Real Saturn Chronicles Episode 9: PlayStation 2 is coming!

Over 5 years, I've had great fun with my PS1 and at that time I was able to amass a collection of almost 30 different titles. However, sooner or later the first news and images about new consoles started to pop up. First, it was the Nintendo 64. It was an interesting console, but unfortunately it was way, way expensive. Games were really expensive over here. I enjoyed Super Mario 64 quite a bit, as well as one of the Zelda games (I don't remember which one) but I always considered the N64 as a console I just couldn't buy.

Eventually, Dreamcast was also announced and that console slightly caught my attention, mostly thanks to Shenmue because, to be honest, the rest of the games such as Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure and Metropolis Street Racer were not interesting enough for me. However, I was so disappointed with Sega that I really didn't trust the Dreamcast. I was originally a big Sega fan. I never considered buying any other home console but the Sega Saturn. At first, I didn't care about the PS1 at all and I choose Saturn over it. The Master System and Mega Drive consoles lasted quite a lot of time in our market as they were both very successful over here. The main reason why I trusted Sega was because I've always seen it as a company that doesn't abandon its consoles, even when they are surpassed by newer technologies. At that time I obviously couldn't talk about Mega CD or the 32X because my knowledge about those things was very, very limited. As a kid, buying a new console was something big. I couldn't consider getting a console that would suddenly stop receiving games. I wanted to own something that would last a long time.

Unfortunately, I felt betrayed by Sega when they abandoned Sega Saturn to focus on the Dreamcast. Suddenly, Saturn stopped getting games, whereas PlayStation was receiving lots of new and amazing titles. I wanted to buy something for the Sega Saturn, but there wasn't anything interesting coming out. Even though I was only 14, I really noticed they were ignoring Saturn to focus on newer technologies. Sega wanted to be ahead in the competition by releasing the most advanced hardware but by doing that they started to ignore their current console. To me, that was a huge mistake that totally broke my trust on them and that made me stay away from the Dreamcast until a much, much later time.

After a while, information about the PS2 started to show up. First the rumours, then the pictures and finally a few videos. That was a long time before the actual release date announcement. I definitely wanted to buy a PS2 and I knew that I had to start taking action if I was going to buy that console on release date. So I started saving my cash at a very early stage. I had nearly one year and half to get enough money for it. I sacrificed a few PS1 games in order to save money for the PS2. Its price was tagged at around 90.000$, something like 450 euros and I was unsure if I was able to save so much money in the meantime, but I still decided to give it a shot. Eventually, I sacrificed some of the money I've saved to buy a few PS1 games, otherwise I would not have anything to play for a while. Two of those titles were classics: Resident Evil 1, the last title I was missing from the original trilogy and, of course, Tomb Raider 1, one of my favourite games. My mother also told me she would help me to buy the console if I was missing some cash by the time of its release date, as much as it wasn't a big amount.

One year and half later, the console finally came out. I was 17 at that time. I had a little more than enough cash to buy the console but I wasn't really concerned about preordering or going to the stores early in the morning just to secure one for myself. I never really believed that videogames were a big thing over here like it happened in foreign countries. Looking at every other family I knew, parents didn't care much about games. They would eventually pick up the controller once in a while, but videogames in general were seen as expensive kids' stuff. When I was around 15 or 16, my father told me once that I would not care about the games when I turned 18, and I would consider all those games I had bought as a total waste of money. I replied back saying that would probably never happen and he didn't know what he was talking about. I now look at my collection and... I guess he was wrong...

I didn't preorder any PS2 and I didn't even bother going to the store earlier to get the console. To me, that was just one regular day. It was a brand new, expensive system that most people wouldn't be buying, so I had plenty of chances to get it.

However, some things did not go as I expected. This was the first time I actually saw some radical changes about the impact of videogames in this country. The truth is, most kids who actually enjoyed playing on the previous gen consoles were now adults. Some had jobs already. For the first time ever, I saw on the news a report about the PS2 craze. People actually lined up in front of the stores before the opening hour just to secure one model. It was no longer parents buying an expensive system for their kids. These kids became self-sufficient adults and they were buying the console for themselves. I believe that Sony also thought the same way I did and they released a very limited number of models on release day. The number of models available was very low compared to the demand and the first batch of the console easily became sold out. I was truly impressed.

Basically, I lost my chance to buy the console on release day, but I didn't regret. Having almost 500€ in my pocket and seeing them go just like that was something I definitely wasn't used to. Two weeks later, I had the chance to buy one of two consoles available at a local store, but I couldn't. I really didn't feel like spending the highest amount of cash I ever had on a single thing. I just thought of how many things I could buy instead.

I only bought the console another couple of weeks later (basically, one month after the release date). The second or third batch of the console was finally available. I was randomly visiting a large electronics store and they had a couple of PS2 available. I realized this as soon as I saw a woman pulling a baby pushchair inside the store, but instead of a baby she was carrying a PS2. I picked one of the consoles and took it to my parents. I was still very reluctant about spending all my money. I had been saving for over one year and half with the sole purpose of buying the console, but in the end I couldn't do it. I asked my parent's opinion while carrying the console and they weren't very helpful. They told me to do what I thought it was best. 

I picked up my phone and sent a text message to my friend Rui to hear his opinion. I told him I had a PS2 on my hands and asked him if I should spend so much money on it. His answer was exactly what I needed to hear, as it gave me all the motivation I was lacking. He replied saying: - "Of course you should buy it, are you still standing there?". At that point, I told myself: -"F*** this, I'm taking this home." and went to the checkout line. As soon as I finished the checkout, I received a phone call from my friend Rui asking if I was serious about buying the PS2. I said yes, and thanks to his reply I had already bought it. He seemed very impressed and said he was going to camp on my backyard.

I finally had a PS2.

