July Heat-Influenced Golden Sun

Woo, refund on iPhone 4 bumpers... Yay?

I kid, I don't have a problem with the 'death-grip' the "less than 1%" of us who own the phone are having. My calls've been perfectly fine. Reception goes off and on in my house, but it's always been like that here, so I'll hafta see as I go places, but so far no big deal. Nice to get our $60 back on those over-priced rubber liners. (Seriously, 30 bucks each? How much does it take to make that, Apple? *sigh*)

But enough on relevant topics! Let's rewind back to last generation: '01 and '03.

The game series in question?Yep, ever since the ethnic-clensing of my bedroom took place over Memorial Weekend, the power cord to my micro (you know, the last model of GBA? Yeah, I don't blame you) has been uncovered with my copy of the original Golden Sun inside. To beat the heat of our non-curtained living room with the consoles, I've been reliving one of my more fondly-remembered RPGs. Now a faux review/retrospect!



The series would've been that classic Super NES RPG you remember playing as a kid next to other greats like Sword of Mana, Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, among the countless others back in the heydays of the JRPG. The story's simple: you control a group of Adepts, those who can harness the four elements of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury (Earth, Fire, Wind and Water respectively) with your powers of Psynergy. Your job in the first game is to prevent the Elemental Lighthouses across the world from being lit and reawakening Alchemy to the world of Weyard. However, in the second game, The Lost Age, a perspective shift occurs and you now control the surviving memebers of the very team you tried to stop in the first game and now have to find a way to light the remaining Lighthouses.

The games play out in a very 90s role-playing fashion: you have a team of four main playable characters, each allied with one of the main elements, you fight enemies in speedy turn-based combat to level up which earns you money for various items and equipment, cross an overworld to get to various destinations, collecting Djinn (elemental creatures that boost your powers/change your classes) all while going through a very well-written story filled with hundreds of NPCs to help immerse yourself into the world.

Any fan of the SNES' RPGs will feel right at home with Golden Sun's familiar yet deep system. I myself play with the mono-elemental system of battling (allying each Djinni to their respective Adept - Venus go to the Venus Adepts, etc.). I realize I'm getting about a third of the combat system, but I'm simple like that and I got through the same just fine. The series can be played however you see fit, and is even non-linear in sections to accomodate all forms of playstyles.

I'm glad the series is as beloved as it is, with fans like myself eagerly awaiting the third title coming out this year for DS. Part of the charm of the original two GBA games was it's presentation. The games looked amazing for being on the then-new Game Boy Advance and showcased some of the handheld's most impressive visuals. The battles were quick, enhanced with the rotating camera angle during battles, with amazing shows of particle effects which were phenominal on my rootbeer-tinged Glacier GBA. The summon Catastrophe in particular is the most impressive in-game feat I've seen the GBA output outside of some impressive use of FMVs (albeit compressed, yet no less impressive on the small GBA cartridges).

The soundtrack was a wonderfully 'orchestrated' score that definitely stood out in the GBA's time. Headphones were a regular must for me as I hummed along with the classic-sounding pieces. The sound effects were classic 16-32 bit bleeps and screeches that helped aided the lost-in-time RPG series.

Of particular note was the ability to transfer your characters' complete stats from Golden Sun to The Lost Age for the time when your old party met your new one, to form a super 8-member party of elemental fury. It was also necessary to fully experience the sequel's full content, as all Djinn are needed to unlock the Superboss and optional dungeon he's housed in (the reward being an obscenely powerful summon whose only practical use is for two-player battling/boasting rights and could save you in the final boss fight). It's an appreciated feature, though I don't think it'll be used for the third game, but you never know.

Now I'm off to play summore.

iPhone 4 is Mine!

Man, it's great having a working phone again~

I absolutely adore this phone - it's the best one I've ever messed with. Granted, prolly part of my enthusiasm comes from me having upgraded from the very first iPhone (you know, that Edge-only one that was impressive three years ago?), but it only makes the upgrade the more sweeter. Multitasking's proving a godsend (they don't all reload! I have a little more patience for Safari now), the camera/video is darn impressive (5 megapixel with flash and 720p 30fps!), the screen is the most gorgeous I've ever seen (pixels are only evident if you're desperately looking for them; or on an old app, but that's not the phone's fault), and it's SOOOO much faster than I'm used to.

Between me and my circle of friends, we all have access to the popular smartphones: the iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, we've all had chances to play with them all. But I gotta say, the iPhone's agreed with me the most. I can't stand physical Qwerty keyboards, since I have sausage fingers :'( , the touchscreen's the best I've ever touched (insert cheap laugh), and it does everything I need it to do. Apps I get are all free bar one exception, and they're mostly casual games and specific apps that relate to my interests.

5 Stars, the iPhone 4 is for me. Mainly cuz my phone's awesome again and I can actually make calls and do stuff on it.

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Wanted to talk about E3 and the excitement it gathered in me (with useless commentary by myself), but I don't have anything to add. E3 gets me hyped, I'm happy with Nintendo's line-up, good year for games.

Now a random fact:

Sad when your phone's network is quicker than your house's Wi-Fi.
:P

iPhone 4

I'm very content with the pre-order of my 32 gig iPhone 4! Sadly, White isn't available until later this summer, so I'll hafta settle with Black.

I love my ol' first iPhone, but he's been showing his age lately. The Wi-Fi capability lost around Halloween (which upped the bill with all the data usage), the charge not lasting as much as it used to (normal after two years), the case coming apart near the bottom, the buttons taking a real firm press to register, and the dropped calls. Oh, the dropped calls...

