Gavin

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. I hadn't realised there were going to be some many villains in Spiderman 3, I thought it was just going to be Spidey versus Venom. That said I have to agree that there were way better villain choices than Sandman, his interesting powers aside, the retcon of sorts to tie him to the plot is poor at best. Uncle Ben's death by a nameless criminal was meant to show how personal and impersonal crime could be. Personally my choice would have been Black Cat, not only would it require an uber-sexy actress but it would create even more personal dilemmas for Peter, and we all know it's the personal development as well as the visual feasts which make Spiderman movies good. Just out of curiosity who would OBers like to see play Black Cat ?[/SIZE]

[quote name='White][COLOR=DimGray][FONT=Tahoma]Wait, so now you're saying that because I'm thin that makes me a jerk? Isn't that what Hanabishi Recca was saying? [spoiler]Aha, I'm just kidding. I know what you meant.[/spoiler] :whoops:[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] [SIZE=1]No way White, I'm calling you a jerk for having more female fans than me. ;) [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Well to answer the title question, there's nothing at all wrong with being a virgin, contrary to the crap spouted by some elements of the modern media. Personally I abide by the whole, "whenever the person feels ready" ethos, after about the age of fifteen/sixteen when most young people are actually mature enough to make the decision. In terms of your argument with your friends sister, you didn't provide her age, or the age of the guy she was with, but I'm going to agree with Sandy and say that tag-teaming her with her brother was the completely wrong approach.Teenage sisters do [b]not[/b] listen to their older brothers if the topic is relationships and intimacy, and they certainly do not do it if the conversation was brought up by a person outside their family in an aggressive manner. Obviously you care for this girl, but a way better approach would have been to speak with her in a calm, even indifferent manner (it makes them less defensive) about the whole thing. [/SIZE]

[QUOTE=Sandy]It's interesting to read about your party build-up, Gavin. One question, though: why aren't you using the variety of weapons offered? You know you could go with mace+shield for magic oriented characters, or if you want a real power-house, a spear, two-handed sword or hammer/axe+shield would be a better choice. Speedy weapons such as daggers are a good option because of their ability to combo, and poles are always nifty as they attack against magic defense instead of physical defense. So many choices, this game offers! XD[/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]To be absolutely honest Sandy it was because I wasn't really sure what they each did, and I guess I was just comfortable with what I had. I did give Basch a katana for a while, but eventually normal swords became more powerful so I switched him back. I also tried staffs and ninja swords with Penelo but they just either lacked power in the staff's case, or they weren't really effective in the ninja swords case. The fact that every weapon is so bloody expensive meant I never experimented to see what might suit particular builds.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Just clocked up my fifty-eight hour leaving Balfonheim Port with my characters currently being between level 41 and 42. I have to really agree everyone who's said this is a time consuming game, but it's been worth it for the most part so far. One little thing actually that does bug me is the amount of gil farming that has to be done to keep up with the best weapons, armours and spells offered, for every hour of gameplay there's at least, for me anyway, three of levelling/farming. [b][u]Party Alpha[/u][/b] [b]Vaan[/b] Level 42 Knight with Mage abilities, mostly used for attacking and healing/buffing. Sword and Shield wielding. All Quickenings obtained. [b]Basch[/b] Level 42 Pure Knight, has magic though it?s rarely used and only for emergency healing or buffing. Sword and Shield wielding. All Quickenings obtained. [b]Ashe[/b] Level 42 Knight with Mage ability, like Vaan but more powerful, as such is Alpha?s main healer. Sword and Shield wielding. All Quickenings obtained. Party Alpha is basically made up of three identical characters for the most part, all Knight/Mages in heavy armours with swords and shields. They all have a good deal of magic at their disposal, level 5/6 in most cases, and have all the Channelling, Swiftness, Lore, Shield and Health bonuses already acquired. Definitely my preferred party against everything but flying enemies, who are a real pain, they collectively do between 5000 and 6000 damage per round. [b][u]Party Beta[/u][/b] [b]Balthier[/b] Level 41 Gunman with Healing/Buff magics. Highest party attack. Gun wielding with varied shots available. All Quickenings obtained. [b]Fran[/b] Level 41 Archer/Mage, works in tandem with Penelo in mage capacity. Bow wielder with varied arrows. All Quickenings obtained. [b]Penelo[/b] Level 41 Mage/Knight, best spellcaster in game for me in all areas. Mage with sword and shield for close up damage. All Quickenings obtained. Beta is well, I?m not really sure what they are except my B team in most cases. They handle aerial enemies for the most part and are more magic oriented than Alpha, as Fran and Penelo seem to be of that nature. Fran is something of an irritation for me, as one of only two ranged characters I don?t want to take away her bow, but his miss rate has been noticeable and often with some enemies it?s only Balthier and Penelo attacking. Like Alpha they have all the combat, magic and health bonuses already acquired but their damage is rarely over 4000 unless Balthier hits a critical. They use Light Armour [Balthier and Fran] and Magic Armour [Penelo]. I?ve got two Espers so far, though I?ve never used them seriously, as the only time I did, [spoiler]against Bergan, Belias [/spoiler] seemed to do less damage than my regular party. Chaining Quickenings is also something I?ve found to be difficult, I?ve only ever hit about 8 in a chain so far, and I?m not really sure why.