Crossword: 13:55
Google Searches: 0
Not too hard, reasonably executed theme.
I've been thinking about getting Final Fantasy IV on Steam. It's much more of a remake than the Advance version, with voice acting, all-new graphics with FMV cutscenes, new side quests (A whole thing involving Namingway (he can't rename characters because of voice acting)) and new abilities called Augments (these seem to work a bit like Command Materia). I assume it has all the bonuses from the Advance version too. IV has some very strong adherents, and it was popular enough to earn a sequel (also available on Steam; maybe part of a bundle). It was first released for the SNES as Final Fantasy II. It doesn't have the party customization that later titles have (until the very end) because your party makeup is plot-driven.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Crossword: 7:47
Google Searches: 0
A second quicker than yesterday, so whatever. Tuesday puzzles are always a little awkward. Monday and Tuesday are usually noticeably different, but Tuesday still has to be easy. In theory, you can make a puzzle harder strictly through cluing, but it seems like between Monday and Tuesday, you can get a little more obscure in answers, whereas Monday is all rather familiar.
Google Searches: 0
A second quicker than yesterday, so whatever. Tuesday puzzles are always a little awkward. Monday and Tuesday are usually noticeably different, but Tuesday still has to be easy. In theory, you can make a puzzle harder strictly through cluing, but it seems like between Monday and Tuesday, you can get a little more obscure in answers, whereas Monday is all rather familiar.
Crossword: 7:48
Google Searches: 0
Typical Monday.
I tackled the Soul Shrine in Final Fantasy VI Advance. I had used a walkthrough to get through the Dragon's Den area, but both ones I looked at were totally overdoing it, maxing to level 99 on all their guys, fighting the final battle over and over and using Steal to double and triple up on what are usually unique weapons, and maxing out of HP and MP. That kind of defeats the point of going through the cave and getting the final magicite, which provides a big HP bonus on level up. One of their suggested parties had two characters, both equipped with an Ultima Weapon in each hand. That requires fighting the final battle three times. Plus, Dragons Den has the best weapons for all your characters, finally having character-specific weapons for everyone, instead of just a random assemblage of "legendary" swords that 4 different characters can use and the Relm-Strago-Gogo fight for the Gladius.
Quick Glossary
Ultima: The most powerful magic, deals massive damage to all enemies. Costs a lot of MP, though.
Quick: After casting Quick, you get two actions in a row. This also costs a lot of MP
Soul of Thamasa: you can cast two spells instead of one.
Celestriad: All your spells cost 1 MP (so broken). They're hard to get, but you can do some Coliseum grinding to trigger specific enemies, who you can steal them from (12.5% chance).
The game doesn't let you cast Quick on your Quick turns, but with Soul of Thamasa, you can cast Ultima-Quick, then Ultima-Ultima, Ultima-Ultima on your Quick turns. That alone isn't enough for any encounter in Dragon's Den, but your other characters can usually finish things up.
I had farmed a lot of Celestriads, so I was just thinking, "Can't I just spam Ultima and win every battle?" The answer turns out to be "Pretty much." That specific strategy won't work on three of the dragons, but the ability to cast spells like that pretty much guarantees victory. Sure, the dragons are hard, and the random encounters are no picnic either, but it wasn't THAT bad with my mid-50s level characters.
After you beat Dragon's Den, the game invites you to the Soul Shrine. The Soul Shrine is essentially a continuous series of about 60 battles, with a break to pause and re-equip every dozen battles or so, but not save or change characters (I was using emulation, so I saved, but I only had to use a restore once). Battles are essentially chronological, starting with Narshe guards and getting progressively more difficult (again, looking at a walkthrough, this guy seemed to think you needed level-99 characters, and mine were ~60). You fight most of the bosses. You also fight the Monster-in-a-box battles, which drop their items again (a second Master Scroll, Gladius, etc). You do all eight legendary dragons again (getting all their items again), and it caps with the Dragon's Den versions of the dragons (and their items) plus the end boss of that area, Kaiser Dragon. It was difficult (fighting all the dragons while having to keep the same equipment is not ideal), but not impossible, and I probably didn't have the optimal party, but I was having a good time with Setzer's Fixed Dice and Master Scroll.
