FF ramblings

[ria_oaks]

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.

Comments

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Nice, thanks. They do have what I want - Suspiria and Inferno by Dario Argento. Damn third part of the triology hasn't been released on DVD yet. Zip.ca also has them. Fuck you, Blockbuster.

I don't really feel like becomming a member. Too cheap. Do you have an account?

I suppose if we're in that area then we can stop by the video game store as well.

Haha.. I don't remember the last time I was out at UBC. Held a grudge against that place for many years.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Neat, page 10. Wonder what the comment count is up to.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Sweet. And, 2252. 2253 with this one.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

3000 when Supernatural comes back.

Did you see my other reply?

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yay. :)

According to quettalinde it's $5/year. :) Anyway, since you'll be out at UBC next year, you can always drop by on your way out or back to go there. Or else I'll just get a membership; I wouldn't mind having one, although I'm not sure how often I'll get around to using it.

It's not really in the area, but I'll go poke around Translink. I'm thinking, stop by Videomatica on the way there, then go to VG store on way back. I'll just be a few minutes at school; just have to go to the exam room to hand in the paper at 3:30.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that'll be sweet. April 24th!! Lost and GA also come back that night, though GA is at the same time as SPN so I'll have to tape it. My essay's due 4 days later, heh. But oh wells. XD

Just replied to it.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

$5/year? What the hell? I'm not made of money. :o

But I would be.. Fucking BC/649 doesn't like me. Ever. D:

748 East Broadway.. That's not in the area?

Yeah, we can do that I guess.

Maybe I'll have my N by then.. Maybe.

Hehe.. I just found Progress Quest again. I still have my character from all those years ago, apparently. :o

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Lol, poor you. ;)

Not really. But behold, I have mapped it out cuz I'm bored and don't wanna go to bed even though I'm working tomorrow morning. ;) The gist of it is: 210 downtown, then #4 to Videomatica, then back on #4 out to UBC (or walk up to Broadway and take the 99, it's faster...), then 99 B-Line to VG store, then back on 99 B-Line (there's one like, every 3 minutes at rush hour) to skytrain station @ Commercial, then skytrain downtown then home (that part didn't fit on the map, lol). Or, just trust me and I'll get you there. XD

Lol, I kinda remember that...

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

I forgot the map. *headdesk* Here: http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/2950/mapks9.jpg

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

*looks at map* Messed up; meant to have the line from downtown going along Granville (Howe, actually, but Granville bridge), for the #4. Oh well.

Yes, I just posted that correction to up the comment count. :) Also, I'm anal.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Well, when I win my millions you can come visit me in my estate in British Properties. We can go to Jimmy Pattison's house for a game of croquet in his yard, and have a gourmet BBQ dinner afterwards.

Pft we were so into Progress Quest. An RPG that plays itself and runs in the background of your computer.

Yeah, I'll just follow you. Unless I have my N by that point - it would simplify things. >.>

[bk635.livejournal.com]

I wasn't aware that Lost went away again..I wanna make a bad pun, but I won't. Damn, Supernatural's return is going to get rocked by those two shows airing simulatenously. :\

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, there needs to be a dedicated line from Phibbs to UBC. Now that I'm probably going to go there, it's an important issue. I'm going to write Translink a letter. Really. Every time I'm at Phibbs in the morning, there's like a huge line of students, and not normal people, lining up in front of the Vancouver bus. It's completely inefficient. I hear it gets even worse at the Downtown stop.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wish there was a dedicated line from Phibbs to UBC. There's one for West Van; it annoys me that we don't have one, too. Taking 2 buses and switching downtown is a pain; sometimes you have to wait for 10-15 min downtown (though I suppose if you actually follow what Translink's website says, then you'll be okay... if you can time it to get the 44, then that's best - it might be busier, but it's about 10 min. faster than the 4 or 17.)

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

They aired the first 8 eps that they'd filmed before going on strike, then took a one month break to film more eps and such. Same as all the other shows, most of which are coming back soon (except PB and Heroes, woe... have to wait until Sept...).

