Well I haven’t said anything here in quite a while, have I?  Well, I actually started using my Livejournal, and… I haven’t stopped.  Basically all that’s really happened is I’ve moved to Indianapolis and started wakeboarding.  I got quite a nice injury over the last weekend.  I’ve also started playing Brawl a lot more and joined up on All is Brawl.  The job search is still proving fruitless, but I’m not giving up any time soon.
Anyway, I’ve added links to my LJ and AiB profile on the sidebar.  I don’t know whether or not I’ll really use this anymore, I guess the few people that actually look at this page will have to wait and find out.

I’m out of town over the weekend and plan on moving Monday.  Just so you know.

Two posts in one day? What is the world coming to. Anyway, enjoy some of our silliness on AIM after the break.

[22:19] Aaron Wright: Ben is… afk >_>
[22:19] Joe: now’s our chance!
[22:19] Aaron Wright: To slack off?
[22:20] Joe: no, you fool, I at least have been busy with that for almost 12 hours and I still have yet to meet a quota
[22:20] Aaron Wright: Then what are we going to do?
[22:20] Joe: I meant, it is time to do the plan
[22:20] Aaron Wright: …frick, I must have missed the memo.
[22:20] Joe: firstly, we must make a the plan
[22:21] Aaron Wright: What should this the plan entail?
[22:24] Joe: it should first have a main idea for the plan, followed by some potential actions in order to adequately perform a the plan as well as escape plans for the plan should things go awry
[22:26] Aaron Wright: There should be no escape plan because there should be no room for failure.
[22:27] Joe: ah, so an addendum should be made then: backup plans to ensure the plan does not need an escape plan
[22:27] Aaron Wright: Indeed.
[22:27] Joe: excellent, so are we clear on the plan?
[22:28] Aaron Wright: Sure.
[22:28] Joe: good, when should commencement time for the plan be in order to do the plan?
[22:29] Aaron Wright: Immediately upon arrival at the plan site.
[22:29] Joe: I like the way you think
[22:30] Joe: remind me to give you a promotion for tactical assistance in regards to the plan for your help on the plan preparation and setup
[22:31] Aaron Wright: Shoudl that be tacked on as an addendum to the plan?
[22:32] Joe: perhaps as a foot note under the heading footnotes regarding events occuring during the plan preparation
[22:32] Joe: okay, I admit it, there is no the plan nor is there anything to do while ben is afk as opposed to him being active
[22:33] Aaron Wright: Ah, then all is going according to my plan.
[22:34] Joe: curses! I knew I should’ve had a counter plan concerning the existence of Aaron’s my plan!
[22:34] Aaron Wright: Hah! You have been foiled.
[22:36] Joe: Then I’ll have to sign the terms of failure in the event of being defeated by Aaron’s my plan
[22:37] Aaron Wright: Are you aware of what the terms of failure in the event of being defeated by Aaron’s my plan is?
[22:40] Joe: well, typically a embarrassing action on the part of the defeated for the amusement of the victor is undergone, but the important part is tangible or intangible release of properties due to unnecessary defeat, right?
[22:40] Joe: alright, enough of that
[22:40] Aaron Wright: I’m watching the Press Conference video, was Jim a reference to Meyers?
[22:40] Joe: Jim?
[22:40] Joe: I don’t think so
[22:40] Aaron Wright: Well I see that as a lost opportunity.
[22:41] Joe: while we’re on the subject:
[22:41] Joe: Meyers???
[22:41] Aaron Wright: *Meijer
[22:42] Joe: ah, then allow me to rescind my previous statement
[22:43] Joe: Meijer!?!?!?
[22:43] Aaron Wright: Yeah, every time you talk about Meijer you always talk about that one guy that has all the money.
[22:45] Joe: ha, that would’ve been awesome, though only to you and me
[22:45] Aaron Wright: Well it was funny to the audience no matter what name you put in.
[22:45] Joe: unfortunately, his name is Spencer Harris. And don’t worry, he has it all
[22:45] Joe: aye
[22:45] Aaron Wright: Then you should have said Spencer had all the money.
[22:46] Joe: maybe at Anime central he will
[22:46] Aaron Wright: Fantastic
[22:46] Joe: or he’ll have all of something anyway
[22:46] Joe: like pudding, or ambrosias
[22:46] Aaron Wright: I’m glad we had this conversation about money and Meyer and Meijer and such.
[22:46] Joe: me too, I think there was a lot of progress here today

So it’s the night before Acen, and my mom comes downstairs to ask me a question.

“Who’s driving tomorrow?”
“My buddy Joe is, in fact, driving tomorrow.”
“Oh good, I was just going to come down and warn you that driving in Chicago is more difficult.”
Are we really going to have this conversation?
“Uh, mom, I think I know that.”
“No, it’s really more difficult.”

Apparently yes, we did have that conversation.  And it ended with her being offended that I knew Chicago was a big city with large quantities of traffic.  I can accept you want to protect me.  But please don’t do it unless you’ve thought through it a bit to see if it’s actually going to help me or if it’s going to get you upset at me because I already knew.  Telling me there’s lots of traffic in Chicago, is silly.  Telling me we’re going to be traveling on some toll roads is not.  But you didn’t tell me that, I just happened to see it on the map that I printed off a few minutes ago.

