Friday, May 21, 2004

Gaming and Math

	So I played my PS2 some more today and did the first two missions in 007 NightFire; the controls are taking a bit to get used to, having move/strafe on the left analog stick and look/turn on the right, but the game's fairly amusing so far. I am liking the control setup, however, and once I get used to it I have a feeling I'm going to be a lot better with it than I am with GoldenEye/Perfect Dark's control scheme. Having a control stick for free-look as well as one for movement is so much better than the C buttons on the N64 controller. It's a lot more like using a keyboard and mouse, which is what I'm best with for FPS games. Still haven't tried out either of the other games yet, and I'm thinking I'll probably trade in NBA Live 2001, and maybe the tennis game also depending on if I like it, for store credit at GameStop. I figure that, in addition to the $15 gift certificate I already have, should be able to get me a decent older game like FFX. And yes, algebra: My Beginning Algebra final exam is tomorrow (though since the time zone for myOtaku is Eastern Time, it'll show as "today" since it's past 9:00 PM Pacific Time right now) from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM. I did the little "mini-final" he handed out last Friday -- 15 problems that are an example of what sort of stuff is going to be on the final -- and I didn't have much problem with them, so I think I'm in pretty good shape. The only thing that I'm not good at is those stupid word problems. It's like they try and word the questions funny to mess you up, heh.

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Thursday, May 20, 2004

The Day of the PS2

	I finally bought that PS2 I've been saving up for, and dang was it a good deal. In all, I got the system, three games (007 Nightfire, Hard Hitter Tennis, and NBA Live 2001), a multitap, three controllers, and three memory cards for only $40. That's less than a single, new PS2 game by itself. All together now. . . . "DAAAAAMMMNN!!!!!" ^_~ So far I've tried out 007 Nightfire's multiplayer mode a bit, but other than that I've just been hooking the system up, putting the old PS1 away with the NES, and getting things organized. (Don't you just love the mad rush of activity whenever you get a new console and then find you have nowhere to put it?) I also tried out Chrono Cross, a PS1 game, in it and it worked fine; I'll probably try out a DVD in it either Thursday or Friday. It'll be nice to finally have a DVD player of my own in my room, even if it is crappy quality. I figure that since my TV and VCR are both crappy it'll match up fine, heh. So I've sort of made a little pact with myself: I'm not going to buy any games for the PS2 until I finish up Zelda: The Wind Waker on the GCN. All I have left to do is go through Ganon's Tower, get pictographs (and from those, figurines) of a Mighty Darknut and Puppet Ganon, then beat Ganon himself, and I'll be completely done with my second quest file. I've kind of been stalling on that, however, as I've been playing F-Zero GX and SSB Melee instead of beating TWW. I don't know why, but I've never really liked beating games; the idea of an end boss just isn't that appealing to me for some reason, even if I've already beaten the game before and know I'll totally kick its butt with no problem. Stange, isn't it? But I guess I'll just have to push through and try to get some enjoyment out of totally thrashing the seven bosses in Ganon's Tower, heh. Once I do get around to beating TWW though, I'm thinking I'm going to take a look at what GameStop has in their "cheap, older PS2 games" section to see if they have anything good. I'm hoping to pick up a copy of FFX some time, if only so that I can form an opinion of my own about the game. Some people seem to think it's awesome, and some absolutely can't stand it, so I'm wondering just what the game does that can so polarize people about it. Other than that, though, I don't have any specific games in mind; it'll really just depend on what GameStop has cheap. If anyone has any suggestions, post a comment and I'll consider them.

