One in Fifty

So with great relish, the monster that is Facebook recently announced that almost 1 in 50 of the world's population now have an active account on their database. To say the social networking site had become somewhat of a phenomenom would be an understatement; I doubt there's few people inside of western culture that haven't heard of it, and the site's penetration throughout internet circles really is quite staggering. Even Microsoft were recently forced to acknowledge the network's power to draw users away from its competitors, adding a plugin for Windows Messenger that allows basic Facebook functions to be accessed through Windows Live in an attempt to keep people on the Microsoft networks, probably in response to Facebook adding an integrated chat client.

So why do I mention this? Because, in all honesty, I'm becoming more than a little concerned about the idea of one company having such a large chunk of the internet-using population's personal details on one database. And I'm not talking in terms of the Skynet crap you read on theorist sites; I mean in a much more basic security and anonimity sense. Who polices this monster? How secure is it? Given Facebook is seen now as the definitive social network, how are fake accounts and social predators such as pedophile dealt with? Do you really know who you're talking to and is the idea of a global-uber network actually a good thing if it's source is in the private development market and not public, government controlled?

My concerns stem from a number of recent experiences with fake accounts. Having spoken to friends about this, I realised quickly that within our limited experience, fake accounts, grifting and scamming are much more common on Facebook than you might initially think.

Let me tell you a story.



Emma Ayshiro, aka Emmie Yummie

Pretty isn't she? Young Emma is one of many cosplay models from Japan, famous for a number of reasons but most recognizably for her work with Cafe Mai Lish, one of the six founding cosplay cafes, and for her work with Studio Maman; a cosplay studio that publishes DVDs and hard copy art based on some of the more popular animes and mangas, such as Kamen Rider, Strawberry Panic and others.

Her personal blog, written in Japanese and hosted on Yaplog, has grossed something close to 2 million hits alone and in little more than two years. Within western otaku culture, were it connected as closely with Japan as it should be if the average westerner bothered to learn Japanese, she would be considered something of a star. In Japanese speaking territories, she already is.

So why do I mention her?

I became aware of Emma and her fellow models from the Studio while beginning work on my fic. I came across pictures from their Strawberry Paradise DVD, and having Japanese installed on my office computer, I was able to make vague sense of each site using google translate, finding personal blogs for each model, for the Studio and a number of other connected sites, such as Cafe Mai Lish were most of the girls met and have worked. Later, I was also pleasantly surprised to find two of the models featured in the Strawberry Paradise DVD, Emmie and Rie Sato, were regulars on the Facebook group for Strawberry Panic. It was after this, and over the course of several months that by talking to Emma via the email account connected to her Yaplog site, it became apparent to me that the account on Facebook, using the name Aya Jou, (a poorly translated version of Emmie's full name, Emma Ayashiro) wasn't the same person. Not only was the imposter using Emma's pictures and posing as Emma on the Facebook network, but she was also impersonating at least five other Studio Maman models, taking credit for their photographs and artwork, most of which had been published by Studio Maman, but also some released by another amateur photographer, Yutaka Taniyama. Yutaka's work was also being funneled onto Deviant Art on a fake account where the network's lack of support for multiple languages made it difficult to distinguish the imposter from the original artist, and to top the whole charade off, the imposter also had multiple accounts on MSN to further back up her online personas.

Quite elborate. Very much a 24-7 job too; Shahad and I watched on many occasions as one account would log off, only for the next to pop on ten minutes later, watched them talking to each other in open chats. Real fucking psyco shit... I only know the person behind the whole thing is a woman because I managed to lure her into a voice call on MSN.

So what has this got to do with Facebook?

Having spoken to the real Emma about the situation on a number of occassions, we finally confronted the imposter having waited for infalliable evidence regarding several of the accounts, (for example, posts from the Rie Sato account claiming she was in New York when she'd been pictured that evening celebrating someone's birthday at Mai Lish) and reported the accounts on Facebook. Facebook's report user link is filed somewhat obscurely away in the privacy section of the website, and I have a sneaky suspicion as to why. Because the network simply can't fucking cope.

