Dodeca

[SIZE=1][quote name='Avenged666fold']Im just sayin in my oppinion 9 and 10 are better and im tired of getting yelled at for thinking that 9 and 10 are much better than anyother FF game. So are all of you FF8 and 7 fans mad at me still?[/quote] Sorry if you thought I was nagging at you, Avenged. I was just trying to elaborate a little more on why I liked 8, and mention that 9 had been my favourite at a point. [quote name='Desbreko']Maybe it's just me, but I find it a bit sad that FFX's minigames are harder than its boss fights. Omega Weapon? Whatever, I took him down no problem. Butterfly catching? Now that was a pain in the ***. lol[/quote] No kidding. I beat O.W. using only Bahamut pretty much - though I think I lost him just before the end of the battle. The Dark Aeons are a completely different story though. Those guys seriously haul a**... But compare the standard bosses to the likes of the 0:00 Chocobo Challenge, the 200 Thunderbolts, and the Butterfly Catching, and they're... well, yes.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Heh, I understand Raph. I just occasionally like to pick away at randomly-obscure-named people who make crazy theories. It makes my day, week, month and year. Heck, sometimes I'll even call my friends Ooklydocathokalon and force them to make up a nonsensical theory, just so I can have the joy of ripping it apart... ...Well, not really for that second part, but it would be vaguely entertaining, no? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]^ Omgeth, Raph dost quoteth a crazy man!! He [i]claims[/i] to have seen a dragon, and apparently was the oly perso to realise it was a dragon. Wow... He makes statements on dragon's organs and bone composition/structure, even though I've never heard anything of his little 'dragon fossils'. Lol, he even tries to explain things by stating how the dragon's body chemistry functions, despite the fact that, as he said himself, there isn't a living dragon from which he could actually test or prove any of this. [quote name='Volodimir Kapusianyk][SIZE=1]This textbook contains all I have [strike]learned or theorized[/strike'] made up about dragons.[/size][/quote] No offence Raph, but please, for the love of Ol' Jimmy, don't quote this guy again...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]If Chaos doesn't post one in a day or two, I'll do my second place duty and post mine, lol. I found one possible one a few weeks back, that pretty much speaks for itself, but I think I might look for another one...[/SIZE]

[quote name='Avenged666fold']...Also Loserville is FF8 its by far the worst FF ever next to 11 and I hate that for a whoooole different reason and I dont wanna go there. Also ive changed my list from FF9 to FF10 to FF9+10 together beacause tthey are both the best. Maybe I love FF9 so much beacause it was my first FF game...[/quote] [SIZE=1]FF8 really ranks as one of the best in my mind because it took, by my definition at least, a more mature approach than the others - though I'd say FFX did a reasonable job at that approach too. The romance aspect of 8 was quite well developed - though it really didn't appeal to me the first time I played it - and I felt that the interaction between the characters was superb. The environment had a much more realistic feel to it, both through the not-so-advanced graphics, the way people talked/acted - all sorts of things. Naturally, I can't criticise you for hating it, since most people generally do, but I still love the darn thing. FF9 wasn't the first for me to play, but it [i]was[/i] the first one I completed. Like I said in my last post I loved it at first for the same reasons as you, but after I playing through 7,8 and 10 completely, it just can't stand against any of them. All FF's may be relatively easy, but 9[I] [in my opinion][/I] was a gentle midday stroll compared to some.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1][I]Bleh, I'm just going to list my order of preference before I get on to discussion;[/I] [B][I]Joint First Place:[/I] FF7/FF8 ~Final Fantasy 7[/B], but not so much for the whole 'ground-breaking wonder' thing that others go for. I don't find the story as confusing as some, and I generally found it quite interesting/involving. The characters generally had quite well fitted personalities, though a few obvious ones were a bit too stereotypical. There were so many side-quests and sub-plots to investigate, and many of the bosses, standard and hidden, were the most challenging I've seen out of all of the FF games. [B]~Final Fantasy 8[/B]. To be perfectly honest, I despised this on my first go. It just seemed a little too mushy, y'know? Though, strangely enough, that element of the game is what draws me to it most nowadays. The Draw/Junction system was an... interesting feature, but it was excellent in terms of customisation and