Twisty

All good things must come to an end- that is the way of life. Our most celebrated and beloved Nondenominational Day of Greater Gift-Giving and Merry-making has drawn to a close, ending our near-spiritual excursion deep into the mysterious and alluring caverns of American commercialism. The yearly Chain of Daily Anticipation has been depleted, the recyclable wrapping paper has gone to the trash, and the tree has been removed to our deck to expire and, later, be used for kindling- though I would surmise, from the sheer quantity of itself that it left behind, that it was not long for this world in the first place. All things are as they were, the cycle of life continues.

Except now, for some reason, we have more stuff now. I don't recall purchasing any items such as these- indeed, it seems as if I did not possess them one day, and did the next. The only even semi-logical explanation I can come up with is that they were transported overnight to me, magically, by some omnipotent being. This puts rather a strain on my system of beliefs, but as my only other theory involves a fat, bearded man who rides a flying snowmobile and breaks into people's houses to give them gifts (and eat snickerdoodles), it would perhaps be best for me to defer to Occam's razor in this situation.

It would be excessively dull- for all parties involved, I'd wager- for me to list every last one of these acquisitions, as their number borders on superfluous, so I'll stick to those items most relevant to my blog's focus and intent.

Dragon Quest VIII, Zack and Wiki and Metroid Prime 3 are sitting at my bedside now, mocking most brutally my folly in becoming deeply engrossed in other games immediately before NDDoGGGaMM. I want ever so much to touch them, to play with them, but my guilt-ridden sense of duty to the tasks at hand always pull me back to my throne for yet more chocobo-riding and army-leading.

This throne I mention is a wonder of engineering and design, with the sole purpose of transporting the owner into a realm of kingly convenience and comfort, all while gently serenading them with two rockin' speakers situated directly behind the makeshift monarch's head. When this contraption is being used to play video games, immersion is complete, and all is well in the universe.

Abrupt change of subject! Whoo!

I was planning on following up on the thoughts I posted the other day regarding Final Fantasy VII by discussing some of the ups and downs of the game, from the neat (but sometimes tedious) Materia system and good music to the questionable translation and inconsistent visuals. One subject in particular I wished to touch upon was how, for having such a fantastic setting and diverse, likable characters, the story had thus far been something of a disappointment. I can, happily, no longer viably make this statement. Over the past few days the game has clubbed me over the head repeatedly with shocking plot twists and amazing revelations that have (helped along a bit, perhaps, by the aforementioned dodgy translation) left me somewhat uncertain as to what exactly is going on- in a good way, I assure you. I stand by my opinion that it is not the best RPG I've played, but at least now I understand what all the fuss is all about.

I saw this, and now I really want Portal. I think these things are connected somehow.

-Smashing Brother.