Okay, the rigid and almost expressionless faces in Blue Dragon are starting to annoy me somewhat. And Marumaro is annoying as Hell. I also really don't care for the boss battle music... the music in general doesn't seem to be Uematsu's best work. it's passable, but...

In Fire Red, I finally caught Articuno and Zapdos. My Aerodactyl and Lapras are worfully underleveled right now. I need to beat the mansion at Cinnabar Island... then find a bunch of trainers to beat up so I can buy enough Ultra Balls to catch Moltres.

Other than that, trying to get abyssianmelody back up and running as an AU Tales of the Abyss RP (with other Tales characters being available to be applied for). I decided I'm picking up Philia Felice to play there, and I might drop Presea Combatir... it depends on if I get any ideas on how to incorporate her into Tales of the Abyss (the handicap I have is that in Abyss, there are no such things as exspheres or cruxis crystals). A lot of work still needs to be done, so... yeah.

In case you haven't seen my previous entries, I loathe this game.
( Read more... )

I gave in and bought Blue Dragon; I had no idea that the price had already dropped to $19.99. I mean, it's never going to get any cheaper than that for a new unused game. I was also surprised to see that it's three discs long.

I've played through the first hour, and it's pretty interesting so far; the beginnig is fast-paced and not boring, though at times I had to wonder "wait, why do I care about this again?" Plus, it still feels weird playing around with Toriyama Akira's designs. I mean, with Chrono Trigger it's not as noticeable because the sprites are like that, but... yeah. It's amazing how well his designs render into 3D, though. With Tales of Vesperia, the characters' faces are all very flat; with Blue Dragon, the faces are very heavily detailed, though at times it feels a little rigid given that some eyebrows are in a constantly angry state, and Kluke's hair, which should be flapping in the wind, doesn't. Then again, it could be due to the very rigid and angular designs that Toriyama provided.

The battle system is a little slow at first, which sort of surprises me; maybe that's because recently I've been playing more action-RPGs and the real-time Tales of Vesperia battle system rather than a traditional turn-baed RPG (like Pokemon). But after a while it catches on.

The third episode of Cat Street was pretty amusing, though short compared to the same storyline in the manga. In the manga, you get to see Keiko's thoughts and actually see her "train" for what she did, which I thought added a lot to the scene. I'm also surprised that they basically combined the manga characters Rei and Kouichi into the Kouichi in the drama, though that makes sense otherwise in the drama Keito's jumping from guy to guy. That sort of thing would be less promiscuous if it's done in a long-term manga rather than a short-term drama.

I went ahead and watched episodes 7-9 of Gakko ja Oshierarenai!, and it's proven itself to be a solid drama! Episode 8 was very Gokusen-finale-ish, but with two episodes after it it's proving itself to be just more than a generic clone. Fukada's voice is still annoying, but it's nice to see all of the characters, even Shingyouji, get more development. Tomoyo is a late addition to the cast of characters, so I think her role could've been alluded to more in past episodes and such.

In Fire Red, I'm at Silph Co. and I can't beat my rival. Pisses me off.

The first Phoenix Wright volume of manga came in, and I read it last night. It seems like this is mostly doujinshi, because each chapter is done by a different artist? Interesting. Some art styles were better than others, in my opinion, ranging from dramatic to cute to faithful to the original designs. It's a nice side story collection, though I wouldn't've minded an adaption of the actual story.

It feels a bit weird. I'm no longer a fan of Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni/When They Cry, but when I was in FYE today I saw the box set. I find it weird how they showcase Rena in an Angel Mort uniform, which really doesn't encompass what the entire series is about, in my opinion. Then again, I've stopped caring about the series, anyway; I'm not a fan of things I have to devote so much time and energy to just to get a story through multiple means such as additional materials.

The first episode of Tales of the Abyss was awesome. It seems like the anime is already heading in its own direction to retell the story rather than just rehashing game script. I'm really excited for the rest of this anime series, since... well, I'm liking Tear a lot more now. After my second playthrough I stopped really supporting Luke x Tear just because I thought the way Tear was written was just too bitchy. In the anime her character is noticeably softened, a much better mother-figure role for Luke.

For those of you interested, I know that Tales of the Abyss is already being picked up by the fansub group Osu Subs, just in case the Abyssal Chronicles Team is a little slow. I also know at least two other people are interested in subbing it judging from a certain site, so just keep on checking Animesuki.com in the next couple of days. Apparently, the next episode is supposed to air tomorrow, just two days after the first. Weird. And considering that everybody and their mother are making screencaps and icons of said screencaps of the anime, I think I'll be avoiding doing so for a while.

