re: Console RPGs.

There's not much to say about console rpgs, in general. They seem like a weird phenomenon, but in reality, they're a fairly obviously genre when you think about the desires of any general gaming audience.

As I was inching towards consciousness this morning, my dream skewed strangely when suddenly I was reading a Penny Arcade front page. Tycho opined thusly:

"Final Fantasy 6 is a game that we can characterize as being, perhaps, several generations behind. It was, generally speaking, the product of an era right before games really took off with the Playstation, which brought us Final Fantasy 7.

Final Fantasy 7 had several advantages over 6. More powerful graphics and a more unified storyline for example. Its iconic character, Cloud, was perhaps not more compelling then the cast of characters from 6, but his brooding image certainly tended to have more screen time. We over at Penny Arcade studios had recently replayed both 6 and 7 - something that Gabe had expressed dislike of in the same method that an animal might express dislike of having its paw caught and mangled in a terrible iron trap. Perhaps the pacing of these things never appealed to him.

Final Fantasy 6, or FF3 in the US at its release (as any console partisan will tell you), was an amazing example of what an rpg could be despite it being hindered by its processing capabilities - just like FF7 never became the MMO that it maybe should have been. Does FF6 show us where to go in future games? We're still thinking it over. To a certain degree, the point is moot. We likely do not have the power to enforce our will over giants like Square-Enix but, well, they have released Dissidia, so they have recognized the existence of these older games in their ever-expanding narrative."

I think that is a weird thing to dream.
I have just written Penny Arcade opinion column fan-fiction that came to me in a dream about console RPG franchises.
In other news, I am desperately torn between if I should play FFXI until dinner tonight or if I should go to the Magic draft. Neither is going to be the highlight of my day, but either would last for several hours. It's a tough call. I think my desire to level my character finally and my desire to save additional monies is going to win out over my desire for new cards, great though that desire to aquire is.

I needed an Anime tag.

I just realized I have my entire collection of Texhnolyze with me, which is really kind of a fluke. I think I watched the whole thing, but only technically, because there's a good chance I slept through most of it at the time since I watched it at a point where I was putting movies and shows on to go to sleep with. I must of packed it instead of the Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig, which I don't seem to have on hand. I'm excited about finally watching the whole thing.

I wonder if I can get someone to mail me my set of 2nd Gig, though.

Had dinner with Noe, Brent, and Val for Noe and Val's birthdays.
The Melting Pot is a nice place to eat, and I had a good time. The food was pretty tasty, but I'd heard it was overpriced, and I have to say that I agree. I said I had a good time, so no regrets, but I'm not likely to go back. At least I know what everyone's talking about, though.

I skipped the tourny today, but I'll probably play a bunch of cards tomorrow. I don't know how that'll work. I head it was a barbeque card playing thing, so I'm not sure if I'm going to be outside or something. I pissed someone off with one of my decks last time when I played a counterspell, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that. I think I'll think about it for a while tonight.