7th Saga Remix Thoughts

I lost track of whether I'd finished my thoughts on The difficulty patch for 7th Saga. Even with the Japanese difficulty restored, the game is still really, really hard. The experience curve still doesn't move fast enough, so you still have to grind between dungeons (or cheat with game genie codes, which I did when it became clear this was necessary).

( More specifics, further review of the patch )

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age

I recently played The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, a Final Fantasy X clone that used only intellectual property that appears in the movies and is interspersed with film clips as semi-optional cutscenes. It has an interesting setup for an RPG: There aren't any inns or towns, but leveling up restores full HP/MP and most monsters drop items and equipment. The only way to get new skills is to use the ones you have, so you want to try to blow all of your MP before you go up a level. I suspect the key to this game is not trying to compare it to the works of Tolkien and just enjoying it as an AU fic of the movie.

( System details, but I don't spoil any plot 'twists' )