Almost five months after the event, the accounts are still active. Three were actually deactivated briefly, presumably by the user, only to have them reappear not long after, and when the main Aya Jou account went on hiatus, it was duplicated almost immediately.

Despite having infalliable evidence that the Aya Jou account isn't real, despite requests from the girl herself, (albeit limited by the language barrier) who has her own website and copyright sources to prove her authenticity, Facebook have still done.... absolutely nothing.

And this is where it gets really scary. Recently, Emma actually had someone approach her at a convention *in Japan* having got to know the fake Aya Jou account on Facebook. How did this girl know Emma would be where they met? Because the imposter had begun translating Emma's Yaplog page and using it as content for Facebook.

What if the imposter were forming relationships or acting the slut when she was online? How long before some guy approaches Emma at a convention thinking he's on to a good thing, only to get knocked back and given the truth? What happens if he doesn't buy the story and takes it the wrong way?

How fucking dangerous is this?

It's one thing to open your personal life up to people on the internet when *you're* in control of the image and information you present. After all, people like myself have been doing it for years without trouble. But what happens when someone *else* is doing the same thing on your behalf, and the network that makes it possible for them to orchestrate the lie is doing *absolutely nothing* about it?

Yes, to a degree this is compounded by the language barrier and the differences in culture. But seriously, in a case this clear cut, shouldn't it be easy for the network to act decisively?

Perhaps it's time Facebook had some face time with big brother...

Anyway, since I expect a fairbit of traffic from search engines looking for 'Aya Jou' I'll include the following for reference;

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=650381199 Fake Aya Jou (original)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=839379849 Fake Aya Jou (duplicate)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1196066265 Fake Yutaka Taniyama.

Email accounts attached to these accounts and the other, currently closed ones;

emmie-yummie@hotmail.com Fake Aya Jou

goku_yutaka@hotmail.com Fake Yutaka Taniyama

rie-sato@hotmail.com Fake Rie Sato

ji.ro.kenji@hotmail.com (Jiro; Aya's alleged boyfriend)

Other social network site accounts;

Myspace

Cosplayz

Profile Heaven

Perf Spot

AC Paradise

Apologies if you're one of the people stung by this; it's one thing to play games online, indulge in a little escapism and get to know some cool new people. But to interfere in real peoples lives and maybe even put them in harm's way is another thing entirely...

Nice one Codemasters *rolls eyes*

And in typical Codemasters style, the EU DDO's module 8 release has been postponed without date ;) As Lug so shrewdly pointed out, LotR gets it's first major expansion next week on the 18th, so the bullshit excuse of 'critical issues' which gets used far too regularly is far from valid; after all, the module went out in the states with more than a few problems, so why Codemasters find it valid to halt release until after Wrath of the Lich King's release, i.e. killing most chance of new players subb'ing, is beyond me.

Anyway, it's hardly worth the rant; just amusing to note that even now, almost at the third anniversary of release, Codemasters are still fucking it up.

Thanks for the comments about the hard disk guys; the freezer bag suggestion is beautiful Mark :p I dunno, replacing the unit requires money I just don't have, so I figure I'll leave it as it is until after I get my January bonus and look at a proper NAS drive then. Just don't like tying a machine up with Vuze when it could be doing other things...

Anyway, Ja mata ne, Osu! :p

Should've learnt the first time round...

Woke up today to find my recently reinstated Rambus based machine had lovingly nuked another Western Digital hard disk, this time the 250 gig unit that held all of my movies, gaming and music videos o_0 The same machine lost me 15 years of emails and music a couple of years back after I dragged it's life expectancy to the wrong end of 'your fucking kidding me?' Anyway; needless to say I'm thoroughly gutted, although with a little luck there's a mirror sat at the old house; just kinda depends on whether it's all been deleted or not.