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Personally like Sandy I'd let off a good phlegmy one right on top of Hanabishi Recca purely because he judges people based off of their appearance rather than their personality. I've met plenty of fat people [hell I used to be one] and plenty of thin people, and in my experience, thin people are worse jerks than fat people. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Retribution][size=1']Well, what if the school happened to be wrong in expelling him? Should they stand by their decision just because they need to maintain the authority?[/size][/quote] [SIZE=1]Of course not Alex, that goes without saying. As I already said, if there is a double standard being employed here, and this guy (as he is 17) was singled out then of course the school should admit they were excessive. However I'm still not convinced that there isn't a good portion of blame with the young man himself, as he did break the rules and I'm pretty sure that most high school teens are aware of the rules of their school, especially after a good few years. Perhaps I'm wrong, as the guy was never in trouble before, but I just think he should have known better.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Break it off, long distance relationships rarely, if ever work as the opportunity for either party to cheat is just too available. In my experience constant physical contact is also a necessity, and I'm not just talking about sex, I'm talking about simple stuff like holding hands or a hug. If she is cheating you're better off without her, if you're not then she's better off because you think she's cheating on you and they'll destroy the relationship eventually.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Well well, I was wondering when the annual survey would come. [b]1: What changes (if any) do you think the forum structure needs?[/b] As already suggested by Des and Sandy, I'd like to see a complete overhaul of the current forum structure, I don't know about other people but the current set up looks quite cluttered and unattractive to me. Personally I quite like Des' structure, though I would rather see the Creative category closer to the top of the index page, though that is an obviously biased statement. [b]2: What new sites would you add to the OB Network?[/b] To be honest, I don't know. I'm pretty happy with what we have at the moment, though a picture site might be a good addition. [b]3: Should OB Network provide a [i]free[/i] hosting service to members for their own personal sites? If you have your own personal site, would you consider having it hosted by OtakuBoards?[/b] See Des' point. [b]4: Comments/Suggestions[/b] Couple of things here. 1] A few new board skins, two after all this time is simply ridiculous and I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see a bit of variety offered. 2] A link to Announcements through the side bar, just for laziness' sake. That's pretty much it. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. I don't know about anyone else here, but personally it always amazes me that when people do something stupid they know they'll get in trouble for, they automatically play the ignorance card in regard to rules. Every facet of society has rules that we agree to abide to, and seeing as this kid chose not to, he's now paying the price. On the one hand I agree that the expelling was excessive if other students have tattoos and haven't been expelled, of course we have only the boy in question's word that this is true. On the other hand, I really don't think that a Tupac tattoo that goes from his elbow to his wrist is really the sort of this that he can claim won't be the source of disruption, I'm back in a Catholic high school myself and looking at it from a more mature point of view, I know that people are going to want to see it and fawn over it and say how cool it looks, and that's going to cause disruption, even contention. In the end, if he's allowed this tattoo, even covered then all it's doing is undermining the school's authority, rules need to be enforced for the good of everybody. At least that's just my feeling on it. It's a shame the kid seems to be seriously interested in school, but then he should have thought of that before getting cut. [/SIZE]

[QUOTE=James][font=arial]As far as I know it's legal in many places. It's certainly legal here, although it's semi-regulated I think. So the idea of it being illegal is alien to me, lol. I don't agree or disagree with it, personally. If people want to do it/use the service...it really has nothing to do with me. lol[/font][/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]Pretty much the same for me, if it's legal or illegal, it's not going to affect me so I'm neither for nor against the legalisation of it. If people are that desperate for human sexual contact it's their business, but if feel sorry for them that they can't go out and form normal relationships, or just couldn't be bothered to do so. [/SIZE]

