Desbreko

Strolling into the mess hall, a larger tent equipped with a kitchen facility for cooking, Leif waited in line for breakfast; Deku seed flour pancakes and bacon, with fresh forest spring water to wash it down. He sighed, looking around for a good place to sit at the few long tables set up in the section of the tent not used by the kitchen area. The pancakes were good, there was no doubt about that, but there was such as thing as having too much of a good thing, and this was one of those times. While having to live a nomadic life in the Lost Woods and not being able to grow crops, wild deku seeds, ground into flour, were the best alternative to normal grains. At least there was bacon to go with them though. And accompanying the hunting party that had killed the wild pig had been fun. Walking down the aisle between two tables, Leif spotted one of the younger Kokiri girls sitting alone, off in a corner. Dressed in a dark green shirt with a lighter green tunic over it, the outfit perfectly matched her beautiful green hair. She looked like she was about twelve or thirteen years old; pretty soon she'd have to start beating off the young Kokiri boys with a deku stick, Leif thought slightly amused. [color=royalblue]"You're staring,"[/color] said Kailyn, breaking into Leif's thoughts. He had sat down near the girl, but not close enough to be noticed, and Kailyn was sitting next to his plate on the table, snatching a bite of pancake every now and then. [color=royalblue]"I hope you realize she's much too young for you."[/color] Leif quietly snorted at his fairy's comment. [color=darkgreen]"I know that. She just looks kind of . . . sad,"[/color] he said as he glanced up at the Kokiri girl again. She seemed to be holding something in her lap, clutching it as if it were something very dear to her, though Leif couldn't see what the object was. The breakfast in front of her was half eaten, and she didn't look very inclined to finish it. [color=darkgreen]"I wonder what's wrong."[/color] Kailyn just shrugged her tiny shoulders and tore off another bit of pancake, popping it into her mouth. A few minutes later the girl got up and left the hall, the mystery item still in her hands. Leif's curiosity was sufficiently aroused by this time, though he wasn't about to follow her when he got done with his meal. Instead, he made a mental note to find out the girl's name. Kailyn would probably know who she was -- or at least who her fairy was -- though getting that information out of her might prove to be a bit difficult. Leif's fairy had a tendancy to be somewhat exasperating at times, which was no doubt a result of Kailyn being just as mischievous as Leif himself. For now, Leif contented himself with a little walk through the nearby woods. He didn't have anything in particular he had to be doing quite yet; maybe he could find some more deku leaves suitable for tea making.

[color=indigo]Like I told James, the Game Boy Zelda games started off weird with Link's Awakening, and they've only gotten weirder with each new installment. Capcom seems to be taking the Game Boy games in a totally different direction than the console Zeldas; whereas the console games seem to be focused more on the "normal" Zelda stories of rescuing Zelda/fighting Ganon, the handheld games have always been of the "sidequest" nature. And even though the Oracle games aren't exactly my favorite games in the series, I still had a lot of fun with them and I enjoyed that feeling of originality that they had, so hopefully The Minish Cap will retain that sort of feeling. And the graphics are indeed beautiful, especially when Link is shrunk. The one of him and those bugs with the grass hanging over above them and the leaf on the ground is my favorite shot there. And as for that giant Chuchu . . . I can't wait to fight that thing, heh. Oh, and by the way, did anyone else notice that the sword in the logo is the original design for the Master Sword from A Link to the Past? (Red and silver hilt instead of blue like in OOT/TWW). Makes me wonder if that actually has to do with anything or if it's just a coincidence.[/color]

