Too Many March Games

[Chaos]

Good freaking god every game that I've wanted is coming in March. Seriously, developers, what the hell. Let's take a look!

March 9th - Final Fantasy 13
March 14th - Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS)
March 16th - Dragon Age Origins - Awakening; Infinite Space (DS)

I do not have enough freakin' free time to have four RPGs in a single week. Granted, FF13 can wait, but hell if I'm going to miss a chance to play that franchise on a system I actually own (I've never owned any Sony consoles, so the main series--with exception of its DS installments--are out of the question).

Seems like Pokemon will get first dibs. Gold and Silver were my favorite installments. I played that ancient GBC cartridge for years, all the way up to the GBA SP. It's the pinnacle of Pokemon, and ever since Nintendo made remakes of Red/Blue, I've wanted a remake of Gold/Silver to come out. Heck yes. It's the longest of the games, too, which makes it all the sweeter. I should probably start my preparations... Overall time commitment shouldn't be more than a weekend.

Then there's the Dragon Age expansion, Awakening. It's Bioware. It needs no other intro. Of course, I didn't really think Dragon Age was up to par to either Mass Effect game, but it is still enough to hold my interest. Pokemon and Dragon Age get my money first.

Infinite Space is a game I've been curious about for a long time. I'm anxious to see some reviews of it before spending some cash (which will be dismally low after this month), but the DS needs more hardcore RPGs. A space RPG with tons of customization? This may be really cool.

It just seems like--at least from my perspective--virtually every game I wanted in 2010 is coming out right now. Somethings messed up there.

Wait, Supreme Commander 2 comes out in March too?  I didn't play the first SupCom enough... I may either play SupCom 2 or skip RTS's entirely. (In case you're wondering, I have no intention to ever conceive of buying Starcraft 2. It's all more of the same Starcraft that I didn't particularly like a decade okay. Why should I care?)

Let's see, are there any other games that would hold my interest in the rest of 2010?

Golden Sun DS sure would. I'm crossing my fingers for a 2010 release on that. I suppose we shall see at E3.

[Shivertongue]

Sweet Zombie Monkeys, they're doing a remake of Gold and Silver?

I mean, I was expecting it, but I've purposely cut myself off from gaming news for the past year... and it comes out three days after my birthday, meaning I'm almost guaranteed to have the money for it... But I really shouldn't. Games are a distraction. Distractions distract from writing.

But it's a new Pokemon game... *ponders*

[Chaos]

I'd be fine with HeartGold and SoulSilver being the last Pokemon games I play.

[Shivertongue]

Depends on what the fifth gen games have to offer, personally. If they don't have more Fire Types to offer, than I probably won't bother. Diamond and Pearl sucked in type regard.

However, if SoulSilver and HeartGold allow one to capture a Houndour before the Elite Four... I don't think I'll be able to resist.

[Chaos]

Psh, who needs Houndour when you have a starter like Cyndaquil?

Diamond/Pearl sucked with good water types. I have very high standards for them, haha.

Fire types usually don't have a spot on my roster.

[Patriotic Kaz]

FF8 is the greatest RPG of it's time!!!!!

[Miyabi]

Sadly the expansions for Dragon Age are not yet available for Mac.   lol

[Chaos]

Well, I play Dragon Age on my 360.

[Miyabi]

Nice.  I don't have any consoles anymore. =/

I plan on getting them once I have some extra money though.

[Shivertongue]

Psh, who needs Houndour when you have a starter like Cyndaquil?

Diamond/Pearl sucked with good water types. I have very high standards for them, haha.

Fire types usually don't have a spot on my roster.

I have a fondness for fire types, personally. It's usually filled by the starter, but when I pick the water or grass starter, I need something to fill the fire need. Diamond and Pearl had nothing new for that, which pissed me off greatly.

Diamond and pearl did have Sneasel, though, which was awesome. ^_^

[Chaos]

Hey, fires are cool. I have one slot open on my six guy roster for whatever I want. I have very particular type requirements. The five Pokemon I need are: Water, Flying, Ground (to defeat electrics), Electric (far superior to grass in combat. So many flying pokemon to vanquish!), and a Psychic/Ghost/Dark thing. The sixth slot will either be Fighting, Fire, or Grass, I suppose, but Fighting or Fire will always come first (Blaziken was awesome in this regard, as it filled both of these. He's weak to a lot, but its hella fun). I hate Grass Pokemon. So, I do like fire, but I learned long ago with my constant type matchups that they are not wholly necessary.

I also hear rumors of people who use more than six Pokemon during the course of a game. These rumors must be made by madmen! It was around Crystal version before I realized I can do away with a lot of grinding by minimizing the amount of Pokemon I use in the game. Thus, my strategy now is to plan precisely which six Pokemon I will have, then get them as quickly as possible.

Hmmm. Well, I will definitely start with Cyndaquil, because I love him. But other than that, everything in my roster is up for grabs (as in, everything I need.) That's why I loved Gold and Silver so much: there was an excellent variety to the game. I know Mareep/Ampharos was my traditional electric type, since I got him so early (unfortunately, Ampharos is quite slow... Oh well), but I can think of like three others! There's Jolteon, my all time favorite, and then there is the bizarre and awesome Lanturn. Were I to want Lanturn, this would exclude Kingdra, who is also a fantastic water type. If I chose Jolteon, then I can't have Espeon--and Espeon is also amazing--which leaves me with Misdreavous and hopefully her evolved form, Mismagius (easily my favorite D/P pokemon)... So many choices! With other versions, I could literally choose a starter and there would be a complete dearth of a lot of the interesting types I require.

