I need money really bad.

Topic number two: Lucky Star is awesome. I've already got "Motteke! Seerafuku!" stuck in my head. It's kind of like Ichigo Mashimaro, but far less pedo, much more stylized, and with a lot more Aya Hirano, which is always good in my book. Now all they need is a guest appearance by Tsuruya-san and I'm in heaven.

Actually, all I need is season two of Haruhi and I'm in heaven. But that's an inevitability for another day.

Topic number three: I suspected it, but could never believe that it would actually happen. Koizumi's album is a mess of bishonen audio, but Kyon's album is actually quite good- his acoustic rendition of Hare Hare Yukai is really nice, and Kentai Life Returns is hilarious.

Looking through that list, I come to the terrifying realization that I don't have all of the albums. Curse you, hard drive limitations!

Topic number four: I've finally gotten back to working out on a daily basis. Can't believe I forgot how good it feels. And it's always nice to impress people by going for a bike ride for a half hour, mowing the lawn right after coming back, and then heading inside to immediately knock out a workout routine. This is all entirely necessary for my plans, of course...

I apologize for what must seem an... arbitrary imposition. I promise this will all make sense in... well... I'm really not at liberty to say.

Damn, now that I've started with the G-Man quotes it'll be really difficult to stop.

Anyway. Tomorrow I'm not going to school for some rather meaningful reasons (little brother's birthday, mother leaving for a while), but we all know the real reason: I'm going to see Spider-Man 3 before the major crowds, though I'm not stupid enough to believe I'm the only person who will do such a thing. Here's hoping for the best.

Where the hell is my DS?

Title stolen from Concerned . If you haven't read it yet, do it now.

Part of the trouble with liking manga and anime is that it's awfully difficult to not purchase lots of manga and anime. This is even more troublesome when your birthday is coming up, yet that voice in the back of your head that usually leads you astray- you know, the one that said it would be perfectly fine to just see what the inside of the girls' locker room looks like?- tells you to go ahead and buy what you want, as there's little to no proof that anyone will actually get what you want anyway.

This was a bit easier for me to deal with, as I didn't put Megatokyo or GTO on my birthday list. Actually, I don't think I made a birthday list.

Hold on a second, let me fix that.

...

Alright, done. 

Anyways. I was informed that, after being sick for a few days, it would probably be a good idea to go outside and get some fresh air. I scoffed at this suggestion; leaving the comfort of my bedroom is what got me sick in the first place! Leaving the fortress would leave me vulnerable to the f0rc3z of 3vil!!! 

My relative- a man who society has deemed worthy of the title "father"- informed me that he would be waiting for me outside.

I got dressed and went with him for a walk, but I was doing things my way. Not his.

First off, I set out for Barnes & Noble, a plan already in place.

Second, I spoke entirely in lines spoken by Kyon.

When we reached the aforementioned store, I brought this man along with me. I would require his assistance to complete my task.

As previously ordered, he followed me to the manga shelves, where I grabbed all of the Megatokyo books and all of the GTO issues that I didn't already own.

Oh, did he suffer.

"Are you sure you want these?" he asked, with a look akin to that of a man awaiting his death sentence.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to take a walk?" I replied.

Needless to say, I've been doing a good chunk of reading since then. While I've already read all of Megatokyo on the website, it was so truly wonderful that I believed Mr. Gallagher deserved money for his efforts. I have read the entirety of the books (which, unfortunately, doesn't consist of all of what's on the website... volume 5, you shall be mine one day), and I'm finally going back to GTO again. I get the feeling Eikichi will still be a virgin once it's over, but that's just a guess.

Haven't played any video games since my last blog post. Having too much fun reading and writing. The last time I did play, though, I experienced the wonder of God of War II's ending.

Not bad, Sony. Not bad at all. 

PS: Ping's so cute, ain't she?  

Someone gimme a PS3 and set me loose.

Yes, I've finally caved. Being a very reluctant PC user (how do I get my Half-Life fix otherwise?) and having spent the first 3/4 of my time gaming as a Sony fanboy, I've never really categorized myself as a Microsoft fanboy. I've tried to convince myself that I'm not a Sony hater, I'm just a realist; this belief hasn't changed. It is with this in mind that I say the following:

I want a PlayStation 3.

I understand that this is an odd time to want one, and, for all intents and purposes, I have no logical explanation for why I want it- Virtua Fighter 5, Motorstorm, and Resistance are my best excuses for now- but I have a strange desire to own the system. Maybe it's the old Sony fanboy in me calling out for it, albeit at a much, much weaker level. Maybe I'm insane (more so than usual, anyway). But I want the system in my posession, and I get the feeling that- with my birthday only eleven days away- it just may be so.

