ria_oaks: (Default)
ria_oaks ([personal profile] ria_oaks) wrote2006-11-14 01:53 pm

FF ramblings

I happened to check Rpgamer.com a few minutes ago and noticed that FFIII:DS comes out today (I haven't really been keeping track...). I'm probably just being too over-emotional, but this day feels rather historic in the RPG world - the last Final Fantasy that wasn't released in the US is finally here. I checked, and it's been approximately 16.5 years since FFIII was released in Japan - well, better late than never, I guess. XD I mean sure, I played it years ago on a translated ROM and I won't be buying this version anytime soon (lack of a DS... and lack of time to play. woe.), but it's still cool to think that it's here. It's sort of a pity that the original version of the game will never make it here, most likely (how hard would it have been to include the orignal version in the new game, really...?), but the new version looks pretty spiffy. Hopefully I'll get to play it someday.

3 FF games in the past 2 weeks, 2 of which are new to the US (FFXII and FFIII:DS) and one of which only ever made it here in a mangled fashion (FFV Advance) - makes me miss the days when I could play all the time... I haven't really been into gaming as much the last few years, largely because of a. lack of time during school, b. other interests take up my free time, and c. i'm lazy., but I still get excited hearing about games and still want to play when I get the chance. I'm way behind on all the games I'm playing, but I still plan to ask for either FFXII or Disgaea 2 for Christmas (leaning towards the latter - FFXII will be easy enough to find for years to come, and it'll get cheap fairly quickly, whereas Disgaea 2 will start disappearing soon...). I am sorely tempted by FFXII, though - it's been getting fantastic reviews, and hell, it's FFXII! We've been waiting for this game for years, and it's finally here... and I really can't justify the time or money to get it. Part of me, too, is still a bit uncertain about it - but most of the reviews have said that the game is nothing like (and much better than) anything we've seen of it to this point, including the demo. I plan to give it a chance eventually, but can't do it yet.

And... I'm procrastinating. Back to my Farscape paper... it's due tomorrow at 9, so I need to get moving. Up to 5 pages, need about 12 - and I'm still blathering on about the context, haven't even gotten to analysing the series itself! Ehehehe. baaack to work.

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 07:51 am (UTC)(link)
Actually I'm wrong; it's a bit more;; $9.99. Total comes to $54.93.. I think. Wtf this page has issues. I changed the funds to CDN, but then it only showed 2 methods of shipping (express post, $19, and pick up in Winnipeg). Buh...wah? -_- I'm just going to try to buy it in USD and see if it works. I'll throw in $25, as I said, so that's ~$30 for you. All sound good?

You'll have to order transcripts from both. Windsor, you might have to go there and get it yourself. Cap should have a way to do it online, or somewhere on campus to do it. Check around the website, do a search for 'transcript' or something, and it should come up. I've done it at both Brock and Langara, and was able to order it online. They send it directly to UBC.

*is looking through FFXII faqs* This game is batshit insane in what it wants you to do to get some of this stuff, I swear...

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 07:58 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, their office is in Winnipeg. If you're local you can go there youself and pick it up. The options (ie $0.00 shipping) that I spoke about above was probably because I'm looking at the page without a registered account.

Ah, now I see what you're looking at. You're right. Sorry for the confusion.

But yeah, that sounds good. Thanks.

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
Ergh, bastards... they're making me change the currency; I can't do it in USD. Which means it comes to $73 instead. *eyeroll* I checked what it is without the second item, and sure enough, it's only $9 shipping instead of $19... just the Swap Magic comes to $36. The other thing adds $30. o.o Thoughts?

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:02 am (UTC)(link)
Aaand, with the SlideCard it comes to $46.

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:03 am (UTC)(link)
Haha.. Yeah, Slide Card it is then (http://www.modchip.ca/store/product.php?productid=16182).

Should come to $56.58. Damn tax.

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
Nope, comes to $46. Ordering now...

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:07 am (UTC)(link)
I had a Flip Top and Slide Card in my cart adding to $54.

-_-

I'm so flustered by that admission process.

Yeah, it comes to $46. Thanks, and sorry for the confusion.

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
God I hated that. At every turn it was like

IF YOU FUCK THIS UP YOU WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. FURTHERMORE, JUST FOR THE LULZ, YOU WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED TO ANY OTHER SCHOOL. HAVE FUN WORKING A SHITTY BLUE COLLAR JOB FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE LOL

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
Aaand done. :) Bed now; work tomorrow at 9:30... woe. :( Think they'd notice if while it's quiet I started printing off FFXII faqs? XD I did a few today, on Dad's printer, and they were long... took up too much ink and paper for me to want to do that again. But it's nice to have them in hardcopy (a bazaar/loot guide, an Esper guide, and an 'ultimate weapon' guide).