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Sunday, May 16, 2004

Now Playing #40

	Band: Pink Floyd Track: Another Brick In the Wall Time: 3:37 Size: 58.4 KB In honor of finals week, which is this week for me, I thought I'd put up a nice song that has to do with school. Gotta love Pink Floyd, heh. Another Brick In the Wall by Pink Floyd We don’t need no education We don’t need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the classroom Teacher, leave them kids alone Hey, teacher, leave the kids alone All in all it’s just another brick in the wall All in all you’re just another brick in the wall We don’t need no education We don’t need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the classroom Teachers, leave them kids alone Hey, teacher, leave us kids alone All in all you’re just another brick in the wall All in all you’re just another brick in the wall

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Thursday, May 13, 2004

The Wonders of E3

	E3 has been absolutely amazing this year. There are so many games being shown this year that I want, it's not even funny. It's almost painful to think of just how few of these games I'm actually going to be able to afford, but hopefully my friends and I can split up our purchases and then let each other borrow the others' games once we play through our own. No matter what, though, I'm going to be getting all three of the new Zelda games and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, whenever they're released. Other gaming purchases will be planned around those four, heh. Speaking of those three Zelda games, I'm eagerly awaiting Four Swords Adventures in June (so close!), but we've been getting info on that for a while now; what I'm really excited about seeing more of is the next 3D Zelda game for the GCN. You can find a post about the game, for now just titled "The Legend of Zelda" on OtakuBoards if you want to read some specific thoughts on the game from me, so I won't go into a lot of detail here. What I will say is that I've got that same giddy excitement that accompanied my anticipation of both Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker and will, most likely, forever accompany any big Zelda game's announcement. I'm just dying to find out more about this game. As for the third Zelda game, The Minish Cap, I've also made a post on OtakuBoards about it. Going along with that post, this new GBA Zelda looks to be the strangest game yet in the series. I mean, the previous Game Boy Zelda titles have all been pretty strange, but from what I've seen and heard about The Minish Cap, it beats them all. One of the best things about the Game Boy Zeldas is that they kind of take themselves seriously, but there's always that completely off-the-wall strangeness permeating them, so I'm really looking forward to just how strange this new game will get. And then we come to Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. . . . Wow. Everything in the trailer for this game looked amazing. One thing that really stood out for me was the "Dark Samus" enemy that we see Samus fighting during a couple clips in the trailer. That, and the black stuff that transformed those two enemies. The light and dark thing looks like it's going to be used in some really cool ways. Also, something that I'm very interested in but still have a few doubts about, is the Nintendo DS. Overall, the system looks great, but I'm not liking the idea of the touch screen a whole lot. Sure, for some things I think it would be great, but from what I've been reading about the game demos, it sounds like you're going to be using it a lot. Now, for things like the Metroid Prime: Hunters demo, using it to select your beam and going in and out of the Morph Ball, I think it's great; you're not going to be be needing the face buttons while doing this, so taking your thumb off them to tap the screen is fine. But for things like camera control where you have to roll your finger over the screen to control its movement, I have a feeling I'm not going to like it. For something like the Super Mario 64x4 demo, where you're going to be constantly changing the camera angle, having to reach over and move your thumb across the screen seems like it would get annoying really quick. True, you had to use the C buttons for the original Super Mario 64, but those were right next to the face buttons and all you had to do was tap the button. Same with the C stick on the GCN controller -- right near the face buttons, and you just had to tap it over in the direction you wanted. Having to slide your finger across the screen seems like it would be both slower and more prone to mistakes. Personally, I think they should have included some little C buttons, like on the N64 controller, below the A, B, X, and Y face buttons for things like camera control. But, until the system is released and I'll actually be able to see how well the touch screen works, I'll just continue to drool over the system's other features and the game demos. The wireless linking sounds absolutely awesome; hopefully it will open up the potential for more multiplayer games. Both of the demos I mentioned above, Metroid Prime: Hunters and Super Mario 64x4, look like a lot of fun. One of the things I missed in Super Mario 64 was a two player mode, so I'm really excited about that. Metroid Prime: Hunters not so much, since there'll be multiplayer in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but still. And of course, we can't forget Mario Kart. . . . So many possibilites.

