@tetracycloide: I'm aware that's what he was saying, even though I sort of skewed it to talk about narrative immersion here, I feel the same way in regards to immersion as he described it.

@Wolfbullet: While my speakup was more centered on traditional narrative immersion, my thoughts are relatively the same on what you point out as the immersion where you forget you're playing a game. I think it's not a necessary aim that games need to have in order to be interesting. (I also think due to serious…

It's certainly not "wrong." That being said, so much of new game experiences is getting used to new control schemes; ones that aren't actually "bad" but just different from what you're used to.

@Komrade Kayce: Sounds a lot like the Shirin the Wanderer series.

@Shinta: Shinta, *gasp* you're new Avatar. But I had grown so used to associating you with Selvaria (that was Selvaria right?) !

@RAMeyer19: There's more than an enough evidence to show that he's Squall's actual father. And because he never got with Julia, no, Rinoa is not Squall's sister.

This is a great addition, but...

@tim rogers: Tim! Oddly enough, and I acknowledge this is completely off-topic, I just finished reading Life Non WarP:Dx in its entirety (for a class, a college class, can you believe that!).

If I wasn't stuck in working on my final paper (ironically for my videogames class) I'd come hang out.

@Diamond Sea: That's nice to hear, though unfortunately I don't have a PSP nor do I have any plans to get one.

I'm playing through Valkyria Chronicles right now for the first time and of course I'm loving it, but am a bit taken aback at the lack of agency.

I've yet to really splurge on a high level CE or vintage game. I guess Final Fantasy XIII on release with the guide, if you count that, totaled around 80$ or so. Giant waste in retrospect, but I suppose I had to find that out for myself.

@AnOkayLumberjack: Ha!

@SkyGriever: I also love 8 despite its terrible translation and the inescapable flaws of the junctioning system.

@SkyGriever: Final Fantasy XII is probably the second most divisive game of the franchise (I'd say the first is 8). Personally I think the gameplay and overall story and art were awesome in 12, though the characters were horrible. In retrospect I like that game a lot.

The Amazon PS3 bundle also comes with a 25$ Videogame credit, fyi. I just bought it, cannot wait!

@MAJ96: Thanks!

Having trouble finding the Amazon.com Black Friday PS3 bundle described here:

So I'm getting my Playstation 3 on Black Friday tomorrow, finally!

SpyParty playtest and lecture at NYU today were a lot of fun. Spyparty is already so awesomely fun and deep, sucks we can't all play it together for at least a few years. Also got to meet Mr. Totilo. You should all definitely keep an eye on SpyParty though, it's going to be really interesting.