I love RPG’s.  They are far and away my favorite genre of games.  To me they are the closest we get to telling a true story in a video game.  That’s why I eagerly look forward to each release of the Final Fantasy series, which are quite possibly the flagship RPG titles.

Well about 5 hours into Final Fantasy XIII I can say that it hasn’t disappointed at all.  In fact, it’s jaw droppingly amazing in many of the same ways that Final Fantasy VII was.

Because Final Fantasy VII has taken on such an epic place in gaming lore, people have been in backlash to it for some time.  But they forget (or never played it when it launched) just how epic a game it was.  Final Fantasy VII changed everything about RPG’s.

Characters became important.  Personalities mattered.  Story telling took a huge leap forward.  We actually cared about those characters in ways that very few games before (or since) have captured.  I will never forget walking into my apartment in college seeing my roommates playing Final Fantasy and being blown away by the graphics.

Why do I tell you all this?  Because Final Fantasy XIII is the first game in the FF series that captures that feel.

The characters are laugh out loud funny.  They each have their own personalities, motives, and attitudes.  They aren’t just cookie cutter characters – they are characters to care about.  Even though I’ve only spent a few hours with them, I like them already.  And in the age of “whiney boy turned manly hero” that’s saying something.

Of course it’s not just characters.  The graphics are astounding.  I’m playing on the 360, so I can only imagine that the PS3 version is even more amazing.  I have never played a game where it’s hard to tell the difference between FMV’s and game play.  Maybe they are out there, but it’s not on my radar.  The only game that really captured that same seamless feeling was Half Life.  Another brilliant game.

I don’t know if Final Fantasy XIII will be as awesome 50 hours in, as it is at 5 hours.  But something tells me I won’t be disappointed.



Final Fantasy XIII is the first game I have ever preordered. And we can thank my wonderful fiancée for that. So I, like most of the gaming world, is looking forward to the March 9th release date. But what kind of gamer would I be if I wasn’t willing to share my uninformed well thought out views?

After playing Final Fantasy 12 and not liking it very much, I have been very interested to see the latest version of Final Fantasy, specifically around save spots and random encounters. Now unlike most people, I love random encounters. Sure it’s sometimes annoying and frustrating. But most of the time it reminds me of the old NES days of playing Dragon Warrior. Oh how I used to take my little character and walk him back and forth over the same 4 blocks to unleash Goldmen. But I digress.

But I recognize that a lot of people hated the random encounters. So over time those disappeared to make it more “realistic” and “believable.”

So here is my question – why do we get rid of random battles, but keep the same out-dated save point system? For the love of gaming, can we get rid of save spots?!

All of us here on The Save Spot love gaming, but we’ve grown to detest hunting for the next save spot. And while the Final Fantasy XIII guide tells me save spots will be “no more” than 10 minutes apart, in my world 10 minutes is a long time. Anyone who has kids know that within a 10 minute window any number of disasters can strike. Anyone in a relationship knows that within the next 10 minutes it may be time for “talking” (whatever that means!)

Save Spots used to not bother me, because I had hours and hours to game. Now when my gaming is measured by minutes, not hours, risking a 10 or 20 minute search for a save spot is likely to drive me do something else.

Maybe even read a book.

So please future versions of Final Fantasy if you’re going to take away my random encounters, please take away the save spot system! You did it with The Last Remnant. I have confidence you can do it for Final Fantasy.

The time has finally come, my friends, to bid adieu.  To my mouse that is.  I have had the same Microsoft Intellimouse since 2000 when I bought it right before I had knee surgery.  (The mouse was to go along with Star Trek Elite Forces.  There was no way I was going to give up gaming just because I couldn’t walk!)  That mouse worked great for years.  But over the last few months it has been slowly dying.  At first the cord got cut (but a little bit of electrical tape and the problem was solved).  Then the mouse wheel began to deteriorate.  In fact I can’t use it to scroll down.  It goes up just fine, but down is next to impossible.

As much as I love technology and new gadgets, I despise throwing away perfectly good technology.  So it usually has to be ripped out of my cold dead fingers, as they say.

So what am I upgrading to?

