Games I Couldn't Finish

We've all been there. You're having fun, stomping on enemies and collecting items. You're trying to experience every minute detail, grinding your way through to 100% completion. But then something happens. You no longer have the drive to see the plot unfold, to learn all of the secrets and motivations of the characters. In short, you've lost your purpose in playing the game. What's the point, right?

Now, when I rent or purchase a game, I have every intention of finishing it to the very end, 100% completed or not. But even I have a list of many, many video games that I never got around to beating for one reason or another. It could have been the monotonous and simple gameplay, the lackluster story, the crappy graphics, or the one-dimensional (or unnecessary multi-dimensional) character drama. From Battle Toads, Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts, and Legend of Mana, all the way up to Mega Man X5, Red Dead Revolver, and even Grand Theft Auto IV, I have picked up and put down many a game. Here are two of the recent games that I have unfortunately lost the luster in completing.

Shin Megami Tensei II

So, I am a huge fan of the SMT franchise. From the oringal saga (SMTI to Nocturne), to most of the spinoffs (Digital Devil Saga, Devil Summoner, Persona), something about mixing the occult, mythology, and Japanese settings (Taisho 20 to modern to post-apocalyptic) into mostly press-turn based RPG games is pretty sweet. So when a very cool game translation and hacking group released the original SMT games from SNES, I was all over it. The first one was simple enough. It took a while to get used to the first person view, looking at gray walls most of the time. But the gameplay was awesome. Recruit or destroy demons, making your way through the last remnants of Tokyo to find out if the two main antagonist groups (Gaian or Messian) will reign supreme. You could choose which side to join, or stay the neutral path (which meant more battles and boss fights).

Then, in the sequel, SMT II, something didn't feel right. The gameplay is pretty much the same, with better graphics, but the story is more convoluted and the dungeons are a SERIOUS PAIN IN THE GLUTEUS! Without a walkthrough, this game is pretty much impossible to go through, if you want to complete all of the sidequests and such. I discovered this the first time around when I started the game. There is a point where a mutant wants you to gather six separate body parts of the protector of Tokyo, Masakados. You can't simply teleport back to these temples where the parts are. Nooooo...you've got to go through fun dungeons to get them. So with this prospect in mind, I just stopped playing. Fast forward to three months later, and I felt the itch to start again. I made it all the way to the second to last dungeon, but guess what, the thing is massive!

Seriously, welcome to Hell, have fun!

I got through the first floor, realized I wasn't ready to fight Beelzebub (Lord of the Flies), and shut her down for good. Now will I ever truly give up on the game? Well since I'm writing about it, I'd say no. But with other games queued up on my shelf, who knows when I'll feel like strolling though Castle Kether again.

Kingdom Hearts

Will you like this game? Yes! Or maybe no...hee hee...

I'm a pretty big fan of Disney. I grew up on the movies and still go to Disneyland every year. So when I heard there was going to be an RPG based off the countless Disney icons, and it was being made by Square-Enix no less, I was pretty psyched. I got the game, and for some reason, I never really wanted to play it. It lay wrapped on my video game shelf for a long time, until this year in fact. After playing the Enix classic Dragon Quest 8, I was still in RPG-playing mode. KH was there, so I figured why not?

Well let me tell you. This game starts off slow. You have a dream sequence, fight your shadow, then spend a bunch of time leveling up slowly on the Destiny Islands. The characters are okay. I still don't know why Sora has Shaquille O'Neal sized shoes, though. It's fun seeing the Square characters in the various Disney worlds. But by the time I beat the Deep Jungle level, the simplicity of the gameplay and the repeating mundane tasks just got boring. Beating up Cloud and the Cerberus was fun. The Alice In Wonderland level was great. But the "worlds" are basically very small, room-like dungeons with hidden areas. And if you want to get all of the item chests, you spend alot of time frustrating yourself with the awkward camera angles and crappy jump button.

You bored? Yeah, me too..

So will I ever finish Kindom Hearts? I want to say maybe, well...probably, damn...I really want to like the game. The story is pretty interesting, and the multitude of characters from the Final Fantasy and Disney realms in awesome. I want to get around to playing KH2 and the pseudo-sequel on the Gameboy Advance. But the gameplay issues and just plain boringness of the combat is keeping me from doing so. Maybe someone will convince me otherwise, but until then, this case is going to collect dust.

Gas or Games?

You know those commercials with the talking cars made by Chevron? Yeah you do.
Well I saw one recently with one car complaining to another that it doesn't
get the same Techron gas as the other. Shut up please! The last thing I want to see on TV is anything about gas. Gas, and the lack of it in my car, has prevented me from doing a few things this summer.
This includes purchasing items that entertain me, like video games.

So, the question is, where will my funds be spent this summer?

The last game I bought was GTA IV, and it is definitely a game that can suck up your life.
The last time I filled the tank of my 2002 Toyota RAV4 it cost me $3.99 a gallon.
It's been nearly three weeks since then and gas around my city is up and around $4.50.
This has caused me to change my driving habits and walk to my destinations whenever possible.
I had a free pass to ride the local light rail and buses when I was in school, but that ship has set sail. Ahh regrets...

Now, the Swedish kid who's been staying at our house since November says us Americans are spoiled, and that our gas prices are nothing compared to Sweden.
He is correct in that Scandinavia indeed pays about $6.50 a gallon, but they tax everything there. And kids get paid monthly to stay in school, but that's another topic.
Of course, our dollar is worth less than Euros and Krons, public transportation is not as good, our cars aren't as fuel efficient, we pay for our own healthcare...etc.

What this really translates into is that summer is going to be rough on my wallet.

I'll be using the train more to visit friends/watch baseball in San Francisco, but even that has been affected by gas prices. More cars at the station I park in, less seats on the train, me running across busy expressways across traffic Frogger style to make the bullet train.

This has also led me to do something I've avoided my whole life, budget.

Which games will I indulge myself with in the upcoming months?
Let's take a look...Wii Fit, Metal Gear Solid, DBZ: Burst Limit, Soul Calibur 4, Bionic Commando, Top Spin 3, Madden 2009, Battlefield: Bad Company, Resident Evil 5, Final Fantasy IV, Alone In the Dark, Hellboy, Ghostbusters. Narrowing down the list to two or three titles will be tough.

How will you spend your summer cash?