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:14 am (UTC)(link)
LOL. Indeed, UBC has... issues, as I said earlier. o.o But you got it all done okay? Just need to do the transcripts now?

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, paid and everything. In the Admission Status section of my Student Page (whatever it's called) it says that the faculties I applied to require interim and final transcripts from Windsor and final transcripts from Cap.

Another page also told me to wait for emails and shit.

I can tell that this is already going to be fun. :|

I think our school systems are a prime example of how counterproductive digital technology can be.

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-06 08:34 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks, hopefully it will arrive without a hitch. How much do I owe (on my birthday present :o - kidding)?

Kind of a shame about the Flip Top, but fuck if I'm going to spend $73.

I haven't printed out FAQs in a really long time. That takes me back. I remember having this massive binder full of maybe 30 FAQs for an assortment of games.. I threw it out last year.

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
Got an email saying that your order is been shipped. Yay! :) I'm a bit worried, though, because it says that it needs a signature to accept it, and it's coming to Bowen - and I'm not there often on weekdays. I assumed it'd just come to my mailbox or a slip would come there... hopefully it'll be okay. ^^; Or else I may have to go pick it up downtown after all - not too big of a deal, since I can do it on the way to school. But hopefully I'll be lucky. Shouldn't take long, anyway; it says 48-72 hours or something. So maybe Friday; I'll be up here then. Or else Monday, maybe. Won't be here Monday, though, probably.. maybe in the morning.

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
Every time I ordered stuff, they always required signatures. Isn't that the standard protocol now? You should just pin a note on the door telling the courier to leave a slip and hold the package at the post office on Bowen. I do that now - leave messages telling them to do stuff, like using the doorbell and such.

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
Er, how much do I owe you for this? I want to go to the bank to make a huge deposit, and I need to know how much money to leave behind. :\

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
$20. :)

Weee, I brought my PS2 into town and am playing FFXII on my teensy tiny little TV... getting eyestrain already. -_-

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
According to dad they just leave a slip in the box anyway and I sign at the post office - they don't come to the door on Bowen. Hope that's true...

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
Do the Trickster or Fenrir hunts. Hahaha..

Those..are hard. The last one I was working on was King Behemoth. I got bored with the game. :\ I was looking forward to Yiazmat; 12 million HP go~

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
Heh, I have a ton of early hunts to get through still, that I never did... unfortunately they're all pushovers; kinda dull. Even more dull is the fact that I have to sit around for 5 minutes in one spot to make this mark appear. -__-

i should be studying ;_;

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
I keep checking my email to hear back from UBC, even though it's like 10:00 pm. :\

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
You mean to see if you've been accepted? That'll probably take longer, won't it? Don't you need to send them your transcripts before they decide? Or are you waiting for something else from them?

Waaaaaah, my Internet must've crapped out at some point while I was in the bath or something... my Torchwood download stopped mid-download. :( :( Off to bittorrent instead, so I don't have to worry bout that happening again. Woe. I was looking forward to my happy hour of aliens and sexy captains and canon slash. :( (though House is practically qualifying for the latter right now - halfway through last night's ep right now, and daamn. They're laying on the House/Wilson really really thick, and I'm loving every minute of it.)

My eyeball hurts. -_- I've felt like there's something stuck in it all day, but there isn't.. I think it's just a small scratch. Driving me nuts, anyway. I was watching B5 at work at tearing up helplessly (this show does things to me, honest to god) and the tears were irritating my eye a lot. Sucks. It's hard enough to try to cry silently while watching TV on my lunch at work, lol, without it hurting too.

Got an Esper and defeated 2 marks today. Yay. ^^; Next on the list is probably to get a few more Espers and do some more marks. Trying to decide if I should bother getting the 3rd and 2nd strongest spears for one character even though I doubt I'll ever be able to get the Zodiac Spear and the other spears aren't as strong as the greatswords. Mer. Decisions, decisions.. 3rd strongest I can buy where I'm at right now for like 15000 and it's 4 points stronger than Basch's current sword. Hm.

Sorry, I'm addicted right now. o.o

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
Just to see what the next step in the admission process is. I checked my page in the Student Service Centre and it's already been updated with my highschool grades (thank God!). Looking over my marks I'm kind of curious as to why I was never accepted in the first place. The average seems to be around 78%. I suppose the cut-off for the Faculty of Science was extremely high that year, but I find it strange that I never heard from my second choice (Faculty of Arts).

