我的心中的日月

So I'm about 50 hours into the game, but I feel as if I've barely gotten into the story plot of the game.

Plot/Story

• Plot [so far] is an improvement from X and X-2 but doesn't quite hit the VII level. That's not to say X was bad, but it was a pretty straight forward story/quest while VII left me scratching my head at some parts. XII is somewhere in between, although probably leaning towards X.
• I appreciate the emphasis they put on story telling with the text interludes. It adds back the "far and distant" aspect of the fantasy story.
• Good presentation of both sides of the conflict to where you could sympathize with the bad guys. Plus it's nice that they get some story development too.
• Lots of very subtle scenes that somehow manage to speak volumes of the characters.
• Uh...why is it like Star Wars? A lot like Star Wars.
  

• Way too much walking. Maps are much bigger and more spread out. I guess you could just teleport.
  
• I'm disappointed I haven't gotten to use the airship as much, but maybe that comes later.
• Interesting changes with Chocobos, but I hate rushing everywhere because you now have a limited time to ride the ones you rent.
• Lots of floating cities, but very pretty floating cities.
  
• Weather variation between maps, which kind of interesting, although I hate snowstorms and sandstorms.
• One analog stick controls movement, and the other controls camera view. It took me ages to figure out that everything works better if you walk back and forth with the movement control and make the characters turn left and right by using the camera to change what direction they go.
• At least all the places are familiar from FF-tactics
  

• More MMORPG style battle system. Apparently like XI, but I haven't played that so it was confusing for me at first.
• Magic isn't that useful, at least not black magic.
• They've renamed a lot of the attacks and spells so I have to think twice to see if I'm learning the right abilities.
• License Points (kind of like AP Points) are used unlock and learn abilities on the license board. Each character has the same board and can learn all the same abilities (except quickenings (overdrives) and summons) It's much more efficient in that you can create more well balanced characters. Where as in X you sacrificed strength and health to train magic (or vise versa) you can now have fighting characters who know for example some white magic on the side.
• The downside is that some of your characters overlap in usefulness, where as in past games your team had very distinct roles and jobs assigned. But you can still pick and choose what areas to focus on.
  
• I also dislike having to get the ability to equip weapons and armor with license points.

• For some reason, I don't like Vaan or Basch that much. Perhaps they are too angsty for me sometimes, or I just don't like how they dress.
• Ashe is a great female protagonist, very determined and commanding. I do dislike the chasing after a dead loved on aspect, but it gives her some weakness and a means of hesitation.
• Fran...so much fanservice, but she is decently interesting in her abilities and history because she's the only nonhuman on your team. She also speaks with some kind of subtle British dialect (or that's what it sounds like to me)
  
• I love Balthier's accent though and how he speaks as if his life were simply a grand theatre performance.
• Characters tend to happen in twos: Vaan-Penelo, Ashe-Basch, and Fran-Balthier, Larsa-Vayne, Basch-Gabranth, etc. Not pairings, but each person tends to have their counterpart who happens to share a similar history or reason for being where they are.
  

• Amazing.
  

Avex: Twinkle Preview (.asf format)

How many languages can you speak?  Which languages can you read or understand?

English, Spanish, Chinese (writing and reading limited), and a smattering of fangirl Japanese that you just have to pick up over the years.

I'm oddly not suck-tastic in English, but I can't say it wasn't a bit uphill trying to understand the English spoken at home and the English of the real world. Reading is the way to go. I may be completely neutral on a lot of things, but books are something I will waste breath to debate.

I remember starting out reading very early in late-Preschool/early-Kindergarten and they stuck me with the advanced readers. Then I got into the RL Program and failed every reading comprehension test for the first year. I think that's the only time I've ever gotten a D. So I didn't really read anything for the remainder of elementary school, except Greek mythology and folktales. I'm kind of glad actually. I made an attempt to go back and read the "childhood classics" that I had forsaken and thought most of them sucked; although it might have just been a few years too late.

They started teaching us Spanish about 2-3 times a week when I got into RL. It was little things like vocabulary and basic phrases, but poor grammar foundations in conjugation. Out of all my teachers, I've had one non-native speaker and I'm still not very good at the language. This is the first year I'm not in a Spanish class, which really is a pity T_T I was looking forward to AP Spanish.

