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Wednesday, August 4, 2004 7:10:44a: *
I'm back. Tired, but I'm back. Con report forthcoming-- should be up tonight. Photo gallery might take some time to get together... I have about a hundred pics, not counting the ten or so of me playing Pop'n Music.
Oh yeah, P'nM is my new obsession.Wednesday, August 4, 2004 10:10:04p: *
Well, well, well... seems like things have been busy while I was away. Let's get on with the game news, first.
Several sources are citing a Nintendo press release stating that the Nintendo DS is gettig quite a lot of 3rd-party developer support. This news excites me almost as much as it disturbs me that Philip practically had an orgasm over the announced DS Survival Kids. However, chief among these announcements are news of a new RPG from Game Arts (maybe you've heard of Lunar or Grandia?) and a new Secret of Mana title from Square-Enix. The Game Arts game will most likely cause me to orgasm, and assuming it doesn't suck and/or take forever to come out in the U.S., the new Mana title will definitely be on my list. I'd personally love to see a port of Seiken Densetsu 3, but yeah, that's probably never going to happen.
I'm weak. I broke down in Sharon and picked up the Legend of Zelda Collection disc from an out-of-the-way reseller shop, despite the fact that half of the games on it, I hate. However, that said, I did start save files for all four titles-- Zelda 1 and 2, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask. I've spent the majority of my time with the disc in Zelda 1, though I did finish the first dungeon in Zelda 2. Ahem, back to the first; I've managed to take a trip through the first four dungeons, but I never realized just how fricking hard the game was. Before finishing Level 2 I had left the dungeon twice-- once to get the Blue Ring and another time in search of medicine, both prompted by the fight for the magical boomerang. And let's not even get into the fact that I accidentally finished Level 3 while trying to avoid fighting those $^#@!! Darknuts. Armed with the White Blade and a double-shot of medicine, however, Level 4 was a piece of cake.
Hm. Looking back at my choices recently, I've been on quite the retro kick. Mega Man, Zelda, Deus Ex, Doom, and Quake... Very interesting. I'm not entirely sure why, especially when La Pucelle has started to grab my attention-- and let's not forget Pop'n Music-- but I guess going back to the roots, as it were, is always a good thing. I suppose I'll probably finish a couple more dungeons in Zelda tonight-- or, heaven forbid, actually play more of Ocarina of Time-- but pretty soon I'll be focusing forward, looking for a new challenge. By that time I should be ready to go with Pop'n.
The online game idea is going to have to wait for a while, as I still haven't really fleshed out the details of what I want to do. When I open the site I want at least an alpha version available for players, so until I get a more organized structure together and work through a story framework for "chapter 1". I definitely want to have an ongoing story available, not to mention a world for players to interact with. However, my biggest fear is that it won't be enough... an MMO relies on the interaction of its players with each other, as opposed to their interaction with the somewhat static world. With clever usage of the eval() function, I can... ah, but you're not interested in this technical mumbo-jumbo. What will probably happen is I'll wind up building the engine and a proof-of-concept here on TFO.net before I go ahead with any new domain.
Doom 3. In stores. Somehow this does not compute.
Halo 2's little beephilia stunt has attracted Gamespot's attention, and on the whole they think it's certainly buzzworthy. (OUCH! Geez, it wasn't that bad of a pun, was it?) Also on the Spot, we see news that Obsidian is developing Neverwinter 2 (good, I liked KOTOR's story better than NWN's hack campaign), and rumors that Nintendo is planning a physically interactive controller. I will say only this-- they're going to have to do a hell of a lot better than XaviX's set-top box. The tennis simulation on display in the Erie Best Buy is damn near unplayable.
On the Tech Support page for Doom 3, one of the items listed is "I cannot read the GUI because I got blood all over it. What can I do?" Another question is "When I'm in the hell areas, my stamina does not decrease. Why is that?" which results in the smartass reply "Not everything is as it should be in hell." Of course, a later question answers that instead of a text notification upon the acquisition of a syringe of adrenaline, there is the sound effect of the syringe releasing and an increased heartbeat. Maybe it's just the fact that I don't like needles, but that right there is really creeping me out.
Oh, hey, let me tell you an interesting story about what happened in Erie while I was away-- my apartment building's parking lot flooded! If I had been in town this weekend the Gustaff would have been destroyed; three other, larger cars were trashed 'cause of the water. Yay me.
Con report is being delayed till, oh, I don't know, let's say Sunday night at the latest. I have to edit the report and crop the images for you folks. Also, couldn't hurt to wait for Slip or Kat's final photos, too. I will say this, though-- I had a lot of fun, and am eternally grateful for the chance to see the crew. Thank you everyone.