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Real Saturn Chronicles Episode 8: A completionist, not just because I wanted to be one

Being a completionist was something I already was long before Final Fantasy VII. The main reason why I've become a completionist was the fact that I didn't have much money to spend on videogames, like most kids around me those days. I would play the same game countless times until there was nothing left undone. On top of that, I had a mother that was also against kids playing videogames at an early age and she didn't support that hobby. My mother was and still is very concerned about health, so she is always well informed by reading news and themed magazines. She considered videogames as an unhealthy addiction to kids because it had many bad side effects. Her biggest concern was the decline of the eyesight by spending too many hours playing. I have to admit that she was kind of right, but I just wish she wasn't so prohibitive when I was younger. With time, she eventually softenen and when I was around 14 years old she was no longer so prohibitive anymore. She wasn't at home all the time to control how long I would play anyway ;). After buying Final Fantasy VII, I've spent the next summer break waking up early in the morning as soon as she left home in order to play. I would wait to hear her footsteps outside, meaning she was walking away to work, meaning it was fine to come off my bed and play :D.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before, but I could only buy around 4 to 7 games per year, which basically meant that a single game had to last at least two months. I was privileged to own a PlayStation, a Saturn and still have so many games per year. As a kid, that didn't seem be enough but now I understand that not having a massive amount of games was a pretty good thing. It helped me to value all the games I had. It's what made me the type of player I was and (later) the type of collector that I've become. Even at that young age, I've kept all my games in a very good condition. I wouldn't accept to lose a leaflet or an instructions booklet from the case, unlike the majority of the other kids I knew. I wouldn't accept a badly handled disc with scratches or marks, so I've kept all my games in a condition that even by my current standards they are still worthy of being part of my collection, not just by their sentimental value. I was always a careful kid with the things that I really cared about, especially if they were tough to get. I was also totally against piracy. I wasn't really bothered to pay so much for an original copy of the game simply because I thought it was worth it.

As a result, finishing a game just once was not an option - I had to finish it many times. After beating the game once, I would take the time to find secrets, unlock bonuses, try cheat codes, find all the items and collectibles, do things faster, whatever came to my mind as much as I was having fun. As a result, almost nothing was left undone in any of the games I owned.

Final Fantasy VII took the completionism to a whole different level. I liked the game so much that I played it 6 or 7 times and tried to achieve a near perfect save file. That took not months, but years. The second time I went through the game, I already had some magazines that revealed the majority of secrets, sidequests and collectibles. I did everything I possibly could but I still missed a few items. I spent a few hundreds of hours getting everything, but there was always something missing for some reason. Access to the internet was limited (not to mention non existent for me), so getting information about the hardest things to find in the game was not an easy task. On my 3rd near perfect file, I realized I missed one tricky item called Vagirysk Claw. That was basically the last thing I was missing. I restarted all over again just to get that item. That was troublesome. I'm pretty sure I did everything from scratch another time after that, and a few years later I replayed the game just for fun. 

Final Fantasy VII was a great experience, but thankfully many others followed. Over the 5 years I owned a Playstation, my collection of games for that system alone grew up to almost 30 original titles. It's hard to tell one by one all the amazing experiences I had with all the games I bought. 

I obviously suffered while waiting for the release of Final Fantasy VIII one year after its announcement, but I had many games to keep me busy. It's pretty hard to tell the order of purchase, but I bought Tekken 3, Dino Crisis, Ace Combat 3, Ridge Racer Type 4, Resident Evil 2, Gran Turismo 1 and 2, all the Tomb Raider games, Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Hard Edge, Cool Boarders 4...  I played all those games to exhaustion and did everything I possibly could. I even wrote some small walkthroughs/FAQs that still should be available in several websites.

There's a funny story behind Dino Crisis and Ace Combat 3. Those games were bought shortly after their release dates. In fact, at that time I was mostly buying brand new releases because I was well informed about the PS1 games thanks to a UK magazine called Playstation Power. I think I bought that magazine for nearly two years, even when it changed its name to just Power. Anyway, I asked my parents for Dino Crisis as a birthday gift. The game of course was not released on date so I had to check the same store over and over until it was finally available, on a particular Saturday. Next Monday, I had enough money to buy another game. Since I played Air Combat and Ace Combat 2 quite a lot in those PS Kiosks at the shopping mall, I've decided to pick Ace Combat 3. As my parents and I were driving home, I asked them to stop at one of my usual stores. I went in and came back with Ace Combat 3. This was a complete record for me, two games in just three days. My mother realized I was bringing home another game in such a short time and she nearly flipped. She was seriously upset, using arguments in an angry tone like: - "Go ahead, spend all your money on videogames, don't you dare to ask for anything else if you need!". I stood quiet and still on the backseat of the car, lowering my head between my shoulders...

I was also very lucky to buy two other JRPGs that I loved to play a lot. Unfortunately, the majority of the best Squaresoft RPGs never came out in Europe, so I missed theose. After the great experience I had with Final Fantasy VII, I wanted to try out other RPGs. Playstation Power made an article about this game called Vagrant Story, which was made by Square and was coming to Europe. I immediately wanted to get that game. When the release date finally arrived, history repeated itself and I had to go to the store several times and come back empty handed until they finally had the game available. 

Some time later, I went to my friend Rui's home. He hated Final Fantasy and RPGs in general. Visiting his home was great. He had a Game Boy, a Game Gear and a Mega Drive. Later he also owned a PS1 console, chipped of course. Even though he hated RPGs, there was this game called The Legend of Dragoon that caught his attention. He was playing it and he was quite far already. He kept an older save file at a certain ghost ship and he loaded that file just to show me some FMV sequence about a Dragoon Campaign. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the quality of the animation. This was another game I had to hunt down. On a random visit to a store named Fnac, I saw the game and I instantly bought it. Another awesome decision was made!

As for Final Fantasy VIII and IX, well, those were easy purchases, to my surprise. The same story repeats with both. I could hardly wait for any of those two games, but at that point I was not paying much attention to the release dates anymore, since they were very inaccurate over here. I went to the usual shopping mall with my parents and they were visiting a large clothes store. I was bored, so I told them I was going to visit that music store named Strauss where I previously bought my Tomb Raider II copy. As I approached the store, I immediately noticed the big pyramid made of Final Fantasy VIII copies at the front display, including limited editions. At that time I didn't even care about the limited edition. I was lucky enough if I could afford the regular game but I had no money at that time. I rushed back to my parents, I almost begged my mother to get me that game, saying stupid things like "my life depends on this"... and she did buy the game! This was the first time something like this actually happened! Me asking my mother to buy a game and she saying "yes" at first attempt. Wow! Things were slowly changing. I'm guessing having good grades at school kinda helped as well. Getting Final Fantasy IX  many months later was not much different from this story.

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Another press kit arrived!

