What I did this weekend.

Really, I’ve just been playing Dragon Quest VIII. The game eats time. I love it.

For anybody not familiar with the game, you spend the first half of the time chasing this douchebag Dhoulmagus. A few days ago, I finally got a ship. At which point, I decided to get caught up on the monster arena. But nevermind that. After locating him on an island (where else?), I figured, it would not be as simple as walk in and fight him. Going there triggered the Magic Mirror Quest. Now I’ve played these types of games enough to know that you’re not just going to go to some King and ask him for his national treasure.

Just doesn’t work that way.

They copied a plotline that was in Dragon Quest VI. That is, the weenie son’s initiation trial. Except, this weenie was far more annoying then the little kid I escored in Dragon Quest VI. He reminded me of Augustus Gloop. Or whatever his name was, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Anyway, I escort the weenie through his trial of killing an Argon Dragon, and get the Magic Mirror. Of course, it isn’t charged at all, so I traveled west to visit some Seer. There’s a mystical spring near him that lifts curses. Increasing the cheese quotient of the game, it lifted the curse on the princess. But only for a few seconds, then she turned back into a horse. But not before saying she wished she could talk to the main character like they did “back at the castle”.

Right then and there it’s clear they’re going to nail each other at the end of the game. Or have some cheesy ending where she dumps Prince Charmles (the weenie), and shacks up with him.

Anyway, I had to go find some sea dragons that cast gigaflash. I ran into some on my voyage west, so they were easy to find. Charged up the mirror. Went back to the Dark Ruins. I figured I’d just go in and have my ass handed to me. In true from of a dungeon, it was dramatic and well-designed. At least from a “this place looks evil” point of view. I noticed a crack in one of the walls and a spring that restored HP/MP, a clear sign that the penultimate battle was in the next room.

(It was.)

As expected, I had my ass handed to me in tiny plastic bags. I like that. If a game is too easy (like FFX), then I just don’t respect it. (Best thing about FFX was blitzball, anyway.) So I did what I haven’t had to do for the entire game: POWERLEVEL. I powerleveled for two hours, upgraded some of my shitty armor, and went back to the Penultimate Battle. I handled his first phase rather well. His second phase was a little harder. Frankly, I thought I’d run into an MP problem.

Basically, he had a move which can knock my characters off their feet, effectively making them lose a turn. As a result, I wasn’t able to heal. I tried buying time my sending in my Monster Team. It was rather entertaining, because they were doing some serious damage to him. But they can only stay in three rounds, so then my guys got thrown back in, and promptly died.

It amuses me how Jessica’s boobies bounce every time she casts a spell. …Well, they do!

I’ll have to put the game aside until maybe Thursday. I’m sure I have things to do which I’ve been avoiding. Whoopsie.