Funny how things work out tho; the only two series that hadn't made it across from my poor Alienware which had been struggling at capacity whilst I set the old machine up happened to be Strawberry Panic and Startrek Enterprise which I'd planned to burn for Mum to keep her and Roy busy over the winter months... Something poetic about that *smiles*

Anyway, setting the disappointments aside...



...Crisis Core is (finally) complete :D

After a sixteen hour stint during which I attempted to clear my way to Minerva, I eventually resolved myself to completing the game as I'd played to such a ridiculous time in the morning it only made sense to reward myself with the end sequence :p The pay off was worth the effort, and as I watched the reworked introduction to Final Fantasy VII preceeding the credits, I struggled not to utter the words 'remake' in fear that I'd curse its chances :D



The ever present Buster Sword ends another epic

What can I say; the circle is finally complete. Having finished the 40 hour epic, I can now trace the game world from the day Grimoire finds Jenova in the Northern Crater to the night on which Genesis returns from beneath the ruined city of Midgar. I now know the source of Deep Ground and where the Tsviets draw their power from, understand the core difference between Hojo's creation of Sephiroth with Lucrecia and Hollander's creation of Angeal (and Genesis) with Gillian, and why the two latter Soldier 1st's aren't around to make an appearance in the main events of the original game. And most of all, I've finally seen the complete sequence of events in that reactor in Nibelheim...



'None shall pass...' o_0

And from beginning to end, it's flawless. Utterly flawless. Not a single plot hole, not a single unexplained event. Everything now makes perfect sense, and yes; as some have whined, a few degrees of the mystery that made the original game that bit special have been shaved away, yet in their place, the explanations aren't lacking, and in my personal opinion, only add to the richness of the game setting. I know there's a fair few that disagree but... ...well you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs can you.



Genesis faces off in the final encounter

So what about the game play itself? As you would expect from any other Compilation title... i.e. fucking brilliant. I suppose my only major gripe was the manner in which the missions are completely detached from the core story; you can be half way through fleeing the Shinra army in the middle of the wilderness outside Midgar only to find yourself back in the Shinra headquarters fighting Hojo's test constructs in a mission you pick up from the next save point.

Utterly random, although neccessary in that otherwise, the game would be much more restrictive in path. The current set up, with core story and added plot lines and secrets unlocked in the 300 odd extra missions does give you the option to play a quick and dirty (and thus more challenging) run through of the main plot, or a long and more involved (and to a degree easier) run of the full content with all the added equipment, materia and DW images it provides. The missions are disruptive if you're caught up in the story tho, and my personal suggestion is to complete as many as possible when they unlock at the beginning of a new chapter, to avoid huge breaks half way through one. That does however mean after each block of play, you're stuck at a save point for anything up to 4 or 5 hours running missions... As I said when I opened; somewhat annoying when you're so damn close to finding out another gem of story that you've been waiting for since playing the original.



Finishing stats...



...note the 510% HP UP++, the game's crafting is one of it's strongest points



That extra content grind... not long till Minerva :D

But that really is an anal gripe; and only derives from my personal need to play to 100% completion for fear of missing something. The game is otherwise a complete charm; not as action based as Dirge, nor as traditional as the original game, but offering something refreshingly different, yet so obviously familiar.

Almost, very almost perfect.

You know; it's 10 years and 6 months since the first time I dropped Safer Sephiroth in the bowels of the Northern Crater and watched that end sequence with Red XIII and his two children climbing up the cliff over looking Midgar, and I'm still, 100% in love with the franchise. Roll on english translations (preusmably for the DS) of Before Crisis which looks into the formation of the original Avalance and the Dirge mobile phone game, which covers the formation of Deep Ground and Weiss's rise to power.

