Sandy

[quote name='Farto the Magic][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=DarkGreen] Its illegal to collect fossils from there, so we knew that we were going to turn them in. [/COLOR'][/FONT][/quote] That one sentence prooves that you deserve whatever fines are on your way. For a future reference, if you know something is illegal, [I]don't do it[/I]. It's like you know robbing a store is illegal, yet you do it anyway and then decide to give back everything you stole in hopes of getting off the hook. Only on a smaller, almost pathetic, scale.

Well, if you get up someone's face like that - and even tag-team with somebody to do that - you seriously can't expect them to just listen and accept everything you say. Preaching and moralizing are never good methods to spread the word of reason. Rather than saying "you can't do it" to your friend's sister, you should perhaps have approached with a question "why?". Why now, why with that guy, why in the garage where they can get caught. You didn't say the ages of you and your friend and his sister, but it sounds like that girl isn't on the business for the first time. It may shock "virgins" like you and your friend (if he is?), but there's no taking back what's done, and making her feel sorry for it won't help. To answer your question, no there is nothing wrong with being a virgin. Just don't expect it to be everybody else's choice as well - or the "right" choice for many. People lead different kinds of lives, some have sex when they're 13, some will never have sex. Just remember that the concept of "virginity" is largely mystified, when in practice "losing" it really doesn't affect person's personality much at all.

[quote name='BKstyles][FONT=Tahoma]. Everything considered (I won't go into it now since there would be too many spoiler tags), I am definitly more for a [spoiler]Yuri and Alice[/spoiler] relationship then I am for a [spoiler]Yuri and Karen. Eventhough I absolutely love Karen, and she's one of my favorite female RPG characters ever.[/spoiler'][/FONT][/quote] Ahem. If you have played through SH: Covenant, you should know that [spoiler]Karin is Yuri's mother, "Anne", due to a timewarp. That makes the whole pairing kinda gross...[/spoiler] XP

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=Phenom] [spoiler]This fusion that Yuri can do. It definately sparked my interest in what other types of fusions I can acquire.[/spoiler] I see in the main menu [spoiler]that I can visit the graveyard at any time. Does that mean I can get these fusion monsters any time I want or do I have to reach a certain level to get the rest?[/spoiler][/QUOTE] I don't think this is spoilerrific issue, as it concerns the gameplay and not the story. You have to visit the Graveyard and consume souls (the points you get from killing monsters) to the different altars to obtain the fusions. When you have them, you can consume more souls to the fusions in the main menu to level them up. I'm surprised you couldn't figure this one out by yourself... Anyways, this game is one of my favorite ones, and I've played it through twice (which in my case requires a very interesting game to do). I'm surprised to see that I haven't replied to this thread yet, but I guess it has just slipped from me. In any case, it's the game's dark humor and historic references that appeal to me, especially, and of course the sympathetic cast of characters. Great game, this one! Too bad we didn't get the prequel nor the sequel released around here...

[QUOTE=Dagger]Wow, really? I agree that Espers were not as powerful as in some previous games like FFVIII, though I still used them for feeling out or softening up bosses. By using chains, though, it's possible to take out all of the later bosses almost solely with Quickenings. (I felt a little guilty about falling back on that, haha, but it was still fun). If you start with three characters who have almost all their MP, do a decently sized chain, then switch in your reserve members for another long chain--well, most bosses will have practically nothing left in their health bars. ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] I had no problem with the bosses - it was the long and grueling battles with the Marks that required continuous healing. Like with all FFs, Ethers and Elixirs are sparse, and the technick "Charge" is too risky to be used in a heated situation. Besides, my Quickening skills must've sucked, but I never got more than nine hits in a row. The "Mist Charge"-option comes up very rarely and the gradually speeding up time bar made it even more difficult. But yeah, the actual bosses didn't require much else than a sharp blade and some scorching magic to be felled. The toughest boss battle for me must've been [spoiler]Judge Bergan, he and his cohorts managed to kill my whole party a couple of times until I finally got them.[/spoiler]