OK, so I actually did play more Zelda just now. Made it through Level 7 without a hitch... though I will say that Level 5 really, REALLY ticked me off with all the freakin' Darknuts. We'll see what happens next. G'night, folks...Thursday, August 5, 2004 10:11:32p: *
Well, folks, it's official. I'm on track to have a full complement of Pop'n Music gear before the end of September. I've been wanting to get into the game for a while (gee, who would have guessed) and seeing it at Otakon clinched my decision. The timeline is as follows: this coming paycheck or the next, I'll order a Pop'n 8 or 9 disc from PlayAsia or another retailer. The paycheck after that, I order a Japanese PS2 from eBay (if I can find one cheap enough, I might do steps one and two at the same time). And finally, I'll order a RanSai controller the minute they begin accepting orders again.
This also serves a dual purpose-- remember that a Japanese PS2 also doubles as an Asia-regioned DVD player. Yay for not needing to wait for US releases anymore! Yay for being inducted into the "hardcore" crowd! Yay for not understanding a god-damned word of it!
OK, OK, there are other things on the Japanese Playstation that I'm interested in-- the Evangelion game, specifically, but a few PS1 titles that never made it over, too. Any exposure to the raw, unreadable katakana and kanji will be good because it will literally force me to learn how to read some of it.
That's really about it, for now. 'Night, folks.Sunday, August 8, 2004 2:48:12p: *
Afternoon, folks. A few notes to get started, then we'll see what else we handle today.
First off, the Otakon report should be up by tomorrow evening at the latest. Slip has given me his pics, I already have Kat's, and I just have to finish adjusting mine (ie cropping and re-compressing) before I can put them up; I really doubt I'll get a lot of hits if I just dump over a hundred and fifty 300K image files as-is-- the gallery will look terrible, for one thing.
Wanted to give a holler to the newest members of the forum crew, Rick and Sean, who join the chaos already in progress. If the current progression keeps up, I might just have to start a whole new site devoted to the forum.
Oh yeah, speaking of other sites, I've made some progress on the core elements of the game engine; specifically the code database. The way I'm planning on doing things is to store all of the PHP code in a database and just have one or two pages which pull the code and run it. This is intended to make it much easier for me to edit the game's code without having to log into the site's administration panel or even have to telnet in. By the same token, however, it means I have to make sure my security is air-tight. DEPTH taught me the lessons; now I have to refine what I know. Expect a preview soon enough-- well, forum people can expect it soon.
I extended an offer to the DDR Erie folks, in regards to my upcoming (big) order from Play Asia. The idea is that if there's anything anyone wants, they can add their order in with mine (seeing how as the I'm paying in shipping seems to cover me, even if I have to buy the whole bloody store). I certainly would have offered the TFO crew this chance as well-- those who attended Otakon, anyway-- but a) I didn't think of it and b) it wouldn't work quite as well, me re-sending stuff to Virginia, England, Florida, Canada... Still, I'll probably be making lots more orders, so we'll see how this works out.
Heh. The one drawback is that The Furry One's Big-Ass Box Of Love can only be shipped by UPS. And we all know how much I love UPS, don't we? I'm bending my rule here about using UPS for three reasons. First, the company has received many good reviews on Bemanistyle's forums. Secondly, the shipment will be coming from Hong Kong, and not mainstream China, so Customs holdups should be very, very minimal, if at all. Finally, to ship it through the US Postal Service would double the shipping cost and triple the time. So, that in a nutshell, is the bad news forcing me to compromise my principles. Maybe it's not so much of a compromise, given the circumstances, but to be honest it's still a painful stretch for me.
There is one interesting thing I completely forgot about until just now: During my wanderings in the Dealer's Room on Saturday, I walked literally inches past Monica Rial and didn't even notice it was her. Not even when she said, aloud, "Oh, you want me to say that as Hyatt? 'Hail Ilpalazzo!'" And certainly not even when someone walked up to her (cutting off my path) and said, "Monica, you really need to hand these out-- I can't give them away!" She was handing something out, and I was too dumb and too busy to get one. It wasn't until this morning that a) I remembered the incident and b) put 2 and 2 together.
Ladies and gentlemen, my secret identity is Captain Oblivious.Thursday, August 12, 2004 10:08:02a: *
Does anyone else suspect that Reggie Fils-Aime is in line to inherit the title of PR Jedi? His latest mind trick speech, here, just feels... uh, I don't know. I was reading it, then my brain got all fuzzylike, and now I'm just left with the thought "BUY THE DS. NINTENDO LOVES YOU. REGGIE IS A GOD." It's weird. Maybe the reaction between the Red Bull and going-away-party cake this morning was a little more mind-bending than I'd thought...
