Semjaza

I don't think they have all that many releases unless you count the singles too. That seems a bit much. I have Something About Airplanes and The Forbidden Love EP. Out of those two, I think my favorite song is [I]Amputations[/I]. For whatever reason, I don't really have a lot to say about them. They're quite good at what they do and I don't find them as annoying as most bands that are similiar to them. Possibly because they're not as whiny. I've still not gotten around to hearing their latest release.

They didn't really even need any studio time to make Steal This Album. That's why it was titled what it was. Half of those songs were already available on their import singles and the rest were just mastered versions of crappy demos floating about. I'm sure whatever they make next won't even be related... but if you're hurting for System material, they have an entire CD length set of music that was never released for some reason. It's not too hard to find online. In any case, if you're hoping for some full underground/black/death metal concert, I don't really know why you'd go to Ozzfest in the first place. By its very definition, it really has to appeal to all sorts of audiences. I notice that when metal bands tour over here, they always come in groups anyway (King Diamond, for example, hit some places here with like four or five other bands)... perhaps the smaller, cheaper venues would be better to check out.

All I can say is get used to it... not much else can be done lol. The old skin was designed for vB 2. This is vB 3. They're not even compatible. Plus you're basically asking people here to totally rearrange the layout of a page. It's not as simple as just throwing a code in and you're all set. It's a lot of work. Nearly meaningless work, considering how trivial this is. It's not hard to figure out how to use this skin and having quick links to things on the side really doesn't hurt anything. As I've said in the past, you should see the default skins for vB 3 now. They're not all that similiar to vB 2 or Version 6. They're very maze like and confusing. What James and Justin did with these layouts is far more intuitive and user friendly, honestly. I'm not really one to praise things in general, but they really have done a much better job than what would have resulted had they stuck with the default.

[QUOTE=Shinji][font=Verdana][size=1][color=#708090]Hitchcock and Kubrick, are agruably two of the bigger inujustices of the Academy, yet I still think Chicago winning over the Two Towers was a bit... 'unfair?[/color][/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][color=#708090] I would like to thank the academy for not snubbing Fantasy this year, I believe it's the first fantasy to win the Oscar, ever. More than makes up for the Kangaroo Jack dissapointment.[/color][/size][/font][/QUOTE] It was the first fantasy movie. I said that earlier, actually. In any case, the Two Towers wouldn't have won for a major reason. It's part of a trilogy and giving the award to the second part when the third was likely to be the magnum opus of the three would have been redundant. Other films have to be recognized.

[quote name='Ryu_Sakura']Actually in Save the Homeland you stall can marry them, but it ends there. Oh, and there are 12 endings, so get them all![/quote] Are you sure you're thinking the right one? Save the Homeland (on PS2) does not have marriage whatsoever. None of the endings even involve it and there are only nine of them. I think you're thinking of another heh. I was trying to think of some cons for the GBA version earlier today. Really, for the most part, I think it's my favorite so far. The sheer diversity really makes it overcome the past games, especially the PS2 version which seemed less focused on the farm aspect (hell, there were only four crop types). My main problem with this game is that you cannot walk diagonally. I still have no idea why, especially when there are some angled paths in the game. Luckily, you can just run straight and the game will force your character to run at a normal pace down the path anyway. It's not as if the game doesn't recognize diagonal d-pad presses, as you can scroll the map at any angle you want. I don't get why that was overlooked. Other issues are more subjective. The game is a bit harder to get started in than some of the others, but once you get going, you shouldn't have a problem. There are also a LOT of menus and options you can scroll through. Not a great thing when the GBA has less buttons than any console that has a game from this series (not counting the old Game Boy and GBC ones...). Thankfully the game has several quick shortcuts you can use by pressing various button combinations. Usually this involves pressing L and another button simultaneously. It's weird at first, but you overcome it. I think some of the music gets really repetitive, mostly because you spend a lot of time in only a small amount of places. The music itself isn't bad, but anything gets tiring after that long. The sound effects are also pretty overused thanks to the fact that the menus all use a variety of animal noises to indicate choices and cancelations. These are noises you hear from your own animals on a regular basis, so sticking them in a menu is just overkill. Anyway, I can't recommend this game enough otherwise. Those are rather small problems compared to all the things I love about the game.