adaptability. I just think it's funny that I live the game for the reasons that other people hate it, lol. [B][I]Joint Second Place:[/I] FF4/FFX[/B] [B]~Final Fantasy 4[/B]. I can't actually think of why I liked this, since I haven't played it in so f***ing long... but yes, it gets this position. [B]~Final Fantasy 10[/B]. If I could remember enough to justify my rating of FF4, this'd be dumped back down to Third Place. The characters, plot and graphics were great, sure, but it just didn't have the right feel for me. Though the game and plot were just as linear as the previous games, the lack of a World Map, for me, completely drained away all illusions of freedom. It just felt like a 'here's the path, now walk' adventure. And I hated the removal of the ATB system, I really did. What really kept me from busting FF10's a** further was Blitzball - which was so brilliant a mini-game that it could make a half-decent spinoff - and the changes to the summoning system - which would've been even better for me with ATB. [B][I]Third Place:[/I] Final Fantasy 9[/B]. This one did it for me the first time through, but I'm not particularly fond of it anymore. All-in-all, it was just too easy. You didn't even have to make use of most of the abilities to get through the game, and though a few bosses could be a handful at lower levels, they weren't too much hassle if you levelled efficiently. And the stunted-growth-look of the characters... Phmeh, no thanks. [B][I]Fourth Place:[/I] Final Fantasy 6[/B]. I'm not going to give any great reasons for this, I just don't like it all that much. Plain and simple. [B][I]Loserville:[/I] FF5, FFX-2[/B] This isn't because of the job system, so much, but because they don't really have that great an FF atmosphere. FF5 just has too bland and cliched a story... I mean come on... 'X-Death'? Translation error or not, that just plain wreaks. FFX-2 didn't feel too stereotyped, it just felt too much like a compilation of mini-games. It brought back the ATB, and the girls were a definite bonus for an adolescent male (face it, you know it's true), but it just didn't gel right. It was, for all its worth, nothing more than a lousy spin-off. Down into the pits it goes... I like FFXI, but, being an MMORPG, I can't exactly classify it alongside the others. I can't wait to play FFXII, but I just hope that they've made a considerably better job than their two previous Playstation 2 efforts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]I know this is completely off-topic, but... [quote name='NekoSama101']...he refers to the devil as a lion several times.[/quote] The devil was never referred to as a lion. The whole 'lion and the lamb' phrase was wholy used to describe Christ - the lion, a symbol of majesty and power; the lamb, a symbol of laying himself down as a sacrifice in spite of this. Bleh. [quote name='NekoSama101']...So if he refers to the devil as a dragon, than that means that they were around at some point in time.[/quote] Of course, remember that 'dragon' in the bible is a translation of an Arabic (?) word, and so it may just be a 'nearest equivalent' scenario. The word was probably only used so as to relate to the European concept of the dragon - a fearsome beast that preys on humanity, perfect link for a beast representing the devil, yes? [COLOR=DimGray][I][theory][/I][/COLOR] Personally, I don't think that dragons ever really existed. Back in medieval times, and in the relevant time periods in other parts of the world, society was still quite heavily ruled by superstition and mysticism, and assumed meanings of this-and-that. Basically, I go with the theory that dinosaur fossils may've been uncovered earlier in history, long before man took an active interest in science and the ages before mankind. If the medieval equivalent of archeologists happened to dig up a dinosaur skull, I somehow doubt their first reaction would've have been to study and record it. Rumours of a giant lizard skull would spread, and presumably, eventually be transformed into rumours of a living giant lizard. Here enters the dragon. And, if this is the case, dragon stories exist all over the globe [I]because dinosaurs existed all across the world. [COLOR=DimGray][/theory][/COLOR][/I][/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Oh my... bleached was leading yesterday, I was leading a couple of hours ago, and now it's back to a tie, lol. Well, for the sake of letting this RP get started, I'm going to officially withdraw my sign-up. Hope the RP goes well for all of you. [I] Bu-bye, folks![/I][/SIZE]

