Sandy

[quote name='Pumpkin][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=1][COLOR=#CC3366][b] ...my rabbit is named [i]Honey Bunny[/i] ...[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE'][/B][/quote] Hey, I have a boyfriend who goes by the same name! :D What a coincidence! :p But if were talking about animals (though he's quite an animal in *cough*), my sister has three cats, from which one grew up in our family - it shows, because she (the cat, not my sister) is seriously disturbed. ;) Her name is Misu, and she is something like thirteen now, which is pretty old for a cat. As said, Misu is one heck of a cat! Just look at her the wrong way, let along touch her, and you'll get her all over you, biting and scraching and kicking! The other two cats my sister has (I'm telling about her cats because I don't have any of my own and I'm envious ;) ) are Leevi, a spoiled and bloated tomcat with a very feminine voice who is also easily scared, and Viivi, a kitten with a serious ADHD that just won't grow up (seriously, she's like two and still half the size of the other two)! I'm probably going to take care of those three feline rascals for two weeks when my sister and his soon-to-be husband go off to their honeymoon. Woe is me... :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=Ailes de Velour][font=arial][size=1][color=darkorchid] I didn't even notice any angst. I guess I'm just dumb.[/font][/size][/color][/QUOTE] Excuse me?!?!?! What did you think all those "I HATE EVERYBODY!!!"-filled sentences were, shrieks of joy? :p I don't think you're dumb, you're just not paying any attention. (ADD, maybe?) ;) Though they're relatively easy to read, Harry Potter -books if any require serious sinking into the story, or else you're just one big questionmark about all that's going on. You have to learn and remember the countless odd names and titles; it's almost like a whole new world you have to get into. It won't happen if you just read the books because you've got nothing better to do. ;)

Wow, you're one angry young man, Chaos. ;) I guess the countless hours spent playing games filled with bloody gore and immense violence have nothing to do with it? :p [QUOTE=Chaos] Not to mention all of this liberal ******** these days, all of the "You can't spank your child, that will emotionally scar him," crap. Kids today just have no backbone. [/quote] Liberal bs, you say? Why don't you try "human rights" for a change? In our civilized world it is every individual's right to live and grow up in a non-violent environment without fear or abuse of any kind. That's what separates us from our barbaric ancestors. I was continuously beaten up when I was a kid by my psychotic mother, and though I admit I'm a tougher person because of that, I also carry deep scars within me. The traumatic experiences in my childhood will follow me to my grave. So save your lecture because you obviously have no idea. I agree that children of today are more spoiled than before (I know since I've worked with kids for over an year now and intend to do it for the rest of my life when I graduate), but there are other, much more effective ways to bring up children than violence. If you can't see the options, I sincerely wish you will never have children. [quote name='Chaos']What it does to them? What does it do, praytell. I'm interested in what a DVD can force a child to do. [/quote] You wish it would be that simple! No, the games don't turn kids into psychotic murderers and rapists, it makes them think that it's totally okay and cool to beat up others, to take what you want despite the fact that it isn't yours, to break stuff etc. Most importantly, the kids I took care of that had played or seen GTA, wanted to be like the man in the game! They looked up to a lowlife criminal!! If there's nothing wrong with that in your opinion, Chaos, then there's obviously something very wrong in you. ---- As to the subject in hand, I've now gathered more info about it. So there is this mod of the game that contains a minigame with sexual content, and it has raised a big hubbub among parents and lawyers. I say screw them for being such jerks and not seeing the cazillion things that makes the game even worse! Pornography has it's own downsides, but this world is totally screwed up if it claims that its worse than mindless killing and beating and robbing and vandalism! I'm all out of words now... Stupid world filled with stupid people...