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Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Sprites and Stuff

	Celes is so cute dressed up as Maria. I found this sprite in my collection today and it brought back memories of the whole opera part in Final Fantasy VI. ^_^ Speaking of sprites, though, I did some more work on my Cecil sprite. If anyone remembers, I've been working on this thing off and on ever since the start of Sage's Final Fantastic Survivor RPG (aka FFS), which I was in. And notice I say the start of FFS; that needs to be specified, because it lasted for about five months, heh. So far it's been the only RPG that I've participated in that actually concluded and didn't just die, and I got a lot of great memories out of it. (I'm forever going to associate Braidless Baka with Zell now, and Ginny with . . . well, okay, I already associated Ginny with Auron, but still). But anyway, check out the new sprite: Most of the sprite's details I got from this CG picture of Cecil that's from the FF Chronicles version of FFIV, though I got the coloring and whatnot for the sword from the sword in the title screen of the US SNES FFII. I'm assuming that's supposed to be the Crystal Sword on the title screen, since it sure looks like it. Also, for his green eyes, I got that from the battle sprites of Paladin Cecil. (Anyone else ever notice that, besides Rydia when she's a kid -- hers change to blue in the adult sprite for some reason -- Cecil and Golbez are the only ones with green eyes? Despite there not being any other green in either sprites, and the same shade being used for both, no less). I stayed up literally all night working on this thing. What started off as me thinking, "Hey, I remember this," as I found it in one of my directories, ended up turning into about seven hours of editting. For some reason, that sprite has the ability to suck down my time like nothing else. Once I start changing things, I just can't stop the editting until I'm satisfied with how it looks. For the time being, anyway. This is the third time I've done this, and each time it does get better, but I'm beginning to question whether it's worth the trouble. . . . And the time. . . . And the deprevation of sleep. . . . Mainly that last one. I am so wishing I had just gone to bed at 2:00 AM without ever looking at the stupid thing right about now. Switching subjects onto that "and Stuff," I've discovered my favorite song in the Chrono Cross OST. Track 7 on disc 3, Time of the Dreamwatch, is an awesome combination of what seems to be Chrono Cross's main theme (Dream of the Shore Near Another World) with Chrono Trigger's main theme (Chrono Trigger - Crono's Theme). The two songs meld perfectly together with an original tune intertwining through them. It's wonderful for bringing back all the memories of Chrono Trigger while at the same time bringing back memories of Chrono Cross. On their own the games are outstanding RPGs, but together as a single, coherent storyline, they're absolutely amazing. Another point of (possible) interest: I got my algebra exam back yesterday. I scored 103 points out of 100, meaning I now have an average of over 100% for the exams. So far I have an average of 100.8% in the class overall, so even if I only got 50% on the final I'd still get an A in the class. (The final is worth 20% of the total grade).

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Monday, May 10, 2004

Now Playing #39

	Artist: Bruce Hornsby Track: That's Just the Way It Is Time: 4:56 Size: 43.7 KB Huzzah! My introduction, complete with Now Playing, Midi Archive, and Shameless Plugs is back online! And with a new midi, too. (Yeah, I know it's late, but can you blame me? And besides, it's only 1:10 AM for me right now, so it's not very late). Anyway, about the song, this is another one that I found in my brother's mp3 collection. I think the tune and lyrics have a nice flow to them, and I really like the use of the piano in it. When used right, I love the sound of a piano in a song. That's Just the Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby Standing in line marking time-- Waiting for the welfare dime 'Cause they can't buy a job The man in the silk suit hurries by As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes Just for fun he says, get a job That's just the way it is Some things will never change That's just the way it is But don't you believe them They say, hey little boy you can't go Where the others go 'Cause you don't look like they do Said, hey old man how can you stand To think that way And did you really think about it Before you made the rules He said, sure, but That's just the way it is Some things will never change That's just the way it is But don't you believe them Well they passed a law in '64 To give those who ain't got a little more But it only goes so far Because the law don't change another's mind When all it sees at the hiring time Is the line on the color bar That's just the way it is Some things will never change That's just the way it is That's just the way it is