Well buying a mouse is a pretty personal thing.  It has to fit just right in your hand.  It has to have all the options you want.  And for me, price is an issue.  In the end I am going with Logitech’s G500.  It will be my first “gaming mouse”.  Hell, when I bought my mouse in 2000, there wasn’t even such a thing as a gaming mouse!

I hope you will all join me in raising your trigger finger to a fine, fallen friend.  RIP buddy.

It has been a long time since I’ve bought a laptop. In fact the last laptop I owned had Windows Millenium installed on it. Well just this weekend I braved the black friday crowds and bought myself a new laptop. Now I can finally do some gaming on the go.

Of course before I can do that, I need to get a new laptop bag. Or else I won’t be traveling very much with the laptop!

Of course now comes the hard part.  What laptop bag do I get?  Do I go with the Timbuk2 Commute 2.0 Laptop Messenger Bag or the OGIO Hip Hop Messenger?  Man, compared to this decision, buying the laptop was the easy part…

I am just playing through Mass Effect (an RPG from Bioware, similar to Knights of the Old Republic).  When something struck me.  As I write this post North Korea is making a lot of noise about pulling out of the Armistice that it signed after the Korean War.  They are doing this because they have detonated nuclear weapons and Kim Jong Il is hardly the most stable of governmental leaders.  What does this have to do with Mass Effect you ask?

Part of the plot in Mass Effect revolves around stopping a terrorist.  The galactic ruling body refuses to get involved because they don’t want to face the implications.  Your character wonders why they can’t see the threat before them.

I guess, as I listen to reports from the UN saying that North Korea is all talk and not serious, I can’t help but echo Shepard’s comments.  Funny how video games often reflect what we see in the world around us.

Yes, you read that correctly.  There are zombie fire ants.  And here I thought Umbrella corporation had finally been defeated.  But according to the news, a certain type of fly has been introduced to control the fire ant population in Texas.  They lay eggs on the ants, then when the egg hatches it burrows its way (ewwww) into the ant and slowly eats it’s brain.  Which I suppose is an ironic fate for a zombie.

We are gearing up for another GAUGE.  This time of the mini-variety.  Which means it’s time for me to practice up on my Rock Band skills.  Admittedly out of the three of us, my skills are the weakest.  However, I believe we’ve all been put to shame by 8 year old Yuto.  I am rightfully put in my place.

One of the great things about the internet is the random things you stumble across. Plants vs. Zombies is one of those things.

The song is performed by Laura Shigihara who writes songs for video games, as well as performs them.  I’ve never heard her work before, but everything on her website is fantastic, and I look forward to a long career from her.

Is it me, or has anyone else noticed that the number of posts on Kotaku’s pages seem to be decreasing at an alarming rate.  I’ve noticed this pattern over the last couple of weeks.  But before I said anything, and potentially looked like an idiot (or is that more of an idiot?) I wanted to make sure.  And now I am. 

Kotaku, as with all Gawker Network, sites use “more” button you have to click to read the rest of the article.  Can we all just agree this is a stupid idea?  The main reason for having a design like that is to track what articles are “viewed”.  It certainly doesn’t help the reader any by having to click a link 1 paragraph into a story.  Especially when Kotaku stories are very short to begin with. 

Gawker Network recently announced it was cutting back staff, despite making a profit.  They sited “troubling economic times” as the reason.  So who did they cut?  They cut employees from The Consummerist – a website devoted to helping people with financial issues.  So their most (socially) important website they cut when it’s “needed” most.

And that’s exactly what worries me – Kotaku, and the rest of the Gawker Network, are making a lot of “bottom line” decisions instead of thinking of the consumer.  I think companies should be allowed to do whatever they want in order to make money.  But as a consumer, and as one of their customers, I don’t like the direction they are going.  I’ve left websites (Eurogamer) and stores (I’m looking at you Circuit City) because of poor value/customer experience.  Kotaku is no different.  I find myself going there less and less, and I don’t even bother to check out Gizmodo anymore (for the same reasons as listed above).

Kotaku, while a little heavy on the nerd snark at times has always had valuable news.  But if I have to click additional links to read something, and sift through more advertisements with less content, then I’ll just find another place to read about games. 

I suspect any day now they’ll just have one post, and it will be a link to an advertiser.