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]

*downloads rom* I'll tell you what it's like in a few years when there's working DS emulator.

Funny, just as I was reading your post, the commercial for it started playing on the TV behind me.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Haha. XD I'd kinda like to get a DS someday... they can play GBA games, right? Figure it might be worth it for that, and for the various DS games. Course, given that I've barely touched my PS2 in the last few monthes... ehehe.

Heh. It's still strange to see commercials for it... can't quite believe that it's out finally. o.o It's been years since the last traditional FF game, FFXI excluded, although admittedly I played FFX fairly late so I haven't had to wait as long. But god, this game has been in development for a long time... I remember first pictures/trailers coming out bloody years ago.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they can. I'd rather get a PSP, as you can download emulators for it that can play anything up to and including PSX games. It's like a small scale computer. DS is probably pretty cheap now in comparison to other things; maybe ~$125-150 CAD. *shrug*

I haven't been following anything Final Fantasy ever since after IX, I guess. Now that the main people who made the series what it was in the past are gone, the name is nothing more than a label that can be applied to any RPG.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Can you? Hmm. But I think there are more games on DS than PSP that I'd want to play - PSP doesn't get as many RPGs.

Maybe, but most people that have played it says that it still feels like FF. It's different, sure, but each game in the series is different and the series needs to keep changing and being innovative. From what I hear it feels rather like FFT, given that it shares the same world and it has a similar political intrique type of plot. I have my reservations about it, but I don't want to write it off before I've played it - and, as I said, the reviews have been very good. Many people have said that it's one of the best or even the best FF so far. I dunno, when I finally get around to playing it I'll let you know. :)

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you could emulate DS games on it. I know it's powerful enough to do so, but someone would have to be clever and skilled enough at coding in order to get around the lack of dual screen and stylus issues. Aside from that, it can also play movies, mp3's, browse the Internet, store files, run programs, and the list goes on and on. It also has a memory stick port, which is handy. It's a tool, and not just a video game system. ;o I haven't really been keeping up, but I don't think either has an impressive amount of RPGs to choose from. I guess overall the DS has more games that I'd like to play, but if you factor in the emulation aspect of the PSP, along with everything else that it's capable of, then it becomes hard to pick the better of the two.

I think Famitsu gave it a perfect score, which says a lot. It's more like an offline version of XI, and it just boils down to being a hit or a miss for a lot of people. Between that long gap since IX and XII (really, since Tactics) and the idea that the series is no longer under the influence of Uematsu, Amano, and Sakaguchi, I've grown pretty disenchanted with the series.

I dunno; I'm thinking about giving it a go after exams, in December.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

I'm bored. So instead of making a post of my very own, I'll just reply here.

I dunno..seriously. :/

Did you hear about the weather we're having here? You know you have nothing to talk about when you ask about the weather.. Oh well. Yuu~~~~~

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

That's true about the PSP... the emulation capacity definitely makes it sound tempting. And there are several RPGs out/coming out on it (inc. several FF games - I believe both FF: Crisis Core and one of the FFXIIIs will be on it). Oh well, either way I'm not about to get either anytime soon. ^^

I've actually heard that the battle system is very little like FFIX's - that was a worry and misconception a lot of people (myself included) had when it was announced, but the actual gameplay is very different. I've actually heard that it's fairly similar to the older games; just real-time (and you can stop and open a menu at any time, I believe) and lacking the same complete control over all your characters (and you can manually input commands at any time, plus I gather that the gambit system is very effective).

But yeah, fair enough that the series doesn't feel quite the same without the old creative minds behind it... though granted, Amano hasn't been with the series since FFVI, excepting FFIX. Oh well, either way I'm not really as into it as I used to be. Lack of time to play, and new interests taking over my mind. But I still get a nostalgic yearning to play, and hearing about FFXII and gaming news in general still gets me excited. ^^

Btw, check this out - http://cgi.ebay.com/PRE-SALE-SONY-PLAYSTATION-3-PS3-PRESALE-60GB-CONSOLE_W0QQitemZ330047524577QQihZ0

I knew that some were going for $1000-2000, but this is beyond ridiculous. I mean, there ARE going to be more shipments coming, for Christ's sake. -_- How desperate are people??

