CUTE RPGS FOREVER

I was bored waiting for my new HDTV to arrive earlier today (more on that soon), so I snapped some pictures of things around the house.

( And yes it's all gaming stuff. What, do you want pictures of my nightstand or toothbrush or underwear drawer or something? )

And that's about it for now. Considering my phone has a decent camera I should really snap some more photos. krile's been sick for the past couple days so she won't let me take any of her ;-;

So, in the ongoing saga (this is a pun which you will get in a minute) of THE CONSOLE HOLOCAUST OF 2009, my DSi, which had to be bought because my DS Lite's top screen stopped working, decided to develop a nasty red pimple on its bottom screen. Basically, a "stuck pixel" which could theoretically have cleared up on its own anywhere between 1 minute and 100000000 years after developing.

So yeah, I called Nintendo. Luckily it's still under warranty so it gets fixed for free, although I have to be without it for a couple weeks. That's okay, there's backlogs abound on my other portables.

BUT THEN! THIS DAMN THING HAD TO COME INTO EXISTENCE. It's the SaGa series (see, pun) 20th anniversary limited edition DSi which is coming out alongside the DS remake of SaGa 2 in September.

I mean, I love my blue DSi, but that thing is SWANK AS HELL. Plus it comes with the Japanese version of SaGa 2 which would be fun to play until it comes out here in English.

Therefore... I have to figure out what to do with my going-to-be-newly-fixed DSi, if I'm going to take the plunge with a new one.

Uh, anybody want a really good-condition DSi? For money or something, of course.

I'm discovering a new past time - replaying video games I have memorized beginning to end over again, in Japanese (ROMs, naturally), partially as an excuse to play them yet again but also to help brush up on the ol' Nihongo during the summer.

I've actually learned quite a bit of vocabulary this way, although the usefulness of RPG vocabulary is perhaps questionable. In particular I've been playing Makai Toushi SaGa, better known here as The Final Fantasy Legend, a classic RPG and one of the first, if not THE first portable RPG. Anyway, I played this game over and over when I was younger so I could play it with my eyes closed - or in Japanese, which sometimes feels like the same thing (but it's improving!)

The great part about it is that there's zero Kanji... okay, I lied, the title screen has Kanji. But besides that it's all delicious Hiragana and Katakana which is perfect for my novice tastes.

( Screenshots and commentary under the cut )

ANYWAY this is a fun nostalgic game for me so playing it in Japanese is pretty interesting. I know that the original Red/Green Pokémon games were all in Hiragana or something, but does anyone else know of any other 8-bit or 16-bit era games that would be easy to play in Japanese?

In other news: I beat .hack//GU Vol 2 (thus Haseo icon) and Odin Sphere is freaking beautiful, that is all.