Dropship Press Kit for the PS2. It's not one of those impressive press kits for the most recent games such as The Order or Bloodborne, but it's something I've lost twice many years ago and never really had the chance to get it. Until now. It's one of those tough finds that took me many years to get but I finally managed to find one for sale and it ended for a reasonable price. I'm glad I was finally able to scratch this one off my wishlist :D.

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Let me hate on Nintendo a little more.

No, I'm not collecting faceplates and I hate Nintendo for doing this. I've been hating Nintendo a lot lately. They are more concerned about making money in microtransactions with Pokemon Shuffle and Pokémon Rumble, selling 3DS wallpapers for 2 euros, making useless but addicting cool figurines called Amiibo and releasing a ton of faceplates. Now they announced a ton of new Amiibos and they will keep doing the same sh!t again of releasing them in very low quantities. The nightmare for Amiibo collectors will resume shortly. Thanks for being an ass, Nintendo. 

But I'm definitely not collecting these faceplates. Overall, they're annoyingly expensive, tagged at 14.99 euros each, not counting that wooden-like cover that goes for... 24.99 for no particular reason. Not to mention scubag stores that sell these for a higher price, such as Fnac. And I truly hate that store for charging more cash than things are worth and for being the only place where you can actually preorder these over here. The rest of the stores seem to be absolutely clueless about these things until they finally arrive, if they ever arrive.

I only buy a couple that I like the most, such as the Pokemon ORAS, Xenoblade, the two Zelda ones and that's all for the moment. Most of them are ugly as well and almost none goes well with the white New 3DS console, which is exactly the one I have because it's the only colour available for the Ambassador Edition. I wanted a black one and life sucks because I don't have a black one. It's already stupid enough to own a New 3DS because that thing is basically the same sh!t as before with a few extras nobody cares about. And the only game available is Xenoblade, which happens to be one of my favourite games ever created... And I still didn't buy it because the only store where I found it for sale is Fnac, which is asking 5 euros more than in most other places, as usual...

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Real Saturn Chronicles Episode 7: Final Fantasy VII

Last time, I've mentioned how I randomly decided to buy Final Fantasy VII, even after being unimpressed with the gameplay videos I had seen on TV a few months before. I also told the reasons why I took the game home with me. This next post might be filled with spoilers about Final Fantasy VII. I assume most people who wanted to play the game have already done that, so read at your own risk.


Shortly after arriving home with the game, I've decided to try it for a little bit. I was fairly impressed with the intro sequence and its powerful soundtrack, which kinda revealed that the game was something big. The battles were a little boring because I wasn't used to the turned based system with an active time bar. I was completely inexperienced in the RPG field because it was the first I was playing one by myself. I knew Phantasy Star for the SMS and Shining Force 3 for the Saturn but I never had the chancre to own those games, so my experience with them was very limited. As expected, I did a lot of mistakes while playing this game and got stuck on several bosses. Even regular enemies would give me tough times. At the beginning I also didn't know how to save the game, so I missed the first checkpoint several times.

The first obstacle I faced was the scorpion guard boss at the first reactor's core. I obviously took a beat, mostly because there was a message saying something like "it's going to counter" followed by "attack while the tail is up". These were two different lines displayed individually and I honestly didn't understand what they truly meant. I assumed that the scorpion was going to counter my moves, so I had to attack while its tail was up. I was supposed to do the exact opposite. What a big mistake that was, but it was also Square's fault. I died and had to restart the game. Then I had to stop playing because my parents sent me to bed. The next day I came back early from school and started playing again. I was killed by the scorpion boss a few more times, doing the same stupid mistake. I eventually managed to beat it just a little before dinner, by attacking all the way and surviving its counter attacks. I paused the game and resumed playing after dinner. This is when the game became boring as sh!t. Just talk, talk, talk and no action. I started to complain about how bad the game was and my mistake on spending all my money on a stupid game with silly combat. I still didn't know how to save and I was already on my way to the next reactor when my mother walked in and asked me to shut down the console and go to bed. - "But mom, I've been playing this for so long, I finally beat that boss, everything I did in the last hour was just listen to these stupid characters talking forever and I still don't know how to save the game... If I have to do this all over again I will never play this game again!". Since my mother was a very comprehensive person about videogames, all she said is: - "I don't care. Shut that thing down and go to bed. You have a long time to play the game."

Next day, I didn't have school during the afternoon but I was kinda reluctant to play the game again. Well, I didn't have anything else to do that afternoon anyway... Thankfully this time, things went better. I've finally learned how to save the game. I never realized that the shiny thing that sparkles when you get close was a save spot. I didn't know you actually had to stand right next to that and the save option was already selectable. I managed to save the game before the scorpion boss fight, I literally wiped his ass and I just bashed the X button in order to skip all the conversation that follows shortly after. I managed to get past the spot where I turned the console off the day before and arrived at the second reactor. I beat the boss on first try and as soon as Cloud is separated from the party and meets Aeris I finally started to like the game a little bit. 

I kept playing the game for the next few days without too many difficulties. I still didn't fully understand the limit break system nor how the characters leveled up... I knew how to equip items and materia, but some of the most basic stuff was still unknown ground for me. I eventually arrived at that point of the game where I've become very interested in paying more attention to the story. That moment was when Biggs, Wedge and Jessie finally die and Aeris gets kidnapped by the Turks. From this point onward, my interest in the game kept rising and rising. I climbed to the ShinRa tower, I've had problems with some of the bosses along the way, I eventually met more characters and things became rough when I finally left Midgar. I was so confused with the World Map. I didn't understand where I was or why the graphics were so different. I was a complete noob at RPGs...

Everything about the game and its plot started to become more and more interesting. Cloud's past, Barret's story, the visit to North Corel, the Gold Sauccer, the Desert Prision, Cosmo Canyon... everything was pretty interesting.

The first boss that gave me a lot of trouble was the Materia Keeper in Nibelheim mountains. I was completely underleveled and with a terrible setup with most of my characters. It took me one entire week to beat that thing. I did not even consider grinding before fighting it again. Whenever it used Trine, only Cloud was left alive. The only reason why I was finally able to kill it was because Cloud reached its limit break and Cross Slash left the enemy paralyzed. It was the first time it ever happened and I had absolutely no idea why. This gave me enough time to heal all characters and keep attacking. It finally died after a long time. The next boss that gave me nightmares was the Demon Gate at the Temple of the Ancient's exit. This was hell on earth. I was absolutely underleveled and there was no way I could beat it. At this point I finally started to learn the importance of grinding. I spent a few days fighting regular enemies in the room before, where you fight the red dragon boss. Materia started to grow a lot, my characters started to gain levels and I finally started to get a hang of the battle system. 