[quote name='Burori']On a side note....Doesn't it seem odd that Des hasn't responded to this? lol[/quote] [color=indigo]I haven't replied before this because I've been busy reading info and watching videos of a bunch of other games being shown at E3 besides this new Zelda. My Game Archive folder has to have grown by about 100 MBs in the last couple days, heh. Anyway, I'm really surprised about the graphical change. I was sure I had heard from an interview that the next Zelda game would use the same graphics engine and character models as TWW. . . . I think it's kind of funny though, how for TWW everyone was expecting a realistic looking game and then Nintendo used the cel shading instead. And now, when people were expecting cel shading, they switched it back to a realistic style. Makes me kind of wonder if they're not doing it on purpose. As for specifics in regard to the graphics, I'm totally in love with Link's design. Just the sheer ammount of detail on his character model; the stitching on the tunic, the chain mail, the undershirt and pants, the gauntlets, the boots, the pouches on his belt. . . . This is most definitely my favorite design for Link so far. The simpleness of Link's character model in TWW fit with the rest of the graphics, but I've always prefered the art style of A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time when it comes down to just Link himself. What I'm hoping they're going to do with this game, however, is make it in sort of the same style as A Link to the Past. In LTP, it seemed like there was a good mix between cartoony and darker elements. On the surface the graphics were closer to TWW than OOT in terms of realism, so it had more of a lighthearted feel to it, but if you really paid attention to the story you would realize that Link's fight was a dark and desperate battle to keep Ganon from escaping the Dark World and ravaging Hyrule. Likewise, with this new Zelda, I'm hoping that even though the graphics are more realistic, they'll be able to keep that balance between serious adventure and lighthearted fairytale. (Seeing Link riding along, chopping enemies off of their mounts, helps with that I think. I mean, how can you not laugh at that, even if you are going "Damn that's awesome" at the same time?) What I'm really looking forward to though, regardless of the graphical style or mood of the game, is what appears to be a huge overworld. In the trailer, we see a number of different environments, such as grassy plains, rolling hills, barren wasteland, and a real forest. (I was disappointed with the forest in Ocarina of Time -- there were very few actual trees). If these areas are as vast as they look, stretching out to the horizon, I am going to be overjoyed. One of the main things that disappointed me in OOT was how small the overworld was compared to how big it was said to be, before the game's release. I was expecting this huge world, but the overworld felt more like several closed-in areas with tunnels linking them. So hopefully this new game can finally fulfill my wish for a large, open, and detailed overworld. One thing I'm really wondering about, however, is if this game actually has anything to do with The Wind Waker. Really, all the signs in the trailer point to it being set after Ocarina of Time more than they do The Wind Waker, so I'm kind of doubting this is a direct sequal to TWW in the way that MM was to OOT. I'm really eager to find out some details on the game's storyline, so hopefully they'll reveal something in that closed-doors video.[/color]

[color=indigo]Falkon and noelmvilla, please don't just post lists of your favorite games. This thread is about what [i]types[/i] of games you like, not just which ones you like. Posting a list of your favorite games and adds nothing to the discussion and is considered spam. The same goes for your post, JuliasPeach, though not quite to the same extent. You posted up some things you look for in games, but you need to flesh those out. Give some details about the things you like games to have, why you like those things, a few examples maybe, stuff like that. *deletes posts*[/color]

[color=indigo]I think what guys usually mean when they says that girls who play video games are sexy is just that it's a plus to their appeal. . . . Or at least that's how I mean it. Myself, I'm friends with some really nice girls that aren't into gaming, and that's fine; it would just be cool if they were, so that we'd have another fun thing to do together. I wouldn't think they were any better for liking games, they'd just be more a little more attractive to me personally because we'd have that in common. Just because a girl happens to like games doesn't mean I'm automatically going to like her, though. A girl's like/dislike of video games doesn't make or break a friendship.[/color]

