The worst part about jumping back and forth between different videogames is that some get forgotten much more quickly than others. And then they sit, bereft of friendship, collecting dust. Every now and then they get picked up again, but once past the start screen it is evident that I no longer know what is going on and what I should be doing. Some good examples of this are Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King and Xenosaga.
Concerning the former, I’m pretty far along. I’ve fought the main bad dude (some jester villain with an evil…cane?) a few times and was, for a certain period of time, collecting monsters to fight in the battle arena mini-game. But that’s it. Where I’m supposed to go next is anyone’s guess. Sure, I could look it up in an FAQ guide or whatever, but that would involve some heavy reading to first determine what I’ve done and what I haven’t done yet. So I shut the game off and go back to familiar grounds.
The latter, Xenosaga, is first and foremost a disappointing game. Yet I’m sick in the head and can’t stay away from JRPGs. Every time I load it up, I’m in some stupid, maze-like alien ship. Wander this way, wander that way. Avoid fighting flying mutant bats and giant golem creatures. It’s pretty annoying. I gave up on it mostly due to the lengthy cutscenes, but at this point I’d kill for one to give me some understanding of plot happenings and all that jazz.
It’s a shame because I know that eventually I want to finish these games and to do so I’m going to have to start all over. Boo to that.
Grinding Down 