to
Final Fantasy XIII
Dear Universe,
After buying the game on release day, abandoning it during the final weeks of school, and then picking it back up recently, I finally beat the game. This is the shortest time I’ve taken to beat a Final Fantasy. (Not including Crystal Bearers which took 2 days). Maybe because there’s no leveling up involved (not really anyways).
How about a review?
Final Fantasy Europe Box Art*
Plot
Gran Pulse and Cocoon are at a war. Servants of The Maker (God), called Fal’cie, choose their own servants, called L’cie. L’cie threatens the utopia of Cocoon and are deported to the lower world of Gran Pulse. If L’cie follow their Fal’cie’s orders, they are spared into turning into monsters called Cie’th. They turn into Crystals and undergo an eternal sleep instead. Branded with the mark of the L’cie, 6 of the heroes can chose to either save themselves by destroying Cocoon, or save the world and turn into Cie’th.
Gameplay
Battle
Final Fantasy XIII takes the ATB gauge from Final Fantasy IX and mixes it up trying to recreate battles from the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie.Characters react to situations as if it was a real battle rather than mindlessly standing in one spot waiting for orders. Using menus, players can have the game automatically input commands for them which depends on the situation of the battle. For example, without Libra, the character will automatically begin various forms of magic until an element weakness (if any) is found. Then the commands are automatically that weakness. Or players can manually input commands to find the fastest way of beating the enemy. The faster the enemy is beaten, the higher your score and the higher the score, the more Crystogen points you recieve which is how the character levels up.
The leader character is the character controlled and if that character dies in battle, it’s game over.
Leveling Up
Though there really is no leveling up, the characters classes level up, so using the Crystogen points, characters HP, strength, and magic, increases, as well as learns new moves. The Crystarium is similar to Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid and Final Fantasy XII’s License Board.
Graphics
Final Fantasy XIII visually evolved from the other Final Fantasies. The in game graphics and the FMV(?) graphics are very close, although you can tell the difference, the transition between the two is so fluid, it feels very natural.
NPCs, and PCs in game, their lips are all synched. I thought this was a brilliant detail.
All the monsters on Cocoon were designed off of mechanical things. Everything has a machine feel to it, even a lot of the weapons. Even the summons were designed off of machines, vehicles, rather than natural beings. The Fal’cie as well. This gave everything a futuristic feeling.
Pulse’s environment was a great contrast to Cocoon’s environment. Rather than being cold and mechanical, everything was all…”nature-y.” Though it was beautiful, I wanted to feel overwhelmed by the wide and vastness of the world, which I didn’t.
Sound
Voice Acting
Purists and Japanophiles probably don’t like the voices, but I thought the acting was amazing. I liked how Fang and Vanille have different accents from the rest of the cast, since they’re from a different place. But I personally think that the voices fit the characters. Well done in general for all characters, even the NPCs.
During battle, the grunts and hi-ya’s weren’t weak at all. Unlike other badly dubbed stuff. The only complaint would be Vanille’s dying phrase. “What went wrong?” Even when it’s Game Over she’s still bubbly.
If the voice acting was bad, the dialogue would have to take some of the blame, but it was written in a way that was easy to understand and also very natural feeling.
Music
The music wasn’t as impressive as it could have been. The battle theme was used in a lot of the cutscenes and boss themes took place of regular battle themes. The game menu (where you load or start a new game) music could have either been beautiful or sad so it induced that kind of emotion. In many other areas and scenes that one song was remixed and reused, so it got old really fast. The track seemed very limited and often it took away from the environment rather than add to it.
In My Opinon
It’s a very straight forward game. Linear, they say. But thinking about it, Kingdom Hearts 2 was also linear, leaving very little room for exploration. Because of this, the game played fast. After a cutscene, there’s a battle, after a battle there’s a cutscene. I personally don’t mind it at all.
If Final Fantasy IX, was a combination of prior Final Fantasies up to VIII, then I feel as if Final Fantasy XIII is a mixture of VII-XII
Everything about FFXIII was meant to look good. The plot feels like it was created to create a visual epic, the battle system was made so everything would look good, it’s a good looking game, but that’s about it. Not one of my favorite Final Fantasies, but it took a step forward. Besides the graphics, the artwork, the design, it’s a pretty average game on mechanics. I liked it, but I like a lot of other things too.
