As some of you already know, this journal has been inactive since February 2010. I have no plan to revive it at this point of time, though I will be keeping it to follow certain blogs exclusive to LiveJournal members. Or maybe I'll come back for a good reason one day. The future is uncertain.

If you're looking for a more accurate display of my state of being (not quite sure what triggered that but I'm flattered), I can be located at Twitter or Tumblr semi-regularly. If you're a gamer or reader, you can also find me rambling at Playfire and Goodreads now and then.

See you in the next blue moon!

Went on one of my rare icon sprees! I need to stop watching a certain trailer.

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Categories
[3] Games: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
[9] Games: Fabula Nova Crystallis
[6] Games: Final Fantasy III
[1] Games: Final Fantasy IV
[2] Games: Final Fantasy VIII

( Final Fantasy galore! )

I think it would mean a million (or more) to any RPG enthusiast to have Nobuo Uematsu compose your wedding song and Yoshitaka Amano design your engagement ring. Apparently James Mielke of 1UP was lucky enough to have both when proposing to his girlfriend, which I thought was very cute and original.

For those interested: the full article can be read here.

It's amazing how games link to such crucial part of people's life these days.

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Categories
[1] Celebrity
[2] Games: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
[6] Games: Fabula Nova Crystallis
[1] Games: Final Fantasy VI
[1] Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist
[1] Manga: Handsome Girlfriend
[4] Novel: Baccano

( Baccano, Final Fantasy, Red Cliff... stuff I haven't posted here yet )

The latest post at baccano (and the comments that accompanied) triggered some interesting thoughts on how the voice acting industry should be perceived. There had not been a centralized curriculum for voice acting out west until recent years due to a lack of market shares, therefore we need to give the industry more time to mature. It should also be kept in mind that there are plenty of shows that are extremely difficult to localize. All in all, quality of voice acting should not be judged by the language it is presented in: the whole "Anything Japanese is better by default" is simply ridiculous, even if Japanese is part of my mother tongue.

Three new features in CTDS have been revealed by the latest Famitsu article, all of which will become accessible once the player reach the End of Time for the very first time:

1. The Twist (Distortion) of Time (ToT): this is a new dungeon accompanied by a new subplot, written and directed by the original CT/SNES staff Masahito Kato. Once you travel to the deepest piont of a ToT, you will gain new skills/powers. There are three instances of ToT in total, and when all of them are cleared, a shocking truth will be revealed...!?

2. Reptile Sanctuary: another new dungeon accessible through a mysterious Time Gate in-between Ancient Times and Middle Ages. This dungeon functions in a similar way as Final Fantasy XII mob hunts, where you must complete a number of requests from reptiles before you can advance in the area. Some of these requests will involve time travel, so have fun traveling between different eras while watching the subplot grow! And what reward will await the players at the end of the dungeon...?

3. Monster Arena: grow your own monster and participate at random battles in the Arena to acquire rare items! There are around 50 types of monster for the player to choose from, and by using the Wireless function of your DS, you can battle against friends' monsters if you're bored ;)

FYI: Release date of CTDS is now November 20, 7 days earlier than the original date! Approximate price for NA region is 50~55 dollars US ATM, though it could become lower if sales figure is high in Japan.

Oricon held a survey called "Who's your favorite game character?" recently. The results are as follows:

( Mario or Final Fantasy? )

DKΣ3713 Private Party 2008 (Square-Enix) summary thus far:

- There's going to be a FFXIII demo attached to Advent Children Complete
- Unless Nomura says otherwise, those who have a PS3 should have a shiny copy of FFXIII by end of 2009
- FFXIII Versus is now confirmed to be PS3 only! XBox360 domination might as well stop here?
- FFXIII Agito and surprise -- Parasite Eve 3 (in courtesy to lalaloveppears) have all been announced for PSP
- Dissidia FF has been announced to be released this December
- There seems to be some other SEKRIT FF title in the works for PS3 only, which hasn't been announced yet but was mentioned by Square-Enix staff to be "something that will swing the console market towards PS3 all over again". Anyone wanna take a wild guess?

On a random note, my high school nickname is now a DS game. Go figure.