Exchange Rates

I have been thinking for awhile and I believe that it times for some changing.

Not some big life changing thing, nor a mid-life crisis.  Heck I am only 26.  Not there yet.


No, I need to juggle up my groups a little bit in terms of the console selection.

Currently I have Final Fantasy XIII-2 on the playlist, however I think I need to change that.  I just beat FFV and Crisis Core, and I am currently playing FFIV.  I also am working a lot on FFXI so I feel like I am just surrounded by fantasies that are all final (joke joke).

Seriously though.  I never thought I might get sick of Final Fantasy games.  I love the series.  Thats very easily known.  However I need a change though, especially on the console side of things.

I think the best thing to do is to switch FFXIII-2 out with Assassin's Creed.  I never did play the first game in that series and I now have that plus Assassin's Creed: Revelations.  So what I plan to do is to start playing AC.  Then after that see how I am feeling and reevaluate if I want to start up FFXIII-2 again.  I know for Group III I have FFVI slated to play.  I am going to see about changing that as well whenever I get to it.

FFVI has been something that I have been debating on what to do.  I do own it for GBA and I am pretty far on it.  I know the story of it however I am willing to restart it again.  If I did that I would want to purchase it for the PSP and play on there.  I do favor playing handhelds on my PSP and when I get the chance I like to play games on it.

However do I really want to spend money on something that I already have??

The Fantasy Lived

Final Fantasy V


I have been able to successfully complete another game.  YAY!!!!  Spread the joy!!!  WOOOHOOO!!!


It has taken me years to finally get through FFV, however I am glad to say that I was finally able to do so.

The total time taken for completion was:

43:39 hours.

I am going to set up a counter on the List page to keep a running tally of the total time played, however as of right now, it is:

99:02:28 hours.

This works out to be:

4 Days, 3 Hours, 2 Minutes, and 28 Seconds, or 4.127 Days.


Ok, so I added almost 2 complete days to the tally with just FFV.  Not bad at all.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I think about the fact that it has taken me years to play almost 44 hours of a game and defeat it. It's really weird and crazy when you think about it. If I would have just played 4 hours a day I would have beaten it in a little under 11 days roughly.  I just didn't play straight through either.  In typical Final Fantasy fashion of me playing, by the time I made it to the interdimensional rift, also known as the very final area, I was almost overleveled and had mastered many jobs (as a side note, overleveled is at least 46, which is strange since I am used to having to be level 90 for one to be overleveled).  Thats what is so unique about FFV from other Final Fantasy games.  your level raises slowly, however mastering a job is completely separate and faster.  Plus it is the most important part of the game in terms of battles.  Not your level but your job mastery.

It was nice to get back to what I call the crystal era of the FF series.  The crystals have always had a large part in the FF series, and can be found in different forms later on (FFVII uses materia as the "crystal").  The modern games, FFXI excluded, have really gotten away from the crystal motiff.  When you look at FFI - FFV thought it is right in your face.  Hell, FFI is all about crystals and I sometimes felt as if FFV was a "reboot" of FFI since its quite similar, but you give voiceless, no personality characters from FFI, well, character.

Its fun and so interesting though how different the crystal era is from FFVI and on.  It is very japanese and fits the original mold of a RPG that stems greatly from Dungeons & Dragons.  To me its like visiting a historic site and seeing how things used to be.

Were things horrible back in the early FF days?

No.

They were what was wanted and needed back then.  What we have today, well, its different from the past, however if things were reversed people would still complain.

With that rant over lets look at FFV more.  I had issues with it in the beginning.  It did struggle to get started with story and your abilities, however with lvl/job grinding one could easily overcome that.  Once that asshat Exdeath comes in, that's when the story kicks off.  Moving between different worlds, fighting against the Void, multiple forms of the final boss.  These are all things that I have encountered before, however it pulls at my gamer's heart.  Its what I grew up with.  Its what I know.  Its what I want.