The graphics are surprisingly good. It's definitely a step up from the SNES version (although I like how that one looked, it had a certain charm). It's very comparable to the PSX version, honestly. Obviously not as nice, but better than I expected. The game is also very well suited for the Game Boy Player. Sometimes on my GBA, I find it hard to see some things... when your dog is still a puppy, he is pretty damn tiny heh.

Saying only Bush is against it is ridiculous. Where have you been the last thousand years? lol In any case, all I can really say to this thread is "[I]Again??[/I]" This is going to be a downward spiral, especially considering the origin of it wasn't all that special to begin with. Based on past history, I'm just going to close it. It's best for everyone, really. If someone else in charge disagrees with me on the subject, then they have the power to reopen it. I doubt they will.

Your avatar and signature appear in your profile. This isn't needed.

The book isn't really any more racist that the era in which it was written. I think this topic has been beaten to death by various people involved and it mostly mirrors the points made here. ****** was a common-place word in those days. While it of course had a negative connotation, simply using it did not always signify some sort of deep-rooted racial tention. In fact, I remember hearing that Twain was not even remotely racist himself. Like was said, this is a case of people jumping the gun. There are groups that feel any remote reference to the word warrants some sort of crusade against it. A good example... a couple years back, a man used the word "niggardly" in one of his speeches. It basically means petty in spending. A group of people were up in arms over the word and wanted the man fired. Nevermind the fact that the word is spelled differently and has absolutely nothing to do with that in the first place. It [I]sounded [/I]like ****** and that was enough for them to get riled up over it. I also remember when Manson released Antichrist Superstar. In a review I read, someone claimed it to be racist. Apparently the line "Everybody's someone else's ******. I know you are, so am I. I wasn't born with enough middle fingers. I don't need to choose a side." was the verse in question. Now maybe it's just me, but I think anyone with a brain would read the context surrounding the word and see it as something completely different. I've never taken that in a racist sense. It always seemed to be making the point that everyone is hated by someone else, obviously for petty reasons. Of course, the appearance of that word ruins the point completely for people who aren't willing to see past it. Same deal with this book, really. It's one thing if a book is hatefilled and uses this word in such a way that is rather unjustifiable. Huck Finn is not one of those.

Sword of Mana? To put it simply, no it's not really worth it. The game was originally released in the US as "Final Fantasy Adventure", and despite it's dated graphics, I think it's the better of the two. Sword of Mana is just a remake of that with some new features. The design is pretty nice. Unfortunately it's brought down by a lot of weird graphical glitches. The menu system is a lot like Secret of Mana, the main issue is you have far less buttons to use it with. Control becomes a pain because you're forced to go through three seperate menus just to use an item. Same issue with choosing weapons, which you'll be doing constantly as some monsters are immune to certain types of attacks. The fighting system on a whole is unbalanced because of this. You'll need to use spears against some monsters, arrows against others, magic against still others. Not bad in and of itself, but when you're doing well against some monsters and then go into the next room and it takes five minutes to kill ONE standard enemy, it's rather ridiculous. The game also has a computer controlled character that follows you around. The problem with that is they they are incredibly moronic. I've had them stand idly by while I'm trying to kill monsters. They get stuck in walls. They randomly stop. Luckily going into a new room makes them automatically catch up, but it's still a pain. I really didn't like the translation at all either. It felt like it was written for younger kids, basically. That and it constantly sticks in words like "ya" instead of "you" for everyone in the game. This is cool with certain characters, but I don't expect some refined woman to be talking like that. So, in other words, I didn't like it much. I had been looking forward to it, but I think it's a waste of money at its full price.