[color=indigo]Heh, we might as well call this the "Gamer's Bragging Thread." :p You want to have some insane moments, though? Try playing through Zelda: A Link to the Past with as few hearts and items as possible. When you do that, every Dark World boss in the game becomes one long, insane moment. I've gotten up to Ganon's Tower doing this so far, and dang do you have to be good in order to beat some of those bosses. The kind of good where you can only get hit two, maybe three times before dying. The most insane moment I can remember, however, was in F-Zero GX. I was racing on the Aeropolis: Dragon Slopes track in the Diamond Cup, and if you've seen that track, you'll know what I really mean when I say this was insane. On this track there's a very long straight-away. The thing is, this straight-away is not level. In fact, there are several very looong drops in it, all at a very steep angle, and there are boost plates just before each drop-off. Also, above each section of track, there are two higher sections straight above which you can land on (also with boost plates at their ends), though it's quicker to just drop down to the bottom track. So normally I hit the boost plate, dive down as fast as I can to avoid landing on either of the higher sections of track, pull up at the last second so I get a smooth landing, and then repeat until I get to the bottom of the jumps. This particular time, however, things didn't go according to plan. If I remember correctly, I hit the boost plate and went off the first jump at a funny angle for some reason or other. This caused me to have to try and straighten out in the air or fly way out to the side into oblivion. I managed this . . . kind of . . . but the problem was that having to straighten out made me hit the very top level of the next section of track. And at a funny angle, no less. Now, the very top section of track on these jumps is very short and narrow, meaning that, since I was coming in at an angle, no sooner had I landed than I immediately flew off the side; not the end, mind you, but the side of the track. This caused me not only to fly way off to the left, but it also flipped my machine around so I was actually sideways in the air. At this point I was thinking, "Oh crap, I'm going to die." So here I am in the air, heading way off to the left of the track, flipped around, and falling all too fast. So what do I do? I yank the stick all the way over to the left, causing me to actually turn around the wrong way for a moment, spiraling down through the air. Now, since I'm in this spiral, I completely miss the second mid-air sections of track. This was intentional, however, as landing on any of them would have just screwed me up farther since there was no way I would've been able to land on them going straight. So I keep the control stick jammed over to the left and I spiral all the way around so that I'm facing the right direction and heading for the very bottom section of the track, at the end of the jumps. . . . And I make it! The landing was a very bad one, as I was still flipped sideways, and I was just barely able to keep from falling off the track, but I made it! That was definitely most insane moment I've ever had in F-Zero GX, and Aeropolis: Dragon Slopes has since become my favorite track in the game. I really wish I had a video of that jump, because it all happened so fast I hardly even realized what I was doing. I was acting completely on reflex, and I afterwards I remember thinking, "I can't believe I actually pulled that off. How the heck did I do that?" A description really doesn't do it justice; you would've had to have seen it or done something similar in order to fully grasp just how crazy that maneuver was.[/color]

[color=indigo]Well, I don't know about you, but I know what I'm naming my pet rat if I ever get one: [url=http://www.mariomonsters.com/mouser/Mouser.jpg][u]Mouser[/u][/url]. I mean, how could you do better than naming it after a bomb tossing mouse (okay, so it's not a rat, but close enough) from Super Mario Bros. 2? Only problem is, yours is white, not gray. . . . Maybe you could dye it gray? And then you could get a tiny pair of sunglasses for it to wear. Perfect.[/color]

[color=indigo]Heheh. . . . [url=http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4636/FFVI-Chupon.gif][u]Chupon[/u][/url] of FFVI, [url=http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/654/FFIV-Kainazzo.gif][u]Kainazzo[/u][/url] of FFIV, and [url=http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2808/FFIV-Valvalis.gif][u]Valvalis[/u][/url] of FFIV. Don't recognize the ninja-ish looking guy, though. (I'm thinking maybe it's from FFV? I'm pretty sure it's not from FFIV or FFVI). Oh, and the updated sprites for Kainazzo and Valvalis look really good. Also, the art for Kainazzo is just freaky looking. I must try and find that picture by itself.[/color] [b]Edit:[/b] [color=seagreen]Ah . . . so it does say FFV in front of him. Must've missed that. :twitch:[/color]

A bit of steam wafted up from the earthenware mug in Leif's hand as the Kokiri took a sip of his morning tea. Brewed from dried deku leaves, the tea was becoming a rare luxury around the Kokiri encampment as fewer and fewer deku trees could be found from which leaves could be gathered, and as fewer people dared to venture outside the village to gather the leaves. Anymore, Leif was the only one that did, occasionally spending his free time in search of the elusive deku trees. The pun of one called Leif being the one to gather leaves had long since lost its humor on him; right now he just wanted to savor the sharp, almost-bitter tang of the tea. It would be his last mug of it for a long time. [color=royalblue]"For all the trouble you get into, you sure are lazy!"[/color] The teasing voice came from Leif's fairy companion, Kailyn, as she darted into his tent. Pulling up the window flaps with some effort and letting the faint light of morning add to her own illumination of the tent, Kailyn softly alighted on Leif's head. Leif looked down at her reflection in the steaming mug of tea, yawning. [color=darkgreen]"At least I don't doze off during the night watch. I've got an excuse for being lazy this morning."[/color] [color=royalblue]"Hmph, well, half the camp is already up and going about their business by now. Hurry up,"[/color] Kailyn said as she flitted out of his tent once more. Yawning again, Leif stood up and shrugged his cloak about his shoulders as he upturned the mug and swallowed the last of the tea. Gathering up his equipment then and stowing it about himself, he ducked out of the tent and into the musty forest air. The darkening of the skies only further added to the perpetual twilight under the forest canopy, and there was little light in the mornings and evenings. Leif shivered and raised the hood of his cloak, setting out. Abruptly, Kailyn zipped up and darted into the folds of Leif's hood. [color=royalblue]"Mido at two o'clock!"[/color] And just as abruptly, Leif turned to the side and stepped behind a tree, continuing on in a completely different direction. It wasn't that he particularly disliked Mido, it was just. . . . He wasn't especially pleasant to be around normally, and being asked a barrage of questions about the "current situation" wasn't something Leif liked to start his day off with. The leader of the Kokiri was plenty serious about protecting his people, however; Leif had to give him that. [color=darkgreen]"Good work, Kailyn."[/color] He heard a giggle from inside his hood. [color=darkgreen]"Let's go get some breakfast."[/color]

