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does anyone realise how good ff9 really is. most people i know think its the worst one it has really good charecters an amazing story line great limits well trance i cant find a single fault in it bar it is relativly easy chocobo hot and cold was great too :D:D

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Locke: Moogles...! Are you saying you want to help me?

Yeah its cool I liked the graphics the most and the characters and the storyline it just really REALLY sucks you don't get any spoils like ruby/emerald.

Woohoo! 100 post oh yeah!

This post has been edited by Suik_O_Den_Genso on 26th July 2005 22:11

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I look kinda like Vince so ill pick him as my avatar. :)

FF9 had its strong points, but it also had its bad points...

Personally, I was disappointed by their little "slogan," "The crystals come back!!" They made a big fuss of how FF was going back to its roots what with crystals and airships. Instead of having a pre-PSX FF, we had one where airships were flat-out spammed all over the place and crystals made an appearance for roughly 5 minutes at the very end of the game.

The character developement was decent, considerably better than some other FFs. I had a hard time associating with some of the characters, however, particularly Quina (what the hell?), Amarant ("Huh. I guess friends are important after all! Now let's all sing a song about friendship!"), and Steiner (he was comical at first, but grew annoying and pathetic later on.) I rather liked Vivi maturing, Garnet/Dagger's toughening up (though the whole mute part felt like a ridiculous Disney deus ex machina), and Eiko's little brat attitude.

The story was a little... wishy-washy. Brahne was an ok character, but Square had already played out the whole

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

bad guy is really a pawn of even worse bad guy and wakes up shortly before being taken out of the story

angle quite a bit and it felt like rehashed material. The story built up pretty well until the end of Disc 3, IMHO, but seemed to flatten out and degrate near the end, until the unevitably ridiculous

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

suddent unexpected introduction of "the crystal" (which definitely was a bad deus ex machina) and even more suddent unexpected introduction of Necron.)

It was enjoyable, though. Square really came up with some nice material for this. Definitely not the best FF, but far from being the worse. Had they cut back on the humor instead of rehashing the same jokes over and over ("Oooooh! Princess! I'll save you!!! *crash*" "Haha, let's all laugh at Steiner and make a cool comment to blow him off and show how uptight he is compared to us all.") it would've been one heck of a badass game.

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Well, "The Crystal (singular) Comes Back" wasn't technically misleading as it did at least point out that there wouldn't be multiple crystal fetch quests. But yeah, everyone was expecting a theme similar to the first five games (except 2) and instead got an old-school wannabe that's biggest claim to fame are the past-game references. Hey, at least the airships looked like boats, á la FF's 1-5.

That's not saying I didn't like it 'cause I actually like it quite a bit. Its story's heavily clichéd, no doubt, but the characters are really the interesting part. On second thought, they're clichéd too, but it's not like FF's characters in general are all that original anymore. Some of those personalities never get old no matter how many times they're reused. And the minigames! Normally I'm not a big fan of taking a break from the quest at hand to play tedious or pointless little games, but most of the ones in FFIX are just irresistable. I even like Tetra Master, for crying out loud!

So no, it's not my favorite FF, but it's high up there.

Quote (Suik_O_Den_Genso)

Yeah its cool I liked the graphics the most and the characters and the storyline it just really REALLY sucks you don't get any spoils like ruby/emerald.

You mean super bosses? Like most of the games, FF9 has its share as well: Ozma and Hades, respectively.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

The crystal was there the whole time, though. Around Garnet's neck. There were a few minor plot points about it, but it's what proves that she's Princess Garnet when she ends up at Cid's, isn't it? And then there's that scene where it's glowing, and her and Eiko are floating in the air.
http://www.midnite-angel.net/ffdg/ff9/ff9i/ff9fmv404.jpg
http://www.midnite-angel.net/ffdg/ff9/ff9i/ff9fmv405.jpg
http://www.midnite-angel.net/ffdg/ff9/ff9i/ff9fmv403.jpg

Don't mind me. I'm just tired of people saying "but the crystal wasn't there! *whine whine whine*" just because you don't spend the whole game fetching crystals.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

I would have liked the game better if zidane didn't have such a femine physique

his hips bothered me(when i first saw a picture of him i thought the main character was going to be a girl)
although during cinemas it appeared that they were trying to make it look like he had full pockets

if they were to take that out (and some of the other goofy graphics) a lot more people would like the game a lot better

