Christmas in May

Hey you guys! Super Talking Time Bros 2 is out! Get it from this page!

I had totally forgotten about this little project a long time ago. I kind of randomly thought about it on the bus this morning and there it is! It’s too bad though; since I let it go completely, I never really sat down and polished the three levels I submitted for it. Hopefully someone else on the team cleaned up at least anything that was broken in them.

If you’re going to play it, make sure you head over to the Talking Time thread and tell the kids there how much you like it.

In other news, I should have internet again by the time I get home, so no more lunchtime phone-blogging for me! Hooray!

Let’s not play Megaman X

Having just moved into a new house,  I don’t have any internet set up yet. It’s something I hope to have rectified within the week, but for now my blogging ability its quite limited. I am also unable to upload videos to YouTube, so there will be no Let’s Play Megaman X today, children. I know how you’re all just so into it, but you’ll have to wait a week.

Boomba latty

Things are going swimmingly for me right now. Work is great, the wedding is coming along, and I love my house. On that last note, we did a phenomenal job of getting everything moved into the house. Thanks to the help of a handful of incredibly dedicated family members, we got everything we own moved in in just two days. Of course, anything that isn’t furniture is still stuffed away in boxes (aside from the Wii), but I think that the wife-to-be and I are going to have a lot of fun getting everything unpacked. I enjoyed the process of getting all my crap boxed away, so I can only imagine that getting it back out is going to be just as fun, if not more.

The only facet of my life that isn’t perfect right now is my weight, and considering how everything else is working out, I really shouldn’t be complaining about it. But my health is important!

It’s not really that I’m terribly unhealthy. I’m in fairly good shape for someone with a gut the size of mine, and it’s that gut specifically that’s the problem. Try as I might, I just cannot drop the weight. I’ve been doing really good lately too! I’ve slowed my sugar intake significantly, and have been making a solid effort at getting more fruit and veggies into my diet.

I’ve been getting regular exercise too, which I hear is important. I walk up and down four floors worth of stairs several times a day, and walk back and forth three blocks to and from my bus stop. I try to go out for a walk two or three times a week, as long as the weather is decent. I’ve even been spending about half an hour a day playing Just Dance 3, at least five days a week. It works up quite a sweat, and it’s the closest thing I’ve found yet to a truly fun way to exercise.

There’s a barely visible Cadbury Creme Egg under my monitor stand at work, and it’s been there for almost a month now. There was a time, not too long ago, where that thing wouldn’t have even lasted a day. But it’s there. Partly as a testament to self-control, and partly because I’m often too busy to remember it’s there.

All of this effort is for naught though, because since the last time I weighed myself I have actually put on weight. And it’s not muscle either, because I’ve just been doing cardio and aerobics as far as exercise goes. Sometimes I play with the 10-pound dumbbells, but not in any way that would build any serious muscle mass. So I don’t know what to do. Maybe the fat is just waiting to drop off after a while, but I’ve been doing this thing for well over a month now. I would like to see at least some small results.

And all this work because 70% of my wardrobe looks awful when stretched around my belly. I don’t even care about being trim for the wedding; I just want to be able to wear my Goonies t-shirt without being embarrassed.

/venting

Xenotales

I have to say that so far, I’m really digging Xenoblade Chronicles‘ story. At the base level, it’s pretty much the same as any other JRPG on the market (youth goes on adventure to save the world), but there are other layers! And characters that seem like they might develop and grow over the course of the story! We’ll have to see, but so far so good.

The basic plot string, like I said, is pretty basic. It’s only a frame though, and it’s covered in plenty of interesting dressings. Most notably the world design. And I do mean world design, as the entirety of the Xenoblade world exists on the lifeless bodies of two gigantic monsters: Bionis and Mechonis. If you have even an inkling of video game intuition, you’ll have already surmised that one is home to a natural world, and the other a cold, mechanical land. Obviously the heroes live on the Bionis, because who wants to play a game where the protagonists are soulless machines?

Now, the denizens of each world don’t get along too well. The game’s prologue takes place a year before the actual story events, during a massive war between the worlds. The game’s antagonistic force, the Mechon, continue to attack the settlements on the Bionis throughout the game and seem to want nothing more to snack on the Homs (human) population. Why machines need to eat people has not been explained yet, but it’s certainly a twist on the “evil robots” trope.

