The End of Final Fantasy III

After 30 or so hours I have gone through the Crystal Tower and the World of Darkness, I've met the 4 warriors of Darkness, got the ribbons and apparently beat the living hell out of a cloud that looked like a twinkling star and fought like medusa.



A friend of mine had already told me that you get some items that negate the annoying part about the final boss, and it's true. But it was pretty strong, so my heart was still pounding, because I was afraid that I could die at any turn, which I almost did a few times, good thing though that my Devout had enough agility to be one of the first to act, so even though it was close, it was pretty easy. I was only lvl63, which is pretty low for any FF game I've finished yet. FFX of course didn't have the conventional level system, but FFVII I finished somewhere in level 80's or 90's using Knights of the Round which made it a total piece of cake.



It was a fun ride, but not one I'm going to repeat any time soon. It's time for a little change now from the conventional FF style game, it's Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles time!

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Some Semi Pre-Emptive Thoughts

Over the last few days I've been playing 2 games almost non-stop. Final Fantasy III and the just recently released Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. The only reason I stop playing is to recharge my battery or just because I'm so dead tired and need to sleep.



A friend of mine played the japanese version for a bit, because he couldn't stand to wait as long as we had to for it to be released in US or EU. I didn't even want to see the japanese version, I wanted to be totally surprised and awe-stricken. And now that I have it, I'm totally surprised and awe-stricken.

I knew that it was going to be an action-rpg, but when I first got my hands on it and fought my first battle, I have to admit that I was disappointed in how slow it seemed to be. The army of shinra look-alikes (who seem to be put there for some nostalgic reasons) shot at me and I stopped. At that point I thought I would be very disappointed and wished that I hadn't had so many expectations.



But then I got just a little further. I had just beaten the first Behemoth and they started talking. I'd of course watched the intro and I have to say that it is very possibly the best intro I've ever seen. They talked and talked and talked and I wanted to see more of the game, though I wasn't really aware of time since I was still ecstatic about actually having it and being able to play it.



Well, finally I could walk around myself, I met Kunsel, one of the other SOLDIER members and he gave me some tutorials and stuff and then I was told about missions. So I went for it, I tried a mission. I won. I'm hooked.

I've gone through maybe 1% of the story (I hope) or perhaps even less (hoping more), but I'm level 31 now, and already completed 25% of all the missions. I con't stop going through them, they give very nice items and of course the chance you get to level up in them is very excellent as well. I got some nice summons from it (Odin, Ifrit, Bahamut) and I already have Firaga materia and such (I think all things that are actually way too high lvl for this part of the game usually) and some very nice equips too.



The game itself looks absolutely perfect. The in-game graphics are atleast as nice as FF12's and the FMVs are of Advent Children quality. And the awesome part about that too is that all summons are shown in such FMVs. And that is totally kick-ass dude!
It's also fun to see that they tried to stay close to what the FF7 summons were, because that just plain rocks. Ifrit still throws a giant ball of flame at you (or is the ball actually), Bahamut still shoots from the sky like a madman, and Odin still cuts everyone in half and jumps down from his cliff. Very stylish.



The story seems pretty strange, though it's cool to see Zack (who I'd only seen in the main story in FF7), it's awesome to see Sephiroth back in his 'sane' days and to see the human side of him, Hojo is pretty funny to see what he looks like here with his oversized sideburns and his too-cocky attitude. The Turks are back again of course, they're pretty cool, they not nearly as annoying now that they're on your side, they're actually pretty sympathetic.



The voice acting is the only thing I'd like to change really. I don't like the english voices. Sure they're not as bad as they could be and most other games usually are, but still I've seen some japanese trailers and they just sound cooler there (very possibly also because I don't understand what they're saying). But they're not annoyingly bad in my opinion.



It's fun to hear some of the old songs in their new packaging. quality of sound has improved in games since FF7 obviously and it's nice to hear that.



