My Life as a Galactic Pirate Lord

Grand Re-Opening

2010-07-21T01:00:00.021-04:00

I would like to announce the official re-launch of my blog!
*Fanfare* *Applause* *Clapping* *Awkward leftover clapping*

My blog was previously without direction. It had no purpose, no clear theme (except for piratey stuff). But now, I'm happy to announce that my blog...

Remains without purpose.

What? You got a problem with that? Didn't THINK so! However, I am making the soon-to-be-broken promise that I will post more regularly. Twice a week, Saturdays and maybe Wednesdays, yeah let's go with Wednesday, I will be posting something spectacular and amazing. You will be blown away by my profound insight and exquisite tastes. You will burn with rage at my critical reviews only to crumple in embarrassment as you realize that I'm always right, especially about pirates being better than ninjas.

I will kick off my new blog with something we can all enjoy. Free games.

Today's Free Lunch: Battle for Wesnoth

My friend and I were discussing game ideas the other day and I was suddenly reminded of a game I had played before. Before I go any farther, I want to give credit where credit is due. My little brother Sam introduced me to this game after he discovered it online. Sam has horrible taste in console games, but I have to give him this: he finds the best free stuff on the web. As I was saying, Battle for Wesnoth in an Open-Source game that has a certain level of internet popularity.

Battle for Wesnoth plays very much like a miniatures board game. Players control an army of distinct fantasy units. These units move around on a hexagon tile board and then attack units that they are adjacent to.

There are several things I could relate this game to:

Advance Wars: Units are purchased with Gold which is earned by capturing certain tiles on the map. This allows for a somewhat constant stream of units to be produced.

Fire Emblem: All units automatically counter-attack their attackers, often for very effective results. Units are very specialized and level up after gaining enough experience.

Lord of the Rings: The thematic and 'story' elements of the game are very generic fantasy. Orcs, elves, knights and wizards all clash in the epic fantasy battles that take place.

One thing I'd like to note about Wesnoth is that it's riddled with terrible names. Wesnoth itself sounds like a horse sneezing or something. The first campaign features the adventures of Konrad (meh) and Delfador the wizard. They fight their way across the fantasy world to combat Ashivere the evil queen (I think I got that right). If you don't mind fantasy, then you'll be okay.

Overall, I found the game very entertaining. It would definitely make my top ten list of the best free games. I should make that sometime.

If you have suggestions for 'The Top Ten Best Free Games Ever', please leave your suggestion as a comment on this post. Games must be legally free and they must either still be distributed on the web or you must have a copy that I can share with everyone else.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Dylan and Dracula

2010-05-02T20:08:00.000-04:00

My friend and I were talking about my hair earlier today. Someone once told me that my hair looked like a famous somebody's hair and I couldn't remember who they had mentioned. Well, I remembered.
Bob Dylan's hair:

Also, I was recently stuck on Castlevania, but I found out that it was because I was trying to get into a secret area of the game, not the place I was supposed to go. So, I'm back on track now.
Dracula's Castle:

Freebies For Friday

2010-04-29T19:53:00.001-04:00

It's not Friday so I can't call it "Freebie Friday" but I wanted to post now. I visit many sites on the internet for fun and profit, but Kongregate is one of the most professional sites I've found for playing Flash games. I used to use freearcade.com and get freeware from gamehippo, but they aren't as good as they used to be.

Here's some selections you should really give a shot.

Epic Battle Fantasy II

Linear as FF XIII, but far more entertaining. (I'm just playing, calm down)

You should play 'Epic Battle Fantasy I' as well, not because the story matters, but because they have Kanti from FLCL as a summon.

The Space Game

Better than Turret Defense

Minim

Sudoku on crack!

That's all I got for today folks. Btw, those of you who know me, should be alerted to the fact that I have ruined my phone, and I am currently in the process of getting it replaced. I have a temporary replacement phone right now, but I'd rather not give away the number. If you need me, I'm on AIM, like, all the time, also Yahoo, and I get instant updates when I get email. In other words, find me on the internet, it's not that hard.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Cave Story

2010-04-13T18:00:00.001-04:00

I know I'm about 6 years late to the party, but I'm hear to spread the word. Cave Story...

Best Freeware Game Ever

Take a platformer like Mario, a scrolling shooter like Contra, an RPG like Earthbound, and an anime to top it off, shake well and serve. Cave Story is a Metroid-esque platformer for PC that is "Free" thas right, free. It has:
*Engaging plot
*Beautiful pixel-based artwork
*Wide array of weapons
*Several very expansive levels to explore
*Challenging boss fights
*Multiple Endings and dozens of secrets
*Did I mention it was kawaii? (Cuz I was trying to avoid saying it)

I know I may seem a little overzealous here, but don't knock it til you try it, cuz hey, it's free!
Get it here, get it NOW! Get the Deluxe Version, it doesn't cost more, it's all free!

I would also recommend using a PC Gamepad of some kind, I haven't tried the keyboard keys, but I imagine it's gotta be harder to work with.

PS, it came out for the Wii recently as well, may or may not be free there. If I had a Wii, and it cost less than five dollars, I'd buy it. Otherwise just go online and get it... FREE.

No More Heroes?

2010-03-26T02:59:00.000-04:00

I watched the entirety of Heroes: Season 1 and despite an ending that I felt was a bit of a plot-hole, it was a really good show. Before starting Season 2, I searched the internet for reviews of the show. Everywhere I looked I found the same thing, "Season 2 and after sucks," "Great show that went downhill at Season 2" I even found one review that likened Season 2 Hiro Nakamura to Jar Jar Binks! Well, I was stubborn and watched it anyway, but I'm glad I did.

To get to the point...

Reviews of Season 2's failure are GREATLY exaggerated. I found Season 2 to be just as entertaining and compelling as Season 1. I now intend to continue following the series to find out whether or not the rest of the series is just as badly framed. If you are a fan of Sci-Fi, Super-Heroes, or day-time drama, I encourage you to not only watch Season 1 of Heroes, but also Season 2.

Now certainly hundreds of reviews on the internet can't be wrong, right? Well, I'll leave that to you, but I thought I'd give my theory on why I think it got such a bad rap. Heroes is a show that you CANNOT miss a single episode. The story is continuous, constantly changing and missing even a single episode can make things fail to make sense. Does it make it a bad show? No. Does it make it a bad show to watch on TV? Definitely. If you want to watch Heroes (and I know you do...) I would advise watching on DVD, on Netflix Instant Watch, on NBC.com or whereever you can get access to each episode, in order.

Also, start at Season 1 because the story is continuous between Seasons as well.

Sunshine

2010-03-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

It was okay.

Only the Good Die Young

2010-03-17T17:48:00.000-04:00

This is a list of under-appreciated shows that got canceled before their time. I will add to this list later when I think of more. Comment on this entry if you have suggestions.

The Good:

The Weekenders
Lloyd in Space
Megas XLR
The Pirates of Dark Water

Dice and Dimes

2010-03-16T17:19:00.001-04:00

Every Dungeons and Dragons player knows that a full set of polyhedral dice is crucial to RPG gameplay. If you don't have a d20, then just forget about it. The other day, I came up with a system for substituting polyhedral dice. Now I'm here to share my incredible wisdom with you commoners.

Poor Man's Polyhedral Dice

You need:
a nickel, a dime, and one common die (d6).

Instructions:
d4: Flip nickel, heads add 2, tails add 1. Flip dime, heads add 2.
d6: use d6
d8: Flip nickel, heads add 2, tails add 1. Flip dime, heads add 2. Roll die, "Even" add 4.
d10: Roll die add result (re-roll on 6). Flip nickel, heads add 5. (1-10, for 0-9 subtract 1 or count 10 as 0)
d12: Roll die add result. Flip nickel, heads add 6.
d20: Roll die add result (re-roll on 6). Flip nickel, heads add 5. Flip dime, heads add 10.

btw, I'm back from Spring Break. I hope to post more often again.
Until next time fellow pirates.

Vampires That Don't Sparkle

2010-02-27T00:38:00.001-05:00

I have two related recommendations today...

Blood: The Last Vampire is a dark, action packed anime movie. If you watch it first, it may leave you wanting more. The reason for that is because it has an anime series that is meant to follow it. I watched this movie after having seen the first season of the series and I don't really think it matters what order you watch it in.

The theme and artwork in this movie are really the highlights. The story is not very complicated, but not very obtrusive. Overall a great vampire movie.

Blood+

The series that follows this movie is also very good. However, the themes and styles are very different. The anime is much more upbeat and 'shoujo' with vampires flash stepping and showing off their power levels. However, I thought they did a good job keeping the story going at the same time. The first season of Blood+ is much like the first season of Bleach. I hope that doesn't mean that it also follows the same trend Bleach did later on.

Movies to Avoid: A Scanner Darkly

2010-02-24T22:13:00.000-05:00

I'll admit, the cel-shaded animation drew me into this movie, along with the creepy title. However, I was quite disappointed. This movie about drugs, society, and conspiracies seemed like it was made for druggies. The plot was hard to follow and in the end, not very interesting. The animation was not used for anything more than cartooning people walking to work and stuff. Overall, not worth the time spent watching it even.

This movie was based on a, probably far superior, novel by Phillip K. Dick. I recently read a book by this author and it was good, but I don't think this book translated very well. Either that or the book stunk.

Once more and with feeling... This movie is not even worth Pirating.

That's all mateys.

Myth-Weavers

2010-02-16T20:06:00.000-05:00

This review is technically a follow-up since I posted about this site before.

I would like to recommend this site for what it is. This is the most active play-by-post role-playing game community I have ever found. That's a mouthful so let me break it down.

Role-Playing Game Community
I'm not talking about Final Fantasy. I'm talking Dungeons and Dragons. It's not just limited to DnD though. I've seen plenty of Exalted, GURPS, BESM, and many other role-playing systems represented. Don't want to buy a book? I've also seen several free-form (discussed later) and homemade, or "homebrew" as gamers call it, systems represented as well.

Play-by-Post
Myth-Weavers provides an exstensive and very functional forum in which players discuss things and play games. Every game set-up through their system receives its own personal forum moderated by the GM. However, Myth-Weavers rules prevents organizing games that are to be played through an alternative means of communication. In other words, all gaming has to be done on their site. They seem to enforce this rule as well as they can too. As I said though, their site is functional enough on its own to facilitate most gaming.

Most Active
This isn't saying much. Online RPGs, especially Play-by-Post, are prone to stagnating and dying. Some players, even if they say otherwise, don't have the patience to keep up with a game that only updates once a day or less.

HOWEVER, Myth-Weavers has the most professional and most active group of online RPGers that I have ever encountered.

In conclusion, if you are interested in playing a RPG online, I recommend that you try www.myth-weavers.com It's free, it's easy, and it works.

-End Myth-Weavers Review-

Note: Freeform Role-Playing Games

I would like to 'advertise' the enjoyable style of gaming called Freeform RPGs. Freeform RPGs goes back to the roots of story-telling. It's like writing a novel together. The process is simple. The GM will have a setting prepared. Players will design appropriate characters based on the setting. The GM will then give players scenarios and the players will then explain what their character will do. GM will respond with reactions from NPCs and the environment and present more scenarios. Essentially, it's DnD without a book, dice, or stats of any kind.

Freeform RPing is well catered to Play by Post. In fact, I would imagine that it would be much more awkward in person. Freeform removes the game system that would be cumbersome to PbP, but requires more thought in order to act as your characters would.

Much like Myth-Weavers, Freeform gaming is free, easy, and it works.

Until next time fellow pirates.

RSS Feeds

2010-02-11T20:38:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm the last person to figure things out, but in case I'm not... I like to tell you about the wonders of RSS Feeds. Do you read webcomics? Do you read LOTS of webcomics? Do you wish you could read lots of webcomics, but don't have the time to keep up with which ones updated and which ones haven't? You need to get a RSS Feed Reader. I chose Google Reader, corporate whore that I am, but there are plenty of options for you to choose from and most of them are free.

Will it work with my webcomic?

Yes it will. I think. From what I've seen, it seems that almost any website can be RSS'd. You just hit 'Add Subscription' on your reader and type in a URL. That easy. I even follow my friends blogs, Bengineering and Sixty's Blog on it.

Get an RSS Feed Reader today, or yesterday preferrably.

Until next time fellow pirates.

A Fistful of Dollars

2010-02-10T00:07:00.000-05:00

Great movie. Period.

Dead Like Me

2010-02-04T19:21:00.000-05:00

Dead Like Me

When George Lass (Ellen Muth) is hit by a space station's toilet seat falling from orbit, she dies. After dying, she is chosen to become a grim reaper. George is lazy, has a bad attitude, and dropped out of college, so even in the after-life she finds herself stuck as a temp, filing paperwork and taking people's souls.

This show is funny, dramatic, and very down to Earth without being boring. I thought all the characters were done really well, although some of them I liked to hate rather than liked them period. This is another show I wouldn't recommend to younger audiences as the profanity in this show is through the roof. It sounds more like me and my college buddies getting together than a daytime television show.

Perfect Blue

2010-02-03T14:19:00.000-05:00

Perfect Blue

This mystery/thriller anime movie should go to the top of your must-see anime list. Lead singer and pop idol, Mimarin of Cham undergoes a career change becoming an actress. Her acting career takes her image down a less respectable path with scandalous TV scenes, revealing photography, and other celebrity mishaps. An obsessed fan becomes very upset at Mima's new activities and things begin going wrong very quickly.

This anime is mature, definitely R-rated because some scenes don't leave much to the imagination. But if you're looking for an anime movie with a little more substance than Bleach or Naruto, I would definitely recommend this. It kept me guessing the whole time and I didn't see the ending coming at all. You can watch it instantly on Netflix, but if you are lacking in the 'Flix then you're on your own.

Heroes Season 1

2010-01-18T01:15:00.000-05:00

I just finished watching this and I must say something about it.

Season 1 of Heroes was a great show, I recommend watching it. I even cried once, and I don't usually get emotional about shows. However, there is a large plot hole at the end of the season. It makes me imagine what season 2 must be like since I've heard horrible reviews of it. I'd like to post it here.

Spoilers:

Peter Petrelli can absorb other peoples super-powers and he spends several episodes learning to control them at will. Now there is one power he absorbs that he cannot control. An ability to explode like a nuclear bomb. It's a central plot of the show. Now he has to be prevented from destroying New York. In order to do that, they have his brother Nathan Petrelli who can fly lift him above the city, but he is destroyed by the blast. Peter is not destroyed because he has regenerative powers.

This all seems kinda lame in general, but the real kicker is Peter can fly. He absorbed his brothers power earlier and can use it at will. So why does he need his brother to fly him above the city and be destroyed? Heroes is very thematic with an engaging plot, but I think the writers overlooked several important details in the show.

2010-01-17T15:57:00.000-05:00

Legend: Ben's legend section logo stinks.
Legend has it that Ben desperately needs a cooler logo for his VGLegends section. His logo looks like it was made in paint... by a middleschooler. But he doesn't need to worry, I'm here to contribute a little something to his style.

Final Answer: TRUE

Sorry for not posting lately, my muse is gone. I haven't found the craving to write about anything lately. I'll try and get back on it soon.

Freebie Fun

2009-12-08T21:44:00.001-05:00

Back on Earth...

In ongoing campaign to rip everything off of Ben's Bengineering blog, I have decided to add a new segment today.

Today's Freebie is Phage Wars 2

Phage Wars 2 by the prolific game developer Armor games is a real-time strategy game. I say 'strategy' hesitantly. While the game is very engaging, I wouldn't exactly call it thought provoking and once you get the knack of it, it's more of a click-fest than anything else. None the less, the game is fun and addicting.

The idea is that you are a scientist who somehow controls the spread of a virus within his lab environment. You are trying to design the perfect virus. How do you design the perfect virus? Why by beating all of the levels, I mean experiments.

As you see here, each level contains several 'cells'. You can move your virus by clicking on the cell to move from and the cell to move to. The idea is to spread out and occupy more cells than your opponent. Once you own all the cells you win the level.

When you beat a level you earn a bonus that you can add to your virus by 'sequencing' its dna. The system is very simple and the bonuses you earn make the game very easy.

My recommendations?
One, Play Phage Wars 2, it's fun.
Two, Don't waste too much time reading the readme, it's not as complicated as they want you to think it is.
Three, drink some sweet tea, you know you want to.

btw, if you liked my background, check out the webcomic, The Next Adventure

Sake on Tap

2009-12-05T15:59:00.001-05:00

Back on the distant planet Reeva...

Arriving on the planet Reeva, we began our search for a cure to a terminal disease in the most logical location: a bar.

So, a pirate and three girls with multicolor hair walk into a bar. I forget the punchline, but we sat down and I quickly started to feel uncomfortable. I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't my guests they were easy on the eyes to say the least. It was the crowd at the bar. They all looked vaguely Asian, but that wouldn't have bothered me. They were all wearing darker clothes. It was normal looking attire, but it was blacks, dark reds, and blues. Mostly black clothes.

