screen.

That is all, I promise I will talk more about computers and less about video games from now on…