The other great thing that happens right at the beginning of the game so it’s not a spoiler is that the main character’s love interest gets brutally murdered. Its shocking and completely unexpected. This is mere moments after he gains the ability to view glimpses of the future, and watches her die in one of these visions. Having spent my life playing video games and watching movies, I was positive that he would jump in to save her at the last minute, but no. So let’s recap: hero watches love interest die in a vision, she is impaled and eaten (off-screen – this is key), and he has to sit and watch her die again. Many heroes start their journeys in the name of vengeance, but I can’t recall one that had to watch the same loved one die twice.

Unfortunately, unless you’re completely clueless, you’ll catch on very quickly that she didn’t actually die and she’ll be back in your party eventually. The narrative never hints at this, but monsters keep dropping weapons for her, and there are several character-specific achievements that you can’t possibly get until long after she dies.

The other thing I’ve really enjoyed about Xenoblade’s story is that main character, Shulk. Yes, he has a silly name, but he’s pretty cool! He’s not at all your generic plucky JRPG hero. No, Shulk may be a youth out to save the world, but that’s about all he’s got on common with the standard hero archetype. First of all, Shulk’s got a job. A real job. He’s not an errand boy or a monster hunter, he’s a scientist. We’re given the impression that before the events of the game, he would spend hours upon hours in his lab either building things or doing research.

At the outset of the game, Shulk has a little combat experience because his profession requires him to salvage wrecked Mechon pieces from the wilds surrounding Colony 9.  Most of the time he’s accompanied by his friend Reyn, who is a hulk of a man that is enlisted in the Colony 9 Defense Force. Many characters voice their lack of faith in Shulk’s battle prowess (in as nice a way as they can), and are constantly telling Reyn to protect him.  This kind of goes away once Shulk acquires his super-sword, the Monado, which is also the source of his visions of the future. It’s a little sad, because Shulk’s character is not that of a world-class fighter, but what can you do? The action cutscenes wouldn’t be nearly as exciting if he just stood there and let his friends do all the fighting.

Inconsequential but relevant is the fact that Shulk is rumoured not to have tastebuds. In a genre where most heroes spend more time thinking about food than the task at hand, having no sense of taste is a very unique character trait.

As I’d mentioned before, Shulk’s motivation for going out into the world is revenge. Sweet, delicious revenge. Not new, as tons and tons of media have revenge as a central theme. Only most of the time, the main character doesn’t aspire to fight an entire world. Yes, the Mechon are terrible, people-eating monster robots, but what makes this boy think that genocide is the answer? And what make him think he can do it? I don’t know, but he sets a goal for himself and consistently marches toward it.

In this way, he is both very similar to and very different from Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII. They’re both motivated by their anger at the loss of a loved one, and they both set out on a fight against an entire world. The difference is that Lightning not only uses that anger to drive herself, but she also lets it consume her completely. She is more than willing to take on the world alone, and is happy to leave behind anyone who is slowing her down. She is entirely confident that she can accomplish her goal and has the skills to back up that confidence. Shulk is the other side of the coin: he’s driven by anger, but is more than willing to accept the help of his friends, even if it means stopping for a while to help them out with their own problems. He is also much less confident in his own abilities; even though he has the power to see and change the future, he has trouble believing that he can save individual lives, never mind the lives of everyone living on the Bionis.

There’s one thing I really don’t like though. I’m at a point in the game where characters are beginning to suggest that Shulk is the chosen bearer of the Monado. I did a big ol’ facepalm the first time the word “chosen” was spoken. Aren’t we a little past the stupid “chosen one” story hook? There has to be another way. Lighting and her companions were chosen, yes, but it was because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, not because it was their destiny. I guess it’s not the worst way to write a character, but I much prefer heroes that are heroes because they had the strength to make a difference, not because it was written in the stars.

I don’t feel like I’m that far into the story yet though, so I really have no idea how things are going to turn out. There have been a couple plot “twists” already that I saw coming before there was even any foreshadowing, so it could go either way. Maybe the game will continue to surprise and delight me, or maybe it’ll pull all its punches from here on in and become just another generic JRPG. I’m hoping for the best.