Digression aside, I'm kind of lost as to whether I should go ahead and immediately send a transcript from Cap, or wait for their "go-ahead" first. Furthermore, I'd kind of like to have this semester's grades transferred to UBC to boost my GPA, but that would mean that the transcript wouldn't be sent until April.

Ah, I know all about eyeball pain. When they're overstrained or dry, they begin to hurt. Put some eyedrops in and get away from the monitor. They'll also hurt when you have some sleep (or even worse) an eyelash stuck in them. Occasionally you might get an eyelash that grows incorrectly - toward the eye instead of outward. Pluck those. Sucks, but they'll scratch your cornea up.

Which marks and Espers did you defeat today? I need to get a Danjuro, which is probably the second-rarest item in the game. D:

[identity profile] bk635.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
I'm also checking my e-mail to see if my game has been shipped. ;p

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm, yeah, could be that the admission average was particularly high that year. Not sure... sucks, anyway. :( But hopefully you won't have any trouble getting in this time. You've got lots of credits at Cap and I assume decent marks, so... too bad that I won't be out there anymore, though - thought maybe this will give me an excuse to visit campus every so often and get Pie R Squared pizza. XD

You can probably send the transcript now, if you already did for the high school ones (how'd that happen so quickly, anyway? Did you go to Windsor and ask them to do it and they did it immediately?). I'm not sure that I'd wait until April - I'd check online if I were you and see that, if you do, you'll still be able to apply for Sept. Probably, though, because after all our high school transcripts didn't get sent to UBC/Cap until June for a Sept start. Maybe you can send your current one, then send your final grades in April as well - that's what I did in high school, I think. Yeah, cuz I remember that based on my grades at the end of different terms I could get different entrance scholarships and such (I didn't get a high enough average after 2nd term for the guaranteed residence and the $2500 scholarship, as I recall, but I did after my final grades).

I'm not sure that it's a monitor thing - it's been bugging me since I woke up this morning, pretty much. I think it's a scratch - maybe something was there, and it scratched the eyeball (like when you pull a sliver out and it still feels like it's there). I'm worried about eyedrops, since splashing water in it and tearing up both made it hurt more (especially the latter).

Esper - Adrammelech (got 2 High Arcanas from him first though, yay). Marks, lesse... Marilith in the Zertinian Caverns (after I fought the aforementioned Esper) and Ring Wyrm in the Dalmasca Westersand after leaving the Zertinian Caverns. Both early marks and ergo pushovers. Gonna blast through the rest of the easy ones then hopefully unlock some harder ones.

I kinda want a Danjuro, too, even though I don't use daggers.. but I might decide to get it and give it to Penelo, who currently uses a bow, then eventually get whatever the strongest bow is and give it to Fran, my other bow-user. Or.. hmm, maybe the other way around, since Fran has black magic she can use for ranged attacks (namely for flying monsters) and Penelo only has white magic. Decisions, decisions. ;)

[identity profile] ria-oaks.livejournal.com 2008-02-07 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, yeah. :) What's this game, anyway? Will it matter that it's presumably in Japanese?

I'm sad that House is over now until the strike finishes... that episode had SO MUCH House/Wilson subtext that it was ridiculous. (text, really - lines like "oh my god, you're sleeping with me!" (House) and "You're right, we're a couple!" (Wilson). Awesome. I'm still holding out for a H/W ending...) but anyway, yeah, gonna miss it. One more show over... least we have 3 more SPN and 2 more PB eps, I believe. I "accidentally" read the basic episode descriptions for the last 3 SPN eps on tv.com and I'm hyped now. Sounds like good stuff, esp the last two. :)

Which reminds me, I watched PB yesterday - good stuff. Very exciting, and reminiscent of the second to last ep of s1. Gotta love the escape eps. I suspect someone's going to die trying to escape, hopefully Bellick... o.o Because really, he has NO purpose left, esp once they've escaped. I'm starting to like Whistler more and more... don't trust him, but he's showing some humanity (I felt for him when they were torturing Sofia; he clearly does care for her, whoever he really is) and seems to be trying to do the right thing now. I hope. And oh, but I loved the fact that Alex said he would stay behind with Michael while the others went ahead. I still want to see the two of them work together to bring down the Company... and then I want to see Alex get a happy ending with Pam and Cameron, to hell with all the crimes he's committed. ^^; I also want Michael to get a happy ending, but dammit that's never going to happen now in the same way without Sara. :( :(