Oh my... I did it. I finished it. Just a moment ago. I clocked over 120 hours, but my characters were only in levels 55-56. I didn't do the hardest of the sidequests, because, well, they were too hard. I will, however, finish them once I read some guides to learn how and what else I missed. Already I know that I missed [spoiler]three Espers (Ultima, Chaos and Zodiark), two Elite Marks (Ixion and The Seer, just because I didn't want to rummage the freaking Pharos of Ridorana for the second time in a row), and the optional dungeons in Pharos Underground, Henne Mines, Necrohol of Nabudis and Giruvegan Grand Crystal. I also only got the best weapons for katanas, bombsticks, measures and guns.[/spoiler] I think I did quite well for playing first time without any guides. Okay, enough about my achievements, let's talk about the game itself. [B]Graphics & Music:[/B] I loved them, although they aren't comparable to what the next-gen consoles have to offer. But honestly I think the game has the best graphics that the PS2 can run. The animation of the characters was very life-like, and the expressions brought a whole new way to show emotions to the series. The designs of the characters and locations pleased me, although they were quite different from what the series has offered in the past installments. All in all, although flashy graphics aren't what I usually look for in a game, it's of course great to enjoy what you're seeing. The musics were quite [I]meh[/I], nothing special that would've stuck to my head. I'm not that musical a person, however, so I wasn't really bothered. The greatest scores were heard in the end, both of which I have listened thoroughly in these long years awaiting for this game. I'm of course talking about [I]Kiss Me Good-Bye[/I] and [I]Symphonic Poem Hope[/I]. Love them both to death! [B]Gameplay:[/B] It was a whole new experience for me, this ADB-system, and in my opinion it's the best part of the game. It removes the tedium of having to endure endless random battles and smash the same button repeatedly. The battles were alive, situations could change rapidly, like if you happened to use magic around an Elemental or, even worse, and Entite. Gambits were a great innovation to how to control the characters, and I used them with my whole party. The majority of the gambits were useless, though, I only seldom changed them. The AI was pleasuringly clever; if I had the same gambit on two characters, for example "Foe: Status Faith > Dispel", only the other would use it. So battles were enjoyable, although the difficulty was very high in some places, and especially in the beginning. Unfortunately there weren't much else to do in the game except battling. The "minigame" of this game, Mark Hunting, was based on battling (and often on playing Hide&Seek with the marks), which on the other hand was entertaining, but on the other hand there could've been more. Sure, there were some fetch quests and [spoiler]even the familiar running minigame from FFIX[/spoiler], but mostly the gameplay relied on the thrill of battling. The rewards for the sidequests were also minimal, although in the end I had plenty of gil but nothing to spend it on. Oh, then there was the License Board, which I found enjoyable as well, but it filled up too quickly. There should've definitely be more Augments and Quickenings, but the Technicks aside from Steal and Libra were all useless. The Magicks were only useful if you made a few of your characters magicians with the correct equipment and augments. I wasn't bothered by the fact that the six playable characters didn't have specific "jobs" - it's not like it's never been done before, both FFVII and FFVIII were very open in customization. My roster for the majority of the game was this: [indent][B]Vaan[/B]: all-around magician equipped with spears or staves [B]Balthier[/B]: thief with high HP using crossbows and bombsticks [B]Fran[/B]: mostly healing magician and an archer [B]Basch[/B]: defending warrior wielding axes/hammers and shields [B]Ashe[/B]: white knight with healing magic, swords and shields [B]Penelo:[/B] magic warrior equipped with katanas[/indent] I meant to separate my party more, but towards the end most of them knew most of the magic and had all of the augments. I used the equipment to discern them from each other. I was disappointed by how useless the Quickenings and especially Espers turned out to be in the end-game, when in the beginning they felt even a bit too powerful. Having all your MP drained out just wasn't desirable in a tough situation when healing and buffering was direly needed... I think that's about it for the gameplay, let's move onto the most controversial part of the game. [B]Story:[/B] I have mixed feelings about this. On the other hand, everything I saw and heard I loved, but there was so much missing that it almost felt like the game had been heavily edited (although the lenght of the whole game was satisfying to me). The main problem with the story - or mostly with the characters - was that [spoiler]there simply weren't enough scenes. The characters weren't shown communicating with each others much, there weren't even places where they could've had idle non-dubbed chatter in-game, like in the other games. This caused the characters to not become very alive for the player, although the world around them was extremely vivid. Penelo suffered from a serious lack of background story and personality, and even Vaan's background was forgotten after the beginning, with only few mentions of Reks afterwards. Balthier was in the limelight for the majority of the story, and Basch shone in the end. Fran had her moments, and the plot followed Ashe's quest although she seemed just to follow her destined path. Some of the supporting cast were also quite important, which on the other hand was good, but on the other hand diverted the focus from the main six.[/spoiler] The story had plot-twists aplenty, although some devices were used too many times in my opinion [spoiler], like everybody having a secret identity. There were quite many betrayals as well.[/spoiler] I actually loved the epic, almost Shakespearean style of storytelling that has been criticized by some people, although sometimes the sentences were almost incomprehensible to a speaker of another language like me. The grandeur it expressed forgave those few times, though. It didn't affect the emotional side of the characters, either, they didn't appear cold or disconnected from the events to me. Ah well, it was a mighty experience, this game. Right now I can't say if it's the best game I've ever played, or even the best FF, I'll have to sink it in for a while. In any case FF XII is pretty damn high on both lists. It's definitely a worthy continuation to my favorite videogame series. I loved it. Can't wait for the sequel. ... And I've written this for an hour, so I think I've gotten out everything I wanted to say about it. Feel free to comment/ask/disagree with me!

