12 posts from 2006

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.

Back to Basics

Christina Aguilera - Back to Basics (4 Stars)

Possibly my favorite Christina album to date and a rare indulgence in American music. It is definitely good for getting work done because it has a beautiful subtle way of getting you absorbed without being completely distracting. The lyrics are very today, but the feel is completely old style tribute periods like the 1930s. Anything that can draw inspiration from the past while still being modern doesn't have a hard time finding it's way onto my like list.

Recommended tracks: Ain't No Other Man, Still Dirrty, Nasty Naughty Boy

Paris

Paris Hilton - Paris (3 Stars)

Ugh kind of embarassing, but I have honestly heard worse. Although the vocals are not bad, something about the sound seems kind of artificial. Most of the songs are quite catchy and dance-y if you don't mind their shallow nature and content. I'm also not much a fan of the double meanings in her lyrics, but overall the album is relatively solid and goes with how she presents herself. I don't think it's the travesty to humanity that people make it out to be, but neither am I particularly impressed.

Recommended tracks: Turn It Up, Stars Are Blind, I Want You

As Cruel as School Children

Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children (3 Stars)

Very humorous in it's presentation of everyday school related subjects, going though 1st Period, Lunch, and Detention. Where Linkin Park was rock with a smattering of rap, this is a sort of rap style with interspersed rock elements. But what I think I like most about it is that it makes me laugh and it is a style that isn't tiresome as it is different with each track and not a rap style with the usual subject matters.

Recommened tracks: 1st Period: The Queen and I; 4th Period: Clothes Off!; 6th Period: Viva La White Girl; 12th Period: Sacndalous Scholastics

Snakecharm (Kiesha'ra (Paperback))

Snakecharm by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (3 Stars)

Second book of what I assume to be a three part series which I began reading back in middle school. The protagonists are back at trying to maintain a stable peace between the two races of snake shapeshifters and the avian shapeshifters. It sounds a bit absurd, but I love the fantasy worlds she creates which make it a complete guilty pleasure book. I find her style to be that of really good fiction/fanfiction so it is very creative. At the same time, I dislike that all the characters are very fanservice/Mary Sue/Gary Stu who are beautiful, strong, mysterious, with magic powers etc etc all at the same time without major personality flaws. And resolution to problems can sometimes magically show up. I often expect much more resistance, obstacles, and plot twists, so I suppose in a way I'm always surprised that things end perfectly sometimes. But if I had to read something frivolous, the I couldn't imagine anything else really.

Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants)

The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (2 Stars)

I seem to be trying to catch up with all the easy reads I've been meaning to do this past year but never had time to do.

I am stilll completely lost on the appeal of these books, but I do find the writing style to be good for a teen novel, simply because it is able to express some observations that I mean to say but fail to communicate.

One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)

I've discovered in reading this book that I am quite bad at appreciating things for their thematic value or their symbolism. At most I may be able to spot a moral or intended message, but I tend to take everything I read quite literally and forget that the content of books are molded to better express the author's intention.

Beginning slowly, I found the book went much faster after you could tell the characters apart. Initially I believed the book to be a tracking of the history of one family as The Good Earth was, but upon pondering the events and the title, it finally connected in me. The experiences portrayed were not a means of showing members of the family, but in how they each had their issues with solitude from both each other and what they wanted.

I really wish I figured that out earlier when I still thought I was reading a book about a lineage of backwoods incestuous crazy people.