Hi guys. Yes I've been totally gone frome GameSpot for over a year. Last you guys heard from me was when I was busy playing Romancing Saga.....Wel after that I started playing a Free MMORPG called Flyff and kinda got addicted to it haha. So between Flyff and School I just kinda forgot about GameSpot and console games. So i havent even touched my video-game consoles in ages. But I am slowly getting started with FFXII now and KHII.

Just thought I'd say hi and see if anyone still remembers me and thought I'd post some Flyff pics to show you guys that I havent been lazy.

Arath(Blade)
Level: 99
Info: Flyff was my first MMORPG ever and Arath was my first character and I've played him since. He's still my main and the most fun of my characters. Will probably get him to 105 soon, am just a bit busy and lazy atm. He's easy to recognise in Darkon, all you need to do is look for a glowbulb in yellow glasses with a soccerball following him.

Saiyu(Psykeeper)
Level: 66
Info: I started Saiyu when Arath was around level 40 I think but Saiyu just stayed a bank vagrant for ages. Later I decided to level him and with some help I got him to 60. He's an int psy so its hell to level him, thats why I have not levelled him in months and usually just use him to plvl friends or go to arena and blow things up. :coy: I will probably level him again one day because I want him to be at least lv75 but am I'm too broke to buy a restat for him so he can go crucio.


iQuack (Yoyo-Jester)
Level: 62
Info: My newest character. I made him so I'd have something to have fun with when I wouldn't be able to find a Ringmaster for my Blade to level. I always wanted a yoyo jester so I made Quacky one. Thanks to some plvls he got to 60 pretty fast :coy: After my Blade hits 105 I intend to level Quacky to at least lv90.

The trusty Pets:
TonTon the Soccerball Angel.
Info: My first pet, bought him during the world cup and was one of the first people with a pet. Was so much fun having not to worry about picking drops up anymore. TonTon usually follows me around all day and is really quiet.

PonPon the Luia.
Info: My second pet, bought him back when they were just released. To think that i bought him with the 20m I made from selling an avalon shield hahaha, so cheap. :sneer: He's really noisy, always screams at people in town and gets jealous if I let my other pets level with me.


PewPew the Doggy.
Info: The newest addition to my little Zoo. PewPew has a habit of ALWAYS getting stuck when i level, other than that he is well behaved and loyal.


Horsey the well erm Horsey :coy:
Info: Technically he is a flying vehicle but Horsey counts as one of my pets too, he just rocks. He outflys any cloud and always helps carrying Arath around. Plus the wooden thingy he stands on is the perfect seat for the pets to sit on during a long trip.


Last but not least my Sylia for when Horsey is tired from a long flight.

I thought I should put the Spotlight I posted at FFU on Romancing Saga Minstrel Song on my blog as well so here it is:

 

Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song is a remake of the classic Romancing SaGa
for the SNES, which was released back in 1992 in Japan and never made it to the US or Europe.
And no, it's nothing like Unlimited Saga.
The game has a very distinctive art style which really grows on you, I find it refreshing:

The story goes like this. Evil Saruin has been imprisoned for over a thousand years
and is beginning to break free, so it's up to you to stop his minions and see that Saruin
can't come back and ravage the world again! :D Ok, not the most original story but not bad or boring at all.
At the beginning of the game you get to choose from eight different characters
which all have their own individual stories and their own reasons to why they later face Saruin.
In the game you can choose from over 30 other characters, so it's up to you which five characters
you want to recruit. The game is as non-linear as it gets, and can get confusing if you don't have a guide.
(I've got the brady guide, which really helps a lot!)
You travel the huge world and find quest to do that give you jewels to improve your skills and money
(which is really scarce in this game, you hardly get money from monsters).



                        Lots of exploring to do
The game practically consist solely of side quest. Each battle you fight increases your event rank,
which in turn decides which missions are accesible. It's a fun system because you can chose yourself
which quest you want to do and you have to do your timing correctly otherwise you could miss out
on some cool quests and rewards.
Each quest introduces you to new people,reveals something about your own history or advances the story.

                                 Battle positions.
You can see monsters on the field so it's up to you if you want to fight or not.
(Although it's pretty hard to avoid them cause they love to rush and attack you!)
The battle system is what makes the game so addictive. You can have up to five members in your party.
Romancing SaGa features a turn based battle system where you enter the commands at the begginning
of the round and then sit back and watch what happens. (Eye-candy!!!!!)

