chibiforte

I must've purged at least 100 games from my NES/SNES collection this morning.  Most were sports games, and just various other games that just held no interest for me.  I'm just keeping the bare essentials for my college collection.

I also went through my portable games.  I actually didn't realize I had about 12 games for the PSP.  So, I'll list those out.

Jeanne D'Arc (RPG; Tactical Strategy)
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- (RPG; Mission-Based)
Patapon (Side Scroller; Rhythm Combat)
Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl (RPG; Farming Simulator)
Riviera: The Promised Land (RPG; Chapter-Based)
Maverick Hunter X (Side Scroller; Action Platforming)
PoPoLoCrois (RPG; Turn-Based)
Death Jr. II: Root of Evil (Platformer)
MegaMan: Powered Up (Side Scroller; Action Platforming(
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max (2-D Fighter)
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (RPG; Mission-Based)
Brave Story: New Traveler (RPG; Turn-Based)

Good mix, overall.  A fair bit of RPGs, but there are some good non-RPGs in there.  I've only finished... two of the games?  No, three of them.  It's nice actually finishing games.

I also have about... 24 DS games?  Well, might as well list them out, too.  I'll figure it out then.

Electroplankton
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (Japanese; Dual-Language)
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (Japanese)
Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (Japanese)
Final Fantasy IV
MegaMan ZX Advent
Jump Super Stars (Japanese)
Jump Ultimate Stars (Japanese)
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
Tetris DS
Power Rangers: Super Legends
Pokemon Pearl
Summon Night: Twin Age
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day
Nodame Cantabile (Japanese)
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Elite Beat Agents
Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikeshuu 4 (Japanese)
ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat (Japanese)
Guitar Hero: On Tour
Pokemon Diamond (Japanese)
R4 Flash Cart

That... should be it.  I'm not putting what types of games they are, I'm just acknowledging which ones are Japanese copies.  I have... only 9 Japanese games?  That's a bit less than I thought I had.

...Might as well list the Gameboy games, as well!

Pokemon FireRed
Pokemon LeafGreen
Pokemon Ruby
Mother 1+2
Mother 3
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Dragonball: Advanced Adventure
MegaMan & Bass
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Capcom Classic: Mini Mix
Nintendo MP3 Player
Action Replay for GBA
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
GBA Movie Player

Still building that collection up.  I really want to get Oracle of Ages again, that game was fun.  I think we might have Tetris around here, I should find that...

I'm not listing any more games out.  I have some for the Playstation and Wii and Virtual Console and all that, but eh... that's another post entirely.

I finally finished Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII earlier today.  I put about... 30 hours into it?  Almost there, at least.  I think I finished it at about 29 hours and 45 minutes or so.  And this is only the FIRST time I have to beat it.  I have to go through it again and unlock all of the crazy missions and the DMW stuff and whatnot.

Let me tell you, this game was absolutely fantastic.  Sure, there were some flaws in it, like the loading times and the somewhat tiring missions you have to finish, but all in all, it was a solid game that was made even better because of the Final Fantasy VII label.  This really helped reinvigorate my interest in the FF7 series.  I actually feel like going back to beat the original PS1 game now, just so I can relive the original story.  I didn't really care for the game the first time I played it, but I actually really like the series now that I can see how all the entries relate to each other.

This game, in and of itself, is a great game.  The graphics are top-notch for a PSP game... the gameplay, while being repetitive at times, is engaging... the story is original on its own but still connects nicely with the main FF7 story... the main character, Zack, is such a funny and well-rounded and well-developed main character... man, I just can't say enough good things about this game.  Anybody with a PSP does themself a disservice if they don't pick this game up, even if they don't know the FF7 story.

I'm hoping that they remake FF7, now.  If they can fix the glaring graphical flaws and glitches that the original had (and the horrendous translation), I could see myself dedicating dozens of hours into it.  And even buying a PS3 just so I can play it.

I'm thinking of starting Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, now.  Or maybe I'll go back and play Final Fantasy VII as soon as possible.  Or Final Fantasy VIII.  Or Chrono Cross.  Or Chrono Trigger.  Or Xenogears.  Or Breath of Fire III.  Or Brave Fencer Musashi.  Or Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories.

...Wow, I really am going to have to bring that Playstation with me to college...

 Still pondering that particular transition in the novels that I have to figure out.  Hopefully I'll be making some headway on that soon, since I want to finish up these summaries.

This upcoming Spring Anime Season doesn't look all that special.  Allison & Lillia looks really interesting, as well as Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Nijuu Mensou no Musume, Itazura no Kiss, and especially kure-nai, but that's pretty much it.  I really doubt I'll even watch much else besides Allison & Lillia, but we'll see how it goes.

