Monday, May 3, 2004

Final Fantasy XI - Reconsidering

	I've caught the "Final Fantasy Fever" once again from reading more about Final Fantasy XI and the upcoming expansion Chains of Promathia. And what makes it all the more enticing is the fact that I can now actually afford the monthly fee. But, as always, there are a few problems that are keeping me from actually going out and buying the game. First off, even though I'm making enough money per month to make the $14 monthly fee bearable, there's still the $50 price tag on the game itself. At my current income, that's a month's "wages" right there, after the cut for the DSL. And right now, I do not have that much money to spare. Once my brother pays me, as mentioned in the "Patience for a PS2" post I would, but. . . . I have other pressing expenses besides the DSL. First and foremost, I am going to buy that PS2 -- FFXI will be there for a long while yet, but I'm not always going to be able to get a PS2 for $40. Second, Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and the original Legend of Zelda (on the GBA) are both being released in June. Those, also, come before FFXI. So where does this leave me financially? Broke, that's where. But okay, that's only June. . . . What about July, after I'd saved up some more money? I'd have to wait another month, but then again, with two Zelda games to play I think I'll be plenty occupied during that time. Still though, there's the problem of the $50 price just for the game itself remains. (Why can't it be $30? They're already getting the monthly fee, dangit!) There's a possible solution to this, but it's by no means a sure thing. That is, I've offered my brother this deal: He pays for half of the game ($25) and after that he only has to pay $1 per month -- the price of his extra character. I'd front the entire base fee plus the cost of my own character ($14), and he'd be able to keep his character for as long as he wants for only $1 per month. Now, that may not sound like a good deal for me, but it suits my situation. I can afford the $14 a month I'd be paying, but I can't afford the $50 all at once that it'd take to buy the game. I will, however, be able to afford $25 for the game, and then we'd also get the first month free so that if worst came to worst, I'd have time to get the money for the first fee if I didn't already have it. And also, if you look at it like I'm paying the full $50 for the game and my brother is paying half of the total monthly fee for a while, it'd be like he'd be paying half of the fee for three and a half months. That's not too bad, really. As you can see, I like scheming out how I might get Final Fantasy XI -- heck, I've been doing this since before the game's US release -- but through all of it I've still been asking myself, "Will it be worth it?" Having $41 left over per month after expenses instead of $27 would go a long ways in letting me buy more console games (and for saving up for new systems), but if I played FFXI for a long time it could be worth it. And on one hand, I've heard people say they were really disappointed by the game, but on the other I've heard about a lot of people really enjoying the game. Even though I'm more inclined towards getting FFXI now than when I was considering it before, I'm still torn by indecision.

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Sunday, May 2, 2004

Now Playing #38

	Artist: Pat Benatar Track: Love Is a Battlefield Time: 2:50 Size: 22.9 KB Really, this midi doesn't do the song justice, but it's the best version I could find. The actual song's tune, combined with the flow of the lyrics, is really good. Next to "Invincible," this is my favorite song from Pat Benatar -- at least out of the ones I've heard, anyway. If you can find it, I'd recommend getting the actual song if you like the midi version. Love Is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield You're making me go, then making me stay Why do you hurt me so bad? It would help me to know, do I stand in your way Or am I the best thing you've had? Believe me, believe me, I can't tell you why But I'm trapped by your love, and I'm chained to your side We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield When I'm losin' control, will you turn me away Or touch me deep inside? And if all this gets old, will it still feel the same? There's no way this will die But if we get much closer, I could lose control And if your heart surrenders, you'll need me to hold We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong Searchin' our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield

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Saturday, May 1, 2004

Patience for a PS2

	This is starting to annoy me. . . . All I need is $40 to buy that PS2 I mentioned in an earlier post. Now, normally, $40 wouldn't be too hard to get. Now that I'm mowing the lawn once a week, I'm making about $60 per month from doing that, other chores, and cleaning up the dog crap for my brother. But yet, circumstances seem to have conspired against me, as I can't seem to get $40 without some other expense popping up. First off, my brother owes me $80, soon to be $90 when I clean up the dog crap some time this weekend. . . . But he forgot his checkbook the last time he came up from the bay area for a visit. This is the key factor for me not having the money. If I could get payed for cleaning up the dog crap these last four months, all would be good. But that still leaves $40 a month that I get from my parents, so what's the problem? I should just be able to wait a couple months in order to save up that much, even if I am paying $12.50 per month for the DSL. Well, the problem is, after I got my share of the last two months' DSL bills payed, I only had $15 left. And now that I'm getting another $20 from my parents this week, I have the expenses of my mom's birthday (which is actually today) and then mother's day, which are only about a week apart. Which means that that $20 is going to be disappearing shortly. There are way too many birthdays and holidays packed into the second quarter of the year, heh. Talking to the guy last night at the Friday night Bible study, I apparently have until June to buy it from him before he leaves. (I forget where he's going, but it's not close). So here's to hoping I can get my brother to cough up the money before then, heh. This is just too good of an opportunity to miss; a PS2, five games, a multitap, and three controllers -- all for only $40 -- is just insane.

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Thursday, April 29, 2004

The DailyOtaku vol. 3

	Yesterday I finished up another DailyOtaku article and posted it on OtakuBoards. It's been about four months since the second article, so I figure the thread was well overdue for another addition. And I'm even thinking that, if I can come up with another good subject, I might write another one pretty soon here. Judging for the responses to the three so far, I think it could get quite the following if I actually wrote them periodically. The problem is that it's hard to just sit down and write one whenever I want. While the articles aren't made up entirely of jokes -- they report on, for the most part, actual happenings -- that is the main focus of them. And it can be hard to maintain a high level of humor while also trying to maintain a balance between fact and fiction. I like to try and write the articles so that, at their best, the reader won't be too sure whether almost any given part is real or made up. First off I have to have a good subject on which to "report." Next I have to make sure that I'm going to be able to make whatever I'm reporting on into a humorous event. And then I have to actually write the article, being sure to keep in mind what I talked about in the above paragraph. And then in addition to making sure things are actually funny, I also have to try and keep peoples' "quotes" as realistic as I can. When all is said and done, it's kind of surprising how much I put into DailyOtaku articles, considering that I started off doing the first one as a joke to coincide with a supposed DailyOtaku cover that Charles mocked up and posted on his myOtaku site. At the time, I didn't even think about writing any more after that first one. Heck, I wasn't even planning on posting it on OtakuBoards at first; just posting a comment on Charles' myOtaku with a link to the text file.

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Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Four Swords Adventures Wallpaper

	Yesterday, a dilemma arose: I was getting tired of my Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles wallpaper, having been using it for a few months straight, and I wanted some Zelda: Four Swords Adventures wallpaper to replace it. The problem was, I have yet to find any ZFSA wallpaper, so I was faced with a decision; go without, or make my own. And of course, Four Swords art being my favorite kind of official art to work with, I immediately started work on the first of two wallpapers. The first one actually isn't very complex; just some art of the four different colored Links in the cross formation (each facing outward in a + shape) on a background that I made. The background is a lot like that of the banner I'm using on OtakuBoards. It's a four color (green, red, blue, purple) gradient in a pattern running from the top-right corner to the bottom-left corner, with the painted, brush stroke look that I like to use together with Four Swords art. And down in the bottom-left corner, I've also got the Four Swords Adventures logo. The second one I ended up liking more than the first. It features a single color background of a yellow-ish color, still with the brush stroke effect. Around the edge is a black, charcoal-looking border. Inside, over on the right is a picture of Princess Zelda, and to the left is a Triforce picture that's had some effects used on it to make it sort of blend with the background. And the same art of the four Links is overlayed on top of it, and again the ZFSA logo is down in the bottom-left corner. I've submitted both to theOtaku.com's Wallpapers section, so once they're added you'll be able to download and use them yourself if you'd like.