As a Final Fantasy, it is amazing. As just another game, it’s pretty good.
Second Opinion
Final Fantasy XIII was created with the western gamer in mind. The ease of it, allowed new FF players to slowly get used to how an FF plays, yet this was criticized. I feel like by creating a game to be accepted by the western world, it was unappreciated by those they wanted to impress. Even creating a 360 version (the console is leading in America, I think) which falls a little short compared to the PS3 version. All advertisement on TV was for the 360′s version as well.
It’s a great game that stepped forward but it was clearly a game used to test out the power of the Crystal Engine. Perhaps it’s a trial and error game and the pros of the game would be used in the other XIII games in the Fabula Nova series or future FFs in general.
It was alright. I’m not much of a trophy hunter so I don’t think I’ll be replaying the game any time soon. I don’t feel like this game is as memorable as other Final Fantasy, but just a stepping stone for future Final Fantasies. A celebratory game for prior Final Fantasies.
Hmm…(Spoiler?)
Text is in white. Highlight to read:
[Jihl's camera time was so short. It's kind of sad. It's like, "Hey, I'm going to take your son now." and "Hey you, run" and then *DIES*]
Final Score
8/10
Check out also:
I was captivated in the looks of this game, so it’s making me more excited for Versus XIII. Maybe FFXIII can be treated as a teaser?
I did tear up at the end of it though. It’s so sad… but I’ll get over it.
Sincerely,
Pomello
Images from:
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII
Let’s Play .hack//Outbreak Part 4 (Finale)
Dear Universe,
I beat .hack//Quarantine today. How FABULOUS.
I freed Sora from Skeith’s wand the other day. I’m glad I did. His weapon is the strongest that I have. Stupid Elk. Stupid Mia. Stupid cat. Stupid hikkikomori…. You would think that a hikkikomori would be online all the time or something…it’s okay, Wiseman is much more useful than Elk.
There’s a new post on the BBS, regarding the Coma victims. It sounds as if they’re treating symptoms or causes for seizures the same for the Comas (i.e. Flashing lights). But we (the player) know it’s much more than that…. I think. They say to play games in a well lit room. Whatever. My room is as dark as the night. Anyways, if people can get exhaustion from playing video games, a coma does sound likely doesn’t it? I’m not a doctor…. in this game (in Trauma Center I am!) .
Not knowing what to do, I randomly went to Σ Capricious Corrupted Holy Ground a level 56 water field.
After that, I got another e-mail saying to go to Net Slum. Can’t bring anyone on my team, so I assume everyone is already there.
Now Helba discusses the plan of action.
Now it’s time to do some damage.
As the levels increase, the maps become more complicated. I’m a lazy person that doesn’t like to explore much, so I used a fairy orb!
As soon as I walk in, Balmung gets confused and kills BlackRose. Then I kill the monster and BlackRose says “That wasn’t much.” It wasn’t much because she died! Twice!
I got an owl crest that raises a lot of my stats, but also allows me to cast Phal Repth. It’s better than Ola Repth. Ola Repth allows me to cure 400HP on any body surrounding my target. Phal Repth is the same, except it allows me to COMPLETELY heal anyone around my target.
So I equip the thing, and gave my old equipment to Balmung. Turns out he didn’t really need it because his current equips were much more effective than my hand-me-down. He could at least give it back so I can give it to BlackRose or something….
The purple cloud of doom…. This is it. Helba quarantined the area and I’m fighting…
Two masks…? Phase Five (not six, whoops) Gorre. It’s actually really really really creepy. They whisper to each other!
HERE IT COMES.
IT CAME!
And then I killed it.
So that was the last battle. It came kinda fast really. Maybe blogging about the games I play motivate me to play a game in it’s entirety. Or maybe it was just a short game. I don’t know.
But it’s not over yet!
Things will only get worse before it gets better!
But for the mean time…
…”Let us rejoice at our triumph!”
Don’t worry Kazu (BlackRose’s comatose brother), just one more game, and you’ll wake up. OR WILL HE!?