I plan on doing a full-scale review of Rhapsody DS in the upcoming week, but it won't be glowing. Unless you count the amount of fireworks I'm attaching to the game.

I think I'm getting bored of Tales of Vesperia. This typically happens right after the second playthrough. For Symphonia, I got bored after my third playthrough and haven't touched it since (a factor being that somebody saved over my save file didn't help), for Legendia I didn't even finish my first playthrough because of the sheer boring that is the Character Quests portion, and for Tales of the Abyss I put it down in the middle of my third playthrough simply because every time I try to pick it back up, I forget what I was doing (do remember recently saving both Natalia and Ion form Daath, though...). Vesperia doesn't have the greatest story ever, but I've already seen most of the character scenes. Plus, there are a LOT of timed events in Vesperia which sort of makes it frustrating to keep track of, considering no good FAQs or guides exist for it as of yet.

I've also been playing Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure since lucentai lent it to me (in reciprocation, I lent him Crisis Core. Though an action RPG for an action RPG is a good swap, I feel bad since Gackt gays up Crisis Core like no other), and it's pretty fun! The only complaint so far is the camera angles at times, and also I'm supposed to light torches without destroying them. Um... yeah, kinda hard to do. Plus now I'm stuck since I don't know where to get a water-based power-up to extinguish something.

It's kinda funny, though. The opening sequence of Gurumin I was thinking "this introductory scene is going to be boring, isn't it? If I were making the game, right about here I'd do a time-skip to the exciting part". Lo and behold, it happened! Wow, I must be psychic. It's done in the right way where you still have a motive, too.

---

I shall now recommend webcomics to all of you. These are my absolute favorites right now, so... yeah.

Sinfest is probably the one I've been reading the longest, since back in high school. It updates daily, and also has done a few parodies on politics due to recent affairs, but isn't limited to that. The basic premise is that Slick tries to sell his soul to Satan, but it quickly diversifies. A good read, in my opinion, just don't base your religious views solely off of it considering it's a satire. It's typically described as "Eastern artistry with Western writing", whatever that means.

Questionable Content is a misnomer, considering that there's really nothing questionable about its content. It's a slice of life comic about this guy named Martin Reed whose life suddenly turns into an episode of Tenchi Muyo! because a female acquaintance burns her apartment down and lives with him. Again, it quickly diversifies and it makes for a good read. Updates every weekday. I like looking through the archives and seeing how the artwork has improved drastically.

Girls with Slingshots, again, is a misnomer except for the "girls" part. Another slice of life comic, this is based about Hazel and her social circle of drunken friends and her incapacitated love life. It's actually both funny and touching at times without having to compromise one over the other.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a single-panel comic, with awesome writing.

Sam and Fuzzy... well, what can I say about it? Its archive is HOOJ and has evolved form day one into several different genres, which is definitely worth a read. Homicidal talking teddy bears are awesome.

Least I Could Do is a hilarious slice of life comic about a promiscuous philanderer named Rayne Summers whose antics seemingly never get old, and whose character expands greatly without compromising his womanizing ways. I don't know why I like it so much. Despite changing artists two times, the writing has remained consistently hilarious and awesome. Updates six times a week.

In other news, I actually tried to pick up drawing again this week. And, once again, my waste basket is filled with crumpled sheets of paper. No wonder why I quit in the first place.

Okay, so I'm apparently two dungeons away from the ending of Rhapsody DS.
( More thoughts on it. Spoilers ahoy. )
In other news, my dad got us a Wii. By "us" I mean "himself". Unless I guilt trip him about my car...

Kirby Super Star Ultra was purchased and delivered to me last week.
( I beat it in a day... mostly )Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like I regret buying it. It's just that it could've been so much better.

---

Rhapsody DS and Disgaea DS also came in.

I must really be a whore for Disgaea. I had to buy the PS2 version twice (since some douche-tard stole my first copy), the PSP version not even a full year ago, and now the DS port. It seems a little choppy, but I've only played four minutes of it.

I also have the PSX version of Rhapsody, but never touched it. Given that the DS version lacks lag and has a traditional turn-based battle system compared to the PSX original, I'll probably never touch the PSX version (considering that, despite all appearances, I'm just not that into strategy RPGs). It's cute, but... it doesn't feel like it aged very well. Plus, it feels a little... lazy just having the Japanese vocal tracks instead of having a choice between the two languages (since there is a case of dub-titling going on, I think). It's still interesting seeing where a few of NIS' references come from (such as Marjoly and Crowdia and such). It's just that... this sort of game isn't My Thing.