[SIZE=1][I]"It's okay! Everyone, don't panic! I brought a shotgun, those clones won't know what hit 'em, y'hear!" [Insert mob chant here] "Come and get it you clone-errific ba-"[/I] *Bang!* [I]"Argh!! My ****ing foot! Stupid... clones..."[/i] *Thud!* [i][Mob shuffles away, mumbling. The End.] "Wait... I'm not dead, I just tripped over thi-"[/i] *Bang!* [i][...The End.][/I] * * * That, my dear children, is why you should never lead a mob of confused OB'ans against a clone army, with a single not-so-trusty shotgun between the lot of you. If the clones don't kill you, you can bet the stage-direction-writer will. Sure, there's the question of why there'd be a stage-direction-writer there in the first place, but we all know that's not important... don't we?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]G'day folks. I just thought I'd take a few moments to set up my own little corner in this here Art Studio. Up until recently, most of my 'art' - anime-ish character designs, really - was hand-drawn, and if I wanted to put it anywhere I'd just dig out the old junkheap of a scanner and...[COLOR=DimGray] [I][/blah][/I][/COLOR] Anyway, now that I've gotten m'self a graphics tablet, and have actually figured out how to use the graphics programs on my computer to a limited extent, I'm going to give you all a little peek. Enjoy... [I][B][URL=http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/30871970/]Juylan the Guado[/URL][/B][/I] This is relatively recent, but not exactly new. There was an FFX RP up in the inn about a month (?) ago, and though I prepared a sign-up in Word and went as far as to make this image of my character, I never actually signed up for it. I took some advice on the colouring from the How To Draw Manga site, and I think all-in-all it turned out pretty darn well. [I][B][URL=http://www.deviantart.com/view/30871452/]Cathlyn Goldberg[/URL][/B][/I] Made this one today, to go with my sign-up for Oblivion's [I]Shadow Faction[/I] RP, and partly out of a lack of anything better to do. It isn't quite completed, in terms of a lack of shading, but I'll be working on the improved version tomorrow. [i][b][URL=http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/30915621/]Cathlyn Goldberg #2[/URL][/i][/b] Decided to do another pose for Cath, and I think it turned out quite well. Sadly, though the shading was quite easily visible on my laptop screen, the shades in the lighter colours (ie. most of the picture) are more difficult to tell apart on my desktop - and thus, presumably, on yours too.[/SIZE]

[quote name='GUNmanZERO7']It's like a game of chess. You get your king killed but you can kill the other king.[/quote] [SIZE=1] I thinkzh you meanzh jhe Queen, yeash? Wow... Ooo... That board is scarier than a kentucky-fried uncle on Smurfsday. Milk and cheese and mirrors... and the clones... th-they're everywhere... [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1][I][B]Deep-throated narrator:[/B] The cathedral of fate... one man enters... one man leaves... [B]Vincent:[/B] Wait, isn't that kind of obvious? [B]DTN:[/B] How about one man leaves after being flogged by the all-knowing narrator? [B]Vincent:[/B] ... [B] DTN:[/B] ... [B] Vincent:[/B] Touche...[/I][/SIZE]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkRed][B][I]Human[/I][/B] [B]Name:[/B] Cathlyn Goldberg [B]Age:[/B] 18 [B]Gender:[/B] Female [B]Appearance:[/B] [B][I][Now with added attachment, woot!][/I][/B] Cathlyn stands at about 5'9'' and has a semi-athletic build. Her hair is a very dark shade of red/brown, with the occasional streak of a much brighter shade, and is about medium-length [I](ie. Just below her eyebrows at the front, just above shoulder-line at the back)[/I] and slightly curly. Her left eye is hazel in colour, whereas here right eye has a green/blue tinge to it. [I]Clothing;[/I] [I]Upper body -[/I] A plain white tanktop, over which she wears a light grey jacket/vest, open. The jacket would not normally have any sleeves, however Cathlyn has fitted her own. They are (each) attached to the main jacket by three thin belts of leather, and begin about half-way down the upper arm, leaving the shoulder area of the arm exposed. For the most part, the sleeves are white, like the tank-top, however the cuffs are blood-red in colour. She wears full-cover gloves on her hands, which are muddy brown. She also wears a small charm around her neck, though this is generally not visible. [I]Lower body -[/I] Dark red/brown full-length pants (similiar to her hair colour), relatively loose-fitting, which are supported by a white, steel-buckled belt. Two thin grey belts fall from the main one on either side, meeting at the back, which support the scabbards for [I]Raln[/I] and [I]Essa[/I]. Several small pouches are also attached to the belts, but these have no real purpose. She wears low-rim boots of the same shade as her gloves, with fitted steel plates covering the toe sections. [B]Personality:[/B] A little hot-headed - to pun the phrase - Cathlyn has an unfortunate tendency to act without thinking, often doing more to worsen a bad situation than diffuse it. Most of the time, she doesn't intend for her actions to have negative consequences, but at times it's easier for her to lose control of her words and feelings than it is for her to regain it. [B]Weapon:[/B] A set of two daggers, [I][B]Raln[/B][/i] and [i][B]Essa[/B][/I]. [I]Raln[/I] is best adapted for stabbing/thrusting, and is used in the right hand. [I]Essa[/I], on the other hand, has a broader blade best used for slashing and cutting, often as a backhand weapon, in her left hand.