But it's okay! I'll have the best phone again after two years! Add to that E3 with Nintendo and Sony's conferences later today, this makes for a good, if a bit rocky, start to an eventful tech-centric week. I was online at 1 A.M. when the Apple Store went live with the phone, but the connection problems were horrendous. I just finished placing the order on AT&T's website half an hour ago. Yay for early adoptors! I'll save the E3 blog till Friday when we have all the info.

Picture unrelated.

I think it's time we blow this scene.

Why is Cowboy Bebop so damn good?

Seriously, no anime - let alone television show - has ever made me wish every episode was a film unto itself. It's everything anyone could ever want in a show: beautiful animation, truly human characters, outstanding music, and nobody I know who's seen the show can say a word bad about it.

Just popped in the three main CDs - Cowboy Bebop, No Disk, and Blue - and the moment Tank! started up, I was again swept away in that wonderful universe of Japanese-made American music.

Go ahead: fall in love with Yoko Kanno's untouchable talent: http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jCJZEFIto

Man, I really need to organize my thoughts better next time. That just a wall of text...

To redeem myself slightly, this time it's more coherent:
Woo! It just got confirmed earlier today on SE's European Twitter account, and they've stated that Kingdom Hearts Re:coded is to be released Internationally for the DS, like it logically would be based on the graphics and general gameplay of the original cell phone game. While it's not the bundled-with-Birth by Sleep deal I hoped it would, I have no problems with it being on DS, since it's a better option than if it were on a cellphone. Glad to see Squeenix understands the North American (and, evidenced by the source, the International) market. It was a matter of many a discussion of how this episodic title would get an overseas release, since it was the only title of the three Gaiden games not to have been announced Internationally.

It's also safe to assume that this is indeed one of the two titles Nomura mentioned would be revealed and released before Kingdom Hearts III is properly announced (and worked on after Versus XIII, which many an unformed person neglects to research).

Details on if Re:coded will be a retail game (I sincerely hope so!) or an episodic download via DSiWare is unclear at this point, but it seems unlikely that it's a download-only title, as it would easily alienate other DS owners.

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I'm generally optimistic on entertainment I enjoy until proven otherwise, and the fanbase is doing a decent job of trying to convince everyone that both Days and Coded are/were disappointments, and that Sleep is the only title worth getting. Being relatively unspoiled of the details of Coded aside from a hint at it's ending and Sleep's entire scenario and outcomes, I can understand how an uninformed fan would be persuaded and/or told-off at their uninformed opinions of a game they've yet to play/witness. However, our optimism for Re:coded is being shot at by the Japanese adoptors (and those willing to spoil themselves) and have confirmed now
if indeed the two (now) Nintendo DS KH titles are "filler" games.

Perhaps they are and can be supported by many a knowledgible fan, but I'm going to ignore their negativity and criticisms - as valid as they may be - and accept everything series' director Nomura throws at us. While the KH fanbase has a roller-coaster relationship with me - from the constant bitching of plotholes and instances of deus ex machina, to Mary Sues and wasted plots - all with varying degrees of pickiness, I've enjoyed their thoughts on the franchise, mainly concerning the mysteries the titles constantly throw at us. If they had it their way, it seems the only titles worth playing are KH, the parts of CoM and KHII that concerns the Organization, and BbS, and to completely throw away the rest of CoM and KHII as the aforementioned deus ex machinas, the fanfiction that is Days, and the filler that is Coded.

I have to respectfully ignore their dismissal, since they're choosing to ignore material they all think is unimportant. The truth of the matter is that since this is Nomura's plot, and he's largely making stuff up as he goes, what aspects of the franchise are important are whatever he deems they are. He chose Sora's sacrifice in KH to be important enough to base the next three titles around that one instant. That affected the entirely of Days' outcome, the latter half of CoM, and as such completely shaped KHII's plot. Whatever he decided to add into BbS and Coded is whatever he decided to implement from past games' mysteries, and all new material that the fanbase will surely find fault with. This is the man's baby - allow him to do what he wants with it.

I've been down this route too often, and I've said the same things then as I do now: you may not agree with the decisions that a series takes, but you don't have much of a choice. Some of us enjoy the stories this series has told, and just accept them, since we can't do anything but bitch and moan about how his series doesn't conform to our wants and wishes. Being a video game series, our input only legitimately affects the gameplay, as the series has done a decent job of addressing past issues as humanly as possible.

While it's fine that you haven't and won't accept them, it's fine to bring up such points when you're elaborating on your opinion. It's not very acceptable to try and convince everyone else that what they like is wrong and pass off your opinion as fact, since that's goes against the basic principles of an oinion. Agreeing to disagree is perfectly fine, but don't force your own opinion as fact, since it affects absolutely nothing of the overall plot in the slightest. We can't have an end-all hindsight of the franchise's plot as a whole until the series is all over and done with. Until then, our bickering doesn't affect the overall plot in any significant way. As such, having such negativity in the fanbase is unfortunate when the discussions are about how much something is going to suck seems to outweigh the genuine optimism and positives of the games.

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With the release of Days last Fall, Sleep out this September and Re:Coded to be released by the end of the year, the Gaiden titles will finally be out for all Kingdom Hearts fans a short year after Japan received them!

Again, this will be cleared up next week, and I'm just glad it's confirmed and that it seems we're getting Final Mix versions for two new games as our first and only options, which is always a good sign.

Yay for E3~