Grazza

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. It's not that we were too old for the 7th book, it's just that the later ones were more childish than the early ones. Books 1-4 are fantastic stories. With Deathly Hallows, though, I felt hit over the head with the clunky metaphors, such as non-pure bloods being rounded up and taken away. It felt like JK Rowling wanted to preach to children and generally say "life's full of sacrifices", which may be true, but that's not what I look to fiction for.

I never used to watch The X-Factor, but now I'm working different hours I get to watch it, and I'm surprised to say I think it's the most entertaining programme on TV. Simon Cowell has such a great sense of pantomime.

Yes, it was the funniest thing I've seen for ages, particularly Wagner's excellent sense of comic timing, going from (I'm paraphrasing) "Don't believe everything you read in the papers" to "I just want to say, Cheryl, I didn't know they were a journalist".

I think I was lucky to get a great Metal King Grotto early on. The Metal King Slimes appear on Floor 5 and that floor also has an awesome corridor that is just the right size and shape. Not encountered anything like it since. Silly question, but which Legacy boss maps do you have and how did you get them? I've honestly looked this up on GameFAQs and such but I still can't work it out. Personally, I've got Baramos and Murdaw (and upgraded my Apprentice's Gloves and Hero's Boots just once) - the former dropped another boss map at level 16 but the latter didn't.

I've Revocated 9 times in one class, so my Grotto and chest quality is high! Personally, I've got: Metal King Helm (Quest) Metal King Armour x2 (bought one today) Metal King Shield x4 (one is from a Quest) Metal King Spear Metal King Sword ...So need the Gloves and Boots/Sollerets (no trousers? Boo!) But still, I prefer it really to the 2% drops, of which I have: Hallowed Helm Victorious Armour Vesta Gauntlets Invincible Trousers x2 (would like one more) Hero's Boots Tropotoga (would like another) Apprentice's Gloves (would like another) Sensible Sandals (would like another) ...So need the Angel's Robe (x2, ideally), Spring Breeze Hat (x4, ideally!), Brain Drainer and Dragonlord's Map. I find it's actually harder to get the Metal Slime equipment, as there's only a 1% chance of getting the specific one you want, whereas the boss drops are 2% (possibly more with an orange slime). The 1% weapons are even harder though - I've only got the Bright Staff so far.

I just want to say, don't miss the current DQVC sale that has started today on the Wi-Fi connection - it's the Metal Slime Sale! I strongly recommend buying everything with "Metal Slime" in the title.

Flippin' heck, that's like hating John Barrowman!

I'm not a big fan but Mars Attacks is good fun and I was obsessed with Batman Returns at the time. I dislike Batman though and I think my interest in the sequel was just because I wanted an indulgent fantasy at the time (I was a young teenager).

Yes!! Hoo-bloomin-ray. Puppets are better than CGI. I was watching the Alien films a few weeks ago, and realised how much better it is to physically have something there. Who could prefer any of the effects in 3 or 4 compared to Stan Winston's magnificent Alien Queen puppet? Same goes for Ghostbusters and any TV series like Merlin when they've actually used a puppet. I was as impressed as everyone else with Jurassic Park, but a huge amount of that was the design of the puppets (also by Stan Winston). Anyway, I'm pleased to see the Hulk get another chance, as I quite disliked both films, but know it could work if they did it well. The 1990s animated series got the tone just right. It had all the comic book characters - The Leader, the Abomination, Doc Sampson, the Hulkbusters, She Hulk and all the other Gamma-spawned oddballs. The other thing that got it right was the computer game, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. OK, it overdid the amoral side of the Hulk (he should always be a hero, in my opinion, even though he's unconventional), but the sheer lunacy of fighting all the Hulkbusters, tanks and jets at once captured the spirit of the character. Plus, the scene where he tries to stop the Abomination breaking the dam was better than anything in the later film.

I like simple controls as well, but I think the addition of L + R would be perfect. Not for this game, but certainly the Metroids I most enjoyed had D-pad, A, B, L + R.

I am quite looking forward to seeing it, but I must admit I didn't like Order of the Phoenix, and a lot of it was because of the way it was directed (Goblet of Fire is my favourite). So yes, it's a bit of a shame that David Yates is doing the last four films rather than Mike Newell, although I must admit I haven't watched Half-Blood Prince yet. Another thing is that Deathly Hallows was the first book in the series I didn't like.

Two Sages? I do quite like the Jedward advert, because it conveys the appeal of the game - castles, monsters, fantasy worlds etc, and it conveys the idea that you can go through it 2-player (or more), which is, again, very appealing. If it works and some of my friends buy it, great. Last night I got a Metal King Sword and found a floor (Floor 15) with no enemies whatsoever!

