Sandy

[COLOR=SeaGreen]Dash had a dream - or rather a nightmare - that he was in the airplane again. Everything shook and the lights flickered. The oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling. He squeezed the armrests of his seat. As he looked around, he saw that the other passengers were all faceless. They screamed without a sound. It was creepy [I]"Mister..."[/I] came a voice from the seat next to him. There was a young woman with light brown highlighted hair, who looked at him with concerned eyes. [I]"Mister Dash, you gotta wake up?"[/I] Dash tried to answer, but then he awoke. "Hnhh?" he mumbled. "The tide is coming in sir. You should come back to the beach. I hear there will be fire wood and a fire soon. You wouldnt want to catch cold out in the dark would you?" Dash opened his eyes and saw the same girl in his dream staring down on him. "Huh? Where am I? Who are you? Oh, my head..." "That's some nasty looking wound you got there, sir. I'm Avian, by the way." "I'm..." "Dash, yes I heard. It's not safe to run away all by yourself, you know?" "Eh, you can drop that 'sir' out, I'm only twenty, okay? And I... I just needed some time alone, I'm fine now." Avian smiled. "Then shall we go?" She offered her hand to pull him up. Dash smiled back and took the hand. They stepped out of the niche in the rock formation. Sun was still high up and made the sea in front of them glimmer. "It's so beautiful here", Dash sighed. Avian nodded. Dash streched his aching neck. "Ugh, that hollow wasn't the most comfortable sleeping place. I...Huh?!" As he turned to look at the rock formation, he saw something that he hadn't noticed before. "What is it?" Avian asked worriedly. She turned around and saw it too. The rock formation was shaped like a screaming face. Dash had slept in it's mouth.[/COLOR]

[color=seagreen][I]Alex, huh?[/i] Dash thought as he watched the two men depart. He felt suddenly anxious now that he saw all these people coming together, everybody more or less wounded. "So... Um, guys? Should we like introduce ourselves... or something, you know?" Dash asked nervously. The others gave him a scournful look. "This ain't no holiday trip, young man!" a tall, middle-aged african-american man said to him. "We've just crashlanded to a seemingly solitary island, so our first concern is to survive! We can chit-chat once this is all over!" Dash blushed from getting disciplined. He felt like he was seven again. Odd... he didn't really remember anything about the time he [I]was[/I] seven. He should've as it wasn't that long ago. "I'm sorry, I just... I'm so confused. Where are we? What do we do now! I... I just don't know!!" Dash burst into tears again, turned his back on the others and sprinted away. He ran along the beach until he found an oddly-shaped rock formation with a small hollow. He curled up into the depression and let his tears lull himself into sleep. [/color]

[QUOTE=HarveyDandylion] Its not like in this day and age there are going to be many people with issues about it and so theres really no need to be so dramatic, coming out is just self indulgent. [/QUOTE] I'm sorry, but even though you might have had such experiences, it's entirely dependent on case. Some people can't, won't and will never approve us homosexuals no matter how common it gets. Some are even willing to take drastic measures to wipe us away from the face of the earth. Please don't be naïve about this issue, it could be unhealthy for you. There can always be some violent lunatic around when you kiss your boyfriend publicly or just hold hands. And what comes to the family, it's not entirely uncommon for somebody to get kicked out of their home once they come out. I don't want to scare anybody, we just have to face the realities. FYI, my coming out was quite calm, the only one I discussed it more lengthily was my granny - everybody else just sucked it in, whether they really liked it or not. My advice is that you only have come out to those you feel you want to. Of course it'd be great if everybody could see how many of us are out there, but you don't have to risk your health or your job for it to happen. Blurping it out in a wrong place can really do more harm than good.

