Playstation 3

Another game rant incomming! Attention Sony...the era of the Playstation is dead. It had a long reign...a decade or so, but the PS3 is well....useless. I want a PS3, but not so bad that I'm going to spend any more than 200$ on it...nothing I really want, but maybe Little Big Planet. I'm not a FPS person....Some nice graphics, but nothing special...I want a good mmorpg on there or a final fantasy *cough* *cough*...maybe then ill buy it. I do miss my PS2...I lost it when I moved.... ; ; I wanna play SLAI again and Graffitti Kingdom....no one has ever played those games...but there really, really fun! *sigh* I wish to share these amazing games with everyone! :D If I can find my PS2....

Cooking Mama

I cooked a swordfish yesterday. I just ate the second half of it, with some homemade rice and chow mein and sauce. It was like Japan came to celebrate in my mouth on my success as an amateur chef. It may not be gourmet....but im proud of it cause I made it myself. I could've just settled for Wendy's or Subway....but I made it myself, and that's what makes it taste so much sweeter. Also the garlic and bell peppers could've helped :p
Sometimes, I watch the cooking programs on Discovery Health and stuff...but, they never cook stuff I want. I don't grill food, and I'm happy with that, so half of the stuff they cook is out of the question. I do like baking very much, so some of the chicken and fish and beef they bake is interesting. I think the main thing that would help food preparation tv, would be smell-o-vision, or taste testing samples. If I knew how the end result tasted or smelled even, maybe I would try it. Just a random insert :)

FF Transistion 2

*This is just to add some of the things I forgot... with main themes, animal companions are common. Be they turtles, dragons, lions, cat people, or wild children, each FF has had animal humanoid main characters. These characters have only changed graphically, with the most recent being FF12's multitude of animal humanoids. Aside from moogles and chocobos, these special characters but the Fantasy into FF. Curiously, after FF3 we really don't see many dwarves, gnomes, or little people in general; but we still do have elves, dark elves, mermaids, some pixies, and other mystical fantasy creatures. In FF11 these creatures make a sizeable comeback, as Elvaan, Taru Taru, pixies in the past, lamia and sirens, and others. Only Elvaan and Taru Taru are main characters, however. The reason I don't include Galka and Mithra is because I consider them to be animal humanoids, and not so much fantasy/mythical creatures. Galka might be put in if I come to a conclusion in the future that they are decendant from gigas.
*Also, Cid is of course in all of the FF games regardless of transistional period.
*Also, in each FF game, although they are separate games and stories, each carry a small trait of the past game in the series. FF6 carries whole characters from FF5, such as Gilgamesh and Gogo. FF7 has a small refrence to FF6 in the Typhoon summon. FF8 mimics FF7 in many summons, by the time you get to 10 and 11, (12 doesnt really count because i has its own set of carry overs from Tactics) there are so many things taken from previous games, its hard and surprising to know which comes from what. (11 has Ixion now, a summon specifically from FF10 before). They are different from overall themes, or certain reappearing characters. Just little easter eggs almost when u find them.
**On that note, I'd like to talk about reapearing summons. The main summons of FF would be ifrit, shiva, odin, titan, bahamut, and leviathan. All others are unique to the game, or just appear less often. FF6 had a multitude of summons, many that never appeared again, or were renamed...such as Seraph and Valigarmanda (Tritoch). Maduin was Terra's father in FF6, but also reappeared as a summon in FF9 and tactics advance. Phoenix has appeared in many FF games as the "raise all" summon. In recent FF's it has not been present, but has been replaced with items and spells to raise all. Ultima is a universal "kill all"spell, (as with meteor), but has recently been transformed into a magnificent summon in FF12. I would like to see the terra and maduin summon, as well as odin, Valigarmanda or Quetzolcoatl, Hiryu or syldra, gilgamesh, tiamat, lakshimi, asura, unicorn or kirin, cat sith, Ultros XD, Chaos, and others when I think of them. But those are the main ones I would like to see installed in the next FF, along with the old favorites. While I'm still on the subject, I'd like to see more remakes of old FF games in new graphics, instead of just new mediocre rpgs from SE. They tried to remake them to Gba systems and Psp, but I'd like to see a Ps2 remake of a snes game, like any of the Old Structure FF's or FF6. Not just nice cutscenes either, I mean a full 3-d game. I think that would get more people to into FF again.

