Incoherent Thoughts

Happy birthday me! =D ...I would've forgotten except for a ton of automatic birthday greetings from (it seems) all the sites I have an account at. I guess that tells how 'important' it is.
Turning 24, by the way. Huh. Older again.
Also, it amuses me how many people I know have their birthday in September. Sometimes it feels like at least a quarter of all the people I know were born in September, with a further quarter of them in other autumn months...

Versailles apparently changed their name to Versailles -Philharmonic Quintet-. Along with the name, there's also a new single, PRINCE. (heh, a nice birthday present?) I've now listened to it a couple times, it sounds just as good as any of their previous songs. A bit clearer in mood than the ones I've most liked, but still very very good. It's free to download if anyone's interested. (requires registration though)

Been playing FFTA2. I'd still be playing but had to stop to grab something to eat... I now have 60-something finished quests, out of..I think it was 400? Slowly getting there. =D Levels 22-24, I've managed to keep them rather even since there's been so few opportunities to fill up my clan. All I have in addition to the people there to begin with (and Adelle, but she doesn't really count since she's a forced join in the story) plus one hume and one bangaa. I'm now in the second year's nu mou months, but I have yet to recruit one. Should get myself over to Graszton again.

Finished FF Tactics Advance for the second time. =D Turns out there was only a couple Judge missions left, so after a bit of playing I got the end credits. And finally confirmation that that official picture of Marche with a Judge sword wasn't just a random idea, but actually somewhat supported by the game... >.>
Now, I'm quite happy to retire my copy of FFTA and concentrate on others. I think the next GBA game I'll work on is FF6, mostly because it's the only GBA FF I have left that I haven't finished.

Not actually playing FF6 now, though. Started on FFTA2 again (hey, it's a DS game, not a GBA one). I'd been stuck in the moon sigil quest since..well, since shortly after first starting the game, but now I decided to just skip it and try to take it on some other time. And what happens? I clear one other quest, and accidentally walk right into the moon sigil one when trying to get out of that part of the map. Without saving, of course.
And then I win the quest with hardly any difficulty, when before I'd tried that about 6 or 7 times and failed all of them. Dot, dot, dot... the only thing that changed is that my bangaa learned an ability and I changed him to another job (dragoon). And then, just for the heck of it, took him along with me to the moon sigil quest to try him out, when before he was hopelessly too slow to take to that fight. What the heck, is dragoon really that good? O.o; (can you tell I hardly used bangaa in FFTA?)

Latest news from US: they're now planning ('considering') to make passengers on airplanes carry these wristbands that can send a bolt of electricity through you and make you unable to move. You know, just in case you get unruly.
Every time I hear something like this my decision to never go to that messed up country gets that much stronger, and I'm glad about it. How the mighty fall.

In MLaaK, I've had time to explore a grand total of..one floor. At the Infinity Spire, I mean. And I've taken down two of the legendary foes at that floor, but nothing else. So much to do, so much to do... I did manage to get that third bulletin board, but it's not helping too much, it seems. One's for low-low level behests (information about dungeons, looking for misplaced items, Infinity Spire for now..), one for early to mid 30's (or the only level 20-something dungeon that's left, the Barbair Abyss), and one for higher-level stuff (right now, looking for level 45 ingredients. One more of those left, then I'll move my best team to Isle of Giants. It's a bit (/way too) low-level for them, but they need experience somewhere before taking on a level 40-something dungeon. I think I'm going for the weapon shop then...that should be manageable)
The castle expansion, by the way...it was completely useless. Well, except maybe if you want to have one extra dungeon and a life-bar boss. For a level 39 dungeon! What cheating. I had to pause all operations for two days for what amounted to being..nothing. Well okay, you can rename your adventurers with it. Big deal, not interested. Okay, you can check all family relations from it quite conveniently. Big deal, family relations don't really matter other than if they're at max and you can get medals from that family, but you can't see that particular bit of info from the castle. Okay, so there's a jukebox too. Not useful either (other than for letting me know the titles of those songs) since you can only listen to it at the jukebox menu. *sigh* Wouldn't recommend getting it unless you really want to change the names of your adventurers or are a total completionist like me.

