3 posts tagged “dashing sky pirates”

What's on your Top 5 video games list?
Submitted by mileena.

First and foremost, Final Fantasy VII has always been and always will be the (slightly overrated) love of life.  Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart have worked their way into my heart and they're not going anywhere.

However, we talked it over and decided that we weren't totally exclusive; we can see other people.

Final Fantasy IX is my second favorite with The Cast That's Impossible Not To Like Lest He Hath No Heart, and Final Fantasy XII has quickly claimed a spot in my top 5 (even though I'm probably no where near the end--Hunter's Camp?).

I've been trying to figure out a way to work this in somewhere, so I'm just going to type it out now: I find it more than a little disheartening that so many people that hated FFIX's Princess Garnet love Princess Ashe in FFXII.  They're not too dissimilar, only Ashe's adaption to the "real world" happens off screen.  By the time Vaan and Co first meet Ashe, she's already begun learning the ways of the underground and is fairly battle hardened; Vaan considers her to be a bit of a bitch before he figures out she's the princess. Alternately, Garnet is introduced to the cast as the princess; the characters and the player's see her at her most sheltered.  Yes, she's naive to the ways of the rest of the world and everyone wants to protect her, but by the time she witnesses the destruction of neighboring kingdoms and the death of her mother, she's determined to become her country's leader in this time of crisis.  She grows to be graceful and queenly by the story's end. ...But somehow showing weakness prior to her coronation makes her weak overall. 

Good job, kids.  Way to miss 3/4 of the game. :)

Another favorite is Jak II, a great, well-rounded, cinematic game that guarantees to have you (first jokingly, then seriously) pondering its suicide rate.

And I guess I should throw in Ocarina of Time for good measure.  Or smash it together with Majora's Mask to try to squeeze another game into my top 5.  Everyone knows that Zelda games are fun; although I loved the Wind Waker, the OoT generation is still my favorite.   Those games really felt epic, though it's a different kind of epic than that of FFXII (though I admit to sometimes comparing the two while running around in the wasteland... and humming the Gerudo Valley theme for good, geeky measure).  It didn't have the ridiculous complexity of FFXII's narratives (every time I think I know who someone is, they turn out really being aligned with someone else and die D:), but the world itself was monstrous and so well laid out.  It wasn't just running into the distance and moving to the next screen a la FFX; you really felt like you were crossing a continent.  I don't know if TP will be able to replace it, but I'm more than willing to give it a chance.   Assuming I'm able to get a Wii.

At least the box will be pretty.  AND ZELDA HAS A SWORD.

8:30 in the morning is way too early to talk about rocks.  I have to run to a computer lab and schedule/run to EB and pick up FFXII between classes today, so I'm wondering if it's even worth going to lab?  We get to drop one, but that feels cheap.  I almost skipped two labs ago because I was ready to cry, but I ended up going for the last hour and immediately felt bad since our TA was so nice about it.  Don't be nice when I consider playing hooky.  Scare me into submission!

I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to request the (miss)understood tour be shipped with boku wa kuma.  Now I won't get it until December.

Exhibit A: Dashing Sky Pirate

Nevertheless, HAPPY FFXII DAY!  I got the guide yesterday after I ran up to EB and whined about not being able to go to the party.  I'm reluctant to thumb through it too thoroughly (I did that with the KHII guide and ended up spoiling myself silly.  I've made it this far-!)  It's so pretty.  Fran was my bonus covergirl; I'm so excited to meet her and Balthier, even if Basch is supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.  He may be so, but he's not dashing.

And the metal Collector's Edition box for the game is sexy.  I had my doubts from the promotional artwork, but actually playing with the display boxes has me thoroughly convinced it'll be a great buy for the box alone.

All in all I've been in fairly high spirits recently; it turns out pretty much everyone is coming up to visit us for some holiday or another (cousins are coming for Thanksgiving [KHII with youngest should be fun]), and Grandpa's coming up for Hanukkah [for which I can never decide on a spelling]).  The real moral of this story is that now I don't live at home so I have to do minimal entertaining.  Huzzah!  Hostess I am not.

In summary, it's almost enough to make me forget how much the Japanese direct-style perfective makes me want to shoot myself.

Books, movies, music; what's in your top 5 right now?

I've been meaning to do this for, like, a week now. Top 5 music releases of the moment are:

LOVEppears

I've been listening to LOVEppears era stuff a lot recently--both the actual album and the ayu-mi-x II collection.  Some of my favorite songs are from this period -- it had some truly classic singles -- but I really don't think it was her strongest.  It was definitely the one that launched her into the superstardom, so maybe it's the sentimental value that's been pulling me to it recently.  "immature" and "And Then" have been getting a lot of play, especially. 

Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack

FFXII is always coming up on my playlist when it's on shuffle, but I've been... voluntarily listening to it a lot more, especially "Kiss Me Good-Bye".  ONE MORE DAY!  

Home

Of course, Angela Aki's solo stuff has also been played to death.  See also my top song at Last.fm.  "Uchuu" is my favorite song from her library and quickly climbed to the top of my list; I recently ordered her first Japanese album (the One indie), and I can't wait to hear it.

Can't Sleep Can't Eat I'm Sick/Ningyo

Other artists that have taken over my playlist recently are Jolin Tsai and Namie Amuro.  Namie's addition to iTunes has allowed me to indulge in some of her pre-Hip Pop singles, though I have to say I prefer my Namie with slightly skanky Engrish.  Even so, her recent single CAN'T EAT, CAN'T SLEEP, I'M SICK is still on constant repeat.  I love the whole thing--even "Ningyo", which is a lovely change of pace.

Dancing Diva

As for Jolin Tsai... I'm not quite sure how the recent kick got started.  Although the assumption of Dancing Diva and J-Top probably had something to do with it, I've found myself listening to Magic and Castle a lot.  It's been awhile, so I suppose it was due.