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Monday, April 26, 2004

Mmm . . . Cake. . . .

	After church today (well, technically yesterday), me and my parents stopped off at the grocery store to pick up a few things, and I suggested getting a couple yellow cake mixes. So we did, and I ended up making a yellow cake with chocolate frosting in the evening. Anymore I'm about the only one in the house that makes yellow or chocolate cakes, so if I want one, I have to make it myself. Even though others are more than glad to help me eat it. But hey, they pay for the ingredients, so I guess I can't complain. So yes: "Mmm, cake." If there's one thing I like for dessert, it's a good cake, heh. (Maybe I really am the Cake Eater. . . . And no, you're not meant to get that joke). And my frosting making skills have been improving each time I make one; this is the third time I've made the chocolate frosting myself. I've found that adding about three times as much butter as I think is needed works well, heh. Also, it should be better once it sits overnight and has a chance to cool off and harden up some more. And also, there might be coffee in the morning to go with it. That's always a plus. Also of note, a friend came over after church and we played Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles some more. And I have to say, that game can get hard. When we were fighting Behemoths in this one dungeon (I forget the name), we had to be really careful. That is, until we figured out that we could kill them just by having one person (my friend) stand in front of it and attack while the other person (me) stood back a ways to constantly cast Cure on the attacker. But of course, when four ghost Flans are also thrown into the mix, that no longer worked, which is when it got crazy. It was a couple minutes of running, attacking, healing, reviving, and dodging through narrow gaps between enemy attacks for a couple minutes before we finally managed to kill all four Flans and the Behemoth. Also, the two bosses that we fought were pretty hard. The first was a ghost dragon that had to be hit with a Holy spell before any decent amount of damage could be done to it. And of course, in multiplayer, a spell fusion of the Life spell and any of the three elementals is required to cast Holy. So in order to hit this thing, we both had to make sure we 1) had full life, and if not, we healed since both of us had a Cure Magicite, 2) make sure there wasn't a smaller monster coming after us, and 3) cast both spells at the same time, on the same spot in order to do the spell fusion. After that was done, my friend would usually attack with magic while I'd cast Cure on us. But even then, the effect of the Holy spell would only last a little while, so we had to repeat this process a number of times until it finally died. The second boss was this big demon thing that had a shield protecting it. We still had to hit it with a Holy spell in order to do much damage, but before we could do that, we had to hit a switch on one side of the room with a Thunder spell and then a normal attack, and then do the same with another switch on the other side of the room, only with a Blizzard spell. So, since I had both Thunder and Blizzard equiped, I did that and my friend carried the Crystal Chalice back and forth while I was hitting the switches. So after we would take down its shield, we'd run up to it and hit it with a Holy spell, then proceed to hack away at it with normal attacks. (Both of us are better with physical attacks than we are with magic). At that point, unless a smaller enemy respawned and started attacking us, my friend would attack constantly and I'd switch back and forth between attacking and healing. Yet another trick was thrown in, however; the thing would teleport across the room a short time after being hit with the Holy spell, so we had to get in as much damage as we could before it did that. After a couple times of chasing this thing back and forth across the room, it gets its shield back, and we have to repeat the entire process over again. . . . And then again, before it finally died. And I can say right now that, if me and my friend hadn't had two levels plus that ghost dragon boss in which to practice doing spell fusions to cast Holy, we would've certainly died at least once. Admittedly, these were a couple of the later dungeons, but dang. I mean, we were only on the first cycle for them. It makes me wonder just how hard the second and third cycles are. I guess we really aren't anywhere near being strong enough to beat the game, though. We'll probably have to go back through the earlier dungeons again at least once in order to become powerful enough to take on the last dungeon. Not that we can even get to it yet. We have a ways to go before that even. . . . Though of course, all this is talking about the save file that my character is on. My friend has a different file where he's playing through by himself, in single player mode, and he's quite a bit farther. As always, I can't wait till the next time we can get together and play Crystal Chronicles. It's become my second favorite multiplayer GCN game I think, second only to Super Smash Bros. Melee. I just wish we could find one or two other people to play together with; three and four player has got to be even more fun.