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

FF IX's a classic that I thought was loads better than FF VIII, for one reason in particular: the customization system. Gone was the ugly mess that was the Junction system with a beautiful, shiny, old-school equipment-learning system. There were a ton of shared passive abilities, learned differently by most characters, but also a great deal of unique abilities. Back is the old-school equipment system, with more than a single item (or nothing at all, in FF VIII's case) for armor. In fact, the exceptionally well-designed equipment-management system does an able job of replacing FF VII's solid materia system and FF VIII's deplorable Junction system. I'm also a huge fan of the return of the four-person party and of the more traditional character types; it makes choosing your team a little more important than in other FF games.

Oh right, there's a plot and characters too.... The characters are extremely wacky. Everyone likes Vivi, Steiner's often quite hilarious, Freya and Amarant are a bit stoic, but ok. Eiko's in the annoying little girl mold, Garnet's an adequate heroine, and Zidane is basically Tidus with a little more sarcasm and brashness. It's a pretty well-done Cid, as well. et's not talk about Quina. Oh, and the villain, Kuja, he does a good job of convincing you he's a nutcase, but he also... wears a thong.... LNot the deepest character list, but they have a certain charm. The story... it gets weird. One real telling moment where you'll wonder what the hell is happening is the classic

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Burmecian Riverdancing rodents scene. If you've seen it, you'll understand.

Yeah, the plot gets weird, but not FF VIII weird. The dungeons are kinda funky, but very well-designed and fun; however, the minigames and sidequests are where the real fun's at. Chocobo Hot and Cold, Mognet, the Stellazzio, better than anything in FF VIII and most of the stuff in VII and X.

So yeah, FF IX is probably my second favorite FF, after VI, but IV, VII, and X also contend for that spot. It's a very good game, and definitely worth a purchase.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Quote (Elena99)

Don't mind me. I'm just tired of people saying "but the crystal wasn't there! *whine whine whine*" just because you don't spend the whole game fetching crystals.

No one's whining about the crystal not being there ('cause it clearly is, especially the one in Memoria), at least no one in this topic. We're just whining about how, prior to the game's release, there was an impression from the hype that Square was taking it in the direction of most of the older games - sorta nostalgic return to the oldies - but were disappointed when that turned out not to be the case.

And for the record, Cloud_Strife, I honestly doubt Zidane's hips have a thing to do with peoples' negative opinions of the game.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

My question is how did the game not return to the veins of first five or six games? The world reverted back to one without abundant technology, magic isn't something people can just find lying around and use, and the characters all embody a certain virtue, kind of like the olden games.

Plus, the game is chock full of references to past installments, a homage to all of the predecessors. I find it hard to believe people finger this game as the odd man out when it's clearly a step back into normality and the medieval-type setting.



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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Right. FF9's world isn't full of technological prowess, much like the 2D games ('cept FF6, where technology was rather advanced and played a part in the plot); its magic isn't available to everyone (although in all the old-school games, not counting FF4, magic actually WAS available to most everyone); it contains crystals, despite them not being involved in the same role as 1-5's (FF2's are only featured visually and are never mentioned during the course of the game, and of course FF6 doesn't have any at all like most of the PSX games and on); the characters are somewhat virtuous, even if several of the characters in the oldies weren't any more than the new-school games', from what I've noticed; and heck, they even brought back the dwarves, who've been on hiatus since FF4!

But if ya ask me, those're only minor qualities (except the crystal and possibly medieval ones) that help maintain an old-school look, but don't quite make it feel the same - and it has nothing to do with it being in 3D either, as I don't even consider FF6 much of an old-school game seeing as it has very little in common with the whole five games before it other than being 2D. One of the biggest themes of the first five games was fetching elemental crystals harbored in shrines or kingdoms; despite the existance of a few crystals in FF9's world, there's no major quest like that taking up a third, a half or more of the game (that short mirror quest kinda referenced all that, though). There's a lot more that certainly woulda enhanced the attempt at returning to their roots, but I'm half-asleep and really can't explain it at the moment. As it is, FF9 only contains a few pieces of the entire package.

Or perhaps it's just peoples' way of looking at it. To some it's the epitome 3D incarnate of old-school goodness, and to others it's not quite.

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Words of Wisdom:

If something can go wrong, it will.

