Yeah, I know I've been failing my New Year's Resolution of writing every week. I actually have a good excuse for last week. I was too busy writing for my FIRST freelancing gig. I don't want to talk about what I had to do too much because I'm still really nervous about it, but I saw that all of my articles were approved, published, and one even got five stars. This is the first time I've ever been paid to write, and I'm still giggly about it.

But enough of that... I have games to discuss.

I broke another New Year's resolution a couple of weeks ago and bought a game before I've finished others. I have a good reason for that too (reason sounds better than excuse). I had to take a gestational diabetes test that was to last around four hours since I have been having difficulty regulating my sugar. I knew that my DS was going to come with me, but Phantom Hourglass didn't feel like an appropriate waiting room game. I wanted a puzzle game, something I could put down at a moment's notice and pick back up again without too much worries of saving. I have played Tetris DS to death, so I picked up Professor Layton and the Curious Village. This game is the PERFECT waiting room game. Entire gameplay is based on solving riddles, so if you have to turn off the game quickly without saving, it's no big deal since you just have to resolve the riddles you already solved. That's far easier than rebattling a boss you had difficulty defeating. I haven't played this game since my test (which by the way, came out 100% normal), but I'm saving it for road trips down to Houston, waiting in lines, my big hospital visit in May, etc.

Console-wise, I have been playing a lot of Baten Kaitos. Once I started manipulating my decks and figured out how to level up, battles became far easier, as I'm sure you can imagine. I am still learning all of this game's strange quirks. For example, item cards change over time. Bananas will heal you during combat, but over time, the bananas turn black and can only be used for attacks. Blackened bananas actually do pack more of a punch than one of my character's short sword cards, which really highlights how pathetic the short sword cards are. Another strange quirk is how you earn gold. I'm used to the Final Fantasy method, which awards you gold for defeating enemies. The only way to get gold here is to sell things. My first thought was to dump all the cards I no longer want, but blackened bananas don't fetch you as much gold as you might think. The way to procure serious payouts is with photographs you take of your battles. I'm Kalas, a one-winged emo extraodinaire, master swordsman, and freelance photographer. Considering I'm only about ten hours in, I'm sure I'll find plenty more quirks. At least I can say it isn't boring. I'm enjoying the twists to the typical turn-based RPG.

Ratchet & Clank is going back to its owner. I can't take the platforming aspects of the game any longer, no matter how much I like the fanatical weapons. Life's too short to play frustrating games. I'm not saying it's a horrible game at all. Anyone who likes platform games will have an absolute blast with this. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't like it, because I found the dialogue so witty and the plot enjoyable. I'll just have to go over to Rin's and watch her play it so I can learn how it ends.