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Sunday, April 25, 2004

Now Playing #37

	Band: A-ha Track: Take On Me Time: 3:47 Size: 39.6 KB The first time I heard this song was in a little freeware game called Zeldarius, which I've talked about in a few older posts. This same midi version was the background music during the second level, and I liked the song even though I didn't know what it was. Then, months later, I happened to stumble upon the song in my brother's mp3 collection and recognized it as the same thing, and I've loved the song ever since. Don't ask me why, because I don't even really know -- I just do. The song's lyrics are as follows: Take On Me by A-ha We're talking away I don't know what I'm to say I'll say it anyway Today's another day to find you Shying away I'll be coming for your love, okay? Take on me (take on me) Take me on (take on me) I'll be gone In a day or two So needless to say I'm odds and ends But I'll be Stumbling away Slowly learning that life is okay Say after me: "It's no better to be safe than sorry" Take on me (take on me) Take me on (take on me) I'll be gone In a day or two Oh, the things that you say Is it life or Just to play my worries away? You're all the things I've got to remember You're shying away I'll be coming for you anyway Take on me (take on me) Take me on (take on me) I'll be gone In a day... (Take on me, take on me) (Take me on, take on me) I'll be gone (take on me) In a day... (take me on) Take on me (take on me) Take on me (take me on) Take on me

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Thursday, April 22, 2004

Caption Contest / The Savage Labyrinth

	No, I'm not talking about the caption contest thread on OtakuBoards; my youth group has had a caption contest going for a while now, and the winners (one for each of the two pictures) were announced tonight. The prize for submitting a winning caption was a $15 gift certificate good at any of the shops in the local mall, and I guess my caption for the first picture was good enough to win. So now I've got an extra $15 to spend in GameStop, heh. I'm thinking that I'm going to wait until I get the money for that PS2 (my brother really needs to hurry up and pay me) and then put it towards getting a PS2 game. (Possibly Final Fantasy X?) I figure I should be able to get an older game for around $20-$30, so $15 will take a good chunk out of that. In The Wind Waker, I acquired and deciphered two more Triforce Charts today, as well as getting the Ghost Ship Chart. (Which will allow me to get another Triforce Chart whenever I get around to tracking down the Ghost Ship). I also got two more figurines: the Moblin figurine and the Wizzrobe figurine. And again, I took a picture of a Darknut thinking it was a Mighty Darknut (it was even red this time!), yet Carlov wouldn't take it, saying he had already made a figurine of the same thing. Going through the Savage Labyrinth on Outset Island (to get one of the Triforce Charts and a Piece of Heart) was fun. Now, for anyone that doesn't know, the Savage Labyrinth is 50 -- I'm pretty sure it's 50 -- rooms of enemies with breaks every ten rooms. None of the enemies drop anything when you kill them, so you the only life you get back while inside the dungeon is either from a couple hearts in the "break rooms" or from potions/fairies that you've brought with you. Getting through this place is one of the hardest parts of the game, though you're only required to go through the first 30 fights to get the Triforce Chart. The first three levels, corresponding with the first three dungeons, I breezed through without ever taking more than one and a quarter hearts worth of damage on each. (Which I got back in the break rooms afterwards). Then the Earth Temple level was just a pain in the butt; Stalfos are, and will forever be, my most hated enemy in The Wind Waker simply because there are times when you just can't avoid taking the hits when you encounter them in groups. This is where I took the majority of the damage over the last two levels. But then when I got to the Wind Temple level, I just kicked so much ass. A room with three Darknuts and two Wizzrobes? No problem -- I did it without taking damage, heh. In the end, I could've completed the whole thing without ever using any potions, but I was in a hurry to finish it up and go help with dinner, so I ended up using one helping of my Elixer Soup during that last fight (which was against five Darknuts all at once) to let me do double damage until I got hit again. And by the time I did get hit again, they were almost dead, and I had had enough life left before using the Elixer Soup that taking the hit wouldn't have mattered. Heck, I could've taken three hits and still have survived; I had about six hearts left when I used the Elixer Soup.

