A wish came true!

One of the wishes I made in a November '08 entry came true! They have finally unveiled the names for the 2nd Pokémon generation games remake: Heart Gold and Soul Silver. Yes, I find the names strange too. I prefer the speculated Dusk and Dawn, or Sun and Moon. Oh well, as long as there is the remake on the way :D Though one of the greatest things about the 2nd generation was the HUGE step forward the games made (day/night, shinies, colours, ...) and being remakes I doubt there will be any big improvements. Let's hope for them in the next gen in about 2-3 years ;)

No luck with Harvest Moon

A few days ago, I think it was on Wednesday, we received Harvest Moon DS Cute. This time we made sure the games was an original one by buying one that had a picture of an authentic cartridge on the auction listing. And it really was authentic! the box art had better printing, the manual contained instructions and the cartridge had two sets of numbers on the back. BUT! The game didn't load. Not in my DS, not in Ana's DS Lite, blowing didn't help... We contacted the seller and explained everything. He said the game worked when he tried it before posting. But he's prepared to exchange cartridges, so we'll do that. I wonder what happened and that the next one will be ok.

Also it's been over three weeks since my HM:FoMT has been shipped from the UK and it still hasn't arrived. But it's not the first time that the Royal Post lost a package. They also lost Pokemon Pearl last summer, which in the end arrived much later (after a complaint was filed) and the package was in a bad shape (the game was ok luckilly). I contacted the seller and she said she'll raise a complaint with the post. I hope they'll find it soon. Maybe it travelled to Slovakia, I don't know.

Oh, by the way. I'll post this here as it's the m,ost appropriate place. I finally got my Visa Electron and the PayPal verification :) No more asking around for help, yay! \(^_^)/

I wish upon a star

I think that most gamers, in the pursue of that perfect game and gaming experience, find themselves wishing certain games were different, bigger, better. I am no exception. Here's some of my wishes.

Pokemon: I wish for a remake of the 2nd generation for the DS. Not only were those game great and big (16 badges, remember?), but it would also mean that Kanto would be featured in every generation of the games. I would especially like a remake of Crystal, as in my opinion, that's one of the best Pokemon games of all times.
I also wish for a game that would incorporate all 4 worlds of the main series (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh). The question here is how to make the games challenging and entertaining, as one has quite a high level after finishing one region. There are various solutions to this, but I'll leave it to the developers (if they'll ever pick up this project).

Harvest Moon: I wish that after marriage it would be possible to choose to play as either of the married couple. Tired of your boy charachter? Then work as your wife! I see the problem for marriageable characters who have a jon to do, for example Trent, the only doctor in Mineral Town. For cases like this I suggest having two characters doing the same job (in Trent's case, Dr Hardy?) and after marriage with Trent, Hardy would complain that since Trent quit his job he has much more work to do. Another addition here would be the requirement of having the other one at a high friendship, or else (s)he won't ket the bachelor(ette) quit the job and get married. And one more aspect (this is the last one): when playing as the spouse, you could resume your previous job for an hour, two, three..., lose some stamina and get paid for this. It would be also cool to play as your child (maybe at the teenage stage) and get a girlfriend/boyfriend (rivals' children).

Rune Factory: (I married Melody in my game. She is a sweet girl with a thing for witches. She also wears a pointed hat.) I wish that after marrying Melody it would be possible to give her the "join me" command, the same as with animals. She would then join the player in dungeons and use spells. That would be so cool!


Wishful thinking? Yes, I know. But I'm allowed to dream, aren't I? :)

Some more Pokemon for me

Last summer Ana and me bought the new pair of Pokemon games, Diamond and Pearl. My copy arrived as stated, but hers got lost somewhere on the road across the big pond. After some emailing back and forth the shop sent us another copy which arrived in due time. Soon afterwards the first copy aarived too. We sold the extra one and gave the money to the shop.
I played my version, Diamond, for the whole summer, filling my pokedex (at least the "seen" part) to about 3/4. I also did some wifi trading.
Then my wireless router and isp modem decided they don't like each other anymore and the modem refused to give internet to the router (later I found out it was actually the isp's fault). In other words, no more wifi for me. It was also somewhere around that point that I stopped playing Diamond. This was around the end of last year's summer.
A week ago I had a sudden idea. The router and modem still didn't like each other, but both talked to the PC. So I thought that if I would connect the modem to the computer and the computer to the router, I might get the internet connection up to the router. The only problem was that I needed two lan ports in the PC. Luckilly I had a spare lan port PCI card. Turned off the PC, unscrewed it, inserted the PCI card, connected the modem, turned on the PC and... nothing. I tried messing around with the cables and some configurations, but all to no avail. Lastly, I tried the wizard for setting up a home network. I told him that the computer was connecting directly to the internet and other computers would use this one to connect. Abrakadabra, hokus pokus, the wizard did it! I had wifi again!
First I downloaded additional puzzles for Layton. I wanted to try IoH's wifi, but was still in a mine. Then I went to my pokemon forum and saw someone who wanted to make a trade. An Eevee. I checked, had one and told him I'd trade with him.
So, that's what got me into pokemoning again. I checked my pokedex and I have a few more than 100 left for the "seen" part. Something like 180 for the "obtained". I already did some breeding to get 5 more (and an Eevee to trade). I also got one for the "obtained" list from the GTS. After close inspection I miss the most "seen" from the third generation. I guess I'll have to play some Sapphire too and migrate them.
If there's anyone reading this and someone with DPPt who'd like to trade, let me know ;)