Our waitress came up wearing a kimono-like dress.
"You're not a pirate are you?"

"Ha, ha, heh, nonono no. Not me, I'm just a friendly merchant." I did not want to be found out that I was a pirate. Normally I didn't care if people knew or not, but something was incredibly wrong here.

Ash turned to me, "So Captain Bob Citrsk. Going to buy us girls a drink?"

I had managed to get access to my bank account. I think I understand who stole my identity a few years ago to take money out of my account. It was me, but that's all the better. The less paradoxes I create the better off I'll be. I still didn't want to pay for three girls drinks though. That's a lot of money! What was I gonna do though, say no?

"Of course, I can't hardly say no to you Ash."

"Not if you want a ride back to Kattox, that's for sure." Ash said with a wink.

I continued looking around the room. I noticed how observant and focus all the customers were, even if they were doing something else. There was something wrong here and I still couldn't put my finger on it.

Then I saw one of the customers reading a newspaper with one hand and in the other hand he was fiddling with... a shuriken.

The waitress came back.
"The manager has asked that you not return to this bar. You can stay for today, but this is a ninja-only bar and civillians aren't typically invited."

Great. Surrounded by ninjas. I needed to get out of here, it wouldn't be long before one of these ninjas smelled my pirate-ness or however they tell. They can always tell. I was about to ask the girls to get out of dodge with me, but all of a sudden the show started.

"Hello ninjas and ninjettes. My name's Mitarashi and are you ready to rock!"

Might as well stay for the show I suppose, we had already ordered drinks after all. I decided to ask our friendly waitress for info.

"We're looking for someone who knows how to heal Ask Reeves. You know anyone?"

"Well, Otto might be able to help you. He knows healing jutsu, but you'll have to ask Mitarashi."

"The girl on stage?"

"No, the one on the moon." The waitress rolled her eyes in exasperation.

As the waitress walked off, she began mimicking me.
"Naw, no I'm not a pirate, durh."

Final Fantasy VII Comprehensive Opinion

2009-12-02T22:40:00.001-05:00

Back on Earth...

In-Depth Review of Final Fantasy VII

Warning: The following review is extremely opinionated. If you have a complaint and want to be a whiny little baby about it...
GET OVER IT!

Naw, I'm playin'. Critique is welcome; I'm used to da hate-ahs.

Final Fantasy 1+6

Final Fantasy VII, best game ever? No. I'm not here thrash the poor thing, but don't expect me to idolize its very existence. I do however, think this game deserves a more detailed review than just any other game. I will be discarding my out of 4 system temporarily to give this a detailed score out of 100.

Since everybody and their grandmother knows what's good about FF7, let me go over the negative points first.

...Con 1: Bad Visual Effects...

Mixed Perspective: (-8)
I'm talking about the literal visual perspective of the game. First off, hardly any two areas had the same perspective making the transitions between rooms disorienting. If it wasn't bad enough, many of the rooms were at such an odd angle that it was hard to tell whether you were moving up or down within the same room. Some of these areas almost made me naseous with how distorted everything seemed.

The disjointed rooms didn't add to the overall feeling of knowing what a place looks like either. I'd be just as lost playing this game a second time as I was the first time I played.

Poor Contrast: (-4)
Many of the areas in FF7 were dimly lit. I know they had an artist theme running, but when being artistic gets in the way of comprehending what you're seeing, you have a problem. Whenever I play dark games, I'll always turn the brightness up on my TV because frankly I find a lack of contrast hurts the game rather than adds to the effect. I tried with FF7, but it was more than just dimness. This game has poor contrast, period.

3D Graphics: (-6)
This game came out during a time when game developers were testing the waters of 3D graphics and games suffered for it. 3D graphics of this time were bad. I don't just mean bad by today's standards either, they were bad then. 3D graphics didn't look half as good as 2D graphics of the time, but since it was the "future of gaming" producers had to make their games 3D. FF7 is probably one of the best examples of this period of time. Since people usually complain about how judging this game on its 3D graphics isn't fair, let me make my point clear.

This game would've looked better with 2D sprites.

...Con 2: Boring Gameplay...
This isn't the most boring gameplay ever. In fact, I would say the gameplay is averagely exciting. Neither exciting, nor boring, but rather somewhere in between.

Random Battles: (-6)
Step, step, battle syndrome. This game has it as bad as the original FF. I loathe random battles. When you make them frequent, without purpose, and with repetitve enemies, it only makes it worse. Does this make FF7 a bad game? No. Aren't there other good games with random battles? Yes. So what's wrong with it? Nothing, but there's nothing right about it either: No improvement, innovation, or interest. It's old, tired, and lame.

Sensless Enemies: (-3)
This game is a serious game. I don't think many people would argue with me there. However, many of the enemies in this game were silly, whimsical, and most importantly out-of-place. Enemies hardly ever followed a theme, exceptions being Shinra soldiers in military facilities, and ice baddies on whatever that mountain was that you snowboarded down.
It created more of a rift between the real game, and the random battles. It made the random battles seem even more trivial and more of a chore when all you were doing is fighting pokemon and floating boxes.

Rediculous Optional Material: (-2)
Thank heavens the main game wasn't too hard. I'll get to the good stuff later though. The optional sidequests, optional bosses, and secret moves require so much tedious work that I can't see how anyone gets enjoyment from earning them. There are so many better things you can be doing with your life than getting Cloud to level 99 so that he can cast Knights of the Round three times in a row.

...Con 3: Bad Parts of Plot...

Being Convoluded: (-4)
The plot of this game was confusing, intricate but confusing. Many parts of the plot were conflicting but I have been lead to believe that this is on purpose and makes sense on analysis. However, I still think there are some pieces of the plot that are straight up conflicting, mostly dialog between Tifa and Cloud. I think the problem lies in two things: some parts of major plot are contained in sidequests and optional gameplay, and secondly the game never sets you down and tells you exactly what happened during the most confusing and conflicting parts.
Some people actually LIKE this fact. I can sort of understand why, but they are sick people with twisted senses of entertainment. Just teasing, but honestly I don't like the confusion and ambigiousness of the plot.

The Ending: (-2)
If you've seen the end of the game, then you know why this is here.

Cait Sith: (-5)
Red XIII was almost as bad, but Cait Sith bothers me more, I don't know why. Cait Sith walks up to the party and pretty much joins without reason or consent. Does this make sense to anyone? Cait Sith uses a megaphone as a weapon. He's a giant stuffed moogle with a cat on his head that you find out is secretly a robot. What is he doing in this game? He's not even a secret character, he's a main character! People who complain about how Goofy talks philosophy with Sora in Kingdom Hearts have no grounds to defend this part of FF7.

Now, after two pages of burning the ears off of Square fanboys, I will now highlight the good things about FF7

...Pro 1: Good Presentation Effects...

Visual Theme: (+12)
The techno-fantasy gloom and doom look of FF6, I mean FF7, was interesting and different from most RPGs to this point in time. The artwork was moody, enchanting, and very thematic. The characters were unique and easily recognizable. Their sprites suffered, but their face pictures and overall design was creative and enduring. I think the theme and design of this game inspired its predecessors more than any other aspect of the game, besides it sales numbers.

Music: (+15)
Best Final Fantasy music in the series. This games blend of Rock, Jazz, and Industrial was always on cue with the plot and catchy to boot. Though I didn't like the remix of the classic victory music. This was a small enough detail that it's not important though. The music in FF7, without a doubt, rocked.

FMV: (+10)
Though not impressive by today's standards, these FMVs were ahead of their time. In fact, I couldn't get the things to play right on my PS1, but when I threw the game into a PS2 they worked great. These cutscenes were ahead of their own system. Drowning, I mean burying Aeris after her instantly fatal stab in the gut was much more emotional in cutting-edge cinema and every guy can appreciate Tifa's torso growth in the scene at Northern Crater.

...Pro 2: Well-Designed Parts of Gameplay...

Materia System: (+10)
The materia system was one of the best RPG growth systems I've seen. It was customizable and interchangeable throughout the game. It kept everyone's unique character qualities while allowing you freedom of manipulating their battle styles. It was cool.

Mini-Games: (+15)
The best mini-games of any RPG I've ever played. I will admit willingly that FF7s mini-games were better than Chrono Trigger's. It's true. I'd rather play that motorcycle chase all day than play the main game. If other Final Fantasies had picked up on how well FF7 blended their mini-games into their plot, how they made them action oriented and fast paced, and how they made them replayable later in the game, then we'd have a lot more entertaining RPGs out there. This game didn't have any stupid card games, no underwater soccer, and it didn't have you running around slapping posters on walls. This had good mini-games that served as a refreshing break from the dull monotony of pressing the fight button.

Few other good parts: (+10 total)
- (+3) Active Time Battle made this game seem less turn based and more action packed.
- (+2) Epic Summon Sequences, though not as good the fiftieth time, were still really sweet.
- (+3) Limit Breaks were satisfying, useful, and had cool cutscenes
- (+2) the Roleplay was thought provoking at times, e.g. dressing Cloud as a girl, pretending to be a Shinra soldier, solving that impossible combination on the space shuttle. (only thing I regret not doing)

...Pro 3: Good Parts of the Story...

Sephiroth: (+15)
This game's villain was well developed. By the end of this game, I almost hated him myself. He was a constant part of the story, but you never fought him. This made you familiar with him, but it made it so you had no idea how powerful he was. He had a unique character design that makes fangirls drool over how gay he looks (never understand this) and had an absolutely epic theme song. I must say that the fight with Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts spoiled me and I wasn't as impressed with the final battle as I thought I would be. However, if I had played FF7 first, it probably woulda been awesome.

Hojo: (+16)
This game's real villain was even more dasterdly. This guy's sick twisted schemes masterminded almost all the bad things that happened in the game. Sephiroth was dark, ominous, and crazy. Hojo was pure evil!

***Spoilers***
Aeris Dies: (+7)
This actually threw me for a loop. Not that I hadn't been told that she dies, but that I didn't realize how quickly in the game she dies. The attachment they build on Aeris is almost stronger than any of the other female characters and yet they kill her off relentlessly. It's awesome!

--Final Scoring--

Mixed Perspective: (-8)
Poor Contrast: (-4)
3D Graphics: (-6)
Random Battles: (-6)
Sensless Enemies: (-3)
Rediculous Optional Material: (-2)
Being Convoluded: (-4)
The Ending: (-2)
Cait Sith: (-5)
(-40)

Visual Theme: (+12)
Music: (+15)
FMV: (+10)
Materia System: (+10)
Mini-Games: (+15)
Few other good parts: (+10)
Sephiroth: (+15)
Hojo: (+16)
Aeris Dies: (+7)
(+110)

(70/100)
or
Final Fantasy VII gets a...

VII / X

In conclusion:
I.M.H.O.

FF7 is NOT the best game ever.
FF7 is NOT the best RPG ever.
FF7 was NOT the best RPG of its time.
FF7 is NOT the best Final Fantasy game,
But FF7 IS the best of the main numbered Final Fantasy game.
FF7 is better than FF10.
FF7 is better than FF1.
FF7 may even be better than FF6.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, my opinion of FF7.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Last time on Dragon Pirate Z

2009-11-23T16:20:00.002-05:00

Back on Earth...

On a minor note, I completed the New Super Mario Bros. Not the new one for the Wii, but the one on Nintendo DS. Best game I've played on the DS ever. 4/4. I'll give it a more proper review later.

For all my dozens of adoring fans reading my blog, I wanted to let you know. If you haven't been following my Captain Harlock-esque adventures in the deepest reaches of outer space, now's the time. In this post, I will recap all the important things to know. WITH PICTURES!!!

Back in space...

As me, Ash, Lee, and Sayoko enjoyed a short space flight from the planet Kattox to its neighboring planet Reeva, I reflected on the people, places, and things I've seen recently. I recorded this information on a Google Doc so I could pull it up when I arrived back on Earth and post it to my blog.

Recently I was pulled backwards through time by just a few years. The reason for my trip and the exact person who did it are still up for debate, but I must seperate the information into stuff from the past I currently inhabit and the future I came from.

The Current Past

Biographical Information

Ash and Lee

Twin sisters of Kattox, these girls are the daughters of an energy tycoon, owner of Fraction Industries. Ash likes to keep her hair shorter and is more outspoken than her mysterious sister Lee. Lee claims to have been responsible for sending me back through time. I am under the impression that her future self sent me backwards through time.

Ash and Lee's Father (Name never mentioned)
[No picture available]
President, founder, and owner of Fraction Industries, this man is wealthy and has two beautiful daughters. However, he suffers from Askreeves Syndrome Intergalactic Format, a virus that usually only causes common cold symptoms, but in a few rare cases is terminal. I have agreed to help Lee find a cure to ASIF that may exist on the planet Reeva.

Sayoko

Childhood friend of Ash and Lee, Sayoko was on a vacation cruise when I crashed into the sea after time travelling. Lee's future self gave a cryptic message saying that I will be responsible for Sayoko's eventual rise to the corrupt head of Fraction Industries.

Locations

Kattox - Prosperous planet widely known for Fraction Industries leading producer of Refractor crystals, an energy source with a nearly limitless output.

Reeva - Currently prosperous planet covered by 80% oceans. The people of Reeva are very industrious, but are heavily dependent on Refractor Crystal power.

The Previous Future

Bios

Ash

In the future, Ash has become a member of my pirate crew, the only member so far. She displayed the ability to be reborn like a phoenix in a previous fight in which she died.

Lee - In the future, Lee was transformed into a Cthulu monster, but we restored her human form through battle. Before that, Lee had been in charge of Fraction Industries, but after reports that she activated a WMD that destroyed the planet of Reeva, she was quickly replaced by Sayoko.

Sayoko - Most recent head of Fraction Industries, Sayoko is a devious and possibly dangerous business woman who may have had a hand in the destruction of Reeva.

Jack Haley

A ninja-robot charged with protecting an important Refractor crystal, Jack lost a duel with me when I used the awesome power of N.O. In the prescence of this infinitely expansive power, I believe Jack has gained human-like consciousness. I have not seen him since that day.

Locations

Reeva - In the future, Reeva is a decimated wasteland uncolonizable by humans while its sister planet Kattox remains stable.

When we arrive on Reeva we will search for information concerning the cure to ASIF. I'm hoping that if I continue to follow the events that are unfolding I will discover a way to return to my own time. That way I can get back to my ship. I miss her.

Until next time fellow pirates.

P.S.
Pictures are all stolen property of some poor souls on Deviant Art, various artists. I edited some green hair into some of them ;)

Top Tier Tiny Terror!

2009-11-20T19:07:00.000-05:00

Presenting
The One and Only
Small and Sinister
Master of the Microscopic
Tiny Tyrant of all Time...
DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

Badabada

Badabada

Badabada

Badabadabada

Badabadabada

Badabadabada
Badabadabada
Badabadabada
Badabadabada
Badabadabada

Master Jinx himself

Probably the second hardest boss in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Jinx is tiny. It's hard to make out what he is and left highly to interpretation. He appears to have a red cape and a funky green hairdo, but to be honest, it's anybody's guess. With a plethora of instant kill moves, many of which are difficult to block, this little guy means to show you up not once, not twice, but three times. That's only after you've earned the honor to meet him through battle.

Thanks for tuning in, this concludes Tiny Terror Week. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Tiny Terror Five

2009-11-19T16:21:00.001-05:00

Half-Life 2 had some notably scary enemies. Headcrabs were among the smallest. However, the scariest part of Half-Life 2 for me was Ravenholm and its poison headcrabs. These things dropped you down to 1 life instantly. Granted the life recovered slowly, but they made this nasty hiss/rattle sound and it freaked me out.

Tomorrow is the Final Tiny Terror. The Tiniest, Terroryest Tiny Terror of all. Look forward to it.

Tiny 4 Terror

2009-11-18T16:40:00.000-05:00

The single most broken character to play in Timesplitters as is the monkey. He's fast, he's too short to hit, and he's got guns. I really have nothing else to say. This guy is scary because he's small. Oh and he has guns.

Wait, I thought of something scarier.

The Ninja Monkey.

Tiny Terror Three

2009-11-17T16:21:00.001-05:00

The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace.

That is until PETA comes after Samus for exterminating the entire metroid species for the 50 billionth time. Now some metroids are not tiny, not tiny at all. Metroid Prime from its namesake game fills an entire two story room. However, when you say Metroid to a fan, the first thing they think of are the little ones.

Vicious little space vampires that suck your life force dry, these foes are usually encountered late game, and are by no means instant death, but they drain your health faster than anything else in the game. Samus Aran, star of these critters titular games, is often tasked with killing all of them, over and over again. Despite their vicious nature and her indiscriminate genocide of their kind, fans always tend to remember the soft spot that Samus Aran had for one little baby metroid in Metroid II that was a major part of the plot for the best game in the series, Super Metroid (Metroid III).

Tiny Terror Two

2009-11-16T16:22:00.000-05:00

Throughout the Final Fantasy series there have been some keepers and ever since it's debut in FF5, the tonberry has been one of them. Deceptively easy looking, this short fellow will kill you... run... oh but swipe a megalixer first and then morph it to a ribbon. Then run.