I can't say I totally disagree with you, Sean. I realize that obviously most seventeen years old people are mature enough to play GTA-games - in my opinion even most fifteen years old are. But with a game like this, that is immoral in so many ways (and in my opinion possible sexual content is the least of them), it is obvious that the game is meant for adults, who can clearly tell the difference from right and wrong. I'm not sure if AO-rating in America means "not for people under 21", but in Finland the official age of adultness is 18 (which clearly is a more reasonable age in my opinion). So, I might have misinterpreted the issue here, and I apologize if I have. I'm totally against cencorship, but I flag for media education - every parent should take even one hour to get to know the subject. I guess I'm one of those "why doesn't anybody think of the kids?!" -people, but until parents start realizing their responsibilities in this changing world, these kind of decisions have to come from legislation. So for the sake of humanity's future I still say that only full-grown people should play GTA, even if it might tick off hordes of teenagers. But of course we're not living in a perfect dream world of mine, so many kids can freely corrupt their minds with excessive violence, abuse and horror. :(

Um , In Finland this game is forbidden from under 18 years old, but still there are hordes of kids even under 10 years playing it. It's simply because some parents buy it for their kid, probably thinking that it's only a stupid videogame, and then all the kids from the neighborhood suddenly pour over to play this magnificent masterpiece of everything immoral. I find this very concerning, because a) I've played GTA 1, 2 and 3, and seen Vice City and San Adreas being played, so I know what kind of game we're talking about, and b) I've worked with 8-year old kids who have played the game or seen it being played, and I've witnessed what it does to them. I think you teenagers shouldn't pass this issue with a diminishing sniff or snicker. Even though you have no responsibilities over your minors, you should have at least some sense of what exposing to extreme violence and criminality does to their minds. I totally agree that there are worse things than GTA-games that young kids can see and experience, but these games are still no innocent toys for kids to play with! The only way to prevent these games from getting into the hands of preteens and younger is to make them Adults Only. Maybe then the parents would realize that not all games are mere toys...

But I also heard that the book speaks of Martians, which in modern days is a huge step away from the realism of the movie. ;) I think I'll content myself with seeing the movie, and not bother with the book (which I heard was written quite a long time ago?).

Sean: [spoiler]The aliens could walk in the basement because the microbes affected them slowly, meaning they weren't sick yet. By the time Tom and Dakota (forgot their rolenames) reached Boston, the microbes had broken the aliens' immunity systems, so they began to die. They couldn't live in our environment because of the different type of bacteria. It's pretty much same when you travel abroad; they have different microbes there, so you are very vulnerable to get some sort of disease. It doesn't happen instantly though, just like it took a while for the aliens to die.[/spoiler]

[QUOTE=Dagger] As hope springs eternal, I'm hoping that: 1) We haven't seen the last of [spoiler]Sirius.[/spoiler] 2) Harry grows out of his all-angst, all-the-time stage. 3) Draco Malfoy does sometime to warrant the excessive page space (or whatever the literary equivalent of screen time would be) he's been allotted in the previous books. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this as a fangirl--I just find it puzzling that he continues to get attention while remaining completely static as a character. Everyone else has changed at least a little (although that isn't always a good thing--i.e. angst!Harry).[/QUOTE] I totally agree with you on these three issues, Daggy: 1) Although rapid fans - like my bf - have fanwanked this to me cazillion times, I still can't believe certain one would [spoiler]simply die because he fell through a portal and that's that[/spoiler]. ;) 2) Harry's teenage angstiness, though very realistic, irritated me to no end in the fifth book. Just [I]grow up[/I], Harry! :p 3) I've always wondered if Draco would turn out to be something else than the cliché bossy bully he is. There's certainly a lot of potential in him. But I'm afraid Rowling isn't as good in creating the baddies as she is with everything else. All the villains seem to be of the all-evil-no-emotions-kill-everything -stereotype. The fifth book took an interesting twist [spoiler]by bringing a few non-Voldemort-fanatic-villains to the scene[/spoiler], but still there's a lot of ground for potential personality development. ;) We'll just have to see what the sixth book brings us...