Dress-up Dissidia

I tend to spend most of my time playing video games with new ones. Yes, I love going back to the classics, but they’re really just diversions from whatever my latest purchase is. That said, when it comes to my PSP, I have two phases: Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Monster Hunter Freedom: Unite. Over the last month or so I’ve been in the Dissidia phase.

When the game first came out, I thought it was completely retarded. I initially wouldn’t have touched the thing if you’d paid me to play it. I was also at a point in my life where I mostly looked down upon the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole. That really didn’t help Dissidia’s case. But time went on, and I found myself staring at the game’s case, looking at the characters portrayed on it, and wondering. Then, years later, I read this and immediately ran out to the Best Buy to pick up a copy of Dissidia (which was at the $20 point by then). Not that that series of articles references Dissidia very much, but it surely re-ignited my interest in Final Fantasy. It also got me started on Final Fantasy XIII, but that’s another story entirely.

So, Dissidia, if you haven’t read last summer’s posts about it, is a fighting game that incorporates a wealth of assests from the Final Fantasy franchise. I guess I never really explained the concept when I was posting about it before, so I might as well do it now. You know how the Super Smash Bros series takes characters and stages and music and everything else from the entirety of Nintendo’s back catalogue? Just imagine that, but only with FF stuff and with 3D movement.

The whole reason I was posting about Dissidia in the first place is that I’m playing the villains right now (the game’s character roster is one hero and one villain from each of the first ten Final Fantasy games) to earn the Chaos Reports (bits of backstory), and I wanted to vent about the “alternate costumes” that can be unlocked for each character. Whoo single-sentence paragraph.

There are three different kinds of alternate costumes in Dissidia, actual alternate costumes, palette swaps, and somethign in between. A couple heroes get completely different costumes (Squall and Cloud), some get palette swaps with minor changes (Firion and Onion Knight) and some just get recoloured (the rest). The palette swaps are a little disappointing, but at least there are a few actual alternate costumes. The villains, on the other hand, are all just pallette swaps, and none particularly good. Ooh, Garland’s cape is red instead of blue. Oh, I suppose Sephiroth technically gets a costume change, but I wonder if taking off your shirt really counts?

The bright spot in this colour-flipping madness is known as EX Mode. Each character has the ability to enter a super-powered state (think Limit Break) based on their abilities in whichever game they’re from. EX Mode makes the character a little stronger, but the real point of it is that it allows them to use their EX Burst, which is a big, flashy supermove (think Final Smash, but with more quick-time events).

Since the EX Modes are based on each character’s actual abilities in their game, each one is affected differently. Cloud, Squall and Tidus, for example, don’t get a costume change, but rather their weapons are upgraded. Terra transforms into her esper form, and Onion Knight changes into either a ninja or sage. Most of the other guys have cool alternate forms too, and it’s here that the villains really get to shine.

A handful of them still just get lousy palette swaps (Garland, Cloud of Darkness), but the bad guys generally get the best EX Mode transformations. Kefka turns into his God of Magic form, and Sephiroth grows that cool black wing. Golbez and Ultimecia are joined by their Shadow Dragon and Griever summons, respectively. I don’t know what the hell Jecht turns into because I never played Final Fantasy X, but it’s pretty cool.

And that’s about what I wanted to say today. I’ve heard rumours that there are more, better alternate costumes in the sequel, but it’ll be a long time before I’m done with the first Dissidia. There’s just so much game in there!

Separation anxiety

It’s hard to think that in less than a week I will no longer live in the room that I’ve lived in for roughly twenty years. I’m not going to lie; I think I may be more anxious about leaving my home behind than I am excited to be moving into my very own house. I am excited, mind you, it’s just that I have an old soul. An old soul that’s afraid of change.

I spent the majority of my Sunday afternoon last weekend tearing apart the room that I worked so long and hard to build. Given, that just means taking down posters and stuffing all my crap into boxes (and boy howdy do I have a lot of crap!), and I’m still not done yet. I keep hesitating to start packing my clothes because I keep trying to tell myself that I have more time and that I’ll still need them. I know that once my wardrobe is boxed away that it’s just going to get that much more real.