[color=DarkGreen]Hey, Inuyasha Fandom! I'm sorry, but this game doesn't meet the quality standards we have here, so I'll have to close it. There's grammar issues, but what's worse is that there's not much content to the story or the sign-up sheet for possible players to work upon. So you need to expand the background story quite a bit before you repost this thread. But for now, thread closed. - Sandy[/color]

[QUOTE=Hanabishi Recca]*laughs hardly* Ah, I would surely spit on fat people. I have no idea why, but I don't like them at all. For a couple of reasons really. For example, being fat shows something about them. They are lazy (obviously), they don't really care about themself enough to do something, they are addicted to something un-healthy, and a couple of other things. I'm not trying to be mean to anyone on this forum (I'll tell you why later in this post). I just seriously don't like obese people. They don't look good, smell good, and probably won't live too long. I think that people who are fat are a bad example of human beings. Seriously, I don't hate anyone more than a fat person. I don't know why, I just hate them so much, that I don't think that I would be able to hold myself to just spitting on them. Well, I would like to say that if there is a fat person, but they are an awesome person, then I don't mind them at all. They have honourary non-fat status. I mean, I wouldn't like them as much as I would if they were to be thin or in shape. Thin people can do more stupid things and not get me angry. A fat person can come up to me and say something stupid and I would beat them in the *** until they are thin. Yet, a thin person can come up to me and say the exact same thing and I would laugh it off. My hate for fat people is as to a fat person's to a diet.[/QUOTE] Ah, so you have abandoned the faith you so vigorously spreaded here just a while ago. You know, the one that tells you to love thy neighbor and not to judge people but to leave that to a higher power... *coughhypocritecough* Seriously, I would spit on you. No matter if I could fly or not.

[b]1: What changes (if any) do you think the forum structure needs?[/b] I would definitely want to see the [B]staff-forum[/B] on the top spot at the front page. It's current location makes me often to forget to check it before the blue square indicating new posts turns to grey. I'd also restore the four categories, with a bit of a different setup. First we would have the [B]general[/B] category with Otaku Lounge, Community Events and Suggestions forums. Secondly the [B]anime/manga[/B] category. Third would be a [B]media[/B] category, including Hardwired and MM&TV. Finally we'd have the [B]creative arts[/B] section with the merged Adventure Square/Underground (which I'd want to see labeled as "Theater" according to Des's suggestion), Anthology and Art Studio (maybe "Atelier" would be niftier?). That way everything would be simple and orderly - just the way I like it. ;D [b]2: What new sites would you add to the OB Network?[/b] Definitely a new site for members to post pictures of themselves. The presumably dead OtaKuties rekindled my urge to see what everybody around here really look like. [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] I wouldn't be against it although I probably wouldn't use it. But don't we have MyOtaku already?

