Fable III done!

If you don't count all the quests that unlock once you finish the main story I guess. This is by no means a comprehensive review of the game at all, mainly because it's twenty to two in the morning, but more of an excuse to post these screenshots I took.

Don't be a drag, just be a Queen.

It was good fun, I'll give you that much, with a couple of moments in it that were surprisingly emotional, and a definite contrast to the whole tone of the game. Sure, Fable has always been about morals and making decisions, but mostly the tone is lighthearted and self depreciating. I mean, one of the real "moral" quests is to decide the fate of a flock of chickens.

I also can't remember a lot of the specifics of the reviews that I read were, but I do remember listening to a podcast where someone pointed out the endgame and how it's a serious drag. Yes, I guess I did find it slightly dragging as well, and perhaps even an extremely artificial way to extend the length of the game, but once again, it was optional.

Balverines. God, I killed SO MANY BALVERINES.

Also, I have to admit that everything was extremely streamlined. There's no life bar, instead you get a Call of Duty-ish border when you take too much damage, and you can either gulp a potion or wait to heal. There's a lot of handholding in Fable, (literally, because sometimes you have to take people by the hand to get them places) but I don't think that it suffers for it.

The combat mechanics are simple, but I found them deep enough to be enjoyable. The only thing I wish I had was some sort of way to switch weapons faster, because if you want to switch weapons you have to go to the sanctuary, which replaces the traditional menu screen with a 3D environment. Sure, it's different, but here I feel that Lionhead was just being different for the sake of it, and at times it's extremely clunky.

Just like Red Bull, finishing the main quest gives you wings.

And I think I'll leave it at that, more sleep is required before I even attempt to form an opinion and write it down :P

A wall of text and pictures appears!

So I've had a little more time with DQ9. Since the game came out ages ago, this is not a review by any means, but more my thoughts on the game.

First off, I like how it's almost a back to basics sort of RPG. There are no flashy over the top attempts to disguise it for what it is, a hearkening back to the days of SNES RPGs. Battles are turn based, and if you're not regular about grinding levels or upgrading your equipment, monsters will stomp your face harder than an elephant at a breakdancing competition.

I've also already mentioned in earlier posts how much I love the fact that each and every piece of equipment you buy or make shows up on your characters. This had a slight drawback for me at one point because there was a pair of pants that were really well suited for my Mage. Unfortunately, he never got to wear them because the model was a pair of briefs. Bright. Blue. Briefs.

DQ9 also has a pretty extensive crafting system. Sure you can buy equipment from the store, but if you take the time to scour bookshelves for recipes and the wilderness for ingredients, you can easily make gear that surpasses what you can buy for your level. It helps to give you that extra edge against monsters and bosses and well, theres nothing like making your own stuff.

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned anything of the story though. I will admit, it's pretty generic fantasy, but the NPC's and the way they are written make up for this somewhat. However, the story in DQ9 is merely an excuse to get you from Town A to Dungeon B and then on to Town C.

All the while, however, throwing wonderful loot and goodies at your face. Eventually, you get the ability to change a characters Vocation, and from this point how you handle battles depends on how well you can balance your characters skill points, abilities and strengths. For example, at the moment I am levelling Mikey as a thief. However, he still has his bonuses from the time I levelled him as a Warrior, and as such, is not as squishy as a regular thief. Basically, I don't have to worry about him too much.

This will probably not be the last post about Dragon Quest IX, seeing as how when I get this far or invested in an RPG I usually end up finishing it. (Except for Warcraft... /cry)

All in all though, it's an awesome game for fans of old school RPGs and probably also people who like dressing up little people in matching outfits to fight monsters.

Echoes from Underground

The Unfriendlies by ~Turnthephage

Right, so I've had a decent go at Minecraft (but forgot to bring the screenshots I took to work, d'oh) and I had a few thoughts I wanted to write down. First off, if you want some extra reading on what exactly Minecraft is, here are a few links.

Right, so first off, the graphics are not the best in the world. They do however, do the job. What that means is that rock looks like rock, you can tell that that brown thing with the green stuff on top of it is a tree and that that pink thing jumping around is supposed to be a piggy. Eventually you stop noticing how blocky everything is, and some of the randomly generated landscapes are quite impressive.

Minecraft reminds me of when I was a little lad playing in my room with my legos. I'd build castles and towers and space stations and then have the little yellow dudes play out their adventures. Often, smashing some of it for dramatic effect. The game is kind of like lego, but you play the perspective of the lego men. Well, a lego man.

