Messages

1126

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 06, 2003, 08:49:24 PM »

Sorry to intrude on your little spat, but I figured the topic needed a bit of lightening.  

My new ISP seems to be a lot faster than my old one in Lethbridge.  As a result, I am able to download anime faster than ever.  I grow very weary, and I took a break from both Skies of Arcadia and Xenosaga to get caught up in both Naruto and Scrapped Princess.  I watched Naruto first, as more was going on in Naruto that I cared about.  It was pretty good, and I am looking forward to the next episode a lot.

Scrapped Princess however...  If this isn't the anime equivalent of Xenogears, I don't know what is.  It fluctuates in pace like an AC Circuit in the process of overloading, but damn do I ever love it.  The last few episodes were kind of slow, but episode 20 showed to me once again why I love this anime so much.  If you haven't started this anime yet, then GET ON IT!  If you are a fan of Xenogears and you aren't watching it, then you should be currently beating yourself with bamboo!  I can't believe I have to wait a whole week to watch Episode 21 now.  I don't think I am even going to wait for my usual translation group this time either.  I will take it as it comes with great relish.

1127

NWR Feedback / RE: Slot machine ad

« on: September 06, 2003, 07:50:50 PM »

ok, here's a solution for you.  I have never seen the ad myself, but it can't be anywhere near as annoying as "The Core" ad that was running here a while back.  I turned off Java to rid myself of that pestilence.  Anyways, this might be a bit extreme, as it will disable ALL ads, but here goes anyways.

Upgrade your browser to Mozilla Firebird.  It's a better browser all round than IE.

After you have done that, you need this extension.  It shouldn't cost PGC any money to use this, as it simply keeps the ad from displaying, not downloading.  Installing it simply requires a click once you are running Firebird.

1128

Reader Reviews / RE: The Legend of Zelda - Wind Waker : My personal review

« on: September 06, 2003, 05:15:30 PM »

Heh.  I only needed like another 10 minutes the first time I played it.  I started it near the end of the first day thinking that I would be able to finish it quickly.  I got hella lost though, and it took me the rest of the time to get to the end.  I was outside the boss chamber when I ran out of time.

1129

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 06, 2003, 05:10:19 PM »

I never even touched the Imperial System in school until I got to University.  I was an engineering student in my first year, and we were forced to learn how to do physics in both metric and imperial units of measurement.  I was simply amazed that doing it in imperial measurements was actually possible... lol.  It was strange, but it was surprisingly easy after a while.

Quote
yeah i know- the game can get pretty difficult if you dont level up- and the gnosis core- that was a tough part for me as well- the level itself was hard with all the enemies- and the boss is tough- thats where you are i think- my best team during that fight (if i remember correctly) was kos-mos, ziggy, and shion (just for her AWGS unit)- it was a tough battle but i figure you will get through it- the game is pretty amazing and i cant wait till xenosaga ep. 2 comes out- hope you enjoy yourself

You see? that's the whole thing.  I NEVER level up, and one of the reasons I loved Xenogears so much was that levelling up didn't do a damn bit of good when it came time to beat the really tough bosses.  They were just as impossible regardless of what level you were on.

It appears that Xenosaga doesn't follow this belief though.  It would seem that I am going to have to go back into that horrible maze and beat the crap out of a few monsters in an effort to learn some more powerful healing spells.  I just need something to combat that stupid attack that takes away 1/4 of all my party members' hit points twice every turn.  Cause it would seem that I am not getting more powerful armor, and I don't think that extra HP would help that much.  *sigh*

Instead of beating my head against the wall, I actually am going to get my way through the bloody Dark Rift this time.

1130

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Eidos drops all Gamecube support

« on: September 06, 2003, 01:57:43 PM »

Edited before a moderator noticed.

1131

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 06, 2003, 12:58:51 PM »

*cough* and if it wasn't for Canadians, the Americans wouldn't have their biggest trade partner, biggest base of operations against the "commies" in the Cold War, and it's not like the American economy would be a whole lot better without Canada.  Canada and the US exist symbiotically.

1132

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Eidos drops all Gamecube support

« on: September 06, 2003, 12:55:25 PM »

Crystal Chronicles is a guaranteed megahit over here.

1133

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 06, 2003, 12:52:24 PM »

So you Americans rebelled against the Brits, and us Canadians left peacefully.  Does it make sense at all that you would be hanging onto Brit customs while us Canadians have pretty much eliminated all the Brit culture?  

