Quasi-Daily Picture #1

The odds of this being a daily trend are probably pretty small, but since I got Flock to upload all the pictures (~330) that I'd gathered off Danbooru, and because I'm stuck late at work, I figured I'd start this idea of mine up and running. And perhaps this way I can slim down the collection or add to those of my reader (I might've made that plural, but optimism isn't my venue).

Given the nature of my choices, this'll probably never be SFW, but most of choices don't get more risque than implied or veiled nudity.

Yorichi to start it off with (there's no sorting, just the original filenames as they were collected, reversed due to the upload process). I'm a huge fan of the "casual" tag on Danbooru (Bonus points because the images have to involve clothes for the tag in the first place, so my tag-blogging doesn't come into play) and Yorichi was a great mystery for awhile. Plus, flaunting her sexuality on Ichigo was amusing to no end; her being a badass ex-ninja elite doesn't count against her either. Extra score for the pun on the shirt. And on top of that, it's an inoffensive artist watermark. Jeans and Midriff are big on my list, and the sulty look and gloves are pretty nice as well. Sorta an odd head position, but oh well. I need some more of these, they're just nice. Same reason I love the art accompanying Bleach OPs 4 and 5.

Less than a month till Christmas

So no Jiaz, I couldn't think up a witty title for myself either.

Fscking Tech hasn't replied back, guess I'll send another email, she's probably on vacation again, just cause they like doing that sort of thing without notice to those of use who'd care. Procedural systems suck, and I really haven't found any backup plans of merit, but this working at $8 isn't going to fly much longer (and definately shouldn't have flown this long).

I begin to find the sidequests of FFXII a tad discouraging. I love that there's so many of them, and that you can do them from so early on. How they build upon each other, and the puzzle elements to some of them (Sochen Cave Palace doors); but frankly. Some of them are ridiculous. I look at the FAQs and I don't get what ties these seemingly random NPCs together for some of these things. I got to fight and defeat the Earth Tyrant on total luck, I talked to the wrong named person trying to find the giver of a hunt in the area and unlocked something I'd never have stumbled upon normally. The first 20 hours of the game I've been talking to NPCs with absolutely no rewards, and suddenly they start mixing them in, it doesn't compute. It's like they had something going for them, and then scrapped the full implementation and attached the pieces to some scattered NPCs and called it done. I don't like things that I can't do without the aid of a guide. I mean, FFVI was difficult to figure out some of the stuff, fighting Zoneseek, getting Gogo, but it wasn't impossible or anything. This one everything is in the most random of places. I hadn't planned for this to be the FFXII discussion post, but since I'm already here, no reason to stop now.

Spoliers, duh.

Still using Vaan, Balthier, and Ashe. Vaan's still the tank of the group, Runeblade (I haven't opened Barheim yet, I didn't figure out where to get the key, the hints do not lead where it actually starts), Demon Shield (I failed to steal the Genji Shield, so sad, but I prefer the higher Evasion on the Demon, I use Aegis for Casters), Genji Helm/Armor, and Genji Gloves. Balthier's got the second gun from Gun IV, whatever that may be and some Mud ammo (3 Power, adds Blind, Earth Element) and as I've gotten further away from big armored mobs, the gun is more lackluster. It's slow and not all that powerful. I'd rather give him my Yoichi Bow (75) + Arrows of the Goddess (5 Power Ranged!). He's wearing nice Medium Armor, about 9.8K life under the effects of Bubble. Ashe just went from Defender to Masamune to Save the Queen for weaponry, wearing a Golden Skullcap and some Heavy Armor VIII, I think. She's back to being the resident thief and acts as primary healer (though with Faith everyone can Curaga for about 5-6K, which balances almost any incoming damage).

Cid is. Odd. Al-Cid needs to make a reappearance. The game also seems to promote overleveling to a degree that's nearly unheard of (And that's coming from someone who loves Disgaea). Gilgamesh was pretty beatable at 59 for my party. Immunity to his Level 2 Sleep / Level 3 Disable / Level 4 Break was pretty nice, though his accuracy in combat was disgusting. 5 Hit chains + never-missing = dead character. I didn't actually ever land a MQ on him, for fear of coming up short and leaving myself vulnerable. Which is my major annoyance. I want FFX back. I want mobs where I know not only their HP/MP, but their weaknesses, and what specials I can land. This system of hurling 30 Blinds and getting Misses, then getting an Immune is stupid and pointless and feels like a major step backwards.

