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I'm glad you've decided to leave the shadows and join the site! I have a slight aversion to math but, as a lover of language & etymology, I'm often quite infatuated with its vocabulary. I couldn't tell you much about the scientific meaning or function of parabolas but damn if it isn't a pretty word.

I'm happy to hear we've fans of the podcast as well! I hope you'll consider getting involved in it, by submitting questions or applying to be a guest, but even just listening is greatly appreciated.

Feel free to drop me a line if you need any help. Welcome aboard.

From a story perspective FFXIII has a lot of problems. The biggest is of course that you have to read everything in the codex, but there's also very little compelling about the plot or the characters. To be fair I only reached Chapter 11, but I kept thinking "okay, but when is the plot going to pick up?" and was assured that it already had. The game really just lacked the scope and magnitude of other Final Fantasy games. Since I'm replaying it & it's my fave, you really got a sense in FFX that their journey took TIME, you got a sense for all of the characters with their various subplots while still being constantly reminded of the larger plot (Yuna's pilgrimage), and all the subplots related back to it. FFXIII goes in a million different directions when it attempts to establish its characters and it never seemed to satisfyingly weave together. I also didn't feel there were any compelling relationships between characters; some had potential but were rarely harvested. Snow and Lightning don't get along. lightning is a cold mother to Hope. Sazh is slightly fatherly to Vanille. Fang and Vanille are kinda lesbians. Hope hates Snow (for a while). There's very little crossover in the relationships; they're developed between the two or not at all. Again to compare with FFX, Tidus is brotherly towards Wakka who, with Lulu, is a kind of surrogate parent to Yuna (my phone auto corrected that to tuna lmao); Lulu resents Wakka subconsciously seeking to replace Chappu with Tidus and is racked with grief still over Chappu though she has difficulty expressing it, and her relationship with Wakka develops over time, occasionally through the unintentional counsel of Tidus. There's just some much complexity and variation between the characters' relationships in FFX, they all relate to one another and influence each other, which is just sorely lacking in FFXIII. For someone who is mainly interested in video games for characters, this is a huge failing of FFXIII and probably my major issue with it. There are a lot of other problems that I could point to, the sexualization and over saturation of Lightning being one of them, but the character thing is really what bugs me.

tl;Dr version: I didn't give a **** about any of the characters in FFXIII and that is a HUGE problem.

People have returned from seeming destruction in various ways with various levels of explanation & consistency given to them. The first game alone had Sora pulled out of darkness by a hug from Kairi (which I think is sweet but perhaps not as well thought out as it could have been). Like Nova said, it's KH, so it's unlikely that he won't be saved... and I'm sure there will be some crazy reason as to how/why.

maybe hugs from aqua c:

This is the real problem with Obama's presidency. If he were to propose anything, the Republicans in Congress would automatically oppose it just because he's a Democrat, locking him in place. They then use that for their own political reasons, painting him as ineffectual and constantly shoving the "thanks Obama" idea onto us (he didn't deliver on any of his promises etc). Democrats I'm sure would do this also if we had a Republican president. Checks and balances are important to keep us from becoming a dictatorship, but they're being abused by the Republicans.

Therefore, Obama does what Patman stated: he picks his battles. And even then, it's clear that the Republicans are doing this. Obama's major contribution to the country in his presidency has been health care, but what did the Republicans do with this? Keep it in political gridlock for years and then shut down the ****ing government as a final attempt to smear Obama. It's ****ing disgusting that this playground mentality is driving our political system, and the American citizens are the ones to suffer.

This could have been avoided if we had listening to ****ing George Washington and not started with all this party bullshit, but unfortunately I don't have a time machine to do that, so the next best option would be the rise of third parties that could move us away from the current bipartisan "Democrats OR Republicans, PICK ONE OR NOTHING." Unfortunately that's difficult for two major reasons; first, American citizens are lazy and do not get involved in their country's politics, and second, the mainstream media is controlled by lobby groups & party bias that work to keep third parties out, knowing that the power of the Dems or the Repubs would be diminished if we had third parties. Probably one of the best known third party in this country is the Green Party; their candidate for the 2012 election, Jill Stein, was honestly one of the most impressive presidential candidates I have ever seen and had I been old enough to vote, mine would have been for her. She was also arrested for trying to attend one of the televised presidential debates. If you don't think that's some high bullshit and erasure of alternate political ideals and philosophies then there's something wrong with you.

american politics make me really ****ing mad

This story horrifies me from an environmentalist perspective... I imagine there are far better ways to dispose of technology than burying them in the ground. So at least it's good that they're digging them up now.

Gum really might be your only option, aside from perhaps employing some habit breaking tendencies. I'm no psychologist but I have a friend with a similar problem which she has told me is called an oral fixation. Freud wrote a lot of junk about it and connected it to breastfeeding (because it's Freud), but gum is probably the healthiest option. Sugar free gums are better for your tooth enamel, particularly those that use the sugar substitute xylitol rather than sorbitol (based on what my friend has told me).

