It's The Cool Kid

It took me a while to be won over by Persona 3 and by the time I decided to get it the game had already been sold out everywhere. My only option was to buy it on ebay or through an amazon seller, the average price for a USED copy was between $60 and $70. It was a tough sell for me. The Wii, Xbox 360, and the Playstation 3 had already been released so this game was a generation old. And at $60 at least I would be paying more than a full priced new game. But I wanted it so bad that every week I very nearly bought that stupid game. I put it in my cart and sometimes I would even click on check out to see what the total would come out to with tax and shipping.

Then came the joyous news of Persona 3 FES. The game was so popular that the creators decided to make an expansion. Persona 3 FES would include the original game plus the expansion which is at least 30 hours long. All of which would come to me for $30 through amazon.com. Needless to say I ordered that shit without even thinking about it.

I actually beat P3 a few months ago. I wanted to write about it then, but I was so burned out after putting in more than 100 hours of leveling up and sidequests that I couldn't even bring myself to think about anything Persona related. Now that a few months have passed, I feel like I'm in a good place mentally to talk about this game. (These things can sometimes be an emotional investment)

If you're coming into this game as a fan of Japanese style RPG's you will love P3. The art style is slightly edgy, anime-ish, and cartoony. It isn't impressive in a technical sense, but it's different and fresh. As an anime fan, I can appreciate the anime style. The visuals themselves can sometimes be entertaining just to watch. The English voice acting was done very well. The voices fit the characters and the performances sounded natural. There was nothing stiff or awkward about any of the lines. I'm not sure how to describe the music. It's hip hop, pop, techno all mixed together to create something that perfectly suits the anime style of the game. All I can say is that it works.

The story itself is nothing special. It takes place in near future Japan. You play a high school student who recently transferred to a new school. At the stroke of midnight, the world enters The Dark Hour wherein everyone is encased in coffins while monsters known as shadows appear. The school you attend transforms into a giant tower known as Tartarus and is teeming with shadows. SEES is a special group composed of individuals who can use beings called Personas. Persona users are normally the only ones who are still awake during The Dark Hour. These personas endow users with special abilities that can fight these shadows. The purpose of SEES is find out about the shadows and their connection to Tartarus. As the main character, you are a new recruit. Blah blah blah. Eventually the gets to talking about the purpose of life and what's worth fighting for, etc. etc. If you're into that kind of stuff, that's cool, but it's more or less stuff you've seen before.

As far as the gameplay goes, the battle themselves are pretty standard of turn-based RPGs. All battles P3's added spice is the use of personas, beings that a user can summon to perform special magic or attacks. It's the personas that make the gameplay tons of fun. Personas can be collected in Tartarus or via fusion. Certain combinations of personas create more powerful versions of personas you have or entirely new personas not available in Tartarus. Special fusions require you collect special items that obtain from doing sidequests. I get this Pokemon gotta-catch-'em-all! feeling when I'm fusing personas. It's addicting. You can also get extra experience for certain personas if you have been leveling up your social links. Social links are friendships create and nurture outside of Tartarus. The more you hangout with these friends and make the right decisions on what to say or do at critical moments, the stronger the bond which in turn increases the bonus experience you get when you create a persona under that social link. There's a lot you can do to strengthen your personas outside of battle that it makes level grinding not so bad. Because what you do outside the Dark Hour can affect the tools you use during that time, you find yourself figuring out how to manage your time, which is good way to prevent mindless grinding.

RPG fans, you gotta play Persona 3. If you play Final Fantasy games or anything similar, Persona 3 is a refreshing change of pace.

I started playing the first episode of Xenosaga some time last spring. I finished the third and last installment of the series a few days ago. I'm tempted to go on and on about the things I like and don't like about the series, but I'll keep it simple by talking about the two aspects of the series worth mentioning: the game play and the story.