I eventually managed to beat the Demon's Gate and shortly after I finally witnessed Aeris' death. I just couldn't believe it. I seriously thought it was a joke and she hadn't died. She remained in my party for a long time due to her powerful healing spells and she was gone. At that point I was completely hooked on the game. 

I kept playing the game with lots of problems beating some bosses. Hojo gave me a terrible time to beat. It took me many tries. The only reason why I was able to defeat his last form was because I only had one character alive and I randomly used Phoenix summon on him. I just couldn't believe this summon had a side effect that would bring the other two characters to life! I took that random chance I was given to finally wipe out his ass. I also had a terrible time breeding chocobos and even beating the final bosses. I arrived at the final bosses so underleveled that I had to come back to the world map and do some serious grinding. Meanwhile, I also found some of the 3rd dis sidequests and spent some time doing random things. One month later, I went back to that final boss and ended up defeating it in just a few tries.

After I finished that game, I didn't know what to do anymore. I left the console playing those stars at the end for more than 10 minutes, expecting something to happen. It seemed there was nothing else interesting enough that could match the amazing experience it was to play that game.

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Nightmare is here

It's finally here, one of the most sought after games from recent times, and it's called Bloodborne. This is not another Dark Souls but pretty much combines all the good things from that game series into a brand new one and it looks pretty impressive. 

Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to buy popular press kits right now and I'm very sad to see that I'll be missing this game's press kit as well. But at least I managed to get the Nightmare Edition which quite heavy and packed with some cool items. My only concern with this edition is it abusive price.

Unfortunately there isn't much I can tell about the game itself. I usually don't like to spoil surprises by watching too many videos and trailers. On the other hand, I've got quite a few games to play on the list and not much of an opportunity to play them. It's been months since I played any of the consoles but thankfully within the next couple of months my biggest problem should be sorted and I'll finally have some time to rest my mind and to play a few videogames.

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Final Fantasy Type Irony.

I don't quite understand why some games from popular series never come out of Japan. Final Fantasy Type 0 is one of that kind of games. In my opinion, it should have been originally available in all world regions, especially because it's part of the spin off series based in Final Fantasy XIII. Instead, we had to wait for an HD version for the latest consoles. No, not even for PS3 or 360. It had to be for PS4 and XBone, with PSP-based HD graphics... You need a 400€ new gen home console to play a graphically outdated portable game that came out several years ago in Japan. That makes absolutely perfect sense! Nobody is going to pay full price for an outdated game for a portable console that the general public no longer plays. So they decided to release a new version for the latest systems because... well... it's more enticing to consumers, maybe? Even if the game looks more "outfashioned" and pixelated than a Minecraft version for Windows 95? Yeah, the game doesn't look like anything remotely close to a new gen game. I was excited at first but after seeing a demo of it, I became more reluctant because it doesn't look that good...

Yeah, I've bought the regular Collector's Edition from a local website. I say "regular" because the Square Enix Store featured a different edition with a much better looking package. But (there is always a but...) of course, it was impossible for me to buy it because I live in Portugal and Square Europe doesn't send items to Portugal without even explaining why. The usual 1st world problems, video game collectors version. We have tiny little companies making awesome games and sending them to the Moon if it's necessary, such as WaterMelon Games and Super Fighter Team. But then, Square Enix, a pretty damn big corporation with this website designed specifically for European consumers, decides to sell exclusive items only to a couple of selected destinations? Okay. I can live with that. Some people can live without a kidney, so I can live without that edition too.

Overall, I'm quite happy that I missed the special cover. I mean, it's not like I collect videogames at all, you see. Especially Final Fantasy games with exclusive editions and slipcases, I never buy those... It makes perfect sense that half Europe cannot order exclusive games from Square Enix Europe. (/irony).

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It's Mario Party time!

Yay, Mario Party 10 just came out and thanks to the Amiibo I already hate the game. You know that really hard to get figurine called Rosalina, right? Then you probably heard by now that the figurine unlocks an entire board in this game, right? So, you weren't expecting to see Nintendo pull a nasty trick on costumers by not producing more stock of Rosalinas, right?

Wrong. It was just leaked not too long ago that Rosalina will have its own wave release for the Super Mario series. So if you were actually thinking of finally completing the 3 first Smash Bros. waves with that character you're missing, Nintendo says "no". At least for now. In fact, Nintendo has a lot of trouble to comunicate. Mr. Iwata is trying hard to speak English in order to provide you with the latest information on Nintendo Directs, but he's unable to tell us the future of the Amiibo...

A difference of only 5 euros in price is reason enough for me to get the Amiibo Box Set instead of the regular game. In fact, I'm not even sure if I've seen any regular game available for sale separately in stores. 5 euros is as much as those figurines should be worth in the first place, let alone 30 or 50 euros like the annoying scalpers are asking...

If anyone wants to get rid of a boxed Gold Mario, I'm accepting gifts. Half the people who bought it want to get rid of it anyway (for cash...).

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Crappy edition is crappy

Here it is, another Polish exclusive, this time for Dying Light. In fact this edition is quite interesting, except for a few major problems. First, my statue came with a broken arm and two broken fingers. Most statues arrived like this, unfortunately. Thankfully, I'm pretty confident I can fix that. The package is horrible as well. Inner supports are very fragile and arrived all dented and even ripped. 

Why can't they make decent packages? These are collector's items and there are some really serious and picky collectors out there reaching out for these. Why does almost no one cares about the way items are designed? It really troubles my mind to think that some people out there are making money producing really expensive editions with the crappiest packages ever. People buy online all the time and many editions are online exclusives as well, so why don't producers even consider making hard packages that can survive all the torture they go through during shipping process or at least ensure that the contents will survive the journey?

Other than that, the game is pretty cool and so is this edition, filled with some fine extras and a steelbook, like I usually hate. Being a country exclusive also rises my interested in it. I'm just disappointed with the outer package but I can live with that. Now I'll proceed to fix the statue and replace the inserts.

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Videogame Collecting is doomed.