If you can, asking a (trusted) dentist for gum recommendations might be your best choice.

If you've been doing volunteer work then that's job experience you can put on a resume which makes you far more appealing to potential employers. The job market out there is rough even for low-level jobs, so the only way you're going to find work is through persistence. There are a lot of reasons why a company may have rejected you and that is not a personal failure -- it's failure when you let those rejections stop you from continuing your job hunt, especially when it was two years ago. Unfortunately you're more than likely going to have to work crappy jobs until you get to one good one, and you're going to have spend a lot of time applying and interviewing places. It's a daunting process but you're more than capable of doing it.

Mustard is actually a pretty common addition when making cheese sauces. Most of the recipes I've followed for mac & cheese include it, as well as things like hot sauce. It makes a big difference in the taste actually.

I have never had good luck with wireless anything on the PS2. I really recommend just sticking to wired. The official Sony controllers are usually the best ones... for controllers I rarely go third party.

Open up task manager, go to the processes tab, and kill anything called iTunes. Restart your computer then see if it works.

shut up about vossler >:L
Aqua doesn't HAVE to have Terra but it would complete my heart to see them make out (actually I just like all the angst fic that can be written about them)

I'm not really a competitionist and I spent a lot of time just straight up exploring when I played FFXII. I think my save had like 120 hours in it and I still hadn't finished the plot. As long as I can beat the story I don't worry too much about extra bosses and junk unless they're really funny for me (like hunts, I really enjoyed doing some of the hunts)
I know I'm a filthy casual

I really do need to finish FFXII (and by that I mean start it all over again because I've completely forgotten the story to this point), both because I really enjoyed what I played thus far, I love Star Wars, and I love Ivalice. It doesn't bug me that it's a bit of a Star Wars rip as Star Wars relies heavily upon mythology and character archetypes for most of its plot and characters that they're not really unique to Star Wars either, just the best known examples.

Although extrapolating Star Wars -> FFXII there is a disturbing lack of Balthier/Ashe makeouts (actually I really like that Ashe doesn't have a romantic/love interest and that the plot is all political drama because i love political drama and ashe ain't need no man but that also does not prevent me from shipping). Also Fran is Chewbacca lmao

I agree, I could really see this being a kind of limit or drive form replacement (or addition?). Something like "call upon Roxas and use his dual wielding for 30 seconds" or whatever. In that way it wouldn't really influence the story as much as be a game mechanic. I could definitely see this happening in KH3.

Ookay I know quite a bit about this so I'm just going to break down what, to me, are your best options. There are dozens of different forum softwares out there to choose from but these are the major players. I'm going to mention secondhand licenses a bit, if you're interested in buying one DigitalPoint is the place to go.

vBulletin
vBulletin was pretty much the standard in forum software for years, to the point where many websites still utilize vBulletin 3 (which is widely considered their last "good" release). The advantage here is that there is a rather vast add-on/modification community, and nearly every change you would want to make has probably already been requested by someone else. Support for vBulletin is split between two sites, vBulletin.com (official support) and vBulletin.org (semi-official repository for modifications & styles). I never used it much myself but from my understanding it is adequate. In terms of features, vB's maturation is also to its advantage, with a lot of what you would expect in a forum software already present in the core software.

• vBulletin 3: released in 2004, vBulletin 3 is actually still used by many sites (though it's of course diminishing). It was an extremely high quality release for the time and, as I said, pretty much the standard forum software. It reached end of life in 2011, but some still stick to it despite its obvious age because of the great deal of add-ons available for it, and the quality (or lack thereof) of subsequent vBulletin releases. While they're getting hard to find as you can no longer buy them "new," a secondhand vB license can be had for a decent price (around $50).
• vBulletin 4: vB4 was the successor to vB3 (duh) and had a bit of controversy regarding its release. Jelsoft, who was behind the vB product up until vB4, was bought by Internet Brands (IB) in 2007. In 2008, development on vB4 was announced by some of the lead developers from vB3. They stated that vB4 would be a complete rewrite of the vB3 product, envisioning a quality, finished solution out the door from day one. Later in the year, another development update contradicted that, stating that with vB4 they were focusing on "incremental updates" to bring the necessary features to the software -- meaning what they released was, in some respects, half-finished, and they knew it. The software also was not to be a complete rewrite, instead built upon the aging code of vB3. Due to disputes in development over the software between longtime vB developers and IB, many of the people behind vB3 left the company in 2009 (this will be significant later). vB4 got off to a rocky start and wasn't really considered "finished" by many until some of its later releases (4.2.x).
  
