Borrow or Buy: Ni No Kuni 2

I absolutely loved Ni No Kuni, so I guessed that I would love Ni No Kuni II.  I haven't finished it yet, but I have logged almost 50 hours of gaming time.  This is a long game and if you're going to go for all the trophies, most of which are hidden, you are going to need way more time.  Let's talk about the game itself before I give the verdict!

Skills Used:
Logic:  Like most JRPGs, there are battles to be fought and won, so you need to decide what weapons are the best to be used in particular circumstances.  There are also skirmishes where some parts of your party have an advantage or disadvantage against your opponent, similar to rock paper scissors.  You can look at the list of opponent's parties to see which is the best to bring.
Decision-Making:  In this game, you have a kingdom to run!  At the beginning, it is going to be hard, but gets easier as you go.  Don't worry, you can't really mess it up, so don't agonize over your decisions.
Cartography:  As usual, exploration is a HUGE factor of the game!  Not only is there a huge world to discover, but also tiny smaller worlds.  In addition, you can use portals to zap yourself from place to place, but you have to find them first.  Also, it is really important that you know how to read a map as there is a mini-map that is very useful.

Overall, this game is a lot of fun!  The art is amazing, but the cut scenes are kind of chunky since you have to advance the scene yourself.  It really is too bad that studio Ghibli wasn't involved this time.  The gameplay is very traditional for a JRPG in terms of battling monsters and levelling up.  You have no control over what stats your characters level up in, but they do learn new skills along the way!  Take your time with this game especially with the exploration.  Asides from a few side quests, there is no time limit with what you are doing.  Yes, you have to go to another place, but be sure to explore places thoroughly.  If you see an entrance, go in it as otherwise you won't have the name of the spot on your world map.

I would love to be able to buy it, but at $70 for a new copy and a 2nd hand one not all that much cheaper, I will continue to borrow until I am done the game.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary

I can't believe it has been 20 years since the first Harry Potter was published!  I remember waiting for the first book with breathless anticipation since the books were published in North America one year later than the U.K., so we had one year of hype leading up to the release of the first book.  Then my sisters & I stealing the book from one another whenever we had a chance.  We each had our own bookmark & tried to remember our page numbers so that we wouldn't lose our respective places.  Then, waiting on tenterhooks for the next book, which came out a year later.  I kind of feel sad for kids who can read the whole series now because as the characters learned and grew one year at a time, so did the reader.

When I think about it, there wasn't a lot of fantasy available for children and teens at the time.  Mostly classics like The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis & the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper.  Having read all these books several times already left me wanting more fantasy to read.  The high school I attended had some more fantasy books, but they weren't published specifically for teens.  They were adult fantasy books that would appeal to teens.

Harry Potter filled a niche that people didn't even knew needed to be filled.  Think about what has been published in children's fantasy since.  It is hard to imagine the literary landscape without Philip Pullman's Dark Materials, Rick Riordan's Half-Blood Camp or Holly Black's Blackwell Pages books, but I believe that they would never have been published without Harry Potter to set precedence.

Borrow or Buy: Megamind - The Ultimate Showdown

So, this is something that has been on my mind for a little while now.  I am an avid gamer, much to my mom's dismay.  I've always loved gaming!  When I was a kid, we used to go to my cousins house.  I've been borrowing games from the library for my consoles for YEARS.  I tend to treat it as a try before I buy.
I've been toying with the idea of reviewing games for a while now.  So, let's get started shall we?  Welcome to the first "episode" of Borrow or Buy!

I picked this up on a whim from the library last summer because I love the movie so much!  I was really hoping that it would be a continuation of the movie and it is, sort of.  You do play Megamind and you get all of the fun toys that were in the movie, as well on some   It was a short fun game which was perfect!  I also managed to get all the trophies without having to do anything which made the little completionist inside of me very happy.  Also, the problem is that there isn't any kind of replayability.  I think even kids who aren't super avid gamers would be able to finish this game in a week.  Also, it isn't all that popular, so renewals should be possible.

Verdict:  Borrow.  It isn't really worth buying given the short playtime and lack of replayability.

How I Got Into Romance

Hey everyone!
So, yeah, this is kind of an interesting way of how I ended up reading romance.  When I was a kid, my sister and I went for piano lessons on a horse farm.  While I was waiting for my sister, I would often be bored and started reading the books on the shelf.  They were Christian romance by Janette Oak.  Once I realized that I liked these stories, I ransacked my local public library that I could get to easily for Janette Oak.  I ran out rather quickly.  When I got to high school, I discovered fantasy and took my escapism in that form.  It wasn't until university at Wilfrid Laurier University that I rediscovered romance.  My "rediscovery" wasn't until university that I found a fellow romance afficiando (Leah, you had better be reading this!).  There was this great second-hand book store in a plaza close to the University.  Although I liked a number of books by Sandra Brown, the only one I owned was this one:

Actually, that's not true.  There was another one I owned by her, but I don't remember which one it was because I reread Hidden Fires so many times.  This was my first experience with historical romance novels.  I loved this book!  It was amazing.  Now I can't find it in any of my boxes and it makes me sad because it saw me through so many tough times.  I don't really like any of her newer works.  This book was my favourite.

I ended up giving up all pleasure books while I was at school.  Then, once I was done and ended up working at a library, I rediscovered romance novels and I'VE NEVER LOOKED BACK.  Don't get me wrong, I love fantasy.  However, while I love fantasy books that are thousands of pages long, I can achieve the same level of escapism and have waaaaay more romance novels that can scratch the same itch while waiting for the next fantasy novel.