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Monday, April 19, 2004

Molgera, Protector of the Seal

	I finally found time to play more of The Wind Waker yesterday. During that time I beat the Wind Temple as I had planned on doing and I've come to to the conclusion that, after now having played through each dungeon twice, the Wind Temple is my favorite in the game. For me, it has the best puzzles, best enemies, and just best overall design. It's also nice and big; the first three dungeons, especially the Tower of the Gods (which is the only dungeon in the game I was at all disappointed with), seem kind of small in comparison to the two temples. I like the very open feel of the Wind Temple, especially in the really tall central room. It's not about figuring out where you need to go, but how to get there, which I like. And I don't think there's any other combination of enemies that I like fighting more than Darknuts and Wizzrobes. Preferably Red Wizzrobes, so that they'll summon even more enemies into the battle. I also added two more figurines to my collection; Molgera and Red Wizzrobe are now mine, though the actual title of the Molgera one is "Molgera, Protector of the Seal," such as the title says. The Jalhalla figurine is the same way, so I'm assuming it means the seals on the Earth and Wind Temples. I'm annoyed, however, because I took a pictograph of a Darknut, thinking it was a Mighty Darknut, but it just turned out to be a normal one with a funky helmet. So one of my three pictograph slots was wasted, when I could've otherwised used it to get a shot of a Floormaster. But anyway, I've now beaten both the Earth Temple and the Wind Temple, restoring the power to repel evil to the Master Sword, so now I just have six more pieces of the Triforce of Courage to collect -- though before that, I'll need to get five more Triforce Charts -- and then I'll be able to go down to Ganon's Castle. Though of course I still won't be beating the game for a good while yet. Besides the remaining Triforce Shards, I'm going to be doing all the rest of the sidequest stuff, as well as taking a tour of all 49 squares on the map in order to get anything I might have missed earlier and to finally finish my own Sea Chart I've been in the process of making for almost a year now. (When finished, it will show the location of every island, platform, submarine, and Big Octo). In other news, my parents finally made me go to the doctor and get something for my acne. So now I've got an antibiotic pill I'm taking twice a day for five days, then once per day after that, as well as some antibiotic gel stuff I'm supposed to put on my face twice a day after I wash it. So yeah, I guess we'll see what that does; I don't really care too much.

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Sunday, April 18, 2004

Now Playing #36

	Game: Diddy Kong Racing Track: Pirate Lagoon Time: 2:32 Size: 57.4 KB Ah, Diddy Kong Racing, the second game I bought for the N64. Now I'm kind of regretting having sold it, since listening to the midis I just downloaded kind of made me want to play it again. . . . But I don't regret it that much. Anyway, I was having a hard time deciding which of the midis to put on here, since there were three that I really liked. In the end, though, it came down to the Pirate Lagoon theme. Even though Pirate Lagoon isn't exactly my favorite course in the game, it has one of the better tunes in the game. (Spaceport Alpha is my favorite course, just to let people know). Though actually, if the Walrus Cove theme hadn't been too big -- some 70 KBs -- I would've posted that instead. I swear, ever since I first heard that song, it's been stuck in my head; even now, years later, I occasionally find myself humming bits of it. Oh, and as a bit of a side note, I finally rounded out the second row of Shameless Plugs. I'd been waiting for Tori to get a button, heh.

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