If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. - Murphy’s Law

Boing! Zoom! - Mr. Saturn

i thought it was a great game myself , i liked the ability learning system where you learn the abilitys off weapons, and the graphics were great for a ps1 game, overall a brilliant game.

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Owzer: P... please... Help that painting!!
"The painting!?"
Owzer: It's... There's a monster hiding in my prized painting of a goddess...
"A monster!?"
Owzer: Yes... And now it's nearly impossible to get it to show itself...
Relm: Ahhhhh!!

FFIX is the best of them all. It's my favorite main FF, and had the best characters, world, and growth system. 'Sides, it had a great feel to it.

Might I also mention that Ipsen's Castle=best RPG dungeon ever?

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"Dance, water, dance!"
-Demyx, Kingdom Hearts II

"I met my love before I was born..."
-AFI, 'Love Like Winter' from 'Decemberunderground'

Currently Playing: Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus

I personally liked 9, but I can't say it was the best. I wouldn't say it's the worst either as I reserve that spot for FF10. Some of the characters were a little odd and hard to...well...relate to. Mainly Quina and Amarant, they seemed more like "filler" characters more than anything else. Their overall character designs were kind of strange also but likeable. One of the other bad points for me was the trance thing...Especially Zidane.

He just didn't look..right. Other than that I enjoyed it. Since I haven't played the older FF's (ff1-6) I wasn't sure what they meant by the crystal and I wasn't disappointed with it I did play a few spots of ff5 and ff6 but not enough to know the full story. I did like how the moogles were placed in the game and some of the sidequest. I enjoyed the chocobo games, and overall it had a nice story.

I thought it was a cool game. Kuja was my favorite aspect of FF9, 'cuz he's a main villain like nobody before him. Seymour in FFX, I think, was based off of Kuja from his personality and script. Other than that, it is a really great game that I would recommend to any FF fan. A modern spin on the first games in the series with fun side-quests and memorable characters (Vivi anyone?) deserves a top spot, I'd say!

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"Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!"
Seifer Almasy


"The most important part of the story is the ending."
Secret Window


"Peace is but a shadow of death."
Kuja

Im with Shinjutsei, FFIX is the best of the FF's, not to mention the game had the best chocobo system, the only fault to me was the card game (i'll take Triple Triad over this) but that flaw is sooo minor to me, FFIx to me is the best in the series, and had the coolest cast.

FF9 was the best one outta the ps1 games with its great story and good characters, it really caught my eye and i still play it all the time.

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"To be forgotten is worst than death." Freya , FF9

"How do you prove that you exist...? Maybe we dont exist." Vivi, FF9

im gald that some people really understand hwo well the gme was made and how well it plays

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Locke: Moogles...! Are you saying you want to help me?

Quote (Cloud_Strife510 @ 26th July 2005 20:41)

I would have liked the game better if zidane didn't have such a femine physique

In general I didn't like how the characters looked all chibi with their gigantic disproportionate heads. It made the game look much "cuter" like it was made to appeal to children... not that I can imagine them being proportionate now either though

It's completely a matter of opinion. I didn't like most of the characters at all; I thought the story was vapid and cartoonish; and I generally felt like the entire game had been all frosting and no cake.

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

It was ok... but it didn't have that old-school feel. Out of the FFs for the PS, it is my second favorite.

When I picked up FF9 I was expecting, like many others, a game that would play like the oldies. What I got, though, was a game that tried to be an oldie but failed somewhere along the way. I have no idea what it was, but there was just something missing, despite that fact that there were medieval kingdoms, dwarves, the old equipment system, the old-school level and magic system, etc.

Something I noticed while playing through FF9 is that there are no original ideas. At all. Every idea, thing, personailty, etc. is recycled from a previous FF.

So to make it short, it wasn't bad, it had some hillarious and memorable scenes, and some characters like Vivi were just plain awesome, but that something was missing that could have made it great.

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Music is a mysterious thing... Sometimes, it makes people remember things that they do not expect. Many thoughts, feelings, memories... things almost forgotten... Regardless of whether the listener desires to remember them or not...