[/color] [COLOR=Sienna][B][I]Demon[/I][/B] [B]Name:[/B] Valrith [B]Element:[/B] Fire [B]Appearance:[/B] In terms of stature and overall build, Valrith is practically identical to Cathlyn. However, this demon is very different to her in other ways. Her skin, though physically untouched, appears charred and cracked as if she has been thrown into a violent blaze. Her original facial features are very difficult to make out, and her eyes and mouth glow lightly with a white aura. Her clothes seem little more than burnt rags, though on the most part they remain intact. Her gloves, however, have been burnt away completely, and her fingertips glow like embers (ie. orange/red). The only part of her outfit that is 'new', rather than changed, is the holster on her back, intended for the [I]Galnehk[/I]. [B]Personality:[/B] You couldn't p*ss on Valrith's fire even if you tried. She is incredibly conceited and arrogant, even for a demon, and has a much greater understanding of the negative consequences of her actions than Cathlyn does. She could be said to overestimate herself, if such a thing is possible for a being with her strength, and so tends to lean towards brute force rather than tactics and subtlety. Though this has not given her any trouble to date, she may need to work on her style if she wishes to match up to Dasra and his allies. [B]Weapon:[/B] The [B][I]Galnehk[/I][/B], essentially the combined [I]Raln[/I] and [I]Essa[/I], takes the form of a short spear. The blade of the Galnehk is split down the centre, with each half shaped like the corresponding dagger, and both glowing in a similiar way to Valrith's fingertips. The spearshaft is made of a dull near-black metal, and at a distance would seem to be made from Valrith's blackened flesh. [/COLOR] [center]* * *[/center] PS: Just going to keep this profile here for future reference, should I need to edit it for another RP. [I][COLOR=DimGray][/sneaky][/COLOR][/I][/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Boop. One of my friends had this (first) image on my user area at college, so phmeh. [URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/candeh.jpg][B][i]Strangers![/i][/B][/URL] EDIT: [URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/mystereh.jpg][b][i]Safe sex![/i][/b][/URL] EDIT2: [i][b][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/anarcheh.jpg]Anarchy![/URL] [/b][/i] EDIT3: [i][b][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/manleh.jpg]Man feelings![/URL] [/i][/b][i](Undoubtedly my favourite creation)[/i] EDIT4: [i][b][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/cointreh.jpg]Patriotism![/URL] [/i][/b] EDIT5: [b][i][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/wombeh.jpg]Genetic engineering![/URL] [/i][/b] EDIT6: [b][i][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/bruceh.jpg]Presents![/URL] [/i][/b] EDIT7: [b][i][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/Coweh.jpg]Commercialism![/URL] [/i][/b] EDIT8: [b][i][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/lobotomeh.jpg]Lobotomy![/URL] [/i][/b] EDIT9: [b][i][URL=http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h230/turnipicus/monkeh.jpg]Social behaviour![/URL] [/i][/b] Wow... this really [I]is[/I] addictive...[/size]

[SIZE=1][I]^ Oh no! He's a bandwidth bandit! Heh...[/I] Well... to be frank, I haven't played DW5, only DW3 [COLOR=DimGray][I](which I loved)[/I][/COLOR] and 4:Empires[COLOR=DimGray][I] (which I hated)[/I][/COLOR]. Still, I'm a partcular fan of the two Shu spear-users, [I]Ma Chao[/I] and [I]Jiang Wei[/I], who used practically the same 3rd/4th weapon in DW3. Though I may have hated Empires, I prefer the DW4 look for the both of them. Alas, [URL=http://www.yueying.net/dw/_imgs/official/Dynasty%20Warriors%204/Ma%20Chao.jpg]here[/URL] and [URL=http://www.yueying.net/dw/_imgs/official/Dynasty%20Warriors%204/Jiang%20Wei.jpg]here[/URL] dost they be, in DW4 form [COLOR=DimGray][I](if you didn't read the image name in the URL, Ma Chao is the first, Jiang Wei the second)[/I][/COLOR]. To be honest, I don't really have all that great a reason for liking them, other than I thought that they were really rather funky with a spear, and were quite well balanced in their attributes.