I used to do Chinese school and I was like the best person in the class because everyone else was unmotivated, simply because they were like 8 years old and it wasted a lot of Saturday time. I liked it, even though I didn't get that far at all. Now I wish I had stuck with it longer. But now I mostly just watch dramas and movies for my Chinese fix.

What was the last game you played?

Probably Final Fantasy X during the last few weeks of summer. I stopped playing at the Jecht/Sin battle and plan to come back to it later. It should be enough of a FF fix until XII comes out. I pre-ordered it in February and it doesn't come out until Oct. 31 >_<!

My favorite YUI songs. Like you will not believe.

The childlike quality in her music is more that it is very open and expressive. At first, I found her voice to be very weird, but later it grew on me where I could see how people found her style to be unique enough to stand out in their mind. It just leaves you completely entranced sometimes.

02._Feel_my_Soul

YUI

sotto tsubuyaita kimi no kotoba  you say it
ugokidase  mienai kedo  michi wa hirakareteru
  Your words that were softly whispered, you say it
  I begin to move, unseen, but the path is being shined on

I feel my soul　Take me your way  sou mogakinagara mo
kitto kono mama  zutto aruite yukeru
  I feel my soul　Take me your way  even while I struggle,
  I'm sure that I can go on walking forever as I

05._Life

YUI

doro darake yo  najimenai tokai de
onaji you ni waraenai  utsumuite aruita no
isogiashi de  surechigau hitotachi
"yume wa kanaimashita ka?"  atashi mada mogaiteru

  In the city I'm not used to that's full of dirt,
  I can't laugh the same and I walked with my head down
  People pass by in a quick pace
  I ask "has their dreams come true?" But I'm still struggling

12._Tokyo

YUI

suminareta  kono heya wo  dete yuku hi ga kita
atarashii tabidachi ni  mada tomadotteru

eki made mukau BASU no naka
tomodachi ni ME-RU shita

asa no HO-MU de  denwa mo shite mita
demo nanka  chigau ki ga shita

furui GITA- wo hitotsu motte kita
shashin wa zenbu  oite kita

What books are on your nightstand?

I don't actually use my night stand, but instead all the books I'm reading (or about to read as the title suggests) kind of sleep in bed with me. Uncomfortable? Eh maybe, but I like jumping into bed and bumping into a book I haven't read yet. A huge batch of books I put on hold came all at once, so now my bed is almost too full for me.

In the order by which I will probably read it:
Madame Secretary by Madeleine Albright (Currently Reading)
Young Warriors: Tales of Strength edited by Tamora Pierce (Currently Reading)
Moment in Peking by Lin Yutang (Currently Reading)
Shanghai: The Decadent City by Stella Dong (Currently Reading)
The Light of the Oracle by Victoria Hanley
The Secret War in Shanghai by Bernard Wasserstein
The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory
My American Journey by Colin Powell

Edit:// OH! Wait

Speaking of reading, this article is a good example of Opinion writing, burn on Dan Brown, and all around pick me up for a faltering ego.
Writing Off Reading

Ayumi Hamasaki - Beautiful Fighters [Blue Bird Single] (4 Stars)

I know that a big star like Ayumi probably has like a bajillion dollar budget to do these things, and it is very apparent in videos like this one.I  actually didn't like this song when I first heard it. I brushed it off as another upbeat happy song, but videos do a lot of change my mind when it comes to music.

Normally people trying to be overly cute or hilarious doesn't amuse me, but through the shenanigans of her and the rest of the girls I really began to appreciate the meaning (of the video at least) more. Even though people can be complete screw ups, everyone is secretly a beautiful fighter on the inside.

"We are Beautiful Fighters
To be honest
There are some terrible days
But the girls who live
Without stopping nor giving up are
Beautiful Fighters"

Ayaka 絢香- Real Voice [Real Voice Single] (4 Stars)

Real Voice presents a lot of opposites back and forth, but more or less gives a good performance view of Ayaka and her trademark vocals which I highly recommend.