Astray

It's kind of fitting that Final Fantsy XIII-2 is something of a paradox.

In addition to contradicting lore established in XIII XIII-2 ostensibly starts in a parallel world/reality which apparently breaks just before XIII's final cut scene, which by itself is already annoying. Additionally both games suffer from the same narrative problem, that is of course that there is an obvious, and easier solution to the end game than a boss battle. In spite of this and the downer endings I can easily say I like it more than the whole ME3 shit storm, and actually wouldn't mind ending DLC for this XIII-2. I almost think that an in game solution, or expansion is necessary now that Caius has achieved what Ultimecia couldn't, since a sequel would kind of have to start at the end of XIII-2, and that's technically impossible now.

It's hard not comparing the game to Chrono Trigger, which is hands down better, but given how lack luster XIII was in the game play department XIII-2 is way better than it has a right to be. This does highlight a disturbing trend in the video game industry though. Over the past five to seven years I've been seeing a lot of sequels and series that seem like they would have been better had the multiple games simply been one. Don't let me miss lead you, XIII-2 is still terribly linear, but simply having the ability to go back at any time really got rid of the sense of that XIII was just one long hall way punctuated by cut scenes.

I feel drained in a good way.

The letters H and Z
Herbs
Aluminum

but most importantly

Orientated

WHAT IS THIS?
WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT HUH?

I'm in a really weird place right now since I like the IP, but everything I've seen about the upcoming Iron Kingdoms RPG is just a combat system which just happens to be compatible with the tabletop game. I'm not really a fan of Fate, but Fate based games, and by extension Burning games, just work! While I might happily play another RPG, as a game, I've got no reason to buy the Iron Kingdoms RPG outside wanting to learn more about the world in general, and that's just not enough to sell me the book. I've got my DnD/Fate hack that I'll never play, and Burning Wheel/Empires, but I want more story games that are more robust, and I'm feeling kind of lonely in that market place.

The real crapper is I also lack for an actual group, so all this is intellectual anyways.

Finally, I've got an approximation of the System Requirements!

Today the media blackout expired on the press beta of the game, which meant we've gotten our first glimpses of the game outside convention demo footage. Sadly while a lot of game play, and 'features' video's are going up it seems like deeper articles are taking longer to be posted. Honestly guys if you can film stuff, and wait a few weeks to post it, can't you also start writing first impressions reviews a few weeks in advance?

Fortunately several people have posted their system specifications along with the video so people like me, who had to buy a new computer roughly a year earlier than I wanted to, are able to find out how much of an upgrade is necessary. Even more fortunate is the fact that it's not going to require much of an upgrade at all!

Unofficially it had been confirmed that the game would run in Direct X 9 a while ago, but with Anet holding their cards close to their chests, gamers were only able to guess at what the game would require until this afternoon, and now it looks like you can play the game at medium settings on a top of the line GPU from 2010, which is convenient since I built my PC in 2011!

GOD BLESS THE SIX MONTH FORCED OBSOLESCENCE CYCLE!

This also means you can play the game eringryffin, hint, hint!

While I'm never going to p- OK I'll play this game when it goes Free to p- No wait I'll still be playing a game full of people who like Star Wars so...

Never mind, look the important thing is that male force users get hosed. While pursuing a romance is entirely optional, the thing about male force users is that there female companion is always Cloth DPS. So if you like playing with your romantic interest you're gimping yourself. I suppose that it could be argued that thematically it disencourages romance for Jedi, except that this limitation doesn't affect female PCs, and happens to screw over the Sith as well, which doesn't make any kind of sense.

Male Jedi: Hey babe wanna join me on this mission to save the republic? ;)
Kira: Sure, I'm a DPS Consular!
Male Jedi: Oh, uh, I'm a DPS tank myself. :(
Kira: I guess we'll be meditating a lot then.
Male Jedi: Meditating isn't a euphemism for sex is it?
Kira: It is not.
Male Jedi: >:(

If you're super paranoid that your neighbors are going to steal your wifi, and lets be honest, if they really wanted to they could, then I've got the perfect solution for you!