1134

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Eidos drops all Gamecube support

« on: September 06, 2003, 12:50:42 PM »

mouse clicker, western support isn't much.  Especially since EA hates Xbox.  Nintendo's strongest partners right now are Capcom, Konami, Sega, and Namco though I believe, who are providing some excellent exclusive games for us.

As for Square, I don't think that we should speak so soon.  Games by Square or Enix take YEARS to finish, and Square hasn't been back for that long.  I may be wrong on this, but I anticipate no less than 1 more high profile game for GCN before N5.  I highly doubt that Nintendo would allow GBA development without appropriate GCN development from Square.

1135

Nintendo Gaming / RE: New interview with Denis Dyack about MGS:TS!

« on: September 06, 2003, 12:45:52 PM »

I really love everything about Denis Dyack.  The dude is my hero.  But I must admit that I haven't read this interview yet.  I am too busy playing games right now.    I will read it as soon as I am sober and have a chance between games.  

I just want to say thanks for the info right now.

1136

General Chat / RE: Happy Birthday nitsujdark!

« on: September 06, 2003, 12:41:52 PM »

KnowsNothing, no offense, but I won't remember that for sure.  I am just going to wish you a happy birthday right now.  I don't want to seem like a dick doing that, but I am just not good with remembering things like that, and I don't really care to.

nitsu, I will just have an extra drink for you.  Is that ok?  

1137

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 06, 2003, 12:39:49 PM »

damn Americans... why do you guys have to complicate everything with weird numbering?  First the imperial system, then you guys can't even count to 12 properly.  

I did find that high school was ever so much better than Junior High though.  People just seem to grow up very fast in high school, and that's very pleasing.  All the schoolyard BS just seems to stop.  Grade 12 was miserable when I was in it, and I swore that I would never look back on it fondly.  But in my first year of University, I wanted to go back more than anything else in the world.  That was mainly because of a girl I very much doubt I will ever see again though, and I will never ever get another chance to ask her out.

rpglover, I am still very much enjoying Xenosaga, but I have come to a pretty difficult part, and I might switch for a while.  I love the difficulty of Xenosaga.  It reminds me of Xenogears in so many ways... but it can be stressing at times.    I am at the core of a gnosis, and I have found the Zohar Emulator.  I am fighting the gnosis form of the Commander Chernakov, and am having a very tough go of it.  He kills my entire party very quickly, and I don't have much HP left for my AGWS....  I am sure a solution will present itself, but I am a little on the drunk side right now to be contemplating great strategies.  I think I will just try to navigate myself through the Dark Rift.

1138

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 06, 2003, 06:43:40 AM »

rpglover, I managed to get 9 hours worth of gameplay in yesterday.  I am on the Elsa now, and I just fought off all the enemies in the middle of hyperspace.  That whole scene just kicked a lot of ass.  I will get back to Skies of Arcadia one day, but for now, I think I will just stick with Xenosaga.

Aoi, I am going to be loving my paycheque too.    With my first one, I will pay off all my debts, and buy miscellaneous things, and a Nintendo game or two.  With my second, I will remodel my computer from head to toe.  With my third, I will buy an LCD monitor.  Everything else goes into savings for when I am back in school.

1139

General Chat / RE: Happy Birthday nitsujdark!

« on: September 06, 2003, 06:39:14 AM »

heh... if you feel anywhere near as old as me, I am sure that your birthday is completely meaningless to you, but I hope you have a happy one anyways.  

1140

Reader Reviews / RE: The Legend of Zelda - Wind Waker : My personal review

« on: September 05, 2003, 06:02:47 PM »

Heh.  My favorites in OoT and MM were the Spirit Temple and the Stone Tower Temple, respectively.  Reason being that I simply liked the music and atmosphere for both.

But yes, I think that the Earth Temple in Wind Waker was the best for similar reasons.  The mirror puzzle just ruled.

1141

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 05, 2003, 05:56:46 PM »

Heh.  I am too busy playing the PS2 right now to convince anyone that it's bad.    I just played it for 8 hours straight.  I am just running to the store right now to buy some more beer, as I drank my entire stock today.  As for having 8 months... that's more like 4.  We both have 8 month coop terms, but my roommate is already half done his, which means that in 4 months I will be getting a new roommate.

But don't worry... hehe... he's not much of a gamer, but I will have him convinced in less than 2 months.  I mean, the dude only has 5 games.  (SSX Tricky, Twisted Metal Black, Gran Turismo 3, Xenosaga, and THPS 3).  I figure that after seeing F-Zero GX, Mario Kart, and 1080, I will have a convert on my hands.  He said he bought the console for SSX Tricky, so I figure that I have won half the battle already.  

