Thursday, January 29, 2004

It's About Time

	Yeah, I guess it is about time for another myOtaku comment; I haven't done a real update for over a week now, so... Right now, I'm just sort of hanging around until I leave to go catch the bus that'll take me out to Butte College for my algebra class. I've got about ten minutes left to kill, so I figured I might as well type something up during that time. Don't really have anything better to do. Algebra has been going well. I don't know how, but I somehow didn't pass the assessment test for getting into Algebra II, so I got stuck in Algebra I. This means that pretty much everything we've been doing so far has just been review of stuff I already know, but hey, at least it's not hard. We've got out first quiz on Friday, and then the first exam the Friday after that, so I expect to do pretty well on those. On the gaming side of my life, I just couldn't make up my mind, so I've actually been playing through both The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link at the same time. So far I've done four of Zelda II's seven palaces; Parapa Palace, Midoro Palace, Island Palace, and Maze Palace. Next thing I'll be doing is going through the Palace on the Sea, and then I'll have Three-Eye Rock Palace and the Great Palace left to beat after that. In the original Zelda, I've done everything in the 1st quest besides going through Level 9 (Death Mountain), so I'm almost finished with the 1st quest. I'm not sure if I'm going to play through both quests, but I probably will end up doing it. I have to say, though, Zelda II gets a lot more enjoyable after you get past all the leveling. Pretty much, I just sat around before and after the second Palace and leveled four hours until I had life maxed at level 8, and both attack and magic at level 7. That, and also the addition of finally getting the Life Spell, has helped lower the game's difficulty level down to something that doesn't make me want to scream at the TV. (Currently I have all three stats maxed at level 8). Still, though, I'm betting the Great Palace is going to be an absolute pain in the butt to beat. Anyway, I need to go catch the bus now. No, I didn't have time to proofread this, so don't blame me for spelling/grammar errors, heh. I'll have to edit it when I get back or something. Later.

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Sunday, January 25, 2004

Don't make me go Zelda on you . . .

	As you can see, I've changed my introduction. I decided I'd had that "Nice to Meet You" Pikmin picture up there long enough, and I also wanted something Zelda related. So, having just worked on new result images for my What Color Link are You? quiz, the first thing that came to mind was that picture of the four Links all converging on an Octorok. I thought, "Yeah, that could work...but it needs some sort of caption to go with it, or else it isn't much of an intro." That's when I remembered some t-shirt, I think it was, that had on it "Don't make me go Zelda on you," so I tried putting that below the image. Normal black text looked a little plain, and bolding it didn't help much, so I tried coloring it. It still didn't look all that great, so I finally decided to try making the text part of the image and coloring it with a gradient. That, I'm happy to say, turned out quite good, and is the final result. So what do you think? Is change good? Or am I getting just a few too many Zelda: Four Swords images on my site? (It's only three--I really need four, since it's Four swords, heh).

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Now Playing #24: Metal Gear Solid 2 - Main Theme

	While I don't have a PS2 on which to play Metal Gear Solid 2, I do have two MGS2 soundtracks that I downloaded in mp3 format, and this song is on the first of them. The mp3 version really conveys a sense of urgency and awe if you really listen, but unfortunately, most of that is lost in the midi version. So although this midi version can't compare to the mp3 in quality, I still think it's decent, so on the site it goes. There should be a new midi on the site next Sunday, barring any unforeseen occurences.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2004

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition

	I recieved my copy of this awesome collection in the mail today, only a week after it was shipped. So far I've started games on the original The Legend of Zelda, and also on Zelda II: The Adventure of Link as I was planning to do. In Zelda I've done pretty much everything I can up until Level 4 on the first quest, and in Zelda II I've beaten Parapa Palace and now I'm leveling up a bit before I head into Midoro Palace. This is where I always stopped before whenever I started playing Zelda II, but this time I'm determined to see the game through to the end, even if it takes months. Anyway, I'm very impressed with the Collector's Edition disc. Both NES games look to have been ported over flawlessly, and the play control remains exactly the same, even with the GCN controller. (If you use the control cross, anyway; I haven't tried using the control stick yet). I also like the game selection menu. It's got an excellent version of the original Zelda theme--it's what they should have used for Ocarina of Time's overworld, instead of the way-too-different version that's in it. The little animations for the Zelda and Zelda II logos are also nice touches, and the Navi voices for when you open/close the little info box made me laugh. They really paid attention to the details. The little video that shows clips from all the various Zelda games was also a neat little adition, though since I already own and have beaten The Wind Waker, the demo of that isn't anything special. I did play it for a bit and let a couple Keese kill me so that I could see the game over screen, though. It was the first time I'd ever seen it, since I never even came close to dying when I played through TWW. I was sort of hoping Link would spin around a few times and then fall flat on his face like he does when you die in A Link to the Past, but he just falls on his back in TWW. I think that would've been a cool little classic touch to the game. ~_^