[quote name='James][font=arial']We are currently experiencing a problem whereby OtakuBoards won't send out any emails at all. I've discussed this with Desbreko and it seems to be a server-side issue rather than something specifically related to the vB software itself.[/font][/quote] [SIZE=1]That explains why when I changed my email address a few days ago I didn't get the confirmation email. Thanks to Ozy and whoever helped her for sorting that out and getting me back on OB.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Well I've been sober for the past twelve months, so I guess I'm going to have to go with the biggest bender rather than the latest one. I suppose it's too late to prevent the thought of the stereotypical Irishman with the lead stomach, so I might as well just go on. Anyway I was like DS and Andrew at a friend's birthday party, in this case a 21st which as many people know is the big one to celebrate after 18, I started light enough, a couple of beers with friends, moved on to shots of something or other as part of a party game which I unfortunately did not win, which mean more copious amounts of alcohol. After the game and a while more of socialising the heavier stuff was brought round, whiskey, at this point I'm probably on drink equivalent number fifteen or so and memory starts to blur along with eyesight. I'm actually not at all sure how much I did drink that night, however I do remember probably towards the end of it, along with stories told by other people that [b]poitin[/b], which is a very strong drink [60/70% proof, depending on the mix] was brought out and I took a couple of shots of that to finish off the night. Of the actual finish I remember borrowing my friend's bed [he was otherwise occupied with his girlfriend] and waking up the next morning feeling quite worse for wear. Not a great story, or even a good one, but tales of alcohol abuse seldom are I suppose. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Alright gone a bit further into the game, just clocked up over seventeen hours at this stage and [spoiler]just into the Tomb of Raithwall for the Dawn Shard[/spoiler] and I have to say while I'm still pretty impressed with the game over all, especially the Gambit system, a few things remaining irritating: [B]Vaan[/B] I really don't know what perverse pleasure came out of making Vaan so bloody stupid but it really does bug the hell out of me. I mean it seems to be the FF thing to have a main protagonist character that is a young, angry, near androgynous male with not a brain cell in his head. Please Square-Enix come up with something original. I swear that boy opens his mouth and trouble follows, in [spoiler]Bhujerba he's told not to mention Basch's name and the first bloody person he encounters, who just happens to be a disguised Imperial prince, he drops Basch's name straight out.[/spoiler] If it weren't for the fact he's part of my main party, I'd happily exile the gobshite for good. [b]Character Speech[/b] Dagger already brought this one up, but seriously who wrote the script for some of the main characters, the pretentiousness simply drips from their every word.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Sorry it's taken so long everyone, I ended up getting a dose of food poisoning the Sunday after my birthday and haven't even been out of bed since then, let along write up something. Anyway enough procrastinating, here's your villain, prepare for unrelenting handlebar-moustache twiddling and tying of helpless women to railroad tracks.[/SIZE] [COLOR=Silver][LEFT][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=1]The room was elegantly designed and furnished, Italian leathers, Amazonian timbers, North African tapestries, the product of millennia of life and yet at this very moment Seker was very far from content. Gingerly he wiped his napkin across his lips, carefully avoiding giving any indication of his discomfort at his current company. The haggard being to his left mannerlessly slurped and guzzled his way through the carefully prepared meal, either indifferent to or ignorant of the social graces to which Seker was usually so insistent on. ?[B]If we might discuss something ?[/B]? The question was carefully poised, insolence on his part would lead to dire consequences. ?[B]What ?! I rarely join the mortal plane, and never for anything less than good reasons. Yet [I]you[/I] Seker have seen fit enough not only to ask for my presence, but to interrupt me during my meal.[/B]? His irritation was obvious, and the warlock willed himself not to flinch at the chastisement he had received. Over the centuries he could count the number of White Council members whom he?d personally killed in combat, but this entity was far, far beyond his abilities to content with, after all how did one fight a god ? ?[B]My apologies... my master, I merely wished for you to know that two of your agents within the city were recently driven from their lairs. I am still gathering who exactly is responsible, but I believe it to be the work of a recently formed group, Legion they call themselves. They are of course no threat to you master, but I assume you do not want your activities disrupted.[/b]? Pushing a lock of jet black hair from his face, Seker attempted to make eye contact with his master, or at least, make contact with the void that existed in his face of his cloak. ?[B]Legion...[/B]? The hairs on the back of the warlock?s neck bristled. ?[B]I want them dealt with appropriately, time grows short Seker and I cannot and will not allow my interests to be compromised because my servants[/B]? He thrust a bony finger into Seker?s chest, he visibly flinched this time, unable to suppress the reaction. ?[B]seem incapable of dealing with simply irritations. This is my command, you will kill all those who interfere, and if you fail me, I will see to it that nothing in the seven thousand years which you have lived will match the pain I will inflict upon you.