Month: February 2016

This is it, the final of these posts, time to reveal the last two items in my
Xeno collection!

I admit that I have been stalling a bit with these final items and it feels a
bit empty to not have any secret stashes left but I did promise to put
everything up and that was more or less the entire reason to create this blog.
Oh well, I will keep updating with future finds, keep organizing and
adding more info about everything but I must say that finally getting
these two items felt like a big milestone and there is not much left to
collect after all, I mentioned some big purchases last year and one was
Chrono Trigger and this was another:

It’s the Xenosaga I promotional Standee used in some stores back when
Episode I first was released in the US!!
When I checked my history recently it turns out that I have bugged the seller
about this for almost four years, hehe. But neither me or the seller was in
any hurry about this since we both knew it would be a pain to ship but
suddenly the time had come and I am extremely happy and grateful that
this finally is part of the collection!

Oh, I did say two items:

Not only the Episode I Standee but also the one from Episode II!!!
Sadly Episode III didn’t get one, luckily that means I don’t have to
sell my soul to get it.
I really love both of the standees, EPI is cool since it is a diorama with
different layers and of course have the better art but EPII is triangular
and you can view it from all three sides (plus, you can actually move it.)

The second of the three sides, this is probably the most common
art used in US promotion for the game.
A bit strange why Margulis just stands there, haha.

The final side, okay, all of the art is overused but still, having it on
a large triangle shape like this makes it four times as cool!

I suspect that I will grow tired of these two taking up half the game room
and blocking other games but for now they are the best,
of course they have a bit of damage since they have been used in stores over
10 years ago and also been transported over the world but just finding these
at all is a next to impossible task, minor flaws like that is nothing that
bothers me this time, just having them is more than fine.

A final funny detail is how the first thing I bought from the seller was this
mini version of the standee and the final thing was the large version, haha.

Thanks again!

Considering how many games I actually beat it is quite far between these
posts but this is a game that needs to be mentioned.

I have confessed earlier that this one was missing on my beaten list and
not only did it take me over 20 years before I finally beat it, I have also
spent all those years having a grudge or something against the game.
I rarely change my mind about things and it feels extra painful having to
eat up all the negative words and feelings towards the game now
because I did like it after all!

The thing that put me off is probably the thing others like about the game,
it was too different for me, the game greets you with things like aliens,
cops, and a really odd graphic style. Instead of dragons and slime you
fight PARKING METERS! Also, I have always found the NPC:s really disturbing:

But as my 250th RPG I thought I should finally give this a real try and
just an hour in the game had grown a lot on me, if only I had pushed
trough that first hour earlier. I really like how the game focus more
on the cities and citizens unlike most other RPGs
where you spend most time in dungeons.

I also like some of the odd and meta things like the dungeon which
explains how a good dungeon is made, quite common in indie games today
but quite unheard of in a SNES game, hehe.
Another fun thing is how the money is handled, call your dad and he will
transfer it to your account, haha. All those small an odd things add up and
make a really unique and good game.

The parts I didn’t like was how little the game focused on the playable
characters, it is almost like playing a party of four silent protagonists…
also the fights are quite repetitive, you end up using the same
few moves over and over.

The world is really great and I love how everything connects,
just take the bus to the next town over!

This is clearly a high budget game, I have never seen so many names in
the ending credits of a SNES game and there is a lot of translated signs etc
(unless they already where in english?). Great level of detail either way.

As a bonus I just had to put up this picture, it sticks out a bit from the
rest of the game but a really nice environment,
this or the desert was my favorite place:

I recently mentioned a couple of expensive items entering the collection and
one of those items is the Chrono Trigger V-jump edition!
Now officially my most expensive game, at least the one game I have spent
most money to get, some games might be worth more if I sell them and I
do not include special editions like Advent Pieces.

Of course it was just a matter of time before I would get the
V-jump version but I hadn’t plan to get it right now, I only asked my
friend to get the three Nippon Ichi boxes at the top and any PS1/PS2 RPGs
he could find, I didn’t expect to get both Chrono Trigger and half a
Tales of collection, hehe.

Time for a close up:

As you can see there is sadly a small discoloring in the corner and some
small scuffs but as usual it shows much more when you flash it with a
camera and overall it is in better shape than most copies.
All papers including the one that congratulates you on getting one of the
2000 copies are still there and in excellent condition, I am happy!

Finally all three come together, I have never understood why people
call the color metallic rose untill I saw it in real life but you
can at least get a hint of it in this picture.

I somehow managed to fit the rest of the games as well,
for now the tales of games hides behind the .Hack boxes:

And this became a Nippon Ichi/ YS shelf, the only thing missing
is YS5 which will take Lagoons place later.

Puh, this was a really big update for the collection, I can’t
remember when I added this many GOOD games at the same time!

Many thanks for finding these games!

I promised something cool and I think this will qualify:

As usual I wish I had a better camera but trust me that the colors and level of
detail is amazing on this rumored Shion Statue. I have actually had this
for a few years but it wasn’t untill recently I finally bought one of those
“lightboxes” to display it in, it looks pretty good in there!

It was a lot of asking around before I finally found this, it’s not an easy
task since it is limited to 20 copies (!).
You had to win it in a competiton/ lottery in Japan back when Episode I
was first released, the MOMO shirt is also from the same event.
20 copies is a really low number BUT there actually exists a few
extra copies that were given away to some of the developers of the game,
the copy that I have was actually given to Shion’s english voice actress
Lia Sargent and got signed by her before it finally found its way to me!
The signature is on the underside of the statue’s base
(I will update with a picture later).

If someone asks what my most rare item is or which one is the jewel
of the collection I will point to this but it is possible that
something else may have less copies left.

The next Xeno post will actually be the last, the last two items are
in the same category and was bought at the same time, I have told
almost no-one about them yet so they should be a real surprise!