About all the time I have right now, so I'll leave this not fully wrapped up, pick it up another post another day. Just some closing remarks

Danbooru's been having difficulties the past few days, makes me sad.

Tsubasa Chronicles finished getting Subbed, so hopefully I can pick that up, need to get the big HD recoignized again though, between Stepmania, my still unsorted Music, WoW and BC Beta, I'm greatly low on disc space, and Nero's on the other drive >.>

I swear Ashe's middle name is a Lovecraftian reference...

...I initially typed Lovecrafting, and that would not have done, at all.

(105 Minutes later)

King of Distraction that I am, I nearly got completely sidetracked from what I mean to do, namely, talking about Final Fantasy Twelve. I like how it looks written out, but FFXII is a hell of a lot easier to type, not that I expect to be needed it too frequently.

(100 Strips of Megatokyo later, the first 100 to be precise)

Focus!

Alright. Spoilers will likely be present.

Visually, FFXII is pretty, the eyecandy level isn't stellar, I've never really been a fan of vast sweeping landscapes if you're not going to give me a self-controlled Airship to navagate them, but it's definately present. Some of the architexture is amazing, as are some of the revamped creature models. The Slavens and Treants aren't what I'd call bland, merely stupid looking; but the models for the higher-grade undead of each tier and the slepnir (armored horses) are very nice. Turtles seem to lack heads, and the croc mobs are plain bizzare. Espers and Judges are well defined, the rest of the mobs (Elites, Bosses, and Hunts) sorta blend into each other but there's still a fair deal of mob types. And when it's not sprite based, palette (two l's?) shifts don't bother me.

Musically I've yet to be impressed, but I've also not started turned off my sounds in favor of Winamp/Pandora backgrounds, so that's good. The Chocobo remix was, interesting, though in a good way. And the Congratulations classic victory music is great, though it's a bit zoomed out, and the styles are a bit generic. Nothing has gripped me in the cutscenes, but that's mostly because they're powering the plot/drama though words and actions, rather than the music all the time. (Squall says ...)

Speaking of, cutscenes are generally wonderful, as to be expected, though I don't think the linework for the words always matches up. I worry that the villian might end up be exactly who I expect it is without any secrets in the back or tricks up his sleeves. I'd hate for this to be another Seymour (who's reasonably powerful in his own right, but still just one person) summons Anima moment. I'd like a bit of a twist that isn't Overall Baddie Alpha summons the Esper X+1 (where X is the final storyline summon).

Castwise I don't think I've had enough time to deal with them all. Most of my time has been spent on Hunts and Chains and Exploration, and not a whole lot of plot (Mt. Bur-Omisace with 40 hours of the clock, 6 of which were idle (not paused, which doesn't count)).

Vaan -- Zidane/Early-Tidus level annoying and ignorant, but at least I sense potential. He probably doesn't deserve quite the prominent role the storyline is trying to give him as there's no reason it cannot be just a main party rather than a main character, especially given the flexibility of the game.
Ashe -- Headstrong and prosiac at times, but if love develops I could see that softening. At least her garb is nice. Though the ghost of her husband, and the fact that she was married just kinda sit awkwardly so far.
Basch -- A Steiner/Celes remix, just hear me out. He has a comitted duty but he also feels tainted by past failures and betrayl (His brother, Vossler). His outfit is stupid though.
Penello -- Makes a nice foil to Ashe, intentional or not, but she ultimately doesn't seem particularly useful to this point. Her relationship, as she desires it, with Vaan is what I'm personally hoping for, but I think that Ashe might just botch that all up. Her holding his arm at the very beginning was probably the best moment she's had.
Fran -- Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the bunny girls. Viera seem to have a Germanic based language, at least the names (Fran, Mjrn, etc) which gives an awfully harsh overtone to the language of the passive woods-dwellers. She's relatively cool otherwise, though the script sucks at explaning or demonstrating Mist very effectively. Everything keeps talking about it like there was some 3rd Grade History Course everyone took, but that's pretty clearly not the case. I really wish that when she was leaving Eruyt village only Balthier would've been visible. Vaan had no place standing there.
Balthier -- Rocks. Plain and simple. His Mist Quickenings are amusing, his attitude is awesome. It's essentially the re-envisioned form of Setzer from FFVI, the way he should have been in KH2. He's not afraid to admit his piracy, he's got an airship, he "kidnaps" damsels. All we need is an assault on an opera house to really finish the picture. Sadly this leading man seems to be losing his top billing to Vaan.