Speak of DS's... ;)



It's not just for kiddies, got it! :)

... standard release, gloss black DS Lite with R4DS version 1.18 and a 2 gig memory card crammed with rare and classic releases, including things like Final Fantasy 3 + 4 and Children of Mana. I've also got some more of the brainless but amusing stuff like Rayman Raving Rabbids (aw wa wa waaa, wa? ;p) and the intriguing puzzler, Professor Layton and the Curious Village. But by far my favourite of the bunch so far is this excruiatingly addictive Japanese game, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan



Essentially a rhythm game, the plot follows the quirky idea that you can do anything, (literally anything) in life better if a trio of leather clad guys prance about behind you, cheer leading your attempts o_0 Okay, so I know we're reaching here, but honestly, the game is seriously seriously good fun :D Following a short introduction manga with cute animated parts, you're required to tab the screen in specific locations shown by trails of markers that are accompanied by decreasing concentric circles that count down the marker's activation time. the closer you get to the correct timing, the more points you get. Along with balls that rolls across the screen that you're required to trace, and spinning wheels you need to oscillate within a set time, the game mechanics revolve around you learning the beat and following the tune correctly. The better your overall performance, the better your rank.

At the top end, it looks something like this...

Note having perserved through the easier three settings, you get proper cheer leaders rather than the Elton John squad :p

Now this is in playback mode, so no stylus, but you get the general idea. As thoroughly stupid as the backstory might be, the gameplay itself is extremely enjoyable, very similiar to say, Guitar Hero or Singstar. At first, playing in Japanese can be a little confusing, but you get the hang of it soon enough, and the english version, Elite Beat Agents, is packed with every number one you wanted to forget, making the Jpop much more inviting ;)

I've gotta admit, when Shahad first woke me up to the idea of console gaming again, the Nintendo effort on the surface still seemed a little kiddie and without much to offer to the more serious (read dedicated, or addicted :p) gamer who wanted a challenge. I now eat my words, with the only real differences in the current generation of Nintendo's consoles is the application of unique control systems or features. Yes, you could call the Wiimote or the touch screen on the DS a gimmick, but they offer something fresh compared to Sony's efforts, and Microsoft's 'PC in a box with a shit control system'

Don't get me wrong, I love my PSP's, probably more so than my DS due to the titles they have for them, (i.e. Final Fantasy VII Compliation and Wipeout whatever,) but Nintendo do have something to offer, and despite the cute and cuddley appearance, it's not just a kiddie manufacturer anymore...



One of the added benefits of custom firmware; back compatibility :D

But anyway, Crisis Core done; leaving me WipeOut Pulse, Patapon and now Professor Layton to finish in lunch breaks. Wasn't doing so bad at Patapon last time I played, so I figure it's time to get on with it given the sequel is out on the 27th. There's even talk of an etched PSP 2000 similar to my Crisis Core one...







Away from consoles, and tomorrow sees the release of DDO's module 8, sporting the long hyped and little cared for NPE; new player experience. With a complete redesign of the start area and character generator, the game is apparently supposed to be less confusing and more friendly to the fresh meat coming into the game with limited or zero knowledge of the D&D system. There are a fair number of current players pointing at the grand total of 4 high end quests and asking 'why fucking bother' but the module is set to include a few other tweaks such as directx 10 support and a new crafting extension. Can't say I'm planning to resub, but if you do, drop me a line, I'll be interested to know how it is...



Image courtsey of WarCry's module 8 hands on article



Fanfic wise, I'm truely sucking, as moving house really has hit my ability to get into the right mood for writing, although the longevity of the work itself is in no risk whatsoever. I'm still sat there ready to write the same stuff I came up with last October, so it really is a case now of just getting the final touches done so I can release those last few chapters. The plot for the following season is cooking nicely, so with a little luck we should be on for the finale before the end of the year. It's just this flat is so damn lonely at times... not the kinda writing atmosphere I'm used to.

