I was standing at the counter, checking the appointments, when I was greeted by a tiny voice. "There you are!" she cried.
I turned and looked, and there was a chubby girl of maybe five or six. I had no idea who this girl was.
"I looked everywhere for you!" She exclaimed and threw her arms up in the air like she wanted a hug or something. I looked around. There was no one else nearby. She was talking, unfortunately, to me. Again, let me state that I had NO IDEA who this girl was.
"You looked everywhere for me?" I asked, hesitant.
"Yep. I has so much fun with you the other day that we came back to see you again, didn't I grandpa?" She turned and looked off to her left. There was no one there. Okay, now this was very creepy. "And I have something too!" She pulled a tiny scrap of blue paper out of her pocket. Looked like a piece of a lottery ticket. "Read my shirt!" She commanded.
"Alligator farm zoological society." I said the words blandly, hoping to wake up. This was a dream, right? No, I was at work. Had been at work, for a couple hours by now.
"What's a zoodaloddico society?" She asked, putting the piece of paper back in her pocket.
"It's an, erm, animal studying thing."
"Oh." She gave me a hug, I responded reluctantly.
"Erm, I need to go now. I have, erm, things to do." This creepy child who talked to her non-existent companion was unnerving me.
"No you don't. You don't have anything to do right now." She said, very seriously.
"I have to go to the bathroom." I lied.
"I'll come with you."
"No you won't. You stay here and wait for your mom or something."
"My mommy is dead." Ouch.
"Okay, then stay here with your grandfather then." The grandfather I couldn't see.
"He's dead too."
"But you were talking to him!"
"I know."
I rubbed my eyes and then, when I looked up, she was gone. I swear I wasn't sleeping. The night continued like normal after that, I went home, and went to sleep.
Friday, November 21
Friday, August 29
Military Material
So yesterday there was this thing at school called the Happening. Every school club, every greek, most every restaurant, bank, and clinic was there. Radio stations brought their speaker-laden vans and threw open their blaring back doors. The Redcross held a blood-drive.
If a student was to walk among these booths, (s)he could expect to find, completely free:
pens
pencils
fans
music posters
cds
suntan lotion
hairspray
axe
condoms
a myriad of candy
snowcones
pizza
sodas
water
ice cream
and various paper goods, like coupons for free/cheap/discounted food at eateries across town, discounts on salon services, etc.
The armed forces were also there. And as I walked among the tables, I was stopped by each. First was the army.
"You! Ma'am! Do you know how many career opportunities are in the army for you?"
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. "Do I look like military material to you?"
"Yes," he replied, looking me up and down. I shook my head and walked on.
Next was the Air Force.
"You, ma'am! What do you know about the Air Force?"
Great, a pop quiz. "Do I look like military material to you?" I asked, being lazy and not bothering to think up a new question.
He paused for a minute before answering. "Not really," he finally admitted. I laughed, nodded, and then walked away. Then, I remembered a conversation I'd had, just the previous day, with someone in the Air Force. He had talked about how the Air Force always deploys with cable tv and air-conditioned tents, and that if they have to ship with other branches, like the Navy, they get 'sanitation pay'. So I called the Air Force a bunch of wusses. He somewhat agreed. !!! If I am not considered military material by the wusses of the military, what am I then?!
As I consoled myself, I perused the other booths, and eventually found the marines. Unlike the other two branches, which had tents and televisions touting how great they were, the two marines sat there, in the blazing hot sun, unprotected - and not seeming to mind. As I walked past, one of them called out. Of course.
"You! Join the Marines!"
"That's kind of blunt," I said, walking over to the table. Various emblemmed material was spread out over the table. "Do I look like military material to you?"
He smiled and looked at his fellow grunt, who also smiled. They were wicked smiles. "Not right now," I started to nod and walk away, but he continued, "but we can make you military material."
I laughed nervously and left as quickly as panicked politeness allowed.