- Shitan, Xenogears

I think it is a beautiful game, I liked the graphics , the characters, almost everything. It was the second FF that I played ( first was FFI nes), and I liked a lot the referencial material, which this game sure got a lot from other FF series. What I don't like on this game, the slow ATB that battles got ( even in Haste is too slow...), and secondly the Battles. The bosses were too easy, I remember my fight with Lich , the Earth Fiend, which cast Thundaga...and only its 46 damage points!!!, C' mon its a Thundaga!!! why , oh why didn't make this game harder... (not to mention you can EAT this "boss"..) the damage you can make is also very poor ( i.e Freiya Lv99 equipped with Dragon's Hair its around 4000 dmg per normal strike...). But the plot of the game, and the graphics and the love story, are great. Have you noticed how "I want to be your Canary" play is important on the game...

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"Its no cheating if you don't get caught"

IX is my favourite FF as well as VI. Of course is wasn't faultless but honestly, can anyone name ONE game that is? The storyline was cute, the music was great and the characters were likeable. It had great minigames and a lot of replay value. I've played it through about 7 times, and not once did I get bored. Also, Esto Gaza was the coolest game location EVER. But, as some people have already mentioned, the battles were too slow and the storyline could get a little cliched in places. But it was good, and I give it my own personal thumbs-up!

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'Bastards, we may be, but clever are we.'
Thorn, FFIX

Chocobo Hot and Cold. Best minigame EVER!

I was always like "Just...one... more...time!" At that time, we had the Playstation in the bedroom, so I'd be playing when my husband be trying to sleep, and he'd finally be like "What IS that? Are you learning to Flamenco dance? Enough!"

I ought to replay the game soon, just for that.

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Kupo!

Yes I love Final Fantasy 9 it is by far my favorite game! I love the charcter designs the whole theme. The music that you hear and say (ahhh) and the the art you look through and ahhh! I love it is truely a masterpeice!

Also did anyone notice if you have a certain Item in your event item selection....

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I'm not sure which one though, "Mirror" that the record player would shine and the music from black mage village song would then change into another Final Fantasy song!

I know it sounds familar but I can't remember where I heard it from.

This post has been edited by The Goddess Terra on 14th August 2005 23:31

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Blah Blah Blah Blah! Newgrounds! ROCK!

I enjoyed the gameplay of FFIX bringing back more uniqueness to the characters
like in FFIV
Trance also was a nice new form of desperationattacks/limit
I liked the ability learning system (auto-regen and auto potion at the same time i wanted that since tactics) also chocobo hot and cold was pretty entertaining

Storyline wise I felt it was combining certain features of all the previous FF's
Which i liked especially

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Kuja's first plan of gethering eideloins, which I thought was very kefka-esque, then he changed his plan to a little more sephiroth-esque

also the fact that kuja was a man who felt comfortable walking around in a male thong in any weather
brought back memories of Seinfeld "there was shrinkage", made me laugh on the inside

so overall

i would give it
Gameplay 9/10
Storyline 8.3/10
Graphics 5/10 (too goofy)
music 9/10

overall 7.8/10

Edit

just so you know, i am very stict as to how i rate games very few have made it above 8

This post has been edited by Cloud_Strife510 on 23rd August 2005 05:55

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

Seems most people's dislike of the game is purely on a superficial level. If you can drop the homophobia for a minute, you'll realize Zidane's a pretty fun character and the best 'hero' in a FF since...hell, Cecil! Don't believe me? Check it:

IV: Cecil. Tragic guy really. Getting screwed by his country (resist...urge...to make...political...statement...), losing his best friend to brain washing. Finding out his worst enemy is his brother and having all to two seconds to reconcile before saying goodbye. Ouch.

V: Butz. Seriously...Butz?

VI: Non exsistant. Argue all you want, there was no main hero.

VII: Cloud. Whiney pissant with a bad haircut. His story was interesting, but he wasn't.

VIII: Squall. Whiney pissant with a good hair cut. I don't see how anyone can justify liking this guy.

IX: Zidane. Finally, someone with a sense of humor and a positive outlook on life. He's gay...and I love him for it.

I think that's what most people have with the whole game in general. It is, in fact, gay. The light atmosphere was a breath of fresh air after the doom/gloom of VII/VIII, but it's just too much for masculine insecurity. But maybe I'm getting too Fruedian.

Aside from the light tone, the gameplay itself is a throwback to the classics in that it was smooth. It's not clunky like VIII, or underdeveloped like VII. It's that third bowl of porriage...just right. The crystal slots (hey guess what, THEY DID PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THE GAME) were easy to understand and work with. The game was so well balanced and thought out that I was able to keep up with the new abilities as they came along with little to no hassle. The fighting was something I actually enjoyed. It was even better than VI.