On the subject, of Strawberry Panic, the fifth DVD was released yesterday, with several amazon sellers carrying it, including the usual suspects like CDConnection.com and Caiman. Happy to recommend both as I've used them in the past and service was spot on. I also came across these on ebay going for next to nothing and just had to :p



Goes very nicely with the printed fan I had imported and my limited edition Death Note DVDs and book. Becoming quite the otaku it seems :p

Anyway; had planned to waffle a little about my brief time with Matrix Online and the CPM I'd played recently, but this has taken a fair chunk of the day up and I've got my Japanese homework to do before getting on with everything else and trying to get some fanfic written, so I think I'll leave you to it. Oh, and whoever said Japanese was one of those stupidly hard languages you had to be crazy to touch was quite seriously wrong. Either that or Michiko-sensei is just damn good at what she does :p Ja mata ne ;)

A fair degree of wtf

I do my best to stay out of the politics minefield on here, especially when it comes to religion, but given the blatency of this one I figured I'd post, even if it was with a wry smile on my lips at the time. Welcome to a perfect exmaple of American diplomacy; you know, sweet talk in one hand, sledge hammer in the other o_0

Few people in gaming circles will have been able to miss the controversial recall of Little Big Planet; it even made the BBC news website and CNN.com, so I couldn't help but cringe when I saw the ad accompanying this post on ShackNews; I've never once in my entire life of gaming online (15 years!) see an ad making reference to religion in any way shape or form, let alone one of these retarded bible bashing slogans akin to the type you see outside so called 'dynamic' Christian establishments. I even refreshed a good 20 to 30 times just to see whether or not it was a freak coincidence. But no, 90% of clicks got me this.



wtf happened to the impartiality of the press? I know you've gotta get your money from somewhere sTeve, but ffs; talk about taking the piss or what? o_0

A year of fan fiction...

As I type this, my Strawberry Panic fanfic is due to tick over it's 20,000 hit... Add to that some 5,000 reads of the copy on my website forums and something similar on the Shouj-Ai.com website.

Kinda overwhelming really.

All I can do is most humbly thank all of you who have supported me over the past year. I hope the forthcoming end to the fic's current season lives up to expectation, and look forward to sharing life on Astrea Hill over the year to come.

Once again, my sincere gratitude,

ninemil

Brief interlude...

Chapter Twelve soon... in the mean time, having a lot of fun in the middle of the French countryside.

Introducing Aerith

So I don't know if it was due to the portability of the PSP growing on me, or the repeated trips to the continent that leave me limited to my phone, (which despite being extremely flexible and feature rich, just *isn't* the same as having a full PC with me) but after months of watching the Asus netbook brand grow, I've finally caved and bought myself one.

As you can see from the pic above, the device itself is now serving as my core machine, replacing my old 3 gig pentium 4 box which I've had for well over four years now, leaving my Alienware Core 2 Duo rig in it's rightful place as gaming machine and number cruncher.



At 10" the screen and device itself sit comfortably between portability and functional, giving you a working resolution on the netbook's screen of 1024*600, which with small fonts and reduced icons makes a very nice trade off; large enough not to have to strain to read, yet small enough so that the machine itself stays in the portible size range. The battery is a 6 cell unit, making it a little chunky; websites quote 1.3kg for the total brick, but personally I find the figure means nothing; I'd liken it in weight to an average size text book, so for those studying and traveling to uni, you just need to take one less table prop to lectures and you've lost nothing in bag space or encumberment :p

Specs are reasonable; a 1.6 gig Intel Atom CPU with 1 gig of 533 mhz DDR2 and an 80 gig hard disk. Yes that's hard disk, not solid state as you'd find in earlier EEE PC's... Why'd I go with the HHD version? (1000h, rather than 1000) Quite simple; the drive isn't much slower than the SSD in terms of day to day use, and the extra 40 gig is a life line on a machine this small. Although I've had to shift most of my movies to the house NAS drive, I've been able to keep everything else, including all my PSP isos, my website mirror, all my music and documents. Not bad for something you can fit in the same space as an average filofax :p

Along with the Intel UMA graphics chipset, (which won't set the world on fire, but does cope with retro gaming extremely well and plays most Quake 3 era games comfortably) the machine also touts full bluetooth and wireless without dongles, a 1,3 mega pixel camera, video out, 3 x 2.0 USB ports, a 95% size keyboard, card reader and a gesture compatible touch pad; one of those funky ones where you can move two fingers together for scrolling etc.

