Week: End Game: On 07.28.2012

It’s that time of the week! After a long and tiring week of life, what better way to unwind than sitting back, relaxing, and reading about all the games we’ve been playing? Here lies another exciting chapter in the saga of Nintendojo’s gaming endeavors, from 8-bit classics to Theatrhythm, you can catch up on all the juicy goodness below!

Kevin Knezevic

I think I’m just going to have to accept the fact that I’m never going to beat Xenoblade (certainly not in time for The Last Story, anyway). It seems like every time I sit down to play the game, I get inundated with more and more side-quests to do. This wouldn’t be a problem if so many of them weren’t time-sensitive (and actually gave you some indication as to how long you had to complete them), but as it stands I’m making very little headway in the actual plot. I’m still enjoying my time with the game, mind you (it’s not like I’m doing these quests begrudgingly), but I’m starting to think that maybe it has a bit too much content for my liking, which is something I never thought I’d say about a video game.

And don’t get me started on my 3DS backlog. Nintendo’s 8-Bit Summer certainly hasn’t been kind to my wallet, tempting me with one great Game Boy game after another. (As you may recall, I never owned a Game Boy as a kid, so this is my first chance to experience the wealth of titles it had to offer.) I still have Kirby’s Pinball Land and Kirby’s Block Ball waiting for me on my dashboard, and by the time this weekend is through I’m sure I’ll be adding Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters and Wario Land to that list as well. I might even get Colors! 3D now that it’s on sale, though I’ll hopefully talk myself out of it before I decide to visit the eShop again. In any case, it looks like I’ll be busy for a long time to come.

Luke Brown

Having two rugrats is playing absolute havoc with my game playing time. I recently purchased a few games I had never got around to playing when they were originally released. However, I have only been able to dip into them sporadically between bouts of nappy changing and bottle feeds.

I have progressed maybe an hour into Little Kings Story and have already fallen in love with this absolute gem of a game. Its beautiful sense of whimsy and humour often serves to disguise the fact that the game has an incredible amount of depth and challenge to it, which I have only just started to understand. I aim to spend many more hours with my little kingdom and I am pretty sure that every single one of them will be experienced with a huge, childlike grin on my face.

A few hours have been spent tending to my turnips and strawberries in Rune Factory Frontier. I often look back on my time spent with this game and struggle to remember doing anything of worth. Most of the time I simply wander around aimlessly, keep my pathetically small farm in order and take long, pointless walks on the beach. I know that there are adventures to be had, dungeons to explore and strange, slightly unnerving girls to woo, but who cares about such trivial matters when there are crops to be watered and logs to be chopped?

Virtual Console-wise, I have had a brief flirtation with Mega Man 2. Well, I say ‘flirtation’ but in truth, it was more like a very short, passionate and abusive relationship. I had thought the days of throwing controllers across my living room were long gone but Mega Man has led me back to the dark side and welcomed me in with open arms. The game is brutal, with fantastic level, weapon and boss design. Add in one of the best game soundtracks EVER and you are left with a slice of 8-bit bliss!

Katharine Byrne

There’s only one thing on my gaming agenda this weekend, and that’s some more Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. I’m breaking into the Ultimate Score challenges now (the hardest difficulty setting), and they’re proving pretty tough– especially the battle songs– so trying to conquer those will be my main goal over the next few days. I’ve also just discovered that you can get double and triple S rankings too, so I’ll no doubt be going back over some of my favourite tracks as well trying to up my score. I know I should be playing other games like Radiant Historia and Project Zero 2: Wii Edition, but Theatrhythm‘s just so addictive! It’s brilliant for taking small breaks in between all my writing assignments too, so I don’t see it leaving my 3DS any time soon.

Bradly Hale

I just simply have too many games to play. That’s what it comes down to right now. After beating Devil Survivor, I thought I would experience some sort of lull period while I waited for Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, but I was wrong. I’m still packing in a great deal of time with Theatrhythm and Pokémon Conquest, however, I recently picked up Rhythm Thief, which is more or less consuming me at this point. I can’t even begin to explain how delightful that game is. I figured I’d pick it up, and it’d invariably get pushed to the backburner, what with all the games I’m already playing, but, in truth, it’s the game I’m playing most right now.

But my 3DS isn’t the only system competing for my time right now. I still have so many games that I picked up during the Steam Summer Sale that I haven’t gotten to, on top of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion which i just bought last night – it’s all a little overwhelming when I think about everything I need to play. Fortunately, this weekend is going to be pretty low key, so I plan on getting my game on something fierce.

Of course, we don’t get much excitement from reading our own stories, so we kindly ask you to share what you’ve been, and plan on, doing this week in the gaming world! Sound off in the comments below!