[QUOTE=James][font=franklin gothic medium] So I can say that this RPG will have some kind of structure. I have been thinking about ways to create a more free-flowing chapter system...one that provides more freedom than previous systems but still keeps us in line. This is partly why I'm creating the Revelation and Artifact areas - they will contain bullet-point lists of important events that will keep people up to date on the general flow of the RPG.[/font][/QUOTE] I understand your point-of-view, and I partially agree with it, but I do think that chapter-system has it's own major flaws as well. If I can take an example from the on-going event The Legionnaires, there's been a huge amount of work done in it by both Shy and us players, but to me who can't find the motivation to read all of the six game-threads and the hundreds of posts within them, it's very hard to find the red line of the game. In that game, all I see is a dozen miniature story archs with the big one still gone. :/ I hope it'll show up eventually. So my point is that as this is seemingly going to be a huge game spanning various threads, some less active people are going to lose track no matter what. I'm glad to hear you'll give more freedom to the players within the chapters. What I [I]really[/I] hate about the system is the "go there, do that, then come back" -structure I've seen in many of the games that use it. Sounds limited, huh? But enough of the ranting, I just wanted to get this out of my system. I know your game is going to rock (as I think Legionnaires does too), so I'm going to sign-up nevertheless. ;D

Well for starters, the owners could take better care of their pets. Some are just downright negligent of what their pet is doing. There are also those sadistic types who usher their "best friends" on smaller animals and people who irritate them. So in my opinion, the main problem isn't the dogs - it's the people who keep them.

[SIZE=1]First of all I want to say that it's great to have a new type of RPG here. I just hope that the plot doesn't follow Lost's storyline, because here in Finland they're still running the first season and I don't want to get spoiled. And now on to the snippet...[/SIZE] ------------------------------------------- He woke up to a hard hit on his forehead. He opened his eyes and saw a large beak with two dark eyes staring down on him behind it. A tucan?! He shooed the bird away and tried to sit up, but the ground under him trembled. It took him a while to realize where he was. He was surrounded by branches and leaves of some sort of palm tree. The branches swayed as he moved. He turned his head and saw many other palm trees. Same thing on the other side. No solid ground anywhere. This meant that... Crack! He managed to produce a short scared holler before he hit the ground many feet below the treetop where he had been lying. "Yeouch!" He rubbed the back of his head, feeling the hot blood dripping to his fingers. Same thing on his forehead. That ******* bird! He began to cry miserably. Here he was, stranded in a jungle with no idea how he had gotten here or how he could get out. Why did these things always happen to him?! The blood from the wound in his forehead was flowing to his eye, mixing to the salty tears. He knew he had to do something, so he ripper off a strip from the hem of his neon green t-shirt and tied it around his head, like a mockery of a bandage. "****!" he swore, wiping his tears to the back of his tanned palm. "Get a hold of yourself, Dash! Stop being such a wussy!" Dash? Who the **** had such a... Oh. [I]He[/I] was Dash. Daniel Ashgrove. Sheesh. How could've he had forgotten that?! His own name? It began to lighten up to him that he didn't remember a whole lot of other things, either. It amused him. In fact, he was so amused that he began laughing out loud. "Whohoo, I'm free!" he shouted from the bottom of his lungs, and sprinted to the thick bushes. He ran and ran and ran, all the while laughing. He was at the top of the world, free like the tucan that had pecked open his head. Free to do whatever he wanted. He didn't stop running and laughing until he suddenly came to a beach. The pure white sand and the glimmering turquoise ocean blinded his vision. He raised his hand to cover his eyes, and suddenly saw movement on the corner of his eye. He turned to look, and saw a bunch of other people. He waved to them, and began walking along the beach to join them. He was happy now. ----------------------------------------- [size=1]Here's a more traditional sign-up: [B]Name[/B]: Daniel "Dash" Ashgrove [B]Sex[/B]: Male [B]Age[/B]: 20 [b]Appearance[/b]: slim build, tanned skin, marine blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, wears a light green t-shirt with yellow sides and beige long shorts. [b]Personality[/b]: bipolar, manic-depressive, rapid mood changes, often confused [/size]

I've edited the last post in the game thread with the deletion of [B]Solo/Krystal[/B], who was the fifteenth person voted out with three votes. Solo, I know how much you enjoyed this game and I would've loved if you had been able to participate this till the end, but due to the technical problems and the will of your rivals, your game ended here. And without further sappiness, let me present you... [IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/SamSandy/OB%20Survivor/final3.jpg[/IMG] Keep the [b]Game On[/b] as we head towards the semifinals, and the last challenge these three have to face in this competition! What will it be? It'll be revealed to you [B]by the end of this week[/B]!

