There's something to be said for having way too much free time on your hands. With classes now over, and only two more papers and three more exams to go (and that lasts 'til the 24th) I have ample free time. And yet it doesn't feel like it... Nova and I have a theory on the subject. When you're busy, and you manage to score a valuable hour to yourself it feels like something. But when you've got an entire day to write a one page essay outline, something feels amiss. If you try to sit down and do it, you're thinking "Why bother? It's such a waste of time, and I can just do it later". But if you don't do it, you're thinking "Man, I keep procrastinating... I really should get to work" and you end up feeling guilty. It really sucks, and the mentality ruins the fun of a day off. Needless to say I can't wait to go home and get back into a routine that makes functional sense. Today's the first day in a week that I've been up before 1pm... -_-

 Anyways....

 The ample free time has allowed me to finish up Makai Kingdom, start and subsequently abandon Stella Deus, and move onto the classic FFVIII which I've somehow gone this long without ever playing, in spite of being an avid fan of the series. But perhaps I should address these things one at a time.

 Makai Kingdom, like all NIS strategy games, is quirky and addictive. It was certainly fun to play though, in spite of the weak story and somewhat stunted length (beat it in 22 hours). Compared against its predecessors Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Phantom Brave, it fares pretty well. Of the three titles the one I enjoyed the most was actually Phantom Brave, which is odd given that it is usually rated the lowest of the three. Disgaea's strength was in its ingenuity and replay value; the following games were just sequels, and thus lacked that initial spark of inventive gameplay. Even so, of the three Phantom Brave had the best story (which isn't saying much -- all three weren't superb) and the most tactical gameplay. Makai Kingdom was probably the most fun to actually play, and offered lots of freedom in the gameplay. However, the constantly randomized dungeons and lack of a true story tends to leave players (Nova and I agree) wondering about why they're fighting in the first place. So if you're interested in the series at all, but only have the funds for one of the titles, I can't really recommend one. Just go for whichever one is the cheapest; they're all good. Though to be fair, having played Phantom Brave will help you better understand Makai Kingdom, as it builds upon its predecessors gameplay style.

 Stella Deus is another Atlus strategy RPG (Atlus = NIS, sort of) which is supposedly pretty good. I couldn't really get into it though. The story is interesting enough, but the dialogue and voice acting falls flat and prevents players from ever really becoming attached to any of the characters. RPG's tend to fare the best when that connection is strengthened, so not having it at all weakened the overall presentation. That alone is forgiveable, but other gameplay elements also harmed the experience for me. Nova said she found the game easy, but I found it to be unreasonably hard. Levelling up in this game is hard (and makes a big difference), and the enemies constantly seem to outnumber and outclass you. The end result is that you have to spend 1-2 hours training your characters to say, level 15, only to pass the storyline mission and then have to spend another 1-2 hours training to level 17 so you can handle the following mission. And as the battles are long, the gameplay feels somewhat slow and the sound volume is inconsistent, the overall presentation isn't superb. Coming off of two excellent NIS strategy games might have had something to do with it as well. Overall Stella Deus isn't horrible, but for the time being I'm putting it back on the shelf.

 That leaves FFVIII. I've never played it; I'm a devout FFVII fan. As fate would have it, Nova is a devout FFVIII fan but has never finished FFVII. You can probably guess what's happening now. I'm about six hours into FFVIII and I really like it: triple triad (the mini game involving cards) is really fun and addictive, and the story is great. I had nothing against this game going into it (just never got around to playing it - I own FFVII on PC, for one thing); so far for me it's almost on par. FFVII will hold a special place for me being one of the first RPGs I every played through to completion. But if VIII keeps up the good pace and story, it'll be poised to be right up there as well. Nova has yet to give me any feedback on FFVII.

  This (school) year is almost over, meaning I'll be home and with Nova soon. So many big things will be happening in just a few short months... can't wait. I just hope everything goes to plan as realistically as possible and it all works out. I have faith though, and I know we can do it. We've both been waiting a long time for this, and now we're finally so close. I miss her terribly, and can't wait to see her.

 Alas, my homework needs to be done. So long for now.

 PS - if any of the AC forum people can get a north american release date for Last Raven, PM it to me or post it in the thread i made in that forum. So far I haven't had any luck nailing down anything more specific than Q2 2006, which started 8 days ago. >_<