[/B]? Removing the gnarled digit, the demon deity simply vanished from the room, leaving Seker to contemplate how best to achieve his master?s will. Grasping his own half empty glass of wine, he drank back it?s contents to help his frazzled nerves, Legion were nothing and would be dealt with, but he could leave nothing to chance in this case. The sands of Egypt had been his home, yet it had been so long since he birth he could no longer remember the gentle feel of the breeze nor the feeling of the rushing Nile tributaries under his feet. Magicks had marked his early life, he potential in the arcane had elevated him to the rank of minor god among his people, ?[I]Seker[/I]? they dubbed him and worshipped him for his patronage over the dead. The sacrifices required for his own immortality raised a sick feeling in his stomach, so many had died in his pursuit of power, and he had pledged himself to a demon god in a bargain that even now he could not end. Anger came first, he knocked away the glass allowing it to shatter into pieces on the floor, it would be remedied by one of the dozen servants in him employ, but in that thought he realised that he was even more a servant to his master?s whim as they. After a moment he rose from his seat to his full height, just shy of six feet and strode from the room, the world would not wait, and neither could he... [center]||||||||||[/center] I?m not entirely happy with it, it seems a little too exposed. Seker will be a much more powerful, confident character in persona, and as I didn?t really provide a great description [url=http://www.thecinemasource.com/moviesdb/images/Alexander%20Siddig%20-%201%20-%20300%20-%20Syriana.jpg][b][COLOR=DarkRed]Here[/COLOR][/b][/url] is his appearance.[/LEFT][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Big Sky][SIZE=1][COLOR=Gray]Hey, hey, you didn't get the good picture of MJ... the one with his scraggly little beard thing definatly captures his good side.[/COLOR'][/SIZE][/quote] [SIZE=1]Well I might have actually been a little dishonest, that particular picture of Jackson wasn't the first to come up... [url=http://www.portaldavaca.com.br/simagens/engracadas/jun_05/as_roupas_do_michael_jackson.jpg][b]This[/b][/url] was, but I felt that might have been excessive. It's obviously a fake but it does raise an interesting point about the artificial nature of famous people, actually that goes for the Duff picture too, I'm sure she doesn't look like that outside of her stylists care, but then none of us look like that on a regular basis. She probably just looks like a normal, like the rest of us.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']Quoted for truth. I expect to not become a millionaire but rather to work in the profession I have chosen and save enough money to retire and yet have enough to live comfortably.[/quote] [SIZE=1]Pretty much all I hope for, get a well-paying job I enjoy, work hard for a few decades and retire to enjoy the fruits of that work. I think the obsessions with becoming a millionaire/billionaire/excessively wealthy individual has made people lose sight of really how relatively speaking, you only need get a decent job to retire comfortably, depending on your home nation and the pension you manage to build up. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Congrats on getting your First Dan Mike, after your Third you'll have to change your username to The Sensei. Anyway, I have to admit I do agree with Gav and Rev, it just seemed to lack the focus of the other chapters, though given the fact your focus was on your belt that's excusable when you consider the quality you've already demonstrated. I like the character interactions, especially the completely business-like Revelation, but the action was a bit hap-hazard. Now if this is to be the end of this saga, bring it on with a bang my friend.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Big Sky][COLOR=Gray][SIZE=1]Hillary Duff isn't even sexy, man... she's just makeup and lighting, and even then she still looks like a 16 year old street-corner prostitute. Spending a day with her would be like spending a day with any high-school hussy, except she has money and groupies. Besides, if you spent a day with her wouldn't mean that she would become your sugermama, she'd probably just dump your *** on the curb as soon as the contract expired and she had her cool million (which is what I assume it would take to get her to go out with any of us).[/COLOR'][/SIZE][/quote] [SIZE=1]Big Sky, read the thread title, it says "hang out" not "Who would you pay a million dollars to go out with ?" as if that were the case she wouldn't even factor into the equation. Jesus where did the sugar-mama come out of ? A day with a rich, hot chick does not instantly turn into sugar-mama territory.[/SIZE] [quote name='NIKI12345']Yeah Hillary is any highschool hooker. She wouldn't want you she would want your money you just a waist of her time like her movies and songs are a waist of time for us.[/quote] [SIZE=1]Dude what high school do you go to where there are twenty year old hookers who look like her ? Seriously her acting and musical "talents" are not on discussion here, it's simply a case of whether or not you'd prefer to hang out with Duff or Jackson.[/size] [quote name='Veritas][size=1][color=gray]After a few drinks down the hatch I think I could look past that. I think she is decent looking, she has money and fame, throw on some beer goggles and work charm and you'd be surprised what could happen. Gavin could woo her with the accent, never underestimate the power of the accent.