Final Fantasy Transistions

First, this is not a thesis....yet. I could write a thesis on Final Fantasy, but instead I will do a short rant on what I think is the transitions of the FF series. After listening and reading some of the FF music titles....I began thinking about when FF really took a turn into what I like to call the "modern FF" era. Modern FF's, such as 11, 12, 13, etc....have a certain trend to them. This trend, is: attractive heroes and heroines, catchy, but different styled battle music, and/or battle styles, and an overall "neo" feeling with it. To further explain what I mean, I look back at the earlier FF's, such as 1-5. This period I mark as the Early Structure FF's. Early Structure FF's had very many simularities, so much that playing ff 3, was almost the same as playing ff 5...Not by story so much, as by characters, generic dungeons, bosses, etc. In the Early Sturctures, we see an overuse of 4 main heroes. Heroes of Light, Dawn, whatever. 4 Heroes. This was mainly because of the game's ability to only have 4 people on the battle screen at once, but seriously...why 4 heroes? couldnt there be something more creative to do between 5 games? Ah well....moving on, we also see the begnining of themes--such as mog theme music, chocobo music, and airships. Airships were usually recieved near the ending of a game, so that the player could quickly go complete tasks that they may have missed before completion. These themes carry on throughout the whole franchise's series. Next we see with the Early Structures are generic heroes. The heroes of FF's are always memorable because of their involvement with the story, but few are memorable as characters themselves. Not many people remember Reina from FFV, or that one emperor from FFII....(see? even i cant remember him). Some characters such as Kain, ExDeath, and Rosa are remembered though. The characters from the Early Structure FF's were not as memorable as their later counterparts because they simply did not have the graphical technology at the time they were released. Its quite hard to remember a graphical splotch called Bikke, let alone have any type of connection to their physical illustrations. With the re-release of FF1 and 2, players can now appreciate the intended beauty of the characters, but still.....it's a bit too late. I'm sure some people are huge fans of the new re-designed characters, but with FF 13 and others coming out, its hard to look back and regain fandom of old characters that we once disregarded as blotches. Of course, this is a totally bias opinion from a person that entered into the FF world when it was already 7 strong. Anyway, the next area I'd like to cover is the Transitional FF's. These are the most memorable FF games worldwide, and represent SE's move into the future. FF6-10 are in this bracket, and they share a simularity in that they all are different. The differences I am refering to, I shall explain momentarily. First, I will examine ff6. FF6 was the precursor to the FF revolution, another sub category I will get to. It had the same nuances of the Early Structure FF's, and the same graphics, more or less of FF5, but it was the first not to have the 4 Heroes of Light. In fact, the main heroes were ambiguous, and some say that this was the first FF to have a woman heroine. Using a complex, but workable exchange system later in the game, once could have many party members, but trade which ones would be in the immediate party via airship. The music in my opinon, was the first set that was very memorable. The first set, that even the town music was interesting, and not just another town....the Decisive Battle music is one of the most remixed and loved Boss battle music out of all the FF's, almost as much as FF7 regular battle music. But still, it had the same form of an Early Structure FF with the light/dark world. FF's after this do not feature this structure again, (*except FF9). This was one of the first FF's to do alot of things right, and helped move the series to its bright and graphical future. FF7 I will not say much about, because there is too much to say about it. This was perhaps the second time, arguably the first, that the characters themselves were adored. Cloud and Sephiroth still remain the objects of many fans desires....(bishie <3) The characters had a superficial beauty to them that attracted many fans. Cloud and Sephi aside....Barret had a kickass machine gun in his arm, Yuffie was not attractive to me...i really dont see what ppl like about her....but she was a tomboy pop ninja (not to be confused with the popular FFX rikku, which I think shares simular personality traits), Tifa in my opinion wasn't very attractive....but some like her skimpy outfit and martial arts techniques, Aeris was the pure, innocent one (whose fashion sense was awful), Red 13 was a lion thing...a direct call back to old FF's coherent fantasy/animal companions, Vincent was like a vampire...'nuff said, and Cait Sith....well...was a cat on a giant monster moogle. What's not to like? Never saw Arc ride a giant monster moogle....Also, FF7-10 are what I like to call Revolution FF's. Here, we see a push into deep stories, often the main theme being