After beating Persona 4, I wondered what I would play next. Eventually I decided I should finish Dragon Quest VIII, and then I'd probably move on to Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne after that. But for whatever reason that didn't happen. I ended starting Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker instead, played that for 28 hours, and then switched to Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime. And after rescuing the last six slimes in the game, I didn't stop. I just kept going, and I guess now I'm aiming for 100% completion.That's a great way to remove all the fun from a game...
 
Oh, and I found out Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime's credits are amazing. The slime puns never stop, even for the credits. It's a shame you can't watch them more than once. You could probably find some video on YouTube though if you want to see for yourself.
 
Other games I've been playing recently at some point: 

• Fire Emblem - I'm up to Chapter 26 playing as Eliwood. I'll beat it eventually. Eventually.
• Super Mario Advance - Collecting several eggs for the Yoshi Challenge, currently at 28/40. Collecting the Yoshi eggs and then beating the level without dying can be tricky, especially since the Yoshi eggs often take the place of mushrooms.
  
• Mayhem Intergalactic - This is an indie game available on Steam. I bought it mostly for the achievements, but it's not a bad game. Oh, but I'm still playing it for the achievements. I just have one left, and it requires 100 multiplayer wins. Guess what? I've never played a multiplayer game against actual people. There aren't enough people playing the game, so I always have to go up against bots.
  

Okay, admit it! I use IGN. I use the site a fair amount actually. Probably more than most people I know. Not just for video games, but occasionally for TV and movies as well. (PROTIP: Don't read IGN's spoiler-filled TV reviews until after you've already watched the episode.) I also follow IGN's Twitter account, IGNcom.

But until a few days ago, I had never thought about my relationship in IGN. On August 6 IGN ran a contest through Twitter. The tweet in question read:

Want a Droplitz PSN code? Random RT of this post gets it! Closing at 12:01 PM PST. #iloveign

So by retweeting (reposting another user's message), you're entered to win a copy of Blitz Arcades' new puzzle game Droplitz. I did just that, and then watched as my friends did the same. Then I saw Jensonb, the rebel that he is, post this:

#ihateign (Yay for random acts of inconsequential defiance/rebellion)

For those of you not familiar with all of Twitter's weird conventions, #iloveign and #ihateign are hashtags, which help give context to tweets and facilitate searches for specific topics.

But what is the purpose of the #iloveign hashtag? It could make it easier to find all the contest entries among other replies and retweets, but why use #iloveign? Why not an alternate hashtag that's more contextually relevant? Are they testing what length IGN's readers will go to in order to promote the site? Trying to create a trending topic to gain even more visibility and even more popularity?

But I don't love IGN. I don't even have an account. IGN's just another site that I happen to use from time to time. Do I love IGN? No. And most of the people using the #iloveign hashtag probably don't either. It's hard to love IGN when things like #iloveign exist. 

My new site Reach Out to the Truth is now live.

Reach Out to the Truth is the site where I'll be publishing all my future blogs. Most people don't know, but I currently blog on seven different sites. Reach Out to the Truth makes it easier for me to keep track of all my blog posts, reminds me of the sites that I need to publish the blog on, and increases the visibility of my "exclusives" which may include content of interest to all my readers.

Reach Out to the Truth takes its name from one of the songs on the Persona 4 soundtrack. Truth and the desire to obtain the truth is a common theme in Persona 4. I'd like to think that has something to do with the site, but I really just chose it because I like Persona 4. And that's the truth.

Didn't even notice this until jlrm01 pointed it out to me. I need to read my friends' blogs more often.

Seems a bit melodramatic. Although I do agree that staff priorities seem to be misplaced, his method just seems wrong to me. What's the point if you're not going to be here any more?

I myself have had only minor difficulties contacting staff about issues, but even then there's so much stuff that can't be handled through PMs. I once messaged Jeff for clarification on something and never got a response. But when I messaged Jeff and Brad about other things, I got quick responses. It does work sometimes, but it's inconsistent. Even Gia has tried and failed to contact Jeff.