That's another thing, apart from the animals and monsters, you are all alone. There are no friendly humanoid non player characters, and anything that vaguely resembles a man is either going to shoot arrows at your head or try and give you the zombie death hug. I really get the feeling when I'm playing, that the world is out to get me, and the only way I can survive is to rely on myself.

Conan the Mineventurer by ~Shinedog

So you build defences, you never venture out at night (unless you are feeling brave) and you learn to listen out for the telltale sounds of a zombies moan or a skeletons bones rattling in the distance. And spiders...don't get me started on the fucking spiders.

And then there is the mining. Why would you even bother, right? If there are things that want to kill you down there? Well, that's where minerals are. Coal for your torches, Iron for better tools, and of course the elusive azure glow of Diamonds. Sometimes it gets downright tense, especially when you stumble upon a natural cavern underground. You'll creep along, putting torches on the wall, your fingers ready to switch to your sword or bow. Sure, you could play the game on peaceful mode, but I feel like the game would get a bit boring that way.

Anyway, I don't want this to turn into a TLDR wall of text, so I'll leave it at that, and get those screenshots up later.

Awesome art by Michael Corrigan

A Contender

For one my favorite games, I think. Just finished off the last boss in Mother 3 and...damn it was pretty emotional. (Oh, spoilers!)

At some point I'll play through it again (probably this weekend, to get some screenshots and such with default names, I named all the characters after my friends and family :P) because it's that good. The battle system is an interesting take on the traditional RPG system, with its "rolling health meter" and it's used to full effect in the final battle, where you don't so much fight the boss, but fight the tide of your health slowly ticking away.

You can't even attack in the last battle, doing so will get you the message " can't bring himself to attack" while the emotionless thing that used to be your twin brother wails away with every skill available to him. Yes, it is all timed, so that eventually Claus (the main characters brother) regains some of his humanity, and...then came the bit that made me cry.

Someone once told me that an ending can make or break a game, it can be the most fun game in the world, but if it has an unsatisfying ending, that is what you will take away from the whole thing. Look at Halo 2, which in gameplay terms was much better than Halo, but had a really fucking slack cliffhanger of an ending.

Was the ending of Mother 3 disappointing? I don't think so, personally. It was like the end of a rollercoaster, with the highs and lows and loop-de-loops, and when the car finally slows down, you can't really believe it's over.

The entire story of Mother 3, is at times bizarre, at times hilarious and at times touching. I mean, this is a game where one of the main party members is the family dog. Where for an entire chapter you play a monkey who is forced to take orders from a bizarre Arab man with a banana addiction. It's also the game where and ancient power is protected by guardians who resemble transvestites.

I also can't pin down what the main story is, because there are several going on at the same time. You've got the loss of happiness in simplicity, where the village where you grow up becomes a part of suburbia, and eventually everyone leaves to go to the big city. You've got this time travelling Archnemesis, who creates the monsters in the game because, as he says, "The creatures aren't cool enough, mix them together and make something awesome." And then you have the story of a family torn apart by death, and a son who tries to put it all back together again. While at the same time, saving the world.

Yeah, I like this game.

Road RAAAAAAGE

These events take place on Saturday the 21st of August.

So I caught a cab down to town to meet the guys before heading down to Sigatoka. The cab driver, one of the chatty ones named Jay, picked me up and as he weaved his way through the streets of Suva, we got to talking about Hibiscus. Good fun.

As we passed MHCC, a Honda CRV suddenly pulled out in front of us, without indicating I might add. Immediately, Jay hits the brakes and horn. A resounding "magaichinana" was heard and the CRV took off.

"Man, look at this fullah, swearing like that." Jay muttered.
"Yeah, some people aye?" I agreed.

A full thirty seconds later, Jay was pulling up to the traffic lights when he spotted the CRV. Stupidly, he begins to pull up next to the truck.

"Look at him, I wanna see his face."

The driver,a huge Fijian guy was in the front, a lady (probably his wife) was next to him and there were a couple of kids in the back.

As soon as he sees Jay pull up next to him, the guy loses it, and immediately begins swearing at the top of his lungs.

An artists impression.

"Magaichinana!"
"Don't swear at me! You were in the wrong, bro!"

Even from where I was sitting, I could see that this was not a good thing to say.

"What? Fuck you!"

The guy gets out of his car in the middle of the street, walks over to Jays window (swearing the whole time) and spits right into Jay's face.

"What the? What the hell man?" Jay says.
"Tell me not to swear, eh?"

Suddenly the guy reaches in through the window, grabs the back of Jays head and slams it into the steering wheel twice. Bam! Fuck! Bam! You! Spits once more on the back of his head for good measure, and hops into his car with a parting "motherfucker!"

