<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Let's talk about the game far less people have played, Advance Wars. I just finished the 13 training levels and the first campaign mission. First impression: wow. Anyone who takes a look at the back of the package and mistakes this game as being a kiddie game will be in for a VERY big surprise. I'm no expert at strategy games, in fact I've only played a few like Defender of the Crown, Romance 2 (for a bit), Iron Storm (haaaard!), Unchartered Waters (a bit), DragonForce (not REALLY strategy), among others; they're not my cup of tea. But this game is quite deep. It has a very simple concept , an easy interface, and is quite easy to get into, but my lord is there a lot to digest. This isn't like Iron Storm where you have about half a dozen different types of troops. You've got about 15 or so different units you can command which are all unique with very different attributes. Now, there are certain units that are much more poweful than others and just terrorize the enemy, but that's the beauty of it. In real life, an infantry unit won't stand a chance against a squadron of bombers; you need the anti-aircraft rockets for that. Then again, a squadron of tanks gets close to those rockets and they're history. And that's before you add terrain and whether effects. A good sense of realism (note: I never said "complete realism") is important to any strategy game I can think of, even those set in fantasy worlds, and this one has it. For those who had a TurboGrafx, this game is made by the Military Madness team, so you can use that as a good point of reference. For those who haven't played Military Madness, it was very well liked by the few people who played it. I have to admit, I was considerably skeptical about this game. I'm not a big fan of these games to begin with and I thought it was just a child's version, kinda like a Mystic Quest to the strategy world. Man, was I wrong. I can see why it has become such a talked about GBA game, the sleeper hit of the launch. For some reason, Nintendo decided to discontinue the game. For my money, it's one of the top 3 games for the system and anyone who has a GBA shoud get it IMO. It's worth every penny, and I haven't even used the link-up yet!
As for Chrono Cross. I'm now 21 1/2 hours in, in the Dead Sea in the hardest battle yet, the explorer (he's knows your girlfriend quite well :-). Man, that boy is rough. As far as my current impressions go, I'd have to say a bit of relief. If you read my last post, I expressed concern that the battle system was gonna go the way of Xenogears, a really cool system that was ultimately shallow. It was beginning to look that was, 13 hours in and magic basically useless. Wow, has a lot changed. it is now an integral part of the gameplay. There really is a lot of strategy to picking and choosing which Elements you equip and where (for + or - bonuses). Haven't had to use that much strategy in efficiently using my inventory since Earthbound. Also, the people's innate techniques are starting to finally be useful and come into play. Since all the charcters are pretty good in their own right and can hold their own, it boils down to the situations over who you pick and choose. That's really a testimate to the creators of the game where 21 hours in, instead of starting to get bored with the battles and the Element system, I'm actually thinking about strategy and how to better use my party to help me along with my quest. Speaking of the quest, I really like the part I'm on now (to avoid spoilers I won't elaborate; look at the first line of the paragraph and you should know where I am). Just like the World of Ruin in FF3 (one of my top 3 RPGs), there are a lot of side quests you don't actually have to do but rather enhance the storyline and gameplay. Now that's something I haven't seen since, um, Chrono Trigger :-) As far as the story goes, I have zero issues with it so far. At the right time, the story took a really neat twist, completely changing it (the part which was in Serge's dream in the beginning). It's like playing a related game, not the original quest. I also really like how they refer back to Chrono Trigger, almost hinting that there's gonna be a lot more connection later on, but not so blatant as to ruin it for those who never played the original. As it currently stands, this game is well on it's way to being one of the best RPGs I've ever played, up there with the greats like PDS, CT, and FF3. No complaints at all so far, just high praises and some genuine surprise at just how good it is.</div>
As for Chrono Cross. I'm now 21 1/2 hours in, in the Dead Sea in the hardest battle yet, the explorer (he's knows your girlfriend quite well :-). Man, that boy is rough. As far as my current impressions go, I'd have to say a bit of relief. If you read my last post, I expressed concern that the battle system was gonna go the way of Xenogears, a really cool system that was ultimately shallow. It was beginning to look that was, 13 hours in and magic basically useless. Wow, has a lot changed. it is now an integral part of the gameplay. There really is a lot of strategy to picking and choosing which Elements you equip and where (for + or - bonuses). Haven't had to use that much strategy in efficiently using my inventory since Earthbound. Also, the people's innate techniques are starting to finally be useful and come into play. Since all the charcters are pretty good in their own right and can hold their own, it boils down to the situations over who you pick and choose. That's really a testimate to the creators of the game where 21 hours in, instead of starting to get bored with the battles and the Element system, I'm actually thinking about strategy and how to better use my party to help me along with my quest. Speaking of the quest, I really like the part I'm on now (to avoid spoilers I won't elaborate; look at the first line of the paragraph and you should know where I am). Just like the World of Ruin in FF3 (one of my top 3 RPGs), there are a lot of side quests you don't actually have to do but rather enhance the storyline and gameplay. Now that's something I haven't seen since, um, Chrono Trigger :-) As far as the story goes, I have zero issues with it so far. At the right time, the story took a really neat twist, completely changing it (the part which was in Serge's dream in the beginning). It's like playing a related game, not the original quest. I also really like how they refer back to Chrono Trigger, almost hinting that there's gonna be a lot more connection later on, but not so blatant as to ruin it for those who never played the original. As it currently stands, this game is well on it's way to being one of the best RPGs I've ever played, up there with the greats like PDS, CT, and FF3. No complaints at all so far, just high praises and some genuine surprise at just how good it is.</div>
I was there on that fateful day, were you?
