Nick has lent me Myst III: Exile, and I have to admit that it’s been a fairly enjoyable experience so far. The depth of the worlds reminds me of the Thief series of games, the way the details of each reality are created so beautifully with so much emotion. It’s quite absorbing, and even though I lack the patience to take my time in certain games nowadays (games such as GTA: Vice City and Soul Calibur 2 I just finished as fast as possible), I find that it’s easy to be patient for a game such as this. The goals are unclear and the story unfolds through exploration, all allowing for a very deep gaming experience if one has and takes the time. The graphics are a bit dated, and the camera can be dizzying, but the sound is excellent and plays an important part in progressing through the game. Finally solving a puzzle is the most satisfying part, possibly more satisfying than any other puzzle game I’ve played.

My god. The hands on preview for Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles includes some jaw-dropping screen shots. Unfortunately, the next installment of the FF series seems to rely heavily on multiplayer, as well as Game Boy Advance connectivity, and since I’m the only one I know with both, I might have a difficult time playing this game. I’ve always been a bigger fan of single player games than multiplayer games (online multiplayer aside) simply because I had no friends to play with. The problem (or feature, I might say) with RPGs is that they’re generally not pick-up-and-play games because of the involving story lines and deep gameplay, and it’s difficult to find someone who’s willing to just come into the middle of the story.

As for Soul Calibur 2 coming out in three days, I’m hoping it’ll snap me back into my old hardcore gaming lifestyle, which I seem to have lost over the summer. Once again, I don’t have anyone to play with/against, so I’ll probably be practicing in the quest mode.

I’ve decided to take a break from The Frozen Throne because the game has become no fun for me. The only thing that I could really sit down and play for hours without sleep or rest was TFC for Half-Life. I woke up restless sometime this morning and decided to give TFC another shot, from a two year hiatus. After joining a random 2Fort server, I sniped for about an hour, and everything felt so comfortable. Sniping was the only thing from any game that I was ever actually good at, and although I was pretty rusty, I still managed a decent kill/death ratio. All the theory behind good sniping has become second nature to me, but my untrained hand-eye co-ordination limited my skills considerably. Someone did accuse me of cheating though, so my experience hasn’t completely left me.

I might consider setting up a dedicated server running 24/7, so that I can join something quickly with a low ping, although such a thing would be a violation of the contract of my ISP. Running a server would allow me to control exactly what maps I want to play and who I can kick or ban. I also wouldn’t be scared of being kicked myself by people who think I’m cheating.

I got back from the AFI concert about an hour ago, after seeing Aaron and Wheaties off, and grabbing a relaxing shower. The concert was decent, but that’s in comparison to seeing my favourite band live. The lighting was amazingly done, with the correct colours and spotlights to match the music. Davey Havok was singing almost a semi-tone flat through most of the concert, so he must have been pretty tired. I only enjoy their last album, Sing the Sorrow, but at one point during the summer I was listening to it to no end. Dina asked me if I thought there were any pretty girls walking around between sets and all I could answer was “lots”.

There aren’t too many bands I feel as if I need to experience live. I’ve seen Tool, the Dwarves, and the Misfits live already, and those are the only bands I feel that I enjoy enough for me to attend. I would go to another Tool concert if they came around again, and definitely a Portishead show if they were ever doing one. I would be up for an Ellen Ten Damme concert with Darren, but unfortunately she seems to only play in Europe and the UK with a few Japanese tour dates. I could go for a Dreamtheater concert, but I have the live DVD, so a personal viewing isn’t quite as imperative. The Dears is a possibility, but I’d have to get more into their music before going.

I bought The Frozen Throne expansion for Warcraft III, and I’m impressed with it’s depth. It’s basically a completely new game now, with different units, heroes, and buildings. I find that it’s much more strategy based and less focused on micro. Since I’m unemployed, I’ve been playing quite a bit with Artfag, and since she’s unemployed as well, there’s never a chance to guilt the other into looking for a job, which is something that I’m finding hard to get motivated about.

Speaking of which, I spent the last week sending out résumés to various companies and government organizations. I have a résumé that I’m pretty proud of right now, after Pat helped me fix it up. No phone calls so far.

I got a chance to attend a LAN party last weekend, hosted by Greg. The gamers consisted of Doug, Greg, Dina, Aaron, Dan, and me. It was an easy setup, due to the small number of people there, and the fact that Dina has a Vaio laptop. We spent most of the time playing UT2K3, with a bit of Warcraft 3, Serious Sam 2, and Battlefield 1942 thrown in. We got around four hours of sleep, and everyone left around noon the next day. There may be plans for another one coming soon, most likely at my place since I have the apartment to myself for the next two months. I’m also the only person with air conditioning, who isn’t living at home. It’ll most likely be a co-op session, where we’ll try to finish a game like Diablo 2 in one sitting. Summer should always be this fun.