the return of the PC

around june or so, i decided to forego my usual TV-watching as my sole form of solo relaxation and to try to get back into playing video games. this is somewhat complicated as the fanciest console out there that i own is a PS2 (for which i have 2 games), and i have no money, and my computer is 5 years old. this is in addition to the fact that i currently have something like 11 shows on my "to check out" list. but anyway...

i spent most of the summer and now early fall wallowing in some serious gaming goodness. it's certainly more fun than watching TV, but unfortunately it also results on me staying up too late on work nights.

i started off with some serious platforming magic by playing through both lego star wars games and then the lego indy game (which was surprisingly good; i think i liked it better than the star wars ones). from there i revisited the first two prince of persia games, and FINALLY played through the third one for the first time. it was much better than i'd been led to believe, and did a good job of tying the stories of part one and part two together for a believable and satisfying ending (that's coming from one of the few who LOVED part two).

more recently, i tried to play dungeon siege, which i've never finished, only to find that it pretty much only runs on XP. this was part of the reason that i tried to roll my computers back to XP and eventually ended up destroying all my hard drives and having to upgrade to 7 (note: dungeon siege still doesn't work). so those two games are on the backburner.

then i was completely devoured by knights of the old republic 1 and 2. part one might well be the best game i've played in a few years, and while two expanded the first on a more epic scale (a la baldur's gate vs. baldur's gate 2), the rushed end and dropped subplots just sort of pissed me off and made me feel like i had just essentially played 60 hours of star wars RPG goodness, invested myself in the story and the characters, and then been treated to a conclusion that was thrown together in 25 minutes. i'd still recommend both games, though.

now it's on to 1999's homeworld and it's assorted sequels, and from there warcraft 3 (which i've also never played). i'm not sure after that. maybe back to TV. i also have final fantasy 9, 10, and 12 in a closet or box somewhere around here...though i'm sort of afraid to start in on those while i still have, you know, a job and a social life.