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Friday, May 7, 2004

Algebra Exam #4 / F-Zero GX

	Well, I just got back from taking the fourth exam in my algebra class. Covering three chapters, there were three systems of equations problems to corrospond to chapter 4, and the rest was all factoring stuff from chapters 6 and 7. Definitely the hardest stuff introduced in the class so far, and I think it's also going to be the last new material presented. The week after next is finals week, so I think this coming week is just going to be review for the final. I'm pretty sure I aced the test, though. I double checked all of my answers and everything looked okay to me, so unless I made some heinous error in how I was doing a certain type of problem, I don't think I have anything to worry about. I got everything correct on exam #3, so I'm hoping to start a personal trend, heh. And if I the instructor ends up taking two point off of the "out off" total like he did last time, and I did get everything right, it should bring my total exam score up to 100%. (I missed four points over the first two exams, and got two more than the final total for the third exam, so if I can get two more extra, it'll even out). - - - - - - - - - - - - - I've gotten into F-Zero GX again, and I'm finding it just as fun as when I first bought the game. For how good it is, it seems like F-Zero GX recieved very little notice. Maybe I just wasn't keeping up with the news, but it seemed to me like it was sort of overshadowed by the impending release of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! a couple months later. Whatever the case, F-Zero GX has become my favorite one player racing game. The multi-player can't compare to the Mario Kart series, but dang is the grand prix mode awesome. And I don't care what people say, the difficulty level is just right; if you can't cut it in Master Class, play on a lower difficulty, but don't whine about the game being too hard. Master Class is meant to push you to the limit of your ability not only for racing, but also for bashing the crap out of your opponents. Taking out your main rival for at least one of the races is a big key to winning. Something that's really added more fun to the game is the wide variety of machines available, though. Whereas when I first started I played mainly on the Deepclaw, I'm now branching out and playing on other machines. Despite its E body rating, I've found I'm quite good on the Little Wyvern, with its B boost and B grip ratings. And it's about 500 Kg heavier than the Deepclaw (about 1300 Kg total), so it makes bashing people that much more effective, heh. You just have to be careful that you're the one doing the bashing, though; you take a lot of damage if you get hit, with that E body rating. (In other words, stay the heck away from that aggressive biatch Deathborn). I just wish the game had a LAN mode for playing two player grand prix, though. I can see why they didn't include a split-screen grand prix mode, since it'd be hard to see everything going on with only half a screen (it's hard enough in multiplayer vs. matches where it's only you and three other racers), but a LAN mode would have been perfect for that. That, really, is my biggest complaint about the game. Teaming up with a friend in grand prix and totally bashing the crap out of everyone else would've been awesome.

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Thursday, May 6, 2004

Angelfire Must Die

	Angelfire has pissed me off before with some of its stupid crap, but this. . . . this is going too far. If they take away direct linking of images, what good are they? If I want a free host without direct linking, I'm sure as hell not going with Angelfire. There are much better hosts out there. Anyway, I'm currently in the process of searching for a new host with which to store all my myOtaku images. I know my site is a real mess with all the "image hosted by Angelfire" images in place of what should be there, but believe me, I'm trying as hard as I can to get things back to normal as fast as possible. Edit: Okay, Semjaza showed me this cool little image hosting site called ImageShack, so I've got most of my images back. The Now Playing, Midi Archive, and Shameless Plugs sections of my introduction will require some other host, however. So those will be down until further notice. Hopefully I'll be able to find a new host in time to put up the next midi, but it's looking kind of doubtful.

