Return of the Queue

I play some video games.  I have played some other video games.  I will yet play still more video games.  Obviously nobody with a rational sense of what is or is not "wasting time" would be reading my blog anyway, so I'm going to list off the games that are on my to-do list.  Without further ado!



1. Dungeons and Dragons Online.  Status: In progress.  I have three characters I've really decided to work with, of which I believe two are at level 3 and one is at level 2 -- human cleric 2 Rendi, dwarf paladin 3 Tetsuemon, and human barbarian 2 / rogue 1 Segomedes.  All are fun in their own ways.  Have yet to decide which is funnest, but I seem to be rolling with Segomedes at the moment.  Would like to make it to endgame, but we'll see how long the enjoyment lasts.  This being an MMO, the journey is far more important than the destination, to a higher degree than for single-player games.

2. Plants Vs Zombies.  Status: About halfway through.  This game is very fun and very funny.  It's stressful and hectic during play, so I'm surprised I like it so much.  Ah well.  I'm hooked.

3. Puzzle Quest.  Status: In progress.  This game takes a very odd approach -- a fairly mainstream fantasy world with your typical conflicts and quests, except combat is mediated by what I'm told is a Bejeweled-clone-style of puzzle game.  The perfect game for a fantasy gamer who wishes he was as good at puzzles as his IQ score seems to predict.  I'm finding it amusing, and nice for a low-commitment diversion.

4. Disgaea.  Status: Nearly done.  I recently transmigrated seven of my characters (and one of them again, since she was the first of my high-level characters to enter that sort of class... you'd really have to understand the class system to know what I'm talking about), which meant a few hours of repeat leveling.  They're getting close to their old levels, which means it's taking longer and longer to advance them, but it's not too far off now.  Before long I'll be able to progress further into the actual story, which is very nearly complete.  I know there's lots of post-endgame content, but odds are I'll skip it after I do one or two new game pluses, since there's still a sequel to get to.

5. Mount & Blade.  Status: In progress.  This is really a consistently fun game.  My current game is, I suppose, compromised in integrity, because I fiddled with the character's stats (beefing up all her non-combat skills, which incidentally has made it far easier to get into advantageous situations where combat is relatively easy) and I've done a few sieges where I used the health cheat to refill when I was about to die.  So sue me.  I don't like losing long stretches of play, or castles.  Cheating made it more fun.  Get off my back.  Anyway, looking back on my old queue post, it seems that I was having a fun time of the Peloponnesian War mod, and since my native mod saves were preserved over the hard drive update, there's no reason to believe my old Peloponnesian War saves won't be there when I get around to installing it.

6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  Status: Nearly done.  Now, when I speak of being nearly done with this game, I mean the story mode, whose primary purpose (as far as I'm concerned) is to unlock all the characters for use in multiplayer.  And multiplayer, of course, is the true purpose for the game.

7. The World Ends With You.  Status: Nearly done.  I think there's some post-endgame content, though, but it shouldn't take long to burn through.

8. Disgaea 2.  Status: Owned.  It makes me sad that I probably won't ever be able to play Disgaea 3, which is on one of them fancy-pants next-gen consoles that I don't own.  Maybe someday, when the next generation is out already.

9. Tales of Symphonia.  Status: Begun.  I hear these are pretty good games, despite being not as big-name as your Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests.  I've had fun with it so far.

10. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.  Status: Owned.  I think I bought this before I realized it was a direct sequel (though I knew there were previous Tales games, just not in the same continuity).

11. Odin Sphere.  Status: Begun.  Yes, a side-scrolling action-RPG based on Norse mythology.  It's been fun so far.

12. No More Heroes.  Status: Begun.  This is really a fun game, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.

13. Etrian Odyssey.  Status: In progress.  A classic dungeon-crawler, graphically updated for the DS.  I enjoyed it when I played it a while ago, and I'd like to get further into it, though I know there's a hell of a lot to it.

14. Civilization IV.  Status: In progress.  I've played through this game many times on a variety of different difficulty settings, as a variety of different civilizations.  Yet it's still good for more fun every once in a while.  Also, I'm starting to like the Colonization mod which I haven't yet finished.

15. Final Fantasy IV.  Status: In progress.  I'm somewhere towards the middle of this, but it generally does take a significant commitment of time to get anywhere on it, so I'm not sure what its place in my future will be.


16. Lock's Quest.  Status: Not yet owned.  I expect to have sufficient Saturnalia gift-cardage to buy this.  It's a well-reviewed tower defense derivative for the DS.  Since I suddenly seem to really like tower defense, this seems like a natural pick.

17. Something Something Something Phoenix Wright.  Status: Not yet owned.  On the one hand, this looks like a really fun series, and it seems rather popular.  I'm familiar with some of the most prominent memes associated with it.  On the other hand, there seem to be a lot of games in this series, and that could be a fair bit of money.  I'm not sure which to get and which to pass on.  We'll see.