Even the Diligent can be Consumed

There is a great monster in my life now, a gnawing, gnashing, biting, consuming beast that thrashes its way into every day of life. It can barely be satiated, and only with the expenditure of great resources may it be contained. You might think you have obligations, or free time, or even a bit of rest for the weary. NAY! Harsh taskmaster of distractions, I call thee Final Fantasy XII!

There you have it. We even held out for a good two weeks, but now it has entered our lives in full force and it is here to stay (for at least 80-100 hours). We gave you our initial reaction, and it was quite precise in verdict. This is by and large one of the most addictive games I have ever played, and I say this fresh off the cusp of a World of Warcraft addiction. (oh yes, we’re free of that timid rabbit, perhaps we’ll discuss those few days of grim withdrawal syndrome soon)

The progression of your characters in this game is tracked on the aptly named License Board, where you progress around a grid of abilities, spending points and gaining new proficiencies, abilities, “techniks”, spells, and character augmentations. The beauty of it is that you cannot see any squares but those that are directly adjacent to ones you have already purchased, and each character is on their own seperate license board (no intermingling for you kiddies). For me the Licensing has almost become an all consuming experience on its own, but it really does shine when you progress a character deep into a corner of the board in order to get that one awesome ability you’ve been drooling for all along. The plot is above par, not extreme or overbearing as that of X could become at times, but as the lovely Sucilaria continues to point out to me the game would benefit from more character development. It’s really a shame too, as Balthier, Vaan, Ashe, and Basch are some of the most unique and intriguing characters to come out of a Final Fantasy. I was really afraid of Vaan from the pre-release pictures, because Tidus only ever served to piss me off or annoy me to no end. Vaan gets close, don’t get me wrong, but he is far from the whiney blonde-haired girly-boy that Tidus was. Vaan’s an orphan, no daddy issues, thank god!

Now, I realize today is Comic day and that I am essentially leaving you comic-less, but I found myself in the middle of the week facing a very angry SPACE PIRATE TURKEY!!!! He held me up for all of my money, my clothes, and the Millenium Falcon. Apparently he was angred upon seeing humanities’ mass consumption of his kind on select days throughout the year, and decided to seek revenge on us one at a time. Beware the evil space turkey, for he is cunning, and he’s one jive turkey.