So things have pretty crazy on my end. Work keeps me busy and family has too. The ups and the downs have been full force but for the main fact that I havent fallen to the ground into the fetal position crying means Ive def gained some tougher skin for handling times like this.
I always thought FF games were completely seperate from each other except for direct sequels and spin-offs, but I never even considered that 7 & 10 were related, with the time travel and all (actually there is a bit of time travel in both). Has anyone else heard of this? This is the first time I hear about it and I'm actually quite blown away by it. Even if it isn't true, the evidence is pretty strong. I'd like to think they are connected. Interesting... interesting.
From Reddit:
Shinra from FFX is an ancestor of the people who found Shinra Inc. in FF7. Shinra in FFX researches ways to use the power of the planet to use them as energy (you find this out in an optional cut-scene which otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with the game/world of FFX itself). This is exactly what FF7 Shinra is doing, harvesting the planets energy. I forgot the name of the energy in FFX, it's the farplane or something? Everytime you kill monsters in FFX they die and you see those green "fireflies" returning to the farplane. Tidus is made of it (and Auron). In FF7 this exact thing is called Mako and the farplane is the lifestream. Spheres in FFX and Materia in FF7 are both made from lifestream/farplane energy. The evidence is there, there's tons of it. Just play both games over again and keep the basic principles of how the energy of the planet works in mind. Start with FFX.
Well, my friend Mark finally has his gamer-tag up and running again on Xbox 360, and so it's back to modern gaming as usual, playing co-op in new and exciting virtual worlds. I expect to log twenty hours or so in EDF 2025 this weekend.
Yes I wound up buying the humble comics bundle but I already have the shadow man game.
So it has been quite awhile since I last wrote a review for this place. As much as I wanted to write one I have just one problem, not GamerGate related mind you; it seems like I never have the energy to write a review like I did. I guess it’s kind of like doing book reports for me. Let me explain: let’s say you had to do a book report about every two weeks (because English instructors are a type of Grammar Nazi hell bent on global literacy) and you have a bunch of favorite books. You love the books you read and you want to talk about them as much as you can, but then after while when you have written about five or six reports in a particular format that doesn’t agree with your metal flow it starts to wear on you. And that’s the problem for me: I have a hard time trying to define the game I’m playing in a format like I have been using. Going over graphics, controls, story start to look similar because I’m using words to define what I’m looking at, or at least experiencing, at a level that everyone can understand and for someone who can process it but can’t explain it back that well in a common language, such as myself, that can be a problem. I like to rant but I have a hard time defining my ranting.
So my editor-in-chief at the university newspaper I do the Opinions page for (http://thepinelog.com) recently suggested the staff get a capture card and start doing let's plays. A lot of staff members seem to be on board. I'm excited.
Well Happy Friday good people of Pixlbit, I hope everyone is counting down the hours until the weekend hits and you get to do something fun like play video games…or sleep. Before I start this week’s Quick Hits, I have to ask, what do people get from waiting out in line for a new piece of tech? I see it with consoles, some games, and currently phones (for you folks reading this while waiting in line for the new iPhone, be safe, there are yahoo’s who try and cut for force their way into the line. And for reseller guy, GTFO!) I guess it’s worth it for you guys/gals who want it right away. I’m more of the lazy guy who strolls into a Walmart two or three months after launch, will buy the phone, and maybe a couple of $5 CDs from the bargain bin. Anyways congrats iPhone 6 owners, I’ll pick my iPhone 6s a couple of months after it’s released.
I was thinking that I do not have much to say, but we will see. I may end up rambling on for a while.
I don't know anything about Valiant but I thought I'd put this here for anyone who is into digital comics.
Hey folks, I’ve got another batch of game reviews I’ve written lately over at GamerDad.com. Please click on the links and read as many as you can and maybe even post a comment or two. I’d appreciate it. Also wanted to let you all know that this coming week, you probably won’t hear much from me here because I’m going to Disney World!
A highlight from the Tokyo Game Show this week. The internet is buzzing over this. I for one am just relieved that I'm finally going to get to play this game and complete the Fabula Nova Crystallis saga or whatever. Also, Type-0 has a set launch date for March '15 and a demo of this game is said to be included. The bad, or good depending on how you feel about him, Nomura is off this project and is instead beind finished by the dude that made Crisis Core and 3rd Birthday. Nomura is working on Kingdom Hearts 3 though.
So a lot has happened with me being in gamer-gate. Don’t worry, this will not be a piece bagging on Anita or Zoe as I feel like the movement (feels weird calling it that) has evolved so far beyond its’ initial roots it‘s no longer about them. If anything, I wish Gamer-Gate had started on a more positive note other than a hurting ex-boyfriend airing his girlfriend’s sex-life. Don’t get me wrong, overall I’m sure Eron is a nice guy but like the rest of us sometimes do, I think he did something kind of questionable in the heat of his emotions. The only good thing about The Quinnspiracy is it “did” bring up the issues of nepotism and cronyism. Everything else is throw away garbage for me.
