Gaming

I've picked up a few games with the sales, among which Atelier Yumia and Star Ocean: Second Story R. Atelier Yumia is pretty decent, it has the usual issues of open world games, but the crafting is fun (although I think it's a bit less interesting than in previous games, but I haven't played them enough to judge). On the other hand I found Star Ocean to have incredibly dull combat, so I've dropped it after a few hours.

I've also been playing Xenosaga Episode II and Episode III. Episode II was disappointing, it's clearly unfinished and rushed. I think the story had potential, the plot and characters could have been interesting, but the execution is lacking. The combat system is interesting and you can start seeing ideas that will later reappear in the blade games, but the implementation is really slow and repetitive. I'm currently mid-way through Episode III (just finished disc 1), which is a clear improvement, although it plays it a bit safer with more conventional combat. The story is good so far and I'm curious about how it's gonna evolve.