Unfortunately for me, many of the older console games the shop had were ones I’ve collected already or ones I had no interest in.  There was one in the bunch that I did want to get though, and that was The Adventures of Lolo for NES.  I recently picked up the sequel to this game but had yet to find the first.  The salespeople kindly took $5 off the game’s price tag and allowed it to be my “free” game at $15.  It was in great shape, and it’s from a great franchise.  I look forward to trying out some of the puzzles and hearing that sweet, sweet level music on loop for a long while!

I’ve been looking a little more seriously at Playstation and Playstation 2 games recently, and I found three games that fit this bill at the shop.  The first was a Playstation game called Vandal Hearts, a strategy RPG that I’ve heard is excellent from several folks here as well as the internet in general.  The disc was in pretty good shape, and I managed to haggle away $10 because the game did not come with its manual.  I got it for $30, and it’s going onto my ever-growing list of things I need to play.  I don’t know about you folks, but between Vandal Hearts, Vanguard Bandits, Valkyrie Profile, etc., I can’t keep these PS RPGs straight in my head.  I had to phone my boyfriend and ask him if we had this game already because the V-names are too plentiful for my brain to keep track of.

The last two games I got were for the PS2.  The first was Dawn of Mana which came complete with its manual.  I was surprised to see this game priced at $25 since it has gotten such lukewarm reviews online from so many people, but I think it was priced higher because of its roots in Square Enix and the popularity of the Mana series.  I will give this game a shot someday, and I hope it doesn’t disappoint me!  Also, it’s uncanny how much the girl on the cover of the game looks just like Princess Garnet from FFIX.  And the guy with the giant sword could pretty easily be Zidane.  I’ve been looking pretty hard for a tail.  Just sayin’.

On another note which I promise is not entirely random, I’m don’t think I’ve ever felt more disappointed playing a video game than I did when I played Dark Cloud.  I know it’s an unpopular opinion since I know many people that love the game, but this was one of the first games where I had to deal with weapons breaking, a confusing interface, lack of restorative items and direction in the early parts of the game, all of which left me feeling frustrated and bitter.  I started the game up again a few years ago and hated it all over again, but when I happened to see a copy of Dark Cloud 2 at the shop for a pretty decent price of $15, I found myself in a bit of a pickle.  I’ve watched/read many reviews on Dark Cloud 2 and have heard nothing but good things, and from what I understand, it built upon and fixed a lot of the issues I had with the first game.  The game came complete and was also in great condition, so I decided to jump in cautiously, feet first and nose plugged.

I think I really got a good deal on this game.  I’ve seen it going locally and online for around $30, so I can’t complain about getting it for half price.  Let’s just hope that I enjoy it a little more than its predecessor.

All in all, it was nice to finally be in the right place at the right time and discover something new for a change.  Hopefully that place will continue to be fruitful moving forward!

Thanks for reading!

-GG