“We have just realized the true rule of the game Harald created.” Did we now? I think I missed everything. I don’t understand. What is this realization?
Anyways, credits roll.
And I get more desktop items! I totally forgot the check these out. Boo….
BUT along with the desktop items I also get a secret area, e-mailed to me by CCCorp.
It was an easy dungeon. Apparently I missed out on some rare twin blade weapons. But that’s okay.
And Balmung e-mails me. I smell like Orca?
“Catch my drift?” Man, this shindig looks like the bomb-diggity.
Anyways. I have to look for Quarantine now. That was the only one I didn’t have back then and NOW it’s a rare game. It’s an old PS2 game selling for around 50 as if it were always new. But I must get it! But I need money first. WHATEVER SHALL I DO!?
If I ever play online MMORPGs, I’d want to be famous in that world too.
Sincerely,
Pomello
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Film)
Dear Universe,
I watched Prince of Persia today. It was an okay movie. Not horrendously bad, but not amazingly good. Satisfying enough.
Differences from Film and Game
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Box Art*
Prince of Persia was originally a video game made sometime in 1989 and then continued on today. This film was based on the PS2 version, The Sands of Time. I would say that the film accurately portrayed the gameplay, but not the plot (of course not, what do you expect?). Characters added, removed, changed. Prince has a name in the film. The idea of the plot was there, though, not 100% accurate, it still was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
**Prince of Persia Film Poster
***Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
I’d say the costume is closely related to Warrior Within, so I thought the film was based on more than one of the games, but nope. Just Sands of Time.
Plot (No Spoilers)
The movie is about Prince Dastan, street rat turned Prince, and him obtaining the Dagger of Time, which he discovers can rewind a moment in time. Hunted for the dagger and wanted for the murder of the King, Dastan does a lot of crazy jumps and flips, sword swinging, arrow dodging, girl kissing, and gets cut up on the way. Oh, and ostriches. Crazy ostriches…
****Prince of Persia: Sands of Time the game
*****Prince of Persia: Sands of Time the movie
How does it compare?
I liked it better than 300. Way better. I also liked it better than Pirates of the Caribbean
Opinion?
Easily said, there are many better movies out there. But I still liked it. If I could compare it to a movie, I would say National Treasure, without all that cool conspiracy stuff. I mean National Treasure was cool because of the conspiracy, the mystery and plus the action. Without that, you just get, the action…. It’s a very robust movie, not necessarily a guy’s film. I would recommend it to people who like parkour (a.k.a. Free Running), that royal fantasy stuff, and Bubble Boy Jake Gyllenhaal.
Second Opinion?
I probably would not recommend it to people who fully enjoyed the game.
A lot of the younger crowd (i.e. Middle school students) would probably fully enjoyed the movie.
As for people like me (college student) I think it’s okay. Not the bad okay, but the good okay.
Final Score:
Definitely a rent.
******I do like this outfit better…
Instead of going with his Warrior Within costume, I think they should have taken the 2008 costume. It looks way better.
Oh, ostriches….
Sincerely,
Pomello
Images From:
*http://princeofpersia.neoseeker.com/wiki/Prince_of_Persia:_The_Sands_of_Time
**http://charlesryderblog.wordpress.com/category/moviest-v/
***http://www.gamespot.com/users/macrules_640/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25799991
****http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?print=1&article_id=86798&cat_id=699
*****Official Trailer
******http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Persia_%282008_video_game%29
Origami Stop Motion
Dear Universe,
I forgot to post this up. It’s old, but I’m pretty proud of it:
Sincerely,
Pomello
Let’s Play .hack//Outbreak Part 3
Dear Universe,
Continuing .hack//Outbreak. I wonder, how long it’ll take me to beat this game?
After buying some medicine and trading stuff, I headed to Σ Rising Implacable Sipping Bug. From the sound of it, it sounds like a really strong data bug.
After hacking the protected site, Lios was waiting.
He says the infection level was high, and then he leaves. How cruel…
The dungeons on the darkness levels are scary. It’s all fingery and mouthy…
Lios meets up again and disappears again. Who does he think he is?
Whenever Balmung says “That was the best you could do?”