The slot system that they use in battle is still a little vague to me. It's awesome, don't get me wrong, but I don't know if I do have any control over it or don't, I just don't know. But the way the memory thingies work and the summons and the 'Chocobo Mode' is all very cool and awesomely done.



All in all I just can't stop playing and if you like action-rpgs and the Final Fantasy VII world, you might not either... Must... Play... More...

The GOD of GW

Yesterday my girlfriend wanted to check up on her Guild Wars characters to see if she'd gotten any new birthday presents. She asked me if I'd like to join her, but I was right in the middle of a mission in Crisis Core so I was hesitant about leaving the most awesomest game ever made to get caught up in something that would involve me just standing still in a game and switching from town to town to see what she'd gotten.

But, since she did ask me and I knew she'd be disappointed if I didn't join her I thought 'what the hell' and joined her anyway. It helped that I'd just finished my mission.



After some 10 minutes of updating and then some more minutes of updating I was standing in Lion's Arch once again.

Damn did I like the look of it! Even thinking about it now makes me want to start playing again.



I asked her if she didn't miss it, we've both played that game a hell of a long time.
She said she did, but also she didn't like Nightfall or the Factions expansion and she hasn't played the Eye of the North expansion yet so she doesn't know if she likes that. That's why she quit. And eventually it was also why I quit because I didn't like playing alone even half as much as playing together with her.

But having revisited the past like that does make me long for the Good Old Days of Guild Wars.



But then I also think about Final Fantasy III on the DS and Crisis Core on the PSP and all the other games that I still want to play and finish. In that respect, I just don't have time to play never-ending games.



'It's better to burn out then to just fade away' is a saying right? It's better to love a game to death and be somewhat disappointed when the game ends because you loved it so much then to be able to play it endlessly untill it doesn't feel the way it used to. I like finishing my games. When I finished Final Fantasy VII I was excited because I'd been playing it for years without finishing it, but I was also kind of sad because that was the end of it. But because it ended where it did I kept loving the game. I loved Guild Wars, but because it didn't end, it was pretty much just waiting for me to get bored with it. 'Quit while you're ahead'

The Incredible Crashing DS...

I was just stressfully going about my business in FFIII on the Nintendo DS, stressfully because I'd been playing for too long without escaping and saving my game, when I got to the top of the Crystal Tower and faced Xande. My heart was racing because I didn't think I'd beat this guy the first time. Though as usual I stressed over nothing because even though my main character died, I did beat the crap out of him.



But then that Cloud of Darkness thing came, and when I saw the damage that thing did to me my heart nearly stopped. When my party died I was mad at myself for going so long without saving, but then I noticed that there were people still talking. I was relieved to know that my efforts had not been in vein again. We were revived and we were sent into the world of darkness (which I thought they'd called the normal world already).



Of course, me being the stupid idiot that I am, I didn't listen to my own advice to go and save before continuing. Didn't seem like a big deal though, the monsters were pretty much the same as in the Crystal Tower and they didn't seem to hurt me all that much. So I went on my merry way deeper into the darkness, when suddenly a fight broke out... And my DS crashed...



All my hard work to get to the top, my death and rebirth, all for nothing... Now I have to do it all over again... Great...

Japanese Food

We went to a Japanese restaurant today with the people from work. Everyone actually showed up, the boss who was at home because he had his wisdom teeth removed and was feeling pretty crappy and had this really swollen face because of his sedation and stuff. The Business Intelligence intern person even showed up for a day and the new kid actually ate!

It was one of those places where you sit around a big table with a cooking plate on one side that they cook the food on while you're watching and eating. It was very tasty, much better then I first expected, and we all had a lot of fun together.

We interns were all sitting in one corner as the 'associates' all sat in the other and our talks were pretty separated, I could hear them talking about mostly work stuff and such while we were kind of making fun of each other and laughing at the egg pieces thrown in our laps and the way they cut the shrimp's head and stuff. It was a lot of fun. We talked a lot about all kinds of stuff together too.