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Monday, January 19, 2004

Metroid Prime OST

	I finally was able to download the complete Metroid Prime OST in mp3 format last night. (I'm listening to it right now, in fact). As I've told a couple people over AIM, I've been waiting over a year, ever since the game was released on November 18, 2002, to be able to get it. Originally the problem was not having enough hard drive space. Then when I finally got another hard drive and had the space, the person that had offered to send the files to me (I think it was Semjaza) didn't have them anymore or something. This led to me searching off and on for some place to download the mp3s. As with just about any time trying to find a complete OST to download, it took a long, long time to find. I had pretty much just given up after doing tons of searches until I decided to go ahead and give it one last shot last night. And lo and behold, I found a site that had it! All 44 tracks of Metroid Prime music goodness, and I finally have them. Needless to say, I'm extremely happy to finally have the OST; Metroid Prime's music is some of the best game music I've ever had the pleasure of hearing, and now being able to listen to it any time I want is an utter joy. I really love being able to just sit down and listen to the music, since when you're playing the game you're not really focusing on the music, you're focusing on what you're doing. This way, though, I can sit down and just listen, taking in every sound and background rhythm... And in stereo sound, too, instead of the crappy mono that my TV puts out. It's amazing how much better it is this way. (Yes, I do take my videogame music seriously--maybe even a little too seriously--but I don't care).

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Sunday, January 18, 2004

Now Playing #23: Amy Grant - El Shaddai

	Some of you out there may be familiar with this song--maybe more than I think, maybe not--but I'm guessing that most people won't be. It's a Christian song that would fall under the "worship music" category, I believe. But anyway, I really like the tune of this song, so I decided to go ahead and put it up here. As always when I post a song that has words to it, I'll post the lyrics at the end of the post. And if you're wondering what "El Shaddai" means, you can find the definition here. There'll be another new midi next Sunday, just like always; come listen to it or else I'll send my flying monkey heads of doom after you. El Shaddai El Shaddai, El Shaddai El-Elyon na Adonai Age to age You're still the same By the power of the name El Shaddai, El Shaddai Erkahmka na Adonai We will praise and lift You high El Shaddai Through your love and through the ram You saved the son of Abraham Through the power of your hand Turned the sea into dry land To the outcast on her knees You were the God who really sees And by Your might You set Your children free El Shaddai, El Shaddai El-Elyon na Adonai Age to age You're still the same By the power of the name El Shaddai, El Shaddai Erkahmka na Adonai We will praise and lift You high El Shaddai. Through the years You made it clear That the time of Christ was near Though the people couldn't see What Messiah ought to be Though Your Word contained the plan They just would not understand Your most awesome work was done Through the frailty of Your Son El Shaddai, El Shaddai El-Elyon na Adonai Age to age You're still the same By the power of the name El Shaddai, El Shaddai Erkahmka na Adonai I will praise you till I die El Shaddai El Shaddai, El Shaddai El-Elyon na Adonai Age to age You're still the same By the power of the name El Shaddai, El Shaddai Erkahmka na Adonai I will praise you till I die El Shaddai

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Friday, January 16, 2004

New Post Background

	Well, the new customization features have inspired me to also add farther to my Otaku Life posts. Now, in addition to the border images, I've also got a background image. It was an absolute pain in the butt to get it to display right, taking an hour or so of messing with it, but me and my brother finally got it working. And then, of course, I spent another three hours messing with various backgrounds until I finally decided on this one. I think it was worth it, though; I really like how it turned out. I'll probably end up messing with the secondary background color and font colors some more tomorrow or the next day. I don't really want to leave the secondary background color the light blue that it is, but I haven't tried much else yet. Nothing that looked good and made the text in front of it readable, anyway. There needs to be an option to change the font color of the text in the little info sidebar thing. I also should probably redo the border images since they look really crappy compared to the two background images. Originally, when I first added the borders, I meant to go back and tweak the images but I never got around to it. The top and button really aren't very good quality at all and the two side images could blend into each other better when repeating. So maybe I'll finally get around to it. But anyway, back to the original subject: What do you think of the new background? Is it good? bad? ugly? Drop me a comment to let me know, and don't spare the juicy details. (I'm really tired, lol).

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Sunday, January 11, 2004

Now Playing #22: Chrono Trigger - Battle With Magus

	I'm actually on time this week--amazing, isn't it? A song as good as this one deserves to be on time, too. The Battle With Magus theme from Chrono Trigger has always been my favorite song in the game, which is saying a lot since I absolutely love most of Chrono Trigger's music. And not only is the song wonderful, I think it also suits Magus quite well, especially during the duel between him and Frog. That's one of the most memorable points in the game for me. Maybe I can get back in the habit of being on time with the midis; check back next Sunday to find out if I manage it.

