More expensive than a Wii.=o
"The PAL market shall have none of my business"
Like most have mentioned, cell phones I can handle since in most cases, you're pressed for time or it's far too cumbersome to be typing words out completely--even if I still do that on a cell phone anyway. I agree with TMM that I don't automatically assume they're not educated, but it does make me think less of them. It's subtle, but in an online medium such as instant messaging, I'd prefer it if you actually took some time and get off your ass to type out the words properly. It's showing a sense of respect to the people you're talking to, and there's no excuse to be using 'shortcuts' when time isn't an issue. This is particularly more relevant with forum posts, yet it still happens. University professors stress it all the time to students during opening lectures that if they want to ask them a question through email, they are expected to use proper spelling and grammar; the reasons for doing this are exactly the same. Don't get me wrong, I use a select few 'txt tlk' phrases myself over MSN mostly because the connotation I'm trying to convey is better communicated using the abbreviation rather than typing everything out, but even then, those are among close friends. Just as how one usually speaks more politely to strangers they haven't met before, I believe there is an etiquette with text speak as well. It's completely irritating to have someone just type out garbage to you during your first conversation.
Swap Magic for 40 bucks? Someone's getting ripped.
Power-wise, I must say I think Lelouch takes it. Absolute obedience to the point of forcefully killing oneself on command? HMMM.
Thanks for Somnus. Love it.
To the above: you need to be a premium, I believe. But uhh.. those who used to be premium and had theirs status removed.. I'm not sure if their user title is reset, or if it remains the way it was prior to the reset. Mysteries~ As for the Shippuuden movie. It comes out on DVD near the end of this month, and that's usually what fansubbers wait for before they fansub things such as movies. Look out for a fansub release of the Shippuuden movie sometime in early May. Knowing DB though, I wouldn't be surprised if they got it out before the end of April.
lololol. The essence of Basic Brawl right there.
Well, on your point of 'depth', SA. There *was* depth, but it wasn't explored. The progression was stagnant all throughout, with little hints here and there, but they either came to a standstill completely or it was just removed from the story altogether. Balthier talks about how he used to be a Judge, but that info just seems to end with that scene. The delivery was poor in the sense that it just became a 'matter-of-fact' cutscene that in the end had very little impact on the overall story. It *does* come up again later when you fight Cid, but the resolution was plain and again, unsubstantial. FFXII does this many times where they present you with a whole lot of promising material, but as you progress through the game, each and every one of those promising elements just disappoints one after the other. Another part was the character Drace. There was unsettlement within the ranks of the Judges. Drace (a woman who actually didn't conform to looking attractive for the male fanbase) had strong convictions against the current leadership and had felt strongly about preserving Larsa's future. This showed promise in there being an uprising within the ranks of the Judges and it would've been nice to see some characters 'cross the floor' in terms of good and bad. Again, instead of what I hoped to be an uprising (where Drace and Gabranth would eventually defect from the order of the Judges and assist the protagonists), Drace is killed off in her SECOND EVER ONLY cutscene, and Gabranth just disappears for a while before making his return in one of the most angsty emo cutscenes ever (albeit the voice-acting was good). I digress--as usual--but essentially the only 'depth' to be found in FFXII to me is simply what 'could've' been, but the game didn't follow through on. Along with these disappointments, these elements were disorganized and made a lot of them seem just out of place or poorly directed in terms of keeping the flow of the storyline consistent. It was a story-telling disaster that depended on its thematic cutscenes and wonderful voice-acting to get people to overlook them. It just didn't cut it for me. And again, while lots of people are praising the gameplay, it's just unfortunate that a majority of people haven't played FFXI. For if they did, they'd also see that there is hardly anything unique about it since it has already been done once before. That is, real-time movement with weapon delays instead of turn-based attacks. This is essentially what FFXI was based on, and if you ask me, FFXI's battle system still triumphs over FFXII for its inclusion of skillchains, magic bursts and job class specific abilities. And once again, to support this claim of laziness, it was appalling to see that many monster sprites in FFXII was exactly the same as they were in FFXI. Example: Mandragora in FFXI Mandragora in FFXII Let's keep in mind that FFXI released in JP in 2002, only a year after FFX. In the span of 4 years, FFXII's battle system sure didn't differ all that much from its predecessor. All in all, a rehashed fighting system with a broken storyline, and recycled sprites. But hey, at least it was better than FFX-2. Ahaha. EDIT: Err, totally forgot to address your question, SA. Idiosyncratic means that the VsXIII protagonist will have a peculiar personality, meaning that it can be easily regarded as strange or bizarre by many people. Nomura has specifically said that despite what is suggested in the trailers, the VsXIII protagonist is *not* an emo-oriented protagonist at all. Why I feel this shows promise is because one, having a peculiar personality brings a whole lot more life to a character. Most of the time, developers try to keep protagonists somewhat mainstream and 'generic' almost so that it's easy for the players to relate and empathize with them. Making characters that are very specific and peculiar in nature make it harder for players to understand and/or connect with them. Nomura decided to go ahead and make the VsXIII protagonist that way anyway, which I feel is good. I'll quote the proper part of the interview:
Close, but I don't think that makes it ironic. =|
Ever since it was stated that VsXIII's protagonist was a little idiosyncratic, I actually started to have more hope in the game.