It… it looks so alien to me without all the posters and CD racks and all my other stuff. Those bare walls may not look like much, but they cleave through my soul like a gunblade through Squall’s face.

I know it’s a necessary step, but it’s a scary one. I love the comfortable safety of my parents’ house. I love not having to worry about bills. I love being able to walk upstairs and know that there will be food in the fridge. A month ago I was really confident that I was ready to grow up, and now it’s way too real.

I suppose that if there’s a silver lining in this, something that quells my fear and keeps me from running away and hiding in my room, it’s the knowledge that I’m going to get to live every day from now on with the woman I love. She’s the reason I do everything I do, and this is certainly no exception to the rule. I know that without her that I’d probably be a deadbeat living in my parents’ basement for the rest of the forseeable future. I will never take for granted how good it feels to have someone there who motivates you to be the best person you can be, who brings out all your best qualities. I love knowing that no matter what hardships I face, she will be there supporting me all the way, and that I have the opportunity to do the same for her.

I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again: I’m lucky to have her.

I may be anxious about moving out, but I have nothing but excitement for my pending marriage.

4 (four)

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of my first date with Stephanie. Between house and wedding expenses, we were too poor to make it one of those stereotypical anniversary date nights, but I got to spend it with her and that’s all I need to be happy. It was a great night, and I’m lucky to be with someone as perfect as her.

Back in January we splurged on tickets for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the corresponding concert having been a couple Fridays ago. They were a little more expensive than I’d have liked, but we agreed to claim that the purchase was our anniversary gift to each other. We went to see TSO a couple years ago for one of their Christmas shows, and I guess I don’t really need to mention that they left a good enough impression on us that we went back for a second round. To date, TSO is the only act we’ve seen twice.

The concert’s theme was Beethoven’s Last Night, and I don’t feel like trying to explain it, so here’s a link to the Wikipedia page. All you need to know up front is that TSO is a group that highly values both metal and classical music, and plays a stunning combination of the two. Despite my hipsterish nature when it comes to music, I really love it when rock acts cover classical music, so this kind of stuff is right up my alley.

The show, as I’d expected, was amazing from start to finish. Having a narrative in your concert might seem like something that just increases the delay between songs, but I find it extremely captivating. Musicals and traditional opera, I have a lot of trouble swallowing, but rock operas are one of my favourite things in the whole wide world. It was also nice that after the story was over, the band just kept playing. I think the total length of the concert was two and a half hours? Something around there, anyway.

I don’t really have any strong opinions left, so here’s a really low-quality YouTube video of a couple songs:

Drawing some things

You may have heard of the super-popular new iPhone game Draw Something. If not, I guess the best way to describe it would be like a casual edition of Pictionary. It’s a two-player game where you alternate drawing a thing and guesing the other person’s drawing of a thing. That’s really all there is to it, and it’s fantasticaly fun and addictive.

It’s also a very universal game. When I introducted it to her, the woman and I sat in bed playing together for roughly and hour and a half. And she still picks it up as often as I do.

In each round, you’re supplied with three random words to choose from and draw. There are no categories provided, but you’ll get a choice between an easy, medium, or hard word. Easy and normal words are usually stupid things like “worm,” “hockey” or “green.” The hard words can be downright challenging though, especially since they’re usually celebrity or character names.

The one to the right there particularly blew me away. I’ve had a few instances of “Mario” and “Koopa,” but never something as nichey as a relatively unpopular Final Fantasy hero. Oh, and Zidane is (debatably) the main character of Final Fantasy IX, just FYI.  I was really, really excited to try my hand at touch-drawing Zidane, but alas, the name showed up in a game I was playing against a girl who probably doesn’t even know what Final Fantasy is, nevermind the hero of one of the most underappreciated chapters. I could have drawn it, but I prefer to play the game so that people are able to guess what I’ve drawn. It’s more fun to keep up a long win streak.

Now imagine my disappointment when I Googled it and discovered that Zidane is also the name of an infamous soccer player. I suppose I’ll never get the opportunity to draw a chocobo now…