A great bootleg

Two days ago we received another bootleg game, Harvest Moon DS Cute. It was bought at the same time as the other two bootleg games so this time we were already expecting it to be a fake, as it came from Hong Kong.
But I have to say that bootleggers have started to put some more effort in their work. This time it wasn't "cartridge only", but everything was included: cartridge, case, manual and even foil. BUT! The foil had no official Nintendo strip. The cover of the box, manual and cartridge label were obviously printed with a normal printer, not some fancy factory printing machine. The "instructions" in the manual were copied from a review found online. And it was a review for the boy version, not the girl one! And it was a negative review! Imagine that the instruction manual tells you that what you bought isn't that great a game! :D Lastly, the cartridge was missing the lot number.
At least the seller gave us a refund quickly. I guess he doesn't won't things to go on paypal. But I reported him to ebay and warned some other buyers.

Shopping day

Today was quite a big shopping day. We did go to two grocery shops, but the main deals, the ones I'm happy about, were made on eBay.

The first victory was for Friends of Mineral Town. I'm buying it from a seller in the UK. The picture was of an original cartridge (at least the label), the game was quite cheap and it's near. There was a bit of a battle and someone even tried to outbid us in the last half minute! But in the end we won :D

The second victory was for More Friends of Mineral Town, bought from a seller from the USA, to whom I pleaded to send to Europe. The battle was quite fierce, but we waited till the end and then attacked and won! Actually Ana placed the winning bin more for fun, just to see if anyone else placed a higher one. Well, they didn't. Losers! XD

And lastly, we had the friend who wants Golden Sun 2 over for a visit. Then I checked just for fun if there were any new offers and we found two (2) good ones: one auction and one "buy it now". Both from the USA, both seemed authentic. So I sent a message to both sellers if they'd ship to Europe. They would and so we bought the "buy it now" copy.

Now we're still waiting for a copy of HM DS Cute that we ordered at the same time as both GBA games. But we are expecting another bootleg, because back then we didn't yet know how this cruel world of bootleg games goes. Oh well, more disputes ahead of us. In the mean time I'll probably still roam around eBay looking for fakes from time to time and report them. Won't change the world, but feels something like the fun of scamming email scammers.

eBay fraud

Two days ago we finally received both GBA Harvest Moon games. Oh were we happy :)
But then things atrted to go wrong. At first my game (FoMT) got its save file deleted when I played it in my DS (normal one). Ana's game (MFoMT) worked fine and both games worked fine in her DS Lite. The next thing Ana noticed is that the sticker was different from other games, too shiny and the seal of quali tywas hardly readable. We visited a friend yesterday and did some more comparing with original games. We noticed that original games have a code above the connectors, while our HM games do not. And this morning I did some research and saw on the web that the real difference is inside. So I unscrewed both games and saw it! The battery that distinguishes a bootleg from a proper copy!
After that I filed complaints to ebay and paypal. And also sent emails to users who baught from the same guy.
This all means we need to get our money back and find new deals. And right before a week of vacation when we could've played to our hearts' desire. The good thing is that we now know to be more careful...

Some ebay rant

My buying Harvest Moon games on ebay went smoothly. Found a seller, won the bid, paid, now the game is on its way (hopefully).
But it doesn't always go so smoothly. A friend is looking for a great game, Golden Sun - The lost age. I played both games from the series and I remember they are really great FRPs. Btw, I really hope for a new title in the series ^_^ Anyway, this game is for the GBA, so it's getting rare nowadays. That's why I suggested this friend to look on ebay. We did find some, but only a few were good finds. Why? Because most of the deals offer only the cartridge and just a few have also the map, instruction manual and box. And even those who have it all in good condition, ship only to the USA (and canada sometimes). I really see no reason why can't they ship overseas too, since they already go to the post to send the game anyway. I'm also sending messages to the sellers if they can ship here, but I don't get any answers...
We'll keep trying...

