Am I the only one who gets tired of the stereotypical hero types that plague so many video games, books, and movies? I really like to see unique characters. For example, from what I have read about him, Ike (Fire Emblem 9) is a truly multi-dimensional character; I also like how he will challenge anyone who he feels is being unfair, even the most powerful person in the area! In books, I liked Thomas Covenant simply for being unique; who ever would have thought of making a leper into a hero who has immense power that he cannot use; he is also well-disciplined and has a number of skeletons hiding around in various areas. For movies, I like Jason Bourne a whole lot; he is the perfect mix of an ordinary person and someone who can get the job done.

How about heroines and anti-heroes? Personally I don't know many of either. I liked Lyndis from Fire Emblem 7, but she's not the best for combat. I liked Marisa a lot (Fire Emblem 8), but she is not a heroine. And who can honestly say that they do not find Kate Walker (Syberia I/II) annoying? I wish there were many more female protaginists, and there probably are plenty more of them, just none that I can think of right now. And, I know very few anti-heroes that I root for (besides enjoying watching Will on Big Brother :P).

So what are your thoughts? Do you want there to be more variety?

Okay, so all three of the unions I lead are starting to come apart. This could be partly due to my several-day absence, but I think there are serious issues with each union:

G1 Horse Racing Union: I will be changing the name as soon as I hear a good general horse union name. If you know of one, please post a comment! The main problem with this union is that while lots of people like horses, very few like them enough to join a union related solely to horses. I also have a hard time coming up with new ideas for the union. I think I will just revive the HORSE game (if you are interested, please join!).

Game Designers Universe: Even though we have competitions galore, this union's activity continues to drop. In the latest competition, we only had three entries! I know one of the problems here is me. I wait for the last minute for most competitions. Most of the time, that is because I like to put mine last, but it might be discouraging others. I don't know. That is the truth when it comes to this union. It is a great union with lots of great topics, but very few actually show up. :(

Game Development Union: WHERE IS UNIONS, VERSION 2? Come on, GS! (For those who do not know what I am referring to, unions are supposed to undergo a major overhaul; the one I am most interested in is multiple boards. That could be a great boon to my union. I see three main problems in the union, all of which are interconnected. They are: communication, chats, and organization. The main thing here is communication. It is nearly impossible to run a "company" when you don't even know what most of your managers are doing and how far they are into doing it! One thing I know we are lacking that could help is chat blogs for those who want to get to know each other; that will be changing. Also, the main thing contributing to the communication is the lack of organization. I actually was going for a strong organization, but topics eventually meld together; that is why I am hoping for multiple boards - it would help keep related items together. I also wouldn't mind receiving PMs or other responses back for all of the PMs I send out! Come on! Even folks I have never met before can talk to me, so why is it so hard for others to click reply?! :x

Congratulations to you if you have managed to read through to this point. If you have ideas to help any of these three unions, please state them! Thanks. :)

BTW, in unrelated news, I just "joined" two more unions (one for the first time after Safaria was able to back up her request, and one going back to after having been away (Christian Union)). I also finally decided to buy Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Like I will have time for any of these three new things! On top of that, I am still trying to start up the Sequel Ideas Union! :P All the while my IRL gets busier beyond belief! :lol: No wonder I am so tired all of the time! :lol: So many have said to cut back, but whenever I do that, I get even busier! :lol:

First off, TheEMan2000, level 22 is Blaster Master! :D

Also, how is it that in one day I received more PMs than during the entire time I was gone! :? Oh well, four of them were spam, which makes the count much higher. :P

Now, to the point of the blog: just how is important is the answer to the question? What question? Basically any :P! There are times when the end result is not what truly matters. This is coming up from a project I turned in today. I was trying to program a integer linear program (GabuEx: This is the problem I asked you about), and never was able to get the last constraint to work. However, because of my effort (over eight hours on it) and the fact that I did get results (not the correct one though), I will still be receiving full credit.

My question to all of you is this: how often does this happen? How often is the journey more important than the end result. As a sidenote, this also reminds me of the slot car tracks I liked so much when I was younger. I would only race cars for a day or two before tearing the track down; that was because it was the building of crazy tracks that I liked so much (same goes for K'Nex and Hot Wheels).

Back on topic, what percentage of the time does this happen? I would venture that the number is over 50%. That means that over half the time, the journey is more important than the ending!

For some reading this, that last comment probably seems like a "duh". If that is you, consider just what that means. Goals themselves are not that high in importance. Challenges, races, etc. don't fully matter, at least not in the same way. Lots of thinking change with that result...

If you were reading it and wondered "What is he talking about?!", try to think of the last 10 things you have done that had an end result. How many of those times were the ends as important as the journey?

I will end with a slight divergence: for the Christians out there, which do you think is more important for the Christian walk? Think about it some. My answer to this question is the first comment.

Please comment on this, telling me (and others) your opinion on this strange question! :)

Thanks for reading! :D

So what did I miss? I have already visited all of my union boards.There are a number of which I am dissapointed in. One is the Game Makers Union. That one still does not have a new post on it (from about a week ago). A second is (sniff) TGDU. Our deadline is way past. Needless to say, I am going to be doing some... ...tomorrow. On the other hand, two unions did impress me. The first is the Ultimate Sega Union, which seems to have gone through a decent revival. The second is the Union Leader Council. I like to see questions and answers on the help topics (especially when I can still offer my two cents ;)); there were also several extra topics that interested me, of course the biggest of which was the Promotions thread, in which I was named as a possibility! :) I wonder if Hendrix even realizes how much I have been going for an officership there...