As you can tell, I can talk about this a lot.

[Shivertongue]

Hey, fires are cool. I have one slot open on my six guy roster for whatever I want. I have very particular type requirements. The five Pokemon I need are: Water, Flying, Ground (to defeat electrics), Electric (far superior to grass in combat. So many flying pokemon to vanquish!), and a Psychic/Ghost/Dark thing. The sixth slot will either be Fighting, Fire, or Grass, I suppose, but Fighting or Fire will always come first (Blaziken was awesome in this regard, as it filled both of these. He's weak to a lot, but its hella fun). I hate Grass Pokemon. So, I do like fire, but I learned long ago with my constant type matchups that they are not wholly necessary.

My particular requirements are somewhat similar. Water, Flying, Fire, Dark and two open slots that depends entirely on what the rest of my party is like. If I don't have one that duals types as Ground, then I have to get a Ground type. Ice is another one that often finds itself in one of these, as it covers Flying, Grass, Ground and Dragon. I've also found that some Normal types can be quite strong, and can learn enough diverse moves that make them incredibly useful. I used Exploud a lot in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald for this exact reason. Fighting often finds it's way in too, although I don't think it will in this game.

I also tend to have a preference for those that evolve twice. I get annoyed with singleforms (as I call them) and tend to get excited when I can build a strong team of threeformers. That's just a weird thing of mine, I guess.

I also hear rumors of people who use more than six Pokemon during the course of a game. These rumors must be made by madmen! It was around Crystal version before I realized I can do away with a lot of grinding by minimizing the amount of Pokemon I use in the game. Thus, my strategy now is to plan precisely which six Pokemon I will have, then get them as quickly as possible.

Yeah, that makes no sense to me at all. I tried it once, and it just didn't work for me. It took too long to get others outside of my established party up to speed. That I honestly enjoy going through the whole game with a party I've built and trained exclusively.

Hmmm. Well, I will definitely start with Cyndaquil, because I love him. But other than that, everything in my roster is up for grabs (as in, everything I need.) That's why I loved Gold and Silver so much: there was an excellent variety to the game. I know Mareep/Ampharos was my traditional electric type, since I got him so early (unfortunately, Ampharos is quite slow... Oh well), but I can think of like three others! There's Jolteon, my all time favorite, and then there is the bizarre and awesome Lanturn. Were I to want Lanturn, this would exclude Kingdra, who is also a fantastic water type. If I chose Jolteon, then I can't have Espeon--and Espeon is also amazing--which leaves me with Misdreavous and hopefully her evolved form, Mismagius (easily my favorite D/P pokemon)... So many choices! With other versions, I could literally choose a starter and there would be a complete dearth of a lot of the interesting types I require.

As you can tell, I can talk about this a lot.

You probably won't be able to get Mismagius until you can get this games National Pokedex. It seems to be how it works - in FireRed and LeafGreen Golbat wouldn't evolve into Crobat without the National Dex.

If I can get Houndour early, I'll probably start with Totodile. I don't remember being especially thrilled with the Water types in Gold and Silver, but Totodile was awesome. If I can't get Houndour, which I expect will be the case, then Cyndaquil definitely. And Espeon. After that it's harder to determine, as I don't like using first-gen Pokemon in a second-gen game. I like Ampharos, and there are ways to improve it's speed enough to suit me, but Jolteon is always a good addition to a team. But that would mean I couldn't get Umbreon, and other Dark types appear too late for my liking. Ambipom was a lot of fun in Diamond/Pearl, so I might see if I can snag an Aipom, despite it being much weaker. Skarmory is great too, and Steel is always useful in a lineup. I'd love it if I could get more than one Eevee, so I could have Espeon and Umbreon... It's a shame so many of the threeformers in Gold and Silver were so unappealing...

And yeah, I too can talk about this a lot. XD

[Bookstore Guy]

Heh.  You barely scratched the the surface.  These are all out by May.

Heavy Rain
Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening
Infinite Space
FF13
Resonance of Fate
Alan Wake (perhaps the game im the most excited for)
Red Dead Redemption
God of War 3
Dawn of War II Expansion
Monster Hunter 3 (not really my thing, but it will sell like madness)
3D Dot Game Heroes
Yakuza 3

And these are just the ones that I know of...

[Patriotic Kaz]

Pokemon is the same story over and over again. I got bored after yellow and Pokemon stadium for the 64. Here's a question for ya'll, why did everyone quit making turn based games like Beyond the Beyond, Skies of Arcadia, and the early Final Fantasies. They happen to be my favorite style for RPGS.

[Bookstore Guy]

They didn't stop making them.  Lost Odyssey was turn based.  A huge chunk of DS games are turn based.  I think Resonance of Fate is turn based.  A new game called Last Rebellion is turn based.  Mostly just look for the JRPGs as opposed to the (currently) more popular WRPGs.

I dunno.  I'm glad at the evolution of the genre.  I like both types, but I'm glad at the variety.