Fine German Craftsmanship

I had forgotten that not every German game featured four rules and a set of cheerfully colored wooden blocks to go with them. Luckily, someone was kind enough to try and teach me how to play Skat, and my eyes are again open to the wonders and terrors of 19th century gaming.

You don't need to look at the rules. Just take my word that there are a lot of them, they aren't very intuitive, and people are forced to say "Scheider."

Still, it could be worse. I understand that if you fold on a six card flush in Dragon Poker, you have to vanish into a haze of alcoholism for a minimum of five years, or forfeit the match.

Another game I'm trying to play is Odin Sphere for the PS2. The storyline is based on Wagner's Ring Cycle, as told by people who know as little about it as I do. I could use Wikipedia to look up whether or not there really was an alien soul-forge in the original opera, but I might just be better off not knowing.

Reviewers don't know quite how to explain it, which is why they make statements referring to how it has the smooth and seamless animation style of Terry Gilliam. Each one will mention a single flaw that mars Odin Sphere's gameplay, but they can't agree what it is. Is it the crippling slowdown that hits whenever the Queen Of The Dead uses her attack womb? Is it the recycled backgrounds? Or is it the fact that once you complete the first character's part of the game, you start over as a bunny-man who is fighting the exact same enemies, but in a different order?

I think it was the third recycled boss fight that may have broken me. That, and the idea of fighting General Brigan three more times before the game is over.