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Thursday, January 8, 2004

Recent Happenings

	Eh, there's not really one focused topic for this post, so I've got a general, catch-all title. In other words, get ready for some near incomprehensible rambling that may or may not make any sense at all. Whee. First off, I'm in the middle of straightening out my sleeping schedule again. It's currently about 2:45 AM, and I got up maybe a half hour ago, after going to sleep in the afternoon. Hopefully after today it will be straightened out, if I can stay awake until this evening and then go to sleep at a "normal" time. That would be nice, considering I'm probably going to be going hiking on Friday with a few friends. The current plan is to go hiking in the afternoon, split up and go home and get ready for the Friday night Bible study, go to that, and then have everyone go back to either my house or the house of one of my friends for the night. The occasion, if anyone's wondering, is both for my birthday and the birthday of Samgee Gamwise, a member of OtakuBoards that I know in person, who was born only ten days after me. OlgaTheDwarf, another friend, will also be coming. Maybe we'll take some pictures of all three of us together and post 'em, heh. So yeah, going back to the main point of this paragraph, it would be nice if I could actually wake up in the morning and not be falling asleep during the hike. I'm actually really looking forward to this, probably more than either Christmas or my family birthday celebration. It's been quite a while since we've all gotten together and done something (me, Samgee, and Olga, that is). At least a few months, I'd say. It'll be fun to play Mario Kart: Double Dash!! together, especially on cooperative mode, heh. I can just imagine Samgee and Olga going together on the same kart against me. Speaking of Double Dash, I've decided that the next piece of videogame equipment that I buy is going to be a GCN broadband adapter so that I can play MKDD online with people. (Not to mention normal LAN play with other friends that have it). While I still don't find it as fun as battle mode in MK64 was, battle mode in MKDD has been growing on me after playing three-player for a while, and I'd really like to be able to play multiplayer more often. I still think classic Balloon Battle is better than either of the two new modes, though. Bomb-omb Blast is fun for a little while, but unless you have at least three people that are all about the same skill level, it gets boring pretty fast. The randomness of items in Balloon Battle can give someone that's not quite as good more of a fighting chance, and there's just generally more variety to the gameplay. In Bomb-omb Blast, you've only got one kind of weapon to dodge, whereas in Balloon Battle you've got bouncing and homing projectiles, spread firing weapons, traps, explosives, items that let you steal balloons... There's just a lot more to it, which makes it a lot more enjoyable for me. And with the mediocre battle arenas in MKDD, it really needs that shot of variety. Lets see, what else was I going to talk about in this post...? Ah, yes, I took the reading, English, and math assessment tests on Monday, which I had to take in order to take classes out at a nearby community college. I'm pretty sure I got an A in all three of them, especially the math one (for Algebra I), which is the one that really counts since I'm going to be trying to get into an Algebra II class. I'm thinking I quite possibly could have aced it, heh--there was only one question that I wasn't sure about. So, I don't think I'll have any problems with being allowed to take Algebra II as long as there are open spots. Being in concurrent enrollment sucks because everyone and their dog gets to register for classes before me. I should be able to find out my test results either today or tomorrow, though, so we'll see. Hmm...bored... I don't really want to stop writing, because that would mean I'd have to find something else to do. I don't know what to say...but I'll say it anyway. Is it life, or just to play my worries away? Oh well, it's no better to be safe than sorry. (I've been listening to the song Take On Me way too often, lol. Like, right now, in fact). I guess I could use this opportunity to post another shameless plug, for my second 1-Up Gaming review. This one's on Metroid Fusion, so be sure and check it out. Awesome game--one of the best on GBA, I think. Oh yeah, and to guylover14 who signed my guestbook, I'm 16. 2,004 - 1,988 = 16. So there you go, heh. *wonders if I have another stalker* ~_^

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Wednesday, January 7, 2004

1-Up Gaming

	I've started writing for Semjaza's gaming site, 1-Up Gaming, which re-opened a couple weeks ago. My first article is a review of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and I'm going to be writing other reviews over the coming weeks. I also just remembered Semjaza asking me a while ago about maybe writing a Zelda timeline thing, so I may end up doing that also. It's nice to be writing for a gaming site again--I still miss ShineGet.com. So yeah, this is basically just another shameless plug, heh. Though seriously, if you're thinking about getting FFTA, I'd suggest reading the review. I went over a lot of the gameplay details that I think are important, so it gives a pretty good idea of what you can expect from the game.

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