Yes, collecting videogames is becoming a big pain in the ass. Sooner or later, within the next 10 or 15 years or so, it will perish.Unfortunately, that's what I see happening right now. If you just like to collect merchandise, figurines, statues and all those things that don't really include a physical copy of the game they come from, then the future is bright to you as a collector. You also need to have lots of money to spend on those because there are many "OMG SUPER UBBER RARE LIMITED RESSELLER EDITION WITH JUST 2 UNITS WORLDWIDE THAT ARE SOLD OUT IN 10 SECONDS". If you like to collect digital games and all the stuff that fits that denomination, the world is at your service now. But if you're like me and you just like to own physical copies of games, then I don't see a bright future ahead.

What is a collector anyway? If you search the internet, you'll find a ton of definitions and theories behind the meaning of that word. If you ask me what a collector is, my most direct response would be: a collector is a selfish, materialist person who likes to own lots of stuff related to a family of items. That's basically what a collector is and that's what I am. I can obviously come up with a more poetic or scientific definition to justify this kind of behavior but, in the end, those are just different and more complex ways of saying the same thing. Since the word "collector" involves all sorts of people with different purposes and objectives, from the guys that turn around garbage bins to the intellectual multimillionaire elite who collect paintings and wine, you can't go around spreading my definition of a collector because some people will get butt hurt. This doesn't make a collector a fool or an idiot, of course. It just makes him human. Anyway, there are collectors of all sorts. If something exists, no matter what it is, someone is out there collecting it.

Being materialist means digital, intangible contents that replace a physical item are a big Nope. I hate DLC, I hate F2P, I hate DMR, I hate all that crap. Because that's what it is: crap. DLC was supposed to be something good, something that extends the gameplay of a game a while after being released, pretty much like the good old expansion packs. But no. Thanks to the big companies, it sucks. You have to pay for stuff that's already available even before the game comes out, and most of it sucks. Most of these DLC are fully planned and prepared during the development stage. You basically buy an incomplete game when it comes out and you'll have to pay more for some of the missing bits. F2P is a great concept! People get the game for free and only pay to unlock things faster if they wish. This would be great if most games could be played normally instead of making you deal with all kinds of sh!t that ruin the gameplay experience, such as being unable to further play the game unless you waste your real life money on the items you need to progress or, alternatively, waste countless hours of your lifetime doing the most annoying things ever just to get them. Since I'm about to trash Nintendo again, here's an example: Pokémon Shuffle. Addicting game, fun to play... but then they make you wait at least half an hour just to have a single heart you need to play a single time, and you can't have more than 5 hearts at once unless you use a crystal. You can either win a crystal by doing some things such as beating a Mega Evolution or buy it for 0.99 cents. Seriously, who supports this? 

Then there's also another extremely annoying thing... the updates. Updates that take ages to download and install all the time. Updates that make you wait up to half an hour (if not more) just to play the damn game! Sometimes half an hour is all I got to get a little taste of the game I've just bought but nooooo, instead of instantly playing the game I have to sit there, depressed, looking at loading bar getting stuck on the last 1% for a longer time than it took to fill the previous 99%. Well done.

And here I am writing all this gibberish just because I recently heard that Nintendo announced it will start producing games for mobile phones, tablets and similar devices. It's a fact that portable gaming on these devices is extremely popular in Japan. I don't have a crystal ball to guess the future, otherwise I wouldn't be missing some of the preorders that I'd really like to get before they become sold out, but this kind of attitude coming from a company that dominates the handheld consoles' market seems like an attempt to shoot its own foot. In fact, these news just came out very shortly after Nintendo released the New 3DS models, which don't really add anything relevant to the previous 3DS consoles available. But, oh, wait, "we're working on a new console", they said. I won't even comment on this one. I hope it does better than the WiiU.

Now, if you consider Nintendo is leaving their fans very upset with the extremely limited availability of its most recent releases such as the WiiU GC controller adapter, most of the Amiibo figurines, console editions, plates, preorder items and all of those things, these announcements just seem to add horribly wrong. Now we have a solid gold Mario available exclusively on Walmart in the US. This is how Nintendo gives the middle finger to the rest of the Amiibo collectors around the World, and fools like me will continue to support these companies.

The digital era is not just about negative things. It actually has more pros than cons. No more rare or exclusive games produced in limited numbers, no more wasted resources in producing millions of discs, cheaper games... Sometimes the disc alone is far more worth it than the game recorded inside... So many good things about the digital market! Unless they release digital games with physical Amiibo or Skylanders. Those are awesome to own but horrible to collect. On the other hand, the digital market totally ruins the fun of collecting physical games and it will certainly value retro games and physical copies a lot. Many awesome games will never make it to my collection because they are digital only and I still wasn't able to adapt to the idea of paying for something that you can't "own", unless it's ultra cheap (but I guess that's what happens most of the times, according to Steam). Considering how well I see steam cards and similar stuff selling in regular videogames' stores, I'm pretty sure this will not ruin the business for most of them, as much as they know how to adapt. 

The amazing success of physical goods and collector's editions seems to be a contradiction in the recent tendencies of the digital markets. What kind of strategy comes from companies whose physical games, limited editions and toys sell out like hot cakes but decide to release digital games? The answer is quite simple: it's all about the money.

General gamers just want to play a game for the cheapest price they can get. If that means not owning a physical version, that's not a problem at all. Collectors are a minority in the general videogaming market and companies are not making videogames for charity purposes. Companies just want profit. One day they make collectors happy and the following day they make them sad. One day they make most gamers happy and the next day they make them sad. It doesn't matter to them. All their strategies have a single goal in mind: profit. Their decisions are only based on how much money they can get from something at a certain moment. The consumer's satisfaction is a consequence and an objective at the same time, because there's no profit without that (at least, not legally...). That's basically how the current world works. There's no routine.

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The Enemiibo...

Good thing to know a friend of mine called Ivan just posted some weird study on Facebook saying that bad humour is a sign of intelligence. Looking at all the rants I've been writing in this blog, I must be a f***ing genius.

One thing is certain: I'm stupid. Another thing is certain: so is Nintendo. This has to be the worst collector's nightmare in recent times, seriously. What the heck, Nintendo? I originally bought a couple of these figurines called the Amiibo, but I promised myself that I would not buy all of them. GG Nintendo, I fell for your trap and I'm pretty sure plenty of other people out there can relate... Now what?

