Monday Gaming Diary: Gears and Old School Final Fantasy

This has nothing to do with anything other than the fact I love this image. Merry Gearsmas!

Last week, campaign DLC for Gears of War 3 came down and due the retardedness that was the procedure to download the 2GB via the Season Pass, I wasn’t able to play the game until Wednesday. I was originally disappointed that I would have to wait a day to shoot at RAAM once again, and I should have just turned on my PS3 to play Skyrim while it downloaded. Instead, I read a Gears of War book. But by not playing the day of release, I was able to join two other friends the following night as we all played the campaign with fresh eyes.

I reviewed it for Gaming Angels, so I can’t go into too much here as of yet, but I can say that it is well worth the $15 price tag. We’re already planning to play together again and find a fourth member so we can get the Arcade and the 4-player co-op achievements. My only complaint was that there should be an Achievement for playing it on harder difficulties, as I accidentally set my difficulty on Hardcore while everyone else was on Normal. The end result included me dying a far bit more than the others, and then subsequently getting pissed that my hard work was not rewarded. All I had to show for it was a bruised ego and the echoing sounds of laughter from my teammates.

I sadly didn’t get a chance to play more Skyrim or Assassin’s Creed Revelations as I had to go out of town for the weekend for part one of Christmas get-togethers. But I actually traveled prepared! I packed my PSPgo and an old school strategy guide so I could try out Final Fantasy V. So far, I’m not that impressed. It starts off with a little bit more of a story than Final Fantasy III (still haven’t played Final Fantasy IV), but then it follows the same formula. I haven’t played VI yet, and I’m a little curious as to which FF game stopped the trend of being about collecting crystals to save the freaking world. Obviously VII wasn’t structured that way, but I’ll have to see if VI broke the mold or not. DO NOT TELL ME. LET ME FIND OUT FOR MYSELF.

I really hope I can play more Skyrim this week. Presents may not get wrapped in the process, but I’m willing to take that risk.