Last night actually had some decent Monday night football. Shawn and I both wanted to watch the game, but I also wanted to play some Fable 2. I'd like to wrap up the game this week so I can get back to Disgaea before Last Remnant comes out. Our solution? Use the picture-in-picture mode on our big screen!

Unfortunately, we couldn't use both HD inputs in the side by side screens, so that canceled out Fable 2. (I couldn't take the HD away from the football game.) I settled for some KH2 action instead. I got to watch my football game and take care of some serious leveling up in KH2 at the same time, while in the same room on the same TV. It was awesome.

Since I have taken it upon myself (perhaps foolishly so) to become a RPG writer for the online mag I write for, I've had to start playing RPGs when they come out and put whatever I'm playing on hold. I see where this looped pattern will lead me: to a stack of games I'll never finish and cry daily about wanting to finish them.

So my resolution? Thursday is my day to play my unfinished games.

First up, the game that never ends for me: Kingdom Hearts 2. Next in line is Infinite Undiscovery, at least until I find it too annoying. I know it should be Twilight Princess, but I'm going to have to start that game over anyway and I'd rather get IU out of the way while I still somewhat remember how to play. No, I haven't finished Crisis Core yet. I'm saving it for my road trip to Houston next weekend. That's 8 hours of car time to either make a serious dent in the missions log, beat the game, or maybe both. I just want ONE particular item before tackling the final bosses. Hey, that sounds just like KH2!

I'm not sure if this says my daily life is too cramped or too sad.

I've only played enough Infinite Undiscovery to complete my ten hour test, but I'm not sure it's enough to write a passable review. Normally I think it would, but since the game throws at you something else for you to do every chapter or so, I have no idea when the learning will stop. But in the first ten hours, Shawn said he could have made a drinking game out of my play time with how many times I said something was annoying.

So here is my list of the infinite annoyances:

• the fact that I have to physically unsheath my sword to fight
• the fact that I keep adding partymembers (I have fifteen so far) which means that I have to EQUIP fifteen partymembers and learn all of their battle skills
• the whole concept of connecting with my partymembers (some things are okay, like using their skills in battle, but to have to connect with them to talk to NPCs to trigger some cut-scenes... bleah)
• the horrible, horrible lipsynching
• the fact that I have to sheath my sword to open treasure chests or save my game or talk to NPCs
• too many segments where I have to run away from something
• too much crap on screen during fight scenes = poor visibility
• poorly place save points (place them BEFORE a boss fight... not twenty minutes before, is that so hard?)

And that's all I remember right now.

Despite everything that annoys me, I'm hooked. The story has me in its tight, annoying fist. Also, there's flute playing. I'm a sucker for flute playing. So I'll keep trekking along until Fable II comes out next week.

During one of Gabe's naps today, I played some KH2 to start the leveling up process for my Final Form. I finally got it, and it's been heavily recommended to me to not attempt the final boss until you level up the glide ability Sora gets with the form. So I hop around worlds fighting to level up, use the Journal to break up the monotony, and then it finally happened. I don't like playing this game anymore. Somewhere among all of the leveling up, playing mini-games for no reward other than a stamp in the journal, and fighting in tournaments for no experience, I stopped having fun. I'm thinking that Chain of Memories was a better game.

It makes me so sad. I loved every minute of playing the first game. The gameplay was challenging, the story was intriguing, and everything felt like it had a purpose. Everything seems so frivolous in this game. As crazy as the card throwing made me in CoM, at least I felt like there was a point to every little thing I was doing. (Of course it's been awhile since I played it, so I may feel quite different if I pick it up again.) But right now I'm BORED. I never thought I'd feel that way about a KH game.

No, I'm not going to quit. I don't really want to take a break either, because if I do that, I won't touch it again until KH3 comes out. Or 358/2 Days or Birth by Sleep. I'm going to finish it one way or another. I absolutely love the story and I really want to see how this chapter ends. I just wish it didn't feel like a tick on the to do list, a tick that's moving down the list due to lowered priority.