Sometimes, I feel like he’s talking to me. Arrogant punk…
Before I left to the field, I traded with this Wavemaster named, Yuckey. I got a Enja Twin Blade weapon and a level 63 armor, Frost Hauberk, for some extra armor I had on me. That Enja came in handy.
I killed monsters left and right! Thank goodness for Water Tolerance.
Whenever I see that purple cloud of doom, I get scared.
That signifies a boss fight, and no one wants to lose after going through that dungeon. Even if I’m level 99, it’s still scary.
The data bug was water tolerant.
How lucky, right? I just used the skills on that Enja, and some Orvak Kruz, and it was dead in no time.
Now coming back to root town, Piros was waiting. What does he want?
Kite didn’t even want to go, but Piros can’t take no for an answer… or he doesn’t know, Kite said no.
But now I have to go to Σ Dying Windmill’s Neigh. But I have to save first. No new BBS posts, and no new mail. I feel unloved.
At Σ Dying Windmill’s Neigh, a level 57 darkness dungeon, I’m taking Piros and, of course, Balmung. The battle music….OH MAI GAWD.
LISTEN TO PIROS’ THEME HERE:
It is hilarious. I wonder if Piros is modeled after a comedian, I mean he does have the iconic bowl hair cut, and Kansai accent. Oh CyberConnect, you slay me.
Piros profile*
I don’t even know why I don’t use fairy orbs, but they do come in handy, and I have a lot of them too. I’m usually good at guessing a direct path, it’s usually North or West. Or if you feel like it’s a trap, then it’s the opposite way. I think I’ve become one with the game. But I can log out (Phew!).
Nice.
Job.
Piros.
You.
Are.
A.
Genius.
At first, I couldn’t tell the difference between a Tokyo accent and a Kansai accent. Now I can’t understand the Kansai accent at all. Maybe I just can’t understand anything period!
BlackRose is FINALLY back.
She and I had the same views of Balmung…
Nice cover, BlackRose….
Awww! Now he’s okay in my book. Har har har!
Aura wants me (Kite) to go to Λ Merciless Grieving Furnace. I thought BlackRose knew who Aura was this whole time. AND I forgot that you can save within The World, without having to log out. Whoops.
I traded a huge number of items for stronger weapons for my “allies.” I gave Wiseman a full set of equipment. Lucky butt. If Mistral or Elk was on, I’d give them their stuff too, but they’re too busy being pregnant or depressed…
With BlackRose and Balmung, I feel like I’m doing all the work…
Seriously, these purple clouds…..They need to not look so menacing. On the bright side, they do warn that a boss is ahead.
Aura stole something…?
Cubia appeared. I totally did not expect that. A boss fight? Are you kidding me!? He took a long time to kill. He kept sending Cubia Kills my way, and after every wave, he’d unleash a devastating attack! Devastating if…you’re not level 99. It was an easy battle, just a long one. I feel tuckered out. I used a lot of Mage’s Souls too. I need to restock.
Surprisingly, after logging out, BBS had no new posts. Hmm…BUT tons of new mail and new news.
The news described what I thought were the events on .hack//Liminality, but the reports said people were caught in a fire in Yokohama.
It sounded more fatal in the news article than it seemed in Liminality…. Maybe it’s just showing that the situation is getting worse.
In other news, blackouts occurred in 10,000 homes for two hours. Not just any black out. A mysterious black out… could it have happened when battling Cubia?!
At least Kite’s not data drained and is able to log out unlike a lot of comatose players. I wonder what happens if a comatose player’s character dies in The World? Shiz is deep man. I also looked up the Epitaph of Twilight and Pluto’s kiss and all of that. The .hack universe is really deep and pretty structured in a way that it all seems kinda real.
Logging back into The World… I think I should look up how to raise a grunty…. “AMORE!”
Rachel started a courier service.
If I played The World, I think I’d do something like that. She wants to meet up at Σ Expansive Corrupted Ridgeline
I don’t remember what she was like before (I played the first games like forever ago), but she’s kinda funny. I think I’d be a lot like her. All she wants is money. But then again, I’d want to be famous like Balmung and Orca.
Rachel Profile**
Rachel also seems to have a Kansai accent. Everything is “nya~”. Maybe it’s not an accent, and I just can’t train my ears… boo… Anyways, in the end, she terminated her service…
Moonstone wants a Moon knife at Σ Dying Grieving Battlefield.