Now that I started playing MLaaK again, this insane urge to write fanfic for it came back. I already caved in before and wrote one short piece, seems that there'll have to be more.

The judge missions in FFTA bother me. Why the heck did I start FFTA2 when I still haven't totally finished FFTA? *sighs and shakes head* Maybe I'll persuade myself to night to finish a couple more of them...

As I mentioned in my last post, L'Épée du Gardien II (part 5 of the FF11 novelization series) was kinda boring. Finished reading it today, and Doug&co really did do almost nothing else but reach Kazham. Well, they went out to the jungle and got attacked. That's it. End of book, to be continued. D: I can't really approve of this dividing one book into three parts. They were released like this originally too, but that doesn't stop the three parts of it being a complete book, and this second part being the boring middle. The same thing happened with the first trilogy in the series...

Hee, next chapter of FF4 The After is Gilbart's. =D (...and dammit, I am going to learn to call him that, since all the Japanese sources constantly call him that now. Using 'Edward' would be worse. It's completely idiotic that the English version has two Edwards running around in FF4, even if one of them goes by his nickname most (/all) of the time)
...he has a secretary. Called Hal. Who can use Zeninage (/Gil Toss) and was a scholar before being enchanted by his voice. xD; Well, that's one of the last two playable characters revealed, I have to wonder who's the last one. What chapters are there left anyway, Kain's? And those for Cid, Cecil and Rosa, but I'm somehow suspecting at least Cecil and Rosa's chapters won't be available until later, since so much has been made of the mystery of their whereabouts and what happened at Castle Baron after the attack.
..somehow, this Hal character interests me. Looks like a traditional scholar, will she actually have a personality to match? (I would hope she's not just a stereotype..) Her having Zeninage might be an interesting hint about her personality. xD Although I suppose Damcyan can handle it, being a wealthy merchant nation and all.

299/300 in FF Tactics Advance. Was heading to the last numbered mission (at least I'm presuming it's a numbered mission, it's similar to the last numbered missions I've played through) when I saved the last time, got bored of too many roaming clans on the map and had to take a break. Nevertheless, getting very close to total completion in missions. =D
Too bad I couldn't go for 100% completion with that game, due to some early blunders...now, this close to it, the fact that I missed capturing a Goblin and a Thunderdrake, getting Goblin Punch on my Blue Mage and getting Eldena to join my clan is bothering me. I'm pretty sure I haven't missed anything else, although I didn't steal at all in the early game. I've followed a dungeon-placement guide for all missable items from the beginning, and one of the latest missions had a dude I could steal both Genji Armor and Genji Helm from. Those are the only items I'm aware I was missing (other than some Mythril weapons, but those are not missable as far as I know, they're just so rare I haven't gotten all of them yet)

My computer chair broke on me (the back fell off). It's been on the verge of it for some time..but dammit, why now? There's so much other stuff to buy. D:

287/300 in FFTA. Slow progress, but at least it's progress. Although my only problem is the damn missions not showing up, I can clear them just fine. (Well, not counting a couple annoying dispatch missions to that, managed to fail them. Wasn't such a big surprise, though, none of my people thought they'd do good at them..had to try anyway)

Might finally get that Windows installed tomorrow. My sister did bring that Windows install disk over (at least she thought so), but..it was just the cover and didn't have the actual CD. *sigh* Well, as long as I have that and FF11 installed by 2nd or so. Can't remember right now when the maintenance (or whatever) ends so you can sign up, but it should be right there within a couple days of the 1st...

