James Mason's Blog -or- The Journal of Contemporary Lunacy

Suikoden II - 108 Stars of Destiny and Nanami/Jowy ending PSX  I'd been at the end of Suikoden II for a year on my latest play-through but couldn't bring myself to finish it. I've finished it so many times before that this time I was more focused on building my ideal party(-ies), in particular optimizing the rune users. I also wanted to experiment with some characters I'd not used much in the past.  In the end, safe in the knowledge that I could always return, I took my party of battle hardened rune masters to the end game. Sierra, Rina, Nina, and Tengaar provided the magic power; (Hero) is, of course, a bit special and handles magic and physical stuff; and Victor rounded out the party as a bit of a traditional tank. Han bet the farm on a good old fashioned one-on-one duel. It didn't go well for him... Culgan and Seed were jerks until the end. They form a pretty potent combination, with some nasty magical attacks (they attack twice each per turn as well). After a qu...

Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine Super CD-ROM² System) マリアちゃんゲットだぜ！ I've always been fairly rubbish at Dracula X/Castlevania games, so the first order of business in Rondo of Blood was to unlock Maria, who serves as the "easy mode" character. She's hidden behind a locked door midway through the second level but, once unlocked, can be used anywhere. She has a projectile attack (two doves... sure, why not?) and a very handy double jump, which makes avoiding enemies and getting out of tricky situations that much easier. She's also much faster than Richter. The level design is familiar to anyone who's played a Castlevania game before but it seems a little prettier or more vibrant than the SNES or Mega Drive releases.