This whole time I'm sitting in the backseat, wondering what the hell I'm supposed to do. This guy is huge, angry, and would probably make mincemeat out of me. I did manage to squeak out a "Please sir, don't do that" at some point through.

After it's all over, we sit there. Jay gripping the back of his head and me in stunned silence.

Then we went to the police station.

And that is story of Albert going to the police station on saturday morning.

Also, at some point I pressed publish instead of save while typing this. Mainly because this is angry typing, and my fingers tend to fly everywhere when I do that.

The thing is, that guy was in the car, with his family. What the fuck was going though his head at the time? On a scale of one to ten he must have been about a thousand on the Bad Day scale. Regardless violence, when not in self defense, is never justified.

And I've never been so Alive

I scanned this wrong, and cut off the words on the left side of the page. However, because of the magic of photoshop, I was able to type in the words, thus enabling you to read that thought. Huzzah!

It's always touchier than you think, isn't it?

So, religion is a touchy subject aye? Today has had a lot of it for some reason, so I thought I might as well write a bit about it. I mean, what the heck, if you don't like it, don't read the post, just look at this picture of this sign.


Are you done with that? Alright cool, moving on. Today I had a conversation with my sister and my little brother (he's nine) about whether or not I believe in God.

My brother found it so hard to believe that I wasn't prepared to say that I believe that there is a God (also that's a bit of a mouthful isn't it?). I could have sugar coated it, sure, I could have lied to him, but he's my brother. He's also very religious, which is alright, I just want him to know that there are options apart from blind faith. That it's alright to ask questions about the important things. I don't want him to be a sheep.

Also, this afternoon kind of cemented my own personal "lack-of" faith. I'm sitting at home, reading a new book and having a quiet smoke when the neighbours start singing. That's cool, it's not as if it was unpleasant. Then the speaking in tongues starts and the loud proclamations to "release the evil spirit of high blood pressure from this woman!"

I don't know about you, but if had a person babbling in a nonsense language and yelling at me, my blood pressure might not be so stable.

But hey, to each their own, if you want to believe that the world was made 4000 years ago, awesome. I'll stick to my belief in a higher power out there somewhere that probably doesn't particularly care about us. At the end of the day, believe in whatever helps you sleep at night, because a good nights sleep is important.

And that's why I definitely believe in alcohol.

Thoughts on other peoples conversations

While walking from the bus stop to meet my friends for coffee, I passed a couple of guys going in the opposite direction. As I passed, one of them exclaimed "Up his bum!"

For quite a while after that I wondered what exactly the conversation leading up to that point could have been about.

For example,

"Where did you find your watch again?"
"Up his bum!"

Anyone have any ideas of what they were talking about?

The Mango trees are all Blooming

at least, the one in my backyard is. i noticed this as i sat underneath the lemon tree this morning, contemplating fate and life like some pajama wearing Siddhartha. Mango tree blossoms are very pretty with their red stalks and yellow blossoms. also, that means soon the market will be flooded with mangoes! which means...chilled mango and icecream. you have not lived, my friend, until you have put mango slices in the freezer for thirty to forty five minutes and then slapped em on some vanilla ice cream. the perfect thing for those hot summer days :)

Diwali was good fun this year. During the morning i cleaned up the backyard ( surprising my grandmother and mum, i still don't know why i did it, some strange part of me saw all the leaves all over the grass and said, i need to clean) and then helped my sister make the puri for lunch. she will never be a teacher, my sister, for one thing she isn't very good at explaining things.

Sister: see, when they rise to the top you turn them over.

Me: why?

Sister: so they dont burn like those ones you didn't turn over!

Me: they've barely browned!

Sister: it's boiling oil! it'll brown in seconds!

Me: why didn't you tell me that in the first place?

Sister: /facepalm

still, it was a good bonding experience. i reckon.

then the gang met up so's we could go to peoples houses for diwali. Wilson (who provided wheels so we could go to Arjay's house) has provided an awesome post on things to do for diwali, which might be a little late for me to mention but it still makes for a good read nonetheless. first off, we went to Lawrence's mum's place, then we took a ride out to Arjay's place. by the end of the night i had a sore tummy from all the sweets and food. it was so worth it.

i also learned to keep Wilson and fireworks away from each other. that guy is a firehazard. i've never heard so many suggestions to do things that are on the fireworks box specifically telling you not to do them. like lay two sparkly fountains on their sides facing one another, just to see what happens. i would not trust that man with a sparkler.

good times :)

I'm the underdog....yeah yeah!