...my Wii refuses to update, or connect to any of the online services. It keeps telling me that error, can't remember the number but Nintendo's site said it's due to a problem on their end and it should go away in a bit. The problem is, it doesn't... I guess I wouldn't be so worried yet but I remember seeing threads about a faulty Wii update around the last one, whenever that was. Could it be...? (the wireless works just fine on my PS3 and PSP so it can't be that. Unless the last update I installed screwed up compatibility with my router)

Hee, the new My Life as a King downloadable content was released in Japan. =D That means it can't be far off here, either...can it? I mean, even all them together don't really have that much to translate.
Got a little scare there when I intended to finally update my Wii (it's been flashing for..what almost a week now?) and it said it couldn't connect. Went to check my wireless router and turned out it wasn't getting any power. Something wrong with wall plug, after a few desperate moments changed it to a different one and it works again. No idea why it'd suddenly stop working...
Anyway, all's well, it's updating now.

281/300 missions in FFTA. Might get this thing done yet, and I only managed to miss Eldena, and capturing a Goblin and a Thunderdrake (managed to get Dragon Force from Ogma, even though it was such a high level - over 10 levels higher than my Marche. It even had time to use Dragon Force on itself before I could position myself to control it every turn, and afterwards my physical attacks were all doing just 1 dmg. It had over 200 HP left at that point...good thing I had a mage with me). =D; That is, if nothing else I've missed turns out in the next 19 missions.
....I've read up on bugs. There's no bug that'd make the Maiden's Cry mission disappear, is there? 'Cause after I got Ritz and signed up for Left Behind, I didn't want to sign up for it yet, and two days later (the time it took to walk to the next town) it was gone. Hasn't appeared since. .___.

Hah, I'm so good. FFTA finished~! =D 275/300 numbered missions, too, and got Ritz into my Clan. Being the obsessive completionist that I am, I'm working my way up to 300 and the extra ones while I still don't have FFTA2.
...is it just me or were the final battle/ending themes much better than the other music in the game? Could be just because I've heard all the rest of them so many times, though.

The Porom chapter title picture (this be FF4TA: Return of the Moon of course) looks pretty good.. Porom is totally competing with Rydia in this game. Just look at her! =D;

I rummaged around in boxes of my stuff again and found a blackboard...I got mom to buy it for me a year ago when I moved here, it was still wrapped up and everything. Thought I'd take it to use when I moved out of here, back then, but..got a better idea now. Made it an FF memo for myself and propped it up against some boxes next to the TV. Very useful, that, now I can see what needs doing at a glance. xD

I wonder when the Tales of Symphonia sequel will come out..? My Wii needs more games. (they'd better release it in Europe too!)

264/300 (normal) missions completed on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I'm doing progress! =D I'm pretty sure I haven't managed to miss doing any missions, as I've been completing everything possible for me before going forward. Is it even possible to miss any missions other than through dropping one-time mission items? I'm pretty sure I haven't done that, either. Although even with these, I have no idea where the majority of the remaining ones are hiding. I only have one story-mission left (I think. Ambervale could have several missions. I haven't visited it yet) Obviously you have to be able to continue the game after completing story missions (at least, the next story mission if there's several, as there's one slot for them left) as there are the additional ones that become available after completing all 300, so maybe they'll be unlocked after the next story mission.

( More rambling about FFTA )

Playing FFTA this intensively has made me remember how addicting that game is. Maybe I'll have to get FFTA2 right at the start of the month after all. I'd been thinking of getting it a bit later, but..yeah.

It's hot again. Hot, hot, hot. I hate summer. D:

Yes, yes, yes!! Play-Asia finally got their hands on a copy of FFCC World Ultimania for me, so they sent my order! =DD ....this would be the order from a month ago. It took them unexpectedly long this time, my own fault for ordering old stuff like that... *sweatdrop*
And CDJapan sent my copy of The Reaper Behind Me, BLOOD's latest. It came out in May, but I couldn't afford it then. I also put Noble (first Versailles album, coming out in July) on pre-order, but they obviously didn't send that yet. :P

I've forgotten to mention it, but Jasdebi (D.Gray-Man) really is hot. The anime version was even more so than the manga version, the episodes with the Jasdebi battle were really great..