If a student was to walk among these booths, (s)he could expect to find, completely free:
pens
pencils
fans
music posters
cds
suntan lotion
hairspray
axe
condoms
a myriad of candy
snowcones
pizza
sodas
water
ice cream
and various paper goods, like coupons for free/cheap/discounted food at eateries across town, discounts on salon services, etc.
The armed forces were also there. And as I walked among the tables, I was stopped by each. First was the army.
"You! Ma'am! Do you know how many career opportunities are in the army for you?"
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. "Do I look like military material to you?"
"Yes," he replied, looking me up and down. I shook my head and walked on.
Next was the Air Force.
"You, ma'am! What do you know about the Air Force?"
Great, a pop quiz. "Do I look like military material to you?" I asked, being lazy and not bothering to think up a new question.
He paused for a minute before answering. "Not really," he finally admitted. I laughed, nodded, and then walked away. Then, I remembered a conversation I'd had, just the previous day, with someone in the Air Force. He had talked about how the Air Force always deploys with cable tv and air-conditioned tents, and that if they have to ship with other branches, like the Navy, they get 'sanitation pay'. So I called the Air Force a bunch of wusses. He somewhat agreed. !!! If I am not considered military material by the wusses of the military, what am I then?!
As I consoled myself, I perused the other booths, and eventually found the marines. Unlike the other two branches, which had tents and televisions touting how great they were, the two marines sat there, in the blazing hot sun, unprotected - and not seeming to mind. As I walked past, one of them called out. Of course.
"You! Join the Marines!"
"That's kind of blunt," I said, walking over to the table. Various emblemmed material was spread out over the table. "Do I look like military material to you?"
He smiled and looked at his fellow grunt, who also smiled. They were wicked smiles. "Not right now," I started to nod and walk away, but he continued, "but we can make you military material."
I laughed nervously and left as quickly as panicked politeness allowed.
Sunday, August 3
Paper Cranes
After moving into my new apt, my first obstacle was obtaining an internet connection, something I, unfortunately and as a testament to my generation, have become slightly... attached... to. That took about a month and a half, and looking back, it shouldn't have taken that long, but with bureaucracy and paperwork and legality and my own stupid honesty, it did. But I digress.
So I've had internet for a little over three weeks now (has it really been that long?) and I'm beginning to realize how pitiful my dependence on it is. You see, our connection isn't that stable, something about the wiring being too old to support the signal or something, and while removing the splitter in my room that allowed cable access did slightly enhance my chances of the internet not going out, it hasn't ended the faulty circumstance completely. This is the year 2008! The age of dsl, high-speed, instant access internet! Gone are the days of dial-up and that horrible noise (my apologies to anyone who may still have dial-up)! Everyone capable of affording it should be capable of having it, right????
Not really. In fact, it seems lately that I've been paying more for something I DON'T have than something I do.
To further myself and give my hands something mildly constructive to do while I waited for the modem and router to sync back up while my computer reboots, I decided to make a crane. One paper crane for every time the internet goes out.
I now have... 25 cranes. That's enough for one whole Senbazuru string. Hrm... only 39 more strings to go, and then I get my wish! *jumps and giggles excitedly*
If I do manage to finish an entire Senbazuru, and since there seems to be no rules against telling others what your wish is (unlike the whole candles on the birthday cake thing, which I totally don't understand) I hereby declare that, according to ancient and marvelous Japanese traditions, if I finish this Senbazuru, this 1000 paper cranes, then I will be granted my one unscratchable itching wish:
To have stable, constant, unfailing internet.
So I've had internet for a little over three weeks now (has it really been that long?) and I'm beginning to realize how pitiful my dependence on it is. You see, our connection isn't that stable, something about the wiring being too old to support the signal or something, and while removing the splitter in my room that allowed cable access did slightly enhance my chances of the internet not going out, it hasn't ended the faulty circumstance completely. This is the year 2008! The age of dsl, high-speed, instant access internet! Gone are the days of dial-up and that horrible noise (my apologies to anyone who may still have dial-up)! Everyone capable of affording it should be capable of having it, right????
