The Life and Times vol. 7: End of an era

That's right folks, two Life and Times in the span of a month! Or maybe a week, I can't really remember (of course, I could have just looked at the timestamps but nooo... Too lazy...). Anyways, why the sudden urge to present you guys with another awesome edition of The Life and Times?

Simple. The end of an era has arrived. The End of Eternity has begun.

AND THE START OF A BEAUTIFUL NEW

ADDICTION

Oooh-kay... That was a bit too dramatic. To those who are confused (I know most of you are), I'm talking about a game know in Japan as End of Eternity, but more commonly known in the English speaking world as Resonance of Fate. Now, I'm only a few hours into the game (10 hours is a few right? Right?) but I can already tell, this is going to be one helluvan addicting game. 'Cuz, you know, ten hours is a few right?

All kidding aside, this game has had a bad rap since it's initial release, owing to it's difficulty. Now, while I'm still way to early in the game to make a verdict (10 hours is early into the game. No seriously, I'm not joking. This game takes allegedly something close to 120 hours to 100 percent, i.e. get all the optional stuff), I can say, it's extremely unique, and as such, I cannot really assess if it's difficult or not. The boss battles in the game are understandably tough, as boss battles wont to be, but the regular enemies aren't really that hard. However, if you mess things up, you're really going to get your face creamed; this is a game that rewards smart play - playing smart is crucial to enjoying the game at its fullest.

I'd probably do a game review of this wonderful wonderful JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game, apparently Japan has it's own flavor of RPGs, and so far, my gamer taste buds are practically salivating for more), but I want to get to the point of this blog post (I'm writing this at around 5 in the morning without sleep, so pardon my brevity). See that girl in the first pic? Ain't she pretty?

SAY YES OR SHE'LL GIVE YOU MORE HOLES

THAN A BEEHIVE! (TRUE STORY)

And she is why I fell for the game, hook line and sinker. See, the combat system is extremely compelling, the story telling (the story isn't told per se, it's more of revealed through small, teasingly short cut-scenes) and the characterizations are all extremely solid. The game could be repetitive true (there's a lot of emphasis on grinding and long dungeon crawling), but heck; the acrobatic jumping and shooting animation still excites me even if it's the hundred millionth time I've seen it (and in the case of the pretty girl up there, gun-fu ballet). But toss in a girl as cute as her and the game just suddenly became my favorite, with the my next favorite game a hundred paces behind (sorry Fang, sorry Lightning).

By the way, her name is Leanne. And yes. I think I'm in love.

I MEAN, WHAT'S NOT TO

LOVE?!?

Ahh Leanne...