I now have 212 missions cleared in FF Tactics Advance. Wasn't there 300 numbered missions..? If so, I'm pretty close to total completion, in addition to just story completion. In the story, I last cleared the mission To Ambervale.
...I like it how they later in FF12 made Ambervale a resort for the Rozarria imperial family. =D
Anyway, trying very hard to complete FFTA now, to prepare for the FFTA2 release. Although I have this strange urge to get Crisis Core instead of that this month...it started with noticing the European official site is now live, and that the game is coming out here shortly. I wouldn't miss out on all the launches for it, that way. I haven't been this late in buying a new FF since I got back into the series again with FF4 Advance. .___.

[edit later]
Hee~ They're releasing a My Life as a King Official Complete Guide tomorrow! A must get! =D

Finished Final Fantasy IV DS last night. =D Trained a bit before it, my levels ended up being 83-86 for the Zeromus fight... Even so, my second attempt at beating him would've ended in a failure too, if not for Phoenix. o.o; Did they make it that much harder..? 'Cause in the GBA version, I beat him on my first try, at 60+.
The ending cinematics were amazing, as usual for that game. Oh, and I loved Rosa's dress! =D Too bad the Official Complete Guide didn't have that design, I'd really want a clear picture of it.
Next up New Game+ and the optional super bosses. When I get around to it. Might not be for a while. I might need more than one of the 'break damage limit' Augment, and a couple Hide Augments to beat them...

I'm not even sure how I ended up playing FF4, come to think of it. I was playing FF6, picked up Strago...and then suddenly I was playing FF4. xD

Also refreshed my memory on what I was doing in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Ended up fighting three battles, none of which were missions (..or quests, or whatever they called them in that game). Maybe today I'll actually get around to furthering the story...
It seems that my people are level 21-24 mostly. As I've played the game for pretty damn long, it makes me wonder how long it'd take to get them all to the highest level. The amount of time and effort that must go into that must be insanely high.

Seems that there really will be new medals for My Life as a King in the Infinity Spire (that's the official translation, right?) DLC. A total of...45 of them. Wow. I have trouble getting my hands on all the previous medals, and now they go and add 45 new medals to it. o.o; 23 of them will be ability medals, 18 item medals, and 4 personality medals. The personality medals will probably be the bulletin board medals. One of the examples they gave was 'Frog Medal', which makes the recipient only go to the Frog Board to get behests, and isn't it possible to build up to four bulletin boards?
Then there's 16 new monsters in that pack, too, of which 10 are special monsters. (With 'special', do they mean bosses...?) They give out the examples of Great Malboro, Evil Eye, Shiva and Omega. We'll get to battle Shiva! =D Too bad there's no monster graphics, it would've been interesting to see a Crystal Chronicles Shiva. Would she resemble the FF9 Shiva much..? Since most the monsters in previous FFCC games have been nearly straight copies from FF9.

Hmm. Kind of bored. Tempted to start playing FF2 PSP, but I really shouldn't do that until I finish something...
Played more FF6, now I have Cyan, Gau, Mog and Umaro in addition to the four first ones and Relm. And I hunted down Leviathan. =D The fight wasn't too hard, if only because apparently Relm had something equipped that absorbs water, and has evasionliekwhoa. I ended up just having her blast Leviathan with Thundara the whole fight since the others wouldn't stay alive. Didn't even take long.
Next up...not sure, exactly. Might try hunting down Cactuars, or go after the remaining people. And see if I can find more dragons, I've got three down so far.

I wonder when the new DLC for MLaaK will be released. I mean, it's not like there'd be a lack of things to do in my current save file (far from it...), I think I'd just prefer to have them for my current game instead of starting yet another one to have them see any use. I have plenty enough games to play without a third time through MLaaK. =D;
Then again, with most my adventurers far from the levels required to beat some of the additional dungeons (looking at you, Colossal City of Heparl), I probably don't need to worry. Even my best ones are only 40+.

...what I should be playing is FFTA, dammit. Sequel coming out, it bugs me I still don't have a clear game in that.