Feeling Lethargic.....

One of the things I didn't like about school was the daily routines that I got myself into of waking up, go to school, do homework, sleep, repeat.  When summer break began, everyday was an exciting day of seeing friends, playing videogames and trying new Online games, starting new projects, learning new songs on my instruments, and slowly work myself into shape by exercising.  Unfortunately, I've gotten myself into another routine after a while due to circumstances that could not be avoided.  My friends were a lot more busier than I thought this summer and so I didn't get to see them as much as I would have liked.  One has work, the other went on several family trips, a few went out of the country, and some were tied down with chores and preparations for school.  I've been going to the gym every other day this summer in order to become more physically active and stronger.  Along with needing to get my license before I leave to College, I've been driving everyday for about 1.5 hours.  Other than that, each day I would be checking my e-mail for school updates, checking for additional forms that may need to be complete for shcool, running errands or going out with my family.  So I wake up and eat breakfast and soon after lunch, go driving, go to the gym, take a shower, eat dinner, and then I get a bit of time to do something.  One instance is what I'm doing now, writing on my blog o.0.  But yeah, I don't like how I don't have that much free time to myself to even work on my projects anymore.  There's so many things uncompleted and unfulfilled at the moment and summer break is coming close to an end.  It's so sad that it's a bit......depressing.

[New Stuff]

During last week, my family did some shopping and I was able to get a few things myself.  Besides finally buying my Lenovo Thinkpad Laptop (which hasn't come in yet), the most notable item I recieved was an 8GB iPod Touch from my sister.  She bought a Mac Book Pro with the college offer of a free iPod Touch and decided to give it to me since she receieve a 8GB Nano on her birthday as well as presenting it to me as a replacement ipod since my old one runs out of battery in only a few hours of play time (I'm still keeping it though, unless someone wants to buy it from me? =D).  I went to Guitar Center looking for a electric guitar tuner and found one for a really good price but didn't get a discount, and so I did not buy it; however, I managed to find a really nice pair of Headphones for my new laptop I can use for my music (and gaming I suppose with the fact that it doesn't have a microphone on it) and a sustain pedal for my electric keyboard to use when I go to to college.  So I'm happy with my new stuff, though the iPod has been sucking a lot of my time away.

[Download Crazy]

Ever since I got my new iPod, I've been downloading games like crazy.  I did manage to find a few good games but still feel a bit unsatisfied.  It's probably due to some previews of certain games that I'd love to have but can't find a way to get them.  One such game would be Vay, a port of a Sega CD game from 1993.  It's an classic RPG game with animé type animations and pixelated sprites.  With the iPod having no buttons, it's hard to play any other type of genre besides puzzle games, but RPGs are possible.  You tap to move to an area, and you select commands to execute them.

The other game has yet to come out.  Pantafobia is also a RPG game with the claim of having gameplay length of 100+ hours.  That actually turns me off since I've been playing short games now since I don't have as much time to play long ones.  But the twist in the game that makes me so curious is that after you beat single player mode, you get to go online and play with your character there with other gamers.  I don't know how that works, but for an online game on a handheld like iPod touch?  It sounds pretty interesting.

I know I'm not leaving for school yet, but I already miss you guys.  I feel very tired from all the things I've been doing and still need to take care of before the move down to Irvine.  Hopefully Irvine will be fun.  ^_^

Final Fantasy XI - Crazy Boss Story

Yesterday, I was asked by my dad if I ever heard of "Pandemonium Warden".  I had no idea what that is or "who" it was.  I was actually thinking of a DotA character that looked like a Panda and would occasionally crack a joke about his brewing beer abilities or his self such as "I've got Pandamonium".  Appearently, it's a new boss monster on the Online game "Final Fantasy XI" that was added in the newest update patch.  I never played the game before, but I've played enough online games to know that some boss monsters may take a while to beat sometimes; however, my dad told me that the article he read off of Yahoo reported that a group of players tried taking on the Boss and spent 18 straight hours fighting it before they decided to stop.

The players that played for those 18 hours started getting sick and passing out.  I decided to do a bit of research on it and there really were articles about the infamous boss "Pandemonium Warden".  I apologize to those players that suffer, but I found it amusing that Square-Enix would even do such a thing as to place a boss monster like that in the game.  The quote I see appear all over the internet came from the guild leader of "Beyond the Limitation" and it was quoted:

"People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people’s lives…. None of us doubt that Pandemonium Warden can be killed. We just call into question exactly what the development team thinks is reasonable from human beings".

I guess they didn't go "Beyond" their "Limitations" but they were very persistant to fight for 18 straight hours.  Can you imagine?  Constant clicking and shouting over the mic to the guild members "we can do it, we can do it!"?  I love playing videogames, but not so much as to dedicate my life to it.  So the point of this article is for me to tell you (mainly my friends that play online games) what my father told me after he read that article "don't you ever do that".  I love epic battles, not epic fails.....

