5 good things about FF8

So, as you might remember from this post, I hate FF8. If I had a list of the top 5 worst RPGs of all time, it would be on it. In fact I started a list of the top 5 worst RPGs of all time, which I'll post later once I finish it. FF8 is #3.

But I tried to come up with 5 positive aspects about it. Here's the best I could do:

1: The music is no doubt the best part of this game. No surprise, really, since it's Uematsu's work. Shame it couldn't have been in a better title.

2: The graphics. For their time they were pretty amazing.

3: The character designs. This is kind of cheating since it's sorta like #2, but I do like the designs of the characters. Their personalities are horrible, and their choice in weapons questionable, but based on appearance alone, they look good. Had they been in a better game with a better plot, I might have been able to find them more appealing. Sadly, they're not, so I'm forced to endure 6 terribly annoying people. Or I would be if I was ever going to play the game again. Not bloody likely.

4: The setting. This could have been an interesting world. The setting's unlike any other RPG and it's got some cool things like how everyone uses HDMD cable due to atmospheric interference that shut down wireless communication. The setting's good. It's just that the plot itself is not.

5: Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... There's a Tonberry King summon? Trains? I'm kind of at a loss here.

Trials of the Magianses

So a few weeks ago, SE introduced Trials of the Magians, in which you take a random PoS weapon and upgrade it until it becomes more powerful. Or you can use relic of mythic weapons if you have them. Do a lot of boring farming, and eventually you end up with a snazzy new weapon.

It's the boring farming that made me not want to bother. Trials may have you:
* Kill 100 monsters of a certain family during a certain weather.
* Kill a random nm that pops once every six hours, three times.
* Kill a VNM 6 times.

Sounds fun, right? Hell no. Sounds like bullshit. I didn't wanna do it. But after reading Qtipus's Blog, I decided to take a closer look at some of the rewards and see if it's worth my time. I figure I can play my DS while camping the 6-hour pop nms. You know, do something FUN while I wait.

But...... On a closer inspection, the rewards don't look that great. I mean for hand-to-hand, you got:

Mantis (DMG 21)
Cat's Claws (DMG 18 STR+4 Attack+12)

Great weapons, sure, but better than my Destroyers? (DMG 18, Critical hit rate +6%). Seems unlikely.

It doesn't end there. The sword option is better than my joyeuse, but only by a very small margin. Granted, I can use it on my blu, but it would still only beat my perdu hanger by a small margin, and it's not like blus even focus on the sword.

The dagger would be great for my thf and dnc, only I never even play those jobs, so it'd look nice on my mannequin.

The scythe with double attack? Pretty good, but again, not that much better than my perdu sickle

The greatsword? Probably better than my subduer, but I almost never use greatsword on my drk.

And I can get a staff for my smn. Y'know, in case I ever use any staff besides my elementals (not bloody likely).

The only real utility I can get from this is building a tanking sword for my pld, and even then, people rarely ask me to use my pld (after all, what's the point of a pld if you don't have Aegis?).

Sooooooooooooooo........... Yeah. There's not really much I can gain from this. Only weapons that are marginally better than what I already have. So not worth the time and effort.

Kick-Ass

So I just got back from seeing Kick-Ass. All I have to say about it is it's friggin' awesome. It follows the comic, with a bunch of creative liberties. Some work, some don't. And the action and the music are great. Whether or not you've read the comic, I highly recommend you see the movie. :D

Knights In History and Legend

A good book I read recently, Knights in History and Legend by Constance Brittain Bouchard is a wealth of information on the chivalrous medieval warriors that to this day are popular.

The book covers a huge variety of information, starting with an overview, such as how one became a knight, what knights were like in their every day lives, how they were expected to act, their equipment and how it was produced, tournaments, castles, battle tactics, etc. Then it discusses knights historically: how they came to power, famous knights and famous battles. Then it discusses legendary knights like Arthur and Ivanhoe, before wrapping up with knights in pop culture.

Yes, the book even includes D&D, Jedis, Batman, Monty Python and video game references. When I said "a wealth of information", I wasn't kidding.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the medieval period.

Atop the Fourth Wall

The recent comic discussion in Obsidian reminded me of Atop the Fourth Wall, where Linkara reviews bad comics. Like this one.

If you like comics, check it out. :D

Edit: Couldn't get the video to fit well, so I replaced it with a link :x

Western games and bosses

Insomnia is great, isn't it? It's 3:30 a.m. and I'm wide awake.

In other news, what do Western developers have against bosses? Japanese games usually have tons of cool bosses to fight, but when it comes to Western games, you're lucky if there's even a final boss at the end.

It's disappointing. I'm someone who likes to conserve my best resources for the big boss fights. Can't really do that if said fights are nonexistant. Plus it's fun to fight a really tough enemy that you can't just bull rush your way through. Boss fights are fun, so why the stigma against them?

I'm gonna try to get more sleep :x

So.... I just finished the latest in the string of WotG missions.

It's awesome :D

I wish all FFs could be as good as 11. There's something seriously wrong when a MMO's story beats out its console counterparts.