Tiny Terror Week; Blog Response

2009-11-15T18:23:00.002-05:00

Back on Earth...

My friend the Bengineer recently hosted a Big Bosses week, and I think he did a decent job with his choices. But my 1-up manship knows no bounds, therefore in response I decided to do my own Big Bosses week. Feeling that was redundant, I now have a new theme. Tiny Terror week. This is for all those baddies in videogames, though short of stature, did not lack deadly skill. I have six wonders of the microscopic video game world that I will be releasing from now, til Friday.

Starting with...

Kamikaze Grunt! Grunts from the Halo series are short, but usually not deadly. Even the elite grunt forces are usually not much of a challenge. But in Halo 3, our grunt friends take on a new hobby: suicide bombing. The only thing scarier than seeing one of these guys lit up is hearing the bone-chilling screams of their highly similar counterparts from the game Serious Sam.

Friday 13th

2009-11-13T18:50:00.002-05:00

New Format

2009-11-07T21:59:00.000-05:00

Back on Earth...

I have decided to work a new format in to keep my blog posts shorter and more frequent. I think my lengthy irregular posts may be obnoxious to some of my more dedicated fans. Not to mention, it really just makes for a blog that's hard to keep up with. From now on, I'll be premising things with "Back on Earth..." or "Back on that alien planet."

Several weeks ago I tried a amateur writer's site. I didn't like it all that much. I was going to try another one, but I decided I'd try something different instead. I've started going to a play by post RPG website. I have not yet started playing a game, but the features they offer seem to be very promising. I applied for three different RPGs and I recieved a response from one so far. Not an invite, but a response none-the-less and I just started yesterday.

Wizard and Nook

2009-11-03T20:48:00.000-05:00

This is almost going to be a shameless advertisement, but I'm drooling here. I WANT one of these. I present to you, the Barnes and Nobles "Nook" E-Book Reader. The price tag is $260. I can't afford it now, but that is not bad, not bad at all. Why is that pricetag not bad? I'll tell you why. This thing uses the same eInk technology as the Amazon Kindle and all other self-respecting e-books out now, and it comes with a color touch screen located at the bottom that can function for typing or browsing through color covers of books on sale. Also, the thing doubles as an MP3 player, which I believe the Kindle can do as well, but still, that's a nice bonus. I've been trying to get back in the habit of reading more and as such my interest for e-books has been sparked, any e-book, but I really do like the style of this thing. Since I'm not gonna have the money for this thing anytime soon, I'll be watching this product like a hawk and I've got high hopes. Maybe I shouldn't jinx it. Good news is that when I /do/ have enough money for this thing, the price will probably be even lower.

Book review:

The Dark Tower I-III
The Gunslinger, The Drawing of Three, The Wastelands

by Stephen King

In the kingdom of Gilead, the law is upheld by the Gunslingers. Trained from childhood in how to fight, how to kill, and taught to protect the weak and uphold the laws of the land, these gunslingers resemble the cowboy heroes of our western movies. Armed with carefully crafted revolvers and their own deadly skill, in the world of the Dark Tower, a world that is moving on, these men are the law.

And that is "Ka"

I've been reading the Dark Tower series, I'm currently on the fourth book, "Wizard and Glass" but I thought I do a mid-term review if you will. I'll give my final review later, much later, when I finish seventh and last book of the series.

I would like to note that this is the first book I've ever read from renowned horror novelist Stephen King. I'm not a huge fan of horror, it's not that I don't like the genre, it's just not the one I pick up first. This series is not horror, but a fantasy novel. A dark fantasy, but still not a horror novel.

Voice - Works of fiction aren't just about what you write, but how you write them. Mr. King has a well developed piece of literature here, but the writing style is really nothing unique. The chapter organization in Drawing of Three was unique, but it wasn't until the third book that I began to see a unique writing pattern develop. However, the third book did pick it up. Adding more poems and more importantly using a poem as a running theme and referencing it. Otherwise the actual voice of the author is simple, easy to understand, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Voice gets Half-Cred: 0.5

Imagery - Painting pictures with words is the name of the game. Mr. King knows what he's doing with descriptions. Desolate wastes, deserted towns, montrous creatures, elaborate gunfights, and so much more. The world Mr. King creates in the Dark Tower will draw you in and keep you wanting more. Mixtures of modern, western, post-apocalyptic, and ancient themes create a sometimes awkward, but always intriguing landscape that always changes right when you think you finally get it.

The Imagery in this novel gets Full-Cred: 1.0

Story - It may seem redundant to list story as factor in a novel review, but some books aren't about the story and are more focus on describing something or creating a certain feeling. This book, however, is not. Mr. King presents us with a clear and ever-present goal, The Dark Tower. Roland of Gilead has been searching for the Dark Tower for ages and he continues to do so in our fateful tale of Khef, Ka, and Ka-Tet.
The story seems to take us on a roller coaster through a horrific wonderland of terrible pasts and even more terrible futures. Though I'd like to say the story is what keeps me going in the book, I'm afraid that's not exactly true. While wanting to know what happens next is on my mind, I often find that I have no idea, no guess as to what will happen next, and that doesn't give me much pull. Instead, learning the secrets of Gilead and Mid-World (Tolkien anyone?) are what really drives me on.

Story gets an almost there: 0.7

Respect - Two words, Stephen King. That is only respect factor I'm giving here. I think most people in America could tell you who Stephen King is. However, I highly doubt most people know about The Dark Tower. More than I expected though. My friend who developing a time machine to take him back to the 80's and my mother's nerdy fiancee both have some or all of the books and they aren't even big Stephen King fans or anything.

Dark Tower, you need a little respect, 0.5

Overall: I am into this series and I can't get out. Stephen King has my attention and he's been doing a good job of keeping it. He recently used the underhanded tactic of a cliff-hanger ending to draw me on to the fourth book, but overall I'm still interested. My final remarks will come when I'm through.

For now, Dark Tower gets 2.7 delicious popkins out of 4.

I meant to post this yesterday, but I'm really busy this week. I've got a MIPS program due on Thursday, the weekly CAPA on Weds, an English paper I'll be starting shortly after I post this, advisement and an internship opportunity that I have to submit the application for by Thurs. I'll be ready for the weekend this time. I'll have to think of something fun to do. Get my vertically challenged friend (I'm so mean) to hit the bar with me and pick up chicks.

And then...

"I know you're from the future. I sent you back in time."

Lee explained because she saw the look of surprise in my face, not complete surprise, just unexpected interest.

"I have to admit, I'm surprised. I thought you didn't know that you sent me back in time."

"Yea I... Wait, what? Why would I not know that I sent you back in time?"

"Because, I thought your future self sent me back in time."

"Did she? Hmm...."

Lee became lost in thought. Her long green hair much shinier and better combed than her sister Ash's short-cut tossled look. It blew gracefully in the wind of the Kattox seas. I interrupted her wandering mind.

"I won't know how to cure your father. I'm not a doctor Jim, I'm a pirate."

"What?"

"I-uh-I mean I'm just a simple merchant, I don't know anything about biology."

"Yes but maybe you've heard of it. My father has Askreeves Syndrome Intergalactic Format."

"Oh yea, there was a big panic about ASIF. It acted like the common cold, but in rare cases it was lethal."

"My father is one of those cases."

"They found something for it, but I don't know what it was."

"Please! Anything..."

I strained my brain for options. Her face was so sad, I think she was tearing up even. I was her last option, there was nothing else. She had literally had to time travel to save her dying father. But maybe...

"Listen, I did hear that it was an alchemist on Reeva who first discovered the cure. That's all I know, but I have a distinct set of skills that are best suited for finding things that are hard to find. I'll go with you and your sister to Reeva and we'll look for the cure. Together."

"No you won't, I won't allow it."

Uh, oh. It was daddy, and he was in protect his baby mode. Lee looked completely horrified. It was embarrasment first, but that turned into fear at the recognition that it might be her own father that stops her from saving him. They began arguing about who's safety was important and how she had to do something and how she was old enough to make her own decisions and how even if he wouldn't allow it she would still do it. Eventually he gave in, he agreed to let me take his two daughters on a dangerous mission to an alien planet and even gave Lee access to his money and spaceships. I like this guy.

"I'm coming too."

Sayoko stood in the most defiant pose she could get with her frilly mini-skirt and tube-top. Lee decided she'd take this one.

"You shouldn't put your life on the line. It's not your father at risk."

"I don't care, I'm coming. You can't stop me, and neither can you."

This was directed at me. I shrugged, it didn't matter to me whether she came or not. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't already destined to be.

You will help her rise
You will help her fall

"Fine Sayoko, come with us. But don't start crying when it gets tough."

Sayoko responded with a you-know-me-better-than-that glare.

Me and three girls on an adventure through time and space. I could get used to this.

Until next time fellow pirates.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

2009-10-27T20:55:00.000-04:00

Today I will be reviewing a movie that I watched yesterday. I've been sleeping strange hours lately, I'm trying to get back on schedule. Anyway, my friend Dave gave me this movie a while back and I didn't get around to watching it til now. Glad I did though.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

This Science-Fiction Romance Anime is an extremely well produced feature length film based on an old Japanese Novel first serialized in a magazine in the 60's, I believe. The premise is pretty self-explanatory. The girl begins abusing the time travel as most teenage girls would if they came upon the ability, but learns that her actions can have unseen consequences.

Presentation - This movie's artwork is amazing. The scenery is beautifully animated, the character's animation is smooth and very expressive, and the imagery used when time travelling gives a sense of grandeur that expresses the vastness of time itself. The sound track is not very varied, but the pieces they do include are so well composed that some people would go to tears just listening to the music. (*ahem* not me, of course, too... manly for that, yea)

Presentation gets full marks.

Minor note, I watched this in Japanese with English subtitles.

Plot - The time travel appears simple at first, but as new rules arise and other characters become involved, the science fiction aspect of the story thickens. The premise of the time travel is interesting too, as the girl physically leaps through time and can't do it unless she has a good running start. However, the main focus of the story really centers around the relationships between the characters, especially the romantic ones. I won't lie, it's kinda mushy and the characters act their awkward age. However, I found the way the relationships interacted was very compelling, love triangles, etc.

Plot gets full marks.

Acting - Normally this quality will be more self-explanatory. In an animated film like this one I will be discussing the characterization and the voice acting since these components basically replace the acting you would have in a normal movie. In this movie, the characterization was well done. The characters look like normal people so it may be hard to tell some characters apart at first. Especially the girls for some reason. As the movie progresses there shouldn't be any confusion. Every character is well developed, except maybe the main girl's parents, they don't get much screen time. She confides with her Aunt, whom she calls Auntie Witch, the most of any adult.
I thought the voice acting was good, but I don't speak Japanese. None of the characters voices grated on my nerves and some of the characters inflections added to the humor.

Acting gets full marks.

Respect - This movie is not well known and didn't even sell very well in the box office in Japan. However, the movie received several awards in the film festivals in which it was released and I bet if they released it here in the states, the anime crowd would eat it up. I'll be giving this hidden jewel half-cred for being well respected among the critics who have seen it.

Time-Leaping Girl you get a little Respect, (0.5)

Overall
Great movie, really touching, but not all sad, kinda mushy, with a cool premise. Find it on the internet, well worth the time. Also, I just found out, it's available on Netflix, dubbed and subbed too probably, if you have dub you usually have sub.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time gets 3.5/4 paradoxes.

Btw, time paradoxes never come up in this movie.

I am now going to get a soda from the kitchen.

And then...

I chowed down on the generous portions of Japaneseish seafood native to Kattox. I assumed I was on Kattox having landed in the middle of Ash's family. I made up a story about how my merchant vessel had been attacked by pirates, ironically, and I don't remember much after that. They all seemed to buy it. Lee especially agreed with me, making logical conclusions about why that story made sense. Sayoko seemed to innocently place her faith in my story and Ash didn't seem to care. Her father was the only one who actually seemed to consider it, but I think he came to the conclusion that I didn't seem dangerous.

They told me about Fraction industries and growing concerns with the planet Reeva. I wondered if I should attempt to stop the massacre of the people of Reeva. That would be a big time paradox, which I may have mentioned before can cause severe emotional and psychological trauma. On the other hand, it was an entire planet of people going to die. Later that night, Lee asked to talk to me on the deck of the boat.

"Captain Bob?"

*snicker*

"Yes Lee?"

"I need your help. My father is dying."

This was a half-shock to me. I realized that Lee had inherited Fraction Industries from her father in the future, but the man looked in perfect health. He was the spitting image of the American dream: wealthy, muscular, and father of two hot teenage girls.

"I know he doesn't look like it, but he has a rare disease from Reeva that we have no cure for."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Well I... I was kind of hoping that... I dunno, I don't know how to ask this."

"I'm listening."

"Research for this disease is well-funded and new ways to treat the illness are advancing rapidly."

"That's good."

"Not fast enough though. The cure for the disease is unlikely to show up before my father kicks the bucket."

"You shouldn't give up."

"I didn't, I'm not I mean. Even if it was impossible to come up with a cure in time, I wasn't going to let that stop me from keeping my father alive."

"What exactly are you getting at?"

"I was hoping YOU could get me the cure."

"Me?"

"I was hoping they had it, you know...

...in your time."

Until next time fellow pirates.

Mixed Bag today

2009-10-23T22:10:00.000-04:00

Okay, my friends and I have been tossing around the idea of doing a podcast. Currently, we have no theme. We were just planning on talking about each of our specialties. I've been trying to come up with a good one, but I haven't thought of much yet. However, I had this idea and I thought I'd put it here.

Infinite To Do List

Every show we'll have ten topics, (We can split them up among the three of us) and we discuss whatever it is we're talking about and end it with a To Do List item. For example, somebody does a quick review of River City Ransom and after they finish, they say, "#7 on our To Do List today, Play River City Ransom."

I like ten because it makes it seem like a top ten list. We could each take three and all agree on the last one or we could take turns doing the last one.

Let's play Name That Game.

I'm going to post some pics of some SNES games that I think are kinda obscure, prove to me how unobscure they are by guessing them.

Just kidding, on to the real pics.

This remake of an old NES strategy game is actually pretty fun to play.

This action-rpg is the second in a series of games that you wouldn't be able to tell they were a series unless you played them.

This Lucas-Arts classic is how mech games should play even with fun multiplayer deathmatch action.

Okay, enough fun and games. The weekend is upon me, and it feels like this week has flown by. Today I can't say that I did anything interesting. Class as usual, but sometimes it's good to get a break.

And then.

I awoke to find myself on a wooden sailing ship. It wasn't mine though, this one was actually at sea. The sky overhead was bright, but not as bright as the smiling face of the green haired girl standing over me. Not Ash though, Lee maybe? She looked too young to be Lee, after all Lee was the last thing I saw before waking up here.

"I'm so glad you're alive. When we fished you out of the water, I thought we were dragging up a dead body."

"Yeah, I'm glad I'm not dead too. Say, where are we?"

"This is my father's fishing boat. We're on vacation. It was gonna be a real bummer to go home early cause we found a dead body, but your like, alive."

I sat up and looked around, there were two other girls and a man busy with boat stuff. I figured he was their father, big guy, probably shouldn't hit on these girls.

One of the girls was Ash, but she looked much younger. I can only assume I must have been sent back in time. I found that I couldn't warp either. The other girl had blue hair that bounced with the wind.

"Sayoko."

I said it out loud, I hadn't meant to. She looked completely taken back at the fact that I knew her name. I couldn't tell what happened after that because I passed out again.

I woke up in bed. I was still at sea. I sat up, but I was sore and I groaned from the pain. Sayoko was sitting across from the bed, thinking about something. She heard me groan and turned to stare straight at me. Our eyes locked for almost half a minute and then...

She smiled.

"You've come back to us. Are you feeling alright?"

"A little sore, I'll live."

"Who are you? Where are you from?"

"I'm Captain..."

pause.

"Yes?"

"Captain... Bob."

"Bob?"

"Yea, Bob... Citsrk." (Where had I heard that?)

"Welcome aboard Bob. Um, Bob have we met before?"

"Sure. You don't remember me? You know, from that thing, last year?"

"Oh yea, the dance party."

"Yeah, love me some dancing. I could use some food too, I'm starving. I'll gladly pay you when I can get to a bank."

"Don't be silly, come with me. You can tell us all about your adventures over dinner."

Well, not ALL about them.

Until next time fellow pirates.

btw, I found this picture on dA. It completely reminds me of how I think Sayoko should look.

Captain Comic

2009-10-19T21:04:00.003-04:00

As a kid, my selection of games was limited. I never owned much more than an old computer and an SNES. We just didn't have that much money to throw around. I always seemed to be one generation behind. My friends all had N64s and I was still working with my SNES, I finally got an N64 and everybody was playing PS2s, I get a PS2 and everybody's got 360s. I never minded though, older systems have a bigger variety of games. I've been hoping for some time now that game developers will go back and make some games like they used to. I now see that 360 arcade developers are picking up on that same vibe and doing just that.