I've been *****ing about this game's crappiness since it first came out. lol. Welcome to the club. The only things worth praising about FFXII is its voice-acting and cutscenes. I wouldn't say the story at its core was bad. It had loads of potential, but they miraculously managed to destroy it completely. Characters who actually had something interesting to say were never put into the spotlight, or were just killed off after two cutscenes. Many characters that actually had most of the spotlight had very little connection to the actual story and thus just made the entire journey feel redundant and unsubstantial. There's something wrong when they kill off characters like Drace and Vossler so early on, but let Penelo live and join you for the rest of the entire game. Gameplay. In a nutshell; take FFXI's battle system and add nice little blue and red lines between characters and a ability grid and voila, FFXII's gameplay. It's a FFXI clone gameplay wise. In fact, many of the monster sprites were completely IDENTICAL to how they were in FFXI. Square-Enix hasn't made a good Final Fantasy since X, and that's really sad.
Can't say I've heard of that site before. If we're talking about the price of the game on its own, Yes-Asia sells it for a few bucks cheaper than that site and offers free international shipping. As well, many members here can vouch for the site's egitimacy. As for the Swap Magic, there are lots of places that sell the tools, and considering Yes-Asia is selling FM+ for a few bucks cheaper, I'd say just buy the tools separately for the vast variety of suppliers on the web. You might find a steal somewhere in terms of pricing for that as well.
Lol, I'm not here to crash the party. I've been soaking in the amusement of the last couple of pages; by all means, continue. XD
I'm completely baffled that some individuals here do not get the point of why White_Rook made this thread. The irony is ingenious.
There are many guides on the internet on synthesis, some showing the complete synthesis list in the order that they appear in the game. Just compare your list with the ones on the net and see which ones are missing. Then from there, take the ones you're missing and find out which monsters drop them--or what recipe you need. Now, chances are the ones you'll be missing are the new items that weren't in the original KH2. They can be found by killing and picking up drops from: - XIII Mushrooms - Mobs in Cave of Remembrance - Silhouette Fights Also note that Serenity Crystals are no longer drop items; they must be synthesized in FM+.
Cin makes a good point. We can't be the judges of what's fair in a country that is vastly different us on a cultural level. Asking if having one child per family in China is fair is like talking about Islam and then asking if polygamy is moral. Western values aren't the law of the world.
Yeah, I always found it rather amusing that Square-Enix stated you needed 13 Orichalcum+s for Ultima, when it's practically impossible to get that many. They pretty much leave it to you to figure out that an Energy Crystal is required.
Like I posted before about Kamui. Kamui is rather ruthless and isn't gentle in any sense in terms of his personality, but he's still considered bishounen--because his image by CLAMP (his creators) intended him to be so. It's hard to not categorize Riku as a bishounen when he has a feminine-enough-looking face and the fact that he's a young boy. In Japan, he's been marketed to be bishie, and as such became regarded as one. I only refer to KH1 Riku in this sense.