Oh yeah, if you see this, hooray for loopholes! Thursday, August 12, 2004 11:46:54p: *
Sega's ESPN 2K5 game has a feature where you can play against AI simulations of celebrities. I'm not going to say a whole lot on this except that, if I were actually playing against Jamie Kennedy, and he acted like the irritating assmunch his game avatar was, I probably would wind up in jail on murder charges.
Haven't had a chance to play online yet. I'll get back to you folks on that.Friday, August 13, 2004 8:24:00a: *
OK, so GameFAQs is running their annual character battle poll series, and today's contestants are Frog from Chrono Trigger and Liquid Snake from MGS. There are two things immediately wrong with this.
First, the text behind the characters says in bright pink and amber "FROG LIQUID", which is really disturbing if you think about it. Secondly, the two of them are tied for votes.
Food for thought this morning. More tonight on NFL 2K5 and also a quick note about the weekend, and why there won't be any updates. Sunday, August 15, 2004 8:27:28p: *
Ein kleine die Nachtblogging, anyone?
The DDR tournament yesterday... was abject chaos. But it was good chaos, because everyone had fun (so much fun it almost wasn't contained by the arcade's hours-- they were there 'till 11p!), and there was a Pop'n Music setup. Getting to play the game again (even if it was on the useless Konami home controller) was a thrill, and not just because it proved to the Erie crew that I'm not crazy or gay. Or both. Yeah. So totally psyched for The Great Ordering.
Speaking of that, nobody's taken me up on my offer from Erie... I'm thinking of just saying "heck with it" and closing it off. But one other thing irked me. I realized that, even if I have a Japanese PS2 and Pop'n 9, I'm not going to want to play it 'till I get the Ransai controller. Soooo... I'm going to order a second game to go with it. I had originally thought of picking up Bust-A-Move DX, as it was cheap, but decided against it. Later I found Fantasy Zone, and that's currently in my cart. The basic requirements I'm looking at here are that the game is engaging and simple enough to play without needing a whole lot in the way of translation. BAM and Fantasy Zone fit the bill perfectly, but if anyone can recommend me something else, I'll gladly take it under consideration.
Two other things. First, I caught Dodgeball (ha ha) at the dollar theater today. It's a decent movie-- definitely a screwball comedy, but the game itself was handled pretty well. It won't win any awards but it's certainly a good buck spent on a rental. I did catch the "Deus Ex Machina" printed on the side of the treasure chest at the end of the film, and I also noticed an error-- just before the Average Joes decide to play in the tournament, Gordon pulls out his copy of Obscure Sports Quarterly twice. Both of which are conveniently also listed at the IMDB, so I'll shut up now.
Finally, got a chance to pick up Tales of Symphonia this afternoon. You would think a game that starts off with a "Chosen One" would be excruciatingly cliched... but surprisingly it's very good. The plot is semi-serious, and the characters are totally not taking this seriously. More than anything, however, the main character is not a whiny angstwhore. Which, y'know, is a refreshing change of pace. I'm definitely going to make this one a priority before playing any more FFX-2.
Off to play some football, and then to bed. Wow... loooong weekend, but it was so short, too.Tuesday, August 17, 2004 11:42:58a: * Star Fox has been delayed. Viscerally, I know this is probably for the best, as the E3 reviews kind of dumped on the game's non-flying portions... but... but...... It's a Star Fox game, of course it's going to be delayed to hell and back. I'm just sayin', that's all. Nintendo is really, really pushing my patience with one of my favorite franchises here.
You know what, Gameforms is reporting this as being the "first" Star Fox title for the 'Cube. I'm not sure whether or not I should correct them, or follow them in ignoring the steaming pile of crap that was Star Fox Adventure. Tuesday, August 17, 2004 7:42:28p: *
This is for Danielle, who asked me what I thought of Babylon 5. I'd picked up the preview DVD-- basically, the first episode for dirt cheap-- and had just now finished watching it.
I like Garibaldi and Delenn. Londo is the most Russian alien I've ever seen. Laurel kicks ass (but it looks like she got dropped after this episode, according to IMDB). And Sinclair... is the used car salesman of the future.