                                An enemy appears!!


                                Entering commands
You can give each character a specific class which gives you bonuses with different weapons.
Each character can carry up to 4 different weapons and there are many different types of weapons
(foil, great sword, two handed sword, katana, scimitar, staff, club, short sword, bow, hand-axe,
two-handed axe, pole arm, lance)Weapons have DP (durability points) and some attacks cost DP
(if your class is affiliated to the weapon you are using the DP cost ios reduced) ,
if you decrease the DP to 0 the weapon breaks (no problem, resting at an inn
repairs the weapon if you didn't temper it...that's too difficult to explain right now...
and weapons don't break very often).
Your characters have HP and LP, HP are recovered after every battle while LP
can only be recovered at an inn. (If a character loses all LP he is gone....
but that hardly happens at all really...not if you know what you're doing).
Some attacks and spells consume LP,
not DP so you should always be careful of using those too much!
Weapon techs are learned randomly and each weapon class has different skills.
When learning a skill a bulb will light up over your character during battle and he'll execute a new attack.
The attack animations are really over the top, which I love!

                      Barbara sparking a new attack


                           Grey attacking a goblin

           Claudia using the Rain of Arrows skill...ouch!
Increasing your level with a certain weapon increases the chance of learning stronger techniques.
And sometimes (or almost every time if you know what you are doing :D ) your attacks will combo
(anything from 2 to 5 characters can combo at once, or you'll perform a vortex (some sort of uber-combo
of which there are 5 different ones.)

                                       A combo


                              A vortex...BOOM!!!

The game also has spells, which you can buy at most cities and certain classes
can even synthesize spells to increase the spell strength or to even get new ones!

                                   Spell Synthesis

Romancing SaGa also features gorgeous scetch-art sequences:

Once you've finished the game can replay the game as a different character,
see the story from a different perspective and you'll get more jewels the more
often you've finished the game. I'm currently on my second playthrough and I can only say this:
It's my favourite game ever but it is sadly also a very misunderstood and highly underrated game,
the people on Gamespot and other reviewers never took the time to get to know the game,
sure if you don't have a guide it can be frustrating...so get the game, get a guide and ENJOY!!!
The games strength may not be the story or character development and it isn't your typical RPG.
But it is something different (in a good way) and if you take you time to get to know the game
and it's characters (and get a guide! :D ) you'll get addicted!
I give it a 10/10.
Be sure to check out some of these ultra cool Romancing Saga videos featured on holystar,
which show some of the most difficult boss-battles, or even one person challenges!!
These videos convinced me to get the game!

Video 1
(86MB)
Video 2
(15MB)
Video 3
(63MB)

sources: Videos: http://www.holystar.ch.vu/
               Images: www.rpgamer.com

Cool, just got the Vote Rocker emblem but now my Popular Emblem is gone......geez, it's so damn annoying. Now I don't know if it's just plain gone or just another Gamespot glitch...:x  :evil:

Yay, my copy of Tales of Eternia just arrived! I've only played for an half hour but from what I've seen the game is awesome!





I just wish they would have stuck with the Japanese Box-Art, I really think this one is ugly....but the game still rocks! :D

I already ordered Tales of Eternia but I found Breath of Fire in ebgames here in Germany while I was out shopping today! I'm gonna start playing it later, can't wait. Here it is:

Just stumbled across more new Suikoden V screens which show some of the characters:




















source:www.jeuxfrance.com

Here are two of the very first Wild Arms 5 screens and I think the game art looks really cool:





I just found some new Suikoden V screens and I must say, the game looks awesome!














source: www.jeuxfrance.com

It really is a sad day! I waited weeks for my copy of Xenogears, finally got it....doesn't work. Seems that it's one of those games that even a modded PS2 can't play! I'm really disappointed, been waiting for that game for so long and now....
I guess I'll sell it on ebay and buy Tales of Legendia or Radiata Stories, at least I know that the newer games work....

On the side note, I'm geting my cash in 3 days, then I'm buying Tales of Eternia for my PSP!!!! :D

My Convivial Emblem is back, now I've got two Butterlfly emblems...cool! :D

Finally made it to level 12. But Rad Racer......boring....hope I level up quickly.