A Questline in a Decidedly Green Tunic

Hello everyone.
I think the time has come.
Those of you who know me know that I can quite easily be drawn in to a story and that the completion-ist that lies within me sometimes is allowed to watch several seasons of a show with the intent of having heard the "whole story." (Even while the logical individual is acutely aware that they are often just making this shit up as they go, and that their ability to do so is based entirely upon how many people watch the show)

That having been said. Some stories are worth exploring to as much of a degree as is possible.
The Legend of Zelda has proven time and time again to be such a story.

My acquisition of this recently released "Hyrule Historia" may have admittedly influenced my decision to take this on.

However, I love the Zelda franchise. Always have. Always will. And while I still plan to complete my longer questline/goal of beating Final Fantasy I-XII (some of which I've beaten previously) chronologically, I imagine that given the 30-40+ Hour nature of those games that that goal is set over the course of many months, perhaps even a couple years.

This wouldn't be true if I had more time at my disposal, but I'm a student (though I'm graduating in about 2 months) and will be fulltime employed post graduation. My life currently has music obligations, school obligations, work obligations, video game obligations (or so I like to imagine) and social obligations. Suffice it to say this all will take a bit of time.

BUT! LOGISTICAL COMPLAINTS NOT WITHSTANDING (You might see where this is headed)
I wish to complete and document a bit of the process of completing Every Legend of Zelda Game.
(Cue music!) in order!

This does however raise a couple of questions.
First! Since the publication of the aforementioned Hyrule Historia, there are two was in which to complete the games in sequence:

The first and most obvious being chronologically in terms of release date:


Beginning with 1986's The Legend of Zelda,
this has the advantage in many ways in that you play through the games in the way that the originally were played through. Each new game acts like a newly released game, a new bit of the story.

However, the problem comes in when  one considers what has been taught to us by Hyrule Historia.

This is kind of like the first time you realized that the first Star Wars film had the additional moniker of "Episode 4." The chronology is not quite what it seems. For a long time the chronology of the series was a subject of debate amongst fans. It no longer is.

In short, "The Legend of Zelda" (The first game) is not actually where the story began, at least retroactively. Personally I believe less in this arrangement of the story than I do that George Lucas had some serious thought as to what Episodes 1, 2, 3, could be when episode 4 was released. But that having been said, compliments to a translated version of Hyrule Historia on wikipedia, here is the true order to the story of THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:

(Click the image for a closer look as the text is quite small)

This proves to be a little too convenient in my mind. The release this huge book, which is of course amazing I should add, comes a short time before the release of Skyward Sword and of course it becomes the earliest point in the chronological story. "You simply must see where the story began!"

Now, the completion-ist in me wants to care. It really does. Because this does seem cool. But it also bothers me. To be honest, when playing through a more than substantial number of the Zelda games as a child I was, as were many of my friends, convinced that the games were only loosely connected in terms of plot. That basically these were alternate universe type stories, or at the least re-tellings, perhaps (when I became a teenager and began thinking of such things) a form of purgatory. A game you could not truly win, because there would be a new adventure where things had gone wrong again.
Which should I choose in the end? I'm not sure. If you have input, let me know.

Also: From a purely pragmatic standpoint there are some challenges. I don't own all of these games. I have some games to buy. Also: I don't even own a Wii. Skyward Sword is Wii exclusive... that is a problem. Also, while writing this, I missed the copy of Ocarina of Time MasterQuest that I was going to bid on, on ebay. Woops. Oh well.

With this in mind and acknowledging that I would perhaps like a partner in this endeavor, to keep me honest, or divide up the games with and have them write on here as well (there are something like 18 games)...I may contact Juice or Andy M about such a thing.

We shall see. For now, wish me luck on my new questline.

I like that this blog began with the goal (for Jenna of course, not me) of beating Zelda: Ocarina of Time and now, it returns to Zelda.

-Aerick
Soundtrack of the Moment: Ocarina of Time's Song of Storms

An amazing Project. I would love to do something like this...

Wow. (an interlude)

Things have been hectic, and I need to do some real updates. Both providing details for the (probably long term at this point) new quest line, as well as provide documentation for a new event that will be happening.