Guys, this thread is from [B][I]2001[/I][/B]. I think Queen Asuka would be embarrassed to see this even heh. I'm closing it. Please, Keyblade Master (or whoever), don't bring back such old threads in the future.

[quote name='satan665']I need to keep in touch better, I heard about this but didn't know anything about it being released. When did it come out?[/quote] This past February. I think the tenth. [quote name='satan665']Ah, remember when Pearl Jam was good?[/quote] No. I do remember when they sucked less though. [spoiler]Heh. I've never liked Pearl Jam.[/spoiler]

Astro Boy is a classic in and of itself. It's up there with Future Boy Conan and other older anime as something I feel stood the test of time (although Conan is just from the late 70s). Sure, they're not insanely deep or well animated, but they're still very enjoyable. As a remake, however, I really don't know how interested I can be in it. There's always something lost in the process. What I've seen of it, though, is definitely not unimpressive from an animation standpoint. You just have to be accepting of Osamu Tezuka's artwork, which this is obviously based on heh... something I find many people (younger ones mostly, it seems) aren't too keen on. For those that care, SEGA is putting out a Astro Boy game here in the near future as well. I believe Treasure developed it (known for Ikaruga most recently). Maybe they're hoping to make the Astro Boy license go somewhere in the US. Anyway, there's lots of random art, pics and videos here: [url]http://astroboy.jp/c/009/index.html[/url]

Am I the only one that realized that Harry's post was a joke? In any case, I've spoken about the whole then/than, effect/affect, lying/laying, etc fiasco in the past heh. I use "I" in the situations mentioned, although I slip up some times... mostly because so many other people I know do not use it correctly.

I'd think I'm fairly popular on here. I mostly judge that by the fact that people I've never even heard of know me on a first name basis. It's rather odd, but whatever. Honestly, my popularity here doesn't concern me. I'm here to do my job and voice my opinions, and if they don't side with the better half... too bad. Anyone I happen to become friends with just happens gradually because we're like minded people on some level, no matter how small it might be. In high school, I was rather popular. I would say I was on the top rung there and was friends with pretty much everyone in the building. Of course, it helped that we only had like 500 students total and that everyone was very accepting. I'm still pretty much a loner at heart and that's where I currently stand in college. I don't even attempt to make friends with people unless we need to do a project together. I wear, say and do what I feel is right for me... if that puts me on the lower end of the spectrum, so be it. I have more important things to worry about than designer clothes and perfect hair and acting cool, whatever that really entails.

I'd go as far as just calling Maniac Mansion games point and click adventures... just like most games similiar to them - King's Quest, Sam and Max, Full Throttle, etc. The only ones I can think of offhand that would have RPG qualities would be the Quest for Glory titles.

[quote name='Sara][SIZE=1']Do people do that in earnest? I "quote" (And...cue appropriate gesture!) things, but it's grossly exaggerated. I wasn't aware people actually did it seriously. (Unless you're miffed at folks like me, which is quite possible.)[/SIZE][/quote] Sara, I worship people like you. I'm referring to people who do it in all seriousness... not as a joke heh.

[quote name='maladjusted][color=firebrick']Did you exepct anything else to happen? :p I actually thought Lord of the Rings would lose because I heard the Oscars didn't favor action/adventure movies. Then all of a sudden people decided to change their minds.[/color][/quote] It's not just that... prior to Lord of the Rings, not one sci-fi/fantasy movie ever won a Best Picture award. Not even 2001, surprisingly. It broke the curse, or so the nerdy people I talk to like to say.

Game is looking good, although I'm not quite as blown away as you are heh. The detail on Snake is nothing beyond things I've seen in other games before, although it's definitely nice. I'm not too sure about that grass shot. I'm not sure what can really be attibuted to soft lighting on the blades when all the grass in the shot is colored that exact same way. It makes it hard to pick out much of anything due to a lack of comparison. I actually think the first shot is the most impressive. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this. Playing in the jungles again should be fun. It kind of reminds me of First Blood, in a way... which is always a great thing.