[color=indigo]I have to agree with Shinmaru about Zelda: A Link to the Past having some awesome boss fights, but I have a different favorite from that game; that is, Kholdstare, the boss of Level 5: Ice Palace. I discovered just how much I like this fight when I went up against Kholdstare on my "bare minimum" play-through of ZLTP. Only having ten hearts, the Lv.2 Master Sword, no Blue Mail, and no 1/2 Magic Upgrade for the fight really added some difficulty, heh. Really, I've played through ZLTP so many times that I can breeze through the game without any trouble if I get all the items and whatnot. Only getting items that are absolutely necessary, however, really made me have to be more careful and alert while playing, especially for the boss fights. Bosses that I could normally beat with no trouble whatsoever, I found myself dying on multiple times. Kholdstare was one of these bosses, and while it was hard, dang was it fun trying to beat it. (And when I did finally beat it on my third try, it was so much more satisfying than any other time). While the action of the Kholdstare fight isn't as fast paced as Shinmaru's example of the Blind the Thief fight, it's no less intense. Moreso, in fact, from my latest experience. First off in the fight with Kholdstare, you have to use [i]all[/i] of your magic power just to melt the giant ice block in which Kholdstare is frozen, unless you've gotten the 1/2 Magic upgrade, in which case it only takes half of your magic power. Then what looked like one giant, puffy eyeball thing turns out to be three, and they all start chasing you around the room. And all the while, chunks of ice are falling from the ceiling, which split into four smaller pieces upon impact. "Constant motion" is the key phrase of the fight; if you stop moving, you [i]will[/i] get hit. And the great thing about this fight is that, since you're expected to have the Lv.3 Tempered Sword and the Blue Mail at this point, Kholdstare inflicts about twice as much damage per hit [i]and[/i] takes about twice as many hits to kill if you haven't gotten those two items. Which means that this is a good long fight without them, and you'll be desperately dodging and slashing for your life the whole time. When touching any of Kholdstare's three parts does four hearts of damage, you can't afford one more hit, because you can only take two and then the third will kill you. An awesome fight all around, this, in my opinion, is a Zelda boss battle at its finest. Never before had I had that much fun fighting a boss in any game, let alone the Zelda series.[/color]

[color=indigo]Yeesh. . . . That racing mini-game has to be the worst part of FFCC. My friend, being 1P, made me sit through two of the things. The first time my cart wouldn't ever go straight -- it was always veering off either to the left or right. This made me get dead last. Then on the second race, I got a cart that could actually turn well and manage to stay on a straight line, and I was way out ahead of everyone else. So not only is the mini-game boring, it's also unbalanced. :cross:[/color]

[quote name='ScirosDarkblade']...there's something sexy about a girl who can kick my *** in Smash Bros Melee.[/quote] [color=indigo]Yes, yes there is. It's too bad none of the girls I know are into gaming all that much, though. I know a few guys with which I stand on even ground in SSBM, but alas. . . . I think that when I get a girlfriend (whenever that may be), though, she's either going to get into gaming with me or be driven away by the amount of time I spend on gaming, heh. And if it's the second case, I'll just have to try again until I can find someone that fits the first case. Yes, that's right; screw love, just give me my video games. ;)[/color]