It's not too short, Nomura, so don't you worry! ;D Speaking of Final Fantasy XII, I'll do a big coverage of it once we're neared to the western release. Also, E3 is coming up, so that gives me lots of stuff to report about. Not running out of stuff to do here! ;P

I'm sorry, but to finally move things on, I have to make a drastic decision. Everybody should post their remaining games [B]by the end of this week[/B] (meaning Sunday). Sakura and Doukeshi have one, and Solo has two. Raiyuu is the only one who has finished the challenge. [B]Any posts that don't appear until Sunday will automatically score 50/100 points.[/B] After that the [B]Game[/B] can [I]finally[/I] move [B]On[/B]! ;D [B]EDIT[/B]: And thus we have moved on. Solo and Sakura were unable to finish the challenge in due time, so they're unfinished games scored automatically 50 points each. The player with the most points was [B]Raiyuu/Ling Xiaoyu[/B], thus he/she can't be voted out in this round. Everybody other is in danger of not making it to the semifinals. Send me PMs as soon as possible with the name of the one who you want out: Solo, Doukeshi or Sakura. We're almost to the end, guys! ;D [I]Game On![/I]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Finally all four contestants had gone through three of the four arcade games, and they gathered to the CPU. "As you probably noticed, kupo, each game was a bit different for each player that played it", Mog said mischievously. "Each of your playthroughs were judged by an impartial and just judge... which was me, kupo." "Impartial and just... Yeah right!" Lara snorted. "Silence! I will not allow you to mock my righteousness, kupo!" the pink furry host exclaimed in fury. "Eh, somebody's gotten full of himself..." Xiaoyu whispered to Yuna sitting next to her. "Enough! I'll read out each of your points now, kupo." [B]Yuna[/B] 60/100 70/100 50/100 ---------- Total:180/300 [B]Lara Croft[/B] 100/100 70/100 85/100 ---------- Total:255/300 [B]Krystal[/B] 95/100 50/100 50/100 ---------- Total:195/300 [B]Ling Xiaoyu[/B] 100/100 90/100 90/100 ---------- Total:280/100 "So, the winner is - second time in a row - [SIZE=3][COLOR=Purple][B]Ling Xiaoyu[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]! You are safe from deletion in the following Team Council, and among the top three! Congkupolations!" "Whuppee!" Xiaoyu shouted, bouncing up and down. The other contestants congratulated her, some more honestly than others. "It's now time to get down to business, kupo. [B]Krystal[/B]... [B]Lara[/B]... [B]Yuna[/B]... Only two of you will join Xiaoyu in the semifinals. One of you will become the fifteenth videogame character deleted from this contest, kupo. Second-to-last [B]Team Council[/B] begins now, and thus it is time to vote."

[QUOTE=White][color=#555555][FONT=Tahoma]They changed the characters looks a tiny bit too much if you ask me. The Red mage should have long, white hair, not a short, blond, ponytail. And the White Mage's hood isn't on in the screen shots! They also made Black Mage female. I think they should've kept the Vivi look. [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] Eh, you're forgetting that this new FF III has four individual characters (apparently of which two are females and two males) so their personal appearances will affect their job classes - just like in FF V, where e.g. Reina's Red Mage outfit looks different from Faris's. If you look at the scan closer, you'll see that although in one screenshot a White Mage has the hood down (assumably a female character), in the second there's a White Mage with the hood up (a male character, I guess). It only makes sense that with such advanced graphics we won't have four White Mages/Fighters/whatever that look exactly the same. ;D

Whoops, sorry! I was going to write today, but got distracted by my duties as a boyfriend. ;P Gonna write you now.