The Dirtbombs lyrics in the title field by the by, they make the sounds that make my ears happy. So yeah, even though i haven't been doing as much as i could be doing lately, i feel like i've been too busy to post anything, which is weird. also been feeling very disjointed as of late, hopefully this is all mental and not related to any sort of physical debilitation. yes, it's reached the point where i hope it's mental.

i was walking to town today, and thinking about the classes in Final Fantasy 1. this is because a certain noodle and i were talking about it. i came to the realization that i, really love that game, having finished it 3 and a half times. the last time was...time loopy. this is my reason for doing the write up on the classes. it's not extensive, but hey, it beats short posts :P

now without further ado, here are the various classes you can choose in Final Fantasy one, and their pro's and con's.

Black Mage: ahh yes, the black mage, don't listen to what other people say, those crackers don't know nothing. Black mages are squishy, since they can only wear robes and such, but are the most powerful spell casters, having the ability to totally burn their enemies with the power of dark and deadly magicks! as you can see, i like black mages. in the beginning you won't find them particularly useful, but their ability to quickly clear the screen of enemies makes levelling much much faster. after the class change, they become Black Wizards, which basically just makes them uber.


White Mage: the healbot, every party needs one. they're the ones playing whack-a-mole with your parties health, keeping them alive and casting the spells that get rid of those yucky status ailments like poison and such. for some reason, i always thought the white mage was a girl, but in the original Final Fantasy, after the class change it becomes clear that it's a man wearing those white robes. you could technically delegate healing to a Red Mage if you want, but why not leave the healing to the best?


Thief: the only reason you're choosing the thief is because of it's class change. after class change the thief, for some reason, decides to learn ninjutsu, and as we all know, ninja(s) are awesome. so in the meantime, treat the thief like a slightly squishier fighter. he can't take as much damage but when geared properly can deal the same amount of damage at a faster rate.



Red Mage: i like to think that Red Mages are people who can't decide what the hell damn they want to do. i mean, Red Mages can cast black magic spells, white magic spells, and aren't too shabby with swords. basically, they're a hybrid class. it's possible to finish the game with just a party of 4 red mages. i haven't done this because i don't like them, but if that's your sort of thing, hey, go for it. oh yeah, after class change they become...Red Wizards.

Fighter: your fighter is...a fighter. he hits things with his big weapon, and can equip all the armor in the game. not at the same time though, that would be silly. they deal lots of damage, and are a pain to kill. the only downside? they're the most expensive to equip. in fact, your fighter will be the major gil sink in your party, he's like a high maintenance girlfriend. after class change he becomes Knight and learns some low level white magic. for some reason.

Black Belt: i know...very little about this class, having never leveled one. this is because i've always found him to be out of place. i mean, he's a martial arts expert in a game with knights and wizards. admittedly, the thief becomes a ninja, but that's because ninja are awesome. the black belt just becomes a master. a master of what? i dunno...probably hitting things with his hands.
that's what he does, by the way. he hits things...with his hands.

i personally, like having a party with one fighter, one black mage, one white mage and a thief simply because he becomes a ninja after class change.

but thats just me.

Sometimes i just want to set the world on Fire

life is hard. if there's one thing i've learned, so far it's got to be that. sometimes it seems you've got no control, and there is absolutely no way you can make everyone happy. this may be an angry post...just letting you know.

i just, hate the fact that things have turned out the way they are. i realize that i have to deal with it, i know. i can't get around that fact that my dad isn't around to guide me anymore, or that i don't have a job, or that i have become a huge monetary burden on my family. well...my mother. on some days it fluctuates, some days i hate the fact that i don't have a job, that I'm wasting time drawing and playing videogames and mucking around with people, and some days I'm just filled with indifference.

i want to blame it on hormones, i want to blame it on my age, and inexperience but i know I'm smarter than that. well...i like to think i'm smarter than that. is this as painful to write as it is to read?

i hate Fiji's economy. i really do, i hate the fact that i can't get a job drawing pictures for people, or selling comics. god...i sound whiny don't i?

so now I'm 19. i don't have the luxury of saying , oh, i'm only 18 now. now i have to officially be an adult, so to speak.

i hate not having any answers for the hard questions.

because i haven't drawn a comic for a while

i thought i'd write this one out :)

Moi Mouf 'urts

from all the talking i've been doing...silly!

yesh...the questionnaires that i have been given to complete are about 20 minutes long when you've finished asking all the questions and whatnot. and i have to complete about 20 a day. so...yesh, all in all it's 400 minutes of asking the same questions 20 times to 20 different people. i'm young though, so its okay ^_^

i read somewhere that you should try as many things as possible while you're young, stupid, and can still recover from it. if so, i'm pretty much on my way there. i mean, in the past year alone i've drawn and colored for comic magazines, been at an advertising firm, designed ads, blankets, website banners, sung in a band ( ^_^b ) and been a part of a marketing survey. 'tis been an adventure, and its just July.