Not really. In fact, it seems lately that I've been paying more for something I DON'T have than something I do.
To further myself and give my hands something mildly constructive to do while I waited for the modem and router to sync back up while my computer reboots, I decided to make a crane. One paper crane for every time the internet goes out.
I now have... 25 cranes. That's enough for one whole Senbazuru string. Hrm... only 39 more strings to go, and then I get my wish! *jumps and giggles excitedly*
If I do manage to finish an entire Senbazuru, and since there seems to be no rules against telling others what your wish is (unlike the whole candles on the birthday cake thing, which I totally don't understand) I hereby declare that, according to ancient and marvelous Japanese traditions, if I finish this Senbazuru, this 1000 paper cranes, then I will be granted my one unscratchable itching wish:
To have stable, constant, unfailing internet.
Monday, July 28
Starfighter: Fail
So my boyfriend got me hooked on Star Wars Galaxies, an MMO that's been around for a while. But it's good. So good. Hence the being hooked. Only issue is - my internet connection is a little less than stable. This has led to a certain difficulty in completing my current quest.
There's this series of quests called the "Legacy," and as part of it I have to track down this certain droid that somebody wanted. Wouldn't you know it had been sold. So I tracked the buyer down. Turns out that he, for some unknown and unfathomable reason, decided to take the droid apart and send pieces of it to different people all over Tatooine. That, to me, makes LOADS of sense.
Boyfriend (mentioned earlier) just gave me a new computer for my birthday (which hasn't happened yet, but whatever) and I am thrilled about it. However, I am in no mind to take it apart and send pieces of it all over the state (country/etc) just on a whim.
*******************
Later
**********
So I've tracked down everything but the head, and that droid, EV-9D9 (you know, the one who worked in the torture chambers of Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi.... yeah... THAT droid.... ) has it. And she won't give it to me. Not until I destroy some ships who have droids on them who escaped from her clutches.
In an effort to further diplomacy between the rebellion and Jabba (not really, but it sounds nice) I launch my poor, abused little ship into space and head off after the ship with the droid that she wants eliminated. That ship flies a good bit faster than my little thing, and gets away. So I land, tell her, and she tells me to try again. I do. And again, the thing jumps to hyperspace before I even get close to it. So I try again. This time, I catch up to it and blow it out of the water... erm... sky. Thinking she should be satisfied, I start to head back to port, but noooooo.... she wants me to catch ANOTHER droid. You'd think she'd learn to keep better security on the place, with all these droids jumping ship. I head off after that ship, and just as I manage to get close to it, the escort fighters surrounding it blow me to bits and I am forced, via a dramatic cutscene, to eject.
I trudge back to EV, and wouldn't you know, she won't just give me the head for all my effort and trying. No, I have to go back out there yet again and do the job right. So I go out. I get the first droid. I get the second droid. And just as I am about to receive the coordinates for the third (and hopefully final) droid, a TIE bomber spawns out of nowhere and I, like usual, am once again dead.
Thinking, that maybe, I am getting the hang of this, and now that I know the Imperial is going to show up, I try for who knows the how many-th time, and once again, I make it past the first. I make it past the second. I even manage to avoid the TIE. Just as I begin to exult in my piloting abilities, my internet connection resets and I am ejected from the game.
I'll try again later.
There's this series of quests called the "Legacy," and as part of it I have to track down this certain droid that somebody wanted. Wouldn't you know it had been sold. So I tracked the buyer down. Turns out that he, for some unknown and unfathomable reason, decided to take the droid apart and send pieces of it to different people all over Tatooine. That, to me, makes LOADS of sense.
Boyfriend (mentioned earlier) just gave me a new computer for my birthday (which hasn't happened yet, but whatever) and I am thrilled about it. However, I am in no mind to take it apart and send pieces of it all over the state (country/etc) just on a whim.