After the Japanese PS2, I should have a few bucks to drop on Season 1.Wednesday, August 18, 2004 8:57:44a: *
I so need to put a plug in for these guys on the main page. Ransai is the company I'll be buying my Pop'n controller from. It's actually two really cool guys from Minneapolis who've perfected the art of building custom controllers. They're rolling out their "economy" version of the Pop'n controller, called the Kagura, really soon; and it looks like I'll be among the first few adopters of it. I'm really excited to get the chance to help these guys out; I did meet them at the Pop'n Music workshop at Otakon, and they're very humble guys. A little overworked-- or at least, they will be soon-- but very cool.
Oh, and Pez, they make custom Frequency/Amplitude controllers, too-- they're not available for sale just yet but they will be soon.
They showed off the Beatstick at Otakon as well, and THAT was an interesting concept-- basically, it's an adaptable arcade style controller that's compatible with just about everything. The button panels are interchangeable depending on your game, and the cord is also interchangeable based on the system. Let's say you want to play Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 Dreamcast. Pop in the 6-button box and plug the Dreamcast adapter into the stick, and there you go-- instant arcade-perfect setup. But then, let's move on to Super Mario Bros. Put in the two-button box and attach the NES adapter, and bingo. It looked hella cool and also insanely expensive.
Anyway, Pop'n 10 home version was announced as well, for a November 18th release, but that's all we know. Hopefully by that time I'll be ready to pick it up-- but Pop'n 9 ought to keep me busy for a while; plus, well, it's still three months away. We'll see. One thing is for certain, I will DEFINITELY be getting in on the Special Edition action this time around... Friday, August 20, 2004 6:54:19a: *
OK, folks. Weekend + game I'm interested in = BINGE TIME!
Yeah, anyone expecting to see me in Vana'diel or Paragon City this weekend can just kiss those plans goodbye; I'll be playing Tales of Symphonia in a mass rush reminiscent of my halcyon gaming days. All weekend, nearly every waking moment (I might swing by Giant Eagle tonight to get some soda so I don't have to leave the house, and a DAMN is definitely on my list, assuming they're not out of cups). I will get to disc 2 at the very least, and I firmly intend to have it finished by the time the Japanese PS2 arrives. Going on the recommendation of forum-guy Rick, I'm thinking I can do it.
Due to the tightness of money this coming week, I'll not be ordering a second game. That's OK; I can set Pop'n 9 aside for another 2 weeks until I can order the Ransai. Just having it there will be enough for me, for now; there is no way I will dare defile the game by trying to play it with the dual shock. I might mess around a little, but playing is strictly out of the question.
You'll get a post here the moment my resolve shatters, folks.Tuesday, August 24, 2004 8:26:31a: *
I propose the following retronym for the word "Surf", in terms of using the Internet, such that it is less media-fied and more geekified:
"Seeking Under Random Files"
Any seconding of this proposition will be gladly welcomed. Wednesday, August 25, 2004 6:46:34a: *
Hey, folks. 27 hours into Symphonia now, and the story's kind of hitting that point where you're drifting from plot-point to plot-point. Not that I mind, as Symphonia's really driven by its characters, but it's not terribly good for "compelling" reasons. However, since I've invested so much time into the game already, I'd think it a shame to give up now. I think I'm close to the end of Disc 1-- I've returned to Sylvarant and defeated Efreet, now I have to go capture Sylph-- but only Rick knows for sure.
A snag hit the Great Ordering. The Inner Circle knows what happened; everyone else should just know that it's been delayed by, oh, a week or so. On the plus side, I'll be able to add Fantasy Zone or something similar to the list.
More as it becomes available, folks. I'll do some looking into the State of the Industry and see if I can't rustle up a rant on the news for you later today.
By the way. While the ending to "So You Want To Be An Otaku" has been lost to the mists of time due to an unexpected computer crash, I'm actually thinking of doing a short article on the different types of storytelling in RPGs-- ie world-based versus character-based. (Examples: World-based RPGs are things like Morrowind, Earthbound, the original Final Fantasy; character-based RPGs are things like the Lunar series, FF9, Star Ocean 2; games which strike the balance between world- and character-based are ones such as FF7 and the Xenogears series). Let me know if that sounds like something suspiciously close to Real Work.Sunday, August 29, 2004 9:58:17a: *
Morning. Blogger is smoking the crack, so I don't really know if this is going to be visible or not. We'll see anyway.
Been on a music streak lately, listening to U2, Genesis, and random trance. Overall, though, life is good. Finally hearing the original version of "If God Will Send His Angels"... I really like the Big Yam mix better (from the B-Sides collection). Just fits the mood of the song better, and saves the big climax for the end.