You see most security can be defeated with the simple application of processing power, and time so the only way to prevent someone from 'hacking' you is to be constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY vigilant...

Or buy a cheap metal pot, and put it over your antenna when you're not using wifi. ;)

My parents just got wifi, and they wanted to secure it, and I was trying to explain why actually securing it is too much trouble to bother, when it hit me that, 'you don't even need to bother going into settings to turn it on, and off if you just physically block the signal!'

So now I don't have to teach my parents how to use the bundled software, and the router has a saucepan over it.

Even though I didn't start playing FPSs until college, mostly for lack of a computer, it's nice to know I'm instep with Ben Croshaw, "Yahtzee," and other gamers from my generation. I was watching the I am the Freeman fan trailer for the Half Life series, and at 53 seconds I couldn't help but think, "Just rocket jump god dammit!"

I've noticed that GW2 has an odd position on the trope. The Sylvari, which are basically plant elves,do have boobs, although the Charr, which are effectively mammalian, do not. The Asura also avoid this pitfall so... BIOLOGY WIN!

I'm not sure how fail the Sylvari actually are though, since part of their back story is that the Pale Tree was imitating the forms of Ronan, and Ventari along with the human caretakers that tended it until the coming of the first born.

(Note to Self: Re-write this into a proper short story.)

I hate that I don't know enough about the lore of Battle Tech to have had an accurate dream, but I did have, what I believe to be a pretty awesome dream. It was set during the clan invasion just after everyone had gotten their shit together, and 'reformed' the star league.

A general assembly was called for the big wigs to discuss strategy, and to pay a stipend, and combat pay to those houses who'd been committed to the defense of the Inner Sphere. I was a vassal, and mech warrior of house Davion, and had been seated beside the head of a branch house of the imperial family of Kurita. The speeches had been made, and our leadership had retired from the assembly hall leaving the mech warriors, captains, and less important lord lings to mill about as attendants distributed crisp white envelopes, made fat by the thick stacks of C-bills inside, to the appropriate parties.

Almost by accident I'd struck up a conversation with the mech warrior I'd been seated beside, only to discover after snide remarks about the speeches had turned into an actual discussion of the depredations of the clans, and typical mech warrioring, which itself lead to the trading of lighthearted jabs, and barbs. Eventually I'd asked if he'd managed to get his hands on any clan mechs, and then bragged that I'd started piloting a Black Hawk when my unit captured a depot on some planet or another. Technically it was a downgrade from a heavy to a medium mech, but with it's fire power, armor, and heat management it didn't feel like it.

It was at this point that some self important captain, or general attempted to shame us by reminding us of the historic nature of the day, and how it had been literally centuries since the last meeting of a star league general assembly, and that we were impugning the dignity of the day by cutting up like a pair of children.

She was thankfully interrupted at that juncture when an attendant distributing the largely ceremonial envelopes stepped into the conversation to hand me my payment. The attendant then rose above his station by asking the officer this question, "has it also not been centuries since a Kurita, and Davion mech warrior 'cut up like children?"

An incomplete crossover sent me from Haruhi to Zero No Tsukaima, where I stumbled upon this quote in the pit of voles.

"I'm a grade 10-jujitsu/tae kwon do/guitar specialist with usually nothing better to do at home than watch anime or play my electric guitar. Every single day, every single year, it's the same thing."

The author is just so earnest, I couldn't help but share this. I am however severely disappointed that he didn't just go ahead and say, 'Every day it's the same old boring flaming motorcycle jumps over a exploding helicopter trip to school where I have to endlessly guitar battle supermodels out of their panties in (guitar battle supermodels out of their panties: 101) before I have to leave school early to punch time bombs into submission for the JSDF anti-terrorist/bomb disposal/breast inspector unit. Bored, bored, bored bored BORED! Everything is so boring!'