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Haha, no comment. XD Yeah, I've heard about the shitty weather - sounds pretty crazy. The electricity was out at Bowen for quite awhile.

I'm bored too, yet also ridiculously busy. *cough* Essay due Tuesday, and what have I done on it? Not a hell of a lot. And what have I done today? Very little. Went to Staples and bought ink. Woo.

How's school?

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Those are price-inflated auctions. I've seen one up for over a million, actually. The legit ones are around $600-1.5k. Buying one right now is idiotic anyway. There's a lot of hardware problems, TV compatibility problems, and framerate issues. Sony really blew it as far as I'm concerned. If they don't start delivering on their promises, then they aren't going to stay afloat.

www.smashmyps3.com

I want a 360 at the moment. But I'm not going to buy one. Not enough time and interest, and too much guilt and money involved. :o

[bk635.livejournal.com]

School has been off for a week. Monday was the Remembrance Day holiday. On that day a major water main broke, and because of that, they couldn't open the school on Tuesday. It didn't get fixed in time for Wednesday. On Thursday they were going to make an announcement at 11:00 a.m. regarding opening the college for afternoon classes, of which I have none, so I ended up with another day off (they decided not to open on Thursday anyway). And lastly, on Friday, they finally opened the school, but I have no scheduled classes on that day. I'm bored. Yuu~~~

I have finals starting December 4th. I'm trying hard to convince myself to start studying now. :/

We had a hurricane on Thursday; 130 km/h winds. Power was out all across Vancouver and neighboring cities (except for here, fortunately). Trees were falling and demolishing homes and power lines (I had to have my computer unplugged so it wouldn't get fried from power surges). The winds caused our sewer systems to become flooded and therefore, our water to become contaminated. It's clear enough to use now, but for the last two days we had to rely on bottled water for hygiene and food. Fun times.

Vancouver Island (especially the Tofino side) received the bulk of the damage. I don't think Bowen was hit too bad because it's surrounded by mountains, but like you said, the power was out there, so who knows.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are definitely a lot of problems with it right now... Ie. the backwards compatibility issues. Then again, PS2 had the same problem. They'll probably get their acts together eventually... shipping so few of them was definitely one of the dumbest things they do, too - still don't understand the reasoning behind that, other than increasing hype. -_- At least fewer people will have buggy ones. And aside from that, the price really is ridiculous. I know that it does a lot more than play games, but really... most gamers and probably buying it mainly for games, and the Wii is less than half the price ($279 CDN vs $600 or something crazy). Eh. Once the price drops to well below $300, I'll see.

And that site is... vaguely amusing but mostly pretty pathetic, imo. I mean, what's the point in raising all of that money just for the sake of basically throwing one big whiny hissy fit over how omgev0l Sony is and how stupid Sony fans evidently are? Meh. Get over it, people. -_-

Really? I honestly have no interest in a 360... lack of RPGs and all. Are there any particular games you want it for?

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Mom told me about Cap College. Lucky you. ^^ I'd prefer to have no school and be bored (time for Internet and TV and fun stuff XD) than be this stressed and overworked... part of me actually kinda wants there to be a strike for a couple of days (they're been in negotations for monthes and there might be one), just to give me some time off to work. ^^; (not that, you know, I'm DOING anything right now)

Yowch. Didn't realize that it was on hurricane level... Mom just said that it was a really bad storm. I read about the contaminated water online, but thought that it was just dangerous for drinking? Website said that it was safe for anything else, but guess not. That sucks. o.o Pretty crazy overall, sounds like... weather's been pretty good here; alternating between fairly light rain and sunny, and it's actually been upwards of 15 degrees some days! So much for the 'freezing Ontario winters'...