1142

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 05, 2003, 01:21:31 PM »

Heh.  I completely forgot to mention that I also won plane tickets for two to anywhere in Canada that WestJet flies.    I have no idea what I am going to do with them though.

Ian, Ft. McMurray is small, but it's decent for a town of its size.  We have 2 strip clubs, and a casino.  I mean, how bad can it be?  

Besides, I grew up in the middle of the wilderness.  No modern conveniences, and nothing for 20 miles in any direction.  I hated it there.  But I moved to a little rat hole town in Southern Alberta, and the weather drove me nuts.  It's a semi-arid desert, and there's never any rain, snow, fog, trees, or humidity.  This morning it was actually raining here.  I was enjoying the hell out of it, as it's been the first time that I have seen the fog I grew accustomed to in my youth accompanying the rain.  I went out for a walk, and thoroughly enjoyed being out of the desert.

Let me make this clear though.  I have no intention to stay here, as I don't think this is a good place to be for a long period of time.  I am leaving in 8 months, and I am never coming back.  I perfectly realize that all this stuff my employer has given me is a result of their desire to entice me to come back after I graduate.  It just ain't going to work on me though.

Regarding Xenosaga though:  I just finished the first part, where all hell breaks loose and you escape, then are given a place to save.  (end of first disc?)  I must say that I am enjoying the game a whole lot now, but I hope that this pace keeps up for the rest of the game.

Ian, I will look for that ESSO station.    

1143

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 05, 2003, 10:07:08 AM »

lol... Nistu, it's my roommate's.  I am still free to use it freely, but the bit about what belongs to whom was actually sort of an unfinished thought.  I was trying to say that there's a WHOLE LOT of stuff that my employer gave to us.  About all that's actually ours in this place is a PS2, GCN, Stereo, 2 PCs, and the food.  Everything else is supplied for us.

I am actually thinking about switching to Skies of Arcadia about now.  Xenosaga is nice and all, but it's a little boring just walking all over the most gigantic ship ever.  The aliasing, load times, and sparse environments are actually starting to bother me as well.  I am still early in the game though, so I am sure it will get better soon.  Xenogears started out slow too.

1144

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 05, 2003, 06:26:22 AM »

hehe... not starving is a huge plus.  My roommate is really cool, and actually cooks a little bit too!  Anyways, thanks everyone.

rpglover, I am just in The Dark Rift in Skies of Arcadia, so I am actually quite enthused about playing the game.  I am about halfway through the tutorial in Xenosaga, so there's no question about which is more interesting to me right now.  But I am trying to get some progress in Xenosaga today.

But first I need to shower and make myself something to eat.  (and maybe head over to Save On to buy some more food and snacks.)  

1145

Nintendo Gaming / RE: Eidos drops all Gamecube support

« on: September 05, 2003, 06:22:23 AM »

I fully support Eidos' decision.  In order to make a game sell well on GameCube, it must be a good game.  Eidos just isn't capable of doing that.

1146

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 04, 2003, 09:10:57 PM »

rpglover, you are 100% correct.  It was Skies of Arcadia tonight, and it will be a mix of the two tomorrow I am sure.    I think I will start things off with Xenosaga tomorrow though.  I do want to play both games just as much.

1147

General Chat / RE: The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 04, 2003, 07:02:14 PM »

Heh.  I am a Computer Science major myself.  I am here on a co-operative education thing, which basically means that I am receiving University credit for being here.  My job title is "Systems Analyst", and I am told that I will be doing web programming for Syncrude.  After 8 months are done, I am sent back to whence I came, a little richer, and more experienced.  I have to work for another 4 months before I graduate, and I have 2 years of classes left to do.  But when I am done, I get a nice little line on my degree that says that I am a co-op student, and that makes me a much better person to hire.

As for finding a job, I really have no idea what to suggest.  I found my job through the University, and they set up the interview and everything.  My advice would be to check out the website of everyone that you might want to work for, and spam them with your resume.  Good luck to you though.  Sound like you could use some at this point.

1148

General Chat / The Yin and the Yang

« on: September 04, 2003, 06:11:13 PM »

I believe that I may have mentioned it here before, but my luck is extremely erratic.  I can't have bad luck without good.  I can't have good luck without bad.  It seems that lately though, I have been extremely lucky, and this is bothering me, as I am sure that I am going to have to pay for it at some point.