All in all, pretty much a full house. There's nothing this 10" pip squeek can't do day to day wise that my previous machine couldn't, with the added benefit of being able to so from the comfort of the sofa or whilst sat on the loo ;)



Installion and out of the box set up was a piece of cake; despite not having recieved the external DVD writer and bluetooth mouse I ordered for it, I had Office, PaintShop Pro, Quake 3 and everything else installed and running in less than an hour or so, with all my files and everything else copied across over night, meaning I was good to go by the following morning. I did a few pointless benchmarks for the hell of it; Quake 3 CPMA running in 32 bit with 4 x ansio and everything at max runs timedemo four at a very respectable 50.2 fps, leaving you safe to duel a bot or friend on a map like CPM3 with very few frame drops from the 60 fps hertz cap of the LCD. Very nice indeed, and looking lush;



Obviously, this also means Quake Live runs nicely, which I'd quite merrily post screenshots from if it weren't for the pre-release NDA stopping me. Needless to say, it runs well and looks very nice indeed. No issues with retro gaming either, with most Amiga, SNES, Megadrive and N64 emu games performaing well, and the ability to partition off for MS DOS and play things like MechWarrior 2 or Duke Nukem 3D in a resolution that makes the games actually look detailed is brilliant :D Certainly no issues from the entertainment front.

Streaming movies and music from the NAS drive is fine, editing on my standalone LCD in PaintShop Pro is snappy and responsive, and web browsing and Microsoft Office work is no different from having been on my desktop. All the best of both worlds it seems :p

Anyway; I'm only two days into using it now, so I'm sure I've not seen all of the niggles just yet, but certainly it's a case of so far so good. And given this little beauty only cost £350 and gives me a full 5 hour battery at full tilt, I can see my computing life becoming much more flexible indeed; bluetooth link to my HTC phone for high speed internet access in any major european city with no cables needed and no headache setting everything up... Just turn both devices on and off you go. Yum :D

More when it's worth posting.

And btw... Crisis Core fucking rocks! :)

Asus EEE PC website here, EEEUser forums (great resource) here, and Overclocker's laptop section here.

Dirge of Cerberus...

...is done :p 11 hour run, a dozen or so S class stages and 100% on the memory capulses and G Reports, giving me access to this...

No, it's not Gackt in the english version, only in the Japanese :p

*grins*

So what are we betting on; a new game or a new film? Given historically there's always been a head lining Final Fantasy VII game on each PlayStation platform, we know we're due one for ps3... but a second film? omg please :D And since there's no way they can bring Genesis back without Sephiroth in tow, can you imagine how spectacular that could be? :p Just the S class trio dueling on the Junon Cannon was stunning enough ;)

But enough day dreaming... In the mean time, what about Dirge itself? Utterly amazing. That said, how anyone can be expected to complete it using a controller I don't know, especially the second fight with Rosso the Crimson, who bounces around the boss area much faster than a tradtional ps2 analogue will allow you to turn. Using a mouse and keyboard tho, it's almost perfect; the combat is fast paced and varied, the environments fresh and engaging, and somehow they manage to very effectively hide the fact that the game is largely uni-level, featuring minimal vertical movement in a way typical of any console based FPS/3rd person shooter.



