Piscis’s blog

Dissidia: Final Fantasy

I picked up Dissidia (the Final Fantasy fighting game) a couple weeks back.  Well, to call it a fighting game is a little deceptive; your characters level up, have variable HP instead of static health bars, learn new abilities, and get increasingly powerful equipment to use - really, it's more of just an RPG with the exploration element stripped out.

The combat system is akin to action RPGs, albeit always one-on-one.  It took me a few hours of playing to actually get the hang of it, but it's pretty fun once you do.  The unique aspect of the system is that in addition to HP, characters also have "Bravery".  You have attacks that target either one or the other.  If you attack bravery, the opponent loses some and it goes to you.  If you attack HP, you do an amount of damage equal to your current bravery (plus any circumstantial modifiers), and then your bravery drops to 0 for a short while (then returns to your base value).  If you drop your opponent's bravery below 0, you get a huge bonus to your own bravery.  So, most of the fight typically ends up being attacking each other's bravery until you've got enough to do a good amount of damage to your opponent's HP.  Usually, at least as my strategy goes, you want to get your bravery high enough to take your enemy out in one hit, so you don't leave yourself vulnerable at 0 bravery.  Pretty hectic stuff.

I'd definitely like to try playing it against another person.  Playing against the computer can be a bit schizophrenic.  Sometimes it's just comically better than you.  Now and then, for no justifiable reason, a minion character half your level and one hit from defeat will dodge, block, or reflect every single attack you do for four or five minutes straight (and you can get in an attack every couple seconds), all the while whittling you down despite your own expertly honed dodging and blocking skills, and inevitably win the battle.  And other times, you wipe the floor with a boss character as if it just doesn't seem to care.

The game has a lot of interesting features.  It's the first PSP title I've seen to give an option to install from the disc to your memory card.  It has three choices; one for ~220MB, one for ~380MB, and one for ~540MB.  I only  had enough room to try out the smallest option, but there was a noticeable decrease in load times on the main screens when I did.  One of the craziest extras is the ability to save any battle after its completion for a replay viewing.  Now, on its own, this may sound pretty tame, but it gets more elaborate - you can edit the replays.  You can position the camera freely around the 3D space in which the battle takes place, cut parts out, turn on/off the status overlays...  What's more; you can then export these edited replays to an .avi file on your memory card.

I whipped up this clip in about ten minutes.  FFVII is not my favorite, but it's everyone else's, so here's the final battle in Cloud's story, fought and edited all within the game, itself (...then converted to 10% its size for the web with the computer).  A strange and convoluted, but unexpectedly entertaining addition to the package.

The game also looks to be running a pretty impressive length for a PSP title; I've only got through seven out of twenty-some characters, and I'm already clocked in at over 18 hours.  And there are several other features I haven't even mentioned.  All in all, a worthwhile pick-up for a fan of 'fighting games', Final Fantasy, or just anyone who actually has a PSP and is looking for something different with a lot to it.

My father came to visit from Nashville a couple weeks ago.

Hummer H3

He was driving a Hummer.  Here it is, dwarfing my house.  I don't really know what else to say.  That's my dad, for you.

While he was here, we (with my sister) went and saw a few movies.  The Hangover was a pretty funny summer comedy.  Inglorious Basterds was classic Tarantino insanity (think...Kill Bill meets Valkyrie).  The one really worth mentioning, however, is District 9.

District 9

It's difficult to say exactly why I liked this movie so much, and maybe it's just a me thing.  It's science fiction, action, social commentary, and character drama.  The writer/director said he'd wanted to recreate the feel of "hardcore 80s sci-fi" like the Alien and Terminator films, and I think he did an excellent job of it.  It was one of those rare movies that really drew me in and made me care about the characters and what was going to happen next.

You wouldn't know it from watching it, but the film's budget was only $30 million - about an eighth the cost of contemporary blockbusters.  It didn't have any big-name actors, and had an independent-film uniqueness to it; it was also very violent and intense - all of this creating an unpredictability that made it all the more engrossing.  It's also worth noting that the music was well done, and served nicely to enhance the mood as one would hope a score should.

I won't say much more about it, as not knowing what to expect is part of what makes it great, but even against strong competition like Watchmen and Star Trek, it's definitely got my pick for movie of the year.

Dylan beat me to it, but such are my thoughts.

iPod Touch

The Mark III iPhod was released a couple days ago with an overwhelmingly negative initial reception, primarily because of it's lack of the one new feature everyone assumed, for good reason, was a for-sure thing - the iPhone 3GS camera.