Been sick rather often recently, so I've had a solid chunk of time to read the Kanon manga while periodically viewing the KyoAni telling. I've discovered that Nayuki becomes a completely different character in the transition. I still root for her, though. I've always perceived Ayu as annoying, and Nayuki's cuter.

Another reason why I've been absent for a while is that I've been wading my way through a story I've been writing... looking back, I'm starting to realize that it may be around two hundred pages long. Holy crap. And, in case you're wondering, yes, I actually write stories for my own entertainment. Don't ask why, it's just a thing with me.

I discovered MegaTokyo a while ago, but I've never really taken the time to get into it... getting through a series that big (what is it, almost one thousand pages?) seemed like a daunting task, and I was worried about how worthy the payoff would be.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Being an interesting mix of the two main characters myself, I almost instantly loved the humor (though I object to Piro's GAINAX shirt... those endings will never appeal to me) and the art. But when the series starts to become more focused on plot, I realized how wonderful the comic was. There are so many sweet moments that blend seamlessly with Largo's humorous subplots. that I had an immediate desire to read more. One of the best moments, however, was when I looked up Piro's "sad girl in snow" drawing, and- being a fan of that kind of art (did I mention I like Kanon?)- was almost immediately struck by melancholy.

Ah, fun. Anyways, go outside or something. There's still snow all around me, but that's what I get for, uh, living... here. Or whatever.

Oh, and a quick side note: I posted a comment replying to Gamergirl, Malek, and Bombbay waaaaaay down below the Square letter. Wasn't able to because my PC crashed twice in a row when I attempted to post.

Come on. I can run HL2 and F.E.A.R., but I can't post a comment on GS? Ugh.

Stop Screwing Up Final Fantasy: An Open Letter to Square-Enix

Hey, Square. Sit down for a second, would ya? I want to talk about a few things.

Look, I know you're going through some tough times, and I thought it would be a good idea to, you know, get some things off my chest. It might be a little rough, but it's tough love, you know? Better to get it from the people that care for you, right?

Ahem.

I wanted to talk about Final Fantasy.

Don't give me that look. You know it hurts, and I definitely know it hurts, but we need to get this stuff out in the open. I'm tired of looking at you with a feeling of disappointment, and seeing that look of "What?" on your face.

I think the problem is... well...

I think the problem is you.

Remember Final Fantasy VII? Back when I was eight years old, and a friend brought a copy of the game over to my house? When I was so happy with the way you sounded, and played, and looked? Wasn't that fun?

We laughed together as Barret spewed badly-obscured obscenities, and when you messed up with translation here and there (like, come on, Tseng wasn't really dead).

Okay, maybe a little bit more than "here and there."

And then we shared tears when Aerith died (remember when you kept calling her "Aeris"?), and we both did our best to keep going after that. There were so many wonderful plot twists, I didn't know when the excitement would end.

Just when I thought we had been through the best, Final Fantasy VIII came out. It looked fantastic, it sounded fantastic, it played wonderfully, the story still brings me to tears and gets me cheering and laughing and everything... those were the greatest days of my life.

Final Fantasy IX wasn't as good as VIII, but then again, nothing was as or had been as good as VIII, and I doubt there ever will be anything that perfect again. But IX had great music, and the characters were kind of interesting... some of them... and the use of super-deformed characters was certainly, um, new. You get points for effort, certainly.

X was a terrific experience. Some complained about how you sounded around then, but I liked the voice acting a lot. And the music was pretty good, though it wasn't as good as IX's (and certainly not VIII's). The CGs were certainly good to look at, though they were rare, and most of them involved Yuna being soaked in sweat, or water, or something. The story was a great tale, though.

Still, not as good as VIII's. But, like I said, nothing's been like that.

Well, like I was saying... things started to take a turn. Maybe it's my fault for not facing up to it when the PS2 came around and the in-game graphics hadn't improved a ton over IX. Or when the entire soundtrack wasn't done by Nobuo Uematsu.

What I really wanted to talk about was what's been going on recently. I hate to break it to you, Square, but you've been in a... well... let's call it a "phase."

The past three games you put out with the "Final Fantasy" title were X-2, XI, and XII.

I'm glad you've recovered from the drug addiction you were fighting with while making X-2, because I really hated seeing you like that. You were so self-destructive, tearing apart the world and characters of X, and undoing an ending that still moves me to this day.

I know that we started to fight around when XI came out. I'm sorry, but... it was just so terrible, on so many levels. So many levels. We're talking more levels than a World of Warcraft hacker on crack.