Effective sniping without a mouse is a blatant no... add a mouse and keyboard and the game springs to life; boom, headshot! :p

The puzzles are good, RPG-style technology and equipment progression trees varied, and replayability is high through the class ranking and rewards system, giving you plenty of extra content and goodies to unlock post completion, pitting you against some extremely challenging benchmark scores that were obviously set by testers that knew their game inside out, something so rare amongst development teams these days... These targets balance all of the core disciplines; accuracy, kill count, damage taken, allies protected, items collected, time taken etc etc.. against each other with the optimal and lofty heights of Soldier S class somewhere inbetween, keeping you on your toes in an attempt to achieve 100% completion. Take on one of the über boss mobs, Azul the Cerulean, armed only with Cait Sith's sharp wit and harsh scottish dialect? I dare you :p



And of course the plot, in signature Square-Enix style, is as captivating and motivational as we've all come to expect - you *want* to complete this game, if nothing more to find out what happens and fill in the gaps left from the original RPG. Lemme throw a few tidbits at you as a teaser; Shinra's discovery of Jenova, the attempted synthesis of a hybrid Ancient, Sephiroth's (and ultimately Genesis and Angeal's) origins, Lucretia (the woman in the crystals in Vincent's cave under the waterfall) and her obssession with Chaos, Vincent's death and the story behind Lucretia's tangled history with his family, Omega Weapon and the Planet's ultimate defense system, and Hojo, the ever present menance responsible for so many of our heroes problems in all of the saga's games and his story after that epic fight on the Mako Cannon in Midgar during the final disc of FFVII. Over 100 movies and cutscenes, rammed with FFVII goodness to keep you going...



WRO attack Midgar with Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Yuffie and Cid in tow... watch for Vincent on the hoverboard! :p

And during the final few stages as Gackt's Longing kicks in as background music? ....raaaaar! Gaming perfection :D Yes ladies and gentlemen, here we have a ps2 based game out FPS'ing the PC platform... God forbid! :p

Now personally I avoided Dirge for a long time, despite being a FFVII fan, due to it not fitting the traditional style of the genre. It's only now I realise how misguided this was. Plot and story aside, which is a must for anyone even remotely interested in the series, the game itself stands as on its own merits and should be played for that alone. Even with the amount of time passed since Dirge was released, it stacks up amazingly against even the best current-day PC based shooters, so how it would have compared during it's premiere year I can only imagine. It's complex, deep, fun and fast paced all at the same time, giving even the most rusty RPG player a good reason to get to grips with the FPS style gameplay.

So my verdict would be this; if you love FFVII? Play the damn game already. If you couldn't care less about FFVII? Buy a cheap USB mouse and keyboard, and come see a console developer beat the PC gaming sector at it's own game... on five year old hardware! :D

And with Dirge done... ...I make it time to complete Crisis Core ;)

wtf, no more module seven coverage?

lo all - yes apologies for the abrupt pause on my module seven coverage. I'm afraid that night in the Hound of Xoriat was the last time I've played; something came up and apart from logging in very briefly to check the auction house and my finances, that's been it. Since then I believe Keeper has pulled both the Hound and Suulomades down on Elite, and those lazy arses on Devourer have actually managed to unlock the new raids. All is well in Stormreach, and the farming has begun.

So what's been so important it could pull me away from what's turned out to be the best DDO update since the Titan was introduced?

heh well; let's start with a quote...

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises
Nothing shall forestall my return."

Loveless, Act III.

*grins* Recognize it anyone? No.., I'm guessing not. So how about a few more hints...

The original was quite probably the best game ever made. Single handedly its sales alone could have launched what became the first truely viable adult console brand into the gaming market. Cries of remake and re-release echo the gaming media on a daily basis, and there is yet to be a top 100 article that doesn't feature it in the top 20. The sequel was the first game that ever gave me reason to plug a mouse and keyboard into a Playstation 2, continuing the epic story with a hidden ending that once unlocked, gave fans across the globe reason to hope for a continuation. The first film it inspired took animation to a whole new level, helping reinforce the medium as an acceptable story telling technique to the western audience, and the second film that layered more plot to the franchise is still the only film I refuse to delete from my phone and my PSP...

Any closer to guessing yet? :)

"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest."

Loveless, Act I.

Welcome to Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core.

So admittedly I've had the US release of the game sealed since I got my ceramic white PSP over a month ago. Determined to complete Dirge of Cerberus and see the secret ending with Gackt's Crisis Core character Genesis in, I solomnly put the sealed copy back in the cupboard and promptly got distracted by life, writing and DDO. However, this week, good reason came along to prompt me to oopen it.