Life forbid that the US government (or [I]any[/I] government for that matter) grapples to real, current problems! After all these "pre-emptive" wars as well as persecution of sexual minorities and women who want abortion, this one's at least a [I]positive[/I] distraction, but still... Aren't there more pressing issues to be dealt with? Like increasing unemployment, widening income gap or climate change? Of course the ones who were enslaved should've received an apology ([I]at least[/I]), but like many people mentioned in this thread already, isn't it a bit too late now? Everybody involved are practically dead now. [I]Racism[/I], that's another issue, but a simple apology won't do a squat about it.

[QUOTE=Shy][size=1]When is the final product due? Also, congrats on 5 years at OB Sandy. Can you believe how long we've been here? Scary! -Shy[/size][/QUOTE] [FONT=Century Gothic]Oh My Gay, I missed my anniversary! 8( It was Saturday... Well, I put an event in the calendar for it a while ago anyway, maybe that's enough self-love. ;D [I]Anyways[/I], I'd like people to get the creative process in function as soon as possible for this challenge, but I can wait for the finished songs, I'm not going anywhere. Just don't let it linger on for too long, or else I'll have to intrude... Would two weeks be generous enough?[/FONT]

[QUOTE=Aaryanna_Mom] Oh and by the way Sandy, did you want the team captains to pm the person they asked? Or is that something you are going to do? Or does the person need to post here saying they accept?[/QUOTE] [FONT=Century Gothic]I'll handle that, Kathy, don't you worry. So, if only Rachmaninoff accepts, he will become a part of your team like Ezekiel is now part of the Titans. Now is also time for any of the teams to [B]change their captain[/B] if they so wish. To remind you, anybody can send me a PM explaining who he or she wants to see as the new captain of his or her team, and then that team will vote about it. After any possible captain swaps, we move onto the aforementioned fifth challenge. [center][size=5]Fifth Challenge: Smells Like Team Spirit[/size][/center] And onwards we go! As I mentioned earlier, this challenge has everything to do with [B]lyrics[/B], and it tests the musical abilities of the teams. The task [I]sounds[/I] quite simple: each team has to make up a [B]team song[/B]. But of course there will be a twist to it. Here are the specific rules. [indent][B]1.[/B] The team song must be [B]adapted[/B] to a [B]popular melody[/B] or tune, something that is recognizable to everybody. It can be a top chart hit, a classic song, a children's lullaby, a rock song, a theme song... [I]Anything[/I] just as long people know it. The adaption doesn't have to be a professional one, just as long as the lyrics fit the rhythm and rhyme and the team has fun doing it. [B]2.[/B] In the lyrics, the names of [B]all current team members[/B] must be mentioned. You can also describe the progress of your team in this game, or how superdupercool your team is, or anything else related. The [B]lenght[/B] of the lyrics is up to you, but I'd prefer a catchy if a bit short song to a longwinded ballad. [B]3.[/B] Aside from the lyrics and the adaption, the teams must [B]present[/B] the song in [B]this thread[/B]. A link or an "MP3-bar" (in lack of better word for it) to the melody is a [I]must[/I], and background graphics are always nifty. This also guarantees that there's work for all team members in every team, and I'd like the [B]captains[/B] to make sure that everybody contributes at least in some way. [B]4.[/B] After all songs are finished and sent in, I will judge the winning team by their creativity, contribution to this challenge and of course their finished product. All three losing teams will face the Team Council.[/indent] So I hope you are all ready for this, because again the future of your team is at stake here. But let's not get overly serious, I hope you all have fun with this challenge! Now, [B]Survivors GO![/B][/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Okay guys, as Darren already said, he wants to give up his rights as a captain. But as we live in a team-o-cracy (haha, funny me!), we will hold an election. I want a PM from both Dragon Warrior and Kitty with the name of the one they want as their captain: [B]Darren or Dragon Warrior?[/B] It's settled then, Dragon Warrior will return to the lead of your team.[/FONT]

[font=Century Gothic][B]Rachmaninoff[/B] has rejoined the game as the fourth member of your team. Be gentle with him, ladies![/font]