What a dark keyphrase…
It’s raining there too. I like the music though. It’s all tribally, and rainforesty.
Moonstone died instantly…WHY SO WEAK VINCENT VALNETINE!??!
Moonstone Profile ***
Vincent Valentine Profile ****
Blackrose said unusual weather is occurring around the world. I wonder what the significance is. I mean a virus can’t change the weather, unless it has infected some weather creating machine….right? Unless they’re causing tech to go haywire and it’s heating up the Earth or something.
And how do you reply to that anyways? “Some weird weather going on.” “yeah?” That’s all I got…
Wiseman likes Digimon. He’s so cool and wise in The World, it’s hard to imagine him as a 10 year old boy who acts like a 10 year old boy outside the world.
Digimon is under Bandai too right? So this makes everything legal I guess. Kind of like using Haruhi advertisement in Lucky Star?
But using stuff we’re familiar with, doesn’t that make everything seem real?
Gardenia likes cats.
Hmm… to eat?! How exciting…She’s a loon. What kind of e-mail is that anyways?!
WHAT, MOONSTONE!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?
Et tu, Balmung?! Why send me these weird e-mails telling me nothing!
I guess The World players are all a bit loony. Does that make me a loon too? I guess so.
At least this is more of an e-mail.
Sanjuro, Natsume and Rachel e-mail like real people. The BBS seems really real too. It’s kinda freaky in that Siren’s character’s official blog sites. Where the creators make it so real, it could be real? I mean in Siren, if Howard Wright kept a blog, that means a staff worked on that blog, so in the way that staff is Howard Wright? So if people working on .hack programmed the posts, that means they wrote the posts, and that means they’re kinda apart of The World? So a lot of it is real, even if it’s fake. It doesn’t make sense, but I’m trying to say that if The World isn’t real, but I’m playing The World, doesn’t that make it real? CRAZY.
I have a friend that reminds me a lot like Piros. In that weird, sort of pushy, annoying, but nice and friendly sort of way. The one that you can’t stand them, but they’re not doing anything wrong, really?
Great, now when I play this game, I’ll be reminded of HIM.
BlackRose has a plan to meet up with both Lios and Helba, she put up a post addressing Helba.
What does being a woman have to do with it anyways?
Of course, super admin Lios deleted it. But of course, super curios hacker Helba can still see it. So BlackRose’s plan worked anyways. Lios won’t join up with Helba unless Kite (me) can go through a dungeon without data drain. As long as nothing is data bugged, then sure. Why not?
.hack is a deep series. From looking up the Epitaph and just the entire backstories and the secrets, you learn Authority, We all hate it. But without it, we’d all be lost. Or maybe the lesson is “Instead of think you can’t, just think you don’t have to.” Or maybe not. Maybe the lesson is everyone should eat cats.
Sincerely,
Pomello
Images from:
*http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Piros
**http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Rachel
***http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/File:Moonstoneface.jpg
****http://www.ffcompendium.com/h/art.shtml
Let’s Play .Hack//Outbreak Part 2
Dear Universe,
It’s another semi-exciting day! Semi, because I’m just sitting on my butt the whole day, but it’s exciting for me!
Let’s continue playing .hack//Outbreak shall we?
行きましょ!
Although I said I’d avoid Σ Spun Bloody Tragedy, I figured because I’m level 99, I’ll be fine. It’s a level 55 dungeon.
Marlo Profile*
Marlo CG*
My team consists of Marlo and Balmung.
Balmung is pretty annoying but he’s useful, so why not use him? Balmung told Marlo to pay attention. I wonder if that’s normal. Would he say that to any other character?
I opened up a risky treasure by accident and Balmung called me “…Pathetic”. What a jerk. If I could, I’d player kill him right now…
Σ Spun Bloody Tragedy
B1- North, West
B2- North
B3 – North, North
Balmung was confused and he killed me…Thankfully it’s not game over until the last member is dead. Completely, unlike Final Fantasy XIII.
