living is suicide

i went to bed at 4am this morning. got up at 2pm. took a nap from 4pm to 7:45pm. this could work out against my favor.

i got my loan monies. it always feels like a lot of money, but then you make a budget and see you instantly lose a lot to rent and groceries.

it's now 8:08pm. im kind of tired...may nap again.

a reminder to myself

movies I want to see:

Burn After Reading - Sept 12
Ghost Town - Sept 19
Appaloosa - Oct 3
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist - Oct 3
Flash of Genius - Oct 3
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Oct 3
Max Payne (for the lulz) - Oct 17
Pride and Glory - Oct 24
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Oct 31
Quantum of Solace - Nov 7
Milk - Dec 5
Tale of Despereaux - Dec 21
The Spirit - Dec 25
Frost/Nixon - Dec 26

and those are just the big movies! there's a slew of independent films coming out and i can't even bring myself to sift through them. I'm just going to see them all! at least, all of the ones that come to the Nick...

September

I'm going to start actually posting blogs. That's pretty weird for me since in all my years of being attached to the wired I've never been regularly connected to the blogosphere.

DAMMIT I HAVE TO RESET AGAIN

So, I'll start out by saying that I really loved this game, I dug all the games previously released (in the US) from this series, and I have a soft spot for tactical RPGs in general.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is a very cool, and often frustratingly difficult game. For those who didn't know (of which there may be a few), this is a sequel to the GameCube title Path of Radiance, the first game in the series to enter the third dimension. Aside from some very minor gameplay differences, these two titles are essentially the same. The story is told through static drawings via text (no VO), and a select few FMVs (though there are decidedly more than the previous title). In the tradition of most strategy RPGs, there isn't an overworld that you are allowed to navigate; instead, the aforementioned cut-scenes segue from one battle to the next.

This is where the gameplay, and obviously the true meat of the game begins. When I first picked up a Fire Emblem game, there were a few features that differ from most games I'd played in the genre. The first major difference I noted between this and others is permadeath. No phoenix downs, no angel trumpets, dead character is dead (unless they are vital to the plot, in which case you either cannot play as them in battle anymore, or you game over). This factor alone adds so much replay value, because depending on who dies, who lives, and what kinds of support relationships you've built (more on that later), the end to the game can actually change. Because of this gameplay element, I often reset the game when any character died, because I want the good ending, haha.

Support relationships: really fuggin cool. The systems boils down to this, you pair up two characters, and based on what element (fire, wind, thunder, light, dark) they are aligned with they get bonuses to different stats. It doesn't stop there though. During the phases in between battles, you are at your base camp and you can do all the normal party adjustments and item buying, but you can also view support conversations which change depending on who is paired with who, what support level they have (C, B, A), and who is still alive. Maybe I'm just a nerd for infinite choices (and therefore massive replay value), but I really dug this feature.

Those were the two big cool things for me that I hadn't seen much of in tactical RPGs, but there were some other nifty things I noticed. Just off the top of my head: diamonds are forever, bows axes swords and lances are not. After a predetermined number of uses, your weapons break, so don't use the super-mega-awesome deathstick too much, because you won't have it for long. There are no user created units, all are introduced via the story somehow. Difficulty: I'm very used to being able to brute force my way through a level, and this game denies me that. You have to actually think. This becomes especially difficult at the end of the game when you have 60+ characters (if you've kept most of them alive) and you have to decide what 11 you want to use.

I wrote way more than I thought I was going to. I liked this game. If you like strategy RPGs, you will most likely enjoy this game. You can't go in expecting more of it; it has a good lengthy story (my chief complaint with the last entry in the series), there is minimal voice-over work and CG, but the gameplay is solid. And that's really what it's all about.