---

Been a few days since I've touched any console games or Fire Red. Stuff's been going on. Fry's has yet to fix my laptop, and I've been addicted to a webcomic called Least I Could Do.

Fry's has a very terrible customer service line; yesterday I kept on calling their repair status center line thing in intervals of fifteen minutes, and instead of keep ringing, they actually have an automated voice tell you "nobody's answering your call. Try again later. We're going to disconnect you now". Well, loosely. But somebody finally picked up on my second try today, but the person fixing my laptop won't be in until tomorrow, but she said she'd tell them to give me a ring.

Finally got the Yumanju Titles/costumes, all for a little less than a million Gald. Man, Raven looks pretty good in a tank top for a man in his mid-thirties. Oh, right, this is anime. Duh. Also bothering with fighting different enemies for their item drops. It seems like that's the only reason why the world map is so big, despite fewer cities and dungeons, since different monsters appear during night, day, and weather patterns which only occur late in the game. I mean, I don't mind some of the cuter cameos (like the Gentleman enemies wearing Mieu, Tear, and Luke masks), but yeah. Items drops are still a biznatch, like the Pitch Black Ink.

Finally beat Lt. Surge and made it to Lavender Town in Fire Red. My team's in the Lv. 25-30 range (though Venusaur is Lv. 33 now), but I switched out my Butterfree for a Lv. 6 Paras so I could have Cut and Flash. Stupid HMs. Soon, a Growlithe shall be mine and I shall finally have my fire type! Bwa ha ha ha! It's still a long ways from a Lapras and Aerodactyl, though... already decided that my final team shall be Venosaur, Aerodactyle, Arcanine, Lapras, Raichu, and Nidoking. Lacking from the Dark-Psychic-Fighting trifecta, yes, but whatever.

Also, the VS. SEEKER item makes making more money and leveling up so much easier.

Saw the second episode of Cat Street. You can already tell that Keito's probably going to fall head over heels in love with Kouichi. Different from the manga, but not a bad thing. I'm wondering how they'll fit everything else into just four more episodes.

I haven't been watching Gakko ja Oshierarenai! because I didn't feel like installing VobSub on my desktop, so I'll probably catch up with that once my laptop is finally fixed. After that, though, I don't know which other drama I should pick up.

Finally beat the CPU in FFIV DS. It finally made sense to only destroy the Attack Node and leave the Defense Node so that the Nodes don't regenerate. Also, I finally see where they "reinserted" some of the original cut script in the DS remake; I can safely say that I dislike Kain a lot less now because the scene where he comes back is considerably lengthened. Having some more backstory on Golbez didn't hurt, either.

That part of FFIV always bothered me in an otherwise pretty good story progression, so having that improved really makes the entire storyline whole, in my opinion.

I also find it hilarious how Edge is basically the only one without any accent whatsoever. It's better than him speaking Engrish, anyway (considering most of the other characters are speaking with different accents... I think). And Kain still sounds like Batman.

Last night, I had the opportunity to play Rock Band for the very first time on a friend's Wii. It was really fun! I got to try out the vocal, bass, and drum parts; I can already say that by far drums are the hardest, basically because I lack any sense of rhythm whatsoever and cannot multitask for the life of me (even Easy mode was difficult, still utilizing all four drum pads and the kick-pedal).

I can officially say that BradyGames did a crappy job on their Tales of Vesperia guide. I mean, yes, it's about three if not four times the size of their Tales of Abyss guide, but it's still woefully incomplete. I think the biggest thing that vexes me is the complete lack of any maps whatsoever, and very minimal side-quest coverage. At least the item drops is a handy reference, but that's about it. And the item drops are still frustrating. I swear, I spent about 45 minutes in the Sands of Kogorh and only have about a dozen Orange Star Gems to show for it. I'd try to get Roses or Pitch-Black Inks, but I think those can wait another day.

I already know the EX Dungeon will have to wait until my next playthrough because I missed the time-sensitive events to trigger it. After my next paycheck I might get Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey; not sure yet. All I know is that Eternal Sonata is on my lower priorities to get, though I do eventually want to play it.

Haven't played any Pokemon during the past few days; juggling so many games is hard work, plus I have a math exam coming up on Thursday which I need to study for.

... Dude, Rosa does more damage with her bow and arrows than Edge. And she's the token white mage! Bah. I decided to skip the Lair of the Father in favor of the Giant of Babil (and man, it looked really awesome; too bad it wasn't a cinematic cutscene). I'll go get Bahamut when Kain comes back.

