Yeah, I kind of understand that. Makes me want to play Spanky's Quest. Dropping sporting equipment on fruit by bouncing bubbles never felt so right.

Sadly, Ebay could be the best bet for DDS1. I see DDS2 a lot in Gamestops, but they still charge something like $35 for it last time I looked. They're both definitely worth the trouble of tracking down, though.

As for carryovers, there might have been something with levels like Miles said. You don't keep any of your Mantra skills since the grid is set up very differently in DDS2, as a group of connecting hexagons. The major thing people worry about is being able to use a certain character in the final dungeon. If you answer several dialogue choices in both DDS1 and DDS2 correctly then he replaces Roland, the new guy who joins you in DDS2.

Skills. Fuck yes. Only thing you forgot is the fact that with the release of the game we had NEW ARRANGES of CLASSICS.

Moar Magical Sound Shower is always a good thing.

To be the most nitpicking of nitpickers, my article is about Special Tours as it appears in the arcade, which recycled 2's new music, and the next batch of arranges didn't hit until Coast 2 Coast, which is an enhanced port of this.

But you're right, fuck year Magical Sound Shower.

I just checked and Amazon seems to have both DDS1 and 2 in stock, although granted that's the PAL versions on amazon.co.uk. I'd be tempted to buy them as I loved Nocturne but I've got a ridiculous backlog of games as it is so God only knows when I'd play them.

Huh, you're right. NA Amazon has DDS1 in stock for $35 new, which is pretty great. Maybe Atlus did a reprint at some point like with Nocturne, because I couldn't find it anywhere when I went looking for a friend two years ago. They have DDS2 new sold through "Hitgaming Video Games", but it costs a whopping $131. For once, EB may be the best answer there.

Got a chipped PS2? I can get the second game for £15!

Edit: Although they're currently out of stock, a Google shopping search found a couple under £20. I'm not sure how to run a Google US shopping search from here without deleting all my cookies but it's always worth a look.

Skills, I'm in love with your formatting job. I really appreciate the work you put into it as it looks fabulous!

Well I just thought I wanted to give my input on some of the games that have been mentioned over the last few days. I've been really busy with work, but I managed to get home a little early, so I apologize in advance if this post is a little long.

Sousuke's Game: I think Final Fantasy III was the game that really helped my dedication toward playing the rpg genre and to this day it remains my favorite Final Fantasy to this date. In my eyes it is the second best story I've seen from a Final Fantasy game. If your wondering what my favorite story from a Final Fantasy game it is Final Fantasy Tactics.

I was only slowly getting into the rpg genre and when I owned a snes I had only played a few rpg's as well as a few action rpg games. To be honest I never really found any of them challenging, the only turn based rpg's I ever played before I played Final Fantasy III was Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and Super Mario RPG.

How I acquired Final Fantasy III, is that I had loaned my copy of Breath of Fire to a close friend of mine. He told me I could hold onto this game until I actually beat it. From the opening sequence of the three mech's walking toward the mountain town I was immediately hooked.

This was a game I absolutely loved; especially how some of the characters interacted and as a teenager I really liked Kefka's evil laugh. I use to come home from high school and play this game for a few hours every day. I had never played anything like this, and when I look back at this game I actually got killed quite a lot. You'd think when you get killed all the time, you would just give up on it, but for me I just wanted to play it that much more especially to see what happened next.

I loved how early in the game, when your team got separated at the river it branched into three separate story-lines. I never seen that in any game before. I was just enthralled with the story and how each character had their own detailed story. As fun as the game was it had its very depressing moments. Especially Cyan's story. That character may not have been my favorite character to use, but I had sympathy for his character especially watching his family get killed by Kefka. The ghost train sequence was a little sad.

In the World of Balance it always amazed me how much there was to do. It really felt like the game kept going and going. It didn't seem like it was going to end. I honestly thought that when I got to the floating island. I thought that was the final dungeon. Since I thought it was the final dungeon as I was escaping the floating island I didn't even know you could rescue shadow at the very end. Much to my amazement, and I was really surprised that there was a total new world to discover in terms of the world of ruin. I had never played a game that had so much exploration. Even though I probably could of beaten the game at any time. I wanted to explore it, I wanted to find all my lost team-mates and there haven't been many rpg's to this day that have surprised me as much as this one. I still consider final fantasy VI to have one of the best endings I have ever seen.

The funny thing is: when I had played this game as a teenager I did find it tough. I use to get killed all the time especially in the world of ruin. My friends told me to use the vanish-x-zone or the vanish-doom trick to make it easier. I had really whored out that trick for a lot of the game, so I felt it didn't really do me much justice by progressing through the game that way.

When I actually beat the game, a few years later, someone was telling me all the things that I missed. I really thought when I played the game as a teen, I had done everything, but in all honesty I had only scratched the surface. I actually played the game a few years ago with a mission to do as much as I can and to beat it fair and square, because I wanted to see what I missed out on. I never knew you could save Cid, I never ever knew where the last dragon was, I didn't get all the espers, I didn't know final fantasy three characters had limit breaks, and I didn't know you could save shadow.

There is so much more I can say about what makes this game great, such as the opera scene, locke's storyline, kefka's imprisonment, and many other great moments. I know Sousuke, this may not be your favorite final fantasy but this game helped develop my dedication to rpg's right to this very day. I use final fantasy III to set the bar of what makes a great rpg.