[bk635.livejournal.com]

The price just hurts. Really. It's like $700 CDN for the non-gimped version. Oh wait, how many of us have HD-compatible TV's? I mean new ones, as the older models have problems as well? That's right. No one. That'll be $700 + $2000 for the PS3 to not look like absolute shit. I mean, if I wanted to, I could get a nice set-up going on, but I don't want to. Not right now, at least. And probably not for a few years.

The Wii? Meh, I think it's interesting. The service they have that lets you download old Nintendo and Sega games is a good concept, but not enough to win me over. The only games for the console itself that are remotely interesting is the new Zelda and the FFXIII spin-off that will come later on down the line. The rabid fanboyism though is just sickening. It's really everywhere and I'm so fucking tired of it; almost to the point where I'm hoping the system fails just to take those people down a few pegs.

The site I just linked you to point out the video where they buy a PS3 and smash it with a sledgehammer in front of all the Best Buy campers. I found it somewhat amusing but the reactions weren't all that great.

Yeah, I want a 360 at the moment because of this: http://www.tri-ace.co.jp/
The big picture in the middle. Yeah. I love this company. :/

[bk635.livejournal.com]

I was excited about it at first, but really, I need school. It's just so boring without it. With it though, I fucking hate it and can't wait for it to be over. :/

Well, I mean, the water was brown and very turbid. Of course it wasn't safe to drink (even though I brushed my teeth with it mid-day before I found out it was contaminated; gg having the lights off. Felt sick all day.), but just by looking at it you wouldn't want to use it for anything else either. ;p

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, ditto. No way I'm spending that much money - waaay too many PS2 games I've yet and finish or play, and I don't care enough these days.

The downloading thing is neat, yeah... I dunno, I'm not that interested in any of the 3 right now, though it'll ultimately depend on the games. Wii will probably have some pretty good games, and Square-Enix is increasingly putting out games on all 3 systems so there will be some FFs on it. I don't really care either way about any of them. ^^ But I gotta say, the price on the Wii is a hell of a lot nicer than the others and you can usually count on Nintendo to put out good games.

Yes, I understand what the site it. ^^ I just think it's pretty silly and pointless. Granted, the flames that they posted were just as stupid, but the entire thing still comes off as a pointless exercise designed to rain on other people's fun. How is it really any more mature than someone going onto a forum and loudly talking about how much they hate the topic of the forum...? I mean, yeah, there's an overexcess of fanboyism about the PS3, sure, but really, so what?

Eh, maybe it's just me. ^^ Sure, it's kinda funny I guess, but it just seems immature and rather mean-spirited to me.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true. I tend to get bored in summer after awhile... Why not use the free time to start watching Farscape? XD

Eww. o.o That's pretty nasty, yeah. I don't think boiling the water would go very far, either.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Er, I meant I was getting tired of the Wii fanboyism. I haven't seen much of it for the PS3, really. But yeah, it's all pretty stupid.

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Coffee Crisp is yummy.

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

I know you did; I was referring to the site which is an obvious reaction against PS3 fanboyism (ie. the lining up 3 days in advance thing. Although all things considered, that really was the only way to GET one... and ironically the people on the site probably had to wait overnight as well. XD)

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Oh. I was lost because I never really read the site, I just watched the video. ;p

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

That was the most randomest thing ever.

And I disagree cause I hate coffee-flavoured things. XD XD

But you really should watch it. :) I'm vaguely working on a general series picspam which I will post in order to show just why it needs to be watched. XD

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

Ahh. I didn't actually watch the video... just skimmed the FAQ and main page in an attempt to understand the mindset behind it. ^^;

[bk635.livejournal.com]

Ah. So we're both lost. :D

[ria-oaks.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing. XD

[bk635.livejournal.com]

I've never tried coffee, so I wouldn't know whether or not Coffee Crisp tastes like coffee or not. All I know is that Coffee Crisp is yummy. ;p

I know, but I can't watch it now because in two weeks I have exams. If I start now I know I'll get carried away with it and watch too much when I should be studying.