When I heard that you started to make some new friends with XII, I decided to take a look back. I trusted you enough to get the special edition version.

The trust is gone now, Square, and I don't know what you'll have to do to get it back.

XII was so utterly bad that it went beyond just being an insult to the series as a whole- because, Lord knows, you already fit in a good number of insults with X-2 and XI- it was just an outright bad game. The gameplay wasn't enjoyable at all, the 3D camera- while interesting- made me feel like I was playing XI and took away the interesting shots that you used to have (Have you looked over at God of War? They don't need a 3D camera, and they have beautiful landscapes). The voice acting went to hell, and the story was a complete rip-off of Star Wars... if Star Wars was boring as all get-out.

It's when I re-play the old Final Fantasies (VIII's ending always makes me cry for so many reasons... remember when you were able to do that?) that I realize how far we've drifted apart. I want to take a look at your future, you know- not just for me, but for you.

First, I want to talk about the story. All of the critics seemed to like XII's story because, in a nutshell, there was no romantic plot-line to distract the military theme.

I'm really worried about this. I don't know who you're trying to show off to, but those of us who have cared for you for the past few years... we really liked those plot-lines. And I don't know where the critics were when VIII was around, because I think being a special ops mercenary in a military academy at war with a rival nation counts as being heavily military-focused. And you managed to squeeze in a brilliant love story.

Is it that you're trying to impress new people? I hate to tell you this, but you're not going to impress anyone with XIII. I mean, honestly. The main character is named "Lightning"? That's somehow dumber than naming your main character "Tight-Ass." Yes, I know, Tidus' name is supposed to be pronounced "Tee-Dus," but we all read it the first way for a long time.

Second, I heard that you broke up with Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu. I know this is a pretty tragic time for you, because they were keeping the ship afloat. Looking at the results with XII, I can say with a great amount of certainty that the series should die right now if you can't get them back on the team.

Third, and here I refer you to the entirety of this message, stop screwing up Final Fantasy.

Let's put aside the whole "I'm talking to you like a parent" metaphor I've got going on here. Square, you're screwing everything up, and it's really starting to become a problem. XII sucked. There's no nice way around it. It sucked.

FFVII is what got me into video games in the first place, and FFVIII is what made me a gamer for life. I've been your most loyal fanboy and vehement defender for a while now, but I'm really just done. I'm sick of you messing around with this series. Stop screwing everything up.

X was a step in the wrong direction, I have to say. It was still a great game, but it seemed like you couldn't figure out where the hell were you going. The Sphere Grid thing was an apt example of this- I mean, were you leveling up or were you not leveling up? Let's see, I leveled up, which doesn't mean I can do anything, it just means I'm playing Monopoly and I can move to another space on the board. Whoo-freaking-hoo!

And what the hell is with not having Nobuo Uematsu around? I'm all for him doing his own stuff, but he said he'd be fine with doing another Final Fantasy on this new wave of consoles. Why didn't you go knocking on his door after the travesty that was the FFXII soundtrack? Did he turn you down after seeing the unbelievable suck that you could unleash without Hironobu Sakaguchi steering the ship?

Seriously, what is this load of bull about you guys ditching the romantic plot-lines? You want to know something, honestly? That's where the majority of the best moments in the series came from. Do you really think people mourned Aeris' death (You named her Aeris, I'm calling her Aeris) because she was a flower girl? No, they mourned her death because Cloud fell in love with her. Do you think people were sad when Rinoa went into a coma because it meant their power-leveling had gone to waste? No, they wanted her back because she made Squall whole. Don't tell me I'm being a pansy for wanting romance in these stories. I'm telling you the truth.

Why did you decide to make the gameplay exactly like the fighting from XI? Was XI so unbelievably good in your eyes that you had to keep going with it? I guess I couldn't see the good parts of the combat in XI around all of the other players. Oh, yeah, that's right, the servers were emptier than a library in Las Vegas, because even the idiots in the MMORPG community weren't stupid enough to play that trash.

In the end, this only angers me because I love the old Final Fantasies so much. I grew up with them, really, and now you're ripping apart my childhood memories. Thanks a ton for that.

Do you hear me, Square? Cut the crap. You know you're screwing up. So stop doing it. You can turn this series around, I know you can. But you have to stop assuming that people will like Final Fantasy because it's Final Fantasy. They won't. I'm living proof.