Well, that was a long exposition just to say this. I'm going to show you one of my old favorites. This was one of the first platformers on PC. It was a really fun game that is available as shareware. Not sure if it'll run on modern computers as it was a DOS game, but you should give it a try because it is definitely worth it.

Captain Comic (MS-DOS)

You are Captain Comic, the fireball throwin', space jumpin' defender of space justice! The planet Tambi is in need of your help. You have to find and "recover" the treasures that were stolen by an odd assortment of animals and inanimate objects that all want to Kill You!

Presentation - Heavily pixelated graphics, MIDI sound effects, no background music, and only one attack graphic (fireball). This game's pres is old school and not the reason you play this game. It's not so poorly done that it keeps you from enjoying the other aspects, but not worth getting credit for.

No points for presentation

(Note: Some reviewers prefer to review the graphics of a game based on the graphics of that time. I don't think this is helpful. I'm not reviewing this game for the benefit of someone in 1988, I'm hoping someone will read this sometime in the present and I think they should know what they're getting into. Also, it's not like we were blind to the fact that our graphics weren't exactly life-like. Graphics may have improved over the past twenty years, but our eyes haven't, or have they? If an old game I review had superior graphics at one time, I may give it credit to recognize the quality of work put into it, but otherwise I'll be reviewing the graphics as I see 'em.)

Entertainment - This game is not only one of the first platformers on PC, it's one of the oldest "sandbox" games I've ever played. You can literally go almost anywhere from the start of the game. There are some upgrades like jump boots and a teleport wand that are required to reach some areas of the game, but otherwise it's completely free range. The beginning may seem like it's linear, but that only lasts for a little while. The game is challenging at first, but as you get used to the jumping and enemy movement patterns it becomes much easier. Gameplay is the highlight of this game, and I believe it has the best gameplay of 1988 PC games. That's right, this game gets PC Game-of-the-Year 1988 in my book. For its excellent gameplay, I'm going to give this game Bonus Points.

Entertainment gets an extra-credit 1.5

Literary Value - This arcade style game has almost no plot. There might have been one in the Readme file or something. The enemies are killer bees, beach balls, and blind frogs? Colorful, fun to play, but it don't make a lick of sense. It is kinda humorous, but only because it's ridiculously arbitrary.

Literary gets no points

.

Respect - This game was not popular and its sequel is almost completely unknown. I haven't even played it. Obscure, oh yeah, least I think so. Maybe if they ever remake it the respect for this original would go up, but I wouldn't count on it.

Sorry Captain, no respect (but I still luv ya!)

Conclusion: The gameplay is the only worthy factor here. It was tons o' fun back in the day and it's still fun today. I'm not gonna call it a masterpiece or a classic. Heck, I hesitate to call it a good game. Still, give it a try, it needs yo lovin'.

Captain Comic gets 1.5 Blastola Colas out of 4.

I went to the South Carolina State Fair last weekend. That's why I haven't posted anything over the weekend. I had a deep fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I love those things.

And then...

The floating body that had formed from the towering Cthulu that we had just defeated floated in front of us in the vacuum of space. Thinking quickly, I commanded the nanobots to extend my astroshield to cover our new guest. Ash had lost all the cool she had built up a few minutes ago. She was chattering nervously about something, I couldn't understand her because she was talking too fast.

"...ifnohospitalthenyougottawarporsomethin"

"ASH, shut up... please?"

Amazingly the girl was alive. I used my nanobots to magnetize myself back to the mech. I imagine the miners who used to work here, probably had a similar system. Back inside the mech, Ash kept starting to say something, but then deciding not to. We moved towards the light I saw deeper in the asteroid.

"What! You can't go deeper in. We've gotta get to civilization."

"She's been living here for this long, I bet she'll make it back in her own home."

"If she dies..."

"Fine. She won't, but yeah if she does then feel free to do whatever you need to do to me."

Ash was willing to trust that. She figured I didn't have a death wish. A normal human wouldn't have made it as long as this girl had in the vacuum of space. She could survive in an anaerobic environment, I just knew it.

We came upon the quaintest little cottage sitting in the middle of the dark depressing asteroid mine. It looked completely out of place, impossible even. We entered into the building through a front door sized airlock. It even had a doorbell!

As we entered the living room, Lee began to arouse in my arms. She gently lifted out of my hands and drifted away, driven by an unseen force. She righted herself and stood floating a foot from the floor of the cozy space cottage.

She stared into my eyes with a glare from a distant place. Like she was thinking about something else and just leaving her eyes in my direction. She wasn't though, she was looking at me, all of me, past, present, and maybe...

She began to speak with an angelic harmony that defied the acoustics of the room.

Lady with the lips
Lips that smile
Lips that bite
Lady with the snarling smile

"Do you mean Sayoko?"

You will help her rise
You will help her fall
Your hand will guide this evil
This evil will guide your hand

"I won't play by her rules, sorry."

Her rules are your rules
You make the rules, you rule her
In the end, you'll play, she'll pay
Like children telling a story

"Who are you?"

Once I was sister to the phoenix
Once I was a monster bound by a spell
Always I am the oracle, now and forever
I am Leet

She extended her hand and I began to feel my consciousness slipping. I spent the next three years in the not so distant past. For my convenience I will chronicle it as usual, but I did not actually have the ability to return to Earth during this time.

Until another time fellow pirates.

My Blog, Talking 'bout My Blooog.

2009-10-14T23:58:00.002-04:00

I want to talk about my blog in my blog today. Time for something a little zen. I wanted to discuss why I post the way I do and how it's been benefitting me.

As you know, after I blog about my adventures on Earth I begin blogging about my space-faring adventures. I been using these logs as a scratchpad for my authory thoughts. It's literary practice like a flat stone to sharpen my knife, a decoy to practice my latest moves on, or an experience rich area to level up my RPG hero. Even without input from an outside source, I still have learned quite a lot. Just looking at what I wrote I see things that I like and things I thought would be good but weren't so great.

I'll list a few things now, starting with planning. I've found that if I concentrate on planning out the story then I tend to rush through the events with not enough details. Planning is good and keeps me on a clear path, but I've found that fictional writing is much more an emotional process than a logical one. If it feels right, then go with it.

I found that you can make "special effects" with words. I used this counting in the background to add emotion to my fight with Jack, and I really liked that. I'm going to try and experiment with more "text effects" in later posts.

A character from FLCL, Nauta, made a cameo in an earlier post. I liked the idea, but I totally messed up Nauta. I didn't capture his character. One of the problems was I didn't describe him well enough, but the biggest problem was the dialogue was all wrong. One of my weak points is giving my characters more character in their dialogue. I'm not entirely sure what I should do. I guess I should add some frequently used words to each person's unique dialogue.

I've been trying to write with an exponential curve of detail as I progress through each post. I start out with just the important stuff from the events leading up the main event. Then I describe the main event with moderate detail up until just before the climactic moment. Then I spend a lot of detail on the climax leading up to a one-liner. I think this is a good structure for episodic writing, maybe all writing.

Things I'm planning on doing? I plan to include some in-depth character bios in my next recap post maybe with pics. I plan on incorporating a little poetry into my posts. I've seen it done in some books I've read and I think it might help. I plan on trying to tie my posts into posts from a couple of days ago. Like maybe I'll describe a stoplight in one post that I use as a weapon in the next post, etc.

I was eating dinner in my campus dining hall today and it was kind of crowded. A guy walks up and sits down across from me at my table. This wouldn't have been strange if it were one of the longer tables, but this was a small four person table. The guy doesn't say a word and just sits down and starts eating. I thought about making a comment to break the tension like, "Kinda crowded tonight." Then I realized that if I wanted to sit down at someone's table, I would ask first. So I decided to let him talk first, but he never did. It was really awkward, I think it was his fault.

And then...

The writhing, winged, tentacled monstrosity continued to stare us down. I tried to avert my eyes. The terrifying visage of the beast was like a train wreck, you had to keep looking at it. Only this was worse. The sight of the being slowly began to peel away your mind and drive you into eternal nightmares.

"Try not... to look... directly at it, Ash."

After managing to avert my eyes, I grabbed Ash's trembling chin and forcibly turned her head from it. She tore herself away and pushed aside my helping hand. I explained the plan.

"This is a Cthulu, a small one."

"A Cthulu? I thought there was only one."

"There used to be, but things happened and now there are plenty of them. I can fight it, but it will only distract it. It feeds on the anger of battle. The only thing that can truly stop it is complete calm and confidence."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I'm going to drill this thing into the wall. While we're arm wrestling, I need you somewhere else. Get out of the mech, go to a dark corner of the cavern and..."

"Out of the Mech!?"

"Find your happy place."

I opened the hatch on the mech. The writhing tentacles crawled into the hull. I slammed on the controls and drove a drill right into its center. The drill began spinning.

Spinning.

The sound of the drill squishing the monsters guts was satisfying. The monster wasn't really hurting though. He was just trying to get me riled up and it was working.

"Go, go now!"

Ash bit her lip and jumped through the opening and began crawling to the back of the mech. I continued to work the drills.

SPinning.

The monster grew bored of crying in agony and reached inside the Mech with its huge clawed hand. Tentacles protruded from the palm of the paw. This thing has tentacles all over it. I drew a sword in one hand while still holding the mech controls in the other. I rose the sword above my head and twirled it a few times...

SPInning.

...and brought it down on the claw. I cut off one of the fingers and the hand retracted in false pain. He was good. The bloodlust was strong now. I could feel it...

SPINning.

...welling up inside me. What was taking Ash so long? Moments felt like minutes, seconds like hours as the drills continued to spin.

SPINNing.

The monster stared at me with his eye of insanity and reached in and pinned me against the wall with his other hand. Tentacles crawled up the sides of my head feeling around beneath my eyes. I felt my head...

SPINNIng.

...aching and sadness, fear, and pain began to fill my whole being. It drug me out of the mech, helpless to fight back, and towards its abyssal mouth. Ash couldn't do it, her fear, for herself and me, would keep her from stopping it and this was going to be my final mission.

Then, I felt N.O. rushing up inside me. I felt the asteroid that surrounded me, drifting, flipping over and over in the comsmos.

SPINNINg.

I think I actually heard the monster chuckle. He sensed my N.O. Actually, he was waiting for it. He was going to absorb it for himself. I couldn't stop the power. It came to me like falling unconscious but backwards. I was waking up and I couldn't stop.

SPINN...

"STOP!"

It was Ash's voice. My N.O. faded and the monster stared straight at it.

"Put him down."

The monster moved as close as it could to Ash without touching her and she didn't even blink.

"Now."

The monster obeyed reluctantly and then began writhing in a real pain. It began to shrink. Not only did it shrink, but it began to take on humanoid form. It finally reached the form of a young woman with long hair. It was hard to tell with only the light from the mech, but it looked like her hair was... green.

"Captain! It's Lee."

Until next time fellow pirates.

Erfworld

2009-10-13T01:35:00.000-04:00

Quite some time ago, I was recommended to read a webcomic called Erfworld. Having finished Book 1, I thought I'd post my thoughts.

Erfworld is a land ruled by the conventions of table-top gaming. Wars are fought in turns and movement is measured in hexagonal grid spaces. Lord Stanley is surrounded by enemy forces with his capitol as his only remaining stronghold. In a last ditch effort to save his kingdom he orders that a warlord be summoned.

Parson is fat, sweaty, minimum wage earning nerd who regularly plays table-top games. Summoned into Erfworld he is tasked with winning a losing battle.

The artwork is very well done. This comic features a super-deformed style of drawing found in some japanese comics. The lines are clean and the colors are well done with some added graphical effects now and then that improve the presentation.

The story has average pacing, not as slow as most web comics but still slower than commercial comics. The author does a good job in keeping the tension rolling.

The best feature of this comic is the constant allusions especially to internet culture or old TV shows. The author works them into the story solidly and makes them regularly. The comic can be pretty funny at times, mostly there's little humor or a sort of dry humor.

I only really have one small complaint. The author seems to really enjoy the system and world he made with this comic and has extended sections discussing these topics in detail. It can be very dry and is mostly unimportant. However, the author does a very good job of setting this information in a different style. I found that if the information was too boring then I could simply skip over it without missing much story.

I have yet to read the summer updates that add more to the story and the author has yet to start on Book 2, but I believe I will continue to follow this story, it has caught my interest, it might catch yours.

Today it rained cats and dogs. I got soaked on my way to business writing and flood warnings were given on several of the schools parking lots. I did go out after class and retrieve some valuable information for deferring some of my loans.

And then...

I pushed off of the ground and floated to the cockpit of the mining robot. I motioned Ash to follow. She hesitated, clearly not liking the idea, but decided to follow. I began tinkering with the controls. I knew how to operate similar mechs but I had never used one of these before.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Relax baby, I never know what I'm doing."

She wasn't reassured by this fact, but sat back for the ride. The cockpit was designed for one, but it was large enough for Ash to sit on the dash.

I activated the magnetic walking system and began pushing the thing down into the asteroid. The lighting was damaged and flickered in most places. Eventually there was no more left. The metal walkway continued forward and the robot walked across it as if it was the surface of a planet. The robot had head lights that lit the path right in front of us, but the walls remained mostly dark and the abyssal path ran towards the center of the asteroid.

The dark tentacles of something monstrously large reached out towards the robot from the darkness. Ash screamed despite herself. A shiver ran down my back. I had seen that shape before and I don't like to remember it. The monster retreated deeper into the darkness of the asteroid. I turned to look at Ash holding her hands over her mouth. She took her hands away to reveal a nervous smile.

"Well, I guess that's that. No Lee, we should head back and try somewhere else."

"Ash, that thing is here for a reason. They don't just take up residence in any abandoned asteroid. We should check this out."

"Listen Keelhaul, as a space adventuring female I have a natural aversion to tentacles and I'm not going to support a decision to go further in."

"You wanna get out and walk back?"

The blackness of the tunnel was complete without the head lights of the mech. That thing was clearly ahead of the vehicle, but it wouldn't be the most pleasant walk back to the ship. This was going to be challenging. I had never had the advantage of a giant mech when I fought one of these last time, but I knew that most people wind up dead or worse after encountering these beasts. It was guarding something and it was likely related to Lee.

"No Cap'n. Full sail."

The mech continued laboring towards the center of the asteroid. The complete lack of sound due to the vacuum of space only made this excursion creepier. The walls of the asteroid were porous. Most of the holes were too small for a human to crawl through, but some were large enough that the mech might be able to fit in. Suddenly the walkway ended, but the cave continued forward.

"No, no no, nooo. I am not getting out and walking."

"Don't worry greens, this thing can still manage without the walkway. It's just a lot more challenging to steer."

I activated the thruster system and the robot began drifting into the black abyss. The tunnel ended opening up into a large cavern filled with natural columns. Far deeper into the center of the cabin I could make out a light. I adjusted the robot and came to a stop in the cavern to think about how to proceed.

Thump.

Something hit the mech from behind. My adrenaline rose over 9000. I twisted the mech around with the thrusters coming face to face with a monstrosity indescribible with words or pictures. Writhing tentacles twisted from various places on his body, especially from what one would assume was the face. A giant eye centered on the gruesome for stared into my very soul with a twisted scowl that screamed hatred, fear, agony, and confusion. His bat-like wings spread so far apart that the lights of the mech could not even illuminate them completely. His skin was not colored, but rather was black. Blackness that could not be penetrated mixed with blackness not so strong that seemed to at least reflect some of the light from the headlights. The eye was green, red, and many other colors, colors that seemed to fade and appear at random. Yet these colors were not real, if you stopped concentrating on the eye it became the same blackness that formed the rest of the beast.

"W-w-whaat issit?"

"What isn't it?"

Until next time fellow pirates.

Sonic and Friends

2009-10-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

About a week ago I believe I told you that I was trying out a writing community called Bibliofaction. Don't go. Most of the pieces were poorly written smut, which I expected to a degree after all I was looking for a Deviant Art of writing, but there was no system in place to rate works or sort through the bad ones. I will continue my search... Elsewhere!

I wanted to mention Google Wave. My friend who adores guinea pigs, in a totally no homo masculine way, mentioned that the internets were abuzz with this new leet software. I looked into it and I was actually impressed this time. Normally I don't approve of listening to hype, but I would advise everyone to keep there eye on this one. It appears to be a cross between an Instant Messenger and a Document sharer. It looks like its going to have a lot of functionality. The makers are kinda stuck up about it, saying they think it's going to replace email, psh yea sure. I do think it looks like a good product and if its free, hot dog!

Speaking of guinea-man, on Sixty's Blog he reviewed a bad game for a change of pace. Now I'm not competitive or anything, *glance left and right* but I think I WILL review a bad game. Okay, maybe a little competitive.

Sonic Heroes

Sonic and his many many obscure friends on a three dimensional adventure to... do... something... that involves Robotn- I mean EGGMAN!