[/color'][/size][/quote] [SIZE=1]I personally think she's quite good looking, and I'll use this image to demonstrate the difference. [CENTER][IMG]http://zeitgeistglee.250free.com/Duff-Jackson.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] OK, I may have been slightly biased in favour of Duff, but both are the first images that came up under a Google search. As for the accent, well I can't speak for Duff, but the women of Tasmania were very receptive to the Irish accent while I was there.[/SIZE] [quote name='Big Sky][COLOR=Gray][SIZE=1]I mean, with MJ, it's different. The guy made [I]Thriller[/I], god-dammit, what else could you want? Sure he's kinda creepy, but the guy is basically a little kid - he's not a molester (BS), he just never had a childhood so he's trying to recreate it... and I love being a kid, so why the hell wouldn't I get along with him? Come on, you know MJ has some cool **** in Neverland - he's got to have some miniature dancing elephants or fire-breathing dolphins or something crazy in there, it'd be great![/COLOR'][/SIZE][/quote] [QUOTE=Veritas][size=1][color=gray]The last thing I heard he sold Neverland, or at least selling, I don't know for sure. The whole missing childhood thing is just an excuse in my opinion, if I'm eccentric I'm just gonna tell people, "I'm eccentric so what? I got money _____!" and insert your word of choice. Plus just because the court found him innocent doesn't mean he didn't do it, look at OJ. :P[/color][/size][/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]Afraid neither of you is right, while he hasn't sold Neverland Ranch he no longer lives there and most of the animals have been removed as all the staff were fired when he left. From what I read on the Wiki Neverland Ranch article he's trying to set up another Neverland outside Berlin, as if one wasn't enough. As for whether or not he is a child molester, I personally think he wasn't based on what I read on the case and watched on Sky News' recreations of the trial based on the transcripts, but I guess the only person who really knows for sure is Jackson himself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Sorry about the delay Phil, we've had power-cuts since yesterday and it unfortunately wiped what I had done. I should have it rewritten by tomorrow as I've decided to go in a slightly different character direction.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Well seeing as today [23rd] was both XII's PAL release and my birthday I was fortunate enough to get the game. So far I'm pretty impressed although the battle system drove me nuts for the first hour as did one particular hunting session. I'll try to give a more thorough response tomorrow after some sleep and some more play. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Veritas][size=1][color=gray]My thoughts exactally Gavin. I'm trying to get me a SuGaMaMa. [/color'][/size][/quote] [SIZE=1]That's the truth man, I mean seriously she's young, hot and likes to party, and really do any of us want to "party" with Michael Jackson ? I thought not, watching him do Thriller would probably be cool, but watching Hillary shake her thing would be a lot better. To qualify that particularly objectifying statement, I am also sure spending a day with her would be fun from an intellectual and personal perspective as well... I am genuinely sincere... really...[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]I'm in the same boat as Mike and White in that I'm absolutely fanatical about my personal hygiene and I think a lot of guys nowadays are the same, girls don't like guys who look dishevelled and smell awful, so there's nothing feminine about taking care of yourself. I mean seriously, masculinity is in action not appearance. If I were female, I don't really know what would be different, I'd probably follow the same routine and be into a good deal of the same things, heck the only difference would probably be the physical ones. That said, like Ken if I were female I'm pretty sure I'd be well endowed, it just seems natural that's all.[/SIZE] [quote name='DeathKnight][color=crimson']For some reason when thinking about if I was a girl I'd imagine I'd have a huge rack. Not sure why.[/color][/quote] [SIZE=1]Oh yeah sure you don't Ken.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Hillary Duff obviously, it's not even a real choice. I mean on the one hand you have a hot chick for the entire day and on the other you have a musical talent from years ago, sorry Mike, but I'm sticking with Hillary.[/SIZE]

[QUOTE=Aaryanna_Mom]I can understand the need for the law to have them and I even support my brother who has them in his home as well. But then he spent his whole life working as a Sheriff so on some levels it was expected. But even he would turn around and tell you that for most people having a gun is a liability instead of increasing your safety as so many people have no real training in using them and storing them safely.[/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]I completely agree with your brother, I've got three uncles in the armed forces and another two cousins in the police and all of them say the same thing, that civilians/normal people neither need nor should be allowed own anything without first having been properly trained. One thing I have never understood about the anti-gun-restriction group is the claim that then only the criminals will have access to firearms, but if there are less firearms being imported into a country then would that not limit the number on the streets ? I don't know, really I'm just thankful you can only own hunting shotguns and rifles in Ireland, heck only certain members of our police are even armed.[/SIZE]