And that “mission” (if you will) was pretty easy. Marlo has a yankii accent. It’s nothing exciting, I just thought it was worth mentioning…
Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to help Gardenia. I never look for those God Treasures? I don’t know what they’re called, the Sprite stuff…. I want to find some powerful items….
But first!
Grunty time!
I have no idea how to raise a grunty, but I’ve raised a Noble Grunty! “AMORE!”
What ever happened to Elk? I have a lot of WaveMaster stuff and I don’t want to use Mistral anymore (because she’s pregnant!) I never understood why Elk was important. But now I know. It’s because he’s similar to Tsukasa and Mia is similar to Macha. (I rewatched some episodes of .hack//Sign) Elk is cuter (and less annoying) than Tsukasa anyways. But what’s the deal with Endrance? I’ll find out when I get .hack//G.U.!
Anyways, Gardenia needs help. But what a perfect match for Balmung! They’re both so grumpy….
Σ Dolorus Promise Clavicle
Level 55
B1 – West
B2 – West
B3 – North
I try to find the quickest way to finish the dungeon, and I usually do a good job guessing…
Gardenia Profile**
Gardenia CG**
Gardenia is a bit of a loon. And she keeps dying. Not as strong as she looks…
I’ve changed my mind! Gardenia is a full on loony bugger! But she does make me want to draw some .hack fanart…
At Σ Soaring Sky Madness Compass it’s a quiz challenge.
Sanjuro Profile***
Sanjuro Art***
I wasn’t expecting something like this…
It was abnormally easy. Of course Sanjuro wouldn’t be able to pass it. These online MMORPGs really mess with you! Especially if you take it as seriously as the .hack universe people do!
The questions were OMEGA easy. It didn’t match the Japanese audio though. (Bandai, you guys didn’t think we’d notice did you?!) But it doesn’t make it any more challenging!
Σ Cracked Worst Milestone level for finding Terajima Ryoko is level 54.
I have Wiseman (lvl. 55) and Balmung (lvl. 60) on my side, so it shouldn’t be bad.
Wiseman is 10 years old?!
Wiseman Profile ****
B1- North, West, North
B2 – North
B3 – West
B4 – North
B5 – North
WHAT!? There’s a fifth floor!? Ridiculous!
Hybnos tried to find Terajima Ryoko too? I wonder if Hybnos is a translation error of Hypnos? Or a clever alternative to a perhaps already taken username?
Every time Balmung says “Good Kite” (when Kite deals the finishing blow) I always want to shout “I’m a higher level than you!” What an arrogant punk.
Terajima Ryoko*****
Terajima Ryoko is also a loon. As soon as I log out (ASAILO?) I get this e-mail from Terajima Ryoko with Keywords. I just saved her! I guess I’ll be joining her soon at Σ Generous Bemused Virgin. What’s with these Keyphrases?
At Detestable something or the other, I defeated Goblin level 9! I hate those Goblin chases, but the trick is to keep your finger on the triangle button and as soon as the goblin crosses your path, you use a physical skill. My magical skills always miss. I wonder if there’s an easier way to do it…
Σ Generous Bemused Virgin
Level 62
B1 – North, North, West, West, South, South
B2 – North, North
B3 – North, North
I came in with Wiseman and Terajima Ryoko, but I decided to switch to Balmung instead.
Hopefully Terajima will be strong….
NOPE.
NOT.
AT.
ALL.
She’s Level 1! Maybe if she takes on Level 62 monsters, she’ll instantly level up to 62! I can always hope…
Boo…
At first, Terajima Ryoko was avoiding all the damage. That’s good considering she’s only level 1. Until I reach B2… I forgot it was possible to data drain an enemy more than once. But anyways, Terajima Ryoko recieved 50 xp points on the earth golems and 520xp on the dark goblins. And Balmung? 2 xp….
And Terajima Ryoko levels up!
They keep sending infected monsters my way, so I have no choice but to data drain them! I lost 400xp because it went out of control. Terajima Ryoko, your mission had better be worth it…
My infection level started in the blue and moved to green up to yellow and up to orange! Ridiculous!
Now Terajima Ryoko seems to have some crush because Kite saved her. He’s giving way too much advice…
I don’t understand this mission. I saved Terajima and even got the God’s Treasures….but I didn’t Gate Out?? The keyphrase description says there’s an “interesting item” and I wonder if that’s a double meaning as in interesting couple, KitexTerajimaRyoko. Har Har Har….