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Raphael][FONT=Palatino Linotype']Yep, those cannons maybe not much used by samurais. But they would surely retaliate and use them when they fired with cannons by pirates like hell right? :D[/FONT][/quote] [SIZE=1]Well, I was thinking more if they had time to prepare, and opted to kit their ships out with a few. Though they'd need to make/import the darn things first, since the few cannons the samurai did have were constructed for mounted use on land, not at sea. So all in all, it wouldn't be all that likely. Also, even if they set up the cannons, they'd have practically no experience in firing and reloading them quickly/efficiently, so the pirates'd still probably haul a**.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]^ Wha-? Haven't you noticed the people in this thread (mostly those who elaborate on their choices) who are trying to put some realism into this? First, were not talking about Blackbeard here, we're talking about [I]pirates[/I]. You know, the 'scourge of the seas', who were, let's be fair, feared and hated by a considerable amount of people. It's not like the usual pirate didn't kill anyone. Essentially, they were the thieving ninjas of the sea - they'd open fire on/board an unuassuming merchant ship, take what they wanted, and sink it along with the crew. And as most people have said, nothing the samurai or ninja may have could stand a chance against a pirate attack at sea. And it's not like ninjas weren't completely incompetent in hand-to-hand fighting. Heck, they didn't just carry shurikens and swords you know. Ninjutsu techniques, which were common to both ninja and samurai, were adapted for the manipulation and disarming of an opponent. They carried some seemingly harmless throwing items that were essentially for p*ssing off anyone who enganged them in combat, on the basis that an angry person is going to act far less rationally, and can be much more easily manipulated. What people don't seem to realise sometimes is that a ninja isn't going to be able to kill someone in one swift move - if they couldn't hold their own against their targets, what use would they have been? Oh, and samurai + mongol horde = bad example. The samurai performed quite badly against the first Mongol invasion, and the only thing that kept them standing was the fact that it was only a scout force. In the second invasion, they were all but screwed, and they only won because of the hurricane that decimated the mongols' anchored ships and left the invaders lost and confused. And ninjas may not have been the best soldiers in Japan, but they [I]were[/I] the best soldier-killers - both feared and respected by the samurai. [I]Y'see, in my first post I favoured the samurai, yet here I haven't mentioned a single good thing about them. Up yours, favouritism![/I][/SIZE]

[quote name='Starwind']PS: By the way Katana, war isn't always bad. Think about if we had just gone "You know what, we don't need to fight. I'm sure the Germans will call off this whole invasion thing soon. And those crazy japanese were just in an off mood. I'm sure it'll be fine." Think about that before going with the whole "What is it good for? Absolutly NUTTHIN" route, okay[/quote] [SIZE=1]Lol, first of all, I think that was just a little manipulation of a song that I don't know the name of, and you may have misinterpreted it a little. And i don't really think you can truly compare the Iraq situation (which I personally wouldn't even class as a war) to the likes of WWII. That was fought as a semi-defensive war, whereas the Iraq incident was an aggressive 'liberation'. First, note that I'm speaking as a Briton, not an American. As far as I can see it, the original, driving purpose of this 'war' was a mixture of tying up loose ends, and getting rid of the potential threat posed by those mythical WMD's. Though the whole liberation and democracy thing played a large part in the arguements afterwards, I don't think that had all that much to do with it. In my opinion, for both the US and the UK, it was just an opportunistic thing to weasle up a little more public support. Unfortunately, if this was the case, they didn't count on the people hating them for the war afterwards. As far as Iran goes, things have been leading up to this for a long time. If Iraq has had any effect on the situation, it probably hasn't been in diverting the US's attention away from Iran, but from drawing more of Iran's attention to the US. To them, the liberation of Iraq might look like an attack on the independence of Middle-Eastern nations and their right to use Western technology. Add to that the whole China-textures thing - an obvious and unecessary attempt to maintain Western society's hold on the economy - and I'm honestly not surprised. Iran probably don't view the US with a great deal of respect anyway, and I don't think anything either of them have done has done anything to resolve this. Iran sees the US as being more barbaric and greedy than ever, and as long as everyone else keeps viewing Iran in the same way, nothing will be solved. Bah... I hate topics like this...[/SIZE]

