Remember how I said that the part of Tsavo Highway after the broken bridge was the hardest part of Halo 3 on Legendary?

It's a huge pain in the ass on Heroic, too. I remember practically screaming with frustration once when I was trying to blast the three Wraiths in that level while getting swarmed by Brute Choppers for the better part of an hour, a few years ago.

I love HALO 3, to me it's the greatest FPS game ever made. But boy are there some annoying parts of it.

I'm currently playing its unreleased-until-last-year SNES sequel, which is officially called Trials of Mana. Both games are kind of like your stereotypical dumb HB9 (HB10 for Trials). Once you get over how amazing she looks and sounds and feels, you realize that there's nothing of substance there and move on. It doesn't help that she also has a bunch of really annoying habits that individually might not bug you, but in aggregate drive you crazy.

Now that you point it out… yeah. TSOM was actually incredibly long, repetitive, and frankly boring in certain stretches. Looked really cool, felt like a massive chore after a while. But the story was engaging enough to warrant hundreds – and I do mean hundreds – of hours of gameplay as a kid.

The old Square magic died a long time ago, right around when the Final Fantasy movie tanked, nearly took the company with it, and they resorted to one of the cheapest and most insulting cash-ins of all time (Final Fantasy X-2) just to stay in business.

Oh yeah I remember that movie. They put so much effort into animating Whatsername's hair that they forgot to put any into the plot.

Adam does have an excellent way with words. I admire his writing skill – he's much more pithy and precise than I am about many things.

One some level, the system works. We just have to use it.

Indeed. The very people acting out and demanding "NO COPS!" will be the ones lined up and shot first when a far less civic form of order is imposed upon them.

It must always be remembered that civilisation is nothing more than a gentleman's agreement to play by certain rules, so that large numbers of people can live in close proximity without dying like flies or slaughtering each other.

Those aren't my words, they belong to our beloved and dreaded Supreme Dark Lord (PBUH), Vox Day. And he is absolutely right.

I'll kneel for no human.

And those imbeciles crowing about genocide. Wanna see genocide? Get rid of the cops. When there's no law, what you are going to get is Bosnia.

They act out like they are doing now with no cops? they, their families, and their friends will be massacred, and herded far away from civilization. Even minor crimes will be punished harshly.

One some level, the system works. We just have to use it.

The old Square magic died a long time ago, right around when the Final Fantasy movie tanked, nearly took the company with it, and they resorted to one of the cheapest and most insulting cash-ins of all time (Final Fantasy X-2) just to stay in business. I'm not surprised that the FFVII remake is a pile of crap. I'll just replay the original instead. It's overhyped by its fanboys but is still pretty good today if you can stomach the gnarly late-90's graphics.

Remember how I said that the part of Tsavo Highway after the broken bridge was the hardest part of Halo 3 on Legendary? That part in Crow's Nest where you have to clear the brutes out of the barracks is the second hardest. Have fun getting by half a dozen of them packing brute shots on higher ground, then have even more fun clearing 10-15 more in tight quarters where splash damage from one or two brute shots is enough to kill you.