First off, to all eight of you who read my blehmpressions of The Last Remnant, I have good news. After playing for a few more hours and really getting the feel for combat I believe this may be some of the more satisfying combat for a turn-based JRPG ever. The only downside now is that the story just kind of lets you go at points, and since there's no synopsis of what you've accomplished you're flying blind. Other than that, I now recommend this game(if you have several, several hours to dedicate to it to get into it far enought to enjoy the combat. Also, grinders welcome).

Now on to the real reason I'm writing this. In the last few months I have come to own several new games. I still plan on picking up several new games. Right now I have purchased and am playing Fallout 3, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rockband 2, Gears of War 2, Legendary(not really), and my newly acquired copies of Left 4 Dead and The Last Remnant. I've played through Fable 2 and still may try and get a copy of it to play through again. I've got Dragon Quest IV and Final Fantasy IV fighting over playing time on my DS. Sam and Max and all the old Nintendo and Sega games I've downloaded vie for my time on my Wii. The PS3 gathers dust as I've forgotten about it(and Little Big Planets overratedness). I'm sure there's games in the future that I'm not even beginning to mention, lest I rush out and pre-order them so I can fit my grubby fingers around them and cheer my lack of social life. So what's the problem?

Well, my problem is this:



This comes out today.

I'll let that sink in for a minute...

So, on top of all those games that currently have a rotation in my playing time, I have one of my all time favorite games coming to my DS that I can play anytime, anywhere. One of the greatest narrative tales ever told by a silent protagonist is coming to a system where I can take it anywhere and get re-hopelessly addicted to it. Endings upon endings upon endings for the taking, along with a new dungeon? Moar replay!!

Where am I going to find the time?

On top of all those great games I have, I just got the ol Netflix for my 360. Now I can stream movies? Great! But to watch the movies I have to put down the games and I can't put the games down too long, lest I forget where I'm at in them and have to start over for the love of cthulu...what is one gamer to do?

As much as I love the literal crush of games coming out, it seems like it would be best suited to be released gradually over the year, as opposed to this mass of quality coming out at once. But why complain about it? What's not to love about having a backlog, and once the dry summer months come, when movie tie-ins and other such muck have their months to flourish under unawares parents and childrens, having something good to play that was forgotten under the avalanche of Christmas snows and Hanukkah...candles or whatnot.

I for one can't fathom the depths of the complaining about too many good games coming out at the same time. If you have a game you want but can't afford, waiting is not such a bad thing, especially when cheaper options grow every few weeks. Yes, it sucks not having teh new sexy when it comes out, but with almost no exceptions I feel that the games released this holiday season will be with us through most of, if not all, of next year. So waiting really will be a legitimate option, unlike most times.

So what am I going to do with Chrono Trigger? To be honest, I may plug it in for a while tonight, probably make it past Luca's crazy invention to find out....well, spoilers would follow, but you know, and then set it down a play some more Last Remnant. Chrono will get a Thanksgiving day workout, barring Seattle showing up, but I really think that him and his buddies are going to be an hour or two diversion at a time for as long as it takes to finish up the onslaught I'm already up against. As for future titles? Right now I have no plans to purchase anything else until after the new year. Nothing else is really set in my mind to be possessed, or has to be possessed, until later, and I'd really like a cheaper view of what I may have missed. So, in closing, I suggest instead of griping like it's a bad thing ninety great titles have come out together, STFUAJPG, and pick up what you miss later.