At first I thought I had just gone blind when I didn't see a topic about this, but then I did a search and found out that there in fact wasn't one! :rolleyes: It feels unbelievable since this book is coming out this weekend! Have everybody forgot all about H.P. or what's going on?! Anyhow, I'm going to this lineparty in front of a bookstore in central Helsinki with my boyfriend this Friday. He's a huge fan of H.P., and he actually organized the whole lineparty - over 100 people are going to attend. It's funny that I'm not even going to buy the book, I'm just going to meet my bf's friends and enjoy the party of freaks & geeks. ;) Of course I'll read the book when my bf has finished it (which will be like the day after he gets it). I've read all the five previous books, from which the fourth in both English and Finnish. I'm excited to see what new plot twists J.K. Rowling has come up with, how the characters have grown and all that! It feels fantastic to step into that world of magic again. :D What about you guys? Planning to buy the book in the first rush? Anybody going to other lineparties in other countries? Whatwhatwhat?!

I went to see this movie with my bf a couple weeks ago, and I must agree with GreatBird; I liked it very much, Dakota Fanning and Tom Cruise made excellent performances, but the story had a certain annoyingly unbelievable aspect in it, although it tried to be as realistic as possible. I must say that it was one of the best sci-fi -movies I've ever seen. It proves that not all sci-fi has to be some sort of apocalyptic space opera. Concentrating on normal people in the middle of a worldwide crisis is undoubtedly very effective as it brings the average viewer really close to the movies. ;)

[QUOTE=James][color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]It's hard because the world isn't that simple. [/color][/font][/QUOTE] Sigh, I know that... :( At times like these I realize how much this world sucks. But I guess we humans only have ourselves to blame for the suckiness. Fortunately there's at least some sort of balance in this world, because there's so much good in this world, too. As individuals we're trying to keep our footing on that rickety scale. :/

I believe it's actually the same thing with most of the muslim terrorists, only reversed. They have been hurt by Western people in the past one way or the other, so now they feel justified to take it out on anybody representing the West. What frustrates me to no end is that there is the simplest solution to this whole crazy situation: to stop hating (meaning both sides of the conflict)! But no, people will rather hate blindly, not realizing that it only causes more hatred and suffering, and a vicious cycle of revenge with no end. The situation in Iraq might just as well end up as desperately unsolvable as the situation in Israel. Why won't people just see the obvious? Why is it so hard? Why must people hate? Hollow questions since there aren't any answers... :(

[QUOTE=Minako] I also can't believe that the States decided to raise the color thingy. (I don't even know what it is!) Anywho, when Madrid got bombed last year(?) they didn't raise the color then! (correct me if I'm wrong..) grr. I don't understand the US government.. :rolleyes:[/QUOTE] I'm glad your cousin is alright, L. :) But to comment the alert-color-raising-thingy: the government did that to increase the (false) sense of security of the people. The reason they didn't raise it when Madrid got bombed was because Americans clearly didn't feel threatened then, or not at least as much as now that London got bombed, since this time the attack was against people who speak the same language as the Americans, and are considered their closest allies in this maniac war. ...Okay, I didn't make much sense since there are so many people in the States who speak Spanish (namely the Latin population), but I guess it's the majority that calls the shots in this thing too. On behalf of the AlQaida, what I'm sensing is a decrease in strength. I believe they have lost much of their supporters and "martyrs" during these years. Look at how many people they sent to hijack those planes on 9/11 (weren't there like thirty of them?), and look how few sacrificed their lives for their cause yesterday (seven? even fewer if the bombs were just left in the trains). Of course, it might be harder for them to get their "minions" through to Western countries (although probably many of the bombers yesterday had lived in the UK for a long time), but I sincerely believe that the organization has critically diminished in manpower. After all, it requires a lot of despair, zeal and at least a tinge of madness for a person to set a bomb into a crowd of innocent people.