[B][SIZE=1]Chronicles of the Drunkard, Chapter 7;[/SIZE][/B] [SIZE=1][I]"While enjoying the mid-day rave at boot camp, one unfortunate individual made the colossal mistake of vomitting in Donald's hat... and so, the legends say, one mighty can of whoop-a** was opened."[/I][/SIZE]

[SIZE=1][B]Name:[/B] Julian Hayle [B]Age:[/B] 23 [B]Gender:[/B] Male [B]Job:[/B] [strike]ArchKnight[/strike] [B]Appearance:[/B] [I][B&W attached. Pose looks a little awkward, but oh well.][/I] He has red hair, and slate gray eyes. The vest he wears beneath his chest plate is plain white, while his pants, boots and gloves (not including the shinguards and armlets, which are metal) are a muddy, faded brown. Both the sash around his waist and the cape-collar thing are a dull shade of purple. [B]Personality:[/B] Julian often acts as though he has put the loss of his world behind him, but in truth holds a deep and bitter resentment of the Heartless. Though he hates to admit it, if he was given the chance he would probably do anything if it allowed him to wipe out every last one of them. Around most people, he tries to act relatively upbeat, but can become very distant every once in a while. [B]Weapon:[/B] A chain whip, with a leather bound handle/hilt at one end. The whip appears dull, from the lack of reflection from the metal used, but several sharpened rings have been added to the chain, at three-link intervals. [B]Abilities:[/B] Julian has worked up a few little tricks with his whip that, though quite basic, can be very effective if used correctly. Right now, he's particularly fond of his gung-ho [COLOR=DarkRed][I]Whiplash[/I][/COLOR] attack, a quick combination of fast and strong strikes. One of his old loves is his [COLOR=DarkRed][I]Cyclic Chain[/I][/COLOR] strike, swinging the whip in a tight arc around the body, hitting anything within range in one swift motion. [B]Magic:[/B] N/A [B]Character snippet:[/B] [I]5 years ago...[/I] Julian could only look back in horror as his former home finally fell to the shadowy creatures that had besieged it. The ground itself crumbled, pulled apart by the violent aura that seemed to have engulfed it completely. But what shook Julian the most was that only he and Marcus had managed to get away alive. His entire family, countless friends , all gone - and all because of those hideous monsters. He recalled marcus calling them [I]'Heartless'[/I], or something, but that didn't really matter all that much. They'd destroyed his life, and they [I]would[/I] pay for it with their own, no matter who or what they were. Clenching both fists, Julian struck the... was it glass?... bubble in anger and frustration, only to yelp loudly as Marcus yanked him back by his neck. A sudden flash lit up the inside of the strange vessel they had escaped in, rocking it back and forth and launching Julian face-first into the nearest wall. Marcus scowled, punching Julian in the back, and turned back to the controls. [b][I]"Yeesh, Jules."[/I][/b] He stretched out his left arm, and pointed his thumb backwards at three blocky ships, apparently with more of those 'Heartless', that seemed quite intent on blowing them apart. [b][I]"It's bad enough with those bastards scorching my new paint job, and then you go and smash up the inside..."[/I][/b] The Heartless ships soared past, only to be shot down by a swift barrage from Marcus.[b][I] "...good Gummi's are pretty difficult to come across on backwater worlds, y'know!" "...Gummi's?"[/I][/b] Julian rubbed his aching forehead, completely bewildered as to what was going on, or where they were going.[b] [I]"...Heartless? C'mon Marcus, what are those things?" [/I][/b]His fist clenched again for a moment as Julian struggled to restrain himself. [b][I]"And what the hell do they want with us?!"[/I][/b] Marcus flicked a switch on the control board, and spun his seat around, meeting Julian's bitter gaze with a mix of sympathy and pity. [b][I]"It's difficult to explain... but it's nothing personal. You were just in the wrong place,"[/I][/b] Marcus swivelled back around, and forced the ship into a steep curve, bringing an odd mass in to view. [b][I]"...at the wrong time." [/I][/b] As the ship grew closer to the object, lights shone out, some seeming to take the form of letters, and Julian could have sworn he saw some buildings, even people, on its surface. [I][b]"Oh, I almost forgot. Welcome to December Town, Jules. Your new home..."[/b][/I][/SIZE]