I would like to also mention how they brought a new character in.  The crystal era saw games that only allowed 4 or 5 characters at a time that were playable in battle, FFV included.  4 characters can battle, but you can't switch out any other characters because there were no other ones.  So introducing Krile might be a little tough when her grandfather Galuf dies.

Square-Enix (SE) (or Square Soft) could have had you find a new person, or worse toss a new person in there quickly who knows Galuf's abilities.  Luckily they didn't.  They introduced Krile while you had Galuf still.  She had a purpose in the story before she first fought.  This helped for me to get to know her.  Then Galuf sacrifices himself to save the party and Krile, who is in the scene and not just travelling around the world where you are not.  This is good because she is already there and not just suddenly showing up.  Then Galuf sends his abilities down to a weak Krile instead of her just knowing them out of the blue.  In fact you fight with her at least once before this and she is such a weakling.  I believe they handled this quite well to appease people.

So what to say in the end? I am glad I finally beat FFV.  I liked the story and how it compliments the series. I believe a die hard FF lover should play it if they haven't already, but if you just don't like the old school ATB battle system and having to grind, then you might want to skip it.

Also, stay away if you can't handle Dragon Suicide.  Trust me.  It came out of nowhere and totally took me for surprise.

My DS has taken a beating

I have been getting back into playing ffv more and I realized that my DS has seen better days.

DS in the dark

I know you can't see well with this picture, however I thought it would be artsy fartsy cool.

Things that are messed up on my DS:

• Won't recognize games in the game slots half the time
• The right trigger button has problems sending a signal.  You have to push the button in a specific way to make it work
• Crack in the hinge
• Freezes sometimes on start up
• Losing that luster white color

I have been tempted to get a new DS, or maybe even a 3DS, however I like being able to play Advance games on it as well as DS since I have a lot of Advance games that have yet to be beaten.  However, I do have the small foldup gameboy advanced:

I swear mine is Silver, not Purple

I was going through old things that I had and find a lot of old school Gameboy games and whatnot (original Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Zelda) and I can't believe I ever had all these titles just sitting around.

Will I add them to the list???

e

h

h

h

h

h

h

no.

Not yet at least.  As for now I think its time to juice up the ole clunker of a DS and give FFV a whirl.

A Couple Down

I have been away for a bit. It's easy to blame it on me not having a laptop, but it's cause blogging with an iPad is a bitch and I have gotten distracted with work. The time I have been away has not been a waste though. I have 2 games down. Yes, 2 whole games completed in the time that I have been away.  WOW!!  GOING BIG HERE.

Haha.  Yeah, I know.  Maybe I should have gotten more done, but I couldn't get going on FFV, so I slacked on things.  Don't kill me.

The two games that are now off the list are....
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood DLC, and Infamous.

What is funny is I was only 30 minutes from completing the DLC for ACB, so I chuckled at that.
One thing that I can do is go back and work on getting all the trophies, especially for Infamous.  I can do a complete replay and probably end up getting a complete game trophy list, however I might put that on the back burner for now.


My sights are now set on FFV.  I have gotten on a roll and I am ready to kick some ass with that game.  Then I might take a FF break.  Its hard doing back to back to back RPG's.  Especially when you play FFXI a lot as well.  Can you say overkill????



overkill



I will update this later once I get more things in order.  I am finishing up right now at work and can't wait to sit down when I have time to put some pictures on here, and also get to know the new interface blogger seems to have.  Don't know if I am a fan yet.

There is an update. Would you like to continue?

July 11th, 2011.

Its free Slurpee day at your local 7-11, so hop on that NOW.  Wish I could partake however it seems that in Savannah we don't have a "real" 7-11.  We just have a 7-11 minit shop, and a 8-11 (which is really sketchy if you want my opinion).

This day is about something else though.  I mean come on, this is not a blog about 7-11 nor Slurpees (however if you would like to look at a Slurpee blog, check this one out: http://slurpeesurprise.blogspot.com/.  It seems to be dead, however it was the best I could do finding a Slurpee blog).