In Fire Red, a Pikachu appeared right after I use up all of my pokeballs. And for some reason, Nidoran(m)s aren't appearing.

lucentai lent me Pokemon Colosseum, and... wow. It actually doesn't suck! Of course, now I'm afraid to talk to anybody because I'll be thrust into the throes of battle.

I think I'll put down Vesperia for a bit. Going through it a second time right after was a mistake; it's still a good game, but as with all RPGs there's only so much you can take. Plus, Raven's thing is coming up, so I want to be prepared for when I start on my Raven shrine, hopefully when I get my laptop back.

I also played a little past the prologue to Xenosaga III again. Man, I forgot how much I loved this game, but at the time it was just a huge disappointment since Namco finally decided to make the series stop sucking when they ended it. I also realized how much I like the character of Shion Uzuki, and how much I missed roleplaying her. I personally think she's a really strong female lead for an RPG who isn't a damsel in distress. It's just that smooth linear development of her character was shafted due to the different writers and rushed end of the storyline.

I'm also totally looking forward to Persona 4, since judging from some reviews it'll actually deal with "personal shadows" of team members, something I wish happened in Persona 3. I'm also interested in seeing how they deal with sexuality like the reviews said. I'm going to preorder this next month when my financial situation is better.

Still holding off on Sonic Chronicles until I hear stuff about it.

Decided to cancel my order for Infinite Undiscovery, seeing as I've heard basically no good about it :(

---

I finally watched the first special of the live-action Maison Ikkoku. I had to do a double-take when I saw Kyoko's actress, because it's the same actress who portrayed Natsumi Tsujimoto in the live-action You're Under Arrest! Long story short, those two characters are very different but the actress does very well to portray them. The special dragged on a little (considering it's an hour and forty five minutes), but it was still awesome seeing one of my favorite manga series come to life. Also, there are slight changes, which made it enjoyable to watch without compromising the original work. A lot of adaptations try to modernize their stories, but I'm glad that the Ikkoku drama still takes place in the 80's.

The final episode of Seigi no Mikata was... interesting. I really enjoyed this series. Despite being a passive-aggressive little biznatch, Makiko is very lucky; she has people around her who will accept her as she is, despite being evil incarnate.

In the Sealed Cave in FFIV. It's actually a little disheartening to see Edge only doing so much damage with two weapons and a critical hit, when Kain can do more damage without even trying. I mean, I know Edge was never a powerhouse to begin with (but I refuse to acknowledge him as useless as Kain, though Kain has been treated nicely in the DS remake), but... argh. Edge is basically the only interesting character in FFIV, anyway. (lol, despite FFIV being my favorite of the SNES FFs, I still bash it like crazy)

I tried playing some Yakuza, but gratuitous use of the word "fuck" leaves me with little choice but to put it down for now, especially when the parents are in the house. I mean, not that I really mind the word when there's no other word to convey something, but gratuitous use just sort of cheapens it, really, in my opinion anyway.

I was thinking of replaying through Xenosaga III sometime soon. Not so sure.

Tales of Vesperia's second playthrough finished the Mt. Temza portion, so I'm about halfway through the game. Some item drops are really hard to get, like the Wing Fans from the Poppers at Keiv Moc and such. I think I also missed an easy way to get Orange Gems. Man, limited random item drops suck. Some things in the game's overall plot still confuse me, even after a second playthrough... I guess I was too busy relishing the character development to care much for the plot. I suppose my review will have to go through some more revisions before I post it on my eventual Raven shrine.

I'm also restarting Pokemon Fire Red. I think this time I'll go with a team of Venusaur, Nidoking, Aerodactyl, Lapras, Arcanine, and something else. Not sure yet.

Since Vesperia doesn't give you free Grade (unless 1000 of my total was a starting point), I just opted for 2x Experience and a couple of other things (the most notable being the bring over items). The good thing is that while I don't have my skills carried over, LP gain is consistent throughout the game so you can learn skills you shouldn't have until later still at the same rate as if you had the weapon in the later parts of the game. I just finished Ehmead Hill, though I notice that the skits don't show up nearly as often as they did during my first playthrough.

I still have to pick up Infinite Undiscovery and Yakuza 2 :( I get my paycheck on Friday, but I might need to hold off on one of them.

The first episode of Cat Street was finally released, and it follows the manga pretty closely... though I don't remember any mute guy in the manga. He's probably there to replace the soccer dude. In any case, I'm looking forward to the rest of this drama. It was awesome when Keito intentionally spilled a drink all over a mother scolding her daughter about her average grades.

As for Gakko ja Oshierarenai!, Fukada's voice is really annoying and I could so totally tell that the teacher and the principal would probably be paired together. Plus, if she was a Disney Otaku, you'd think she'd remember the storyline of Aladdin instead of getting it wrong.