Not that was the start of all this for me personally. I remember when Bob Mackey (a game journalist) first wrote “This Month In Misogyny” for 1up. It was the first time the “shame narrative” was in full swing and Bob seemed to take a perverse glee out of hitting gamers where it hurts. I recall him slandering J-rpgs especially, saying games like Hyperdimension Neptunia were just for pedophiles. (At the time I knew several female game friends who “loved” J-rpgs too, including the ones with racier, sexier, and cuter content.) Rape-culture was used as a catchphrase a few times as well. Many 1uppers were offended or outright furious and I was one of the loudest voices against Mackey.
The feud between Bob and I continued on and off from that point on. Eventually Bob was so pissed at me he got members from the forum Bo News to descend upon my 1up blog. Yes, this was a professional journalist recruiting “mercenary friends” to troll me. Among them was K. Thor and his loathing of gamers seems pretty apparent even to this day.
To the credit of 1up, Jeremy Parish eventually stepped in, apologized, and put Mackey in his place. It’s a rare gesture I don’t see often (As in an editor siding with the readers) and though Jeremy and I had our disagreements as well I still respect him for trying to keep the ethical standards of being non bias and fair to everyone. Has Jeremy clung to those standards? I hope so though after I read Kat Bailey’s article comparing Lords Of Shadow 2 to Rape-lay, I simply could not stomach sticking around on US gamer any longer.
But if you think that’s my only initiation into how these people work you would be a bit wrong. Not too long ago I made a little rpg using rpgmaker VX ace.(With pixlbit's resident blogger Blake contributing some of the music) I’m certainly not endorsing it as anything special. It told the story I wanted it to yet was not that ambitious when it came to bells and whistles. Sure, I made original sprites for each character (Using a sprite editor) and chose a more urban modern setting but the battle system was right out of the first Dragon-Warrior and once you collected all the soulmorphisis cards the difficulty became way too easy.
I released the game too early before changes were added later to make it more user friendly. This got me some very well deserved criticism and helpful feedback that I would later use to revise the project further. But even then the atmosphere was tense. There were complaints about my art being “objectifying to women” and once it was known my game dealt with rape and depression (And yes, I’m bi-polar irl) the sentiment was “Oh, it’s okay to address sexual assault and depression but we know you’re going to botch it up anyway because you’re a white cis shit-lord who has never known hardship in your whole life!’.
With that particular rpgmaker site being filled to them brim with cynicism and nepotism, I decided to give game-jolt a try. The people there were a lot nicer and Gutter-delve seemed to skate by on positive scores for awhile. Then came the whirlwind of negativity that is Gliz-Caldo. Gliz had done a whole series of videos mocking my game on you-tube. Granted, it was the earlier build so a good portion of his grievances were probably legitimate. However, he took his impressions from that early build and scored my updated game based on that. Eventually I convinced Gliz to do another review and get back to me. Had he been a reasonable person he might have complimented the improvements but instead he found new things to bitch about and the list goes as follows.
1. Instead of being happier there were no more random battles Gliz complained the enemies seen on screen did not have aggressive enough AI to seem threatening and that they re-spawned after a few seconds. First of all, the enemy sprites are just there to eliminate the need for random battles. Their point is for gamers to touch them to be whisked into the battle-screen. That’s all, really. Had I made an action game Gliz’s critique would have been more valid but this was an rpg instead. Rpgs are known more for their story and they handle fights very differently from action games. (At least turn based rpgs do) Also, it takes awhile for the enemies to respawn, enough time for the player to move on with no troubles.
Perhaps Gliz’s oddest statement in all this was that he said he felt guilty killing the monsters because they were too easy. Yes, the “too easy” remark is a valid concern but feeling “guilt” over dispatching the enemies? The game is not violent. It has mature content and swearing but the battles are the least offensive thing in Gutterdelve. (Beyond the monsters saying some pretty messed up dialogue but that is meant to keep the player aware they’re fighting a dark force that represents the ills of humanity.)
2. At one point the female characters have a conversation in the kitchen. You would think this would not spark anything negative in the audience but Gliz tried to spin it as “They’re females in the kitchen=sexist symbolism!” And my gawd, it worked too. Soon other complainers mentioned this very scene and accusations were flung I simply cannot write female characters very well. Keep in mind these characters were introducing themselves to a new female character. They were not “making sandwiches” for their boyfriends or anything nonsensical like that.(The game even let’s you know earlier on the male character Liam is the best at cooking) It just so happened they were hanging out in the friggin kitchen!
3. Gliz complained the “new music” put in the game was “too generic”. Keep in mind he was the same guy to harshly get on my case for using copyrighted music when he first played the game so I changed it based on his feedback. Yeah,he made the game worse for himself! Beyond that, I’m happy with the new soundtrack anyway and I’m glad you-tubers doing let’s plays of my game will not get flagged. That’s the beauty of using open source music!
Regardless I was fucked after that. Once one asshole decides to shit on something it encourages other assholes to shit on something. Yet all through this abuse I did not flag comments or even flag Gliz’s videos.