I started with Link, Marth and Pikachu because they were cool. I didn't have plans to buy the rest of the 1st wave because I thought I would be able to buy them later after a price drop or something. I certainly am not a genius, but at the time I didn't realize that expecting a price drop for most of these figurines was something even those guys from Criminal Minds would miss. 

Things became more serious when they officially announced that three figurines from the first wave would be discontinued, confirming those rumours that were lurking around in doubtful articles on the internet. I already had Marth, but I still needed to get the two retarded ones: Wii Fit Trainer and the Villager. Well, honestly, sorry if I offended you guys who are fans of any of these two, but even still you have to recognize they are the most random characters to ever make it to the Smash Bros roost. Seriously, what the heck are those characters? It makes more sense to release a "Mii version of Mr. Potato" Amiibo than those two characters. They could even call it Miister Potato as far as I'm concerned. Then they would allow you to customize your own Amiibo with accessories that were sold separately. Oh no, don't give them more ideas... Anyway, I only bought the weird couple to avoid regrets later.

So, by the time I had 5 figurines, I noticed I was missing the interesting ones, such as Kirby (cute and gay), Samus and Fox. Obviously, by the time I bought those, I was only missing two to complete the first wave. I was determined to buy them all at this point. Thank you Nintendo, for ruining my sanity.

Second wave comes out, and brought us plenty of cool characters. I visited one store that had them all, but there was only a single figurine of my favourite character from that wave: Little Mac. I didn't buy any because I didn't feel like wasting money at that moment. I waited a few days before deciding to get some of them but then I noticed I could no longer find Little Mac at the local stores. I travelled a few km to different stores and I eventually realized that Little Mac was only available in extremely low quantities. I started to worry at first, but I eventually found a few here and there, so I bought one. I warned a couple of friends of how limited that figurine seemed to be but they didn't seem to care until it was too late. I was completely unaware of what was happening in the rest of the world.

Third wave comes out and this was by far the easiest to get. Stores over here don't give a crap about figurines. If they have too many on the shelves, they don't put up more for sale, even if they are new ones just released. They don't care about release dates either. Several days before 3rd wave came out, I randomly entered a local store that had all the new figurines available. Plenty of them actually, not less than about ten of each, including Rosalinas. I bought Rosalina, Ike, Toon Link, Lucario... At this point I thought that getting the full collection was not a problem. I heard Rosalinas were rare, so I checked eBay, saw their values and a couple of weeks later I returned to the same store that still had about 7 left and I decided to buy a couple to make some spare money. Yeah I know, I was such a scalper and I kinda feel bad for that.

So I bought a couple of Rosalinas and placed them on eBay with the lowest buy it now and free postage. In a matter of minutes I received a message from another guy in this country asking how much I would sell that figurine for... I thought to myself "hummm this is weird, this must be super common as that store alone had about 10 of them for almost 3 weeks... This guy will probably find it easily if he visits a few stores". I told him that and I never heard from him again. I hope he didn't die or something... 

The Rosalinas I placed on eBay sold ridiculously fast. Some time later I realized Rosalina was nowhere to be found in any other store around this area (and, believe me, there are plenty of stores in a 20km radius...). I even got a few just to help other people who needed it, without making any profit. That's when I understood how scarce these were, and I have a few close friends who wanted one but couldn't get it. Damn, the feels...

Okay, so I was still expecting to easily collect all the figurines... until the 2nd set of the 4th wave comes out. You know, the one that includes Shulk, Meta Knight, King Dedede, Mega Man and Sonic... I didn't even bother looking at release dates, since all I had to do up to this point was walk into that store and get them. Or so I thought.... Shulk was by far my most wanted character and for a second I thought I had missed it for good. Nintendo had the absolutely brilliant idea of releasing just two figurines per store, and only a bunch of stores got them and they were already reserved for scalpers, one guy in particular. Yeah, I know who you are, I know you've been to three different Worten stores reserving almost the entire stock. Oh, but you're such a nice guy, because you left one Sonic and one Megaman for another guy!!! Now die alone.

And now the 4th wave is sold out everywhere, except in the local stores who don't even know what they are selling. I don't know if I will be able to get the 4th wave figurines. Stores over here know nothing until they receive it. Last time I made a phone call asking for the Nintendo figurines called Amiibo and the guy on the phone said "hum I've no idea what they are". So I told him about the Skylanders, and he didn't know what Skylanders are. Seriously???? You work in a Multimedia store and you don't know what Skylanders are? Damn, I hope that guy has some short term plans for your future...

I'm done with the Amiibo as soon as the Smash Bros. Series ends. I don't even care about the new ones from Super Mario. Nintendo is making fans give all the money to scalpers just because they had the stupid idea of not releasing enough figurines. There's a billion of super marios from wave 1, then there are like 39 Shulks all over the world. What's the point??? Is Nintendo dumb? Don't they want more money? Do they prefer to piss their costumers and drive them insane looking for these stupid figurines? I like to walk in a store and get the ones I like when I feel like buying them. I don't want to look like a crazy guy constantly refreshing the amiibo page on websites that still didn't put them for sale, FFS...

Well done Nintendo, I hope you enjoy burying your unsold 1st wave Super Mario Amiibo in the Nevada Desert while you watch the rest of the World killing each other just to get a Ness figurine.

Here it is, the full collection of Smash Bros. Amiibo up to number 29, in risk of never going beyond that number now that I've lost the preorders for the next wave. Even the background is a nightmare to edit on this one, so please just enjoy a regular, crappy, unedited picture showing all my Amiibo in their current habitat. This collection is driving me nuts to the point I've considered selling the whole thing and make a profit just to buy other editions coming out soon.

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My Order arrived on release date

Sometimes I have this feeling that I'm always complaining about the editions I buy. I wonder what people who read this blog think about it. Am I crazy for spending extra money on pricey editions and games just to complain about? Do I really like most of the stuff I post here or is it just a fetish or an addiction to buy every single one of these? Kinda...

The Order 1886 is another one of those games I'd love to be playing right now, but unfortunately I can't. Not until I solve my problems at home, and that will take a few months. By the time I'm done, I'll probably move on to other games and this one will be left behind. There's a top three this year that I want to play no matter what, unless of course they add DMR or require online connection all the time. No matter how hardcore I am, I do not support that. I just hope that everything is solved by the time those big games come out. 