[quote name='Raphael']You're saying that samurais never used a cannon? Well if pirates whose a bunch of outlaws used them...why wouldn't the samurais whose the laws itself? :D[/quote] [SIZE=1]Well, they never put them to great use, just as a mounted defense on a couple of the more elaborate castles. They were introduced quite late as far as feudal Japan goes, and I don't think there were any major sea-battles after the Taira got whipped in the Heike wars. Still, they adapted well to musket use, so I guess they would've been more than capable of adapting to cannons too, if they'd had to. [I][Lol, Slade called you Rachael. Heh.][/I][/SIZE] [quote name='Ikillion']On land however that is a different story. As far as I know... Samurai haven't been able to develop some kind of a Boomerang Katana, so that would give them at a loss. and pirates do just have guns and such. So as much as I know right now the samurai would atleast come up in last place out of the three.[/quote] [SIZE=1]The samurai were renowned for their archery skills for the majority of their existence, the whole swordsman image only really took off in the Edo period after all the major wars had ended. A bow could easily pack more power than anything a ninja could throw, given that the ninja's visible and the bow hasn't been cast aside/left out entirely. If you were to take a well developed army from the late 1500's, they'd have a good ol' fashioned musket squad too. But I doubt that'd count for a 1:1:1 fight, so... Dang. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Flame_Alchemist']I?m not sure if people will agree with me on this but for me the most over-rated game has to be Pokémon. My word how many games has this one got now? I wouldn?t mind but they are all the same. You start off in a town, collect a terrible Pokémon in the grass and then take over the world. The fact that they usually come on two games each really annoys me, Nintendo wants our money no doubt about that. The gameplay is so repetitive it?s mind numbing, collect and fight and repeat. I think they will keep making these until they run out of colors, I can?t wait for Pokémon Beige and Mauve.[/quote] [SIZE=1] Lol. Still, it's not a mega-worldwide-overrated game like some others out there. It's pretty much a child/young teen thing really (in most places, at least). But yes, as one person who fell into the little poke-trap, I still agree with you on the most part. If only I didn't play it every so often on boring holidays, lol. I think its overrated nature among younger ages, for me, was made even more aparent when I was on holiday in the Canary Islands a few years back. The shops there were filled with a fake set of Pokemon games, though I don't remember what colours they were labelled as. Unless you could pick out the forged images on the back of the box from the real thing, you were pretty much screwed - no refunds 'n' all. Imagine all the tourist children that fell for that one...[/SIZE]

[quote name='Retribution]It's not like the bullets from that era gave the victim nice clean holes -- [spoiler']they'd bounce around the body, destroying internal organs before finally permanently settling to kill the opponnent.[/spoiler][/quote] [SIZE=1] Yeah... but I was focusing mainly on accuracy when I was commenting on the 'bang, dead' thing. True, it could wreak havok if the shot struck the torso or the head, but if it veered off and struck an arm or a leg it'd only cripple. The advantage given by that would all depend on the location of the hit - for example, a leg wound could pretty much **** anyone, but if it hit the left arm, and the samurai/ninja was fairly skilled with single-handed fighting [I](and right-handed/ambidextrous)[/I]... blah.[/SIZE] [quote name='John']If you were close enough for a melee battle, you'd be close enough for the pistol to be effective, and take out the samurai.[/quote] [size=1]Yes, I just assumed that the pirate would get his shot(s) off while the samurai/ninja was at a distance, though I made a brief note of close-range being an exception. Trying to fire a pistol in melee range would be quite risky, since you'd need to move a lot more to keep them 'in your sights', and they could at least try to cut you down either before the shot or, depending on where it hits, before they fall. But still, I probably did belittle the pistol's effectiveness a bit too much earlier. My bad.[/size]

[SIZE=1]Meh, I think I'll hop over to the 1:1:1 view for this post. [quote name='John']The pirate will use his trusty pistol and take out the samurai immediately.