The Dopefish's Game: One thing you taught me Dopefish with your review is there was a lot of things that I didn't know about NHL 94. I had rented a copy of it for my snes and it was one of the few games I use to play with my much older brother in law. I actually liked this game so much, my parents had bought me a copy of NHL 95 for Christmas. I guess I was really excited about NHL 95 because you could trade players and stuff a long those lines, but NHL 94 I actually really enjoyed because NHL 93 I didn't really like that much. I had probably never touched another hockey game after NHL 95.

Some of the memories I had of NHL 94, is when I played against any of my friends and the computer I found it really easy to score and I didn't even do one-timers. I always use to deek out the goalie all the time. I'm sure if I played against any serious competition I probably would of gotten owned. You picked out a great game, and this was definetely one sports game I spent a lot of time playing. I forget when you scored a hat trick, did the crowd throw out hats in NHL 94 or was it NHL 95. The team I use to play all the time when I played that game was the LA Kings. I was a big fan of them at the time. All the same Dopefish, a really excellent review.

Meia's Game: In terms of Valkyrie Profile, there is not much I can say about this game for the sheer fact that I haven't played it. I own it, I own the PSP and PSX versions. It was probably one of the most expensive games I ever bought off ebay. My wife and I bought it for $140 about 4 years ago. I only ever seen this game played once or twice by my wife. She had only played just past the opening dungeon.

The moment I seen the first battle, and Lenneth said "To My Side My Noble Einherjar". I was just hooked and seeing her special move for the first the nibelung valesti just really captivated my interest toward the game. When I had first owned the game, there were other games I wanted to play first and when I finally got around to wanting to play it, I had to move out to Alberta to work and there was no way I was going to take a 140 dollar game out with me to Alberta. When I get back home for good, this is going to be one of the first games I'm going to play.

I had a Valkyrie profile itch that I needed to scratch, so to compensate for not playing the original. I had played Valkyrie profile 2 because I knew it was a prequel so I thought to myself that this game wasn't going to spoil the first one for me. I was so fucking wrong. I had some stuff spoiled pretty bad, but its not going to deter me from playing the original. According to a lot of people, the first one is far superior anyway, so I absolutely look forward to playing this one in due time.

That's it for now folks.

I concur, I'm a little jealous I didn't think of something like that. Cool to see and read about the origins of the XBL Arcade Game (that I picked up).

Woah, Angel is really channeling Crash above

Sorry for the late addition to the thread, yesterday was the last day of finals. I was beat. But yeah, it's up now.

For those of you who haven't purchased my game, it's eight goddamn dollars at Gamestop. Don't waste such a good opportunity to try it.

I have the game, and thought it was decent. Only was at the beginning, but stopped playing it years back for some reason.

However, the Soundtrack for Dragon Quarter is absolutely brilliant for any of you who have not listened to it yet.

HEY GUYS HAVE YOU HEARD THAT ELECTRIC POWER BUILDING?

BoF V: DQ was actually my number two choice for this event. Probably my favorite thing about it is just the stark contrast that comes across for every aspect of it. Compared to past BoF games, it is a complete sea change, hardly identifiable as the same lineage. In its palette, same story. Everything you are involved with in the game is painted in gorgeous swaths of brilliance, but just outside your periphery waits an endless expanse of steel and dirt. The pictures you put within the Battle System section really capture this, and I am still often taken aback by how gorgeous this game is.

I agree that BOF: DQ was a pretty surprising game. I've been a fan of the series since I waited patiently for the first game to arrive at my local Sears store so I could spend a good 100$ of saved up allowance on it (it might have even been more,but I can't remember, I was 10 back then), and I always found that each installment brought a little something new to the genre without completely transforming it.

When I bought DQ though it was like they blew the top of the whole thing, but in a good way. I hadn't read any reviews of it so I wasn't expecting this at all. It really is a worthwhile game for anyone who likes them JRPGs.

Unfortunately, it seems (to me) that DQ often is fairly polarizing for fans of the series, as it is married to a series of games which were almost bastions of classic RPG gaming conventions. On one hand, I wonder how many people would have discovered it, had it not been attached to the BoF series, but on the other, it might have been received in a different light, without prior baggage.

I still don't get why you guys say BoFIV is so freaking hard. The only time I used SOL in that game was before I even finished the first dungeon and was trying to figure out what the heck it was about. You just have to fight every monster you see in the game. =\

If you try to fight every monster on your first run, you either run out of D-Counter or you get cast down by some of the tougher guys midway. At least, that's from my own experience trying to get a 1/4 on my first runthrough.

Skills has alerted me to the fact that there exists a PSP Outrun game. I'm not sure how exactly I glossed over that when I first read his post. FUCK YES.

To this day, I tell people I'm selling fine leather jackets. If they get that I'm referencing Monkey Island referencing Indiana Jones, I <3 them instantly.


Oh, and the whole "HANGING FILES OR NAIL FILES." I shit you not, just this year I said that within hearing of my opera director, and (even though he wasn't part of the conversation) I hear from across the room "YES." Without skipping a beat I replied "You bother me, boy."

I've been meaning to look up a way to play the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and Sam & Max for years. Now here comes Deni providing all of them in one convenient torrent file. <3

Because if there's ever an entire game genre worth playing, it's the LucasArts adventures. I aim to please.

Speaking of which, I forgot to mention Vampyre Story. Going to alter.

... Ask me about LOOM.

Wow. You know a lot about LOOM.

Hmm, there are too few games regarding Pirates and the activities in which they partake in, I'll have to give these a try out later. Great music too, I think the second to last game's sample is my favorite.

In regards to the torrent, should I go with Speech versus non Speech versions or does it even matter?