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Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Trinexx Is a Biatch

	Continuing on my minimalist game of Zelda: A Link to the Past, I made more progress in Level 7: Turtle Rock while riding home on the bus today. I got all the way through finally, after discovering a good way to kill those tall, hopping monsters that take four hearts per hit and normally require a whole lot of slashing to kill. That is, I've got a weapon -- that's required to beat the game, otherwise I wouldn't have it -- that's more powerful than the Lv.4 Golden Sword. That's right, Silver Arrows work wonders against those buggers; if you hit them in the right spot, you can take out the whole thing in one shot. So I managed to get past that room with two of those hoppy enemies and a fireball statue, skipped the Mirror Shield, and continued down to the second to last basement floor. Now, if you know your way around Turtle Rock, you'll know that the first room on that floor is a large maze that you have to nagivate on one of those floating platforms, in the dark, while trying in vain to avoid fireball chains and projectile fireballs. First you have to find the switch to open the door to the next room, and then you have to find the door itself. Quite the nasty room, right? Well, there's actually a very simple method of getting to the switch, which I made sure to memorize after finding it during one of my earlier play-throughs of the game. That is, as soon as the platform starts moving, hold right for the first turn, and then just hold in down constantly, and you'll go right to the switch. Getting to the door is a little trickier, but I know my way around in there pretty good after doing it so many times, so I got away with only four or five hearts worth of damage taken. Now, if I had to go through all of this, from the start of the dungeon every time I tried to get to the boss, it would be near impossible. Thankfully though, there are three "pitstops" that you can use to save at and then continue from in the GBA version. Those pitstops are the three exits that take you out onto ledges on Death Mountain; when you go through one and out of the dungeon, then go back in and save your game, you'll continue from where you last entered the dungeon if you restart instead of the beginning of the dungeon. Very hand, especially since the last one is very close to the boss room and, if you warp to the Light World while on the ledge, there's a cave with two fairies in it. So basically, once you get to this point, you're home free for getting through the rest of the dungeon. Notice, however, that I do not mention Trinexx, the boss, in that statement. Getting through Trinexx is a different matter entirely, and is proving to be the most challenging thing I have yet to encounter in this game. Maybe the end fight with Ganon will be harder, but that's not exactly saying much, heh. Like the title says, Trinexx is an absolute biatch. To tell the truth, in the three times that I attempted the battle while riding on the bus, I never got past the first stage of the battle. I came close, but no. . . . They just had to make you rely on the Fire and Ice Rods, didn't they? Really, the issue is not so much running out of life, but running out of magic power. I run out of magic power long before I run out of life, simply because I only get about ten shots from the Fire/Ice Rod without the 1/2 Magic upgrade, and I have no Bottles in which to store potions. Now, normally, I have the Lv.4 Golden Sword for this fight and killing off the fire and ice heads is no problem; I can do the fight with a single magic meter's worth of magic power. But no, I only have the Lv.2 Master Sword, so instead of each head taking only three hits with the sword after being stunned with the Fire/Ice Rod, they take nine. Nine freaking hits each, when I can only get in, at max, three hits per stun. That may not sound too bad, but I'm usually only able to get in two hits each time unless I want to get hit, and the Ice Rod is also just dang hard to hit with because its shots are so slow moving. Anyway, I start the fight off by taking out the ice head. This is because it's easier to hit with the Fire Rod, and also because you do not want to let the ice head get an attack off. If it does, it makes a patch of floor icy, and therefore slippery, which makes the rest of the fight so much harder. Quick movement is key to this fight, both for killing the fire head and for killing the main head after that. Getting slowed down by ice, especially when you can only take three hits and the fourth kills you, means certain death. It seems like I can usually take out the ice head in four shots from the Fire Rod while only taking one hit myself. That leaves about six shots left for the Ice Rod, and two more hits that I can take myself. (A couple more if they're shots from the fire head, but only two from actually touching the boss). I usually end up missing with at least three of those Ice Rod shots just because the fire head likes to dodge a lot, and it's dang quick. And when I do manage to stun it, I don't dare try for more than two hits with my sword because otherwise the main head is likely to smack me. (It watches you the whole time you're fighting the fire and