Anyway, Acen tomorrow, I plan to be late enough to miss opening ceremonies but not so late as to be gauche.  Which puts it around 2 PM.  And given the way they monkey around with badges there, I probably won’t get anything done until 3.  Whose Line is from 9:30 PM Saturday to whenever we decide we’re tired of entertaining the crowd.

I took both of my finals today, and sold back my Math book, so I’m free! My current plans are to move to Indianapolis in a few weeks, once I get just a couple things straightened out. I’m trying to get something like a help desk job, if that doesn’t work, then I guess I’ll settle for a minimum wage job. Anything to get an income going. If all goes well I’ll be staying there for quite a while, it makes a lot of things so much easier.

Additionally, I’m slowly getting the Whose Line videos from Anime Punch uploaded. They should be done by the time I go to bed. You can click the Youtube link in the side bar to see them and the show at Sugoicon. Acen’s turn around time should be significantly shorter, mostly because I’ll be living in the cameraman’s house. XD

Well, one of my finals got canceled because the teacher couldn’t find proctors for it. That’s cool for me, since I was already pulling an A in the class. For those that really needed the final to pull up their grade… on the one hand, sorry, on the other hand, if your grade is broken without the final, I’d have to wonder how well you’d do with it.

Beyond that, I’m going to Indiana this weekend. Jessica is coming down, we’ve got plans to watch Evangelion – You are (Not) Alone. So hopefully I’ll be able to review it next week for Hikikomori. I think we’re also going to try and go boating on Saturday. With Ben, Joe, Nathan, Jessica, and myself in one house, whatever we do is going to be epic.

Hoorah, school is almost done. All I’ve got left to do are three finals, one or two this week and then whatever’s left next week. Then I’m out for the summer. I might move to Indy, since I’m in the online degree program, I can go pretty much anywhere I want. And Indy is just infinitely more convenient for the anime conventioning and such, no more adding 4 extra hours to get anywhere. Well, except Anime St. Louis, but I’m sure I can somehow coordinate that with coming back to for a doctor appointment or some such.

That’s all I’ve got of actual stuff to write on. Outside of school and anime and the obvious two video games, my life is pretty much nil for until next week. But, I do have relative named Joe, also jnkolm, that I converse with alot. We come up with some… interesting discussions. So, since I can, I’ll attach one of them to this blog. Keep reading after the break. And if for some reason you can’t read the title, SPOILERS!

[22:22] rakuen42: well nothing’s really going on right now
[22:22] rakuen42: it’s 10:30 at night
[22:22] jnkolm: aye
[22:23] jnkolm: I would’ve got on when I got on here, but I didn’t
[22:23] rakuen42: I assume there’s a reason for that
[22:23] jnkolm: you just heard it
[22:24] rakuen42: no, I mean a reason for it being 10:30 at night
[22:24] jnkolm: time goes in cycles?
[22:24] rakuen42: time flows like a river, and history repeats
[22:25] jnkolm: what was, will be again
[22:25] rakuen42: and then you’ll have to kill Flammie
[22:25] jnkolm: aye
[22:25] rakuen42: [/spoiler]
[22:25] jnkolm: =O
[22:26] jnkolm: life ruiner
[22:26] jnkolm: oh well
[22:26] rakuen42: I’m L. I’m cool, and I’m smart, unfortunately, I die
[22:26] rakuen42: [/spoiler]
[22:27] jnkolm: =O you’ve ruined 2 of my lives now!
[22:28] rakuen42: Goku dies… Goku dies again… Goku dies AGAIN… Goku dies, this time, it’s for real
[22:28] rakuen42: [/spoiler]
[22:29] jnkolm: also, there actually is cake…but you can’t have it
[22:29] rakuen42: …[/spoiler]?
[22:30] jnkolm: verily
[22:30] rakuen42: so that’s 4 lives now?
[22:32] rakuen42: ARCHER IS SHIRO EMIYA!
[22:32] rakuen42: [/spoiler]
[22:33] jnkolm: Heihachi Mishimi is still alive!
[22:33] rakuen42: Aerith dies!
[22:33] rakuen42: and no, she DOES NOT come back to life fangirls
[22:34] jnkolm: OH SNAP
[22:34] rakuen42: that’s a spoiler AND a burn
[22:34] rakuen42: 2 more and we die?
[22:35] jnkolm: Oh I think we can manage it
[22:35] rakuen42: Spike dies, and no, he DOES NOT come back to life fangirls
[22:36] jnkolm: ooooo
[22:36] rakuen42: was that one too harsh?
[22:36] jnkolm: Edward dies
[22:36] jnkolm: ELRIC that is
[22:36] jnkolm: well not really
[22:37] rakuen42: well then that’s not a spoiler
[22:37] jnkolm: Ed leaves the plane of existence that he should be in?
[22:37] rakuen42: still not a spoiler
[22:38] jnkolm: Shinji is the Messiah
[22:38] rakuen42: OH SNAP
[22:38] rakuen42: you referenced archaic structual concepts thought up by the staff after the end of the series
[22:39] jnkolm: word
[22:39] rakuen42: I’ll accept that as a spoiler
[22:39] rakuen42: and we’re still alive
[22:39] jnkolm: wicked
[22:39] jnkolm: in Bionic Commando, you kill Hilter
[22:39] rakuen42: and that’s the game folks. Godwin says I just won the conversation.