We forked Ben and Jay's yard, last week.  And just earlier tonight, my older brother and sister-in-law placed hundreds of post-it notes on both Gabe's and Jeremy's trucks.  It looked awesome.  This'll show everybody at the Youth Group that our family is not meant to be messed with. :3

I read today that the Ben Stein movie is going to definitely be airing at our local theater, which is a huge plus for me, seeing as how I didn't think the subject matter would be accepted by the theater's owner (seeing as how he aired the Al Gore movie thing), but it turns out that he's just in these things for the money, and if he can make money from a movie, it doesn't really matter what the subject matter is about.  And considering this is a small town, it'd probably be more accepted than all of these big cities.  I'm predicting that there will be at least one boycott of the movie in at least one state, probably here in California in certain cities.  It wouldn't surprise me in the least, considering the terribly hypocritical patrons of this state who think they're open-minded, but are far more bigoted than the things they fight against. xD

I haven't been playing as much Brawl, lately, but that's because there's not much more for me to do on it.  We've unlocked pretty much everything we can, except for the Boss Battle challenges, which are horrendously difficult and something that I don't want to partake in.  I want to try to get into some RPGs again, like Earthbound, but I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and play it.  If nothing else, then I'm certainly going to have a giant backlog of video games that will finally be completed once I'm in college with free time on my hands.  I predict weekend marathons will be taking place with my roommates.

Speaking of roommates, I'm really hoping that I get some cool ones.  I think the current allocationg per room is about four people, so I'll have three roommates.  I want at least one of them to be a chef of some sort, so they'll constantly make food and ask me to taste-test it.  I'm also hoping that another one of them is a computer genius who can help me with tech stuff.  And I hope the last one is an artist or musician of some sort, who can draw or help me with music stuff.  It'd be awesome if that happened.

I downloaded at least two gigabytes of OCRemixes, today.  I decided that it was time I go through what that website has and just enjoy what they put out.  So far, I'm impressed by these remixers.  They really know how to take chiptunes and rework them into a completely new creation.

I started my piano lessons last night.  It was only 30 minutes long, but I did learn some stuff.  I didn't actually play anything, of course.  I'm not ready for something like that.  But she did teach me some things, like finger placement, rests, the difference between the fortissimo and the pianissimo.  Good stuff.

I've been playing through both Earthbound and Mother 3, lately.  M3 is obviously more difficult, since I can't read the Kanji, but I have a no-spoilers guide that'll help me through it, so it's all good.  Earthbound is just so awesome, though.  I just beat the Sludge monster that was sending zombies to Threed, so now I'm at Fourside with no clue as to how I continue the game.  I seem to have missed a Soundstone tune, as well.  I need to backtrack a little bit, I guess.  I really need to start playing Chrono Trigger, though.  I don't want to have to sell it since it's such a rare game, but if I don't play it, that's exactly what my Dad plans to do.

Joined a new message board!  The Town of Odyssey, to be precise.  Sure, it will only make sense to an Odyssey fan, but if you can get past that, it's a great board.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger seems to be a really funny series, so far.  Sure, I haven't actually been able to watch any episodes with subtitles, but even watching it RAW is still good, and I can understand some basic things fairly easily.  It's essentially a parody, that's all I need to know.

CLANNAD was apparently cut to 22 episodes... Ugh.  But, well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much, considering that it's been a really good series, so far.  I just have no clue what they're going to do with the ending.  I'm not even going to hazard a guess, I'm just going to wait and see what happens.

I ordered some Gekiranger CDs a few days ago!  They should be here either next week, or the few days following the release of Brawl.  It's awesome, one of the CDs has all of the character songs and various insert songs on it.  The other CD has theme songs from Gekiranger, Boukenger, and Magiranger, so I'm psyched for that.  I also ordered the Digimon Adventure OP Theme CD Single, but that wasn't in-stock at the time I ordered it, so they'll ship it out at a later date.  No worries, I'm still going to enjoy it.

I've been doing some more work on my planned novel series.  I was able to plot out what happens in the first two novels, and I finished working on a major event in the third novel last night.  I'm hoping to get at least ten or so novels planned out before I start the actual writing process, just so I know where I'm taking the story.  I'm going to make sure that I have any loose ends tied up neatly before I even make it public, so there shouldn't be any worries about me abandoning the project.  I don't know how or where I'll host them, but I'll decide that when the time comes.  I'm still thinking of a title change, however.