I will be trying to respond to others' blogs and all of my PMs soon (or tomorrow).

Next blog will be more "normal".

Hello everyone.

Those who know me the best may have realized the strange silence from me the past few days. The last day I had missed posting on GS was the day the blogs/forums were down. Before then, I don't remember when I last missed a day.

Thus, missing 2 (now probably 3) days is a drastic change.

What it all boils down to is that when I don't have the time to eat or comb my hair, I probably don't have time for GS :P. To compound things, I am becoming more sure that I am coming down with something (and not talking about a cold, either). For those friends of mine who are Christians, I ask for your prayers. For those who are not, please just understand why it may be a week or more before I get back to you (things aren't looking to be getting better anytime soon, and when they do, I will have a lot of catching up to do).

Also, if you are in the Game Development Union, please be sure to turn in your pieces of the project.

This is all I have time for.

Signing out for now,
-just4yoshi

So which style of RPGs do you prefer?

Personally, I like both of them. However, 2-D games still hold a bit more strength from me. There are some things that games loose when going to 3-D. I have yet to find better faces than those from Fire Emblem 6,7,8.

Actually, 3-D ones had not even come into the picture until recently. Reading about Ike has really sparked my interest in Fire Emblem 9 (BTW, I am not including the Paper Mario/Mario & Luigi as 3-D). In addition, one series I have shied away from is once again garnishing attention: Final Fantasy. There seems to be some rich characters in the series, which is the #1 thing I look for. However, I don't like the summoning, etc. So, is there a good FF game that is light on the summoning and magics? I have gotten a few reviews from others, but the more I get the better. Also, portability is a bonus for me.

Enough ranting. What is your favorite type of RPG (2D vs. 3D) (standard vs. strategy may be a later blog)?

The last blog generated a lot of good questions, so if you posted, please read my comments back. I hope to keep that blog going for a while (also, if you have not read it, there's no time like the present! :)).

Also, just for RPG Hacker, I have created two more accounts:
just4yoshi@hotmail.com
just4yoshi ( 409591668 ) for ICQ.

That's all I wanted to say right now.

Actually, I have one final comment: GameSpot is certainly interesting. I do several things here. It seems like as soon as one starts to die down, the others grow. Keeps things interesting! :)

Yet another one of my rants. I keep searching for threads that I can really do a lot with. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. Half the threads I post on are games (although some are involved, such as the question one on FFGU). Another fourth are random threads I see. That leaves just 1/4 of the threads I post on being ones I am really interested in...

Perhaps that is why I start up or help start up so many unions. I want to see something new. There are many repeats going on and union activity is decreasing in most of the unions I am in. I yearn for a change of pace. Some unions provide it, and those are the ones on my list (with the exception of the Union Leader Council, which is about to be dethroned by the NiGHTS Union) do the best job of that.

Also on this line of thinking, I am wondering what I am doing to share the good news of Christianity. I would love to go about telling everyone I know how great God is, but I don't know how, which freezes me. Although I hope my actions show me to be different, I rarely state what causes that difference. Just something I need to think about.

Anyways, it's good to see the comment numbers rising, so please keep it up! I love comments! :)

Thanks for reading.

BTW, I am starting to use IM more, so if you want to chat: just4yoshi@aol.com

I have several:

1. Sonic (he's cool and has a 'tude but is really a great guy)
2. Yoshi (this dino has been one of my favs for the longest time)
3. Ike (I have actually never played as him, but from what I have read, we have a lot in common)
4. Mario (simply because I like a lot of his games)
5. Jake (strong sense of responsibility and not afraid to accept people for who they are)

Honorable Mentions:

1. Laguna (according to the test, he is the FF char most like me (empathetic & serious))
2. Rath (he's a cool guy and is a man of few words)
3. Ephraim (strong character who is all serious)
4. Erk (gotta love this kid who is too old in some ways but young in others)
5. Luigi (talk to him inPaper Mario 2 for a good laugh)
6. Hawke (dead serious and strong sense of reality)
7. Roy (good leader and cares about those around him)
8. Joshua (that guy gambles with everything!)

Females:

1. Florina (She is so shy but so strong in many ways)
2. Lyn (It's about time we have a strong female lead, even for just a part of the game)
3. Natasha (she has some of the best coversations ever)
4. Nicole (not really from video games, but she is the coolest ever)
5. Sally (a strong leader even if she gets confused)
6. Bianca (like that bad turned good twist)
7. Joan of Arc (only real person on any list. She has a great story behind her)
8. Marisa (again, dead serious and cool because of it)
9. Sasha (she is rather caring and is a great addition to the AW universe)

In case you were wondering what games these people came from:
Advance Wars Dual Strike: Jake, Hawke, Sasha
Final Fantasy 8: Laguna
Fire Emblem 6: Roy
Fire Emblem 7: Rath, Erk, Florina, Lyn
Fire Emblem 8: Ephraim, Joshua, Natasha, Marisa
Fire Emblem 9: Ike
Mario: Mario, Yoshi, Luigi
RTS games: Joan of Arc
Sonic (and Sonic Comics): Sonic, Nicole, Sally
Spyro 3: Bianca

So who are yours?

BTW, mine are only in order of thought of, not nec in order of favs.

I want to know what all of you think makes for a good story.

Here is my list:
1. Unforgettable Characters
2. Engaging and Suspenseful Storyline
3. Has a point to it

Those are my main three requirements. So what are yours?