Because each episode was made by a different group, the game play is different from episode to episode. The battle system for episode I employs something of a combo system. Each character has a boost gauge that starts with up to four levels. Each action costs a certain amount of boost. You can create combos by managing how much boost you create or use. You are also able to customize your move set as you again more experience and new moves. The combo system and customization options keeps drudging through enemies from getting too monotonous too fast. (Which is why I liked Episode I the best).

Episode II introduced a slightly more complicated battle system. Enemies have different zones (A, B, C) that when hit in the right pattern will cause the enemy to "break", or weaken. When enemies are in the break state, characters are able to attack continuously with some mad comboz! Each character is only able to hit certain zones. The difficulty comes from figuring which characters are appropriate for what area as well as the attack patterns enemies are weak against. It's a little hard to figure out, but once you've got it, creating mad comboz! becomes very very satisfying (although I ended up using an faq a lot).

Episode III is a standard battle system. There's a regular attack, tech attack, ether moves, etc. It turned out to be boring in comparison to episode I and II. The only thing I was wanted out of Episode III was some closure on the story line. The only aspect of the series that carried over through all three Episodes.

The storyline of Xenosaga is the series' defining characteristic. There is a lot of dialogue and cut scenes throughout all three episodes. Everyone has a back story and everyone is somehow connected to something. The story in Xenosaga is so rich with details that episode III features a giant encyclopedia detailing everything about the game. Some of the character development is done very well done and others suffer from disjointed pacing.

The characters aside, I don't like the heaviness of the plot itself. Xenosaga takes itself too seriously when philosophizing about the meaning of existence. The way that theme is presented and executed makes it hard for me to care. it could be the sometimes sub-par voice acting. Or it could be the not-so-realistic look of the series. Something about the game makes its major themes come out as blah blah blah to me. Except for that handful of characters I came to enjoy, the Xenosaga plot isn't anything special.

Only certain types of fans would enjoy Xenosaga. RPG fans can appreciate the different battle systems of Episode I and II. The game also has an anime style of story telling if you are into that. My only advice is to not take the story too seriously. It's impossible. There's too much of it.




I'm finally going to play Persona 3: FES. The original Persona 3 was the most well review RPG of 2007. FES comes with enhanced features and 30+ hours of extra gameplay. Let's see what all the commotion is about...

I bought Dynasty Warrior 6, played it, and got exactly what I had expected. It's still the same game with some not-so-major tweaks, which is fine by me. The best I can say for DW is if you are a fan of Dynasty Warriors (and who would be interested that is not already a fan) and you don't own DW 3-5 yet, DW6 is a worth a buy.

I also bought Hot Shots Golf Open Tee for the PSP. A lot of review I've read mentioned that the Hot Shots Golf series is built on easy to learn gameplay on the surface with deep game mechanics once you get better. Like other golf games, it has a gauge that fills up until you stop it to determine the power (measured in distance), and then returns back to the beginning where you have to stop it as close to the impact line as possible to determine accuracy. While that part is easy enough, you also have to pay close attention to the course conditions, particularly uneven terrain and nearby bunkers. Something as simple as making your first drive can easily turn into a frustrating ordeal of getting in and out of sand traps. Certain areas are designed in a way that does not leave a lot of wiggle room. So far, the challenge for me has been getting used to look out for things that interrupt the path of the ball. Frustrating at first, but very satisfying once I got used to it.

PlusI love any game that let's you customize your character (over 250 unlockable items!!!). And for $15, why not?

You could say I'm a Sony fangirl. My parents are Sony faithful. If they want to buy any consumer electronic, they'll get the best Sony model. I tend to be the same way. A lot of the electronics I've bought have been Sony made and I loved every one of them. The first music player I bought that wasn't a gift was a Sony Mini Disc Player. My first two digital cameras were super low end Sony models that I'm sure no one even remembers. The first gaming console that I was absolutely compelled to own myself was the Playstation 2 (LOVE).