*******************
Later
**********
So I've tracked down everything but the head, and that droid, EV-9D9 (you know, the one who worked in the torture chambers of Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi.... yeah... THAT droid.... ) has it. And she won't give it to me. Not until I destroy some ships who have droids on them who escaped from her clutches.
In an effort to further diplomacy between the rebellion and Jabba (not really, but it sounds nice) I launch my poor, abused little ship into space and head off after the ship with the droid that she wants eliminated. That ship flies a good bit faster than my little thing, and gets away. So I land, tell her, and she tells me to try again. I do. And again, the thing jumps to hyperspace before I even get close to it. So I try again. This time, I catch up to it and blow it out of the water... erm... sky. Thinking she should be satisfied, I start to head back to port, but noooooo.... she wants me to catch ANOTHER droid. You'd think she'd learn to keep better security on the place, with all these droids jumping ship. I head off after that ship, and just as I manage to get close to it, the escort fighters surrounding it blow me to bits and I am forced, via a dramatic cutscene, to eject.
I trudge back to EV, and wouldn't you know, she won't just give me the head for all my effort and trying. No, I have to go back out there yet again and do the job right. So I go out. I get the first droid. I get the second droid. And just as I am about to receive the coordinates for the third (and hopefully final) droid, a TIE bomber spawns out of nowhere and I, like usual, am once again dead.
Thinking, that maybe, I am getting the hang of this, and now that I know the Imperial is going to show up, I try for who knows the how many-th time, and once again, I make it past the first. I make it past the second. I even manage to avoid the TIE. Just as I begin to exult in my piloting abilities, my internet connection resets and I am ejected from the game.
I'll try again later.
Sunday, June 29
Starfighter: Fail
So my boyfriend got me hooked on Star Wars Galaxies, an MMO that's been around for a while. But it's good. So good. Hence the being hooked. Only issue is - my internet connection is a little less than stable. This has led to a certain difficulty in completing my current quest.
There's this series of quests called the "Legacy," and as part of it I have to track down this certain droid that somebody wanted. Wouldn't you know it had been sold. So I tracked the buyer down. Turns out that he, for some unknown and unfathomable reason, decided to take the droid apart and send pieces of it to different people all over Tatooine. That, to me, makes LOADS of sense.
Boyfriend (mentioned earlier) just gave me a new computer for my birthday (which hasn't happened yet, but whatever) and I am thrilled about it. However, I am in no mind to take it apart and send pieces of it all over the state (country/etc) just on a whim.
*******************
Later
**********
So I've tracked down everything but the head, and that droid, EV-9D9 (you know, the one who worked in the torture chambers of Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi.... yeah... THAT droid.... ) has it. And she won't give it to me. Not until I destroy some ships who have droids on them who escaped from her clutches.
In an effort to further diplomacy between the rebellion and Jabba (not really, but it sounds nice) I launch my poor, abused little ship into space and head off after the ship with the droid that she wants eliminated. That ship flies a good bit faster than my little thing, and gets away. So I land, tell her, and she tells me to try again. I do. And again, the thing jumps to hyperspace before I even get close to it. So I try again. This time, I catch up to it and blow it out of the water... erm... sky. Thinking she should be satisfied, I start to head back to port, but noooooo.... she wants me to catch ANOTHER droid. You'd think she'd learn to keep better security on the place, with all these droids jumping ship. I head off after that ship, and just as I manage to get close to it, the escort fighters surrounding it blow me to bits and I am forced, via a dramatic cutscene, to eject.
I trudge back to EV, and wouldn't you know, she won't just give me the head for all my effort and trying. No, I have to go back out there yet again and do the job right. So I go out. I get the first droid. I get the second droid. And just as I am about to receive the coordinates for the third (and hopefully final) droid, a TIE bomber spawns out of nowhere and I, like usual, am once again dead.
