Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

I finally borrowed a 360 and I'm playing Magna Carta 2 (I just hit disc 2 moments ago). After that I'm going to play Tales of Vasperia. Better late than never. Just means more delays on my projects. Although, Feda is done and is waiting on word from Wildbill at this time.

Just finished Raze's path on Mana Khemia 2, for PS2.
After playing Raze's and Ulrika's stories, I have to say that I liked Ulrika's more, because it's much more related to the game's story. Raze's path is only about fighting, fighting and fighting, with little story related.
Now I started EXTRA mode.

On a side note, I started playing Hero's Saga - Laevatein Tactics for NDS. I'm still on begining, but it looks like an ok game.

I finished Heavy Rain, and I think it was an AMAZING "game". It started off a little slow, but then it just snowballed. I love a game with a great story.

Now I'm plugging through Resonance of Fate. The story seems a little weak right now (only on chapter 3), but the gameplay is quite good.

Just finished EXTRA Mode on Mana Khemia 2 for PS2.
I have to say that this game is much better than the first, much better story, much funnyer, and even better battle system.

And, I'm still playing Hero's Saga - Laevatein Tactics for NDS.

Hehe, you're probably the one lone person on the planet that considers 2 better than 1 Every review I see (and my own opinion for that matter) says that the game isn't nearly as good as the first.

As for me, I just finished Mana Khemia 2. Awesome story. That battle system needs serious work though. Why they ditched the original and went with that mess? Who knows. Not the worst system ever made but made an extremely good story less fun because of it. Kinda reminded me of playing Koudelka all over again. Great story ruined by lousy execution. It just wasn't nearly as bad as Koudelka's battle system. It at least was usable anyway.

Now, just need to get Tales of Vasperia and give the 360 back to its owner.

Well, actually no, most of the people I know in my country, that plays RPGs, think that this game is much better than the first one.
And about reviews, I'm a very long time gamer, and if there's one thing I'm really proud of, is the fact that not even once in my life I had read a review more than a paragraph. To that extent I have to add that I would be a much better reviewer than 99% of them, since I actually play the game, more than 5 minutes, before reviewing it.

Ok, let's start:

About the story, let's face it, MK sub-series is not about the story, it's about gameplay and cutesy graphics. The first one's story is pretty duhh, it doesn't make any sense, and has a very unrealistically feel. The second one's story, at least, makes sense. Most of the things that happened through both characters stories should have happened in the first place, they're very reallistic feelings and reactions, taking their personalities in consideration.
I know that you're thinking talking about reality in a fantasy story is insane, but let's now talk about LotR. If I had read in the third book, that Aragorn was facing thousands of Orcs alone, an than he suddenly cast a spell that burned every single one of them, I would tell this series is pretty bad. Why that ? Simply because Aragorn never showed any sign of being a magician, and than he shows greater magic than even Gandalf ? So, like you can see, there's a limit to what fantasy could do, before going lame.

Now, let's talk about characters. Both game's characters are pretty good. But if you're going to compare.
First MK most interesting characters: Flay and Mimi(2)
Second MK most interesting characters: Pepperoni, Chloe, Et, Lily and to an extent Flay(4.5 since Flay is not playable in this version)
2 x 4.5 = Second one wins in that comparison too.

About battle system. Overall MK sub-series has pretty good battle system, but the second one is better. I remember when playing the first MK, that I got really pissed when I finally discovered that Vayne was the only character that could do a Variable Strike, in that moment I said "that s*c*s"
I'm really glad they added Intimate Strikes to every playable character in the second game.
The first MK doesn't add much strategy about battles, just press buttons insanely and you're good to go. In the second MK, you actually have to plan your strategies before going to fight a boss. It has much more strategies involving elements, sphere skills and double up skills. And Intimate Guards give more options on battle strategy elements. One more thing is that battles not only give AP, but it raises your HP and SP too, that makes battles much more attractive than in the first game.
So, in this comparison the second MK wins again.

Now, about alchemy. Seriously, it's not even fair to compare alchemy systems between MK and MK2, the second one's so much better, it doesn't even seems like they're from the same series. But if you want to, let's start:
The first MK don't have much reason to actually raise ether levels, since it doesn't add to much on the game, but on the second alchemy it's very important. I allways thought that having alchemy in second place on a game all about alchemy is pretty lame, but let's continue. On the first one, you just synthesize, on the second, you have a lot of skills passive and active to use on synthesies. And there's actually a very good reason to raise either level on this game, to make your characters stronger, by learning the third slots in Grow Books.
So in this comparison, second MK wins again.

Well, I'll not talk about graphics and sound here, since there's not a huge difference between both games in this area, even though the second MK is a little better in both cases.

Seriously, I can't see a single reason anyone in the world would say the first MK is beter than the second.

After reading all of this, you should probably think that I hated the first MK, but that's not like that. I just feel that the second is much better, that's all.

I started playing Dai Senryaku VII: Exceed for PS2, it's not an RPG, but I was allways curious about this series.

And I'm still playing Hero's Saga: Laevatein Tactics for DS.

Taskforce,

Do you own any of the current generation systems? You should try out Lost Odyssey if you still have extra time with the 360. I'm currently playing the game and I'm on Disk 4. It starts out kind of slow but definitely improves a lot. Although if you have the choose Tales of Vesperia is still the superior game.

Now I have see if I can finish Lost Odyssey by the time the Tales of Innocence patch comes out and then after that, Dragon Quest 9

No, I don't personally own a next gen console. Yes, I can borrow it for as long as I need. My nephew is in no hurry to get it back. He hadn't been using it anyway. I could get a refurb'd 360 for $109 but I just don't have the $$$ for it right now. Of course by the time I might have it, that'll be long gone.

I will definitely look into that game then.

EDIT: In fact the deal is already over

Well, my PSP is broken worse in a way but yet it is working enough to play games now. Long story, lets just say it won't get any more fixed than it is until I buy a new one. Those darn PSP-1000's are made to break I think. And they're way too delicate on the inside. Anyway, I can at least play games though. So I'm playing Mimana: Iyar Chronicle. First let me say that it isn't a bad RPG so far. About 4 hours in. However, the battle system is a bit odd. Action based inside a turn based concept. You go in and out of battles like turned based games, but the battles are action based. Wasn't really smart. Second the encounter rate is way too high.

That being said, it is a somewhat fun game with a story that does start slow but has picked up a bit of speed so far. However, you gain levels way too fast. Especially for this high of an encouter rate. Less than four hours in and I'm already beyond lvl 20. And I was lvl 20 before I even encountered a third team mate to join my group. Not a well balanced system. I'll report more when I'm done.

Oh, and I guess I'll be checking out Star Ocean on PS3 next. Gamefly sent it instead of Vasperia