These days I'm a little more aware of Sony's fall from grace as the premiere producer of electronics. I'll recognize Apple's damn ipod and Canon's digital elphs. They are superior products that I will choose over Sony because I want to have the best I can get for my money. However, I will not give up on my Sony gaming console! I know the Playstation 3 is a hard sell. It's too expensive, has a limited game library, and the online experience isn't as illustrious as something like Xbox Live (although to tell the truth I'm not very interested in the online aspect of gaming (except for something like downloadable gaming content)). For all these reasons I've been going back and forth about getting the console when I had the money. Even now, with the seeming windfall of money I've been getting recently (i.e. tax return, previously unclaimed paychecks) I still can't decide between a PS3 and a tattoo. For the past few months, I've been going to Best Buy only to get tempted to get the console and then I back down every time for whatever reason.

Today was different.

Today, I visited the painstakingly assembled shrine of the most devout gamer EVAR (Garrett's sister's man, Matt). And while the couple who presides there are stuck paying debts, paying for a house, and planning on getting married he still must have every gaming console (including all handhelds) that ever existed even if there may be some redundancies with backwards compatibility. Seeing that makes me think: I want it, so I should get it!. Acting quickly before my passion fades away yet again, I head to Best Buy for one reason and one reason only: to buy a Playstation 3.

I get there, excited that I finally get to put myself out of my misery, and guess what I see? A large metal block was placed behind the entrance door. Best Buy was closed early for Sunday.

Ugh.

Ladies and gentlement, I present to you THE ULTIMATE MUFFIN! It was a little dry because I used one less egg than the recipe called for, but it's hardly noticable. What I liked most about the muffins was that they were dense and hearty. I also really liked the texture added by the oats. Once Garrett and I become more accustomed to baking muffins we might try adding oats to everything. Yum!





That is cinnamon on top.





Up close.





Kuga was not intersted, no matter how hard we forced him.

Last Sunday I missed out on some freshly baked muffins (brought in by one of the kind managers at work) because I insisted on napping during my break. Since then I have had an insane craving for muffins which has gone unsatisfied thus far. Sure, we have Costco muffins, but anything bought in bulk just doesn't feel special. No, satisfaction may only come from a freshly baked muffin. A muffin made by hands I have seen because I can only trust hands that I've seen. I desire a muffin created by someone who has in mind the person they're baking for. A muffin filled with love and joy for cooking. Yes, what I desire is the ULTIMATE muffin.

I picked up Williams-Sonoma: Muffins today to begin my quest for the ultimate muffin. I think I'll try Cranberry-Orange Muffin. Hopefully the recipe is as fail safe as the reviews say.

All that aside, I also picked up the premier issue of PiQ Magazine (because I am a bit of a magazine whore who is on a quest for the ultimate magazine subscription). You could call it a "geek culture" magazine covering anime, sci-fi media, videogames, and some other junk. After a brief flip through I can say the page layouts are pleasing to the eyes and there were some interesting articles (I enjoyed "Is Anime Dead?" feature). My only complaint is the range of subjects covered. One of my favorite characteristics of magazines is their single subject nature (more of the stuff you're interested in). I'm interested in enough of the subjects covered by PiQ for it to work, but I'll have to check out later issues before making my final judgment. Based on the first issue PiQ seems to use anime as its heavy hitter, which is perfectly fine by me.

Will there be hope for the magazine industry or will the up-to-the-minute coverage of news blogs prevail?!

I'm following after Garrett's lead to talk about my gaming backlog because I have lifted the life burden of beating Final Fantasy XII, which I have been playing on and off since last July or August.

Don't get me wrong. The game itself is pretty good. It has faster game play, great voice acting, beautiful graphics. I was especially impressed by the way cuts scenes were seamlessly integrated into game play. A lot of the cut scenes, especially the action scenes, felt like a well shot action movie. If you are a Final Fantasy fan, it would be worth playing. FFXII was a chore to me because I couldn't get into the characters the way I did for Final Fantasy X (which is my most favorite game EVAR!). The story of political intrigue was well told, but it's not something that can hold my interest very well. With any story I go through, I really need to be able to get into my characters individually and I couldn't really do that in FFXII because the individual characters were wrapped up in what this or that kingdom is doing. The main character, Vaan, doesn't even do a whole lot in terms of the main plot. So yeah, not interesting.