Anyways, time to travel to Net Slum in the Lambda server!
For a second I thought I wouldn’t be able to take Balmung with me. But I figure it’s just a cutscene anyways…
Helba wants us to go to Σ Tested Quicksilver Valkyrie. I take that back. She wants ME to go alone. AND it’s not just a cutscene, I’m glad I took Balmung with me, even though it’s OMEGA easy, even though I had to Data Drain AGAIN. The effects were helpful though.
After another easy win at Σ Tested Quicksilver Valkyrie. I felt like it was time to refresh my .hack memory. So I watched .hack//Sign and .hack//Liminality over again. (Not the whole series though).
Now, I want the novels!!!!
ALL of the novels******…
Sincerely,
Pomello
Images from:
*http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Marlo”
**http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Gardenia
***http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Sanjuro
****http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Wiseman
*****http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Terajima_Ryoko
******http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.hack//AI_buster
Let’s play .hack//Outbreak
Dear Universe,
I didn’t pass my Discrete Math class. I was short 3 percent. Doesn’t that suck? I feel pretty bad, like I’m standing on a cloud and I have a chain hooked to the inside of my stomach, and someone beneath me is pulling it. Yeah, that bad. But there’s nothing much I can do except try harder. It’s summer now. So let’s fill up on the good things!
I finished Tony Hawk Project 8 (at rank #7), Fullmetal Alchemist: The Broken Angel, and .hack//Mutation. Since I’m taking a break from Final Fantasy XIII and it’s summer vacation now I decided to play .hack//Outbreak!
So, Let’s play .hack//Outbreak!
Starting the game, it’s a continuation from the second game. Without the first or second game it’s hard to follow, but not impossible (I started with .hack//Outbreak before I bought Infection and Mutation). Anyways, starting Outbreak, The World is all decay looking with bits of data showing. It’s really weird. The sigma server is now open and new posts on The World’s BBS.
Σ Aerial City – Fort Ouph (Sigma Σ Server)
Who comes up with these names? Kinda cool actually. But anyways in Σ Chatting Snaring Twins you need two E Virus Cores.
In the dungeon, B1 it’s pretty straight forward, and where there’s a fork, go north. In B2, keep following the path until a fork where you go west, and then the next fork go north. That’s exciting. Then B3, keep following, and go west and the fork, and north at the next one.
The dungeon wasn’t hard. It’s like level 50 something, but my character is at level 99. It’s really cool getting Balmung in your party. He’s a bit annoying though.
Balmung CG*
Justice this and that, it’s just a game. Even though the lives of a lot of people are at risk in this game…Anyways. According to several sites, Balmung’s player is 18? Crazy. Never thought about it.
Balmung Profile**
After obtaining Balmung’s member address, you get an E-mail from BlackRose. She e-mails Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground in the Delta Δ Server.
Δ Aqua Captial – Mac Anu
I really like this root town. It’s calming. I love the music. It reminds me a bit of Dark Cloud, both 1 and 2.
Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground
“Area revealed by BlackRose. Very suspicious…”
Battle Level 6
Element Water
I tried taking Balmung with me, but he just left. Boo.
This church was in .hack//Sign I remember. I need to watch the entire series now. I’m in a .hack kind of mood.
After the cutscene, more e-mails!
And a new post on the BBS about Herald Hoerwick. That guy is one seriously messed up dude. Anyways.
Another post by Terajima Ryoko. She is waiting at Σ Cracked Worst Milestone. I’m so glad they add these keywords to a list so I don’t have to memorize them. Hahaha…
There’s a TON of new e-mails.
First by Sanjuro who says he’s just on hiatus. Piros didn’t pay his subscription fee, he missed out on a lot. Gardenia was just busy. Her avatar is angry looking, but her email said “Invite me!” Doesn’t fit at all. That’s something Mistral would say. Natsume had bad connection, her emails are so polite. Rachel and Marlo also had bad connections. Coincidence?! I think not! Moonstone, just e-mailed “Connected?” Boring. I don’t understand Nuke Usagimaru. It’s been a while, I forgot all the character’s personalities.
