Let's get physical, physical. I wanna get physical.

Olivia knows what's goin' on!

Olivia Newton-John sure is an extraordinary woman. Successful singer, actress, and as we've recently discovered, a pioneer and forward thinker of the video game industry. When she Xanadid her way to the top of the charts back in the 80s, she foresaw the evolution of the gaming industry and the advent of digital media, and she cried out on our behalf "I wanna get physical!"

And of course, she was right. Nowadays, more and more games are being released as "digital only", even more so if you're looking at the Sony Vita. Yes, the Vita is still a "thing" and if I may say so myself, saw/will be seeing several high profile releases this couple of months. Unfortunately, many Japanese localisations have been hit with the "Digital Stick". Oh Olivia, if you only knew.

I do understand the business decision with "digital only" localisation releases. The Vita isn't exactly selling particularly well, and Vita games with it. And I would rather a game be "digital only" than "Japanese only", so I'm not complaining, just wishing things were different.

Keep your Digital Stick away
from my games please!

See my mind set is still living in the 80s. I like having pretty game boxes (most of which still in their original factory sealed packaging) lined up on my display case. I like to be able to look at my collection and go "wow". Also having the physical cartridge means the game won't take up valuable space on the Vita memory card (while I do have a 64G card, I am thinking about the future). And then there's warm fuzzy feeling knowing that I own this game forever. And in the event of a cyber apocalypse where internet and cloud storage gets destroyed, I will be happily enjoying Tales of Hearts R (pre-ordered!) and Danganronpa, while everyone else is back to playing Tic-Tac-Toe.

I am not against digital media. They certainly are very convenient and sometimes affordable (hello Steam!) Not on the PSN however, and especially not in Austra-ripoff-lia, where physicals are generally cheaper than digital. Hang on a minute. You're not giving me anything tangible and you want to charge me more?

Fran's got the right idea
when it comes to shopping.

So when i comes to digital, I have one policy, and that is the Fran Fine policy. "If it ain't half price it ain't on sale!" And of course, I'll only buy when its on sale. It just doesn't feel right to pay full price for something that I can't see nor touch. But when that Flash Sale hit you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be filling up my virtual shopping cart with everything I can get my hands on, especially with a PSN Plus additional discount.

So over the last 2 weeks I've been playing Toukiden, which is like Monster Hunter set in period Japan. And of course, Toukiden Kiwami, the more-is-more rerelease, has just been announced for localisation today. But I wanted to play this game and just didn't want to wait, and thankfully the game was on sale on PSN at the time. The game is a little repetitive, but much better than the actual Monster Hunter. (Played MH Freedom Unite on PSP. Couldn't cark it as the weapons we either slow or slower).

Bows are the only reliable way to hit
certain parts of bosses.

So with the sales over the last few weeks I've picked up: Atelier Roroa/Totori/Meruru Plus, Sorcery Saga, Toukiden, Soul Sacrifice Delta and Mind Zero. And in physicals I've picked up Danganronpa 1 and 2, Ys, Demon Gaze, Disgaea 4, and have Tales of Hearts R and Freedom Wars. To hell with the nay sayers, viva la Vita!

Gamer's lethargy. It strikes us all!

So I've been struck down by the gamer's lethargy. You know that feeling where you've been playing a particular game, and you're not not enjoying it, and then when you put it down but can't be arsed in picking it up.

It's not like it's not good. So why don't I feel like playing?

Well the game was Tales of Graces F. I found the courage to break the seal on my EU Day One Edition one weekend and started playing it. The battle system is quite deep and the game is quite fun too. The graphics are Wii bit on the average side (see what I did thar?) The story and characters are ok, and the skits are actually quite funny. I managed to get past the childhood arc and got towards the end of chapter 1. Just I just can't seem to want to pick it up and play.

Of course this is not the first time. Many games I've been enthusiastically playing and one day just can't be bothered. Of course, most of them time it's because the game is average or meh, but Tales of Graces F is a good game.

So in the mean time I've been playing a bit of "blast from the past" Front Mission 3, grabbed from a PSN sale. I've previously beaten this game back when it first came out on the PS1. Great game. So I am slowly making progress through Emma's story, currently about 1/3 of the way through. Slowly...... because the game allows you to save in battle! Uh oh, you know what that means. The OCD in me has decided to abuse it to the hills and back. I would save and reload so battle skills proc favourably (they're random you see!) It would sometimes take me 2 hours to beat a battle.

Few things are as scary as an enemy melee unit.
One hit and you'll be picking up scraps for the
rest of the fight. Yikes!

The challenge in this game seems so random. Sometimes I've looked at certain maps and went "how
the f am I supposed to beat this?" You can do large amount of damage to the enemy, the enemy can do large amount of damage to you, except you're always out numbers and healing is inefficient/wasteful in this game. Combined with random skill AND combo activation for you and the enemy, one turn can go very right, or very wrong. For example, your machine gun could trigger a combo of RoFI x4, and destroy both of the enemy's arms and leave it powerless, or your rifleman trigger 3 PilotDmgI and kill the pilot in one turn. But on the other hand, the enemy melee unit can destroy your weapon arm in one hit, and then it's all over Red Rover. You're a sitting duck!

It's because I want to guard against these unfortunate mishaps that I am religiously saving after each turn. Enemy melee units scare the crap out of me, because they can consistently take out at least half of the HP of any of your parts in one go. My strategy is to get in the first hit with my own melee unit, praying that EjectPunch triggers, or a combo takes out their weapon arm. Thankfully EjectPunch has high activation rate, so it's worked well fairly well. For other units, I've just been using my gunners so they would hit the body/weapon arm with skill activation, and disarm them before it's their turn. All the reloading and resetting is killing my enjoyment of the game as there's no pride in taking the cheap shots, but I am messed up in the head and need professional help.

Until next time, where I might be typing from a psychiatric ward through my straight jacket.