Thinking, that maybe, I am getting the hang of this, and now that I know the Imperial is going to show up, I try for who knows the how many-th time, and once again, I make it past the first. I make it past the second. I even manage to avoid the TIE. Just as I begin to exult in my piloting abilities, my internet connection resets and I am ejected from the game.
I'll try again later.
There's this series of quests called the "Legacy," and as part of it I have to track down this certain droid that somebody wanted. Wouldn't you know it had been sold. So I tracked the buyer down. Turns out that he, for some unknown and unfathomable reason, decided to take the droid apart and send pieces of it to different people all over Tatooine. That, to me, makes LOADS of sense.
Boyfriend (mentioned earlier) just gave me a new computer for my birthday (which hasn't happened yet, but whatever) and I am thrilled about it. However, I am in no mind to take it apart and send pieces of it all over the state (country/etc) just on a whim.
*******************
Later
**********
So I've tracked down everything but the head, and that droid, EV-9D9 (you know, the one who worked in the torture chambers of Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi.... yeah... THAT droid.... ) has it. And she won't give it to me. Not until I destroy some ships who have droids on them who escaped from her clutches.
In an effort to further diplomacy between the rebellion and Jabba (not really, but it sounds nice) I launch my poor, abused little ship into space and head off after the ship with the droid that she wants eliminated. That ship flies a good bit faster than my little thing, and gets away. So I land, tell her, and she tells me to try again. I do. And again, the thing jumps to hyperspace before I even get close to it. So I try again. This time, I catch up to it and blow it out of the water... erm... sky. Thinking she should be satisfied, I start to head back to port, but noooooo.... she wants me to catch ANOTHER droid. You'd think she'd learn to keep better security on the place, with all these droids jumping ship. I head off after that ship, and just as I manage to get close to it, the escort fighters surrounding it blow me to bits and I am forced, via a dramatic cutscene, to eject.
I trudge back to EV, and wouldn't you know, she won't just give me the head for all my effort and trying. No, I have to go back out there yet again and do the job right. So I go out. I get the first droid. I get the second droid. And just as I am about to receive the coordinates for the third (and hopefully final) droid, a TIE bomber spawns out of nowhere and I, like usual, am once again dead.
Thinking, that maybe, I am getting the hang of this, and now that I know the Imperial is going to show up, I try for who knows the how many-th time, and once again, I make it past the first. I make it past the second. I even manage to avoid the TIE. Just as I begin to exult in my piloting abilities, my internet connection resets and I am ejected from the game.
I'll try again later.
Thursday, April 3
Wednesday, April 2
I'm Beginning to Think I should have taken the Long Way around
So I just tried, for the who knows how many-eth time to kill that evil sonnuvagun. I managed to get off a seven chain, which for some weird reason only threw out the Inferno combo at the end - and then a magnificent twelve chain with my back party, which brought out the wonderful Luminescence combo, something I’d never seen and is so far my favorite. However, while I was switching parties, something popped up under Adrammelech’s action log that I’d seen before... I don’t know why I didn’t pay attention to it. He called up a paling, a shield you can’t see and prevents whoever calls it up from taking ANY damage at all, magickal or physical. Pooh. So I pulled off that wonderful twelve chain for naught, it didn’t do a lick of good. And then, wouldn’t you know, he dropped it just as he called out Thundaja, and again, I was dead.
I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get him.
Maybe I should go back and try and win some more HP first... level up and stuff so I don’t die so easily. But what I don’t understand is that people in forums and stuff are getting this guy at lvl 20 --- I’m at at least 40 for all six of my people... what are they doing that I’m not????
I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get him.
Maybe I should go back and try and win some more HP first... level up and stuff so I don’t die so easily. But what I don’t understand is that people in forums and stuff are getting this guy at lvl 20 --- I’m at at least 40 for all six of my people... what are they doing that I’m not????
Tuesday, April 1
Can't you do something useful, like .... die?
