Coming at you from a school computer, this is the MAILER_DAEMON, with a report on his own computer.

Never in a million years would I have imagined that formatting a hard drive would be an exercise in futility. First off, Windows won't do it, since it would be erasinig itself in the process. Next, the DOS disk that I have really isn't an option because I'd be waiting for 3 days for 40 gigs to format, not to mention that it would be in DOS format. Also, the formatting program that my roomate has won't work right because we don't have enough floppys to make the Windows boot disks >-<. Suffice to say that my HD has been formatted, but now it's primed for Windows 98, rendering my XP disc useless for now.

So what to do? My roomate offers to help by plugging my HD into his computer as a slave, then using XP's formatter on that (which should work fine). All is good, right? Heh, I wish. Apparently his computer has been on for so long that turning it off shorted out the power switch. In other words, everything's getting power except the switch, so it won't turn on :x.

The result is that I now have computer parts laying all over the floor from my old Compaq (I'm starting to think that they put something in the Quantum Fireball HD to keep it from working on anything else) and an Athlon 64 machine with no hard drive, while my roommate has a Dell with a dud power switch.

Anyone think we're being sent signs that maybe we've both been on our computers too much?

I have all the parts I need for my computer now, but there's one problem... my motherboard can't read the files on my hard drive. Not even a boot disc would work, so that leaves me with one solution: formatting :cry:

Yes folks, I'm virtually starting from scratch, sans 3 CD-R's of stuff worth keeping. If this doesn't work... I'm left with a worthless computer. Ugh. Hopefully I'll be able to come back tomorrow, but if I don't post tomorrow night, then, well, I'll be computer-less :(

My recent backlog problem isn't that I don't play the games, but I don't finish them. Final Fantasy X-2 is sitting down there on ch. 5, and Xenosaga I is waiting for me to enter Proto Merkabah. So how did I deal with it? I bought Tales of Symphonia, and I'm at the end of the game; I can fight the final boss whenever I want to. This all seemed to start last year with Skies of Acradia Legends where after buying it, I played it every day until getting to Soltis, didn't play it for a while, and finally just went ahead and beat it 8 months later. The only reason I stopped that one in the first place was because Ocarina of Time Master Quest came out, and just didn't go back to finish it until I got really bored one day.

I think the problem is that many games (Tales included) seem to have a bunch of sidequests that aren't accessible until the very end of the game. For example, the only way to get the ultimate summon in Tales is to basically get to the point where you're about to fight the final boss, then turn around and go all the way back. X-2 has this problem where I can go finish the game whenever I want, but there is literally TONS of stuff that I'd like to take care of before beating the game and starting a New Game + (the Via Infinito is just one of many). Xenosaga I has just been a chore for me to play, but yet I'm still compelled to max out everyone's Ether skills, learn more Techs, and buy the other A.G.W.S, just in case some of it will transfer to XS2. Even Golden Sun: The Lost Age did this; the Teleport Psynergy is necessary for several sidequests at the end of the game, yet the very reason that you get that spell is to go to the Mars Lighthouse Aerie!

I think my frustrations with this recent development stems back to my two favorite RPGs: Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. XG let you do all of the "end" sidequests before going into the final place, unless if you consider making Regiers playable in the Gear Arena significant. With CT, you reached a point where you can either choose to fight Lavos or do some sidequests involving each character (The Fated Hour), but if you do all of those, then the game lets you know that there's only one thing left to do (The Final Battle). In other words, there's a point where you CAN fight, but to get the full story, you need to tie up the characters' loose ends. However, with the context of time travel, you never feel like you <u>should</u> go on for the sake of the plot, compared to other games where it's like "Well, this is it, everything depends on us now. He's going to destroy the world in a few hours if we don't stop him now... oh, wait a minute, that villa on the beach looks pretty nice, I'm gonna go buy it and spend the night there!" (see if you can guess what game I'm indirectly referencing here). Fortunately, to Tales of Symphonia's credit, you're not racing against the clock since the boss' hands are tied until you get there.

Now, contrary to everything I've said here, I'm going to keep playing Tales of Symphonia, doing as many sidequests as I can and beating the boss when I have nothing left to do. Then, I'll start it all over again! Somehow this game has managed to keep me entertained more than other games that use this sidequest mechanic, but it still frustrates me somewhat.

First off, I want to say that I really like the Friends List feature on these forums better than the old ones. You can make certain things private to anyone but your friends, and the fact that it is mutual makes makes it a real "friends list" instead of a "forumite tracking feature." This means that as far as I'm concerned, I only add or accept people that I know, or have talked to at some length with. If it seems like I'm being picky, it's because I actually consider it to be a friends/aquaintances list rather than something to earn a popularity badge. However, I have not had reason to deny anyone yet for the same reason that there are about 19 people still on my pending list: I don't really know you. There are some on my list that I don't talk to much, but that's because they sent me a PM introducing themselves. When they did that, I knew who they were, and could add them with a clear conscious. Please do not take this as me trying to act "stuck up" or "high and mighty." I'm simply following my own standard. If there was someone that I didn't really know but wanted to add, I'd send an introductory PM to that person as well.

1st entry, September 2nd, 2004.

It finally came. Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for the PS2. I've needed a good 2D fighting game for a while, and since I don't have a DC, I've been looking foward to this mostly for Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Regardless, the first thing I did was go to Hyper Street Fighter II, play as a SSF2T Ryu (I never got to play Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, either) and try to beat the game. Somewhere around Balrog, I noticed that my thumb was starting to hurt a bit....

In 17 years of videogames, I've gotten callouses, but never have I gotten a blister. A blister. On my thumb. From playing Street Fighter. Go me :|

So what did I do? I kept playing :). It broke somewhere around Sagat, but of course I kept playing until I beat M. Bison and went on to beat SFIII with Ryu, blister and all. Now there's a nice Band-Aid on it along with some Neosporin. Hopefully it will heal soon, but until then I'll be playing with my thumb knuckle instead of my fingertip. Isn't that just great?

In other news, the first parts of my do-it-yourself computer came in today: The case and 430 W power supply! Motherboard's in the mail right now, but the Athlon 64 and RAM will have to wait until I get some more cash...