That is one of the best things to happen in my adult life so far, heh.

I've noticed that, over the years, I have improved greatly in ability to play RPG games (well, good ones anyway).

I first played Vandal Hearts when I was around 11-12 years of age (1998 or something, I think). I had hired a playstation cos I was bored and saw this game called Vandal Hearts (which I had read much about in Sega Saturn Magazines at the time) and decided "Yeah! I'll get that too!" along with(methinks..) X-Men VS Street Fighter.

Needless to say, all of the three days (almost literally - hardly slept,hehe) was spent, completely hooked on this wondrous game.

On day two, I began to get frustrated.

My non-stop playing had led me up to Chapter 2, Scenario 3 or 4 where you had to fight a guy you'd come looking for, who turns into a zombie type thing. This one battle plagued me up until Day 3, when at precisely 5.00pm (strange memory..) I had to return the console and games.

Ever since then I've almost cried at the fact that this beautiful, immense, gripping game was very hard to come by.

I tried to forget about it, but I heard it saying "please Noel, find me and play me!"

This year, when I turned 18 and procured one of those stupid pieces of plastic (usual love-hate relationship with credit card ) and joined Ebay.

Every time I bid on auctions for Vandal Hearts, the sheer rarity of the game drove the bids sky-high (I wasn't willing to pay £50+ for an old playstation game, when you can get brand new PS2 games for that ffs. I'm not made of money.)

Alas, luck finally strayed over to my side. I spyed a Buy-it-Now auction for Vandal Hearts, the NTSC version. A while ago I would have said "Nooooooooooo!!" but thankfully, I had the wonderful notion of buying a boot disk and searching for the NTSC version cos it seemed much easier to get.

The price was only £25. I was overjoyed. I clicked the "Buy Now" button in excitement and confirmed the sale and all that crap.

The game arrived this Tuesday morning. I got home from college and opened the package with sheer delight, as my heart jumped around like a flea, and there it was. Vandal Hearts, arguably the best RPG/Strategy/Adventure game on the Playstation.

I ran straight upstairs, placed the boot disk in my PSone and then booted the game. I sat there all night, hardly moving, heh.

It's just such a pity that something crappy had to happen before I finally got something I'd wanted since the onset of puberty *giggles*

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Anyway, sorry about the pseudo-article thingy, that was just something that sparked my creativity a bit

Expect another DA holiday, as the "cold, miserable, bloody stupid" Christmas thing approaches - and of course the playing of THE BESTEST FRIGGIN' GAME EVER (besides SF3 )

I also plan to focus a bit more on my music, which tends to help keep me on the right side of sanity - for the most part

I blame anti-depressants really. Farking things. Ignore people who tell you they're great - they lie. Sure, they improve your mood tenfold, but sometimes a little moreso than expected. Think of Beavis on "27 candy bars and a six-pack o' root beer" (The Great Cornholio).

Anyhoo, again I apologise for my RPGing geekiness and obessive mentioning of Beavis and Butthead quotes and the episodes they feature in...heh.