So this morning, after talking to Cody, I couldn’t fall back asleep. A very rare occurance. So, I turned on the computer. But no emails. No messages. No comments. *sniff*
So, I crawled back in the bed and decided FFxii deserved another go-round.
Ha.
I brought my party to the spot where the esper was hiding out, and sure enough, he popped up. Okay, I thought, just throw down a good quickening chain and this should be over. Then you can run back and save and then move on. So I unleashed the best quickening chain I could muster at that point. I was happy cause I got to try out Vaan’s new one, Pyroclasm:
Doesn’t it look awesome? Well, actually. This picture isn’t that great. It looks better in the game. It’s not my favorite one though. I really like Fran’s Whip Kick:
But I couldn’t find a picture of it. Boo.
So anyways, I pulled off a seven chain - about my average. And that knocked Addramelech down to about 20% of his total health. I thought surely I can finish him off from here. Didn’t even occur to me to pull up my back party and use their MP for another quickening chain. Nope. So he killed that party, and I pulled up the other one, but before I could get anything at all fired off, he did something called "Thundaja". Now I’ve got Balthier and Ashe both with the ability to use "Thunder" which throws lightning at one opponent, and "Thundara" which throws lightning at all opponents within range. But this..... this was huge. And suddenly that party was dead and I was staring at the Game Over screen.
So I loaded it again.
I took a second before storming in there to face him a third time and revamped my gambits. I kinda brushed them off at first, but it’s actually pretty useful not having to keep tabs on every single person in the heat of battle. Then I barged in, thinking I was ready this time. Oh, back to the fight. So I throw out the quickenings again, and I only manage to get off a five chain. Not cool. So, thinking about my last mistake, I pull up my other party and use their quickenings too. Again, only a five chain. So now I’m left with six characters with very little health and absolutely no MP in a battle with an only half dead very angry demon monsterthingie. Yeah.
So I died. Again.
I was getting frustrated by this point. So I loaded it again, determined to kill this creature. I mean, I’d done it once before, right? Or did I just imagine all that?
Again, for the third time this morning. I died. I don’t even know what happened this time. I just remember the Game Over screen coming up and Mango looking at me like I was stupid. But she looks at me like that all the time.
So, I crawled back in the bed and decided FFxii deserved another go-round.
Ha.
I brought my party to the spot where the esper was hiding out, and sure enough, he popped up. Okay, I thought, just throw down a good quickening chain and this should be over. Then you can run back and save and then move on. So I unleashed the best quickening chain I could muster at that point. I was happy cause I got to try out Vaan’s new one, Pyroclasm:
Doesn’t it look awesome? Well, actually. This picture isn’t that great. It looks better in the game. It’s not my favorite one though. I really like Fran’s Whip Kick:
But I couldn’t find a picture of it. Boo.
So anyways, I pulled off a seven chain - about my average. And that knocked Addramelech down to about 20% of his total health. I thought surely I can finish him off from here. Didn’t even occur to me to pull up my back party and use their MP for another quickening chain. Nope. So he killed that party, and I pulled up the other one, but before I could get anything at all fired off, he did something called "Thundaja". Now I’ve got Balthier and Ashe both with the ability to use "Thunder" which throws lightning at one opponent, and "Thundara" which throws lightning at all opponents within range. But this..... this was huge. And suddenly that party was dead and I was staring at the Game Over screen.
So I loaded it again.
I took a second before storming in there to face him a third time and revamped my gambits. I kinda brushed them off at first, but it’s actually pretty useful not having to keep tabs on every single person in the heat of battle. Then I barged in, thinking I was ready this time. Oh, back to the fight. So I throw out the quickenings again, and I only manage to get off a five chain. Not cool. So, thinking about my last mistake, I pull up my other party and use their quickenings too. Again, only a five chain. So now I’m left with six characters with very little health and absolutely no MP in a battle with an only half dead very angry demon monsterthingie. Yeah.
So I died. Again.