Why don't we use the animals 100% in Harvest Moon?

At least in the games I've played so far. Sure there are chicken, cows and sheep, but we can only take the eggs, milk the cows or sheer the sheep. Dear Marvelous Entertainment, it's also possible to milk the sheep and have sheep cheese! And why do we have to be vegetarians in the game? Ok, we do eat fish, but may people think also vegetarians do anyway. By the way, I'm sort of a vegetarian myself. Back to the point. Imagine taking care of your cow for so long, and then you can go to her with your axe and have a steak for lunch. Or go to your sheep. Or have a chicken soup that would cure colds. Horses are also edible, but there should be a way to get a new one then. And in the Chinese version you should be able to eat the dog too.
Or maybe instead of just going with the axe to the animal, on the DS we could use the touch glove and we'd have to follow a line, something like during sheering, to get the best meat of the animal.

Somehow I feel we won't see any of this in a game, hehe :)

Harvest Moon, Credit card, Paypal and ebay

I think it should be obvious by now that I became addicted to Harvest Moon games. And my girlfriends loves them too! And because one can marry the doctor in HMDS Cute only with a gba game inserted, I started looking for MFoMT for Ana, my girlfriend, at various places, but it's rare to find any gba games in stores, even e-stores. Luckilly we have ebay! Yes, but no credit card...

So first I checked my bank's webspace to see what are the requirements to get a Mastercard (the only one they offer). The only requirement is having had received "three monthly incomes (salary or pension)". I have neither, but I do have (actually had, it just stopped) a scholarship and I once already successfully argued that it counts as monthly income. Well, I went there to inquire in person and the bank clerk (who is always very helpful, btw) said that my scholarship probably wouldn't count, but that she'd make some phone calls to be sure and call me later.
After about two hours she phoned me and said that the comitee for credit cards probably wouldn't give it to me. Then she asked me why I needed it in case there was some other way around. But because I need it for e-shopping, it's the only solution. She told me to fill the form anyway and we'll try applying. In a moment she called back and asked me if I needed to make payments overseas. Of course I do! Well, their credit cards don't pay out of the country. Yet.

Then I was looking at paypal and various discussions if there's a way to deposit money on paypal without a credit card. Sorry, none. After chatting with a friend he said that his brother uses paypal and that he could ask him to help me. To cut this story short, I asked him to pay me some money on my paypal account and I'll pay him on his bank account. So finally I got the money, yay!

After bidding, winning and paying we are now waiting for the games to make it over here. Aparently it should take at least 2 weeks... Can't wait!

Mistake in Island of Hapiness

There was I in the beginning of my first winter, having more than enough money for buying Chen's wonderfuls from my first trip to the bottom of the mine. And then I was thinking "it can't hurt to buy the 10.000g ticket from Chen and ship it back. So I can get closer to his house upgrade plus I get one more item in the shipping list." Sounds good, right? Wrong. As it turns out, one doesn't get paid for shipping the money tickets and they can be only used in Chen's shop. And that's how I lost 260.000g for nothing. Arrrrrgh!

At least all the money from the mine didn't go to waste. I managed to buy the last bridge and upgrade all the roads, build the maker shed and one maker. But now I don't have money for buying the wonderfuls and there's still almost a whole month in front of me. So that's why I'm back in the mine, falling through the pitfalls, one or two levels at a time or too much stamina is wasted. The first time was already quite boring, so I really didn't look forward to this. I'll try to make it at least to the pink diamonds' level, then I'll see if I have enough recovery items to make it to the bottom for more ores and a recipe.

It's a long way...

Harvest Moon rant

No, this is not a new title in the series, just me blowing off some steam in regards to this otherwise great game series.

My girlfriend and I are both Harvest Moon fans. She also has a soft spot for doctors and hence wants to marry one in the games, but so far no luck. In HMDS Cute she couldn't because neither of us owns a GBA game to trigger the Mineral Town visitors (among which is Trent, a doctor). But even if so, we heard that the GBA-DS connection doesn't work in all games. Because we'll have a Wii in a few months we started looking at HM games for it. ToT doesn't have a doctor in it, but Magical Melody does. BUT! While porting it on the Wii they "forgot" to add the female main character!!! And there's no PAL version of this game!

The next thing: In IoH I was happy that the eggplants ripened and picked them up for the crop contest the following day. They also were rank A, so I was looking forward for my next wodnerful. BUT! They lost a rank over the night so I can't win now!!! If only I had left them in the field for one more day...