[QUOTE=Satoru] I ask her to hang out sometime, she kind of subtly changes the subject, and avoids giving me an answer. This has happened threee times now. Whatt the hell?!!. Women. Blahh.[/QUOTE] So you ask her out, but you don't want a girlfriend? So what [I]do[/I] you want? Casual sex? Just to be friends? As so many people have said in this thread, [I]be honest to her[/I]. Don't play games, she's a normal human being just like you with feelings and all that. Just say what you want from her, and she'll most likely quit giving you controversial signals.

It seems like you have a whole legion of people eagerly waiting for the sign-up to commence. How big is this game going to be? Meaning, how many people are you going to let in? And I seriously hope this isn't divided into chapters, because in those type of games it's pretty much predetermined what is going to happen in the game, who gets to interact with whom, and all in all the creator of the game dictates everything. Or that's how I see them.

As some of you may know, Square-Enix in their rampage of remakes are bringing the longed [B]Final Fantasy III[/B] (as in the real third installation to the series, not the sixth) to Nintendo DS. The game hasn't been released outside Japan before this, and apparently it never will be in it's original form, for FF III DS contains all-new graphics and it's assumed that many other things are changed as well. The reason I started this thread today is that I've gotten a hold of a brand new scan of the game, released in the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. [B][URL=http://img133.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc177&image=41146_FF3_Jump0413.jpg]And here it is[/URL][/B] The scan shows us characters made in the similar style as Nintendo GameCube's controversial Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. They obviously haven't gone as far as ditching the job system from the original FF III, but it's promised that the characters are much more fleshed out in this version. First of all, in the bottom corner of the scan you can see the spiffy new logo for the game, which stays true to the Amano-style of the other logos in the series (plus it's green, my favorite color!). In the artwork included in the scan you can see the familiar jobs White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, and either Fighter or Thief (hard to tell) encircling a hovering crystal. Obviously at least some of the characters are female (although it's hard to tell as well with that style of design), as opposed to the four presumably male Onion Kids in the original. In the screenshots next to the piece of art we see a Moogle Inn and a Chocobo Stable, confirming the return of our favorite critters. The screenshots above the artwork show two battles, which [I]apparently[/I] are against Leviathan and Bahamut (but one can't be sure). The character classes in these shots seem to include White Mage, Monk, Samurai (?), Fighter, Red Mage, another white Mage, Ranger and Knight. At the top of the scan there are three more screenshots: your obligatory lava dungeon, a common house with some character in front of it, and a piece of the world map. Nothing unexpected. To summarize, it's obvious that despite all the changes (which I'd personally call upgrades and enhancements), this game is a true Final Fantasy. What's your take on this? Have they changed the game too much? Would you have preferred a simple port in style of FF I & II: Dawn of Souls or FF IV Advance?