Things are also heating up in Seigi no Mikata, since we all know it was only a matter of time before Naoki found out about Makiko's true nature. It's all in the name of comedy, though the climax if the story always has to be dramatic.

I've been working on my Philia shrine some more last night with a new layout, and got most of the textual information done. I just need to finish the quotes, whip up some media, and slap it all together to finish it. You can preview it here. I suppose my only major complaint about this is that the only real text would ve on Role and Personality, since she really has no history...

Since I'm going to do a full-blown review anyway when I finally make a Vesperia shrine, I've decided to just do that since I beat the game shortly before today. Be mindful that there may be certain things considered to be spoilers, though I won't give away anything from the last third of the game.
( Fwee. )

I'm finally at the last save point in Tales of Vesperia. Lucky me, Nam Cobanda Island lets you check how much current Grade you have, and in my case, I have about 1,750. I'm not sure if it;s like Symphonia and gives you a free 1000 when you beat the game, but I'll beat it tomorrow to find out. If anything, I'll spring for 10x Experience (which is 3000 Grade).

I'll post my thoughts on the game later, when I beat it. I've already also decided that the character I'll be attempting to shrine is Raven, because Raven is awesome.

I also finally beat Dr. Lugae in FFIV DS. I just used two elixirs on him and he croaked. I wish I had thought of that a month ago.

Man, Tales of Vesperia is awesome, if not only for the fact that it works this way:

Mana/Magiteck (Phantasia/Symphonia) -> Fonons/Fonists (Abyss) -> Aer/Blastia (Vesperia)

Okay, so it feels a bit like playing through a similar story every time, but it's still enjoyable because Vesperia has an impeccable core cast (well, the humans and Krityan, anyway. Sorry, Repede, I think you're lame). The villains and supporting cast...? Unfortunately, not so much. However, another thing that Vesperia has in its favor, unlike Symphonia, is that the sequence of events is also very well done so far so it doesn't feel like an antagonizing chain of fetch quests.

Also, I can safely say that Vesperia's battle system is pretty fun! I've been going at it in Manual Mode for the majority of the game, though in 3D Tales games I usually just leave it on Auto. Well, the .25 Grade bonus incentive at the end of every battle doesn't hurt, either. I just really wish that they gave you a way to keep track of your overall Grade, though I'm planning on taking the Fell Arms quest (lol, evil weapons with Abyssion). Too bad there's no Sword Dancer in Vesperia. Unless I missed it.

About seventeen hours into Tales of Vesperia at the neglect of other aspects of life.
( Spoilers behind the cut. )
Long story short, it's going to be hard deciding who I'm going to immortalize in a shrine.

So, I got my copy of Tales of Vesperia today; unfortunately, GameStop was not stocked up on the Premium Edition, so I didn't get that. I played about an hour into it before I had to get ready for work, to where I've escaped the castle (though not the city).

The graphics look amazing so far, even on a TV as old as mine. The voice work wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated from the trailer, and I expected shoddier work in the localization due to the quick turnaround time (Kingdom Hearts 2 as well as Xenosaga III suffered from poor localization due to rushed deadlines). Then again, it may be too soon to tell. All I know is that Bamco's marketing for this game has been absolutely horrible so far (the ads they put in magazines don't even have the correct website).

But since Tales of Vesperia commemorates me getting an XBOX 360, I think when I finally update my domain I'll go with a Vesperia theme. But speaking of websites, I finally finished coding a new layout for Shooting Star Productions, so I'm finally done with that.

I finished watching the fifth episode of the One Pound Gospel drama, and it's really cute so far. Different than the manga, but in a good way... except for the fact that I keep on scratching my head wondering if people in real life Japan actually tolerate somebody as simple-minded as Kousaku. And I can't get over how pretty he is for a boxer. That's just weird.

Gakko ja Oshierarenai! has been released slowly, but it's still cute. Finally nice to see why Hitomi was considered an "outcast" like the others despite not having any noticeable quirks. I guess I find it annoying when I watch this drama with my friends how they keep on calling Kazuki gay; just because a person has feelings of care for another person of the same gender doesn't necessarily make them gay, in my opinion. I mean, there's no sexual tension whatsoever. And it's also stated that he's liked women in the past. I guess it just strikes me as bigoted how people perceive and label things without thinking them through.

They finally finished subbing Last Friends, and man... how did this drama win so many awards? It's just kinda sad.

Preferably only if we actually have something in common. Or if I know you from someplace else.

Also, while most friends-locked, any material which I deem appropriate for public viewing will not be f-locked.