I was getting frustrated by this point. So I loaded it again, determined to kill this creature. I mean, I’d done it once before, right? Or did I just imagine all that?
Again, for the third time this morning. I died. I don’t even know what happened this time. I just remember the Game Over screen coming up and Mango looking at me like I was stupid. But she looks at me like that all the time.
Sunday, March 30
This place certainly keeps you on your toes...
So I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XII, pretty much all day, and since I knew I wasn’t strong enough to handle the boss that would advance the storyline, I was just running around hunting marks. I’d gotten about two or three when I saw that the next person I needed to go talk to was in the village of Jahara. Since I was in the westersand, the shortest route would be to cut through the Zertinan Caverns and come out in the Ozmone Plains, right next to Jahara.
Only I’d never made it all the way through the caverns. Usually I would just step in and instantly die from some unknown creature forty thousand times stronger than I was. So I’d stopped going in there.
So I looked at my map for a long time, debating even trying the caverns, or going the long way around back to Rabanastre and then down through Giza, then to Ozmone and finally to Jahara.
If you look at the map above, the distances may not look like much, but trust me, Ivalice is HUGE. If I’d had teleport crystals, none of this would be an issue, but I was all out and the only place I’d found that sold those was up in the Mosphoran Highwaste.... completely the other side of the map. So yeah. Either thirty minutes of walking and pushing past now relatively easy monsters through Giza and the Ozmone, or a tentative trek through a place I hadn’t ventured to go in a long time.
Guess which one I chose? That’s right, I was asking for it. See how confusing this place looks? And this isn’t even all of it. Right around where that image of the save crystal is, there’s a whole... ah, but I’ll get to that. Before today, my exploration of this place was limited to about half of that room in the far south. That was it. I had no idea what I was walking into.
So I entered from the northeast, and as I worked my way down (very carefully), I noticed that the creatures I was running into weren’t that bad. I wasn’t even having to heal that much. So I twiddled my way along, and then I remembered that one of the marks I was looking for was in here... somewhere. Woohoo. Now instead of sneaking through as quickly as possible, I had to go poking in every nook and cranny looking for something that could very likely kill me.
Instead, I found a very creepy secret area, realized I was holding my breath (which I felt silly for), and then, I found a save crystal. Huzzah. Now I’m trapped in here.
So I started wandering a bit more, and then I ran into trouble. Or so I thought. And actually, looking at this screenshot (which I did not make, I found), I see a character named Reddas in the party of whoever took this. I wonder.... I’ve never ran into a Reddas. Who is he? Or she? Where do I find this person? Are they helpful? Obviously not too much. Look at that pitiful MP capacity.
A random boss, stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no explanation as to why he was there or anything. And in my least favorite and most fright-inducing of all locations. So, reacting more than thinking, I unleashed some mad quickening chains on him, which I didn’t really expect to work. Lately, when I use quickenings on a boss, even if I get in a good twelve or fourteen chain, all I get is a very ticked off boss with three-quarters health and my whole party with no MP. Yeah, not a good plan. But this time, things went surprisingly my way:
and then he was dead, with alot less fuss than I expected. And woot! Turns out he was an esper! So now he’s mine and will fight for me! I was so happy, I gave him to Basch, making him the third person in my party with an esper (I’d already assigned espers to Vaan and Ashe).
I kept combing the passageways, growing ever more confident. A horde of undead thingies swarmed up after I defeated the boss, and so I dealt with them, and then Basch leveled up. And then Vaan did too. Everything was looking peachy. The thought to run back to that crystal and save briefly crossed my mind, but I was ecstatic and wasn’t thinking about anything... useful. I kept moving south, and it never once crossed my mind that I was getting closer and closer to the place that always, ALWAYS, kills me. Hey, I’d beaten an esper. Surely I was good, right?
Then, I ran into some bug looking things. Now I’d beaten similar-looking bug things before, so I wasn’t all that concerned, even when the one bug looking thing called for a couple of his buddies.
