DiscoGobbo

I'll echo other's suggestion to spend a day in Kyoto and Nara. Kyoto in particular has a ridiculous amount of touristy things to do and see.

If you're into aquariums, the Osaka Aquarium is world class. They have a whale shark. It's exactly as cool as it sounds.

Food: Find a place that does Okonomiyaki. Eat Okonomiyaki. You're welcome.

You may encounter a man with a small food cart/truck at random, high traffic locations. It's almost always a good idea to buy whatever he's selling.

In general, any food place that looks humble will be both cheap and delicious.

My gaming year in (brisk) review: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/discogobbo/goty-2012/46-67777/

@Optix12: I'll take one off your hands. Been meaning to give DOTA2 a try.

SteamID: DiscoGobbo

The Lord of the Rings: The White Council. An open-world LOTR RPG? And not an MMO? Shut up and take my money. Its cancellation was disappointing but made sense, as it was likely too expensive and LOTR fever was dropping.

@Marino: Great story, and pretty much sums up that special something that the first wave MMOs had that everything since has mostly lacked: Quests felt like quests, like trials. Yeah, a lot of them were fucked in terms of drop rates and spawn times, but there was a sense of earning your way, even if you never actually used that key to VP. Which is for the best because that place was a god-damn nightmare. :)

This post is dredging up all sorts of good/bad EQ memories for me.

@StarvingGamer said:

I was a Wood Elf Druid, quad kiting all day baby.

Word. As far as I'm concerned this was the only way to play EQ.

I honestly quite enjoyed the higher initial difficulty of Cataclysm's 5 mans, but obviously in non-pug situations. I think the problem is that Blizzard backed themselves into a corner in Wrath by letting the player base become accustomed to going into heroic 5 mans almost right after hitting the cap. There was the expectation of that just being what you did once you finished leveling, and normal mode 80 (and later 85) dungeons were almost vestigial content. The initial Cataclysm heroics felt heroic, they were a challenge and required you to gear up a bit in the previous tier of content. You know, how these games are supposed to work, or at least, used to. There's supposed to be a sense of progression.

I realize this stance is as antiquated as normal mode dungeons, but I'm still excited for Mists. The dungeon challenge modes seem to be right up my alley and Blizzard seems to have learned their lesson in regards to giving players something to do besides raid.

And, frankly, I'd rather pay 15/month for WoW than a F2P TOR.

@Sweep said:

Society.

Oh no he diient.

Probably the most accurate answer. Everquest, Asheron's Call, and Ultima Online are all still around 13 years later and they had a fraction of the success of WoW or Runescape.

I wouldn't call it my favorite FF, or even put it in a top 5 list, but it's still a great game. It's definitely the weirdest Final Fantasy game and a PS2 classic.

@Red said:

Perhaps I will play more FFXII, if it does get as good as you all say. About how long is it until you have everyone in your party recruited?

Hard to say exactly, but I'd reckon between 3-6 hours, depending on how much you poke around in the introductory sections of the game.

FFXII is definitely a slow burn of a game. Like XIII it takes quite a few hours to get all of its systems in place. Your opinion of Vaan is quite valid and even the game itself seems to realize that he's a poor character. By the halfway point of the story, Vaan and Penelo are practically in supporting roles and the focus is centered on Ashe and Basch. If you liked the combat system, I'd suggest re-visting FFXII sometime later and trying to power through the opening acts to get to the meaty delicious center of the game.

(Full Disclosure: I fucking love FFXII.)