[quote name='armana']But I decided to consider what the game IS, not what it ISN'T, and I placed the disc in my GameCube in that state of mind.[/quote] [color=indigo]I couldn't have said it better myself; that's exactly how I look at the game. It's not a conventional Final Fantasy game, and it's by no means perfect, but it has its own good qualities that set it apart as a fun game nonetheless. I don't try to judge the game by comparing it to others, but I judge it entirely on how much fun I actually have while playing the game. I'm glad there are more people out there that also see things the way I do. ^_^[/color]

[color=indigo]Hmm, yet another one of these threads. . . . Well, what the heck, might as well explain it one more time. First off, "Desbreko" is the last name of my online screen name. The full name is Drake Desbreko. No, I don't have some weird fetish with the letter D, I just liked the sound of it. I got the first name while trying to think up a name of a character for an RPG here on OtakuBoards. My mind ended up wandering until I came to thoughts of that old Shadowrun game on the SNES, and how there was some character in that game named Drake. Also, the GBA game Advance Wars had been released not too long before this, and one of the CO's names in that game is Drake. So I decided to use that name for my character, and it just sort of stuck. As for the last name, there's actually a bit more behind Desbreko. According to the Hyrule Encyclopedia on Zelda.com, "Desbrekos are huge skeletal fish with sharp teeth. They have no stomachs to fill, but they nevertheless enjoy inflicting pain on the living." Nice, eh? Really, I was just looking through the encyclopedia for a Zelda-related name, and I happened to come across that. After a while I decided to use it in conjunction with the name Drake, and thus my online persona Drake Desbreko was born. If you're wondering why I usually just go by Desbreko, though, it's pretty much because "Drake Desbreko" is a bit long. Also, the name Drake is quite a bit more common. I mean, how many other people do you that use the name Desbreko? Other than some idiot who stole the name on AIM before I got to it, I haven't found anyone. (Try searching for "desbreko" on [url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=desbreko&btnG=Google+Search]Google[/url] and see what you find, heh). The Desbreko isn't exactly a well-known Zelda enemy, so it's not too likely that it'll become wide-spread, either. Oh, and a cookie to anyone besides mods (that means you, Sara :p) that actually remembers the name I used here on OtakuBoards before I had James change it to Desbreko. [img]http://www.angelfire.com/ex/desbreko/Smiley-Cookie.gif[/img][/color]

[color=indigo]I know the game doesn't technically have a co-op mode, but I remember when I first started playing video games, me and my brother would co-operate in Super Mario Kart on the SNES. Me, being four years younger than him, obviously would've had no chance at winning if he had had me in his sights, so we would both team up to totally kick the butts of the CPU players. (Not until I'd been playing the game for at least a year was I able to hold my own against my brother and his friend, but when that time finally came, I gave just as good as I got). Now with Mario Kart: Double Dash!! I can finally play a real co-operative Mario Kart grand prix, and it's tons of fun. Trying to switch back and forth in the middle of races while still trying frantically to make it around the curves and dodge items is so chaotic. Co-operative grand prix is definitely the best multi-player mode in the game. Another fond co-operative memory that I have is when me and my brother rented Perfect Dark on the N64 and played through the entire game in co-operative mode. Him, being the GoldenEye veteran, would always take point and I, being "okay" at FPS's, would watch our backs and provide cover fire. By the time we got to the end of the game, we barely needed to communicate at all -- we both just knew what we were supposed to be doing, and we did it. . . . Well, except for those crazy, unexpected fights with a bunch of enemies and no cover to be had. Those could result in shouting and confusion sometimes, heh. Playing the combat simulator challenges together was also lots of fun. Me, my brother, and occasionally his friend would try over and over and over again on some of the later ones until we finally managed to beat it. And then, of course, we'd repeat the process with the next challenge. Though, despite our countless attempts, we still never have managed to beat all of them. Once you get into the #40s, you hit that "almost impossible" difficulty level. Lately though, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles has been my co-op game of choice. My friend bought it when it was first released, and we've been getting together every now and then to play it ever since. Even with only two people it's lots of fun, fighting tooth and nail and just managing to scrape by using hit-and-run tactics, heh. (We've only stopped to level up once, for a year -- all the rest of the time, we've just been pressing onward to new dungeons). I'm actually glad the game is as difficult as it is, though, because that's part of what makes it so fun. The puzzles, enemies, bosses . . . pretty much everything requires the use of teamwork, and if you don't work well enough as a team, you [i]will[/i] die. Especially against strong enemies that require the fusion of spells to beat, such as those dang ghost Flans I talked about in a myOtaku post a while ago. First you gotta cast Holy on 'em in order to do any decent amount of damage to them, and then you have to be very liberal with the Cure spells while fighting them. And then when a Behemoth is thrown in with four of them. . . . I still wonder how we ever managed to get through that fight, heh.[/color]