Snide does have a point about the small staff of course. But that's why the mods should be given additional powers. And instead of unimportant stuff like trivia, achievement tracking, the "improved" image editor, battles, and other crap, the staff should be working on more important stuff. A revision and rollback system for the wiki. The ability to move topics to forums outside the main ones. More powers for wiki moderators. Those are things that should be priorities. Yes, there are other things that are constantly being requested, but these are the things that would most benefit the community. Not just on Giant Bomb, but on Comic Vine and Anime Vice as well.

Play Time: 46 hr 16 min 47 sec
Days Passed: 58
Saves: 105
Deaths: 2
Enemies Defeated: 330
Money Gained: 2818285 Yen
Demon Fangs Found: 80
Praise Earned: 2682

I'm surprised at the amount of stuff the game tracks. I didn't realize my deaths were being tracked, because the game doesn't show them off prominently on the save screen like Zelda games do. And I had no idea it would be tracking the amount of days that passed or the number of saves I created.

I thought I had earned a fair bit of praise, but apparently I only actually got a minimal amount of praise. There were still a lot of animals that I hadn't fed yet, and there's probably other stuff I missed too.

I picked up a package today. I wonder what's inside...

[cool video of me opening my mail]

Oh, look. It's Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.
[cool picture of the game]

I payed out the ass for shipping and customs, but I think I still got it for a pretty good price.

I hope to start playing it after I finish with Persona 4. And I hope to play it for a few days before I get frustrated, toss the game on my shelf, and never look at it again. I'm that good at playing games. :P

It's been quite a while since my last real blog, so I think it's about time for another one. You know, just to prove that I am still alive and playing games. :)

I'll start by listing the games I've bought since my last update. I'm only listing games I bought at retail. I also purchased a bunch of games from Steam, but those are not listed here.

• Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica (PS2 / new)
• Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey (GameCube / used)
• Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard (DS / new)
• Eternal Poison (PS2 / new)
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS / new)
• Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns (DS / new)
• Lost Kingdoms (GameCube / used)
• Master of the Monster Lair (DS / new)
• The Orange Box (PC / new)
• Princess Debut (DS / new)
• Retro Game Challenge (DS / new)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2 / new / includes Amazon-exclusive goodies)

I think that covers all my retail purchases. I hope I'm not missing any.

Since I had bought the Rockstar Collection off Steam, I played through and beat both of the Max Payne games. This means my PS2 copy of Max Payne will probably never be played. I've also found myself playing Grand Theft Auto III quite a bit, but I've only beaten a few missions.

At some point I also opened up The Orange Box and installed Portal. It was fun, it was funny, and yeah, it was short. But that just gives me more motivation to replay it, and that's fine with me.

I'm currently at the Secret Lab in Persona 4, with three Social Links maxed. It's really fun so far and has been taking up most of my gaming time.

But another game that's been taking up time recently was Retro Game Challenge, which I recently beat. It's quite enjoyable, but the challenge structure can be a bit annoying at times. Still a really good game though. The Haggle Man games are more fun than they ought to be, and I plan on playing through Guadia Quest soon.

Now there's another game that I've played that I think is worth a mention. Yes, you all know what I'm talking about. The greatest game ever made:

Princess Debut!

This all started on the Giant Bomb forums. Axersia made a page for this game I had never heard of, but the concept sounded incredible. So I created a topic pointing out the awesomeness of this game that none of us actually knew anything about. The game soon became popular, even appearing on the front page as the most popular game of the month. Someone created a topic suggesting we send a copy to the Giant Bomb guys to review. So Axersia actually called up Natsume's Vice President of Operations, and Natsume sent off a copy to the Giant Bomb offices.

Although they didn't end up Princess Debut Luchadeer soon took a liking to the game, and it can now be seen in most videos where Luchadeer makes an appearence. It even appeared in Giant Bomb's Game of the Year awards, where it garnered 16 votes. Truly that is a testament to the GB community's influence on the site and our ability to ruin awards shows.

But seriously, it's actually a pretty good game. It's like Ouendan/EBA, but with princes and an anthropomorphic rabbit.

Dear Junes management:
Please install security cameras in your stores, particularly in the electronics section. I don't like the looks of those teenagers.

Sincerely,
Andrew