[COLOR=DarkOrange]"I suggest we get the hell out of here", Melinoë exclaimed. Everybody began swimming away from the workshop and the volcano. Suddenly the whole mountain began shaking, making the water vibrate and carry the Legionnaires and the Atlanteans further away. Suddenly a cloud of ash, steam and dust erupted from the top of the volcano. A sparkling figure emerged from the crater, but was soon covered by the dark cloud. [I]"What is that?!"[/I] Algaebra shouted in disbelief. [I]"It can't be..."[/I] [I]"The Big Amber-Eye... Vulcora... Guardian of the amber"[/I], Raynor gasped. Melinoë looked down to the city and saw the inhabitants fleeing in panic. They were obviously thinking that the dormant volcano was going to erupt. The ex-counsillors inside the submarine had noticed Vulcora's ascension as well. The submarine circled around the cloud of ash. Melinoë's eyes spotted a figure standing on top of the vessel, waving his hands. Apparently he was calling the beast. [I]"They're mad!"[/I] Raynor said disgusted. [I]"They awaken she who has slept for over two thousand years, and now they expect to sooth her? Ancient prophecies say that as Vulcora rises, Atlantis falls. Only the Daughter of Amber can save us now."[/I] [I]"How do you know these things?"[/I] Liquid asked. [I]"I am an Amberist. We hold the secrets of Atlantis - among others the ancient prophecies of Amnaeus"[/I], Raynor replied matter-of-factly. [I]"Are you coming or not?!"[/I] Algaebra's voice resonated from a distance. Melinoë noticed that only the Legionnaires and Raynor remained near Mt. Ipsion. Everybody else had fled out of the city. When none of the four moved, the mechanic shrugged and followed the others. As Melinoë turned her eyes back to the submarine, the radiant being appeared from the black dust, swallowing the waving Atlantean whole. [I]"She's... magnificent!"[/I] Raynor gasped at the sight of the beast. Vulcora's white-scaled serpentine body wrapped around the submarine. Her long, wing-like fins reflected the color of her many bright eyes of the color of amber. Her face was almost humane, except that her gaping jaws had endless rows of razor-sharp teeth. Above the amber eyes was a crown of long horns. She was truly the queen of sea-monsters. In few seconds the submarine exploded, hurling pieces of metal everywhere. Vulcora was naturally unharmed by the explosion, and she began swimming back towards the crater. Then she spotted the Legionnaires and Raynor, and turned her mighty head towards them.[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Lunox][color=dimgray] And yes, the children of mixed-race people are smokin. Jessica Alba, anyone? It is a sign. [/color] [/QUOTE] Even on the threat of generalization, I'd have to say I agree. As an example, my lesbian friend once dated a girl who was half-Irish and half-Japanese. Imagine: Asian facial features with green eyes, and black hair with natural red fringe hair. Striking! 8) In Finland, where foreign immigration has just started about thirty or so years ago, prejudice is still very high for interracial relationships. It's usually women here who marry immigrant men, since many of the immigrant cultures that come here (like Somali, Arabic and Thai) keep their women under tight control. So the problem isn't just in the attitudes of the natives, but also in the immigrants as well.

It sure sounds intriguing, I'm just trying to figure out who the ones receiving the message are. :/ Time-travelers? Or just people who were put into a coma by an unknown party? Well, I guess the answer lies in the actual game. ;D It's good to have that mystery included to this game, otherwise it would be just an average post-apocalyptic humankind vs. evil mutants -RPG which in my personal experience seem to die early because of a lack of any further plot (just like all those angels vs. demons -games). I'll surely check out the sign-up as you put it up.

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][COLOR=maroon]I'm willing to accept that, but why call me on it? Why not call the person who first mentioned the percentage? Is it because I made a point to disprove a false statistic that supported homosexuality? The fact that you didn't say anything when someone brought out the statistic in support of homosexuality, but then said it's pointless in the first place when it's disproven... I don't know, I strongly feel you should be telling the person who brought it up and not me. =( [/COLOR][/QUOTE] I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that [I]you[/I] were discriminating anybody, I was just trying to point out that the actual percentage doesn't really matter. I was aiming that to nobody in particular, I was just adding it to the conversation. (That's why it was on a completely different paragraph than my reply to your quote.)

[QUOTE=Dagger] I don't feel that the scientific studies which produce these percentages are totally bogus, heh, but I agree that one needs to approach them with a certain level of skepticism. [/QUOTE] I concur, but Azure said that those kind of studies are "pure speculation with no real basis", which is untrue. The 10% (or whatever the number is) might just present those gay people who are "out and proud", so to speak, but at least it gives some insight on the true percentage. With all the scientific factors and arguments aside, you can still use your common sense to deduce that the "true" percentage isn't 50% nor is it 0,001%. My last point was that the percentage doesn't really matter. Even if homosexuals were only [I]0,00001%[/I] of the population, that [I]still[/I] doesn't allow anybody to discriminate us. I am just as much human as any straight person, and my relationship with my boyfriend shouldn't be anybody else's business than ours - whether one agrees with it or not. We're not hurting anybody with our mutual love, and that should be enough to give us peace. Maybe we're endangering our place in heaven, but as I'm not Christian, I don't really care. There are really no sensical reasons to discriminate us homosexuals. So what if some people think that it's "fashionable" to turn gay - it most probably won't last past the teen years, as it's not their true nature. It's just one more experiment to their life.