romantic love. I guess with new technology, and a more mature audience, we can now have romantic love as a theme, along with some blood, violence, angst, and other emotions that were either taken out, or altered in the previous FF's. Anyway, I said I was going to be brief on FF7, and I will with FF8 too, because it was just a copy of FF7 structure with different story, just as FF6 was a graphical copy of FF5. By the time of FF8, we can see clear pictures of characters, at least in cutscenes. The graphics have gone up a bit, but still it is a close cousin to FF7 with music, graphics, etc. The story of FF8 moves more into the romanticism seen with revolution FF's. It features a fierce rivalry against two main characters, and new weapons, environments and technology...almost a sequel from FF7 technology. In ff8, we have time travel, gunblades, magic, genetic alteration, etc. This resonates with the futuristic push of transitional FF's and of the time period around the start of the new century. FF9 I am leaving separate, because although it is a transistional and revolutionary FF, it does more belong in the Early Structure FF period. It was a deliberate look back into FF roots, and has a more comic book feel and Legend of Mana characters. So, for the time being I will move on to the last of the transitional FF's---FFX. FFX is one of my favorites...it was the first FF to be on the new PS2, and it took advantage of this by enhancing nearly everything, but still keeping a transistional game touch. The technology had not improved drastically, but it was more spiritual than any other FF. Yuna's sending dance is very simular to a buddist ritual, and the whole pilgrimage to Zanarkand is a religious feat. The intriguing thing about FFX is that it borrows from FF7 and 8 an intricate story that can only be fully learned and appreciated with special player achievements and/or attention. The whole concept of Zanarkand, where Tidus has existed is nothing more than a dream world. It is revolutionary in that the main character starts off in a dream world, and almost harkens back to the light/dark worlds of the Early Structures. This world is never visited again after the encounter with Auron. The whole story is tweaked to see if viewers can cope with enhanced complexity and/or more mature themes. The battle system is turn based, which is very different for FF game. Some of the older threads of FF, such as Mystc Quest, and Legends feature turn based (i think), but it hasnt been seen in many years. It does fit in well with the game though...I hadnt really liked the fast paced actions of the ones before...it was good knowing i could go get a drink in the middle of a Seymour fight, or take my time to look and appreciate the complexity of Omega Weapon. The characters are taken to their limits with design and personality, each one possessing a unique and memorable traits and features. I still see women cosplaying as Lulu, the black mage with the many, many, belts. Fashion takes a front row seat during FFX and X-2 with enhanced graphics. Like FF6, there are many things this game does right. It celebrates 10 Final Fantasy games, and marks the end of a great comming of age. After this, FF games move into the next-gen age....the Modern FF age. Modern FF's 11-13 and beyond, are usually quicker to make, involve more experimentation in the series, and fashion becomes a key rquirement. FF11 is the series' first MMORPG, which is a big step for FF. It tries to incorporate the previous worlds of FF series with online gameplay and experimental items. Synthesized music and a more jazzy, relaxed feel is present in FF11, it is hard to get a blend of personal player interaction with a usually linear story line based game. Guild Wars does it well, and sometimes I wish FF11 would take a hint from them....the stories are too widely spread, and although they have a main goal, achieving it is often blurred by so many other features. It simply becomes another MMO...
Yikes....my rant about FF11 was more indepth than I wanted for this post....I can do a separate one for that game later...
FF12 is another "experimental" type FF. It's roots are not in FF main games, but are in FF Tactics, one of their many branches. I enjoyed tactics and tactics advance1 & 2 so FF12 is good for me too. The battle system is something many gripe about, including me...which is why I call it "experimental" they deviated away from the turn based or timer based action. Not as many people are familiar with the Tactics thread though, so as a result FF12 is less popular.
Last, but hopefully, not least...FF13. It looks to be an edgy, futuristic "experiment" yet again, but the main character is oficially announced as a heroine, so it might break away from the norm. Also, FF dissidia will probably overshadow the main game....people have not seen a good FF fighter since Enhergeiz, and that didn't really count. Itadaki Street portable didnt even come out in the US, so we have few branches of FF to play other than the main games. It remains to be seen if FF13 will complete the series, or start a new period of transistion for the company. I think this is where I end my rant, maybe more another time.