No, today is update day for Final Fantasy XI.  They try to do an update once a month, and then about once every quarter one BIG update.

I hate updates.  I love the new features and things they bring.  I despise the time it takes to get online and start the update; the time it takes to check files, download files, and install them; how many error messages you get because you pay for your own internet and can only afford the 6mbps package and the damn 13 year old whose parents can afford the 50 mbps package keeps getting in front of you in line and dropping you off the server.    DAMN THEM

I have had updates that take upwards 2 hours to get everything downloaded and installed (this does not include when I fresh install the game or get back on after awhile and it is an overnighter.)  These 2 hour updates however take forever however cause you keep getting booted from the server and have to restart, and then restart, and then restart, and then restart...BAM

Today though was not that long.  Got home after work, some shopping, helping the family in time for the update to just have finished.  Its barely 5pm, so I get on and get the update done in about 45 minutes (I switched to another input to watch some TV so I wouldn't pass out from the docile music being played).  Get on, put some things on the auction house to make some cold hard gil and then log off.

So where am I going with this??  I decide to maybe get back on later tonight cause a lot of my pals on the game will probably be busy going to the premieres of Harry Potter on Thursday (tixs confirmed for Friday night HELL YEAH) and when I check the website I see this.



It is emergency maintenance.  Well break out the champagne and celebrate defeat.  What does this mean?  Well, some dweebs over at SE screwed up and something was crashing.

I hope this means I won't have to completely delete and install FFXI all over again on my PS3.  It takes about a day.

I guess I will turn to Final Fantasy V and try to work on that.

Slowly I will crawl off the floor...just let me rest

Been down to one post a week and I hate that.  I say I am going to post the next day and I fail.  There is a reason though.  I swear.

Well, an excuse.  But excuses are acceptable.  Right?? :)

Recently I got back into doing EA Sports Active 2 on the Cardio Kickstart Program.

I am sore all the time it feels.  I haven't really worked out in forever and I can feel it.  I needed to get myself in order though for the wedding that is upcoming in less than 5 months, but I also felt that I needed to be somewhat fit for my job and my health.  So all my efforts really have been on EA Active and I have let FFV go by the wayside.

Don't fret though to those who read.  I will continue playing.  My last day of the cardio program is tomorrow and then I will probably do a session every other day or so to keep in shape.  I will pick up my DS and continue the long trudge through FFV.  My very very long trudge.

Sorry, I have to be honest.  I should have probably picked something else to go to than a Final Fantasy game.  Something short and quick.  This is the new me though and I will not quit.  I will keep going and take this to the end.  I will stop playing Infamous as much as I do and go to FFV.

Damn you Infamous.  Damn you and the amazingness of a free game.  Not to say that I may be downloading LittleBigPlanet for free right now as well as KillZone:Liberation for the PSP.

Why do I do this.  No.  I place the blame squarely on Sony.  Being all tempting with your free shwag.  You won't get me to download the 2nd free PSP game.  You can't make me......unless you twist my arm.....


I hate you Sony.

Moore and more forest

Currently walking through the great Forest if Moore. Halt. There it is. One really big ass tree. What's inside you ask? Oh, nothing major. Well, except for those four crystals that attack you till spill your blood so you don't destroy them to let loose massive evil.

Yeah. Oh joy for myself in fighting them. The complexities in the plot. The crystals are for good you think, and they are. Yet you are to destroy them. I get so confused on what to do.

Luckily by looking ahead in my trusty guide I realize that I am maybe at the half way point now.

Halfway. I have about 26 hours playtime. More than one Earth day has been played on this game by myself and I am halfway.

.........

I can't wait to get through this.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy FFV. It's a great game. I am just in a mood where I feel things are dragging right now. I have a couple jobs for each character mastered which places me in a good position, but I need something crazy to happen. Just one little really crazy thing.








Please?