[quote name='KyteX4']i would think the same thing but there is a crap load sega games on the gamecube... iono[/quote] [color=indigo]Um, are you aware that you're replying to the second post in this thread, out of a total of 53? . . . And that the question in that post was answered in the third post in this thread? If you want to reply, it helps if you keep up with the current discussion in a thread. Also, you'll want to work on improving your post quality. That post really didn't add anything worthwhile to the discussion. *deletes post*[/color]

[color=indigo]I think that the Ice Arrows were an afterthought sort of thing in Ocarina of Time. It's like they put them in the game but didn't really bother to make anywhere where they could be useful. In Majora's Mask, however, they were required -- being one of the dungeon items -- and also there were times when they were actually useful. I'm thinking maybe Nintendo just didn't have time to fully incorporate the Ice Arrows into OOT, since later in MM they were used a good amount along with the Fire and Light Arrows.[/color]

[color=indigo]Yeah, most guides and walkthroughs do seem to put the Shadow Temple first, but I think part of the reason is just that it's more accessible than the Spirit Temple. I mean, you beat the Water Temple, hike over to Kakariko Village, and bam -- you're right there, ready to go through the Bottom of the Well (if you haven't already) and the Shadow Temple. With the Spirit Temple, you have to go all the way out to Gerudo Valley, sneak through the Gerudo Fortress, make your way through the Haunted Wasteland, and then return to being a kid and warp back to the Desert Colossus before you can actually get into the Spirit Temple. I think the most real evidence for the Shadow Temple being first is that you need the Lens of Truth, which is found in the Bottom of the Well, in order to get through the Haunted Wasteland. The thing is though, you can go through the Bottom of the Well as soon as you beat the Forest Temple and can warp back to being young Link -- which I usually do. So again, it mainly just comes back to preference.[/color]

[color=indigo]I've always beaten the temples is order just because . . . well, that's how things work out best for me. I suppose I could do them out of order, but I'd be going out of my way to do it. Here's basically how I do things: First off, the Fairy Bow is my favorite secondary weapon in the game and is required pretty much everywhere, so I go into the Forest Temple for that. And once I get it, I'm most of the way through the dungeon, so I just beat it while I'm there. I'd rather not have to come back later just to beat the boss, and really, I don't find the Forest Temple all that bad. Especially not after having to go through the annoying Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly and dealing with Princess Ruto. Second, the Fire Temple is my favorite dungeon in the game, so I'm happy to do that one. And for the one thing in there that requires the Longshot (a Gold Skulltula), I don't really mind coming back later once I've gone through the Water Temple just because the Fire Temple is a fun place to hike through. Next comes the Water Temple because, like Petey said, the Longshot is so much more fun than the Hookshot. . . . Not to mention you can't get to either of the other two dungeons without first beating the Water Temple or at least stealing the Longshot out of it. And again, that comes back to the Forest Temple thing; by the time I get the Longshot, I'm already a good ways through the dungeon, so I figure I might as well just beat it while I'm there. So now I can go into either the Shadow Temple or the Spirit Temple, but as far as I can tell, there really is no "correct order" for doing these two. On one hand, Navi tells you to do the Shadow Temple first, but on the other, the ring of medallions on the Quest Status screen shows the Spirit Medallion first . . . so who knows. I beat the Spirit Temple first when I played through OOT on the N64, but when I played through OOT Master Quest on the GCN I beat the Shadow Temple first, and it doesn't seem to make any difference. Personally, I like the Spirit Temple more -- along with the Gerudo Fortress -- so the next time I play through OOT I plan on beating the Spirit Temple first. Also, I think the Spirit Temple provides a nice transition between the first three temples, which seem to not be quite as dark and dreary as the Shadow Temple and Ganon's Castle; the Spirit Temple seems to be kind of half way between those. It's somewhat dark, and the whole thing with Twinrova and Nabooru really reminded me that, yes, Ganondorf is really after me and these aren't just random enemies in the temples. But at the same time, the bit of humor between Koume and Kotake after you beat them sort of lightens the mood a little. When you get into the Bottom of the Well and the Shadow Temple, however, all of that humor is gone. Walking into Kakariko Village after beating the Water Temple and seeing the town on fire. . . . That's a real turning point in the game's story for me. I mean, you can tell things are really starting to get serious when a nasty spirit monster escapes and sets the whole town ablaze. I think that and the Shadow Temple sets the mood very well for the [spoiler]meeting with Zelda in the Temple of Time[/spoiler] and the fight through Ganon's Castle. It's like things are just getting progressively worse throughout the game, and at that point they take a sudden dive.[/color]