Fact is, this was...and still is...the best of the post SNES FF games. It may lack the character depth of PS1 and PS2 games, but since Square bungled up those characters actual personalities so badly, I consider it a moot point. They still can't beat the character depth and personality of Vivi anyway.

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 24th August 2005 18:43

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

Quote (Narratorway @ 24th August 2005 13:39)

VI: Non exsistant. Argue all you want, there was no main hero.

IX: Zidane. Finally, someone with a sense of humor and a positive outlook on life. He's gay...and I love him for it.

I think that's what most people have with the whole game in general. It is, in fact, gay. The light atmosphere was a breath of fresh air after the doom/gloom of VII/VIII, but it's just too much for masculine insecurity. But maybe I'm getting too Fruedian.

Aside from the light tone, the gameplay itself is a throwback to the classics in that it was smooth. It's not clunky like VIII, or underdeveloped like VII. It's that third bowl of porriage...just right. The crystal slots (hey guess what, THEY DID PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THE GAME) were easy to understand and work with. The game was so well balanced and thought out that I was able to keep up with the new abilities as they came along with little to no hassle. The fighting was something I actually enjoyed. It was even better than VI.

First off, I think FFVI did a fair job of emphasizing Terra as the main hero during the WOB, although, I must admit, that emphasis more or less stopped by the WOR.

IX: Now what definition of the word "gay" are ye using here? Gay as in happy and full of joy or gay as in the popular definition cuz last I saw, everyone Zidane hit on had boobs.

I would also like to add that I actually liked the graphics/artwork of this game. Yeah, maybe their heads WERE too big for their bodies but I thought that the more cartoonish look further added to the general fantasy feel of the game. I certainly didn't care for the direction Square seemed to be taking with the more realistic graphics in FFVIII. And, in terms of FF soundtracks I've heard (only up to IX), I rank FFIX 3rd behind FFVI(2nd) and FFT(1st).

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Console RPG Cliches

Quote ("Narratorway@24th August 2005 13:39)

I think that's what most people have with the whole game in general. It is, in fact, gay. The light atmosphere was a breath of fresh air after the doom/gloom of VII/VIII, but it's just too much for masculine insecurity. But maybe I'm getting too Fruedian.

Zidane is gay?, he's just a good-looking boy...after all all he says he got in his mind is women...( he talks about it with Vivi, in your first visit to Dali..), then he also tries to have a date with Erin...(in Lindblum). I do agree, with the light atmosphere in FFIX, which is a beauty and have a wise and intrincate storyline, I liked how Vivi and Zidane were similar...how he acts when he discover the purpose of his existence, and how everybody was influenced by him. The love story were more realistic than FFVIII, ( but I liked FFVIII as well, to be honest until Trabia Garden..when they discover they already knew each other....then nobody cares about GF (losing they memories), well until CD2, I'll say, after that I don't like it...its like playing other game...you know Time compression, Ultimecia/Artemisa...(sigh).
FFIX is a fun game, if not looking for chocographs...I'm looking for treasures

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"Its no cheating if you don't get caught"

Quote

I think that's what most people have with the whole game in general. It is, in fact, gay. The light atmosphere was a breath of fresh air after the doom/gloom of VII/VIII, but it's just too much for masculine insecurity. But maybe I'm getting too Fruedian.

I said Zidane's hips gave him a feminine physique

but i don't believe anybody here has mentioned anything about Zidane being gay

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

I mean come on he is as horny as i am, well i might be hornier but who cares, he hit on garnet throughout the whole thing

the aspect that i liked most about zidane was that they brought back the aspect of a cocky main character, yes cloud was cocky, Zidane's cocky. and i don't remember VII really having that much of a doom/gloom theme, that was VIII

but still they're is no way Zidane is gay the only questionable thing he does is act onstage with tantalus

This post has been edited by Cloud_Strife510 on 25th August 2005 00:03

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

FF9 is a game I've tried to play through time and time again, but it just can't hold my interest much past disc 1, which is a shame, really. The characters are pretty endearing if alittle one-dimensional or bland, I love the industrial revolution setting, the skill system is easy to use but allows access to a whole host of skills and attacks... all the same, I just don't seem to enjoy playing it too much, and I can't for the life of me fathom out why. I'll probably pick it up again sometime soon anyway.