Also, all the other things I like to do in RPGs such as acquire ultimate weapons, get all summons, etc. etc. were not rewarding in FFXII. The license board is nice because it has the flexibility of allowing characters to use whatever weapons you want them to want (at last our female characters no longer have to be resigned to fighting with a staff as a healer). However, it keeps characters from having something that is specifically theirs which in turn makes side quests for ultimate weapons no more complicated that finding it in a treasure box in whatever dungeon. The summons may sometimes be hard to get to which is a nice challenge, but once you get them you'll find they're not all that great in battle, so no motivation there.

The overall craft of the game is terrific, but the major things I'm interested in just weren't there. Thank god it's over.

Up next GrimGrimoire. My first RTS game. Woot!

P.S. I decided to watch the gametrailers.com review of it. My feelings were confirmed

I like cooking with convenience. Cook Do makes some great pre-made sauces that you slather over pretty much whatever kind of meat or meat substitute you want. Today I went with the chili sauce flavor.





The packaging calls for lots shrimp and green onions. I reduced the amount of shrimps and added lots of tofu. I also added some bokchoy, onions, and mushrooms. Everything but the sauce was tossed in a pan with heated oil and cooked. I then reduced the heat and added the sauce. Stir everything until the sauce is evenly distributed.





Pile everything on top of some rice and enjoy!





It looks way better than the effort it took make it would suggest. Cool!

After the Sausage Soup That's Thick, we made Jacked Pita Pizzas. The meals was entirely jacked from here and here (it's a great site!), but it was my idea to give it a try.





Making the pizzas were really easy. Buy pitas, some kind of sauce, and toppings. Pile them all together and broil them in the oven for so and so minutes depending on how crispy you want the pita to be or how melted you want the cheese to be. Here are the ingredients I picked, many of which were left over from the soup: tomato basil pesto sauce, goat cheese, portobello mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and green onions. I covered the portobello mushrooms with olive oil and black pepper hoping it might cook a little while in the oven.





Ah, there's nothing like fresh ingredients, I have to admit!

Actually I knew what I wanted to post about all along. Seeing as how I am currently unemployed and have just barely gotten my feet wet with volunteer work, I have a lot of free time to think about two things I love: the weather and food, but mostly I think about food. Moving out of my parent's house is still so and so months away, but I'm already salivating at the prospect of controlling my food intake. Every once in a while Garrett and I (mostly Garrett) cook our own meals despite the abundance of food cooked by our grandmas'. Inspired by Recipes I've Tried and Cooking Cute I decided to post about some of the results.

To help me with an extremely mild cold (but my god, it was terrible in warm weather), Garrett made a soup. Tentatively called Sausage Soup That's Thick, it's really easy to make and pretty much requires no exact measurements of ingredients. Aside from having reasonable proportions (i.e. Garrett said "we used 1.5 cans of water to 1 can of beef stock"), everything is to taste.





The base consists of beef broth (you can also use chicken), water, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and garlic pepper. Simmer the base until it's warm. You can put whatever ingredients you'd like. We went with carrots, onions, green onions, green peppers, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, artichoke hearts in olive oil, portobello mushrooms, a few small potatoes, and artichoke and garlic sausages. All ingredients were chopped or diced, except for the potatoes which were quartered. As soon as the base is warm the rest of the ingredients are gradually added in depending on how soft you want them to be. The potatoes were put in the oven for a few minutes first to ensure they are cooked all the way on the first serving.





So basically you warm the base and add the rest until it's all soft. Simple. The soup itself strongly carries the flavor of tomatoes. It's slightly tangy or tart and can be a bit spicy for weaker pallettes depending on how much pepper you add. Yum!

Before this journal fades into obscurity, I thought I might give it a fighting chance by deleting all my old entries and trying something new (and some things not-so-new). And if I'm going to continue using livejournal, I might as well keep it from being pointless/meaningless by actually posting about shit (and other stuff too). When I figure out what that is, I'll let you know!