[quote name='Felix']I just got "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" :wow: :drool: :D and that Link is the same Link as the Link in "The Legend of Zelda".[/quote] [color=indigo]Um . . . yeah, I know it's the same Link as in the first Legend of Zelda. I've always known that. That doesn't really make a difference about what Zelda II does or doesn't have to say about Link's race, though. (And just for the record, it doesn't say anything more than the first Legend of Zelda -- since my last post in this thread, I've played through the game on the Collector's Edition disc).[/color]

[size=1]The DailyOtaku iss.3Wednesday, April 28, 2004[/size] [center][size=3][b]How Much of myOtaku Is yourOtaku?[/b][/size][/center] With the gradual addition of features leading up to the launch of myOtaku.com version 2, there's also been an addition of restrictions. Some of both are seen as good, some not, and opinion seems to vary wildly depending on who one asks. Take a look as the DailyOtaku goes into the specifics of the additions and finds out what people think about them. One of the first modifications was added on April 22 to the Backroom page of myOtaku, the result of a suggestion made by the myOtaku member Demonsprite. According to an announcement by Adam posted on theOtaku.com's homepage, "...all your friends who've updated within the last 24 hours are noew highlighted." Apparently this update is so helpful that Adam had to invent a new word to describe just how well the recently updated members' names are highlighted. But "noew," on to what people think about the highlighting. First, a pro-highlighting opinion from James, holder of the #1 popularity rank on myOtaku. It's hard to argue with him when he says, "The highlighting is very helpful. I don't have a lot of time to sort through myOtaku pages, so being able to instantly see which friends have updated is nice." But, nevertheless, sCrEaMiNgFaN00bOy2598632 seems to have found something to squabble over: "i dpnt haev n e frends!!!1!!1!!!1!!11!1!!11111111" . . . And one can only wonder why that is. The next update was suggested by Desbreko -- who, by the way, was released from his therapy and has resumed moderating duties on OtakuBoards -- and was implemented around the same time as the highlighting feature. Added to Otaku Life posts, Adam says that you can now "...specify whether you want our system to translate line breaks into HTML." No doubt this will facilitate the use of HTML in Otaku Life posts, allowing members to have HTML on more than one line. Or, if you have some grasp of technical terms, it allows HTML to be formatted in multiple strings; something that at least this "stringer" is happy about. But what of the downsides of this update? Well, some members have complained about the upgrade not having any effect when the post is viewed on the comments page, causing problems with spacing. "It's annoying, but not a big deal as long as it's fixed eventually," said Japan86 as she posted a comment on one of Desbreko's posts. However, some others see this issue as a bit more urgent. When asked what he thought, hentai224 said, "Dude its messng up my hentai backround and i cant figur it out!" Best of luck with that issue of yours, hentai224. Now, finally, we come to the most controversial update. In the same announcement on theOtaku.com, Adam says that, "Due to the fact that some people have been putting over 45,000 characters worth of content in their myOtaku.com site introductions, we're testing a system where there's a max limit of 600 characters." Certainly this was bound to cause some strife among members with long introductions, especially those using lots of HTML, even after the limit was increased to 1,500 characters. Some say that the limit takes away the user's ability to fully customize their introduction. Nikorasu, however, thinks that, "The restrictions are for people having rediculously long intros that take forever to lode, especially for us dial up users." In order to get an opinion that's actually free of spelling errors, from someone that can see both sides of the issue, we caught up with Desbreko for a few questions. Heavily utilizing HTML and javascript in his introduction, the character limit is sure to have affected him. Read on to find out his views on the limit. [center]- - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] [b]DailyOtaku:[/b] Up until the character limit was imposed, you were using quite a lot of HTML and javascript in your introduction. How has the limit affected you, Desbreko? [b]Desbreko:[/b] At first it mad me kind of angry, thinking about all the work I had put into developing the Now Playing and Midi Archive sections of my introduction, and how I'd have to give them up. Now, though, I don't really care about the limit. [b]DailyOtaku:[/b] Oh? And why is that? [b]Desbreko:[/b] Super Nad Powers, baby. [b]DailyOtaku:[/b] Okay. . . . So do you see the character limit as being unfair? [b]Desbreko:[/b] Well, when it was a limit of 600, I think that was definitely being too strict. Now with 1,500 though, I don't think it's all that bad. It allows for people to have some HTML in their intros, while keeping people like sCrEaMiNgFaN00bOy2598632 from putting up twenty quiz results. I mean, what the heck is a fan00boy anyway? Is it some strange hybrid of a n00b and a fanboy or what? [b]DailyOtaku:[/b] Are you at all jealous over Shinmaru, your Nad Biatch, surpassing you in popularity rank? [b]Desbreko:[/b] Don't make me kick you in the nads. Shinmaru may be my Nad Biatch, but I by no means limit myself to kicking his nads only. [b]DailyOtaku:[/b] Do you kick people in the nads as a way of compensating for something? [b]Desbreko:[/b] Oh, that's it. Super Nad Kick 9000! [b]DailyOtaku:[/b] What? What are you doing? No, no, not-- [screaming] [b]Desbreko:[/b] Booyah! [center]- - - - - - - - - - - - -[/center] So what's the verdict? Overall, opinions seem to be positive about the new upgrades, but as always there are a few who go against the flow of progress. To see things for yourself, sign up to myOtaku and try out these new features today. Just remember that if you do sign up, be sure and visit Desbreko's page. Otherwise you risk getting a kick in the nads, and that, folks, is something you do not want to experience.