This Blackwater Edition was a major disappointment. I do welcome smaller editions for cheaper prices, so I don't really complain about the fact that we didn't receive one of the huge editions with large statues as those released in the US. But if I'm going to spend additional money on one game, then it rather be worth it. I rarely ever buy brand new game releases unless they have a limited edition, and even still I don't buy all the limited editions on release date. I just do that when I'm guessing it will be sold out or when I truly like the game and/or the edition related to it. 

It's pretty clear that this game was one of the big hits, and big hits are usually very sought after. Considering this, I've made up my mind about picking this edition on release date. Unfortunately, as the edition was heading my way, I had the chance to open one and see the contents. I was rather disappointed. First of all, the necklace it comes with or whatever that is, is pretty pointless. In my opinion, it's not interesting, charismatic, whatsoever. It has little meaning to me. Secondly, the exclusive cover of the game inside this edition is horrible. The regular game has a much prettier cover and they could have easily added that one with the name of the edition of it if they wanted it to differ from the regular solo version. Even the steelbook edition is much prettier and for a moment I considered that to be the best purchase. The problem is that I hate steelbooks, even when I have to keep them sealed. I already quit buying all the Portuguese editions, so I won't bother getting that one as an extra. The rest of the content in this edition is fine, but it feels not enough. I don't care about DLCs but still got one of those papers with a useless code I'll probably never activate.

The edition doesn't come sealed. I mean, it does come sealed with your good old sticker on the box flaps, but not with cellophane or shrinkwrap. It comes in one of those types of clear plastic cases that allow them to print all the useless information almost nobody cares about while sparing the actual box from having all that trash directly on it. It also makes these editions look neat. The same type of plastic cases that get easily scratched if they are mishandled by distributors, stores and warehouses, which they obviously are and all parties involved in the making (including designers) know about that. They then look ugly, worn out, old, no longer mint. When used copies pop up at stores, they'll probably look even worse. Adding some cellophane around the box provides additional protection before the edition is sold but nobody cares. In the end, they are just concerned about sales. Nobody is concerned about professionalism, nobody is concerned about taking these things more seriously. They are just videogames and videogames are just  I'm not an expert about limited editions and packages, but I also don't get paid to put these on sale and do an average job at best.

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Another one of these games.

Future Trunks has always been my favourite character in the Dragon Ball series. When I was younger I really wanted to get one action figure of his character but, sadly, those were unavailable over here. The only figurines available at that time were produced by AB Toys and they originated from France. Toys R' Us was the only place where I could find them. The best I could get was a bootleg figurine based on the original Bandai version which had only been released in Japan. I was very happy when I heard a Future Trunks statue was included this time with the Dragon Ball Xenoverse Trunks' Travel Edition. I felt even more tempted to buy it when I saw the first unboxing pictures. That satiny look of the statue makes it even more awesome.

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There are more games of Pokémon than Pokémon in the games

This game isn't particularly interesting, at least to me, but it comes with a very nice accessory. A Nintendo DS Bluetooth keyboard, which is definitely nice. I had to wait for a major price drop in a UK store I could trust. It's just too bad Amazon doesn't protect everything as well as it should. At this point, I'm pretty sure the only Pokémon games I'm still missing are basically Rush and Conquest. Pokémon Rush is such an interesting game that I am still waiting for a bargain deal just to complete the series.

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Real Saturn Chronicles Episode 6: Maybe I should buy it...

So, in the last post, I've mentioned how I obtained my Tomb Raider II game for the brand new Sony console. I eventually finished the game with all the secrets, I made myself a hand written strategy guide and I finally got my own memory card. As I promised, I've lent the game to my friend Angelo after I completed it and he lent me his copy of Tekken 2, which I played quite a lot. Angelo was a really nice kid.

Within the next couple of months I was able to get a few more games to play. I don't remember exactly which ones were. I know my second game was Dragon Ball: Final Bout. Being a huge Dragon Ball fan, I obviously had to get that game. I saw the intro on a TV show and I couldn't believe how epic it was. That game was a Christmas gift. As soon as I inserted the game disc in the console and the opening intro started playing, my mind was blown. Unfortunately the game was not that good. It was extremely slow and the gameplay was poor, but I was still glad with it.

On that TV show about videogames that I used to watch, they started to talk about this really popular game which was already a huge hit in Japan and was coming to Europe. They mentioned that game in more than a single episode. They made quite a big fuss over it, but I wasn't impressed at all. To be honest, I was not even slightly interested. That was until March or April 1998. 

My Grandmother used to give me a monthly allowance. I also had some money left from Christmas, so a few months later I had saved almost enough money to buy a brand new game. I just didn't know which one to pick. On a certain day my parents picked me from school and we went to a small local shopping center that had an electronics store. They didn't have a big stock of games but it was still nice to visit and I was trying to make up my mind about what to buy next.

Sitting on a shelve there was this weird, fat box with a rather uninteresting cover. When I originally started buying games for the PS1, those fat boxes had already been replaced by the smaller formats. Fat boxes were scarce. They were mostly available for multi-disc games and I didn't even know there were PlayStation games with more than a single disc. I picked that game merely out of curiosity. "What the heck is this?" was what was on my mind when I first picked it. As I turned the box around I instantly noticed three things about it that immediately caught my attention. The first thing was the price. I knew the game was just released because I had never seen it before. New games over here would all cost around 50 or 60 euros but that one was priced at just 45. The second thing was that small symbol saying the game had 3 discs. The last thing was... I immediately recognized the small gameplay screens. It was that game they were talking about a lot on that TV show. I also remembered how unappealing the game seemed to me, so I immediately placed in on the shelve.

We came back home for dinner and for some reason that game was stuck in my mind. I knew I was very limited to buy just a few games per year and at that time I was old enough to know exactly what I wanted. I was no longer buying games just because I needed something new to play. I had become more selective. I needed to buy good games that lasted as long as possible because I knew I couldn't buy another one so soon. The fact that the game has so many discs had me thinking... If it had three discs, it probably would take a lot of time to beat and that's something I was looking for. At that time I still didn't have enough money to buy a 60€ game, but I did have almost 50€, which was enough, so that had me thinking as well. The only thing that was bothering me a little was the fact that I didn't like that game when I saw it on TV.