Alternate title: How to ruin a game in 100 easy steps.

I originally posted this a few months ago on my Myspace blog, but seeing as it’s just as likely to be read there as here (read: probably not), I’ll repost it.  And for the record, yes, I’ve beaten FFXII since then.

So I’ve almost finished Final Fantasy XII.  Overall, I think it’s a good game.  Storywise, it’s a step up from pretty much everything Square has offered in recently.  Combat-wise, I think it’s the best ever.  I thought FFX-2 was a step in the right direction, and the free-flowing dynamic in this game is even better.  And as for difficulty level, this is the first FF game since 1 (yeah, a LONG time) to really put my party in danger, though I suppose some of that could be my penchant to micromanage more than let the computer take control.

But despite all this, there’s one glaring flaw in the game that drops this game like a stone: the infamous Pharos Lighthouse.  This dungeon answers the question, “Can Squenix avoid having one glaring screw up in a game?”  The answer, unfortunately, is no.  It’s almost like someone thought that the game wasn’t long enough, that the story was moving too fast, and that the amount of combat was lacking up to this point.

Hint:  All three of those points are wrong.

The end result of whatever board meeting thought this little gem up, is a 100 floor dungeon that will probably take the average player 4~5 hours to complete.  And let’s get this straight from the get-go.  This is 4~5 hours of shear combat There is no story progression whatsoever until you reach floor 100.  There is really no puzzles to speak of.  In addition, there are 7 boss fights in this area.

Now, if this was the least bit engaging, it would be okay.  Unfortunately, it’s far from it.  The floor layouts are uninspiring.  The background and foreground motifs are static for the entire exercise.  The music does not change except for the boss fights.

But surely if all of the preceeding is true, the fights must be pretty good, right?  Unfortunately, something about a 100 floor dungeon means AI must be thrown out the window.  To call these enemies as dumb as a jar of mayonaise would be an insult to said jar.  And these fools are weak too; the only encounter that remotely phased, in fact killed me, was an ambush by 4 Mistmares that can Disable/Slow/Stop your entire party.  This only occured 1 time, near the very beginning of the dungeon.

Then you might expect that when you get to the top, you’re going to be rewarded with an awesome boss fight and some story, right?  Well, you do get the story, thankfully.  On the other hand, you face a two part boss fight.  The first part of this encounter is probably the easiest boss I’d fought in the last 30 hours of gameplay, and the second part isn’t much more difficult.

So what’s the final tally?  5 hours of gameplay nets you a few pieces of generally crappy equipment, 600 LP, 4 level ups, and about 10 minutes of story.  Quite a dismal failure if I do say so myself.

Fortunately I’ve heard that all that’s left is the endgame, and that goes pretty quickly.  I don’t think I could justify playing this game anymore if there were another Pharos Lighthouse in my way.

Well, for those very few of you keeping score at home, the UIS thing has almost been straightened out.  It seems like I get to blame LLCC for part of the problem missing a class on my transcript when it was sent off a few weeks ago.  How they pulled that one off, I’ll never know.

Anyway, I don’t have much else to say, so how about another Youtube video?

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon friend code – 0688 5570 2384

I’ve been playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon – Explorers of Time. I like Pokemon, and I really like Roguelikes, what can I say? The game has been great so far. The story is a cut far above the norm for a Pokemon game. The gameplay is pretty unique for a Roguelike with the whole Pokemon move system being thrown into the mix.  And when did Venonat become such a freaking tank!?  My main character is a female Charmander named Ichirin, and my partner is a male Squirtle named Rakuen. The team name is Eternium. And I just cleared the Crystal Cave.

But there’s one problem I have, the AI, specifically the utter lack of pathfinding. Choosing to have your Pokemon set to “Follow me!” is tantamount to suicide because then they won’t move into attack; you’ll have to reposition the enemies for them. If you set them to attack, well, you’re bound to get split up when you walk out of a room or past a crossroad because he’s more concerned about the enemy than what his leader is clearly trying to do. Having them set to run away won’t guarantee that they’ll actually run from an enemy, I watched one of my Pokemon die because he kept crossing back and forth over his own path.

I can, however, deal with Pokemon losing tracking when they’re split up between multiple rooms, since it happens in every other Roguelike, but I’d like to think we’re to a point where characters can remember what path their leader took out of a room.

All I’m asking for is just a little more intelligence. When I engage an enemy, I’d like a little support without having to tell my Pokemon to run off after every little threat. I’d even accept it if they made like a 5 panel radius that they’d move away from me in, just as long as they don’t go completely berserk and end up completely lost. And when I set someone to flee, he should come toward the leader and run past him so I can pull the enemy off. That’s it. Is that so much?