i had...fun today. most of the gang i asked went through the whole questionnaire, and were really nice about it. one guy even gave me a couple bowls of grog while i was interviewing him. i also managed to stumble upon the local secretary of the Fiji Taxi Union, Mr. Rishi Ram. twas interesting, because when i asked for his name, he was all, "what? you don't know who i am? i'm on the front of todays Fiji Times darn it!"

then he took out the Fiji Times, and sure enough, the man's name was written there. in the bottom left hand corner. on the front page. really.

and yesh, i got a couple of people who recognised me because of my mum. but it's a small country, and to be expected :P

anyways, i am glad i have this short term job, and i'm not really feeling morbid about my birthday coming up at all.

Snatcher of the Cradles

my sister said she would keel me if i didn't give her some recognition for this strip :P

so...yeah thats it ^_^

Its not about size!

although maybe not as gewd as cake. i have a good feeling about this week.

this is another short post.

Flamingos of Darkness - Part Two

it's funny how things happen really quickly sometimes, without any warning whatsoever. it's also funny how really fun things and really suck things can happy at the same time...or within two minutes of each other. The weekend...was great, and also suck. weird aye?

the suckness, most of it was down to me. i got my hopes up really really high, and had them dashed. which sucks, but there are positive sides to what happened as well. i mean, so what if the girlfriend isn't coming back to fiji? i wasn't going to be here at the end of the year anyway ( heres hoping, to all major deities! someone help me out up there!) and it doesn't make me love her any less. i just need a little time to get over the disappointment i think. also, Ronron had some awful news this weekend, which kinda made me sad too...it's weird, but when really bubbly and happy people are sad...they're usually sad infectiously. also, i wasn't in a happy mood anyways.

i think, that the whole silver lining thing is important sometimes. at least, for sanity's sake.

also, i hate being semi-employed. i am broke as a joke, and cannot exercise any retail therapy.

i need a fucking job =_=

Waves

The sun was shining , the weather was sweet, and i was reading some kind of novel as i lay on an inflatable mattress on a calm crystal blue sea. it was a pretty cool dream. then, the sea pulled back, and i sat upon my mattress on a bed of sand. clutching the novel, i watched as a huge wave hurtled toward the shore, huge, titanic, uncaring. I've always had a fascination by that moment, where you're in a pocket between the earth, and water, and all you have is a brief moment of air, just before you get bowled over by the force of the waves.
so of course i looked up what waves mean in dreams. apparently: " To dream that you are caught in a tidal wave, signifies the strength of your emotions, perhaps accompanied by tears that you are holding back in your waking life."
i feel lately like it's just one wave after another.

Let's be educational

Theres a Gaelic word that doesn't really have a translation to english that describes how i'm feeling right now.

A Hiraedd isn't really depression per se. It's more of a longing for something that you know will really never happen. It's partly being realistic, and somehow comparable to homesickness more than anything. This is a term that was created by people of long, dark moorlands and daunting, craggy mountains. These people know what depression is.

Also, i would so totally wear a flaming scorpion t-shirt, wouldn't you?

Postin' fer the sake of it?

well, i was going to post sommat, then i realised that i'd spent a bit of time updating the look of the blog ( new banner, some new art on the side panel), so consider it an update!

art at the top is kinda a new style approach i have been working on. i remember not being able to draw breasts very well when i was younger. i think it was because i was shy to study them properly, and basically guised them a lot when forced to draw women.

ironically, the fact that my masterpiece in primary school had a female protaganist didn't improve my mammary drawing abilities.

also, been missing the girlfriend a lot lately (and not just the sex!), and the disasters in China have not been helping my nerves.

So I met Someone

yah, she's nice, and my friends and i have come to call her socks, due to a hilarious and very witty event. well, she was wearing interesting socks. but yeah, it's early days yet. the thing is...the thing is...well, can i be honest with you? the thing is, i'm not really one hundred percent into this thing, and, unless my person reading skills aren't as good as they used to be, she likes me. meh, like i said, early days.

maybe its a good thing though. i mean, when i'm a hundred percent i tend to overthink things and watch my words too much. maybe i need to just, i dunno, go with the flow. also, a couple of weeks ago i asked someone out, and it did not go well. she...was flattered is the short story.

which kinda ticks me off. why are girls always flattered? what? is that like, the safe thing to say?

anyways, i'm over it. moving on and continuing my lonely walk down lifes highways, sword at my hip and cloak around my shoulders, walking through the rain.

early days.