I don't know how much more game there is to be played. I think it's a large amount though. I know there's 45 Hunts (I've done maybe 20?) and 5 Espers in the main storyline (I've got 2 of them), which gives me a rough idea of how things stand.

45 Hours in, did Stil-Shrine (Crappy ass dungeon) and returned to Bur-Omisace. This'll do for a first post, working solo is very non-condusive, blogging tired isn't either.

Suffering made manifest -- Okay, it's really one of the endings to Zelda CD-I, but that's basically the same thing.

Only 17 Days till Thanksgiving. Here's hoping by then I'm Thankful to have the other 50% of my SCSI interfaced items working again (namely the Maxtor HD and the Samsung CDRW/DVD)

Looks like Adult Swim pulled a Kansas City Two-step on me, moving Trinity Blood/Bleach/Eureka Seven forward half an hour, to an 11:30, Midnight, 12:30 lineup. So I missed Trinity Blood, but I think that was the last episode I saw before I ran out of Disc Space last time, so it's all good still. Don Kannoji on Bleach next week, I'll be sure to miss that. Eureka Seven's not longer got the "One day we will all own Giant Mecha" preface and now has an extra violence warning (Woot for uncut though).

Ah, Irony, Girl and Mother (with CA Driver's License) walk into the store. Girl is coughing on and off; not quite coughing up a storm but definately a hearty, flem cough, so obviously sick. Anyways, mother had me notarize a "XX does not have an Immunization Record due to religious beliefs." And to that I say O.o, what the hell kind of death-religion is this?

Speaking of confused suprise...I just had a customer ask if he needed to unstable his papers before putting them in the copier if he wanted both sides. Honestly, I don't think anyone's visions of the future have included a copier that could copy things that freely, perhaps we should get to work on it. Doesn't beat last week's customer. Strolled in here with an opened box, that she tells me was addressed to her but was meant for someone in Seattle, and that it needed to be returned. So I look at this box, Farscape Season 1. Look at the Return Email she printed, Laguna Beach Season 1, note a RMA but no UPS Number/Barcode. Explain that she'll have to pay to send it back in absence of any UPS Account Number. We go back and forth for a few minutes, me stalwartly maintaining that the package is not going anywhere unless money is involved, her arguing that it's not hers so she shouldn't have to pay. Eventually it clicked and she left, who knows what'll become of it.

I think the FFXII playclock reads 16 hours, that or 14, but like 2-4 of it is just idle time during meals etc. Not quite the same level as my normal first weekend (actually, about par for what Disgaea 2 was, as I got that on a Saturday afternoon), a well below the total domination of Kingdom Hearts 2, though I maintain that FFXII is good so far.

PC Mag and PC World for my Lunch reading. The former mentions Nabaztag at the end, which is still a totally awesome creation. Also, USB-Charging AA Batteries have gotta be the future, that's just plain awesome.

Anime post delayed yet again, too much going on these days, I'll make a point to get to it once GG gets out Code Geass 5 and I can experience C.C., decide if I like her more or less than Kallen.

I think I completely blended the words Cloister and Closet for that abomination of a spelling error in my last post. Though I recreated it trying to type closet again, so I'm not really certain what flavor of neurosis has taken grip at the moment. Probably nothing serious; bodes poorly for NaNoWriMo though. Haven't decide what story to expound upon, or genre or whatnot. Action (and I nearly wrote Shounen there) tends to get length fast thanks to combat, but I'm having trouble stringing ideas together. I'm not officially participating in any capacity, but what effort I put forth will show up on Foundry (my Wordpress, not that there's much of anything there atm, just some half-done saved drafts not on display).

The PS2 should be making it's return tomorrow. Would've been today, but Sony ships 3-day select with UPS, so 2 day ground takes 3. I'm not certain what would take more than 3 days with a Texas origin, but somehow 3-day select just doesn't seem like the solid option from that perspective. Ah well, I'm gonna be too busy before the weekend to even think of FFXII / Disgaea.