And then, suddenly, I was dead.
Yeah. I should’ve kept the confidence down. Or at least gone back and saved while I had the chance.
Only I’d never made it all the way through the caverns. Usually I would just step in and instantly die from some unknown creature forty thousand times stronger than I was. So I’d stopped going in there.
So I looked at my map for a long time, debating even trying the caverns, or going the long way around back to Rabanastre and then down through Giza, then to Ozmone and finally to Jahara.
If you look at the map above, the distances may not look like much, but trust me, Ivalice is HUGE. If I’d had teleport crystals, none of this would be an issue, but I was all out and the only place I’d found that sold those was up in the Mosphoran Highwaste.... completely the other side of the map. So yeah. Either thirty minutes of walking and pushing past now relatively easy monsters through Giza and the Ozmone, or a tentative trek through a place I hadn’t ventured to go in a long time.
Guess which one I chose? That’s right, I was asking for it. See how confusing this place looks? And this isn’t even all of it. Right around where that image of the save crystal is, there’s a whole... ah, but I’ll get to that. Before today, my exploration of this place was limited to about half of that room in the far south. That was it. I had no idea what I was walking into.
So I entered from the northeast, and as I worked my way down (very carefully), I noticed that the creatures I was running into weren’t that bad. I wasn’t even having to heal that much. So I twiddled my way along, and then I remembered that one of the marks I was looking for was in here... somewhere. Woohoo. Now instead of sneaking through as quickly as possible, I had to go poking in every nook and cranny looking for something that could very likely kill me.
Instead, I found a very creepy secret area, realized I was holding my breath (which I felt silly for), and then, I found a save crystal. Huzzah. Now I’m trapped in here.
So I started wandering a bit more, and then I ran into trouble. Or so I thought. And actually, looking at this screenshot (which I did not make, I found), I see a character named Reddas in the party of whoever took this. I wonder.... I’ve never ran into a Reddas. Who is he? Or she? Where do I find this person? Are they helpful? Obviously not too much. Look at that pitiful MP capacity.
A random boss, stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no explanation as to why he was there or anything. And in my least favorite and most fright-inducing of all locations. So, reacting more than thinking, I unleashed some mad quickening chains on him, which I didn’t really expect to work. Lately, when I use quickenings on a boss, even if I get in a good twelve or fourteen chain, all I get is a very ticked off boss with three-quarters health and my whole party with no MP. Yeah, not a good plan. But this time, things went surprisingly my way:
and then he was dead, with alot less fuss than I expected. And woot! Turns out he was an esper! So now he’s mine and will fight for me! I was so happy, I gave him to Basch, making him the third person in my party with an esper (I’d already assigned espers to Vaan and Ashe).
I kept combing the passageways, growing ever more confident. A horde of undead thingies swarmed up after I defeated the boss, and so I dealt with them, and then Basch leveled up. And then Vaan did too. Everything was looking peachy. The thought to run back to that crystal and save briefly crossed my mind, but I was ecstatic and wasn’t thinking about anything... useful. I kept moving south, and it never once crossed my mind that I was getting closer and closer to the place that always, ALWAYS, kills me. Hey, I’d beaten an esper. Surely I was good, right?
Then, I ran into some bug looking things. Now I’d beaten similar-looking bug things before, so I wasn’t all that concerned, even when the one bug looking thing called for a couple of his buddies.
And then, suddenly, I was dead.
Yeah. I should’ve kept the confidence down. Or at least gone back and saved while I had the chance.
Sunday, February 3
Frustration of the Calligraphic Kind
So I've been playing Okami since Christmas, and I thought I was doing pretty well, but it turns out I've missed a ton of stuff and looks like I might have to start over.... bleh. Either that or back track to the very beginning. Gah. This is like that one flag I left back in Damascus... that I still have to go back and get.
I really am beginning to see the benefits of striving for completeness.
I really am beginning to see the benefits of striving for completeness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)