HOWEVER - for the moment I just needed to share this. Just take a look at this amazing table. Want. One. So. Bad.

http://www.geekologie.com/2012/04/wii-need-this-impressive-n-64-logo-coffe.php

For now. That is all. Included is the link to the article where I found it.

-Erik

Soundtrack of the moment: Vikings Vs. 49rs

Video Game Garage Sale - and some thoughts on vintage games

Those who know me, or who have stumbled upon this blog, know quite well that I like older video games. The graphics don't have to be flashy for me to be interested and in addition to this, from a purely financial standpoint FOR YEARS until just recently I found that I was a minimum of one generation behind in regards to video game consoles. I upgraded from N64 to GameCube when, as caretaker for my apartment building, I was charged with cleaning out an apartment with lots of abandoned stuff (which included a game cube).

This has never bothered me really. I always paid a little bit less than most people did for their games and sure I wasn't always on the forefront of gaming, but it was a small price to pay. I find that this has influence my interest in games as well. I like the new stuff that I now occasionally have access to, but I also love hunting down old games and playing through them (wait till you see the details of my new quest line).

Today I was able to check out a garage sale that was advertised on craigslist as a "game nerd garage sale," naturally I was intrigued. Despite the fact that some things had been picked over (I showed up on day 2 of the sale) I loved this sale. THIS GUY DID THINGS RIGHT.

 I managed to find a couple of cool things at reasonable prices. My good friend Juice had been looking for a new SNES, as his retro-duo is now failing to play super nintendo games (including the BattleToads Double Dragon copy I got him for his birthday).

We had discussed this dilemma, but used "retro" systems now cost more than they used to. Like I said though, props to this guy...he did it right. We got an SNES (no controllers, missing chords, but working) for 10 even.


It was an excellent experience and I found a couple cool things for my self as well:

• Sonic 2 (2$) I have sonic two in the sonic collection for genesis, but this will allow me to play w/knuckles
• Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt (2$) I don't even own an NES, but I think I'm supposed to own this.
• Madden 95 for gameboy (3$) Okay. This looks lame. It even looks unplayable in terms of badness, but! I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. It was 3 dollars and it was never removed from its original packaging.

The issue is not with this sale. This sale was excellent. Even though I missed FF Tactics , which I would have liked and possibly some other things given the number of cool things I saw. People seem to think that since they have owned some of these games for some time and as some old games go on ebay for extreme prices, they should charge these high high prices.

Some games ARE rare. I understand that. But not everything - even if its not an outdated sports game, is worth a ton of money. The internet has ruined this for us. Ebay sales of things and mint perfect sealed condition games paired with increase ability to make sales (ie: craigslist), has ironically made prices for older games go up dramatically.

I remember when you would see vintage games, or games even one generation back for cheap prices at thrift stores. This is no longer really a reality. Or if they are there...they are in glass display cases, along with rings and necklaces and for these same (too high) prices. Read this story if your interested in continuing to follow the logic of this rant. Basically this guy saw a game, in a vintage game store, that he had been hunting for. It was priced reasonably enough, but when he wanted to purchase it the store employee did an ebay search in front of his and raised the price drastically. Disgusting. Old does not mean rare and internet (with shipping as well) prices are not in person, in store, on craigslist prices. The situation has gotten rediculous and to the point, where I missed a fairly priced game on ebay, that I wanted and I was far more upset than I should have been. But the reality is that I will have a hard time getting it for a fair price now.

End of rant and tip of the hat to the true game lover running this sale today! I had to stop myself from buying StarFox for SNES, complete and in its original box for 15 $ (maybe slightly high, but by no means UNREASONABLE)

-Erik

Soundtrack of the moment: Vikings preseason game vs. Bills

New QUEST LINE Acquired!

So.
This is happening-

Details to Come....










Soundtrack of the Moment: The Soviettes - Hanging Up the Phone

Pokemon/Stephen Fry

Hey everybody,

The pokemon have captured me.
Seriously. The last few days, I live in a pokeball.
I was recently re-introduced to the MMOrpg Pokemon World Online

You have to register online in order to play it...but you get to play in the way that you kinda wished you had been able to when you were playing as a kid - That is there actually people around to battle and to trade with. It takes a little effort to get signed up and get playing...and isn't perfect, (it is fan made) but they are clear that it is still in development and have things such as a "broken Move" list, for stuff that doesn't work right. It's not perfect, but its addicting and fun w/ a community and most importantly -

Its free.