I was kind of surprised that one of the people at work isn't too fond of the new guy. I've spoken with him a little and even though he does seem somewhat socially awkward sometimes he seems like a nice guy, no qualms about talking to people about what he knows, possibly bragging a lot about what he's supposedly done.

He reminds me a lot about the way I was some years ago. Except of course that he knows more about programming then I do and especially then I did back then.



We'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

A New Face at Work...

We have a new intern, or whatever you should call it, at work since Monday.

A little 18 year old kid who seems really knowledgeable about programming. Supposedly he's been at it since he was 11. I don't know if he's a genius, savant, autistic or just someone who studies really hard, but the others at work are stunned along with me. The work they gave him and planned a week for was nearly done when I left Monday. Today was a school day so I don't know what's happened today, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's done by tomorrow.

He seems to lack in social skills, we nearly had to twist his arm to get him to go to lunch with us, he didn't eat a single bite or drink a single drop. 5 years ago I would have done the same thing, the first day at work I refused to drink anything as well, although when I was invited to go to lunch with them after my job interview I went with them.

It pains me a little though that he seems to know all the things that I want to know, well, not all of course. It's times like this that it hurts that I'm as lazy as I am. Though it also helps of course, it gives me an excuse to know less then he does.



I wonder if he'll stay with us long. The people at work are afraid that he might not be enough of a team player for them.

I don't know yet if I like him, he seems ok, but he doesn't talk much or interact with anyone, but that might be because I've only seen him on his first day of course, we'll see what tomorrow brings as always. I find it interesting to see others, maybe programming wasn't the right choice for me? Perhaps I should take up psychology? Nah, code is what I like and code is the way to go for me.



All I'm hoping for is that he'll loosen up. I hope to make a friend out of it, at least for the duration of his employment there or mine, depending on which might end first. Perhaps I can even learn some stuff from him, maybe he can give me some tips on what to read or where to start with certain things. Interesting times ahead.

It has come to pass...

Finally have I finished Tales of Phantasia, it is the first Tales of game that I have finished. Not the only one I've played, mind you, but I've never had the stamina to finish one (I was told they're extremely long games) and this time I decided I just had to.
It helped that it was the recently translated Playstation version and not the old SNES or crappy GBA version. It had some nice improved graphics, had a very nicely updated battle system. These things helped keep it interesting.

I wasn't sure if I could do it a few times, because there were some battles where the game would crash. The first time I remember was during the first fight with Dhaos. Which is of course a very bad time to have it crash, especially since it was going pretty well. I think then the 2nd time I died and the 3rd time I beat him pretty easily.
After that I only remember it in Dhaos' castle at the end of the game. Both SEAL EYE? fights were pretty annoying without the game crashing, I had to try some 5 times each before I could get past them.
I feel lucky that I didn't have any such problems with the final fight. If I had to do those all over again each time 3 in a row I'd have thrown my psp through the window I'm sure.

Though I was surprised. I was stuck on one of the floors of the castle and I scrolled down in the FAQ to see wat I was up against. I read that there's 2 forms that Dhaos comes in. So I was really surprised when the 3rd round started. Luckily I only died some 5 times or so in the first round, but once I beat him I was apparently on a roll because right after that I beat the living hell out of Feather Dhaos and the beat the angelic Dhaos form. Was fun, but it was a damn nerve wracking fight.
The end was nice, but I'm not going through that game any time soon again! It's awesome, but now I've seen it, I know the story and I'm just going to go on to the next game. Right now it's Untold Legends - The Warrior's Code is what I'm playing, but that's really only untill I can get my hands on Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. I think it's good that Square Enix wants to start releasing games worldwide, I hate knowing these awesome games are out there and I have to wait till they're released here or in the US.

Anyway, it was an excellent game and of course I recommend the game itself, but go through some extra trouble to get that playstation version fixed for translation, because in my opinion it is worth it. Scenes like Thor's rising from the sea and Yggdrasil's healing have been improved a lot (from what I've heard). So try it if you like RPGs.