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][COLOR=maroon]Also, I'm not sure who started the "10% in all populations are gay" claim, but that's so bogus it's not even funny. It's just as ludicrous as the "100% of guys masturbate" claim. Ask yourself: how could we determine this if people don't admit it? So we obviously can't ask, because some people won't tell. How else can we do it? Genetics? Nope, because there's nothing 100% known about what genes do in terms of sexuality. Now, expand this "study" to other parts of the world where it'd be even harder to "experiment." XD So really, it's a speculation with no real basis! [/COLOR][/QUOTE] It's actually pure maths. They do it the same way as they do watcher-ratings for tv-shows. They get a rating from a certain sized take of population (usually only few thousand individuals) and compare it with the amount of people in the country. Well, you know the drill. So it's [I]not[/I] completely "bogus". If 1000 people out of 10.000 admit they're gay, it's only logical that 10% of the whole population is gay. However, I've read of studies claiming that the amount of homosexual people is anything from 1% to 10%. Either way, we gay people may be a minority, but we're a [I]huge[/I] minority. I don't believe any sane person can claim anymore that homosexual people don't really exist. All this talk about the origins of homosexuality is quite irrelevant as well - gay people will be gay by nature no matter what anybody does or says. Many gay people - especially in older generations - live in a straight relationship, but that doesn't make them any less gay. Nobody just knows about their true orientation, but I reckon their sex life is pretty much a mess.

[QUOTE=Japan_86][COLOR=DarkRed]You're right, I do believe in waiting until you are married and I do not agree with homosexuality. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] There's one grounding difference between those two things: homosexuality [I]really[/I] isn't something you have a choice in. As a gay person, I [I]know[/I] this for a fact. Homosexuality is quickly becoming accepted as something people are born with. You can't really say "I don't agree with female sex" or "I don't agree with different colored skin", because those type of people exist whether you approve them or not. But having sex [I]should[/I] be a matter of choice - to have it or not to have it should be up to everybody personally. Some lose their virginity by force, most willingly, some die as virgins. It's not a black-and-white thing. I don't want to attack anybody's faith, but I can't help feeling astonished that some religious fundamentalists (in many religions, not just Christianity) consider premarital sex (and homosexuality) as the worst things in the world, just like Death Knight sarcastically pointed out, when there are obviously much bigger problems (such as wars, crimes, diseases and famine, if you really need examples).

How's the next issue advancing? Just wondering if it'll be up today or tomorrow... Heh, it'll be fun to see my contribution in it! ;D Hmm, I should probably change my custom title and avatar accordingly...

Waiting until marriage really isn't a cure for all sexually transmited diseases unless the both partners have waited - and even so, like Retri said, there's the small chance that one of them is born with one. Implementing fear towards sex as sex education is a very questionable method, since sex is really a wonderful thing. It's much [I]much[/I] more than just a way of breeding, and people should enjoy it fully as long as they are safe with it. I don't think that many of you who don't "approve" premarital sex will approve homosexuality, but since I can't marry my beloved boyfriend (at least with current Finnish laws), we should probably in your opinion have a sexless, platonic relationship. However, I dare to say that despite not being married and not even having safe-sex, we are still free from STDs. Why? Because we are our first and hopefully last partners. Neither of us has had sex with other people before we met each other, so we're pretty much safe. Neat, huh? What I'm saying that you [i]don't[/i] have wait until marriage if you want to have 100% safe sex - you just have to find a partner who you want to spend the rest of the life with. ;D I did, and I feel like the luckiest guy in the world!

Is it just me, or is this event like... [I]half[/I] dead? :/ It feels strange that some teams write so often while some others have seemed to forget this even existed. Takuya, Baron and myself - despite all our nitpicking with each other's suggestions - have almost reached the conclusion of our mission, and we were the last to start. XP I know people have lives and all that, but somehow I sense that at least half of the people who have signed up for this have already lost interest. But nah, I won't worry my pretty little head with thinking about this much more, I just want to enjoy this as long as it lasts. ;D Go Gold Team!