Ty’s Weblog

Square Enix has announced that is will be releasing the PS2 version of Chain of Memories here in the States this December.  It’s Final Mix+ minus the Kingdom Hearts II stuff.  The box art looks pretty nice. Xander and I will no doubt get quite a bit of enjoyment out of this release.  Kingdom Hearts is one of our favorite series.

He’s started in on Final Fantasy now too.  He’s currently working his way through Final Fantasy IV on his DS and seems the be enjoying it a lot.

I finally finished Final Fantasy XII tonight.  What a great game.  It really took the Final Fantasy series in a new direction.  I was worried that I wasn’t going to like a lot of the combat system, but they really did do a nice job with it.  They story was outstanding also.  These games take me a lot longer to finish than they used to, but at least they are good enough to be worth the effort.

Next up: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii.

About 11 months later, we are done with Kingdom Hearts II.  It was an amazing game.  Playing only with Xander sure extended the amount of time the game took.  So did having to complete the Journal in order to see the “secret movie” at the end.  Like the first one though, it was worth the work.  We completed the game last night, and were well rewarded.  I sure hope that they make a Kingdom Hearts III, but even if they don’t they did a great job with the ending on this one, so the series does feel complete with this ending.  Xander is having a great time playing Chain of Memories on his DS currently.  I think I’m going to let him take a shot at the PS2 games once he is done with it.  Great stories, great characters, great game play, great boss battles, great ending.  What more could I ask for in a game?

Well, we are about 11 1/2 hours into KH2 now. I’m loving it! They really improved on the original game.

We finally got through the prologue, which seemed a bit long to me, but I’m hoping it pays off later in the game.

Combat is greatly improved over the original, with a lot more for the player to do than just press the X button over and over.

I’m looking forward to Friday when we can start playing it again.

The Gummy Ship sequences are greatly improved also. I find myself going back and playing those mini-games, where I mostly skipped them in the original Kingdom Hearts.

The story is outstanding so far. I’m really enjoying it. We’ve been to several worlds and I’ve been motivated to continue through each one.

Xander and I got in about 2 hours of Kingdom Hearts II tonight. It was a lot of fun. The start of the story isn’t anything like I expected. We’ve not played as Sora at all yet. It’s still been fun though, and the story is coming along. I’d hate to be playing it without having playing through Chain of Memories, though.

Ctr+Alt+Del pretty much sums it up. I should be picking up a copy today. I’ll start playing it tomorrow afternoon, since this will be a with Xander game and he’s only allowed to play on weekends.

We’ve been looking forward to it for quite a while now.

We Love Katamari came out last week and I didn’t even notice! I know, I’m shocked too! Last I’d looked, it was going to come out in October or November. In any case, it’s out now and we went out to Target this morning to pick it up.

Xander, Mira, and I had a great time playing it. Not much has changed from the previous game, but it has a lot of new levels, and that’s what I wanted the most anyway. It also has an expanded vs. mode, so Xander and I can play against each other, and it has a co-op mode, so we can work together.

It’s a lot of fun. The music and the story are as unique as ever also. I’m thrilled that such a low key game but original game has become such a success.

GameSpy has up a brief preview of We Love Katamari, the sequel to one of Xander and my favorite games, Katamari Damacy.

Xander and I both love playing this game, and I’m really looking forward to the sequel, since it appears to have a true multiplayer mode (even a co-op mode) so Xander and I can play it together instead of taking turns.

GameSpy already has a preview of Sly 3 up. Things are looking good. I’m really looking forward to this one.

Xander and I will both be thrilled to see Sly 3:Honor Among Thieves come out this fall.

GameSpot is reporting the rumor that Half-Life 2 has gone gold pretty much as fact.

Game Gossip is reporting that Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake eater will be out Nov 17th.

Paper Mario came out this week.

Vamipire the Masquerade: Bloodlines comes out the day before my birthday.

Donkey Konga has been out for a little while and Xander and I want to play.

Halo 2 has gone gold.

This is a very good time of year for games.

GameSpy has up a quick preview of Kingdom Hearts II. It gives brief descriptions of two demo levels they got to play recently.

Sadly, it’s still not due out till Winter 2005. Chain of Memories for the GBA should be out some time this year.

At Xander’s request, I’ve started playing Kingdom Hearts again. Even after all this time, it’s still one of the best games I’ve ever played. It’s a wonderful combination of action RPG with the Disney and Square characters. The story is wonderful. Heck, I even own the soundtrack, which Xander and I enjoy listening to on the way to school.

I’m looking forward to Chain of Memories coming out for the GBA later this year, as well as KH2, hopefully early next year.

GameSpy has a preview of Metal Gear Solid 3 up.

I finished up Ratchet and Clank last night. It was a great game. A very well done platformer. I’m sure there were flaws with it, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head. I was seldom frustrated with the game. It was hard enough to be fun, but not so hard that I was pulling my hair out over it.

I look forward to getting my hands on the sequal for Christmas.