ice heads, and periodically extends its neck out to try and hit you). This usually leaves me with two or three hits left on the fire head when I run out of magic power. So what do I do if I've run out of magic power and can't do any more damage to the fire head? I wait and dodge, that's what; the shots (read: streams of fire) that the fire head shoots sometime leave behind small Magic Jars, which refill enough magic power for one Ice Rod shot each. So I dodge back and forth, trying not to get cornered by the fire while in range of the main head's attacks, waiting for my chance to use the Ice Rod again. While dodging I can usually survive quite a while, but it's when I finally do get to attack that I've always been killed so far. The reason being, I have to get in range of the main head in order to have any chance at all of hitting the fire head with an Ice Rod shot. And then if I do manage to stun it, I have to stay in its range while I'm attacking with my sword. This, combined with the fact that the main head likes to wait until you step into its range to attack when the fire head only has a couple hits left and the problem of me only being able to take three hits, invariable results in Link spinning around and falling face down -- dead. I will say it again: Trinexx = biatch. I'm kind of doubting I'll be able to make it past this fight, considering I haven't even made it to the second stage where I usually end up taking more damage than the first stage in normal games. If I do, it'll have to be due to an almost flawless performance on my part, which is exceedingly hard to pull off when fighting A Link to the Past's bosses. . . . But then again, I have actually beaten several of the Dark World bosses without getting hit, it just took me three or four tries. (The time where I managed to beat them, I beat them without taking any damage at all). So who knows, I may end up beating it on my next try. Certainly my skills can't be too lacking if I've made it as far in the game as I have with only the required items; I may just need to get better at this particular boss fight. Well, I'm going to go try my hand at the fight again. I'll edit this if I manage to beat it. Edit: Five deaths and one very pissed off Link later . . . I finally beat it. For my death record to be accurate, though, I'm going to have to add 10 just from this fight. (Resetting is quicker than saving and continuing, because then I start at full life and don't have to go get those two fairies every time). But really, I never expected to die any less than 20 times on this play-through. I mean, I may be able to consistantly get zero deaths normally, but it's my first time playing through the game with the bare minimum of items and hearts; let's see how well you do when you first try this, heh. If I ever play through like this again, though, I'd be willing to bet my number of deaths would drop substantially. Now that I know, first off, to be careful of the stupid Anti-Fairies in the first dungeon, (I'm still ashamed that I died in the stupid East Palace), and also just various stategies to use against the bosses. (Instant message me or something if you want to hear a funny story about my fight with Vitreous, the boss of Level 6: Misery Mire). Level 7: Turtle Rock has been conquered -- now on to Level 8: Ganon's Tower, the final dungeon. I'm actually expecting Ganon's Tower to be a walk in the park compared to Turtle Rock, though. From previous experience in the dungeon, I've found that I can get through the first floor/basement while taking very few hits, and not too many more while climbing up to the top floor. Not to mention that there are several "restock" rooms with fairies in them along the way. And Agahnim, the boss, poses no threat to my mad fireball batting skills, heh. Ganon in the Pyramid of Power, though . . . I'll have to see about Ganon.

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Tuesday, May 4, 2004

myOtaku v2 Updates

	If you're very perceptive, you'll probably have noticed a few changes to my page over the last couple days. I've tweaked my introduction a bit, to match up better with the slight layout changes of version 2, and I'm also making use of the "Site Border Color" option. Other than that, however, I'm not planning on making use of any of the new style settings. I like my white inner background color, thank you very much. The big change that I've made, however, is to the post border. The border has always sort of bugged me, because every time I would look at it I'd spot all the little flaws in it and I'd know I could do better. Now though, with the new border, there are no longer those little flecks of white around the inside; the new border has a very well defined inside edge, while the outside is smooth since it's on a white background on the outside and can therefore blend with the white of the page background while using some anti-aliasing. . . . If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just know that it looks better now. Oh, and if you were expecting a totally new design from me with the launch of version 2, sorry to disappoint, but I like my page the way it is. I'd rather work on perfecting my current design instead of totally changing it around.

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