  That said, it is still a popular forum solution with a decent add-on and style base. There are some glaring issues with it, notably security and simple age. You cannot purchase a new vB4 license (though it is bundled with the purchase of a vB5 license for $250), but secondhand ones can be bought for $100 give or take a bit.
• vBulletin 5: Avoid it like the plague. I'm trying very hard to not be biased in my evaluations of software but everything I have read about this software (both regular people using it and those more technically inclined evaluating its code & database structure) is awful. It spent a ridiculous amount of time in many failed betas and is extremely unpopular with anyone who purchased it. The diminishing quality of vB products since vB4 seems to have culminated in this beast. It'll cost you $250, though secondhand licenses will of course be cheaper and there are a lot of people looking to unload them. ;)

IPB
IPB has always been considered kind of "second" to vB in popularity, but it's still a very widely used and popular solution. Their upcoming IPB4 release looks extremely promising (though I'm not sure when it'll be out, most of the estimates I've read have been late this year into next year). IPB3, the current version, has a very significant advantage over all the other forum products in that it has first party add-ons made for it that satisfy what others will look for in third-party add-ons. This includes an eCommerce solution (IP.Nexus), a content management system (IP.Content), a gallery (IP.Gallery), community blogs (IP.Blog), a download manager (IP.Downloads), and a chatroom (IP.Chat). Given the commonality of these features many other forum softwares have either included them in their core, as first-party add-ons, or they are available through third-party add-ons, but this is a major appeal to IPB.

In cons, IPB3 is beginning to show its age and does have some present security issues (which I believe they're decent about patching but from my understanding there's a new security patch quite frequently, which isn't a good sign). Each of the first-party add-ons will run you an additional fee, but for just the board, you'll be paying $175. IPB also uniquely offers a hosted solution, but imo it's a ripoff.

XenForo
BIAS ALERT
Okay so remember this?

Two of the major guys behind vB3 got together and created XenForo in 2010, with its first stable release (1.0.0) in March of 2011. Many to believe it to be what vB4 "should have been" if the developers were allowed to make the decisions about it and not the businessmen. Forum users were incredibly impressed by the speed and modernity of the new software, even if it lacked the maturity in features of more established solutions. One of its major praises was also the ease of development upon it, with many of its first third-party add-ons coming out just weeks after the software's release. Internet Brands (behind vBulletin) however filed a lawsuit against Xenforo, claiming "copyright infringement of property acquired by Internet Brands, that code in XenForo was refactored from vBulletin code, breach of contract, and engaging in unfair business practices." XenForo denied their claims and there was something extremely fishy about the timing, as IB announced their plans to sue the day before XenForo's first public beta.

XenForo was trapped in lawsuit hell for the next few years. As a new company their financial resources were strained by the lawsuit (despite the popularity of their product) and development on the XenForo product halted for many months. Finally in early 2013 the lawsuit was settled, with the terms undisclosed, but IB retracted the lawsuit and XF granted extension of licenses & support to the customers who had purchased the product and waited out the lawsuit.

Since then development has picked back up at an impressive rate, adding many of the requested features and then some. XenForo is rapidly becoming one of the forerunners in forum software, with a substantial number of its users being vB converts (us included). Its advantages are its security, modernity, ease of updates (vB would constantly break everything between updates), and high quality support. The third-party development community was also strained by the lawsuit but is picking up again, though not as established as that of vBulletin. Some of the biggest boards on the internet now utilize Xenforo (IGN, Digital Point, AVForums, etc). You can grab a Xenforo license for $140 new.

phpbb
phpbb is one of the oldest players in forums out there and still has a special place in the forum software market. As a free solution, it lacks many of the advantages of the paid softwares (like dedicated support and frequent updates), but remains a solid option for the fledgling community. phpbb3 does definitely show its age though, and I haven't heard anything about phpbb4. It's a basic solution really, and it lacks a decent system for installing add-ons and modifications.

MyBB
MyBB is another free solution and I would say a better option than phpbb. It has a lot of solid modifications/add-ons out there for it and feels a bit more modern than phpbb. The next major release also does sound quite promising, though I imagine it will not be out for some time.

I hope this helps but the best thing you can do is use the demo for every one of these and see which one suits you. A lot of what it comes down to is individual preference and only you can determine that.

So what's the final word...?
If you have money to blow, imo you can't go wrong with Xenforo.
If you're more budget conscience (remember, you have to consider hosting costs as well!) and want a free solution, go with MyBB.
What a lot of people recommend is that you start on a free solution like MyBB and, as the community grows and you have more money to put into the site, you can move to a paid software fairly easily.

If you have more questions or need help feel free to ask me, I've learned a lot about starting websites and working with forums both through KHV and my individual exploits. I kinda live for this **** loool

http://kh-vids.net/account/preferences

Give that a try & let me know if it works for you. It'll hide signatures when the page width < 610px.

I bought one because I go to a commuter school and it's useful to have it, but I wasn't about to drop a shitload of money on it. I'd much rather have a junky laptop that will do basic web browsing and word processing then build a gaming rig with the money I have left.

Honestly it's still a common size for laptop screens. Or at least, sub-$900 laptops. It's a pretty ****** resolution but IMO it's dumb to get a really suped up laptop anyway.