Game in Review: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

All crafts aside, I occasionally play the odd video game or two.  More often than not, they're games that have already been out for a while and reviewed a million times, but ... well ... everyone has an opinion they like to express from time to time.


After about six months of intermittently switching between flavors of Nintendo DS games, I finally finished Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box.  Not that it was any fault of the game itself, by any means.  I just have a short attention span when it comes to portable games.  The type of game I want to play varies greatly and is entirely dependent on where I am, what I'm doing, and how much time I have to sit and play.


As far as puzzle games set into a story go, this one is one of the best (if not the best) I've played.  The puzzles are diverse in both type and difficulty and utilize the touch screen of the DS very well.  And while puzzles are the main focus of the game play, the story is engrossing and charming as well.  


Much like Prof. Layton and the Curious Village, it centers around the Professor and his young apprentice, Luke, going on a quest to solve some great mystery.  In this case, the mystery in question is that of an artifact known as the Elysian Box.  Supposedly, any person to open the box is mysteriously killed when they see its contents!  When the Box falls into the hands of a scholarly friend of the Professor and this fate befalls him as well, Layton and Luke set out on a voyage to reclaim the Elysian Box from a tricky thief, travel aboard an extravagant luxury train to a hidden town, and crack the case.


With a host of endearing characters, great puzzles, and an ending that might just make you a little misty-eyed, this game is worth a play-through or two ... whether it takes six days or six months!

Stitching Pixels: Sew Old School

Cross stitching is something I used to do a lot when I was younger (I guess it should come as no surprise that I spent a lot of time with Grandma as a kid).  It's a fairly relaxing and stress-free activity.  It's easy.  And most of all ... it's fun!

Or at least I think so.

Did I mention stress-free?  That's also kind of important....

In any case, not only do I occupy my time with a lot of old lady crafts, I play a LOT of video games.  Old, new, something that came out last year, yesterday, or twenty years ago ... I love 'em!  It seems only natural that, by some chance, these two hobbies would cross paths somewhere in the twisted wires of my overactive brain...

Thus the birth of my concept, Sew Old School.  I started browsing The Tubes (also known as The Internet) for screen shots and sprites from some of my favorite 8 and 16-bit games and, with some mad Adobe Illustrator skills, turning them into cross stitch patterns.  It was a bit tedious at first, but, on the list of weird things I find solace in, tedium is pretty close to the top.  Hey, I did say "weird," didn't I?

My first project idea came from one of the pioneers of my favorite genre of gaming: the RPG classic, Final Fantasy.  I used the sprites for the team I chose to play the game with (from top to bottom: Fighter, Thief, White Mage, and Black Mage) and the "title" of my new project.

From there, I moved on to a character any fan of the Final Fantasy series knows and either loves or hates: Kefka, the mad villain of Final Fantasy VI.  His laugh is an iconic part of his character, so it was obvious that I should choose his sprite's laughing animation for this one.

Although I didn't play it until much later in my "gaming career" than most people (what can I say, I was a Sega kid), Final Fantasy VI quickly became one of my favorite games of all time.  Not only is it one of my favorite games, but it's one of my boyfriend's as well.  So, at his request, I chose another FFVI sprite for my third cross stitch, the diabolical reoccurring octopus monster...

ULTROS!  Isn't he just cuuuute?!  Erm, yeah...

He came out a little lighter than the actual sprite, I think.  At this point in time, I was having a harder time matching thread color to actual pixel color, but I have a much better grasp on it now.  I've discovered that building a "color sheet" out of the individual pixel colors and then transferring that as a photo to my iPhone is really useful, especially with the 16-bit sprites.  Eventually, this piece will be accompanied by another, namely the team battling this fiend (Edgar, Shadow, Locke, and Celes, for those of you who are curious).  I don't know if I'm quite ready to handle that many colors in such a small space at once just yet...

In the mean time, I've decided to work on a simpler pattern or two, build up my thread reserves, and work on something both a little grander and simpler at the same time.  You see, I've recently taken a trip back to the 8-bit age of gaming and finished a game I can remember watching my uncle play when I was but a wee kindergärtner... 

...the original Phantasy Star!  It was released on the Sega Master System at about the same time as Final Fantasy and is somewhat overlooked as far as genre-defining RPGs go in my opinion.  So, paying homage to this great game from ages past (and killing some time before I fire up Phantasy Star II), I've decided to stitch the title screen in all of it's 187 x 245 pixel glory!  At 14 stitches per inch, it's a good thing I have a nice big, open space on my wall just waiting for the framed up version to be done.

Also on deck, I have a few more classic patterns all gridded-up and ready to go, namely Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong, and Astro Warrior.  Until then, I'll be busy sewing, painting, collaging, and who knows what else...

If you have any requests, please feel free to let me know.  I like to think I'm pretty good about checking/responding to e-mails, so shoot one my way!  Who knows, I might even end up working out some sort of exchange with you...