[FONT=Century Gothic]After reading this debate thoroughly, I have to say it was [I]fierce[/I]! Nice job, Beth and Darren! Both of you were great debaters, you really assaulted each others' arguments and in the end provided good resources for your claims. Now I admit that the subject was hard to defend, Darren, but I didn't quite like the fact that you constantly appealed to the judge (ie. me) to back you up instead of focusing to bringing your opponent down with your own strong arguments. A minor flaw, I admit, but it was the only one that separated the two of you. Thus, I announce the winner of this second debate to be [B]Beth[/B] from [COLOR=Blue]The Titans[/COLOR]. As said, this fourth challenge will end now, after taking way too much time. The two winning teams, [COLOR=DarkRed]The Mercenaries[/COLOR] and [COLOR=Blue]The Titans[/COLOR], will both get the chance to choose [B]one evicted player to rejoin the game[/B]. The people you choose can be any of the seven players that have left the game, from any of the four teams. Hope you like the award, since this is the first and last time in this game that such resurrection will occur. After the two teams have made up their minds, we will move onto the [I]fifth[/I] challenge, where things get lyrical...[/FONT]

[QUOTE=BKstyles][FONT=Tahoma] Since the only teams to be rewarded will be tied with the same amount of points, will the prize the winning teams will be sharing be the one intended for first place?[/FONT][/QUOTE] [FONT=Century Gothic] Not exactly. I'll reveal the prize when the winners are clear, and both winning teams will get the same reward. Your team grows superlarge as [B]Ezekiel[/B] rejoins the game becoming your sixth member.[/FONT]

[quote name='Allamorph][FONT=Arial']Since the Mercenaries won, awarding both us and a third team would not provide for multiple losers, unless something interesting went on in the points.[/FONT][/quote] [FONT=Century Gothic]I'm sorry, I of course meant The Mercenaries as the receivers of the reward, and I have edited my post accordingly. Sorry again for the confusion.[/FONT]

[font=Century Gothic]Thank you, Beth and Darren, you can now post your closing statements! [strike]Due to murmuring heard from the ranks of players, I have decided to merge the next two rounds so that two debates will take place simultaneously. After that we'll check the situation if it will be necessary to have rounds 5 and 6. Bear with me, Survivors! You also have to survive these slow-paced challenges if you want to win.[/strike] I have decided to discontinue this challenge after this round, and award both The Mercenaries and whichever team wins this debate. The two losing teams won't be punished, though. The reason is that I want to vitalize this game with a more active challenge. Hope nobody feels bad for this decision. The heat is on, Survivors![/font]

[QUOTE=MistressRoxie][color=#9933ff][size=1] [url="http://werewolf-song.livejournal.com/profile"]LJ profile of an old, long-gone member[/url] - ZOMG!! It's devidramon's LJ profile!!! Holy crap!!! He's like my idol... and I found his LJ by googling Otakuboards! :eek:[/size][/color][/QUOTE] I'm glad to see that Devidramon hasn't given up being a Digimon fanatic to this day, like so many other of us (me included). Shall the memory of the Digipeeps live forever! Ahem, anyways, nice finds, Roxie!

I know next to nothing about real-life weapons (meaning those that people actually use in battle), but if I got to realize my fantasy warrior... well, fantasy, I'd wield two enormous [b]tessen[/b] (metallic fans) which I could use to slice and dice my enemies [I]and[/I] look pretty while doing it. ;D

[quote name='only1specialed][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=2][FONT=Verdana]is this game very time consuming cause i dont really have the time to be playing long games like i used to.[/FONT][/SIZE'][/COLOR][/quote] It [I]can[/I] be extremely time-consuming, or then you can fly through it with the aid of Quickenings and focusing only on three of the six characters. Your choice. My choice was to do everything I can in the game (without using a guide), so now I'm clocking well over 60 hours (with my characters all in level 41), and I don't think I'm even near the end... XP

[font=Century Gothic][B]Question to all team members in all teams:[/B] What are [I]you[/I] expecting from the future of OtakuBoards Survivor 4?[/font]

[font=Century Gothic][B]Question to all team members in all teams:[/B] What are [I]you[/I] expecting from the future of OtakuBoards Survivor 4?[/font]

[font=Century Gothic][B]Question to all team members in all teams:[/B] What are [I]you[/I] expecting from the future of OtakuBoards Survivor 4?[/font]