[/quote] 'Trusty' wouldn't be the first word to come to mind if I were to think about a pirate pistol. In that era, they were a definite advantage, but they weren't all that sophisticated. They would've been pretty inaccurate, and landing a killing shot would be down to luck more than anything else - unless you fired at near-point-blank, of course. Still, it depends more on whether you go for the armoured or unarmoured samurai, but in either case a 'Bang, dead' situation'd be pretty unlikely. Reloading'd be all but impossible, since it'd leave the pirate completely defenseless as he sorted out the powder and the bullet for a second shot. If he had two pistols, there you go, but just one? Nah. Then you get back to the whole swordfighting part, albeit with a wounded oponent. With the whole sword-on-sword issue with the katana, a good samurai would try to knock strikes aside, rather than forcing the blades to collide with force. An even better samurai would try to mix in some ninjutsu techniques (since they weren't [I]just[/I] for ninjas) aswell. But, again, you have the whole issue of the potential bullet wound and its effect on... well... everything. [quote name='Gavin]...Blackbeard himself endured [B]five pistol shots[/B] and [B]more than twenty sword wounds[/B'] before finally going down...[/quote] Exactly, -1 point for pistols. And as far as sword wounds go, there have been similiar things said about certain renowned samurai. Of course, everybody knows that a legend can't die in just [I]one[/I] hit, right? [I](Wait... feud... pirates... ninjas? Silly notion, that. I doubt any traditional European pirates would've even seen a ninja. If you take the[/I] wako[I] (Japanese pirates/raiders) maybe, but I don't think it would've been an exclusive feud with the ninja, and it'd be a completely different battle. Heck, in the invasion of Korea in the 1590's, the shogun all but encouraged the wako to do their stuff. Still, if I'm wrong, feel free to [metaphorically] slap me.)[/I][/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Mmm... 3-way battle of[I] doom![/I] Anyway, as far as I can see... [I][B]Advantage Pirates: [/B]Most likely to be the victors of a sea battle, provided the samurai/ninja ships could be kept at bay. Samurai's fought eachother in the occasional sea battle, for example at Dan no Ura (I think) in the 13th/14th century. However, they fought pretty much as they would on land, latching on to other ships with chains/planks and fighting hand-to-hand, or using bows. The only record I can recall of cannons being used at sea in a battle in Japan was in the Sengoku period, involving an allied Portugese ship firing on a castle. So yes, provided the enemy ships could be blasted, the pirates would win. [B]Disadvantage Pirates:[/B] In any land battle or melee situation. I imagine pirates would be quite disorganised in these situations, and would also have far less combat experience and training compared to their counterparts. Of course, this is entirely debatable, seeing as the pirates would be using weapons and tactics that would be completely new to a samurai or ninja, and vice-versa, which could work in either side's favour. [B]Advantage Ninja:[/B] This would rely entirely on the element of surprise, and with a relatively small force of ninjas. Ninjas were never intended to work as an army, they were assassins (no new information there, eh?). If they worked their way into a battle between the pirates and the samurai, removing key targets, they could quite easily send one or both of the forces into disarray. Of course, this would carry a lot of risks, and it would be practically impossible to wipe out the enemy entirely. [B]Disadvantage Ninja:[/B] If they failed to get the jump on the other two, and ended up in a free-for-all battle, they would be quite likely to fail. Remember here that ninjas' weapons were meant to be relatively concealable, and easy to use for quick hit-and-run assasination. The ninja sword, for example, was smaller and had a straight blade that was simple and light compared to the samurai's katana. It was nowhere near as flexible as the katana, and would be broken much easier as a result. Hand-to-hand combat could only get them so far, as samurai were trained in similiar techniques, and the pirates'd probably play dirty. [B]Advantage Samurai:[/B] In a land battle, with a time for preparation and organisation. Samurai - at their prime, not the whole rogue swordsman thing - worked best as an army, naturally. Over time their tactics grew more advanced, and these could often decide the winner of the battle. On horseback with spear and bow, they could quite easily cut through the rabble of pirates, and the ninjas wouldn't have too great a chance either. On foot, though the samurai could potentially hold the advantage, I think it'd be a much more fragile advantage. [B]Disadvantage Samurai:[/B] Unable to prepare they're forces, caught off guard. First, it would give the ninjas a perfect opportunity to nibble away at their army, while targetting and eliminating any exposed higher-stature samurai. The pirates would be on even ground for at least a short while, and could probably decimate the samurai with some light cannon and pistol fire. The samurai might be able to recover some of the battle in melee fighting, but history seems to prefer the massacre in this sort of situation.[/I] Personally, I'd like to favour the samurai, but that wouldn't make them any more likely to win now, would it?[/SIZE]