Back In The Mix

I've been kind of operating on auto-pilot this month and the writings from me have few and further between. I guess I have just been focusing on other things lately, more so just trying to not take everything so goddamn personally all the time. I guess that mostly goes towards my job, which was the source of a lot of headaches these past month or two. But I came to the conclusion (again) that there are just certain things in life that just aren't worth stressing over.

Besides, all of this unnecessary stress is producing a couple of white hairs on my head already. I'm too young for that crap!

Aside from that though, I guess being a long time wrestling fan, I am still in shock with the sudden retirement of Edge. Ever since his announcement on Raw a few weeks back, I kept watching and hoping that this was somehow all some sort of bad storyline. This couldn't be for real, right? I mean wrestlers "retire" all of the time, this had to be another one of those times right?

Now that the days have turned into weeks and more and more details have surfaced, it is apparent that this is absolutely real. It is a terrible thing in some ways, I mean I think Edge had only really hit his stride in the past few years. Okay, I suppose that isn't all too true since the man is an 11 time world champion. Most guys are lucky to even get to hold that belt a time or two.

On the flip side onto the gaming side of things, there are a couple of games that have caught my attention over the course of this past few weeks. The top of that is the game Brink, as well as reboot of Mortal Kombat.

Now Brink I am liking because it seems like an updated, fleshed out version of Borderlands. I suppose the thing that draws me a bit more to this is the promise of co-op game play as well as a ton of character customizations, the latter of which Borderlands lacked. I am keeping an eye out on this one, hopefully there will be a demo released for this some time before the game's launch.

As for Mortal Kombat, well... I've never been really that great or even good at fighting games. I don't really know why I want to play this, but I'd like to at least give the game a shot. Maybe I can pick it up and actually get better then I ever did before. Or, as I learned after playing both Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV, I could just get smashed over and over and over again.

One last little bit here, I just got Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection in the mail (gotta love GameFly) and playing that game, again, somehow is still awesome to me. I kind of dig the updated graphics and I like the little details added into the game. It makes the story feel more fleshed out, more detailed I suppose. Hell on top of that, I like the option of picking between the original OST or the arranged version. I know these are all nothing much to be excited about, but having played the game as many times as I have already, the little changes and what not do make a difference.

And before I quit this, I can't believe the announcement that both Final Fantasy VI AND Chrono Trigger are headed to PSN. Well in Japan... Still! Those games better make their way over to the U.S.! Square-Enix wouldn't leave us in the dark on these games would they? Would they?

Frustration

I don't know what or why, but I am feeling increasingly irritated at this very moment and it is driving me crazy. I just want to rant and rave and argue and just take it out on the whole world! If I were a dog, I'd be chewing up everything I could sink my teeth into I'd think. But the reasonable part of me knows better and thankfully I don't go over the edge and just start snapping at everything that moves. My poor girlfriend, on the other hand, has to deal with it (though she honestly throws fuel on the fire a 5/10 times). Still, it is a struggle that I have to deal with almost daily but one I'd like to think I am getting better at dealing with in time.

What I think I could use is something good to play, to just get my mind off of the world for a few hours a day. That would be awesome... which is why I am pretty excited about Dragon Age II. Just the more I see and read about the game, the more I can't wait to get my hands on it.

The same can be said for Dynasty Warriors 7, which always earns a place in my heart almost yearly just because a good hack and slash game always makes me feel better. Is that a good or bad? What I like is the fact that the game has been slowly evolving over the years and I think the overall game has gotten a lot better. Personally though, I think I just like having a game where I can unload and smash into groups of dozens of random soldiers for hours on end, just for the hell of it. I wonder if war was ever this way in Ancient China? And more importantly for me, when is Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires coming out?

But above all else, something I didn't think I'd want to buy is slowly creeping up my interested list. Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection actually looks pretty damn nice, with the graphics update and what not. I think I kind of favor the style that the DS version had, but the style that it has on this upcoming PSP release is pretty nice too. It always is amazing to me to see these older games modernized, just for the fact that the spells and summons look so freaking awesome. I am also finding it interesting that not only will FFIV and The After Years be included, but also a story that bridges the gap between two will be thrown in there as well. And after buying this game basically every single time it has been re-released, it'll be nice to actually have much more added into the game.

One thing I do have to agree though is this: Of all the old school Final Fantasy games that Square Enix could remake, why always choose FFIV? Why not VI? Or VII? Or VIII? Hell, even Final Fantasy X could be pretty awesome if they bumped it up to PS3 (keeping the way it looks of course, but cleaned up). Maybe add some parts to the story, flesh things out a little more and the whole nine. But I guess this sort of topic is one that I could probably rant endless about for the rest of my life, so I will spare the world of such words for the time being. Maybe until next time, yes?