Least SPN's not up against Lost, just GA (Lost will be on after GA, at 10). Anyway, it's stood up against GA/Office/CSI all season and kept its ratings steady, so hopefully it'll be okay. Too bad, though, still.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

LOL.

Oh yeah, I remember now... amusing.

Your N by April 28th? Doesn't it take longer than that? Have you gotten your L yet?

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Looked on my computer and found PQ. Put it on in the background; I remember it now, seeing it... amusing. Going to leave it on while I'm at work. XD

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Hell, I've had my second L for over a year now.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

I remember on the news they had a story on Translink where one person looked up how long his route to work would take by bus - 45 minutes with a bus change. How long it takes by car - 15 minutes.

And you can't really get more evident than that. For most people, public transportation just does not work.

The stupid part is this whole push to get everyone to stop driving in order to reduce greenhouse gases and use less fuel, but for most people, they simply don't have a choice because a viable alternative isn't there.

(Oh but they're putting 14 billion into the Translink infrastructure over the next 20 years - but guess what - it's Vancouver-centric. Of course.)

[bk635.livejournal.com]

My character is like level 60 or something with stupidly high stats. It spends most of its time just selling things; takes forever to level.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay, I wasn't sure. ^^; Cool, yeah, after your exams you could go take the test. :) That'd be sweet.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've found the same thing - case in point, it's a 25 minute car ride from home to Horseshoe Bay, and an hour plus by bus, including 2 changes if you go from in front of our places. Ridiculous. Car ride to UBC at the lowest traffic times, like on Sunday night? Maybe 25 minutes. Well, least when Dad drives. By bus, no matter the time, it's at least an hour...

Anyway, yeah, it's too bad - I wish there were better options in this city for public transportation, so then people really could opt to use that instead of driving. Like, in Toronto I imagine it's often easier to just take the subway than to navigate through traffic downtown. In European cities, and probably many cities in East Asia, too, people are generally more likely to use public transportation (namely, subways) in the cities because driving is just insane. I wish we had a subway system, but I guess at the time they could have built it maybe we weren't big enough to sustain it. Now we are, but the prices to build one would be prohibitively high.

I've heard they're still considering a skytrain out to UBC, presumably along the 99 B-line's route from Commercial & Broadway. That'd be sweet. Not sure how much it would really help us, but I suppose if anything it'd be faster to get from UBC to, say, Granville & Broadway by skytrain, then catch a bus downtown.

But still. Bus from Phibbs to UBC, man, that'd be great. *sigh* It's kinda silly that they're putting so much money into buses downtown - downtown is pretty damned well covered, frankly, it's the routes from the suburbs to downtown that suck. Really, only one bus for most of the day from Phibbs to downtown? Rush hours there are 3 buses, but that's only from like 7-9 and 4-6 or something. I suppose the number of people commuting outside of those times is too small to sustain another bus, but still...

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Lol, sweet. I left mine going while I was at work, just for fun - up to level 15. This is the most pointless yet vaguely amusing game ever. XD

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Even a car ride to UBC during peak traffic hours is going to psychologically "seem" faster than taking a bus. At least to me, anyway.

I don't think we'll ever have a subway system, simply because of the fact that we have a skytrain system instead. Can't really win with that - the more you add to the skytrain, the uglier the city gets; at least with subways, everything is underground and hidden from view. >.>

Yeah, that skytrain to UBC is part of that $14 Billion plan that I mentioned above.

I don't really know what could be done to improve the system. Probably expand the skytrain a little bit more (especially to connect the neighboring cities like Langlay and so on), and then just...more buses. More dedicated lines and more connectivity. Quick shuttlebuses are good for smaller communities as well.

It's ridiculous that I sometimes have to wait 15-20 minutes for the C15 to arrive at Phibbs.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Do you watch TV? If so, keep an eye out for the new Burger King commercial. The one with the BK King that is set in the future. Pay specific attention the the music.

Is it just me, or is that a mix of Prelude?