Online Games - Multiplayer Games List

One of the other reasons why I wanted to start this blog page was to be able to make a list of multiplayer games and online games I played so that my friends would be able to know which ones are similar to the ones they play.  In doing so, I can find games I could play with my friends.  Anyways, the list will be added onto the right hand side panel.  For today's blog, I will do some short reviews of the Online games that I particularly enjoy playing.  Perhaps it may inspire some of you to join me.  (lol, I've always wanted to do videogame reviews, I'll make it simple and judge on 5 factors: Story, Graphics, Sound, Controls, and Replay Value).

[Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst]

Phantasy Star Online started its series in 2000 on the Sega Dreamcast and been ported many times and evolved in many ways.  It is considered to be an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) as it was one of the many games on Dreamcast where you could connect to the internet and play with other people.  In terms of gameplay genre, I would put it into ARPG (Action Role Playing Game).  Unlike the original Phantasy Star games, the fighting is real time instead of turn-based random battles, making it a unique from most RPGs.  The game has only 3 classes but with different races each that affects their player growth and attributes.  There are the choices of Hunters, Rangers, and Forces (which is like typical RPGs with Close-Range, Far-Range, and Magic characters).  Though the main story is fairly short, there are many quests and activities to participate in.  The story is set on the planet of Ragol where thousands of citizens living there mysteriously disappeared.  Party up with 3 other players to form a group of 4 hired hunters searching for the reasons of the disappearance of the people and the answers to the planet.

Onto the review:  Complaints that the game has no storyline has been brought up many times when reviewing the game; however, the game does have a concept in where it is taken place and the situation that the characters are under.  Though the characters and interactions between them may not be very strong and deep, the plot is simple and straightforward.  Consider that this game is nearly 8 years old, so the graphics are obviously outdated with its blocky characters and flat layered environments.  It delivers an immense world of fantasy and wonder though in the way they present each area.  The music is memorable, though it can be bland after playing it so many times, and possibly annoying to some.  The combo system might seem confusing at first, but those that know the timing will know it without even thinking.  I've been playing this game for possibly over 5-6 years now and I'm still not exactly tired of it because of how many secrets it has in the game.  One of the biggest draws toward playing the game again is finding an interesting equipment to use in battle as there are literally dozens of weapons in the game.  I first saw the game on Dreamcast when a friend brought it over and showed me how many weapons there were.  A few years later, I got the game as a present for the Gamecube.  Now, I am playing Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (which is purely a online game with episodes 1, 2 and 4) on a private server due to Sega's decision to close down the official servers and concentrate on Phantasy Star Universe.

It is one of my favorite games of all time, even though I can't say I really have a favorite game.  It's really fun if you can find someone to play this game with, and it isn't as difficult to understand than most MMOs out there now.  I see that I have written a long review for this one, so I'll try my best to shorten the next few ones.

[Maple Story]

This simple sidescrolling MMO has captured the attention of millions of players around the world with its facilitated controls and concepts and cartoonish/animéish character designs.  I'm not sure why I'm sharing this game with everyone since this is one of the games that I know most everyone plays.  It's cute, fun, and very addictive (though I'm never addicted to games, it's true!  I'm obsessed with videogames, which means I have control over my actions toward it~).  The problem is that it takes forever to level up and that the game has built up a bad community with people hacking, harassing other players, and disrupting the game play of others.  The game reminds me of early action games where the players would have to continue moving right to finish the game.  The world is explorative, and so it is non-linear (which means you don't HAVE to go one way).

So far, the game has 4 main classes with their own sub-classes in each.  There is Warrior, Archer, Mage, and Rogue.  I have to admit that the tunes to the game is very catchy.  I guess I can understand why so many people play it when the game is so easy to understand (move, jump, attack).  Skills are slowly obtained; therefore, making it easy for players to know what each key they set to does.  In truth, I don't play the game that much anymore, but I did join a private server where the experience rate was at 300x which made it a lot easier to level and gave me the opportunity to travel to more difficult places.

With several million people around the world playing, it's no wonder the game is still around.

[Ragnarok Online]

Possibly my favorite online game so far.  It is completely non-linear with no story lines set for the players, no telling where to go or what you need to do, and thousands of things to do.  It follows the traditional point-click controls that Diablo and Lineage.  The characters and enviornments are flat layers on a 3D-enviornment and is also animéish in character designs.  Music compositions are among the best and perhaps the most enjoyable to listen to from the 3 games I've reviewed so far.  You start the game out as a novice and have the choice of becoming several different classes.  Within the game, there's questing, hunting, boss fighting, pvp, WoE (which is gvg "guild versus guild", dungeon exploring, class changing, chatting, trading, vendor selling, dueling, and many more.  Here's an example of WoE:

I haven't tried WoE, but it looks really exciting.  It's up to you what you want to do that day you log on.  You can create up to 9 characters, quite a bit since in Phantasy Star Online= 4 character slots, and Maple Story= 3 character slots.  I also play on a private server for Ragnarok Online mainly since I don't play consistantly and don't want to pay every month on the International server.

Well, if anyone intends to start any of these games, ask me which server I play on so I can give you a helping start.