Presentation - This game is in 3D, but the graphics are simple, way too glossy, and tend to clip, flicker and otherwise bug out. The music is annoying and the theme song makes me want to get a bucket and hurl and then find someone who likes this game and dump it on them. The cutscenes are clearly not synched up with the voice acting either, not that they'd be impressive if they were.

Presentation gets no points.

Entertainment - 3D Sonic has always struggled and this one is probably the best example. The controls are stiff, the homing attacks make you bounce all over the place, and weird camera angles for dramatic effect change your controls and make you fall to your death. Enemies in the game are no threat. Hitting one makes you lose like 10 rings or something, really easy to get back. Never the less, you will die all the time in this game. The game is almost nothing but platforms placed over endless pits of death. Even landing in deep water is instant death. Strange camera angles don't make avoiding this death any easier. An awkard team mechanic coupled with a leveling up system makes this game feel very not Sonic-esque. When gameplay is the mainstay of a game, like it usually is in platformers, you really can't afford to mess it up.

Entertainment gets no points.

Literary Value - heh, ha, ha ha, HA HA HA HA Ha Ha, Ha, ha, ha, hoo, whoo, yea, good one.

No points.

Respect - Sonic was a big name series and still has a large following, but even most fans of Sonic will still agree, this game stinks. This is not a highly acclaimed game, in fact its rather often the butt of many a joke.

Sonic Heroes gets NO RESPECT!

Sonic Heroes gets 0 rings / 4 and dies.

Final Notes - This is the only game that I wish I could get rid of. Most bad games I get I just sell, but my six-year-old sister is a hoog Sonic fan and being six she has no taste in games. The colorful graphics and repetitive theme song hypnotizes her young impressionable mind and she makes us play it for her sometimes. We've almost got it completely out of her system by hiding it in the back of our games case, but sometimes she remembers or finds it. As Roland of Gilead says, "For your father's sake," don't get this game.

Fall Break is coming up this week. I'll be with my family and I may not update until I get back. I'm not going to promise I won't, but don't be surprised if I don't.

I worked on my assembly language project today. Assembly language is probably the most cryptic computer language I've had to deal with. I have to use a reference card to remember the difference between load word and load immediate. I got it mostly done today all that's left is some debugging.

And then...

We landed the ship on the asteroid's landing pad. The place was an abandoned mining colony with old rusted digging equipment and space weathered buildings with faded Fraction Corps logos on them. (It looks like pac man)

"Nanobot Command, Astro-Shield, Personal" I commanded the nanobots to form a space survival shield to protect me from the vacuum of space and provide me with compressed air to breath. It's completely invisible.

Ash repeated my command.

She cut her hair back to its original short state where it comes down just below her ears. It is still completely green, apparently she didn't have the dye to get the blond tips she had before. Reminds me of Ryoko on Martian Successor Nadesico.

"Stop staring and lets get moving."

"Hey now, I'm the captain, I give the... orders."

She had already pushed off the ship towards one of the walk lines. The gravity on the asteroid is too low to really walk so the workers put up ropes along the surface they could use to pull themselves along with.

The barren cold surface of the asteroid filled with the ruins of a long gone civilization gave me a bad feeling. You have to think that people once lived and worked here every day. Now there was nothing but silence.

"COMM CHECK!"

"Lord! Ash, do you have to yell?"

"I'll take that as an affirmative."

"Yea, yea, affirmative. There's no one here, if your sis is hiding out here she's gotta be in the mines."

"Roger that, let's go."

"Aye."

We drifted into the darkness of the mines. As we got deeper into the cave we realized neither of us had brought a flashlight.

"I think we should go back."

Just then, the lights flickered on. Ash's eyes flickered on as well.

"She's here!"

"calm down, could've been motion detected or worse, could be someone else."

"Stop being pessimistic."

"Then stay on your toes!"

She stared at me for a moment with nothing but defiance in her puckered lips, but then she softened into a grudging compliance.

"Aye cap'n."

We continued down the mines until we reached a sector with a huge metal walkway leading deeper. The walkway appeared to be for using magnetic boots to simulate gravity, but there were still walk lines along the ground.

"What d'you think these metal walkways are for?"

Ash pointed down the cave.

"That."

I followed her gaze to a towering metal colossus with drills for arms. A mech, mining class, but big enough to impress anyone standing in its shadow. Nearly ten stories tall, its drills were at least two stories tall by themselves.

"I want one."

Until next time fellow pirates.

Disgaea

2009-10-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

I'm craving a game that I can't play. One it's on PS2 and two I don't own a copy. Since I can't play it, I'm gonna review it, or something. Most of my friends, those who love the 80's and those who live off of chicken fingers, will not hear anything here they don't already know. This is mostly just for me to stifle my craving, hopefully.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

I'll use my normal format really quickly and then I want to get to the good stuff, as this is more commentary than review.

Presentation - Disgaea has beautiful high definition art during cutscenes and brightly colored over-the-top special moves. It may lack some in animation, but makes up for it and more in artwork.

Full-Marks for Pres.

Entertainment - Providing one of the most intricate strategy RPG systems I have ever seen with a plethora of levels, many of which are optional, you could literally play this game for hundreds of hours and still find new stuff. Trust me, I have a friend who's done it.

Entertainment gets Full-Marks

Literary Value - A heart-felt divine comedy with several plot twists and a fresh from the villain perspective. It may have a little anime cheese to it. But just enough to make it better and not hinder it.

Full-Marks for Story (seeing a pattern here?)

Respect - Now here's where I get picky with my review. This game is obscure, it used to be a lot more obscure than it is now. Now it's very in with the nerd crowd and the anime crowd. Popular? No. Well-known? Not really. Highly acclaimed? Definitely. It's not a perfect game, but it's damn near close.

Respect? Half-Cred. It's good enough for me.

Disgaea gets 3.5 exploding prinnies out of 4

Enough review, I just wanna ramble. Disgaea Commentary starts here. One of my favorite things about Disgaea was Item World. When you need to level up, Item world is there for you. Not only does it provide random dungeons to train your peeps in, but doing so makes your items better too. Also, Item World was chocked full of goodies to be had in case you were low on cash or needed some better gear.

It wasn't just easy pickings either though. If you went into Item World unprepared or picked the wrong item to jump into to, you'd find yourself over your head fast. Mr. Gency's Exits were a godsend, and made it so that even if you did get in over your head, you could still salvage the situation.

I think the combo system made the game ten times more fun as well. Both the physical attack combo and the stringing together several commands combo.

And the game was so funny. Even the battle system was hilarious. Your stats had practically no limits, throwing your teammates around was a strategy, and if you couldn't get a bill passed you could just beat up everyone who didn't vote for you.

Disgaea 2 and 3 weren't as good. Disgaea 2 would've gotten a 3/4 and I didn't play Disgaea 3 enough to know what it would get. I think Disgaea 2 made a lot of good changes to the game system, but the story was much weaker. And it didn't have the deep character development of the first one. I think Rozalin was the best character and she didn't have that much going for her. Despite Axel's attempts at being the next Mid-Boss, he couldn't quite live up.

I think the fact that you could use a ton of different strategies really helped Disgaea too. You could power-level Laharl to kill everything, or you could work with a huge rotating cast. You could pick your favorite characters and even mold them to your preferences to a degree. I made Flonne a gun user, best one I had, because I made her that way. She would've been much more suited to healing or working with a bow, but I said no, she's gonna pop some caps.

Last word, if you're reading this and you don't know about Disgaea, play this game. If you're reading this and you do know Disgaea, please send me a copy, a PS2, and million dollars, please?

I worked on some Visual Basic projects today. Visual Basic is really easy to use. It also seems rather limited in its capabilites, but I'm taking the class so I'm learning the language.

And then...

I used Googalaxy to search for leads to finding Lee, but the words of Sayoko still swam in my head. She had said that Lee had killed herself when she activated the weapon of mass destruction. Hey, Ash had died and she was standing over my shoulder right now. Maybe it was genetic?

"What's bothering you Keelhaul?"

"Sayoko said your sister was dead."

"Sayoko says a lot of things. Keep looking."

I could see I wasn't going to change her mind about this one. I found a chat on PirateLinks about someone saying they thought they saw Lee Edwards' spaceship landing on one of Fraction Corps asteroid mining bases.

Sounding like a good enough place to start.

The nanobots I picked up had the ship up and running. Her beautiful hardwood floors glowed in the unfettered starlight. Her completely useless sails fluttered in an artificial breeze. Really stunning and completely superfluous. The boards even creaked as you walked across them, just for added effect. The photon cannons were molded into age of exploration cannons with powder kegs next to it and everything.

The only thing it was missing... a crew. The decks were huge and completely empty. Thanks to the nanobots neural interface, I could pilot the ship all by myself, but it still needed a crew. I could use the extra hands too.

At least I had a first mate.

"And these, my lady, are your private quarters."

"So I can paint the walls pink right?"

"Well, you, I mean..."

"I'm just kidding. It feels weird to have a place to call my own. I've been on the road for several years now."

"You and your husband?"

"No, ex-husband, and he was too ADD with me anyway, sans travel."

(Cha-ching)

"By the way Keelhaul, you look a lot like him."

"Related maybe? What's his name?"

"Bob Citsrk?"

"Don't know him. It actually sounds like a name I'd use as an alias, but I've never met you before. I'd have to get really drunk not to remember getting married."

"Yea, guess so..."

"Anyway, get some sleep, we'll hit that asteroid tomorrow."

"I hope not."

Until next time fellow pirates.

dA Today

2009-09-29T22:56:00.000-04:00

I'm bored. Time for a new segment. Today I'll browse through Deviant Art and pull some of my favorites of the day. I may take some stuff made in the last week or so. I'll go with my top three today. I may do more or less next time.

Time to Fly

I like the sense of scale the author used in this piece. It reminded me of those commercials for Aion.

Dragon and Slave (Censored)

I, um, ahem, I thought this piece was well colored and... yea okay I thought it was kinda hot. Sorry about the censoring, but this is a public page that may be viewed by minors.

Kappa

I found this picture very frightening despite the lower detail. Artist did a good job with mood.

I didn't find as much as I was expecting to find. I got a hundred on a Assembly language exam I was dreading, so I'm happy today. Still busy though. I'll get it all done though.

And then...

I warped back to find myself safely six feet above the ground outside of the Fraction building. Falling six feet still hurts though. I shook it off and walked back towards the building.

The building was deserted, likely evacuated during the fight. I walked up and pushed the call button for the elevator.

Waiting.

The elevator doors slid open and I began to step into the elevator. I was kindly met with a pistol in my face. Luckily (or unluckily) I found that Ash was behind that pistol. She looked human again. Her hair fell straight to her waist and was solid green. She wore the tattered burnt remains of one of the guards' uniforms. Besides that she looked just like she used to.

She lowered her gun and ran up and hugged me.

"Thank you for bringing me back."

"It was nothing. You really helped me out of a scrape up there."

"I hope I didn't hurt you. I didn't know I could do that."

"Naw, so... can you do that whenever you want now."

('Cause it's almost time for the bad news)

"I don't think so, but maybe."

(Not good.)

"Well, I'm glad you're back, but I should be on my way."

"Take me with you. I could use your help again sometime, and I owe you one for bringing me back."

"You owe me one, eh? Well in that case I guess you could tag along."

"Besides I need to pick up the money from the refractor."

"I spent it."

Here comes the look.

"All of it? I needed that money."

"Just my share, just call us even, waddaya say?"

"I need you to help me find my sister."

"That sounds like work."

"I was going to use the money from that refractor to fund my search, but since you spent it, I guess I'll have to squeeze it out of you."

"Very well, but if we do this, you have to become my first full fledge crew-mate."

"I'm not sure I like the implications of 'mate' but okay, Ash Citsrk at your service."

(Oh yea, her husband, I'll ask her later.)

Until next time fellow pirates...

Modern Con Man

2009-09-27T21:19:00.000-04:00

I picked up this book called "Modern Con Man" and I love it. It's filled with bar tricks to impress people or win a few wagers. The whole thing is devious, but in a fun, harmless kind of way. The motto in the front of the book is:

"Do unto others... then run."

Some of the tricks I've heard of, like playing the game of Nim, but most of them I haven't and they don't require a lot of props either. Here's a simple example just to give you a taste.

Standing in line, bored? How about skipping the person ahead of you? Try this. Bet him that he can't stand on his right foot for ten seconds if you place him against the wall. You get to skip him if you win and if he wins, offer him a dollar or something. When he agrees, place him against the wall, but place him sideways so his right shoulder and right foot are against the wall. Timber!

I had an enjoyable weekend. A couple of my friends came over and we watch Lupin III: Castle of Caligostro. It's an old Myazaki film based on a TV series.

And then...

I stood on the top of the Fraction Building staring down the sights of three rifles trained on me. Ms. Sayoko stood behind them, her blue curly hair bouncing at her waist and plump red lips curled in an evil smile.

"The Refractor, if you don't mind."

"Funny thing about that, I just gave it to some ninja."

"Then I'll take those nanobots as compensation."

"How about I leave and take the bots and you just have a nice day."

"I wouldn't advise that. As soon as I saw you on the buildings cameras, I erected an anti-warp field that scatters objects leaving the area faster than the speed of light. It covers the entire roof."

"Where do you people GET THESE THINGS?"

Just as I was exclaiming about how unfair anti-warp devices were, the sun was fully eclipsed by the moon. At that moment, the pouch that had been holding Ash's remains began to get very hot. I quickly tossed it off in self-preservation. The guards took their guns off of me and aimed at the satchel that was now on fire. The pouch quickly burned to a crisp and the ashes fell out.

The pile of ashes writhed and grew. Embers spread out in veins branching out all over the pile. Then the delicate shape of a human hand burst from the pile as if someone was reaching out of a lake. The hand, black and crispy like the ash, grasped the roof, pulling itself from the invisible mire. A shoulder appeared, still black and crispy like the hand with the ember veins mapping out some alien terrain. Then the head pulled itself from the lake of ash, slowly and laboriously as if the lake was made of some thick syrup. Her hair was long and draped from her head concealing her face.

Then in a violent flail, she flung her hair backwards and thrust her crispy black bare chest into the air and gasped for breath. As the air rushed into her, the ember veins flared like a Boy Scout's campfire as he blew on it to keep it going. She continued her crawl from the primeval pits, one hip and then the next. Finally the last bits of ash gathered together to finish her long legs and burnt black feet. She paused a moment, rasping for air, her ember veins pulsing with every gasp.

Then she looked up. Three frightened gaurds and a carefully retreating Sayoko were in front of her. She let out a feral screech like someone trying to impersonate a hawk, and doing a pretty good job. She burst into flames, all the black crispy skin licked away by red hot heat. Then she lunged at the first guard. Her fingers clawed through his face, each cutting like a minature blow torch. The other guards fired their weapons, but each bullet passed through her as if she wasn't even there. Second guard. Third guard. She whirled around and looked right at me.

"Hey now Ash, it's me, Keelhaul?"

I knew this wouldn't work, but I was buying for time. I couldn't warp, the anti-warp field was still active. (Anti-warp field, really)

She began leaping towards me on all fours. As she lunged for me, I pretended to be knocked off. I was actually jumping. As I fell, I thought about how mad she was going to be when she found out that we already spent the refractor money. I wondered if she would have the ability to turn into that thing from now on. The ground was getting closer, this was a pretty tall building. I had to warp right before I hit the ground, that way if I warped back, I'd only be six feet in the air instead of sixty.

If I missed timed it, I'd end up as street pizza. Right... about... now.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Football, a critique

2009-09-24T22:16:00.000-04:00

Today was a football game here at USC. It was a big one too. Us versus Ole Miss. I always hate the time from 4-6 on game days. All the frat guys are worked up, but none of them have left for the game. I don't get Football. Not football itself, I enjoy watching a good game a football with a group of friends. I enjoy school spirit. Feeling united together with people who live and work with you is a good thing. I just don't get why everyone goes crazy. I think there's something more to it, something more sinister.

I think there's a bloodlust to it. A craving for violence that can't be fulfilled in today's modern controlled society. The closest thing they have is violent sports like football. It's not even a craving for athletics, I know a lot of these fanatics that don't look like they've played football in years. I'm speculating of course, I don't have any data or anything.

I think most of it isn't even each person's individual violent nature, but rather a mob mentality that lets people drop there mental guards and go with crowd. They feel like it's okay to be ultra-violent because everyone else is too. I would not want to tick off one of these crowds. They could tear you apart and they'd all blame it on each other.

It's possible I'm overreacting, but let me tell you, if anything ever does happen with football crowd hysteria, something bad, I'll be right there with a big sign, "I told you so."

I actually do wish I went to this game though. One of my friends came down to watch the game. He might not even be able to stop in though, he had to go to the game straight from work and if he has to work tomorrow then he'll have to head straight home afterword. Like I said, I enjoy a good game of football, now and then, with some friends.

But tonight I simply play "Lufia and the Fortress of Doom." Hey, how about a microreview, there's not much to this game.