You guys haven't heard from me for the last few days, in case you hadn't noticed.    Reason for that is that I just moved.  I am not living in Lethbridge anymore, as I just hopped on a plane and flew to Ft. McMurray.  My new employer is an oil company that is being very generous to me, and is giving me all sorts of stuff.  But more on that later.

I just got here yesterday.  I had to pay an extra $100 for the extra baggage known as my computer, but that's fine with me.  It's worth it.  I had to pay $40 for the cab rides to and from the airports, but that was also ok, as I didn't have to pay for my plane ticket.  (My employer covered that)

When I arrived, I waited on the doorstop of my new place for half an hour while waiting for the landlord to show up.  I was dreading the encounter somewhat, as I had a vague idea that I had about $150 in my bank account at that point, and the booklet my employer had given me said that I would have to give a $200 security deposit.  I was all prepared to offer a whole bunch of other payment methods, or in the worst case, beg for some more money from my parents.  I lucked out however, when I was signing the lease agreement that said that payment for any damages would be taken out of my final paycheque.  I was overjoyed.

It got better when I was touring my new home.  In order to get here, I had put the majority of my belongings in storage, and had taken the bare essentials, and my PC.  My TV was left behind, but I took my GameCube with me.  When I checked out the living room, I saw a TV, VCR, PS2, a whole whack of really good DVDs, and a pretty good stereo system.  Upon inspection of the PS2 games... I saw my beloved Xenosaga...  The kitchen was also fully stocked, with all the modern appliances and stuff that makes life easy.  I assumed that the majority of this stuff was my roommate's, and never gave it much thought.

As it so happened, I also get the master bedroom.  I lucked out here as well, as I have lots of closet space, all the furniture I need, and linens to boot!  My landlord gave me a sheet with a listing of all the items that are provided by my employer, and I was even more shocked.  With the place comes a TV, VCR, basic cable and telephone, pretty much every appliance you could use, and cleaning supplies.  Best of all is that I am living rent free for the next 8 months.

Today I went for my dreaded drug, alcohol, and fitness  test, and I actually passed it.  I scored poorly on my hearing test, but the nurse said my eardrums looked kind of red and abused, so I am assuming that listening to the sound of a good old turboprop for 4 hours yesterday was the cause of that.  At any rate, I passed the test, and am now officially an employee of Syncrude.  I bought a 6 pack of beer to celebrate.

I took my customary walk around today to get to know the place (this could be a problem if I ever move somewhere as big as Toronto), and I walked into the only video store I came across (Rogers).  I was a little miffed when I saw how pathetic their GameCube selection was when compared to the PS2 and Xbox sections.  But I checked out the used games section, as is customary for me.  I had a little difficulty finding the GCN games amongst all the PS2 and Xbox crap in my way, so I had to look at every box.  I just saw a bunch of sports games at first, but then I noticed a GCN game that was mistakenly in a green DVD case...  It was my beloved Skies of Arcadia... and it was only $40...  (That's like $30 USD)  Broke or no, and case or no case, that was not a deal I was about to pass up.  I rushed it to the counter, and bought it.  I asked for a black DVD case so I could rid myself of that horrible puke green Xbox crap, but they refused (unhelpful seems to be a theme around there).

Anyways, I have say that I have been pining for two games for quite some time, and in a weird stroke of fate, I now have them both.  I have both Skies of Arcadia and Xenosaga available for me to play, and I don't start work for another week.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Some damned evil god is watching out for me.  (Thanks Xel'lotath!)

I think I am going to go play some Skies of Arcadia.  

1149

Nintendo Gaming / RE: RS III pre order disc- anyone have it yet?

« on: September 04, 2003, 05:48:23 PM »

I just tried Walmart and Zellers.  Neither of them have heard of the promotion.  I might be having to get it online at some point.  I just made myself broke right now though.    (For good cause)

1150

General Chat / RE: Disturbing Movies

« on: September 02, 2003, 07:48:11 PM »

Mouse Clicker, I believe that's known as the Superstring Theory.  It's been a while since I have dealt with the mathematical paradoxes such as those.  My brother was the one who was really into that, as he was the mathematician of my family.  He had his own theory to bring to the mix, but he died before he could publish it.  I have always intended to publish it for him, but I have a hard time working my mind around much of his math, and I have difficulty understanding it.  This comes from a former Engineering student, so don't take that lightly.