I kept thinking about the game for a couple of hours before going to bed: "Maybe I should buy it... Maybe it's not that bad and I should give it a chance. It's 'cheap', it probably takes a lot of time to beat

and those guys on TV said the game is very good... yeah, maybe I should buy it." So that same night I asked my parents if we could go to the store again the next day so I could buy the game. The next day I've bought it. Needless to say, it was the best decision in my entire life.

I'm very sure you've already realized what game I am talking about: Final Fantasy VII. Best. Decision. Ever. I'll leave the rest of the story for the next post :D

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Limited Edition Zelda Wind Waker Slipcase ('cause this title will get me more views than any other)

This is another one of those things that took me a pretty long time to get. Basically, this is a limited edition copy of the Wind Waker for the Gamecube that comes with this unique slipcase. I assume this is a HMV thingy, I'm not too sure. I've known this for many years now but, for some reason, I never really felt like buying it. Once in a while I still remembered I was missing this in my collection. Too bad its price was nearly twice as much as it was worth some years ago, but with so much stuff to buy all the time it's pretty hard to guess what to leave behind. Now that the Majora's Mask came out for the 3DS, I suddenly had the urge to get this slipcase. I'm sure many people can relate to this feeling because whenever a new game for an old franchise gets released, the general interest in other things related to that particular franchise seems to receive a small boost, even when it's Zelda.Yeah, because Zelda stuff never gets unsold-

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Do you have an invitation, sir?

There are some really weird games out there, and this one I'm now posting is probably one of them. I'm not sure what type of game this is... a hentai-ish JRPG with turn-based system and very limited animations that don't really make justice to Vita's capabilities is probably just one attempt at describing what this game is like. Again, this wasn't something I planned to buy on day one, but I had two good reasons to preorder it. First, it was nearly sold out. Second, it comes from an awesome company called NISA Europe that recently opened an European website and is finally selling limited editions and bonuses from all sorts of Japanese games that otherwise would never see a release date. And these are the companies I like to support. These are the companies that break the rules for the European videogaming market and they have my full support. Yes, I am still traumatized with the fact that I couldn't play so many JRPGs because the big companies didn't even bother releasing them in Europe. That fact will never go away. Some of those games were meant to be played at the time they were released, when they had that really amazing impact on players. Those who missed that right moment to play might still enjoy them a lot but it's never the same thing. Yeah, I'm pointing the finger at you, Squaresoft. 

These are the games that you need to watch out for if you're trully a collector because these things will become nasty to find in the future. The only bad part about the website is how much they actually charge for these editions and especially for shipping. However, considering how outrageously expensive Royal Mail international deliveries became in the last few years, it's only natural smaller companies can't do much but charge some impressive shipping costs. That's a shame though.

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No comments...

I was one of the first persons to complain about this new model when it was announced, and now I have both the regular console and the Limited Edition Majora's Mask XL model (that one will be posted later). I'm such a weirdo, I know. All I'm missing now is the Spirit Tracks model of the DS lite console in order to have all the Zelda-related models released in Europe (or so I think...). This is bothering me a bit, but the truth is that model is out of my price range and it's particularly rare. It's not something I can buy just like that, unfortunately. And since I'm complaining about Nintendo models I'd like to get, I'd love to find the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Limited Edition Paks too...

This move from Nintendo was unnecessary to be honest. They could wait to release a brand new, better console instead of adding just a couple of improvements that don't really affect the gaming experience. At least that's what I think, but then I'm stupid enough to actually support their decisions by buying two of these models as soon as they become available. What's pictured here is the Ambassador Edition, the model that's only available to a few selected Nintendo Ambassadors. Just in case you're clueless about what these Nintendo Ambassadors are, they're the people that bought a 3DS console in the early dates before the major price drop. In order to compensate those who paid a lot more cash for the console before the price drop, Nintendo created the Ambassador program, giving some bonuses such as free games and exclusive news. In order to enter the Ambassador program, all you had to do was access the internet with a 3DS model during a certain date before the price drop. The original compensation consisted of 20 Virtual Console games from NES and GBA I believe. It's been years since that happened and I thought that the Ambassador program was now useless, but I guess it was not. A few randomly selected ambassadors were  given the early chance to buy this exclusive New 3DS Ambassador Edition a few weeks before the official release date. I was not one those persons though, but someone gave me his chance to get this and I took it.

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You know something's wrong when...

... you're in your early 30s, single and buying Skylanders. Yep, something is odd... I don't have much of an interest in Skylanders to be honest. I don't know who had this weird idea of releasing figurines that interact with a game. These are the most annoying "DLCs" someone released because there are hundreds of these things, some of them are limited, exclusive and extremely rare and... of course, they cost a lot of money, even the regular ones... damn! 

I do have a few exclusive figurines though, including a crystal clear one from the first game that seems to be quite rare. The only reason why I've bought this Trap Team Dark Edition starter pack was mainly because I've also bought the dark and light expansion sets and I completely missed/ignored the Kaos trap, which seems to be worth something. This set is already sold out everywhere and it includes an Ultimate Kaos Trap. This was the very last edition I've managed to find in a store and I didn't buy it immediately. I took some time to think about what to do because, honestly, Skylanders is not exactly my main goal. I have a near complete Smash Bros Amiibo set but let's just not talk about that...

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It's all about that bass

Now here's something I really wasn't expecting to do so early! Another update - a big one this time. The template was changed even though it looks the same. I didn't really feel like changing the layout but  this one has some improvements over the old one. The background's all black for now. The left bar was updated as well, but just slightly. A couple of changes on the way its contents are organized was enough to leave me satisfied for now.

The blog is much, much lighter now that I've added the "read more" functionality. That wasn't very easy to do, even when I had the full code and instructions. Instead of seeing large sized pictures on the main page and lots of annoying text, now you can only see a thumbnail and a short piece of the text. I've been wanting to do this for a very long time but for some reason I never really invested my time in doing it. Now that it's done, I feel that the old layout with the bigger images made this blog look much better and more appealing overall. At the same time, I also prefer the "read more" link and smaller posts of this newer setup, so I'm still a little confused about what to do. I will reevaluate my reaction to these new settings in the near future and see if I will leave it like this or return to the old style.

The full posts are available by clicking the "read more" link.  Clicking the "read more" link also counts towards the number of visits per post, something that did not happen when they were fully displayed at the home page. I'm a little interested about the number of visits my posts will receive now... humm!

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