Ree’s musings

I got a PlayStation 2 so um yeah.

No, that's not a typo: a pea ess two, not three. Yes, I am behind the times. What else is new?

A PS2 wouldn't be huge news for most people, but the last time I've been able to rent a video game, it was for the Super Nintendo. (I have a PSone but I got it used, well into the PS2 era.) I went to the rental place today and was shocked at the number of PS2 games they still rent out. I think I'm going to have some fun. (I was also shocked that they want $40 for their old, rented-out GameCube copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I bet I could get a better-condition copy for $25 or less, and that's including any shipping fees.)

You guys, I was able to swing a copy of Persona 4! It's been out in America for less than a year, and I'm playing it, and I own it, and there are swears and other things to earn its M for Mature and that weirds me out like whoa. I grew up under the diktat of Nintendo censorship, so with every "bitch!", my eyes dart sideways and I wonder how this slipped past the censors. Heh. I guess I'm just too set in my ways.

Persona 4 is lovely, by the way. Turns out some of the things I liked in EarthBound, like enemies visible on the field (as opposed to random encounters) and gaining advantage in battle by sneaking up behind enemies, are alive and well here. I may go back and snag a copy of Persona 3: FES as well, before the prices get out of hand. I sort of want to get further in P4 before committing to another game in its series, but sealed, reasonably-priced copies of P3 and P3:FES won't be available forever...

On another note: I have two PS1 games with bad scratches. On my PSone, the first will play haltingly until a certain, unskippable cutscene, where it will hang forever; the second won't run at all. On my PS2, however, the first shows no problems at all; the second, a fighting game, will let me configure options and select fighters before hanging on a "CD Error" screen. I have no idea why this should be, but I'm very impressed with the backwards compatibility. My PSone is now in storage since my PS2 does everything even better!

ReeToes is a happy ReeToes. If nobody hears from me for another month, assume I'm holed up with Persona 4, GameFAQS, a case of Cherry Coke Zero, and a huge, dippy grin on my face. You won't be far wrong.