Probot is something that was rumored for awhile, but I don't know if anyone had heard of it. Basically it was to be Dave Grohl's metal album. Most should be familiar with him thanks to his involvement with Nirvana and his headlining the Foo Fighters... plus drumming on the latest Queens of the Stone Age album. [CENTER][IMG]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00012M5S2.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] Basically, Grohl wrote a bunch of songs and sent them off to his favorite metal-ish vocalists (mostly from the 80s to early 90s) so they could sing for them. Grohl also had some extra help from random other band members to fully realize the instrumentals on the tracks. Grohl plays drums on each of them. I don't know how many people will be into this considering it does sound like 80s metal overall. I think it's pretty damn good though and I like the fact that each song sounds related, yet so different because of the vocals. Some of them vocalists are very easily recognized... especially Lemmy from Motörhead on the third track. If you know Motörhead at all, you'll recognize him instantly. Here's the track listing. The vocalist and band he is from is listed in the parentheses. 1. Centuries Of Sin ( W/ Cronos / Venom) 2. Red War ( W/ Max Cavalera / Soulfly, Sepultura) 3. Shake Your Blood ( W/ Lemmy / Motörhead) 4. Access Babylon ( W/ Mike Dean / C.O.C.) 5. Silent Spring ( W/ Kurt Brecht / D.R.I.) 6. Ice Cold Man ( W/ Lee Dorrian / Cathedral / Napalm Death) 7. The Emerald Law ( W/ Wino / Place Of Skulls / The Obsessed) 8. Big Sky ( W/ Tom G. Warrior / Celtic Frost) 9. Dictatorsaurus ( W/ Snake / Voïvod) 10. My Tortured Soul ( W/ Eric Wagner / Trouble) 11. Sweet Dreams ( W/ King Diamond / Mercyful Fate) So I recommend checking out if you know any of these bands... or if you're interested in some music of that type. Hopefully some others here have heard this before.

If you're talking about your signature and such, you can always just view them in your profile. Threads like this are not needed. Plus older posts will show whatever your current signature and avatar are. They're retroactive.