Oh! Speaking of climaxes, 10K updated, yo! Good stuff. Agent K still continues to impress-- both with her art, which is amazing as always, and her writing (new sig time: "Not my fault if you have a thing for angels and Mario Kart."). Go check it, desuno. (Yeah, using that 'cause I'm not sure if yoroshiku would fit in that situation. Actually, come to think of it, desuno doesn't fit either... wow, I have no business even considering using the Japanese language now.)
Anyway, I picked up System Shock 2 on the recommendation of a few people, but haven't yet installed it due to the fact that I'm just about way too deep in Symphonia. Time counter reads 33: something, and I'm searching for mana leaf herb in Latheon Gorge. Apparently this involves bouncing through the air in an ugly green bubble. I hope, I really, really, hope, that when I saved it saved the bubble function of the Sorcerer's Ring... or that there's a bubble fountain nearby. If not, it's a bug in the game and I'm SOL. For reference, this is the only time I've quit mid-dungeon... and only because at 11:30 I was so damned sick of the wind plants that I just wanted to give up. You cannot imagine the shouts of joy I made when I found the save point.
This next paragraph is for Danielle. Picked up Season 1 of Babylon 5. Sinclair still sounds like a used car salesman. I kinda expected Kosh to sound more, uh, y'know, wise. Londo and G'Kar are the Laurel and Hardy of the universe. Vir needs to be shot and then thrown out of an airlock. Ivanova needs to get... uh, satisfied. And Garibaldi should have been the head of the station. But the story is really, really picking up. Thanks for the recommendation, kiddo.
Anyway, not much else going on. Going to eat, then probably do some DDR (considering I've gone exactly twice since the tournament ended). And when I get back, then I'll probably hit Symphonia again. Later, folks.
Oh yeah, The Great Ordering should happen at some point this week. Ideally. If not, then next week. We'll see. (I knew I should have sprung for the express processing, but I'm a patient guy...)Tuesday, August 31, 2004 10:55:07p: *
Tales of Symphonia is now complete; my final time is just a few moments over forty hours. All things considered, it was pretty easy (though that may have something to do with the fact that I was almost always overleveled and never changed the difficulty to "hard"). I mean, I went through the entire final dungeon escaping every single encounter, and I still whupped the final boss's behind six ways from Sunday.
Oh, and Shiloh Strong wins the "Holy Crap I Just Shot Coke Out My Nose" award for his delivery of the following line: "Besides, that won't matter once we beat the snot out of you." I think I made a good choice in keeping Zelos in the party.
Anyway. The story got very preachy near the end, but when you're dealing with such well-tread territory as ToS is it's a little hard to come up with something fresh. Not that I'm complaining, or anything. The story was really carried both by the characterizations that were developed as well as the actors' delivery of those characterizations. I think this game is proof that good acting and a solid voice cast can elevate what would have otherwise been a "blah" game into something truly remarkable, if not outstanding. Ultimately, and this is a bit of an exception for me, I think it might be worth another go-round once things calm down. I rushed through the game in the interest of filling out the story; had I taken a bit more time and explored the world a bit more carefully, I'm sure I could easily stretch out the forty hours into eighty or more.
On the other hand, there is simply no way in hell I will ever nail a hundred-hit combo without having a human partner. The AI was absolutely no help in terms of getting a good Grade score. Sure, Raine did her job admirably with the healing-- she was even smart enough to resurrect characters without having to be told; and actually I just set her as a party member and forgot about her for 90% of the game-- but the other characters were of less than spectacular intellect. Case in point-- continually attacking enemies which were guarding. Sure, you could get lucky and manage a Guard Break, but it's easier and more stylish to wait for an opening and then let loose. On the other other hand, playing as any character except Lloyd was... damn near impossible.
So. Days yet remain before the fruits of the Great Ordering can be reaped. Until then, I have a few things I can occupy my time with. First and foremost is getting back into City of Heroes and FFXI. I logged in last night to change my account info, and remembered that at some inexplicable point Leota (FFXI) had indeed made it to level 19 as a Red Mage. All that I need to do now is get to 20, get to Jeuno, get my Chocobo license... OK, I still have quite a bit of work since all that hinges on getting to 20, and that hinges on finding a party that's not composed of asshats. So I think this weekend I'm going to work on getting Asplodaman (COH) to 12 so I can finally take part in some god damned Task Forces. And that will be much easier because experience is plentiful in Paragon City, flowing like water down from heaven.
Well, time for bed, then. Well... I dunno, I mean, I do have a franchise season started on ESPN NFL 2K5... one game couldn't hurt, could it?