Lufia and the Fortress of Doom

Presentation - Very 90's RPG. Good for it's time, and still catchy today. Fun but repetitive music and colorful, simple graphics. Full Points

Literary Value - Four warriors battle the evil Sinistrals. I like how cheesy it is, but it's no work of art. (Just an expression)
Half-Credit

Entertainment - Old school JRPG, riddled with Step, Step, Battle syndrome. It does you the service of sending you back to town when you die with all your earnings, but items don't have descriptions and monsters are more of a chore than a challenge.
No-Credit

Respect - Lufia and the Fortress of Doom? My friend had played a remake, but I had to dig to find this game. Sorry Lufia, you get No Respect.

Lufia and the Fortress of Doom gets:
1.5 DragonEggs out of 4 - Below Average

If you're craving some nostalgia like I am, go for it, but this game is old school Dragon Quest style.

And then...

"Well Jack, it's time for..."

A kunai flew from his fingertips and stabbed me right in the leg.

"Not wasting any time I see."

"It's an anti-warp device."

"Say wha?"

"If you warp anywhere, I'll be drug with you."

He didn't want me to run away. That was actually one of my most likely options. This wasn't good.

"You got the nanobots?" I tried to pull the kunai out, no good, stuck in tight.

"There location is stored in my hard-drive. But you won't survive to access it."

"I wouldn't count on that."

One, two...

I leapt forward, he leapt forward, our blades clashed in the collision. I had one saber in each hand, he had only one katana that he two-handed. I dropped a blade and pulled my pistol.

Three, four...

He blocked both shots with his blade. I hate it when they do that. He rushed forward with blinding speed. I picked up my second sword.

I declare war.

It was all I could do just to keep up with the flurry of blows. He leapt backwards and stood at ready.

"This is all? Without your precious warping you are nothing. Why don't you warp? I would follow, but would I not be disoriented by the trip?"

I wouldn't count on that.

Ten, nine...

He began his barrage again. He was holding back. He could've killed me by now. I decided to try his theory out.

Eight, seven...

In the refractory, our battle continued. He did seem to pause for a moment to take in his new surroundings. I took an initiative.

Six, five...

Blocked, both strikes. Not enough, might as well keep it on the rooftop. Warping back he flew at me, familiar with this terrain.

Four, three...

"Two, you only have two places you can warp to? I underestimated you. I should've killed you back on Reeva."

He was right.

Two, one...

"But now you will die here."

I saw his blade readying into posistion. I saw the killing blow look in his eye. I knew I'd never see the actual strike, but I had no idea it would be because I wouldn't let it happen.

Blast-Off

Spinning, the planet was spinning. Swinging around its sun. Spinning like a top. The sun was spinning. The galaxy was spinning. The whole universe was spinning and I could feel it.

Everything was spinning.

But most importantly, something inside me was spinning. My head felt like it was splitting open. Mostly because it was. A blast of force had sent Jack spiraling backwards. Spiraling like the universe. My hair began to glow red, magma with a hint of yellow, red. I felt like crumpling to my knees, but I stood, no, I began to rise. I floated two feet above the rooftop with mighty gales torrenting around me and nearly pushing Jack back farther.

N.O. the force that I use to warp. Unlocked by accessing both halves of your brain. All of it, and then some. I reached into my hair. It melted around my hands like syrup. I reached deeper feeling for something, anything inside that might help. I found it.

A Gilmour Signature Stratocaster, black, six-stringed, electric guitar with a whammy bar and a pirate decal right above the bridge. I decided to call it, Davie.

With N.O. coursing through my veins and my musical instrument of death now gripped in both hands, we resumed our fight. He was still faster, but not by much. More importantly I was defying gravity. I was defying physics. My blows came and didn't stop coming. I couldn't feel the resistance of his sword against my guitar, all I could feel was...

Spinning.

I lifted my guitar for one final blow. I think I actually saw fear in Jack's eyes. His robot eyes actually quivered for a moment. He brought his blade up to block my blow. Perfect. I brought down the hammah, and smashed his sword in two. Jack dropped to his knees.

I pretended to obey gravity for a moment and stood over him.

"Where are the nanobots?"

"Kill me, just kill me and find out for yourself."

"Here." I tossed the refractor crystal from my jacket.

"What is this?"

A refractor crystal moron.

"Trade, give me the location of the nanobots and you can return to guarding this crystal on Reeva."

"They're on Reeva. Near the entrance to my facility."

"Remove the anti-warp device."

"It is deactivated. You can remove it later."

"Good luck."

I shoved the robot off the building with my foot. He jumped off the side and landed on another roof. My N.O. cooled and Davie evaporated in my hands. Jack wouldn't make it two days in that stale old power station. Something inside him, something small, had begun to spin. Life was awakening within his code. He'd drop the crystal off and move on, searching for answers to questions he didn't know.

"Quite a display, but you should hand over the crystal now."

Sayoko and three armed guards had me at gunpoint.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Two Parts Gin

2009-09-22T22:19:00.000-04:00

I've got this idea for a short story series and I'm going to go over the basic concept here.

"Two Parts Gin"

In a club downtown, they like to play a game. It's a game of trust, honesty, deception, and manipulation. You play it how you want, but in the end, there are only two winners. They lock up the club, you can leave but nobody gets in. Ten men dressed in uniform work their way through the crowd, talk to people, and then choose someone. They give this person a crystal vial. Two of these vials are filled with gin and the rest are filled with water.

The object is to find the person who holds the gin.

The rules are this:

You can't win with the gin you are given, you must find someone else's gin.

You only get one guess. If you're wrong, you get kicked out.

If you find the gin, you win and the person with the gin is kicked out. If the two people with the gin find each other, they win.

Beyond that, there are no rules. Anything goes; you can pretend you have the gin, you can bribe someone to find the gin, or you can seduce someone to find the gin. Hundreds of possibilities and everyone plays the game differently. The prize is your name on the wall, a commerative shotglass, and a toast from everyone left in the club.

I plan to use the setup to write about certain interpersonal dynamics between both strangers and people who know each other well. It might make a fun video game too. I may have to look into doing it that way.

I like the title. I love making titles. I watched a horror movie the other weekend called, The Dark. It was a decent horror movie with a strong background in Welsh legends, but the movie was poorly named. It could've gone with The Sheperd or The Flock. It even could have been titled Annwn and that would've made it more appealing than just calling it, "The Dark"

I think the title should reflect a main theme in a piece of literature or at least name something significant to the plot. Farenheit 451, very good title, it doesn't say everything about the book, but it doesn't have to. It catches a main theme and leads you into it. A Sound of Thunder, horrible title. The story's about time-travel and dinosaurs, and not weather. It's supposed to signify the sound of the gunshot, but why not call it, The Last Thing You Hear or something more fitting like End of the Trail.

I had a hard time focusing today. Not sure why. I was spacing out like crazy. I ordered some Lobster Bisque from the Soup Man and it didn't settle well with my stomach, that might have been part of the problem. I'll snap out of it for tomorrow. Today I'll just finish what I've got to do.

And then...

I warped back to Reeva. Stealing the Refractor Crystal was a snap. With all the amazing things out here in deep space, there are still few people who can teleport. Even less who use the power of N.O.

I took a bus back to Kattox. It was the day of the solar eclipse and the event itself was only an hour away. Climbing the Fraction Buildiing was going to be hard with Sayoko on the lookout for me. I staked out the front entrance.

A blonde secretary with her hair pulled back in a bun walked out of the building. She pushed up her glasses on her nose as she looked both ways to cross the street. She cradled a notebook in her arms like a child. I had found my key in.

"Hey there."

"Hello?"

"Looks like you've had a hard day of work."

"Yea, the paperwork really stacks... Do I know you?"

"You could if you wanted to. Can I buy you a drink?"

"No, I don't really have the time..."

"What if I bought you a car to go along with that drink?"

"A c-car?"

"A nice sports car with leather interior."

A couple of drinks and a Galaxus GT later...

"You know what we should do? We should sneak up to the roof of the Fraction Building."

"I could get in trouble."

"Yea, doesn't that sound fun."

*giggle* "Okay, okay, sshhh follow me."

As we ascended the back staircase of the building, swiping a few security doors with her card. I kept thinking about how this might be my last few minutes before I'm sushi on the roof of this building.

"Alright beautiful, I've got business to take care of, I advise you get out of here."

"But the roof..."

"Is a dangerous place for a girl like you, don't take this the wrong way, but I think we should just be friends."

I grabbed her key card and slammed a security door in her face. Heh, that's always hilarious.

I stared across the roof of the building. The shadowy figure of Jack Haley stared back at me. The wind blew gently across the building and both my brown leather jacket and his black headband billowed gently in the breeze. I walked toward the battleground and then stopped. Deciding another trip to Earth was in order.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Bibliofaction

2009-09-21T23:31:00.000-04:00

Today I'm going to write about writing. well, actually I did that the other day too, but this time I'm writing about what I'm going to write. I went looking for a writing community and I found one that looks good. It's called Bibliofaction. I'm going to read stories from there and write some myself. Later I'll review the site here on my blog.

I spent most of the night doing homework and I'm bushed, so I'm not going to write much. In class today we learned about different colors of communicators. There are Blue, Orange, Gold, and Green communicators. I can't remember what they all are, but I'm sure you can look it up if you're curious. In physics, we studied about electrical resistance and stuff. Don't worry, I'll remember it when I need it.

And then...

I arrived on the bustling planet of Kattox. Yesterday, I challenged Jack Haley the ninja-robot to a rematch. I wagered a new Refractor Crystal that I was going to steal, and he wagered some nanobots, worth quite a bit more, that would be able to repair and maintain a wooden spaceship.

The capital city was full of people, and skyscrapers lined the roads. The tallest of all stood like a tower over all the other towers, the Fraction Corporation Headquarters. It was shaped like a pac-man from overhead and rose straight up without getting narrower. The idea was it was supposed to look like a fraction of a building, but it just looked like pac-man to me.

I would be heading there soon, but for now I needed to find a Refractory. It's a factory. For refractors. Anyway, it didn't take me long to find one. It was smaller and low-key, but it still had armed soldiers pacing the place. I waited until night.

I climbed up to a window. Locked. Not a problem, I pulled out my telewrench. It's a device that operates like a wrench but across a short distance using low intensity tele-kinesis. Very handy. I unlocked the window by fiddling with the lock on the inside through the window. I opened it just enough to squeeze through.

The factory was really just a large warehouse with a device that looked like a trash can with lights in the center. Security cameras all pointed towards the container. Panels on the floor told me that the building was installed with automatic turrets. As I was planning how to extract my prize I was distracted by a light coming from an overhead office.

I climbed around the side of the room and peered through the indoor window. A woman in a gray business suit stood talking to a hologram. I couldn't make out the tiny hologram, but the woman had flowing blue hair and looked extremely well groomed. She was rather terrifying. Her plump red lips were drawn into a cold smile and her eyes were black pools of malicious intent hidden under a shroud of lies. She had a nice figure, but she held herself stiff and kept her arms crossed in an unfriendly gesture while she was talking. I tried to listen closely to what she said.

"Police...my business...someone to blame...our business. So let me keep this simple. Find Lee before the police do or we will have problems."

"And Ash?"

"Her sister cares for her, but doesn't have anything to back it up. She lost her chance at power when she turned her daddy down. Ignore her. Lee is our priority now."

"Yes President Sayoko."

"Ah HA!" (that was me)

Yep, that was me. Why did I do that? I dunno. I guess I was really getting in to finding out her name. She looked right over at me, if she had brought a pistol I'm sure she would've shot me right there. I just waved. Then I made a mad dash for the crystal container. I yanked the thing open as the automatic turrets began rising out of the floor. They took aim and I heard the alarm system.

"DO NOT MOVE. IF YOU ATTEMPT TO FLEE YOU WILL BE FIRED UPON."

Then the woman slowly descended the staircase.

"Was this your plan? You were going to walk into one of my factories, easedrop on me, and try and run off with one of my crystals?"

"Who died and made you queen of Fraction Corps?"

"The late Mr. Edwards."

"Father of Ash and Lee Edwards?"

"The same. Although, Ash took her husband's last name of Citsrk."

Shoot. I had plans to tap that.

"Good to know. I'm supposing you're the reason that Lee didn't take over."

"No, the reason Lee didn't take over was because she was charged with the murder of an entire planet."

"Which she didn't commit."

"What makes you so sure? I assure you, their blood is on her hands."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Lee was head of Fraction Corps at the time. Tensions between the company and the people of Reeva were growing. Many on the board of directors had a vested interest in the people of Reeva. Many of the political requests of the people of Reeva would place allocated funds of the company into the Reevans' hands with no compensation for Fraction Corps. Fearing violent retalliation from Reeva. Lee herself did some covert research. She found a weapon of mass destruction in a Reevan government facility. She was found, but rather than let the Reevans use the bomb on Kattox she decided to detonate it on Reeva with herself."

"A tragic story, but can you back it up?"

"Ask anyone on the board of directors, but on the other hand you won't be able to, because you'll be behind bars."

"Oh yeah, about that."

I warped back to Earth.

Until next time fellow pirates.

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessing

2009-09-19T23:21:00.000-04:00

I've decided I want to learn PHP. I was looking around at freelance programming jobs, considering earning a little money on the side if I could do it, and I found that most of the jobs on the site were calling for people to do a PHP script. Apparently PHP and MySQL database are closely tied together and it's a highly marketable skill. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about it yet. I could just get a book and try and learn it myself in my freetime. I could look around the Computer Science department, ask the ACM guys, to see if someone could teach me. I could do a little of both, that'd probably be the best idea. I've decided that I want to add that to my arsenal though.

By the way, PHP is the stupidest acronym I've ever seen.

PHP stands for - PHP: Hypertext Preprocessing

Let me break that down for you.

P stands for PHP
H stands for Hypertext
P stands for Preprocessing

They call it a "recursive" acronym. I think they must have done it because HP was already taken.

Speaking of that. A friend told me, I can't remember who, the reason for the lame change of Sci-Fi channels name to SyFy. Apparently they couldn't trademark Sci-Fi because it was too generally used as the name for the genre. They did it so they can have a name they can trademark and slap on their B movies.

ARSENAL:

Main Weapon: Java
Type: High-level applications
Sub Weapon: C++
Type: High-Level applications
Sub Weapon: COBOL
Type: Business Data Processing
Accessory: HTML
Type: Internet Formatting
Accessory: Flash
Type: Interactive Presentations
Accessory: Photoshop
Type: Image Editing
Artifact: BASIC
Type: Outdated High-Level Language

Aquiring:
Visual Basic - GUIs
MIPS - Low-level Assembly Language
*new* PHP and MySQL - online databases

why'd I list that? I don't know, just felt like it.

I started this really generic RPG, but it's so generic and cheesy that's it caught my attention. It's very colorful and has catchy music too. It's called:
Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (SNES)

Yep, legendary heroes, evil beings called Sinistrals... Very, very generic.

If you can't tell, I'm kinda ADD with my games. I like to have options when I decide to pick one up.

Games I'm working on:
Megaman ZX
Sword of Mana
Scribblenauts
Blackthorne
Lufia and the Fortress of Doom

Games I might pick back up soon:

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga
Metal Slug 7
Final Fantasy Tactics A2

Lovin' the lists tonight. So I gained a few levels in Lufia.

And then...

I thought I'd head to the bar to recap my latest adventures and search for new work. Notmos Eisley has the best joints to get Spaceweiser and Captain Morgan's. Captain Morgan went on to a sucessful career as a space pirate after his supposed death on Earth. That's why they drink his rum out here.

I ordered a rum and coke and began remembering how I recieved a lead to the Planet of Reeva. The planet had been completely uninhabited. My contact Ash was a green haired hottie. together we disabled three security robots to collect a Refractor Crystal worth a large amount of money.

Ash...

I had learned that her sister Lee was accused of destroying the planet Reeva in a power struggle with her planet Kattox, leading producer of Refractor Crystals.

That was right before she died. A robot-ninja lopped off her head. Her body mysteriously crumbled into ash. By the way, I found a more elegant pouch to keep her ashes as opposed to the tupperware container I originally kept them in.

I sold the Refractor Crystal to buy a wooden spaceship I wanted, but I still need more money to get the thing spaceworthy.

That's one of the reasons I came to this bar in Notmos Eisley. This seedy joint was the best place to pick up lucrative jobs. I looked around the room.

An alien scratching his tentacles,
a blue skinned girl (looking for a good time),
a ninja-robot getting drunk...

Wait a second. It couldn't be. He's getting drunk? He's a robot.

It was definitely the same robot from before. A big grin came over my face. I couldn't resist this.

I slapped him on the back, "Hey buddy, wazzup?"

"I have failed my mission, I lost the..."

"Yes?"

"You! You're the one who did this to me."

"Guilty"

"You're the ONE who did This to ME!"

"You're drunk."

"No, I'm malfunctioning. I'm not supposed to put liquids into my system."

"So. How's things?"

"Rematch."

"Excuse me?"

"I challenge you to a rematch. You will acquire another refractor crystal to replace the one I guarded and I will take it from your dead hands."

