Smashtastic

Wow. It's been an incredibly long time since I posted - about a month and a half. I went to America, came back, and am counting down the days until I can go back for good (6 months). I played quite a few games in the last 45 days, but I also sort of stopped keeping track of how many hours it's been.

My main interest right now is waiting for Super Smash Bros. Brawl (or Dairantou Smash Brothers X), which comes out Thursday here in Japan. Originally, I wasn't very interested in it, wasn't gonna buy it at all, and maybe would buy it for $20 sometime in the future in the U.S. But the Brawl hype machine has hit me with a big ol' smash ball, and I can't wait to get this game. It looks huge and amazing, with dozens of characters and stages, and a pretty extensive degree of customizability and hidden secrets. I was going to go grab it on Saturday before a dinner party, but if the weather's decent, I might make the half hour hike through the snow to Uki-Uki on Thursday instead. Plus, I've heard rumors that only 300-400,000 copies were made for the initial release, and many people are anticipating a sellout around launch. We'll see. I'm just praying for clear skies and a little sunshine to light my way to the Nintendo self-love fest that's being released in 2 days. Impressions soon to come, if you can tear the controller out of my cold, sweaty hands.

Out with the old, in with the new

Last week, my video game time was dominated solely by Fire Emblem for the GBA. But I haven't even played anything at all since Sunday. I put in a grand total of about 6 Hours and 40 Minutes. I can't base this on the in-game clock, because it doesn't account for my regular chapter restarts when characters die. Although, due to a stupid mistake on my part, I finally lost my first character to permanent death a couple chapters ago. It was one I hadn't used much and was trying to level up a little. But he died, so no big loss really. Naturally, I'll try not to let it happen again. I'm about halfway through Chapter 26x, so I think I have only 7 more chapters to go. I should be able to finally finish this game through a combination of on the plane ride to the States and time at home. But, then there's the second story. This might take a while...

Otherwise, I've been focused on learning as much as I can about Japanese Mahjong. Somehow I've become fascinated by it. My goal in the new year is to find a Japanese Mahjong tutor. I really want to learn and to be able to play against people. If I can, it might feel like I actually take something away from Japan with me. Here's hoping I can find a good teacher.

Mahjong...Not the Tile Matching One

How can you become incredibly passionate about something, even if you've never actually done it? I've recently fallen in love with the game of Mahjong, and I've never even played it before. Except that stupid Mahjong solitaire computer game (matching tiles), but that's different and doesn't count. The Mahjong I like is sort of a combination of Rummy and Poker. I really want to learn how to play. There are a dozen or so major versions of Mahjong, usually based in different countries. Naturally, I'm interested in learning the Japanese version, commonly called Riichi Mahjong (it sounds like "reach"). It's a 4 player game, where everyone's trying to complete a hand similar to Rummy, but with cool tiles instead of playing cards. My girlfriend's getting me a Mahjong set for Christmas, and more importantly, I hope to find a Japanese Mahjong 'tutor' to teach me. I feel like I know how to play the main game, but I don't really know much about the rather complex scoring and hand system. So that's my immediate goal: find a Japanese person willing to teach a foreigner with limited Japanese language ability how to play Mahjong. Quite a daunting task. I hope I actually see this desire through to the end.

Oh, and the best site I've found about Riichi so far is the recently redesigned Reach Mahjong. It's updated by the only 2 American professional Riichi players, and one British girl who they are teaching to play. Great site, although they're still working on bringing the new site up to date. Can't wait to start playing. I just need 3 friends who know how...

What I'm Playing

Monday means it's time for my weekly video game update. Here's the numbers for 11/26-12/2.

Super Mario Galaxy - a paltry 0:15
Final Fantasy II - 2:40
Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi (#6) - 0:40
Fire Emblem (#7) - 1:00
Total Time - 4:35

It was a busy week, with hardly any time for games. I only managed 4.5 hours. On Friday and Saturday, I didn't play anything at all, largely because there was a big school enkai on Friday night, and I spent Saturday recovering and shopping for Christmas presents. But that's ok. It's not a contest. I tested Fire Emblem 6 just because I'd been watching a lot of Fire Emblem preview videos on Youtube, and that made me want to play an easy mission. That, of course, led me to delve back into my nearly completed Fire Emblem 7 game, which I've been playing occasionally for a couple of years. I need to finally beat it. I finally beat mission 24 tonight, and I think there's around 31 or so. So I've probably got a good 10 hours of game play left. I'm hoping to work on it a lot on the long flight back to America. We'll see.

Busy Weekend

It's been a busy weekend, with very little time for playing any games so far. In fact, I haven't played anything at all since Thursday, when I played a few minutes of Fire Emblem 6, the Japan-only GBA release. I just had a sudden urge for some turn-based, strategic combat, and I didn't feel like working my way back into Fire Emblem 7. Then Friday night was an overnight bonenkai (end of the year party) in Tendo. I wasn't looking forward to it, because my Japanese is shit and I usually feel a little awkward at some point. But I ended up having a great time. The first party had great food, bingo, and I got to talk to some of the new, younger teachers a little bit. And, the 1 teacher I really, really can't stand didn't talk to me at all. What a success! Then on to the second party in a hotel room with Kocho- and Kyoto-sensei (principal and vice-principal). It was tense, but fun. Then out to a strange, modern hostess bar, where I was forced to sing a song by myself. It was the first time I've had to sing in an open bar rather than a private room. I was terrified. I chose the classic "Copacabana," and I think it went pretty well. Thank you, alcohol. Oh, and 1 of my teachers did an awesome Elvis impersonation on "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You." Brilliant. Then on to ramen, and in bed at 1:30. Excellent night.