It combines the games of the golden age (as I choose to dub it) of pokemon...namely red/blue/yellow/silver/gold

You can start in Kanto (red/blue start region) or Johto (silver/gold)

Anyway Its pretty neat and worth checking out if you the old pokemon

Also...I recently rediscovered my Nintendo DS and what did I find inside of it?
Pokemon Diamond

Which I was both surprised and pleased to find and I decided to play for a few minutes. I picked it up and I was immediately surprised to find that despite the fact that the game has added all sorts of things since the good ole' red/blue days...the starts of these games look so damn similar

Pallet from Red/Blue:                                                 Twinleaf from Diamond:

Hmm...the organization of that is slightly off...but
In any event, hundreds of new pokemon later, all sorts of new features later...but in the end, the formula stays the same and it keeps on selling. All in all - pretty impressive.

Okay - So. I was also going to write about this amazing show that I've just started watching, but I've geeked out for so long now about pokemon that I feel as though I should be out of words here...
Maybe I'll write about it later..
*Looks around for a save point...does not find one*

So I'll give it a quick once over...Stephen Fry is amazing and he has a show that I've discovered called "Stephen Fry in America" where he basically just tours America and learns about the United States, under the idea that he was almost born here (his father was offered a job at Cambridge while his mother was pregnant with him, but turned it down).

It is sweet.
Found it.
*Save*

-Erik
Soundtrack of the Moment: Stepehn Fry talking about the Battle of Gettysburg - "Stepehen Fry in America"

Starting again

I have no want to start a war. After all it was my birthday yesterday.
But. I want to start writing here again...and if that causes problems, then I guess I'll figure something else out.

A lot has happened, but that is not what matters. What matters is I want to talk about video games again and this was once a cool blog that allowed for that. SO if I have to make a different one I will...but I helped come up with the concept..and the name. So for now I will continue it starting....

So...I did it

I got an Xbox360. It was long overdue I suppose..and now microsoft owns yet another piece of my soul. It was just a good enough of a deal that I didn't want to pass it up (thanks dealnews!). Basically I needed a new laptop as my old one..after about 6 years, lots of use and one notably melted part, had finally given out aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Microsoft was running a deal where students could buy a certain type of laptop and get this xbox 360 slim for free....so all I had to do was prove I'm a student!

And I quickly I became the owner of 2 (really 3) things...
1. Something to help me do my homework
2. Something to help me play modern video games
3. Something to distract me from my homework with modern PC games

You might notice that the third one bares a striking resemblance to the first.
In any event. The xbox360 I got is technically the new "slim" varient of them. This is amusing to me, as I remember the original xboxes and how they were refereed to as an "Xbrick" by me and many of my friends as, quite frankly they were HUGE. I also seem to remember that I had decided I was going to stick with Sony as my gaming systems of choice and nintendo depending on what I wanted to do, as I did not want microsoft to corner all of the gaming market...

Woops.

In any event. The original xbox's younger, slimmer, stronger cousin has been awesome. So what games have I been playing you might ask? Skyrim Nope. I never understood what was making people give over their entire lives to that game....just didn't get it, but then...
I started playing Oblivion. Okay. I get it now. WOW. Just wow.
For those who don't know, Oblivion is the game that came before Skyrim in the Elder Scrolls series. I wasn't sure I was so interested, but then Boris gave me his copy and I totally get it. The game has borrowed (Read: knocked down, beat senseless and stolen) large amounts of my time and apparently Skyrim is only more involved.

Now Juice wants me to play Skyrim, but I can't I've started down this path and I just need to restore Uriel Septim's heir to the throne...

Anyway, so far its been great and while I have more I want to write about more games and such, I should really be doing other things and this is already super long for a "return to form" post.
So. I'll leave you with this. If you live video game music, at least abstractly in the "I like musical scores" area and don't mind the occasional 16 bit version of it...check out Sound-test.org amongst other things, it is a very cool internet radio station for video game music. You'll hear old favorites and discover some new ones.

Till next time lets not make the blog go boom,
- Erik
Soundtrack of the moment: Yoko Shimomura - "In the flower garden" (SUPER MARIO RPG)