Calling this week's blog a full-on Sparky's Update would be unfair since I haven't played anything new this week of particular note. I've been devoting most of my time to Borderlands 2, Ni no Kuni, and WWE '13, most of which you've read about from me before. Borderlands 2 continues to put out pretty great DLC, and I'm still madly in love with badass ranks. WWE '13 has been a continued mixed bag, but it's overall a pretty fun WWE game. And yes, Ni no Kuni still continues to deliver the goods. I'll spend a bit of time talking about Kuni's few negatives, just to kind of balance things out from last week's RPGasm.

Probably the biggest problem with the game is that you might require a bit of grinding if you aren't keeping up with current side quests and bounty hunts. Remember when I said last week that some quests bump up the experience gain? Well, I'm not entirely sure that it wasn't just that one quest. Some areas seem to have more experience, but I didn't take copious enough notes when playing to really get a scientific feel on that. Anyways, if you do bounty hunts in areas you've long since passed, you'll find the hunts easy but slightly tedious due to backtracking. None of the game's dungeons are particularly big, so this isn't a huge deal. Just pay attention to your quests and try to group as many together as you can.

The other (small) problem is that I'd have liked a few more interesting quests in the latter third of the game. The character interaction and dialogue keeps me from getting bored with exploring the world and solving quests, but some variations in quest types introduced in the latter half of the game would have gone a long ways towards making the game feel less grind-y. New monster types start to dwindle too by the latter third, which is sort of a bummer. Sure, there are plenty of variations of monster types, and these are usually more than your usual palette swaps, but if there's a sequel to this, I really hope they invest a lot of time into creating and introducing all sorts of new monsters.

Keep in mind with these complaints that this is still a terrific game and is definitely one of the best RPGs I've EVER played. Not just this generation, either. This will very likely stand the test of time and be a game I play ten years down the line with the same sort of giddy nostalgia I get when I replay the best Final Fantasy, Suikoden, or Wild ARMs games. It definitely draws a lot upon the creations of others, but it does so with such care and refinement that it, in itself, becomes a fantastic game.

The iPad Corner

-Pixel People is pure evil. It's essentially a bare-bones city builder, but the catch is that your new buildings come from splicing two people together. Everyone in the game has a job, and by combining two compatible job types, you get a new person entering the town. Of course, this being an iPad game, there has to be some element of frustration in its longevity, and that comes from the rapidly increasing cost of expanding your city. It nearly doubles every time, and if you're not careful about balancing your new residents with decorations and businesses, you'll find yourself drumming your fingers for hours in the iPad waiting for the correct amount of money to come in. That might turn some of you away, but at least give it a shot.

-Tiny Tower is another build-a-business game. You start with just a couple of floors, and add new businesses and residential areas in what I assume is a limitless tower building. Each new floor costs a certain amount of in-game cash, but unlike Pixel People, the cost never feels excruciating. It's a simple formula, but it's a terrific amount of fun to just poke in for a few minutes, set your businesses up for the day, and let it go.

The Rest

-Despite its neat concept of the life of a food taster for a ruler in a fantasy kingdom, Poison Study never quite did it for me. It's a relatively brief novel, and it goes by super fast. Most annoyingly, every sentence is dripping with drama diarrhea, complete with disgusting little floating chunks of cliched descriptions. It's the sort of novel you read and immediately forget, which is too bad. The writer showed some promise with the concept, but the execution is so poor that it's not worth it.

I think that's really about it for this week. Anyone reading or playing anything particularly fun? Got any fun plans for Venereal.... uhhhh... Valentine's Day?

Sounds like Ni no Kuni suffers some of the pacing issues Xenoblade had. The trick to building such massive games is to keep finding ways to make them fun as the hours roll on, something Level-5 seems to have forgotten how to do since Dark Cloud 2 (still their peak, IMO). White Knight Chronicles was also kind of meandering and dull, so I was a little apprehensive about trying Ni no Kuni, especially with all that intolerable monster-raising. Seems like most people are enjoying it though, so I should give it a shot some day. Right now, though, I keep forgetting I'm halfway through Dragon Quest IX, and there's no point following up a massive Level-5 JRPG with another one so soon after.

I'm starting to get very interested in iOS games, in spite of myself. Between hearing reports from my iPhone-owning sister and the iOS QLs popping up on the site, I don't think it's as easy to dismiss them as it has been in the past. I did make it a resolution to respect the smaller Indie/downloadable market this year, after all. Now if only I could find a device that doesn't cost £200+ to play all these £1 wonders on. Are iPod Touches cheap yet?

I don't often throw any fantasy fiction you and Dan's way, mostly because I read a lot of pulp, but have you ever read any of Simon R. Green's stuff? Your talk about a guy with an everyday dangerous job exacerbated by living in a fantasy world reminded me of Green's Hawk & Fisher series. Violent, scary, funny stuff.

Keep in mind with these complaints that this is still a terrific game and is definitely one of the best RPGs I've EVER played.

That's some pretty high praise, next time I'm game buying (I tend to make mass purchases once every 4 months) I'll see if I can find a copy.

Anyone reading or playing anything particularly fun?

I'm so far behind on this current gen that everything is play is old to oldish.

I just finished s-ranking FF 13-2 last night. After beating FF 13 a month earlier. I've never played RPG sequels so closely back to back before. I actually really liked doing that, since I found myself catching more of the winks and nods. I think i'll keep doing that from now on when I attack an old franchise.

I think the key for me at least was to play a game or two of completely different things in between. Cleanse the palette a bit if you know what I mean. Before I moved onto 13-2 I played Sleeping Dogs and Enslaved and attempted to start Dark Souls.

When I tried this once before with the Splinter Cell games, I burned myself out pretty quickly since I did Sc through Sc: Chaos Theory with no breaks.

you ever do that man?

I'm very conflicted about 13-2, it's like the inverse of 13. The story is just... really underdeveloped, but the gameplay is pretty darn good. It's almost like Square is saying we can give one or the other but not both.

makes me really wonder what 13-3 will be like.

Got any fun plans for Venereal.... uhhhh... Valentine's Day?

Yeah I have to work extra shifts this week. Wait that's not fun.