And the bugs in HMDS.. Locking on the first entered dish at the contest, losing the marriage to a Mineral town girl, being unable to marry the Harvest Goddess or the Witch Princess. And in HMDS Cute they took out the possibility of having a lesbian marriage.

But still after all the frustration I keep liking the game and being an addict...

Harvest Moon and me

I first heard of Harvest moon several years ago, in the era of GBA and GC. A friend from Sweden, SkuttyWan, mentioned the game to me. A game about farming? No thanks, sounds boring.
Then many years have passed and this summer my girlfriend was going through some DS games and said she'd want to try Harvest Moon DS Cute. She started playing it, liked it and soon after I started playing HM DS (not the cute one). I must say that I was very wrong years ago, as farming has never been so fun! Sure some things are very frustrating, like levelling up animals, but overall the game is very enjoyable. At least it was for the first two years or so. At that point I had already married Celia and life was getting ot repetitive. Get up, water the plants in the basememnt, water in the fields, pick up any ripe crops, pet the animals, collect the eggs, ship stuff... What put me off is also the fact that I played a glitchy game (I heard that later they started selling debugged games).
After HMDS I started playing Rune Factory: A fantasy Harvest Moon. This game has a story through the game: you come to a village and have amnesia. A girl offers you an abandoned farm where you start working and going to caves/dungeons to fight monsters, farm and unravel the misteries. I liked this games also because it makes use of a speciall skill system, where the better you skill in a specific are (forging, pharmacy...) the better stuff you can make. I hated the obvious time sink in the game. After some caves you have to wait till winter to enter the next, which meant two full seasons for me. I spent most of that time killing monsters for loot and levelling myself up in the process. The result: I swooped through the next dungeons :D I got married to Melody there and finished playing after the main storyline was over.
I'm currently playing Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. Farming became more difficult here, as it's not enough to water the crops every day, but they need a certain amount of sun and water if they are to grow. And there are no better tools as such in the game, but certain wonderful stones that boost the tools. And these wonderfuls are somewhat hard to come along in the first three seasons. The most money I made so far came from getting to the bottom of the mine, but that took me a lot of real life time. Still I have enough money to upgrade all the roads and some of my buildings. All in all, I feel this game is much harder than HMDS and it'll take me much longer to feel I completed my goals :)

I'm also looking forward to Rune Factory 2 and when we have a Wii, Tree of Tranquility and Rune Factory Frontier.

Introduction

Hi and welcome to my blog :)
I already had a blog, but it was in Slovene and it's also been a while since I've posted anything in it.
Firstly: my name is Rok, I live with my girlfriend in Solkan, a small Slovenian town, I'm 25 and a student.
To start off this blog I decided to write a bit of about my interest, so you can see what I'll may be writing about.

School
I'm a social work undergraduate with a few months to go till my graduation. I'm planning on graduating in January. I'm currently writing my thesis and a research paper. Both are dealing with social work and web applications, specifically how can social workers use them in their work. This field isn't covered much in my language, so I'm quite excited about writing about this. That's what also got me into blog researching.

Video games
I like to play video games ^^ From September 07 to spring 08 I mostly played Guild Wars, maximizing some titles. I maxed 13 and had a few more in the work, but then I got frustrated over something and stopped playing altogether. Now I slowly started again a bit, finishing a HM mission.
After having stopped playing GW I started playing my DS. At first it was Digimon, then Mario Kart, Professor Layton... Now I'm juggling with three great games: The World Ends With You, Final Fantasy IV and Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. I've actually already finished TWEWY, now I'm just mastering my pins and doing the after story. FFIV and HM:IoH are both at the beginning, but halve both already captivated me.
Other stuff I like to play: Pokemon (I also run a website in Slovene), Super Smash Bros., different RPG/FRP, building games.

Series
I like to watch (american) tv series, but because I live where I live, we either get them later than in the USA (usually a year later) or not at all. That's why I download them, to keep myself up to date. But not all. Some series I watch when they air over here.
Things I watch downloaded: Heroes, House MD, Supernatural, Smallville, Lost. They are all great, except for Smallville, which I keep watching because.... not really sure, actually...
Things I watch when it airs: Desperte Housewives, Ugly Betty, all CSI, Cold Case, Without a Trace.

Anime
Me and my girlfriend love anime! Or at least we used to. There was a time when we downloaded more than we could watch. Then for about a year we completely stooped. And now we started again. First we looked at AniDB to see what new stuff is cool and from there we got to AnimeReactor and started to watch the awarded anime of 2007. So far we watched Death Note, Seirei no moribito and Kanon. Kanon is from the same people as Air and one can really tell almost immediately, as the graphics and music are very alike. But, unlike Air, Kanon has a good story!

That's it from me for now, see ya ;-)