 This isn't really an update, but I'm just going to put this out there.  It's a video that showcases the vocal version of "Bein' Friends" from the Mother/Earthbound series.  It's just a nice little song, with cute lyrics and whatnot, so I thought I'd put it up as an entry. :3

Here's the lyrics:


BEIN' FRIENDS **vocals by Catherine Warwick**

When you are happy
With laughter to spare
Fun is twice as fun
With someone to share
When you are lonely
And full of despair
Things aren't half as had
When somebody cares

Maybe now you have figured it out
That's what bein' a friend is about
When you're lookin'
For someone you can rely on
Don't you ever doubt me
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about

When you are restless
And want room to breathe
I will give you all
The space that you need
And when you're ready
For my company
I will come around
Just call on me

Maybe now you have figured it out
That's what bein' a friend is about
When you're lookin'
For a shoulder you can cry on
Won't you think about me
When you're looking
For someone you can rely on
Don't you ever doubt me
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about

I'm your friend till the end
Count On me
In the sunshine and the rain
Paradise and back again
Count on me
Let me be a friend in need
Let me be a friend indeed
Count on me

And if you ask me
You know that it's true
There is not a thing
That I wouldn't do
I'd follow you
To the ends of the earth
That's how much I think
Our friendship is worth

Maybe now you have figured it out
That's what bein' a friend is about
When there's something
That you just don't understand
Won't you think about me
I'll be more than glad
To lend a helping hand
Don't you ever doubt me
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about

Tell me all your secrets
I will swear to keep them
Let me know your problems
I will help you solve them
When your heart is aching
I will stop it breaking
Whet you are in danger
I'm your guardian angel
I will stand beside you
Be the one to guide you
When your dreams are crumblin'
Call me I'll come runnin'
That's what friends are all about

I forgot to mention this, but I finished up all the translated parts of Clannad that I was able to, which includes all the main routes.  It was a good game, and I hope I can continue on and start the After Story once they release a full translation patch.  It'll be fun, I'm sure.

I've actually downloaded about four visual novels that I plan to play.  The ones I snagged are Narcissu, true rememberance, planetarian, and Gadget Trial.  Out of those four, I'm most interested in planetarian and Narcissu, as the former is supposed to be a really sad story, and the latter is supposed to be some kind of story about hospital patients and what the patient's who have contracted fatal illnesses (and are without hope) have to go through.  I'm almost scared to finish these novels, since I'm not an emotional person and I'm not sure how I'll react if the ending's are shockingly sad... but I'll make sure to talk about them in the future.  planetarian keeps freezing up my computer as I make my way through the story, though, and it's driving me bonkers.

I've been listening to a lot of Earthbound music, lately.  I downloaded all the "Rock Candy" remix albums from starmen.net, and I'm now in the middle of the fourth album.  And, I gotta say, I'm really impressed by how well these Earthbound fans remix their favorite game's music.  There are some tracks that I don't particularly appreciate, but for the most part, it's pretty good stuff.  I really want to try playing that game again, though.  I have every game in the series, but Mother 1 through 3 are in Japanese, and Earthbound is on the SNES (and I can't find time to play console games right now).  I'll have to figure something out.

I seriously cannot wait until Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes out.  I know I've said it before, but I can't help myself.  This game is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, and trust me, I like sliced bread.  I've been dreaming about it, listening to the music rips from the Japanese version, planning on sleeping over at my cousin's house so that my friends and I can play it all night, figuring out how quickly we can get back from the Gamestop in the next town so I can play it as soon as possible, etc.  I can't help that I'm addicted to it... and it's not even out, yet!

I'm still in the planning stages of my novel series.  I'm not sure whether I should keep the name or not ("Law/Grace").  It's a bit of a rip-off from WOTM Radio, since that IS their catchphrase, and I wouldn't want to make it seem as if I'm plagiarizing them or that their whole organization was involved in the production of my novels or anything.  I may not understand business matters, but I can at least figure out that unintentionally associating their name with mine is not a good idea for either of us.  They don't put that forward slash in how they present the entire concept, though, so maybe I'm safe.  It's kinda like Fate/Stay Night, in a way, so maybe there won't be too much confusion.  I'll have to send them an e-mail, just to be safe.

I'll be leaving in about an hour or so for Disneyland.  We're going there for, what else, but a dance competition.  But I've been told that I actually don't have to stick around for the dances, since I'm unnecessary and not in charge of anything, so I'll probably just bum around the park with Zach.  Sounds like fun to me.  We'll make sure to ride Splash Mountain and Star Tours at some point during our adventure. :3

But, this also means that I'll delay the release of the test chapter for Law/Grace until I get home.  I need just a little more time to edit it a bit, and I'd like to reread it when it's not fresh in my mind in order to hopefully gain a new perspective on my own story.  So, that'll come when I get back on... Sunday night?  Monday?  I'm not sure at the moment.  I'll be bringing my laptop with me, but I probably won't use it.

I purchased and downloaded the original Harvest Moon for the SNES on the Wii's Virtual Console, yesterday.  So many typos... but it looks like it's a fun game!  And they don't have the typical Popuri-Ann-Elli-Karen-Mary combination of wives in the original!  They have some of those already mentioned, but there are some new marriage candidates!  Awesome.

I also bought Super Metroid for the SNES on the VC, as well.  That'll be fun.