It's a pity, too, because having been teetering on the verge of iPhone envy, after reading up on how good the camera quality was, I had actually become convinced to go and pick up an Apple product at launch.  That gives me shudders!  So I'm grateful, in a sense, for this small but potent reminder of why I'm just not a fan of the FailFruit's MO.

There have been a few theories posited about why the new iPhod doesn't include the one upgrade everyone expected and wanted (O.K., well, one of two - they at least put in the 3GS's chipset):

• The most aggravating one is that they didn't want it to hurt iPhone sales.  This would be annoying (but very Apple) for a couple reasons.  As nice as the camera would be, who would they really expect to buy the outlandishly priced and shoddy service contract just for it?  Why force the consumer to buy something they don't want to get something they do?  There's a term for that economic faux pas - help me out, Matt.  It's an unfriendly business practice, and I'm tired of people accepting it as a justification.  I don't really put much stock into this one, though.
• The stupidest one is the reason Steve Jobs himself gave - that they didn't feel the need to add new features like a camera, because it was more important to focus on gaming.  Now, to his credit, I can't really believe he's that much of an idiot, as successful as he's been, so I find it much more likely that he's just full of shit for PR reasons (to cover up for the below reason).  In addition, the notion that Apple didn't feel it was what the consumer wanted would imply that they have one of the worst market research departments in the world.  And while Apple doesn't have a track record of catering to their consumers, come on - it's been plastered all over the internet.
• The reason that seems to make the most sense is that they weren't able to work it out, technologically speaking.  There was far too much 'leaked' information and camera-hole cases pouring out for Apple to have not been planning it, not to mention an empty space in the device itself where the imager was supposed to have gone.  I'm not sure how many people would have minded a couple extra milimeters on a device as thin as it is to give room for the 3GS's camera, but I'm sure Apple would be loathe to make something bigger.  Still, I think this would be a case of better to delay an optimal product than ship out a lackluster attempt on time.

I'd still have even possibly considered the $200 Mark III if it were 16GB as was expected, and, you know...actually the new model instead of just leftover Mark IIs with the 3.1 firmware.

Aside from this whole debacle, though, Apple's demeanor in general just rubs me the wrong way.  I remember 20 years ago, Apple products were made fun of for the crippled paperweights they were, but now they're what's cool, and I'm not sure where the paradigm shift happened.  They're still very anti-consumer-freedom.  They want you to use their products their way, and their way only.  They don't have any interest in giving you what you want; they give you what they want you to want, which just happens to usually also be pretty cool.  Such basic things that every other less-impressive device has - like any kind of flash expansion slot, a replaceable battery, common media format compatibilities, or basic file system access - they continue to neglect.  They've gotten so popular, though, that they can afford to be assholes about it.  People are going to keep buying their stuff, regardless, so they really don't have to put in a lot more effort.  It's a terrible shame, because they do some things very well, and if they could just get the hell over themselves and make their products play nice with the rest of the world, they could create some really impressive gadgets, truly worthy of the hype they receive.

Tsk, tsk, Apple - you almost wooed the Fish.

<START>

Me: Have you yet stuffed your forgotten face!?

BREEN: What the fuck does that mean?

Me: It means things that are clear to know

BREEN: Feel free to ask a direct question

Me: That's for non-pandas, you quitter.  Edibles and packing surprise

BREEN: Wtfbbq packing surprise?

Me: Supplies, if you must

BREEN: I'll head out shortly

Me: I...see...?

<END>

I haven't been excited about any up-and-coming video games for a while.  There are a couple, however, I find now that I am quite looking forward to.  And they're both fighting games...hmmmm.

Dissidia

A fighting game starring Final Fantasy characters for the PSP.  Sounds pretty silly, right?  That was more or less my thought, at least, until I read up on it and caught the opening video.  I guess I'm just a sucker for crazy epic cross-over madness.  The main hero and villain of each of the first ten Final Fantasy games brought together with enough Final Fantasy-grade storytelling to justify whatever it is that's going on?

...well, what can I say?  Sign me up.

Tekken 6

I've always been a fan of the Tekken series.  It's on the opposite end of the flashy spectrum as the above game.  For as colorful the characters and outrageous the storyline, Tekken is ironically pretty much the most down-to-earth major fighting game franchise out there in terms of the actual fighting.  The characters use mostly legitimate forms of martial arts and don't have crazy projectile attacks, magical powers, or the ability to jump three times their body height and exchange a few combos in the air.  There is a bit of supernatural flare thrown in for the narrative here and there, but they make a big deal of it; it's just not the norm as in most series.

It'll be fun to see how the King of Iron Fist tournament continues on seventh generation consoles.

There are a couple grammatical abominations that have been growing increasingly popular over the last few years, and I feel the need to bring them to attention, as they need to stop.