[color=indigo]First off, I merged this with the original Final Fantasy VIII thread. Second, [url=http://www.google.com][u]Google is your friend[/u][/url]. If you don't know where to find something like that, do a search for it. If you care to look hard enough -- provided it's actually out there -- you'll probably find it. Digital recordings of game cutscenes seem to be pretty rare, however.[/color]

[color=indigo]Yeah, if only a few images were allowed, people would have to give up most of their buttons. But that's something I'd be willing to sacrifice in order to keep other types of HTML and javascript, and it's also a lot better than what's in place now. When you have to use the entire URL of an image in the tag, you aren't going to be able to fit too many buttons in with a limit of 600 characters.[/color]

[QUOTE=Juuthena][color=deeppink][size=1]*bows to Dessy* Well said. >>; But then, there's that issue where rather than introductions being cluttered with text, usually (from what I've seen, at least), it's like, twenty/thirty quiz results. But wouldn't those end up being counted as html, too? *scratches head* For my intro, I had to go back and shorten all my filenames and take off the " " 's and /'s in links and such. [/color][/size][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Yes, the image tags used in quiz results wouldn't be counted as part of the character limit if it was done how I suggested, but that's why I also suggested a limit on the number of images allowed. That way people wouldn't be able to have a really huge intro filled with a ton of text or filled with tons of images, but people would still be free to use other types of HTML and stuff that takes a large number of characters yet is small on the page (such as my Midi Archive). But like I said, "if it's possible." I really don't know if there's a way to limit just the number of tags and no others.[/color]

[color=indigo]Try replacing all the double quotes with single quotes. A recent update made it so that myOtaku interprets double quotes entered on the "Edit Content" page as " which is the HTML code used for actually displaying a double quote and not having the browser interpret it as part of a tag. And since it does that with [i]all[/i] double quotes, you have to use single quotes in HTML tags in order for it to work.[/color]