"Why would I do that?"

"These."

He held up a transparent box the size of a wallet. It glittered with a strange light that wriggled and moved in an organic manner.

"They're nanobots. They can repair and maintain spaceships, even WOODEN ones."

"How did you know that?"

"Internet. You purchased it online."

"Fair enough, but it was enough trouble getting the first Refractor, how am I going to get another?"

"Head to Kattox. They're the leading producer. You're a pirate right? Be... creative."

"Deal. I steal a crystal and you show up with those nanobots. Last man standing gets both. Where and when ninja?"

"The name is Jack, Jack Haley and Kattox, top of the Fraction Building, day of the solar eclipse."

"I look forward to killing you, Jack."

I'm gonna die.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Actually Friday

2009-09-18T22:55:00.001-04:00

It's the weekend! I'm sleeping in til noon tommorrow. Hua! (Marine corps style)

Every good work of fiction needs plot twists. If everything in a book is something we'd expect then we get bored pretty quick. But there's different types of expectations and suprises.

People don't like "What they expect" in a book because that makes the book too easy to figure out and doesn't tell them anything they don't already know.

But people do like "what they've been waiting for" in a book because if you've been building something up then you gotta let it down somehow. Don't leave 'em hanging.

People also like "what they don't expect" in a book. This gives them a sense of something new and leaves them wanting more. However, if you're twist is too unexpected then people will find it "cheap" or "random" and feel like you took the easy way out.

So, the literary sweet spot for a plot twist is:

"What they expect not to expect"

When something happens that the reader didn't see coming, but completely understands why it happened, that is the sweet spot. It's not easy to set up. The process of setting it up can often clue the reader into what is going to happen or the lack of set up can make the twist, too random. If you get it though, you're readers will love you for it.

I've been reading Stephen King's, "The Dark Tower." No sweetspots in this book yet. It's kinda random, but like I said, people do like the unexpected, just not as much as the expected unexpected. But he's been building something and I don't know what it is yet.

The ACM is still thinking about working on an augmented Pac-Man game, where you walk around with a Pac-Man helmet on and the screen shows the grid as if it was in real life. It's an interesting project, but I think it's a bit too lofty and misdirected. I was kinda hoping they'd all be working on a real computer game and I could get my hands dirty on a real programming project.

I went to ACM movie night tonight, but no one was there, maybe it got canceled.

And then...

I spent several days pirating with the crew again. During that time I looked up a necromancer to take Ash's remains to.

Necromancers aren't bad guys, and being undead isn't that bad either. You're not dead. Yes you have a craving for brains, but with a good support group and the patch you can get over that pretty quickly. Fine, think what you want, but I thought it was worth a shot.

The necromancer took the tupperware container of ashes and looked it over. He picked up the powder and rubbed it between his bony fingers. He was a gaunt fellow in a long black robe.

What'd you expect?

He stood there in contemplation for a while and then handed the box back.

"I can't resurrect her."

"Because..."

"Because she is not really dead. I'm not really sure how or why, but she's not. Trust me, I'm an expert."

"Will she ever be ali... Will she be sentient... Will she ever be humanoid again? Yea, let's go with that one, humanoid."

"She may possess the powers of the Phoenix. If so she will rise from her ashes, I assume, but I cannot tell you when."

"That's not good."

"I thought you wanted her back?"

"Yea, but I didn't expect it to happen. We kinda spent all of her share of the treasure we found."

"Change your name? Move out of the galaxy?"

"Naw, not again, this time I'm just gonna tell her and try to pay her back."

"Keep her remains with you. When she reincarnates, she will be disoriented and need someone to care for her until she recovers, probably."

"Thanks doc."

"One last thing, be careful. When she emerges, she will have the power and fiery fury of the Phoenix and only an animalistic instinct to survive."

"Like a woman scorned."

"Indeed, now if you'll excuse me, I have a skeleton army to raise in the first step of my conquering the galaxy."

"You have fun with that, you crazy necromancer."

He seemed like he was guessing. I didn't really believe him, but I was keeping the ashes with me anyway, until I could find someone who knew what they were doing.

I was busy right now. I bought a ship! A wooden spaceship designed after 17th century sailing vessels. It was in disrepair, but a few more lucrative missions and I'd have enough to get it running. I decided to head to Notmos Eisley and look for some jobs.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Dirty Little Secret

2009-09-17T22:56:00.002-04:00

Patrick Swayze, teengirl heart-throb actor, died recently from cancer at the age of 57, I think. I'm saddened by this. Keep it a secret, but I thought Patrick was a pretty good actor. A friend of mine tried to help me hook up with this friend of hers that was a lesbian. It didn't really go anywhere, as you might imagine, but they both forced me to watch Dirty Dancing and I thought it was a really good movie. So now you know, don't tell anyone, like I just told you, random person reading my blog. That's my only guilty girly pleasure, I'm not a fan of Gilmore Girls or anything, Who said that? (Nobody technically, I'm writing all this.)

Some guy in my computer lab was telling me that Final Fantasy Dissidia was a really good game. This is a request to any of my friends reading my blog. Any of you played it? Post comments if so. I'm not dying to know, I don't have a PSP and don't really intend on getting one.

I think the DS is a better system, the games I've seen played on PSP have long loading times and often small text. I'm not that fond of the touch screen, but it's better than the Wii motion controls. However, I think the DS's combined screens have more area than the single larger PSP screen. Before I saw the PSP in action I thought it was going to be better. I liked the UMD media better than the tiny DS cartridges and the media capabilities of the PSP were attractive. I liked the PSP's joystick, but my friends have told me it messes up often.

Today was really dull. I sat through two classes of teachers telling me what they were planning on assigning at later dates and going over material we had already covered. I went to the ACM meeting, but the only interesting thing was that the fighting game tournament they were planning on hosting has been postponed. Woo hoo. But hey, maybe I'll have a more entertaining weekend. Oh yea, Friday, well it'll be over with before I know it. I watched an episode of SG-1 about a computer virus alien that infected the brain of Major Carter, (she's hot) but it ended with them beating the virus and getting Carter back and there really wasn't anything interesting in between. I think there might have been some message about making peaceful contact at any cost or something, but it was more about seeing Amanda Tapping shoot lightning from her fingertips. Yeah.

And then...

I warped back to warp point resting in the hallway before the refractor room. Last time I was in the refractor room and had an urge to jump out. As I suspected, the ninja-robot was standing directly behind where I was standing before I warped. I could see that if I had so much as blinked instead of warping I would have been sushi.

Now was my chance, probably the only one I would get. I charged the thing with my sword raised high and my pistol firing shot after shot towards the thing. The robot took the first shot in the back, nothing he could do, but he whirled around and blocked the next shot with his sword. Yea, they do that. He retreated into the refractor room, lept onto the wall above the door and continued to climb to the ceiling. I kept a sharp eye on him and fired off another round. He jumped onto the tower in the center of the room so fast it was just a blur flying from one side the room to the other.

He stood on the wall as if he was standing on level ground and held out a single hand.

"Enough." His voice was deep and sounded synthetic.

"Your ability to move faster than my sensors can indicate clearly outmatches my own abilities. I will surrender, for now. I must seek out new abilities to better protect the main power unit."

He didn't realize how my warping power was limited. He couldn't, N.O. can't be detected by machine. Most people can't feel it at all. He tossed a small orb down in front of me. I tried to shield my eyes, but I was too slow. The bright flash disoriented me and when I got my vision back, he was gone.

"Does someone need my help?" a brassy superhero-ish voice rang out behind me.

"Captain Comic here and...AHOY! Firstmate Keelhaul! You've taken too long getting back. Do you need HELP?"

The guy sounds like a Buck Rogers knock-off and his pirate lingo is so forced that it sounds like he's desperately trying to fit in. Besides his demeanor, he's a good captain, and I could have used him in that fight.

His blond wavy hair looks like it was squirted out like toothpaste. His large muscular physique is wrapped in a glaring red jumpsuit with oversized white gloves. A big "Blastola Cola" endorsement is pasted on the front of the suit depicted a soda can with an explosion on it. He's always smiling with this huge Colgate smile that either says he's a really good guy or says that he likes you, a lot, too much.

"No thanks cap'n. I had deal with a ninja-robot, but it's taken care of. My contact was killed, do you have an urn? I'd like to take her ashes to have someone look at them."

"You cremated her? Man, you work FAST!"

"No I... Nevermind, have ye an urn or not?"

"I've got a tupperware container on the ship, but let's get this haul of booty here first."

"I want fifty. I did most of the work."

"Twenty." "Forty." "Twenty-FIVE!"
"..."
"Forty it is."

Until next time fellow pirates.

Friday-like, Wednesday

2009-09-17T00:46:00.000-04:00

I'm still tired. I wanted to post, but I'm gonna keep it short. I had two exams yesterday and one today, but the good news is I'm done for the week, with exams I still have class. Classes are gonna be booring with all the teachers just lecturing and no assignments or tests but hey no work. I have some stuff that'll need to be done by sometime next week and I'll probably get a jump on some of that, but nothing urgent.

Oh, oh, listen to this, I got stuck in my apartment this year because I tried to sign up for a good room deal, an early bird special, my friends kinda led me into. They both bailed on me, one of them really tried to help me out, but the office staff just wouldn't let me go. This is all just background, what's cool is that because I signed up early, I got a $200 gift card! Cha ching! I guess it's not so bad living here after all. The random roommate they stuck me with ain't a bad guy either.

Okay, so I played some Blackthorne on the SNES, great game I'll review it later, maybe tomorrow. I finally got past the underground area.

And then...

I warped back to Reeva, but not in front of the ninja-robot where I'd likely get split in two from his next blow, but to the room where we fought the giant robot.

Ash had started to grow on me. I still can't believe that she died in my arms. Actually, I guess she was probably dead before she hit my arms given the decapitation. I still don't understand why her body crumbled into dust either, the sword the ninja was using looked like an ordinary katana, maybe adamantine like my sabers, but still nothing disintegrating.

I had a pistol in one hand and a saber in the other. This ninja could be anywhere. As I walked, every once in a while I would duck just in case. I heard this improves your odds. I walked down towards the area where we had passed. I would check around corners before walking down them and I would walk very slowly and listen. All I could hear was the sound of my own not-so-stealthy footsteps.

The hallway where the ninja attacked was dark and the walls were littered with pipes and machinery to hide behind. I checked carefully before entering the area again. The ninja wasn't here, I knew he wouldn't be here probably. I kneeled next to Ash's ashes, ha, wait that's not funny. I made sure to keep my head up so I could see the ninja coming, hopefully. It was still there scattered across the smooth metal floor. Fine gray powder that clumped a little. It didn't have an odor. It was just dust. I'd collect it all later once I had defeated the ninja-robot.

I continued down the hall in my usual fashion. At the end of the very same corridor the ninja had attacked us in, was a huge room. In the center of that room was a mechanism as big as a nuclear cooling tower. It looked like one too, but a little square window on the front was open and inside it I could see a huge ruby colored refractor crystal. It was as big as a microwave oven. It however did not look like a microwave oven, much more like a crystal, yep.

Just then I had a sudden urge to warp back to Earth, I listen to those types of urges and ask questions later. It helps. Sometimes.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Quick Post

2009-09-13T23:14:00.001-04:00

Zot! and other stuff

2009-09-13T20:52:00.001-04:00

Zot! was a comic series written by Scott McCloud. Scott wrote a book called "Understanding Comics" that I would recommend everyone who is interested in comics takes a look at. But today's post is about his work in Zot!

Zot! has a lot of emphasis on romance, so if you can't stand mushy stuff then don't bother with this. The comic isn't just a romance though. The titular character Zot is a superhero from another world. He kinda feels like a mixture of Adam Strange and Superman.

Zot's world is almost perfect, free from most crime and natural disasters. Every once in a while a supervillain will attack which is where Zot comes in to defeat them. Even the supervillains are almost supposed to be there just to keep people from being bored.

Zot suffers from some culture shock when he travels to our world and finds that it's not so perfect. The story focuses on his relationship with a Earth girl named Jenny who has some confidence issues and often thinks about living in Zot's world.

I bought the Zot! paperback trade. Some of the issues are just cheesy fun, but most of them deal with interesting psychological issues and Scott uses various art styles.

I have heard from SOMEONE, he knows who he is, that the Penny Arcade people don't like Scott McCloud. I think Scott may have some Quentin Tarintino qualities to him. He makes really good work, but he might think a little too much of himself. I don't let that sorta stuff get in the way of me enjoying things, but I'll leave that to your individual discretion.

On what happened in the last few days, I have yet to get that book from the bookstore. Tomorrow after class I'm going to go in there and if I don't get my book, I'm gonna ask to talk the manager. I'm never ordering a book from the bookstore either. I've got a lot of tests this week coming up so you'll have to forgive me if the blog is a little spotty.

I beat Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. My friend, SOMEONE, gave me some advice that really helped me beat the last level. I worked on some of the extra levels today.

And then...

I made the most angry face I could at Ash. As stated before, it was rather difficult to do this.

"I just had a nice, but rather lengthy, discussion with a nice old man for the Intergalatic Bureau of Investigation. They're on the lookout for the girl who killed the inhabitants of the people of Reeva."

Pause.

"You wouldn't happen to know who that is, WOULD YOU?"

"Listen Keelhaul, I know who killed Reeva, I think, but you don't and neither does the Bureau. I'll tell you who that old man is looking for. He's looking for my sister, Lee. But she wouldn't... didn't do this."

"Fine, but we have to wrap this up here, becuase I get the feeling that old man is going to plan a trip here real soon... with backup."

"Okay, but the last robot guarding the crystal is more dangerous than those last two. This robot is designed to use stealth to avoid intruders and perform quick killing blows."

"A robot-ninja? Great, number one killer of space-pirates."

"Like you said, we better hurry."

We began our march closer to the main power chamber. Even I could tell where we were going now. All the cables were leading into it. As we walked down the corridor, I snickered.

"What?"

"Ash and Lee? So together you're Ashley?"

"Yes, my parents thought it was funny too."

Just then the robot-ninja fell from the ceiling and severed Ash's head from her shoulders. The head dropped to her feet. Her legs gave way and her headless corpse fell into my arms.

I panicked. A little.

As I was screaming with my eyes wide open in horror. Her body crumbled into fine gray powder. Not a bad time for a relaxing trip back to Earth.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Editorial: Videogames as Art

2009-09-10T00:08:00.001-04:00

So, I've heard this question tossed around: Are videogames art?

Short answer: Yes

Long answer:

I always think that someone is asking the wrong question when they ask if something "is art." If it's trying to send you a message or invoke an emotion, it's art. I think the question they mean to ask is "Is this good art? Is it quality art?" The quality of art is an opinion, but there are some qualities that most people expect from art. Whether something is art or not is much more factual. The first rule being, if you care enough to argue whether it is or isn't art, it probably is.

So let's assume now that art encompasses videogames in the same way it encompasses television commercials, carpet patterns, and crudely drawn anatomy on the walls of restrooms. Let's asses whether videogames are high art, quality art, and art worthy of respect.

Some videogames are no simpler than television commercials. Burger King released a series of XBox games specifically as a commercial. Are these quality art? Hardly. It does take time and effort to produce games like this. Graphics artists, sound producers, and programmers have to collaborate in an overall effort certainly more impressive than the boobs drawn in the Men's room. The games lack a certain finesse though. It needs to tell people more than "Kids have fun at Burger King" and strike more of an emotion than a lust for less expensive car insurance.

But some games are worthy of respect as artwork. Games are mixed media productions and so there are several facets of art that games employ.

Graphics - Actual artists actually draw graphics for videogames.

Animation - A well made cinema event can be as good as a clip from a Hollywood movie

Music - Many respected composers and musicians create pieces used in games that are even sometimes sold next to regular music

Literature - Some games, especially RPGs can have prose or scripts that stir emotions and tackle deep philosophical thought

Gameplay - Even gameplay can be well crafted and if you don't think gameplay can stir emotion then you should watch a bunch of frat guys huddled around Madden.

I'd like to list some, not all, of the games I consider to be of the highest quality of artwork. These are games that blended several aspects of art together in a way that sychronized smoothly:

Chrono Trigger
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy VII
Shadow of the Colossus
Super Metroid
Earthbound (Very abstract art)
Halo, campaign mode
Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Pac-Man
Final Fantasy Tactics
Saga Frontier II (Water color actually)

In conclusion, are videogames art? Definitely. Are they good art? Sometimes. Can they be bad art? Of course. The same can be said of paintings, symphonies, and sculpture. You get the picture.

A little snapshot of today. I still haven't gotten one of my textbooks. The bookstore has been swearing it'll be here soon for the last three weeks. My patience is wearing thin with them and I'm about to ask for my money back. My brother has caught bacterial bronchitis and the rest of the family aren't feeling that hot either. I'll continue to be praying for them. I've been hooked on Harvest Moon lately, farming game. I have it emulated on my PC and whenever I feel like playing a game I get sucked into playing it. So, I played some Harvest Moon.