The jobs class system is fascinating. If you don't mind, I'll use this as an excuse to have a little explore of them. There seem to be, to put it crudely, basic classes and the superior versions of them: The "Charming" class: Minstrel, Luminary The "Deft" class: Thief, Ranger The "Resilient" class: Warrior, Paladin The "Agile/Attack" class: Martial Artist, Gladiator The "Magical Might" class: Mage, Armamentalist The "Magical Mending" class: Priest, Sage I don't really like putting them together as neatly as that, because Martial Artist is in a class of its own regarding Agility, and Sage can actually be considered "Magical Might" as well. You could also consider the Warrior a general fighter, with the Paladin the defensive version and the Gladiator the offensive version. However, the Warrior is a great class. I've got a Paladin and Gladiator instead, but I'm still not sure that's the best thing. I suppose it all comes down to me not being able to resist the "superior" classes! There are three important things to consider when choosing classes: 1. Spells These can not be transferred in any way. I find the Paladin, Sage and Priest all have unique ones that are very useful. 2. Equippable clothing There are certain "Hero's" items that can only be equipped by the "armour" class, such as "Erdrick's" and, if you're very lucky, the 2% Grotto boss drops! Generally you'd want your fighters to be wearing the armour-type items and your magic users to be wearing the clothing-type items, such as robes, sandals and togas. The best armour can be equipped by Warrior, Paladin, Gladiator, Armamentalist and Minstrel, who seems to be able to equip anything. He's a great all-rounder! 3. Coup de Grace Some of them are a lot more useful on the others. It's wise to consider which would be helpful in a boss fight. One thing to keep in mind if you want to Revocate, is that the Martial Artist is the fastest to level, whereas ol' muggins here seems to have picked the slowest, the Paladin!

Episode 2 is up. Well worth watching if you liked the first one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbiSJE6Dw_k

Cool. A dive loop (quite unusual on an inverted), and is that two immelmans I see?

Best SNES games: 1. Super Mario World 2. Super Metroid 3. Link to the Past Best Sonic games: 1. Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic 3 And I still don't like waggle.

Worth knowing, thanks for that. I won't bother with Half Inch on the Legacy Bosses because I certainly don't want any more Mini Medals! Agree. If you get a rare drop, it gets marked on the map, so it tells you which boss it has. I'd have liked all maps to detail these features though: * Grotto boss * Chests rank * How many chests of each rank I have actually run through all my Grottoes and made a note of which boss they have. My advice is to keep the shortest Grotto of each boss, in case you want to keep repeating it over and over again. There are three things that make me keep a map: * Having one of each boss * Rank 9 or 10 chests * Metal King Slimes (just my best one) The thing that'll really increase the quality is how many times you've Revocated, which I've done 7 times as a Paladin, of all the classes! I've worked out my favourite levelling-up strategy. It is to use my favourite Grotto with Metal King Slimes (the first one I got, actually - a water Grotto). Water is important because the monsters that accompany them only dash in a straight line (thus are easily avoided). What I then do is go to a certain horizontal corridor, which has enough width so I can dodge the non-MKS enemies. I then switch the camera to diagonal and run from left to right, only fighting the Metal King Slimes.

Sorry to say, but smokers' parents probably all know! It smells a lot more than smokers realise.

I haven't got any proper secrets - I'm boring! But jayseven, stop smoking, it's terrible for your health!

Yeah, I don't know how I missed that either, as I'm a huge fan of Steve Coogan and Russell Brand. Check out Bellamy's People if you haven't. With Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson and Simon Day, it's basically The Fast Show for modern times. Rob Brydon's impressions are better (apart from Roger Moore) and I'd say he is better overall in this programme, but nothing beats Coogan as Partridge. OK... The Trip. I like it, it's growing on me. The scenery is beautiful and it's enjoyable to watch these two comic actors. My favourite line last night: "Jack Lemon didn't win an Oscar until he was 48..." "He'd been a movie star for 20 f***ing years!"

Argh! Why do they do it? I was quite enjoying Wario Land until I had to shake the remote to swing on the bars. Hopefully next console Nintendo will realise motion controls are rubbish and keep them to a peripheral at most!

You can actually steal them? I deleted my Level 92 Grotto with Greygnarl in. That was pretty silly, wasn't it?

I've got a new theory about the orange Slimes. Judging by my recent sessions, I believe an orange Slime may guarantee you a rare drop on your 1st, 2nd or 3rd defeat of a boss, depending on whether the Slime is on the left, in the middle or on the right. Next time I get one, I'll certainly defeat a boss three times to see if I can verify this. EDIT - No, it was incorrect!

Yeah, some lovely lines in that, although I'm pretty sure they'd be even funnier if they were delivered by Alan Partridge! "I want to be in films. Good films." "I was abused by priests. Not sexually, they just used to punch me."

My all-time favourite comedy character, Alan Partridge, has finally returned. I began to realise how brilliant he was in 1994 with Knowing Me, Knowing You, specifically when Joe Beasley (John Thompson) appeared onstage with "Cheeky Monkey". I was laughing round the supermarket the next day! Then, in 1997, Steve Coogan & co turned it into a sitcom, I'm Alan Partridge, which was even better. The scene with "The Mentalist" made me laugh so much I fell off my bed, and it also added a new word to the dictionary. Series 2 aired in 2002 and was just as funny, especially when he became friends with Dan ("Dan! Dan!") and recreated The Spy Who Loved Me. Now, after seven years, he is back, with 12-minute sketches for Fosters. Despite the anticipation, I found myself easily laughing out loud. It's well worth a watch if you like character. (Sorry, I can't embed it.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucrpgmJxx0E