In the latest news it's estimated that over 40 people are dead and over 300 wounded. I for one don't expect that the numbers will stay that way, as sad as it is. :/ You just never know when it's your time to go, but I am glad I'm living in a small country with little to do with any "anti-terrorism". And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying "you had it coming", but people - especially those who swear revenge - should realize that nothing good comes out from messing with a bunch of desperate people also known as terrorists. They [I]feed[/I] on revenge, it gives them another "morally just" reason to strike back! Uh, I've just about had it with the insanity of people! At times like this, you just want to shout to the world the cliché: [I]"Why can't we all just get along?!"[/I]

Recent news tell that the AlQaida has announced that they are behind the bombs in London today. Who would've guessed...? :P It strikes odd that the scale of the attacks is so much smaller than in previous targets. I hope this isn't just an prelude to something bigger... :( No, even though this seems to be another act of terrorism (geez I [I]hate[/I] that word!), it's no reason to start panicking and foretelling the end of the world. Like Tony Blair said in his speech from the G8-summit, the will to defend what the "civilized countries" have is far greater than the will to destroy it. Bleh, that's not a correct quote, but it was something along those lines anyway... I just hope that people who are in the middle of the events try to think clearly and let the officials do their job without spreading any panic.

[QUOTE=Beorhun][SIZE=1][COLOR=Blue] The judgement ring system, the plot, the characters, it was all done so well that its a shame that the sequel wasn't worth the packaging it came in. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/QUOTE] I'm sorry, but would you mind to explain that a bit? :therock: Well, I haven't played the first Shadow Hearts (mainly because it was never released in this part of the world), but I bought Shadow Hearts: Covenant as soon as it was released here, and because of *some* people saying it was one crappy game and *some others* saying it's one of the best they've ever played, I was pretty nervous when I put in into my PS2. But luckily I was extremely positively surprised that the game really [I]was[/I] one of the best games I've ever played, even up to par with some FF-titles (which I'm a huge fan of). I know we each have our own preferences, but here's my point: if you adored the first part, how could you not at least liked the sequel? The judgement ring, the indulging plot, the unique characters - they are all there!! Plus the dark humour... Gawd, I missed that in so many other games, and SH:C finally offered it to me! :D So please, for the sake of us fans, next time you bash a game, have at least some explanation why it just crumbled your world apart, okay? :p

Aw geez, I didn't mean to offend you in any way, silly! I thought we knew each other well enough that you'd take my lame joke with humour... Besides, didn't you see the smilies - they mean I wasn't being serious!! ;) Like I said earlier, if you feel like it, give the game a try! In the end it's up to you only, not me or anybody else can decide for you. If you're just asking for back-ups, I can't really say if this game is going to be succesfull or not; it's a risk you have to take, like every other RP-creator in this forum (including me). Every time I come up with what to me is a great idea for a game, I can't be sure it'll be such a great idea in other people's minds [I]until[/I] I post it here. But anywho, the reason I felt compelled to snap you a little was that in the first post of this thread, you didn't clearly state at any point that you got this idea from a certain existing videogame, thus sounding like you were making all this up from your own head. Again, I wasn't trying to be offensive, I was just making a remark in my own sarcastic way. Guess I should rehearse my sarcasm a bit more... ;) PS. What did you mean I've been a bit harsh on people here lately? I barely post here anymore, though I come here daily! If you mean my "advices" on new members when they're creating RPGs, I feel that I'm only instructing them to put more effort into their ideas, because when I was starting my first games here, I'd wish I had somebody who'd given me some advice how the system works. But maybe that's just my p-o-w on things... Sorry again... :blush:

[quote name='Zidargh']Yes Sage, I know. It's named 'Evil Genius'. ;) [/quote] Hah, so you're just ripping off that game! :D That's just... arrogant! :p In that case I suggest you put some original effort to this RPG, so you'd at least have a clear consciense to call it yours. ;)

There's actually a similar videogame that was released not an year ago. It placed the player on the side of an evil megalomaniac whose task was to build a secret base and command lunatic henchmen. Now, if I only would remember the name of the game... :sweat: But by all means, give the game a try - who knows; it might be a big hit. ;)