And then...

I went to the local Greyhound station. Most people don't know that they actually offer rides to other galaxies as well. Bought a ticket to Reeva and boarded the bus. I had some down time now. Even though the bus travels at several thousand times the speed of light it still takes about four hours to reach Reeva from Earth.

I already told you that time does not pass relative to myself on the bus and myself on Reeva due to Special Pirate Relativity. So when will I arrive on Reeva? According to Adamsian physics, not only are you not certain when my other self should arrive on Reeva, but neither is the universe. The universe will therefore take an educated guess, which usually turns out to be both convient for the universe and me.

I sat next to some old dude with a backpack that looked liked it held all his belongings. He kept asking me questions.

"Where ya headed? Reeva? I been there, not as much the tourist spot as it used to be. What you going there for? You have to save the shellfish? Save yourself! Oh, got it. Is that some kinda metaphor? Oh you warped here, that makes sense. I don't warp anymore, bad for my lower back. What were you doing on Reeva? No, I don't suppose it's any of my business. I just wondered if you might be looking for the person who killed it."

At that, I stopped dead in my tracks. Ash had mentioned she knew who killed the people of Reeva. She sounded guilty too. The old man told me how Reeva and Kattox used to be good trading partners, but the Kattox Refractor Crystal Incorporated began using Reeva's dependence on their product to influence their political decisions. Reeva boycotted further crystal purchases in an attempt to get their political rights back. Kattox Refractors demanded their crystals be returned to them. When their demands were not met, they razed the planet to the ground. Only underground equipment remained operational and until the scrubbers had time to recover, the entire planet's atmosphere was unbreathable.

After that discussion and a few more on the fine art of macaroni sculpture. I arrived on Reeva. I ran to the facility, bolting towards my last known location. I arrived just in time. I watched as my previous self fell from the robot's blast. I saw myself make a dash towards the robot and slide under his short stubby legs. I quickly ran towards the robot as it spun around. I reached into the access panel that Ash had already opened and ripped the safety cord.

The robot grinded to a halt and my previous self warped to Earth, unaware of the robot's deactivation, as I had done. I was glad. Contrary to popular opinion, temporal paradoxes do not cause rifts in the space time contiuum nor are they impossible to commit. However, they can lead to severe emotional and psychological problems in later years.

Ash picked herself up and dusted off, despite the lack of dirt to dust off, and looked at me with a "I coulda done that look." I was thinking about more important things.

"Ash, I gotta ask you something."

Until next time fellow pirates.

Back from Dragon*Con

2009-09-08T23:27:00.000-04:00

I have returned from DragonCon. It was incredibly fun, and there were at least 30,000 fellow con-goers there. I took over 50 pictures on some disposable cameras which I will have developed sometime this week. I will post them at that time.

I saw George Lowe, the voice of Space Ghost on Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I also saw George Krstic one of the creators of Megas XLR, an amazing show that ended too quickly. I also saw Richard Epcar, the English voice of Batou from the anime series Ghost in the Shell. There were more celebrities that I missed or didn't have time for at the con. I heard that Lenard Nimoy and a couple of the cast of Enterprise were at the con, but I didn't see them.

I competed in a Magic the Gathering card game tournament, but I didn't make it past the first round. The guy I went up against was very experienced. The whole thing felt kinda cheap, the judge was one of the contestants and made it at least to the third round as I recall. Most of the contest was kinda on your honor and there was a lot of room for people to cheat and no one would know. I didn't stick around to see who one, but I wouldn't doubt it if the judge himself won the tournament.

I noticed that there were dozens of game sessions for a game called Shadowrun that I had never heard of. I tried to sign up, but they all booked solid. Interested in why this game was so popular I decided to buy a copy from the Dealer's room, but the Shadowrun vendor had SOLD OUT of copies of the core rulebooks. At that point I gave up. I checked reviews of the game online and wasn't impressed and I still have no idea why the game was so popular.

I bought a t-shirt:

And a game called Dungeoneer.

The experience was definitely great overall, but there were some excruciating parts. We arrived at the con around 11 on Saturday, but it took us til 4 PM to register! We literally stood in line for FOUR HOURS. When I got through the line I understood why. They only had two cashiers taking credit cards and the data entry guy who put my registration info into the computer, COULDN'T TYPE! I have to ask, why would you sign up for Data Entry position if you Can't Type?

We got back from the con on Monday evening. It was definitely worth it. When I got back, I had caught a bug sometime during the weekend, but I'm feeling much better now. My mom and people also caught something on their camping trip, keep them in your prayers for getting well soon.

Today I've been drudging through class with a tissue. I got done doing some homework. I played some video games.

And then...

I played some more games.

You expected me to jump right back in front of that robot's blaster? No, I was going to be smart about this. I picked up my cell and called an old friend.

"Hey Chief, I need a new warp point. What? Yes. I know. Look, I know it doesn't just work like that. Yes, yes. Look, how 'bout you just tell me how much it's gonna cost. THAT much? Well, do you take Space Visa? I'm good for it, I swear! Look, I'm right on top of a refractor crystal. Yes, a Refractor Crystal. So we're cool, great. Can you come to Earth?"

Instantly Nauta, "Chief", warped into my living room. He quickly began rattling off a disclaimer.

"Okay, N.O. energy utilizes the two halves of the user's brain and therefore is not appropriate for everyone. Some risks are involved including but not limited to: dizzyness, headaches, spontaneous combustion, death, pregnancy regardless of gender, and eternal entrapment in an endless void. N.O. is known to cause cancer in the state of California, but only in the state of California."

Warp points move with you, but remain in the same place when you are not present. I have two, one located on Earth and another currently on Reeva. The first two cost a pretty penny, the third was costing me almost twice the original amount.

Nauta picked up his guitar. N.O. always comes with a guitar, I've got one too. He drew back and swung the thing directly at my head. I was knocked against the wall and my mind began spinning. The pain is intense, but at the same time it feels like all the secrets to the universe are being unlocked within you. I blacked out and woke up a moment later.

"Thought I was going to lose you for a second. Well, try it out."

I stood up and began to feel my third warp. It was located right across the room. I willed myself to jump there and I disappeared and reappeared instantly on the other side of the room.

"Good job Chief. I'll catch you later. Right now, I have to catch a bus to Reeva."

Until next time fellow pirates...

Maybe a Game Review

2009-09-02T22:12:00.001-04:00

I know I haven't written since Sunday, but not much has been happening. I think I'll start picking random topics when I don't have anything to report. So today... video game review.

Trace Memory (Nintendo DS)

This game is a point-and-click mystery following a 14 year old girl as she searches for her father that she hasn't seen since she was a child.

Presentation (Graphics and Audio):

The graphical art style in this game is very anime, and very good looking. The main world is an animated 3D top down environment and whenever Ashley gets close to a certain section of the room you can switch to a hand drawn visual to explore point and click style. The lighting and detail really sets the abandoned mansion mood they were going for.

The sound track is very good. Well above most handheld soundtracks.

For Presentation this game gets full marks.

Literary Value (Story):

Point-and-click games don't have much going for them except the story. So I'm often disappointed when point-and-clicks have bad stories. BUT, this game's story works. The main events of the story mostly involve Ashley rummaging around in the old mansion, but while rummaging around she gets bits and pieces of the history of the game. There are two main story lines: one following the original owners of the mansion, and another following her inventor father and the secret project he's been working on.

I will admit that I didn't get the best ending in the game, but even the bad ending was very satisfying.

Literary Value for this game is splendid.

Entertainment (Game play):

I don't really like the point-and-click genre. I usually feel like it doesn't give enough interaction to the player and I usually get stuck on one of its hundreds of ridiculous puzzles that don't make any sense. This game worked better than any point-and-click game I've played. The materials to solve the puzzles were located near-by. All the puzzles made sense, I got stuck a few times, but I knew what to do I just wasn't doing it quite right. My only complaint about the gameplay was the occasional use of the DS's microphone without any hint to use it and the fact that it was a point-and-click and therefore kinda dull to play. Very relaxing though.

It should be noted that this game is very short. It was my first time playing it and it only took seven hours, and it felt like less, I probably left it on while I was looking at something online. It was quality all the way, but very short.

Entertainment gets half-credit.

Respect (Gamer cred):

I will usually use this section to set apart the great games from the legendary games. I'm afraid it's going to set this game in the great game category. This game isn't obscure or anything, but it wasn't that popular. It's not multiplayer so you can't invite your friends to play it, and it's not the most manly game so it'd be hard for me to talk about it to a stranger without sounding kinda weird.

Sorry Ashley, but this game gets no Respect.

Overall

Presentation: Check
Literary Value: Check
Entertainment: Half-Check
Respect: None
Final Score: 2.5 / 4 (Above Average)

P.S. I bought this game for 6.99! It's worth twice that at least.

So today in class, my professor started teaching us about Flux. I almost lept out of my seat and yelled, "Great Scott!" In reality it's just a concept about something flowing past some surface.

And then...

We walked down a long flight of stairs. The temperature significantly dropped as we dove lower into the bowels of the facility.

"So Ash, just out of nagging curiosity, who's place was this?"

"Somebody from Reeva."

"Right."

We passed several empty hallways. Every once and a while, Ash would type into a computer terminal and read something in a language I didn't understand. I had to ask...

"So Ash, these people of Reeva, what exactly..."

"Happened to them!? You're asking a lot of questions. Questions you probably shouldn't ask. Just because I know how the people of Reeva died, doesn't mean I had anything to do with it!"

She looked aside realizing that her outburst had revealed too much. She turned around curtly and kept marching. The situation was obviously touchy, so I thought I'd keep my mouth shut from now on. I found that getting women angry is a bad idea, especially when they have guns.

We could hear the low stomping of the Golem class robot in the next room. Ash motioned us to follow her.

"The bigger they are..."

"No Ash, no. That's so overused."

"Fine. How 'bout..." -cocks gun- "I think he needs more lead in his diet."

"We'll work with it."

The Golem was tall with short stubby legs and a huge cylindrical torso. His one red eye glowed from the top of his head. He had one cannon attached to one arm, but the other just looked like a hand. These robots have an access panel on their lower backs with a convenient shutdown emergency cord inside. I ran out in front of the robot creating a distraction. The robot fired right away. These things were big, but not that slow. The blast landed next to me and threw me on my ass. I stared up into the monster's eye, but I should have been looking at his cannon because it was charging another blast.

I ran straight towards it and slid underneath it. I wound up lying next to Ash who was busy dismantling the access panel. She took a quick glance over at me and then her eyes opened in realization. The robot spun around promptly staring at me lying on the floor and Ash kneeling next to me where his access panel was just a minute ago. I decided now was a good time to head to bed back on Earth.

Until next time fellow pirates.

Just Taking a Walk

2009-08-29T22:58:00.000-04:00

Today was pretty quiet. I woke up and took one of my long walks I like to take. I just can't get enough of walking to faraway places. I'm like a walk-a-holic. I was actually going to walk down and take a bus to Heroes and Dragons, a favorite comic store of my friends and mine, but I decided on postponing that to a later date. I just walked down to the GameStop on Rosewood and drooled for awhile. Did some homework, then I went to Blue Cactus for dinner. I probably shouldn't have, but I was craving. I came back and played some games.

And then...

I pulled out my adamantine saber. Archaic, I know, but it's got a flair that you just can't beat. Ash and I were standing in the doorway and we could see the red glow of the robot's one eye. Ash was muttering some plan using one of Captain's crew as bait, but I wasn't listening. The thing hadn't spotted us and it was on a patrol routine. I waited for it to turn its back and then I rushed in. The humanoid robot barely had time to turn around, let alone aim its pitiful gun, before I cleaved deep into its mechanical cranium.

"Come on Ash, it's not brain surgery."

Ash told me not to get so cocky. Then she asked why I had appeared to flicker before the fight. I explained that I had gained the ability to warp between two points in space and that I had just come back from Earth. I told her that I had been there about one day, but no time passes between these two places. Why you ask? Well, thanks to Special Pirate Relativity if two pirates are at least 1.7 trillion leagues apart then no time passes relative to the other.

"Okay Keelhaul, but you gotta be more careful with the next robot. It's a Golem class; he's big and he's mean."

I should note that my name on Earth is Chris, but I chose a more piratey alias for my adventures in space. Keelhaul. It's funny 'cause if you get keelhauled in space then you like, explode... Well I thought it was clever.

Until next time fellow pirates.

I Love Fridays.

2009-08-28T22:15:00.002-04:00

It's the weekend, yay! It looks to be a pretty quiet one this weekend. That's okay though, Dragon*Con is next weekend so I should probably spend this weekend getting ready. I finished reading the Dark Tower II recently and started the Dark Tower III. I really like this series. I've heard that the later books aren't as good, but I hope the reports are greatly exaggerated. The ACM had Bad Movie Night and we watched, Death Bed, The Bed that Eats. It was bad. The worst part I think was how calm everyone was while their friends were being eaten and even when they were being eaten.

In Business Communications we watched the opening scene of Joe Versus the Volcano. I want to see the rest now. It looked good. He was trying to illustrate miscommunication in business, but I noticed that it seemed well produced.

I came home, worked on some physics homework, played some Mario.

And then...

Captain Comic's ship descended to the surface of the planet Reeva. He was beginning to doubt my ability to pick places filled with "Adventure." The place looked desolate. The atmosphere was breathable, unbelievably, but there was no vegetation or signs of life. Just gray jagged mountains and fields of metallic ash. I lead a small party towards a cave our sensors had picked up to the north. The mouth of the cave was two stories tall and oddly rectangular. The cave wasn't perfect but the walls were too flat, too straight for natural formations.

We marched into the cave with the low sound of wind howling behind us. At the end of the cave was a door. A big, metal door with an electronic lock that was turned on. I began to feel nervous, but when life throws you big scary doors, you do what every good pirate does. You knock first, cause who knows, might be a big scary dude. The door slid open and standing right behind it was my contact, Ash.

"Looking for something?" she said. We marched deeper into the facility. The walls were now lined with computer interfaces and access panels. She explained that this facility was abandoned, but the Refractor Crystal powering it was still operational. Then she mentioned how we might run into resistance with the local robots.

"I thought this was a dig, strictly treasure hunting. How many of these things do we have to deal with?"

"Three. But they're security droids and heavily armed." I was mad at her. She lied to me, but I couldn't help notice that she was actually kind of attractive. Her green hair was cut short, but it fell gracefully around her neck ending in dainty blond tips. Her gray pants and tank top fit tightly around her Well-developed muscles. (and other features)

"And you're sure no one is going to miss this crystal?"

"What do you care, you're a pirate?"

"Good point."

Until next time fellow pirates.

First Log

2009-08-27T21:17:00.002-04:00

Okay, I'm not a Galatic Pirate Lord, but I will be one day. Currently, I'm just your run-of-the-mill space pirate, but even being a normal space pirate is quite exciting. I live a double life here on Earth to make my friends and family think that I'm just a normal human student. I've decided to chronicle my adventures in space and the one's here on Earth too, I guess.

I recently started school at USC again. This will be my fifth year here. I am ready to get this degree already. I say that, but I also need to start working on a professional portfolio and contacting various companies that I'm interested in working for. I am staying in an apartment near campus. I was recently forced to have a roommate. The guy's name is Noah, he's okay. My classes look pretty normal this semester, some programming, some English, some Physics.

I am looking forward to going to Dragon*Con soon. My friends and I go to a convention once a year and this year we decided to go to Dragon*Con on Labor Day weekend. Ben says he can get us at least two nights of hotels free. I am a little concerned about the money, but I'm going to budget myself so I don't wind up running out of money this year, again.

It was a pretty normal day today. I got my glasses which my mother had sent to me. I had to go running all over the city to get them. The postal system had decided to play hot patato with it or something. I went to an ACM meeting. I think I'm going to try to be more active in that community. I got some supper and headed home.

And then...

I boarded Captain Comic's ship. I've been serving under him for almost two years now. He's a good guy besides the whole scavenging the stars and taking everything valuable from the helpless space merchants, but you know, we all do that from time to time. He keeps things clean and organized and our operations are very efficient, but everybody's kinda lazy and figures that everyone else will cover for their lack of looting.

I would expect my crew to be full of fire and take everything they could get their hands on like a pack of starving wolves. I've been working on getting enough money to build my own spaceship. A wooden one. Yep, it is quite a challenge, but I've got most of the details worked out. With today's Varia shielding and standard gravity manipulators, you can keep a pretty solid atmosphere and protective barrier wrapped around any vessel. I plan to use a N.O. warp drive supplemented with a rocket propulsion system in the back for short ranged manuevering. I can't wait to captain my own space pirate ship.

I met a girl named Ash during our stay on planet Edwar. She told me about a Refractor Crystal in the Reeva system. Refractor Crystals are very valuable, they can power starships for years on end. I'm supposed to rendevous with her on the surface of Reeva tommorrow. I managed to convince Captain Comic that Reeva is filled with "Adventure" and we should head there post haste. Until next time fellow pirates.