Remember that limited edition Crisis Core PSP? *grins* Guess who landed one :p



Crisis Core Limited Edition at the top, my Ceramic White with custom firmware below

Technically between a close friend and I, we have two of the run, although I'm told the second is going on ebay some time soon, given the prices are already beginning to shadow the price of the original 77,777 Japanese run. Why we got a european release when the americans didn't seems to be a rather sore point with the yanks, but personally after years of waiting anything up to a month for US first game and movie lunaches, I'm more than happy to stick my fingers up in revenge.

And the console; the console is fucking beautiful.



Smooth gloss resin with etched artwork to celebrate the 10th anniversary

The etched emblems on the back are amazing; I've always wanted a decent copy of the picture of Cloud, Zaack and Sephiroth that adorns the left hand side of the PSP, but having the PSP in my hands now, I'm glad I didn't source it elswhere. It's stunning, and deserves pride of place on such an amazing object.

The colour is lush too, the glossy coating not obvious from pictures of the unit online that suggest it might be brushed and therefore easier to mark. Everything about the release pack screams quality. Sure I'd have loved one of the Buster Sword keyrings that came with the Japanese release, but I'm more than happy to settle with what I've got.

Plus, the EU release of the game has had some obvious tweaking.

I actually started playing the US release, but about 20% through, after meeting Aerith for the first time, I opted to switch. The most obvious change is the rate at which you level; despite doing more missions of higher rating much earlier, my run through the EU release puts me around 5 levels lower at the same stage in the game, and the fights a fair bit more challenging as a result. Personally I find this a good thing, since I was cakewalking the US release and wondering why I didn't start playing it on hard in the first place.

The story is immense, and having played around 50% of Dirge, I'm recognizing characters and plot threads from Hojo's development of Vincent as well as the back story for Sephiroth. Since getting that far, I've also restarted Dirge with a much more serious intent to complete, since the huge potential for both a sequel and for penning fiction in the game world is drawing me on. I'm so kicking myself for not having started playing both through sooner.



Sealed Dirge of Cerberus bought only yesterday to replace my preowned - found at Tescos of all places! o_0

Which means that's properly it for me and DDO for a little while. The odd run through the Shroud for ingredients is obviously a neccessity for me to complete my Repeater, and hound farming for that armour is also a must, but tbh... Final Fantasy has eaten my life. Again.

I remember the first time I played VII. Getting home from Uni and setting my playstation back up in the living room at my parents house... I don't think I moved from the sofa for six weeks as I ran through the game to completion, making sure I'd seen as much as I could the first time without delaying seeing the ending, and then rerunning again to do a poper job; getting my Gold Chocobo and Knights of the Round. It's cute to see Lurz playing through now, tho I get the impression it'll be a while before he can take Safer Sephiroth in one shot the way I did when he watched me play through last time, just before I got Dirge to remind me of the full plot.

So... Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus. That's where I am the next time you notice the missing midget bouncing around the marketplace crater looking for a group for Subterrane. Want a free hint? Grind an hour less a day, get yourself a PSP, and experience the best console franchise ever made....

Throw the dog a bone... or a halfling in this case!

Won't get into the in's and out's tonight, but quite frankly; best raid in the game, (unless someone finds a cheap trick or an exploit.) The trip out is enjoyably challenging (trio'ed it after someone recalled by accident with Scrad and Helga this evening; WoE repeater, WoP many shot and web for CC, fucking lush :p) and the raid itself is teamplay orientated to the point where co-ordination is a pre-requisite rather than a plus. Got Xy'zzy to 20% tonight and wiped when the outer ring rushed the central arena and brought too much heat with them - completion tomorrow night is almost a certainty. More when it's done.

Must be said - loving this mod; absolutely loving it :D

P.S. Mirrored Slivern's Subterrane map here.