Ever since I first played Super Mario RPG on the SNES, I’ve been hooked on JRPGs. I eye my JRPGs the same way a marathon runner might stare down the track focusing in on his inevitable triumph. Even now I’m able to play them quite regularly despite dwindling time. So it may come as no surprise that I also enjoy the Final Fantasy series. Unlike many JRPGs enthusiast I still look forward to and enjoy each installment. Except for XII (I prefer my JRPGs to have more than one scene of character development per character, thank you very much).

When I first imagined what FFXI would be like, I imagined myself and fellow FF fans standing back to back in a dark forest, the low roar of rain hammering down the ground and thunder beating against the sky, all the while fighting off Tonberries, Cactuars, and other beasts of FF lore. I quickly bought the game and the strategy guide at the same time. I read every page of Brady Games’ strategy guide (PFFT, Ninja makes a bad sub job). I was instantly obsessed even before installing the game. Then reality came crashing down. My newly acquired DSL internet was up to speed, but my old computer was not. A year past…

Forced into the back of my mind, my copy of FFXI and its strategy guide sat at the bottom of a closet. Undaunted I saved my money for a new graphics card. Suddenly the only barrier keeping me out of this virtual world disappeared. I peered off the edge of the diving board, and jumped head first into Vana’diel. Every new experience was exactly as I imagined it. Starting out as red mage, being the jack of all trades that I was, I vanquished every worm, bee, sheep, and crab I could touch with my sword. Meeting new friends, joining a link shell, getting a little pocket change, was all well and good, but that wasn’t enough. I needed more power. After hearing rumblings that the Blue Mage job class was going to be introduced, I knew it was the perfect job for me. Destined to up-hold the glory set by Strago, Quina, Quistis, and Kimahri.

And so what happened? I burned out. I tried to reach the top before all my friends, friends who had been playing the game a year longer than I had. A year or two ago, I may have answered to Buchannan in real life. I had to avoid FFXI in jokes with non-FFXI friends. It got to the point where I almost unconsciously said “LOL” in real life. Parties didn’t really want/need a Blue Mage all the time. Most end game events were completely useless to me. As I looked down, back to where I had come from, back into the past… I saw the game for what it really was. It almost felt like the game was a conscious being that hated its players. Never being able to solo, having some idiot talk about how your gear isn’t set up right, NM times/drop rates, requiring large groups to do any mission, the endless grind. Maybe that’s how all MMOs are designed. In the end I knew I had to leave, whether I liked it or not. With the game, I left behind tons of friends, friends who knew how to manage their time way better than me. What depresses me the most was the fact that I wasn’t able to say good bye to all of them.

To its credit, about the time I left, they started making improvements to ease up on the difficulty. I often contemplate about going back, sometimes feeling like I’ve left a big part of my life behind. No game can compare with the feeling of when you first enter Sea, when you get your lvl50 cap items, or when you level your first job up to 75. But in the end, I know if I were to go back, it’d return to the constant balancing act between those far too many “GOD DAMN IT Why can’t I get a party?!!” and the far too few “SWEET MERCIFUL LORD, thank you for this lot# on this NM drop” moments.

A while back, just before Mass Effect and GTA IV (My video gaming skills have allowed me to evolve past time keeping methods of mere mortals), I told my girl friend of all the major titles I was looking forward to purchase. She took one look around my room, just happened to see I was sleeping on a bed made out of Radiant Silvergun copies, and said: "Why do you want to buy new games? You have all these games… Why don't you just play the games you have here." Soon after berating her on proper video game culture and telling her how many things were wrong with what she just said... I began to hear a quiet voice in my head. Not the one that demands the flame's eternal passion to be quenched. (I still ignore that one) but rather… it was one that told me.... maybe I have just a few too many games...

I had never sold my games. I felt as though they were a part of me and this life of video gaming that I had chosen for myself. Disowning even one would reduce my stature as a video game player. However… my stalwart resolution prevailed, and I began my journey into unfamiliar territory with the mistakes. Further in, I began throwing out the promising, yet unfulfilling titles out. And at the very end of the cave I dove into the completed, enjoyed, but will never play again pile. I drove to the gamestop, handed the games over, was told I'd be receiving about 34 dollars store credit, and signed away. I was expecting a shockwave of guilt, regret, loneliness, heart ache, and pain to hit me instantly. I braced for impact... but nothing came. Could it really be that easy?

What happened next is still a blur to me. I was a mad man with an axe, a crazed lumber jack with his chainsaw hungry to get its teeth wet. And with one mighty swing I decimated a forest of games into a pile of timber ready for the fire. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes: GONE! I hate stealth action! Beyond Good and Evil: GONE! I didn't see what was so appealing any way! GTA III: GONE! Your excuse for camera control infuriated me! Magna Carta: GONE! (Art book and all) Even I have limits when it comes to anime and JRPG protagonists! I soon found my self surrounded by a sea of store credit. Enough to pre-order all the games for this holiday season, pick up quite a few used games, and even purchase the ridiculously over priced Pikmin 2.

But I wasn't in it for the money. I was in it for the peace of mind. For the first time in a long time, I felt a sense of freedom. A freedom that I hadn't felt since I appointed myself as a replacement for new age Atlas that carried the world of video games on his back. The guilt of having copies of games that I'd never play again, the games that had been weighing me down, quickly vanished into memory only to be recalled so that I may never walk this path again.

Even now... after selling 60~70+ games, I still consider my self a hardcore gamer. I know now what I should have known all along. I didn't need to crawl on the floor using my elbows to reach the next bit of food in the hopes that it'd taste better than it looked from afar. Not every game needs to be bought, not every bought game needs to be kept. Now... I need only wait at the diner table to carefully select my extravagant meal. A game seemingly prepared specifically for me to feast and indulge my self upon to my heart's content.

If you're superstitious like me, and I know you are, then you probably spend your afternoons trying your damnedest to not crack any ladders, walk under any cats, or cross paths with mirrors. (P.S. you're not pretty enough to stand in front of one any way) You must have also noticed a curious detail in Square Enix's up coming RPG, Infinite Undiscovery.

Being the JRPG enthusiast that I am, I've been keeping track of all the media surrounding Unfinite Indiscovery. And while they've superimposed an infinite amount of mystery over many of the game play elements, story, and characters, the one detail we were allowed to un-undiscover is that the Moon plays a crucial part in the events of the game. Here's where you need to perk up your ears, (and perhaps other... things) every RPG that has featured the moon as a location, a plot device for progressing through it's finite story, or even as the harbinger of death has been a RPG of extraordinary high caliber. This is FACT* and can't be disputed. Care to disagree? Resistance is as futile as dividing by zero.

Unlimited In-Disclosure is sure to join the ranks of titles such as: Lunar 1 & 2, Final Fantasy IV, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Lunar 1 & 2 featured two of the best romance sub-plots the genre has ever seen, FF IV was a pioneer with its active time bar battle system, and Majora's Mask had that freaky looking moon that stared at you the entire game. (Nintendo's next hardcore game NEEDS to bring back Mr. Angry Moon)

Unfortunately due to a plethora of JRPGs being released for the 360 in the near future, many gamers may over look this moon-enslaving (Unslaving? Inslaving?) title. Regardless of whether or not I just blew your mind, Infinite Undiscovery is certainly worth another glance. Immeasurably Great Un-Realization may not be as pretty or have the same quality of voice acting that other JRPGs have and... Well... that's just finite with me.

*Facts based on true facts which support opinionated opinions held up by true facts.