I got this game late last month and have played it regularly since then. Definitely worth my $30 so far. You might want to try looking for it on eBay if you're interested, as I've seen it go for $15 regularly. Anyway, for those that don't know, Harvest Moon is a farming RPG/simulation. You get your own farm and try to build it up into something nice and succesful. You can plant crops, raise livestock, talk with townspeople and so forth. Some games in the series allow you to find girlfriends and eventually marry them. This was sadly removed in the PS2 version (Save the Homeland), but it is brought back in this game. The game has its own time clock. It doesn't flow in real time like Animal Crossing, however. 10 minutes in the game last a few seconds in real life. Stores and such in town go by this clock and also by what day of the week it is. Don't expect to find anything to buy late at night. The game goes by seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. The month vastly affects the weather conditions and what types of crops can be planted. Each season only lasts 30 days. The game doesn't go by a typical 12 month calendar. By the end of the day, you should have your chores and everything taken care of so you can get yourself to sleep. If you work yourself too hard during the day, this can have ill effects on you. Eating and relaxing can fix this easily, though. I've not played every last game in the series, but I've played the main ones. This is probably my favorite one so far. Everything of importance was kept over from the previous versions. The amount of crop types in the game is vastly improved over the PS2 version. You can also raise chickens, cows and sheep. Not to mention your horse and dog. All animals have baby and adult life cycles and it will take some time for them to fully grow up. Each animal has its own benefits in its adult stage. [CENTER][img]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/reviews/589702_20031210_screen002.jpg[/img][/CENTER] So a typical day for me would start by getting up at 6 AM (that's automatic lol) and watering all my crops (and tilling the ground to plant new ones if I have any seeds) I then take my chickens outside to find their own food (unless it's raining, in which case I have to give them feed inside their coop) and collect the eggs they laid. Fully grown chickens lay one egg each per day, although they won't lay anything if their sick or unhappy. Bringing them outside and feeding them makes them happy, so it's nothing to hard to manage. I then go play with the dog, who I leave outside since he has a doghouse -- unless the weather sucks. I brush my horse and let him outside as well. I don't have any cows or sheep yet. They seem much harder to afford in this game than in the others. I also go into the town and try to make friends with the Harvest Sprites. These are little fairy/dwarf type creatures that live in a hut behind the Church. It takes some work to befriend them, but once you do, they're invaluable. The easiest to make friends with is Hoggy (there are seven of them and their names reflect their personality -- like the Seven Dwarfs). Just keep giving him food heh. [CENTER][img]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/reviews/589702_20031210_screen001.jpg[/img][/CENTER] Once they're your friends you can either ask them to help with harvesting, animals or watering... or you can play a game. The games make the sprite better at whatever task the game involves (again, harvesting, animals or watering). You can ask them to work for up to a week, but at first they'll not be too good at it. They get better as they get more experience. Hoggy usually waters all my crops for me, which saves a lot of time. Any crops or items you harvest are put in a shipping box. The box is checked at 5PM daily and you're automatically given the money. It takes quite awhile to get things going, but once they do you'll be making a nice amount of money each day or so. The rest of the day depends. You can talk to the townsfolk and give them gifts to make friends. You can go mine in the caves so you can upgrade your tools or make various other items (like jewelry for girls you like). You can go fishing. The town randomly has little festivals depending on the date, which you can take part in if you fill the requirements. [CENTER][img]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/reviews/589702_20031210_screen006.jpg[/img][/CENTER] You can also upgrade your house and farm. Bigger chicken coop, etc. I hope on upgrading my house soon so I can put a kitchen in. This lets you cook, which makes lots of nice things you can give as gifts or sell. Obviously the goal of this game is to build a succesful farm, although you also want to get a wife somewhere in that time frame. There are a few girls to choose from, but you have competition. Every girl in town also has a boy that's interested in here and it takes some work for her to notice you. Personally, I'm going after this pink haired girl named Popuri. She helps run the chicken shop. I suppose in some ways this game sounds repetitive and like it's the height of tedium, but I love this game and can't put it down half the time. [CENTER][img]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/reviews/589702_20031210_screen009.jpg[/img][/CENTER] Are there any other fans of this game here? Or even of the series as whole? Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is coming out for GameCube in about two weeks, so it would be a nice starting point if you don't have a GBA (the PS2 version is a bit dumbed down, but still good -- averages $20 new). Check it out if you get a chance. I'll be making a thread on the GCN one in the coming weeks, unless someone beats me to it. Girls might be interested to know that a version is coming out for GBA and GCN that lets you play as a girl instead of as a boy like all the previous versions. Could be interesting, but obviously I'm not getting it lol. (Note: If you have Kazaa Lite installed, the images probably won't work). Oh, by the way, my name in the game is Tony. My chickens are named Cluck, Buck, Cheep and Camillia (from the Muppets... remember Gonzo's chicken love? heh). My horse is Buddy since I couldn't think of a good name... and my dog is named Darwin. My farm is named Tomacco Farm after a weird crop in a Simpsons episode.

Something I've always hated was "quote, unquote". Mostly TV personalities use this on news shows, but I have met kids who used it in everyday situations. Mostly in an attempt to look more intelligent. It's even worse when they use hand expressions to make "air quotes".

I suppose Poison is comparable on a superficial level... if you totally ignore the subject matter, tone of the instruments and the fact that the songs are mostly sang by a female (Christina Scabbia) with a few done by a male (Andrea Ferro). Christina is defintely the better of the two, but I do like the vocals overall anyway, despite Andrea's throwback to older rock bands. I agree that there's nothing too special about this lineup overall though... but Lamb of God could be fun.

I found it incredibly dull. I had to sit and watch it because my friend was taping it. Rapture. Pretty much everything I expected to win wound up winning. I would have liked The Triplets of Belleville to win Best Animated Feature, but it had no chance against Finding Nemo anyway.