Hehee, that was one funny text! :D So exaggerated yet so true... :p I recognize many of those same features in myself (well, I'm not a console-fanboy, but a final fanatic, but basically its the same thing). When you're excited about something, you become oblivious to reason and logic, and tend to bash opposing opinions. Age has much to do with how fierce the fanboyism is, but I've seen fully-grown adults that start acting like little kids when their fandom is brought to discussion (often on their own initiative). But all in all, fandoms spice up life and rarely hurt anybody, so let fanboys be fanboys. ;)

Not only are you ripping off another RPG in this board, you're also ripping off who-knows how many fantasy books, games, movies and comics. ;) This might be news to you, but the whole angels-bad/demons-good -concept is [I]ancient[/I]! If you want recent examples, go watch the movie Constantine (starring Keanu Reeves). Simply put, don't bother wasting your time on this very cliché-y concept (a friendly advice). ;)

Soul Calibur 2 is the only fighting game I own, but boy is it great!!! The thing about its characters is that though there are plenty of them, I find myself only able to play with certain ones. My ultimate favorite is [B]Seung Mina[/B], her spears are magnificent for they are very fast and have a long range. [B]Kilik[/B], the staff-user, is pretty similar, but IMO his moves require a tad more technique (a skill I unfortunately don't have - I'm an honest button-smasher! :toothy: ). Other characters I feel comfortable playing are [B]Talim[/B],[B] Raphael[/B], [B]Cassandra[/B], [B]Nightmare[/B] and [B]Yoshimitsu[/B], all are either very fast, have high defense or long range. Oh, and Yoshimitsu is just too hilarious to be surpassed. :p Then there are the characters that I just can't get working! [B]Astaroth[/B] is one of them, he's just tooooo sloooow! And [B]Ivy[/B] with her whip-sword requires too much technique in order to get her to hit her opponents, and same goes with [B]Maxi[/B]'s nunchucks. [B]Heihachi[/B] (I play the PS2-version) has too close range, although his fists are deadly. And [B]Xianghua[/B] (which I prefer to call Xiang-ho) is just too damn [I]irritating[/I] and totally useless! Honestly, she's a bit more faster than Cassandra, but Cassie outmatches her in strength and defense, so why would I even bother to use Xiang-ho? But all in all it is one great game. Nevertheless I doubt that I will buy SC3 when it comes out, for it seems just too similar to this game (only three new characters, what's up with that?!), but we'll have to see about it...

Why buy it when you can download it (actually both Zool and Zool 2) for free at [url]www.abandonia.com[/url]? ;) The games are located at the Arcade-section, on page 5. I didn't download it because it seemed just too quirky for me, with ChupaChups-landscapes and all... Oh, and I don't know if it's okay to put that link here, but since abandonia is 100% free site that has all these neat retrogames to download for play, I thought I could spread the word...

I still flag for [url=http://www.longestjourney.com][COLOR=RoyalBlue]The Longest Journey[/COLOR][/url], the most amazing adventure game I've ever played (though I haven't played that many, but still it surpassed many of my earlier favorites)!! The thing was, I bought it from a bargain-shelf for measly 10 ? or so, having never even heard of it. I don't know how popular it is inside it's genre, because I follow mainly news about RPGs, but now it is getting a sequel,[url=http://www.dreamfall.com][COLOR=RoyalBlue]Dreamfall[/COLOR][/url], which apparently raised some sort of a buzz at this years E3 with it's unique gameplay (a mixture of adventure, roleplay and action). That's one game that I'd wish people would recognize more, cause it's just one darn good game. ;)

I haven't played even a one Zelda-game ever in my life (I've only seen this crappy cartoon video), but I find it very amusing that Link has to save the goddamn same princess in every single game (or at least I've been given that impression). How can one single princess be so utterly brainless that she lets herself be kidnapped over and over again?! I can understand that happening once, since it's one of the duties of being a princess to get kidnapped once in a lifetime - how else could one find an eligible bachelor prince to live happily ever after with? But, this is one thing I consider to be a big joke in a series. ;) BTW, Shinmaru, you just killed me with that Tomb Raider joke! :p