Wiseman aparently has been researching about the Cursed Wave and wants to meet up in the Sigma Server.
Helba is suspected to be the hacker in charge. Her email gives virus core explainations. Delta and Theta servers carries virus cores A, B, C. Lambda was D, E, F and Sigma has G, H, I.
But wait! There’s more! Nuke’s other e-mail requests for help at Σ Attracting Fated Ebb and Flow. This guy’s a loon. And what a long keyword. He’s been feeling apathetic and wants to fight a strong monster. He’s depressed. I think I know that feeling.
Marlo’s other e-mail is looking for the Necrotic Eye. According to the new BBS post, the Necrotic Eye is at Σ Spun Bloody Tragedy. Keywords relate to the missions, so I think I’ll stay away from that one for a while.
I like Sanjuro’s other e-mail. It really did look like he forwarded it.
Gardenia sent only a keyword in her e-mail. Σ Dolorus Promise Clavicle. She’s a pushy one.
But whatever. So on to meeting Wiseman at Σ Server. After meeting up with him, he sends a new e-mail wanting to meet up at Net Slum at Λ Pulsating Truth’s Core so we can get in touch with Helba.
A whole laundry list of things to do!
I’ll help Nuke first.
The path at Σ Attracting Fated Ebb and Flow is
B1 – North at the fork, West at the next fork.
B2 – North at the fork
B3 – North at the fork, and another North at the next fork.
His problem was an easy fix. So on to the next!
Sincerely,
Pomello
Images from:
*http://dothack.neoseeker.com/wiki/Balmung
**http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/Balmung
And the semester ends!
Dear Universe,
The first year of college is over!
And even when it’s over, I was still one of the last ones in the computer lab,
trying to make up stuff.
Boo….
There was a suicide at school. I’m not going to say that I saw it. I’m going to say I saw SOMETHING during the time it happened. I was inside the parking structure when it happened. So I saw something. Was it the woman who jumped? I can’t say 100% for sure, but what a coincidence that I saw SOMETHING fall where she fell during the time she fell. This information can be read here: May 12, 2010 – Daily Titan
R.I.P
On a less depressing note, even though semester is over, finals are coming up.
During this weekend, I’ll have no one but my paper craft Layle to accompany me, during my studies.
Maybe even Strawberry will come visit me….
I do hope that I’ll pass all my classes.
Anyways. Look what I made:
I’m pretty proud of this even though it’s 14 seconds of nothing.
But hey, it’s something to me.
Sincerely,
Pomello
Happy Mother’s Day!
Dear Universe,
YESTERDAY YESTERDAY,
It was Strawberry’s birthday, and we went to go eat at IHOP.
DID YOU KNOW?
IHOP stands of INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PANCAKES.
That means they’re the same thing…
Anyways, bored of common hair accessories?
Put a quick flair to it.
Common hairclips into a cross shape,
ooh, so simple!
YESTERDAY
for Strawberry’s birthday,
we went to L.A.
It was BURNING HOT.
Bought some snacks.
Nothing much.
But I had mitarashi dango for the first time. It was delicious. I want moreeee.
But I can’t cook.
I tried to make macaroons.
Apparently, they don’t have flour in them….
BUT TODAAAAAYYYYYYYY
It’s mother’s day.
We went to go eat Shabu Shabu.
My mom loves Shabu Shabu.
We walked around the Arboretum today.
Maybe next week we’ll have a picnic there.
It’s like a giant garden…
Full of all types of flowers and plants.
Of all different colors and types
There’s this really cool waterfall thing at the entrance, but also big ponds.
We got a little lost too…
There were really ugly plants too. This one looked like it had faces on them.
SCARY.
And GIANT PLANTS THAT TOWERED OVER and it looked like a giant asparagus.
It kind of was like things you would see in movies….
And cactus…
and more ugly plants. This looked like Medusa’s hair.
We were trying to go on a tour, but it was closed for Mother’s day.
Doesn’t this look like a blur? It’s a real plant!
Anyways, it was a really a bit unproductive day.
I have a bit to do, but it’s not my fault!
Only this week left and Semester is over!
Sincerely,
Pomello