Sincerely,

Jack


Woo-hoo! Thought it would be a good idea to post again. I wasn't making blogs 'cause, you know, nothing interesting has been happening, and why should I waste your time with "well, today I didn't do anything..." posts? This was inspired by me going back and finally re-playing FFVIII, and suddenly coming to the realization that it's one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. Just finished it a few hours ago, in fact. Still getting myself back together.

Gotta be quick, there's stuff I wanna do.

Got back into World of Warcraft. I'm a level 12 mage! Ah, wherever the hell I left my level 35 paladin will go unknown for centuries.

My absence in the "Locked and Loaded Union" was noticed, so I joined back up. Malek, don't mock me.

Ghost in the Shell episode "Jungle Cruise" horribly traumatized me. Go find out why.

Just finished downloading the Crackdown demo. Fingers crossed for it to not suck!

I can now tell you, with only three hours of single-player under my belt, that Lost Planet is awesome.

I didn't think it would be so. In fact, while playing it, you get so immersed that you don't even notice how much fun you're having. It sounds like a negative, but it really hits you when you're not playing the game, and it calls to you in a veritable Siren's song:

"Come play me! Don't you want to blow up big robots and bugs with a machine gun?"

To that, I say hells yes.

Zelda has taken up so much of my life that I haven't even noticed what it's taken away. I now only need one more piece of the Mysterious-ly Ancient (Yet Broken) Artifact That Is The Most Important Artifact Ever, Too Bad Ganon Broke It, in order to, er, move forward with the story. That basically entails me being given a new objective, telling the objective to get the hell away from me, and running in circles in Castle Town for about three hours straight.

Anime news: I ask again, how could I have forgotten how much fun Tenchi Muyo was? Rampant sexuality, lightsabers (complete with more-than-similar sound effects), demons, cabbits (that's right, I said cabbit), and the best spa scene ever. How did this show wind up on Cartoon Network?

In other news, I was kicked from a union, because I was mocking the leader. I find this to be the absolute best reason to be kicked from a union. At least I don't have the burden of participating any longer.

Freedom! Forever!

The first episode of 24 this season is quite good. I'm just gonna say two words: vampire Jack.



Yes, I realize that the first episode will not be shown for approximately four more days. Let us not speak of this again.



In other news, how could I have forgotten how much fun Tenchi Muyo is? Ah, harem comedy.

To Malek: Yes, the blog headings are gonna keep going like that until I run out of lyrics, in which case I'll turn to the original Japanese. If I'm not a Haruhist, I don't know who is.

To everyone else: I'm really done with the anime warnings. Just a general "proceed at your own risk" will be issued, though that should be common procedure when dealing with me.

Anyways. I wanted to watch Ichigo Mashimaro because, well, she's extremely cute. Or whatever. This is going a bit far.

I looked the first episode over, found the distinct lack of likable characters or catchy theme songs to be annoying, and deleted all 1.65 gigs of the stuff. I feel proud of myself for fighting that off. Now I have more space for Kanon. Glorious, heavenly Kanon. This is keeping me alive.

It's legal in Colorado, you shut the hell up.

Video gamery! I played Zelda for about ten hours in the past few days. I think I can feel myself decaying. But it's midterm time, so I've got no homework, and I can think of no better way to relax than by waving a remote like the epileptic I (probably) am and screaming:

"No, damn you! Put the f***in' fish on the f***in' hook and give the damn thing to the damn Yeti!"

Ah, me.

Ahem.

Hey, that's an allegory or something. Or an alliteration. This doesn't bode well for my English midterm.

I started looking over some kick-ass Crysis videos- take your pick- and then decided to upgrade my rig by, er, buying a new one. Mine doesn't like starting up. This one looks awesome. It also looks like a hell of a lot of money.

In response, I have created a new charity based around you giving me money. To donate, give me money.

...

Okay, then. I can see that you're all very enthusiastic about this proposition. Don't worry, it's not at all tax-deductable.

In other news, I've wanted to mention for a while that I read the blogs of pretty much everyone who comments in mine; that I haven't actually commented in many of yours is because I have very little to say. Just wanted you to know, in case you felt like you were screaming into a vacuum or something.

You know.

Just a thought: maybe Samus should be paying more attention to her ship and less attention to the pretty, pretty rain. Seriously, where is that ship going and why?

Man, the things I find on danbooru. There's a tag for finger pointing. I'm pretty sure (this may not be an exaggeration) that Haruhi gets a page to herself on that one.

Ah, well. Just posting to let you know that I'm alive. Thinking about dropping out of high school, actually. It can only get in the way of me writing scripts, acting, playing music, and generally trying to move on with my life before I realize that, uh... school's interfering with me moving on in life. Ironic, eh?