1.) "To grow" is not to be used transitively with an abstract substantive.  You can grow a plant; you can grow a beard.  Power can grow; your confidence can grow.  But you do not "grow your career" or "grow your profit".  STOP IT!

2.) The word "power", when used as a verb, means 'to provide energy to', not "to clean".  You do not "power away grime and mildew".  That doesn't mean anything.  STOP IT!

In other news, maybe we should have done Paragon last night.  It was actually an inhabitable temperature upstairs, for once.  Instead, though, I finally went and saw the new Harry Potter.  Not too bad, aside from the theater having audio problems the entire time.  And, as I said Jenz, I hope the book lent more substance to the subtitle, as in the movie it seemed all but arbitrary and tacked-on.

Things are awkward at the house, and I grow weary.

No Paragon last night.  Sad face.  More importantly, though, well wishes to Leslie's mom.  Hopefully the hospital will get it right this time.

Spent over six straight hours cleaning the old place today, whilst certain other residents decided it would be more prudent to go concert and bar hopping.  Thank goodness BREEN offered to help out the entire time.  So my clothes wouldn't get nastied, I was wearing a green hooded raincoat, with purple gloves and a scrubbing wand.  I was the PHANTOM OF CLEANING!  I frightened the filth away, into the drain, or paper followed by garbage.

Potentially Unnecessary Products:

Instant Refried Beans

Instant refried beans.  As seen in the bulk foods section of WinCo.  Yeah...no.

Safe Slice Bagel Slicer

Some kind of...clamshell device designed specifically to hold a bagel while you bisect it.  For maximum safety.  Maximum taste.  As you can see, it fancies itself a bagel slicer, but I'm not sure you can call a product something when it performs only an arbitrary and tangential function to an activity that is actually being accomplished by something you already had (i.e.; a knife).

I got Coraline on Tuesday, because everyone seems to have liked it quite a bit.  Maybe I will eventually get a chance to watch it.  I was excited, because it was actually in 3D! on the DVD itself.  I was expecting the fancy circular polarization 3D in which it was released in the theater, though, but it seems they resorted to anaglyphing for the home release, as evidenced by the red/blue glasses that were inside the DVD case.  Disappointing...  I wonder if there's a technical limitation for polarization filtering needing two simultaneous overlaying projectors to produce the effect...still, I figure there'd be some way to duplicate the effect with alternation on a single display.  And I even have a few pairs of the nice glasses...  Oh, well; maybe anaglyping is better than it used to be...I'll have to see how it turns out.

At work, we often use short-form text communication to relay requests and status updates for different parts of the network when not on a computer in the applicable domain.  For instance, I was on a Navy computer today needing to process changes on the Marine Corps side.

When in an open communication channel as such, we preface messages with the initials of the individual toward which the message is directed.  One of my colleagues, Brian Kotmel (who shall remain nameless), was thus being queried as BK.  Seeing this, I couldn't help but think of Burger King, and I thought, ha-ha, you remind people of fast food, and I wondered what it would be like to have your initials invoke the image of junk food.

Then I remembered that mine are A&W.

I've randomly decided to start Vox-ing again.  Two years is too long a hiatus from the craziness of web-logging.  Mostly random thoughts, unless I think of something thoughtful to write.  I challenge everyone to do the same.  Everyone.

I'm still not entirely better from whatever it was I had last week.  I thought I was about fine this morning, but then started getting irritatingly dizzy,again.  Maybe it's the guaifenisen I just took again for the cough-up-ing.  Anti.

Fourthies tonight in an hour or so.  Playing Concordance.  Maybe certain things will be revealed.  We'll see.  'tis also Dylan's birthday.  Happy birthday, again.  I feel like I am missing out on gaming...haven't had enough of it, lately.  I need to get creamy plot-y deep into things, again.  Have talks about character development, story directions, philosophy and psychology of our games...all that good stuff.  That's what I need.  Need to feel the momentum.

My mother is coming into town this weekend, I think.  I just got here a diamond necklace for a belated Mother's Day / birthday gift.  Hopefully she will approve.  It will be good to see her.

The new house seems to be working out pretty well, aside from the poor insulation of the second floor making for sweltery times.  I finally have a bedroom with a ceiling fan, though.  Nice.  And...a balcony.  Hmm.

I should probably call Leslie and see if there is need for cake or ice cream, tonight.

...

...

Seems that the Erinz is bringing something.

Well, then...off I go...!

I saw Captain Kirk riding a motorcycle on my way to work, yesterday.  He followed me for a while, but turned away down Irving.

I guess we all have a starship to get to.