So Saturday was spent recovering, and doing some last-minute shopping for Christmas presents for my family. Today, also, will be shopping. I need to get a shogi set (Japanese chess) for my dad, but I'd really like to find him another present too. He's hard to shop for. So there might be little time for games today, too. But, less than 2 weeks until I leave for a much needed holiday in the U.S. Thank goodness.

Hanafuda - My New Passion

My new passion is Hanafuda cards, which means I'm either an old Japanese man or a member of the yakuza. Because apparently nobody uses Hanafuda cards anymore except for the above groups. More specifically, I've learned how to play the game, Koi Koi, which can also be found in Clubhouse Games for the DS. I first read about Hanafuda over on High Dynamic Range Lying, a blog mostly about games by someone in Japan. Then, I realized, "Hey. I'm in Japan. I like card games. I bet I can find some of those." Then, of course, I felt like I saw references to these little cards everywhere. Most recently, Brian Ashcraft at Kotaku is giving two decks as prizes for a Funde Razor in Denver and New York. Just like the ones I purchased, they're made by Nintendo, although they must be a different quality or edition. And now that I've mentioned it, Nintendo, that giant video game company, is also one of the few companies that still makes Hanafuda cards, which is how the whole company started in the first place.

I'm going to try to find some different decks to be able to take home as souvenirs. What's most surprising is how really small the cards are compared to a regular deck of cards. They're kind of hard to shuffle and feel weird to hold. So far, I only have my girlfriend to play Koi Koi against. Luckily, she thinks it's fun too.

The Demo Channel...It's True

As I was perusing the Wii forum on GameFaqs today, I found a thread claiming that the DS Demo Channel for the Wii had been released in Japan. Despite many posts of "Fake!" and "Liar!" I thought I'd check it out for myself, especially since my Wii was pulsing a calming blue. To my surprise, the light was not Toad thanking me for finding another power star, but was indeed the arrival of the Demo channel. The rumors are true. And in Japan, the channel is called Everybody's Nintendo Channel, which makes sense having checked it out myself. This new channel includes short interviews, commercials and previews of upcoming games, a feedback system so you can rate games. It has a very clean layout and is easy to use. Basically there's a big list of available videos, you click on one and it starts playing in a few seconds. You can then click to make it full screen. That's about it.

I watched a few incomprehensible interviews about Wii Fit, which looks cooler than I imagined. But for me, the Demo bit is sort of a disappointment at this point. It's definitely the coolest feature to come out for the Wii in quite a while, but most of the games available aren't...well, games. The ones I understand are a vision trainer, and English trainer, some sort of Tamogotchi thing, a ebook reader, and a few I just can't figure out. What I thought was a Pokemon Diamond demo was actually just a download for current owners of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. Hopefully, this will be frequently updated with actual games, as this feature is amazingly awesome in concept. But Come On, give me some actual games, Nintendo.

Weekly Game Time Update

After hours and hours of hard work and number crunching (or a few minutes), it's time for my first weekly update on game play time.

Super Mario Galaxy - 0:56
Final Fantasy II Advance - 4:37
Meteos - 0:10
Total Playtime - 5:43

My time this week was overwhelmingly spent on FFII, as you can see. The numbers might even be a little bit deflated, because my Thanksgiving weekend was quite busy. The one thing that stands out is my 10 minutes of Meteos, for DS. Not that I don't like Meteos, it's quite fun, but I needed to test out a DS screen protector that I had just bought. Stupidly, I saved a few yen by not buying the best one (a Hori model), and it looks like it won't last very long. Although it was surprisingly easy to put on.

I also ordered yesterday Finaly Fantasy III (which will complete my collection of the first 6 remakes) and Hotel Dusk as Christmas presents to myself. Although it's also to stock up on English games while I'm in the U.S. for Christmas. Everyone needs to treat themselves sometimes, right?

The Aesthetics of Video Games

Over on Steven Poole's blog, stevenpoole.net, he's made his first book, Trigger Happy, available for a free download. From his site, it's a "book about the aesthetics of videogames — what they share with cinema, the history of painting, or literature; and what makes them different, in terms of form, psychology and semiotics." I've only read the first chapter, and so far it's very interesting. I've always found it a little difficult to track down more academic, intelligent discussions of video games, so I'm hoping this will prove to be a good read.

Some Gripes about Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy II. A pretty good, classic RPG, at least the Dawn of Souls version. But the leveling system is still mostly a flawed experiment. Mostly it's ok. As I've progressed through the game so far, my HP, weapon, and shield levels have all progressed at a rate appropriate to the enemies I've been encountering. As have some of the spells, especially the three main attack spells (Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard) and the Cure spell. However, the lesser-used spells (Protect, Teleport, etc.) rarely level up on their own. They're just not needed enough to level up the way the system intends them to. So if you want those spells to keep pace with the rest, you have to stop and cast them over and over again. Then heal, and repeat the process. Annoying. But even worse is leveling up MP. Your Magic Points don't increase just from casting one spell in a battle. Oh no. You have to use up a big chunk of your MP in one battle to have a chance of them going up at the end of that battle. What this means in practical terms is that you have to start a battle, have everyone cast spells or attack themselves, disregard the enemies completely, and hope they don't run away before you use up half your magic. The reason is because most enemies can be beaten by just attacking. So far, a few enemies are strong enough to require magic to beat, and some boss battles are made easier by magic, but in general magic just isn't needed enough for you to gain MP naturally. And it's a pain in the ass to prolong one battle against 4 goblins just to have a chance at raising your MP 10 points.

I like the system in principle, especially with becoming more proficient with certain types of weapons as you use them. Maybe a better system would be to have HP, MP, and statistics level up on their own, and weapons and spells level up based on usage. Anyway, I'm trying to hatch the lasy Wyvern in the world, and then find the last Dragoon. Off to battle!