I might go finish the game again for good measure, but I consider this game completed. The two things I didn't complete was collecting all of Gau's rages (although I went a lot further in this game than I have before) and collecting all of Strago's Lores (I got several, and made sure to get the good ones: White Wind, Mighty Guard, Grand Delta). Enemy Skill is the one Materia I never went all the way on in Final Fantasy VII either. The Steam and iOS versions have achievement awards for these things, but it's liberating to have no incentive, no matter how trivial, or else I would be compelled to fulfill it.
Google Searches: 0
Typical Monday.
I tackled the Soul Shrine in Final Fantasy VI Advance. I had used a walkthrough to get through the Dragon's Den area, but both ones I looked at were totally overdoing it, maxing to level 99 on all their guys, fighting the final battle over and over and using Steal to double and triple up on what are usually unique weapons, and maxing out of HP and MP. That kind of defeats the point of going through the cave and getting the final magicite, which provides a big HP bonus on level up. One of their suggested parties had two characters, both equipped with an Ultima Weapon in each hand. That requires fighting the final battle three times. Plus, Dragons Den has the best weapons for all your characters, finally having character-specific weapons for everyone, instead of just a random assemblage of "legendary" swords that 4 different characters can use and the Relm-Strago-Gogo fight for the Gladius.
Quick Glossary
Ultima: The most powerful magic, deals massive damage to all enemies. Costs a lot of MP, though.
Quick: After casting Quick, you get two actions in a row. This also costs a lot of MP
Soul of Thamasa: you can cast two spells instead of one.
Celestriad: All your spells cost 1 MP (so broken). They're hard to get, but you can do some Coliseum grinding to trigger specific enemies, who you can steal them from (12.5% chance).
The game doesn't let you cast Quick on your Quick turns, but with Soul of Thamasa, you can cast Ultima-Quick, then Ultima-Ultima, Ultima-Ultima on your Quick turns. That alone isn't enough for any encounter in Dragon's Den, but your other characters can usually finish things up.
I had farmed a lot of Celestriads, so I was just thinking, "Can't I just spam Ultima and win every battle?" The answer turns out to be "Pretty much." That specific strategy won't work on three of the dragons, but the ability to cast spells like that pretty much guarantees victory. Sure, the dragons are hard, and the random encounters are no picnic either, but it wasn't THAT bad with my mid-50s level characters.
After you beat Dragon's Den, the game invites you to the Soul Shrine. The Soul Shrine is essentially a continuous series of about 60 battles, with a break to pause and re-equip every dozen battles or so, but not save or change characters (I was using emulation, so I saved, but I only had to use a restore once). Battles are essentially chronological, starting with Narshe guards and getting progressively more difficult (again, looking at a walkthrough, this guy seemed to think you needed level-99 characters, and mine were ~60). You fight most of the bosses. You also fight the Monster-in-a-box battles, which drop their items again (a second Master Scroll, Gladius, etc). You do all eight legendary dragons again (getting all their items again), and it caps with the Dragon's Den versions of the dragons (and their items) plus the end boss of that area, Kaiser Dragon. It was difficult (fighting all the dragons while having to keep the same equipment is not ideal), but not impossible, and I probably didn't have the optimal party, but I was having a good time with Setzer's Fixed Dice and Master Scroll.
I might go finish the game again for good measure, but I consider this game completed. The two things I didn't complete was collecting all of Gau's rages (although I went a lot further in this game than I have before) and collecting all of Strago's Lores (I got several, and made sure to get the good ones: White Wind, Mighty Guard, Grand Delta). Enemy Skill is the one Materia I never went all the way on in Final Fantasy VII either. The Steam and iOS versions have achievement awards for these things, but it's liberating to have no incentive, no matter how trivial, or else I would be compelled to fulfill it.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Friday, January 26, 2018
Crossword: 14:56
Google Searches 0
See? That's more like it, a good time for a Friday, and so much better than yesterday.
I took the multiple choice designer test today. The easy stuff was easy. When I knew the answer, I was sure I was right, but if I wasn't sure, I felt totally at sea. I could narrow the answer down to two choices, but I could never feel more than 50% sure about any of them. I fear unless I got lucky on almost all of them, I'm done. I may I may go into a little more detail after the test windows closes. This blog is hard to find, but it is published under my name
Google Searches 0
See? That's more like it, a good time for a Friday, and so much better than yesterday.
I took the multiple choice designer test today. The easy stuff was easy. When I knew the answer, I was sure I was right, but if I wasn't sure, I felt totally at sea. I could narrow the answer down to two choices, but I could never feel more than 50% sure about any of them. I fear unless I got lucky on almost all of them, I'm done. I may I may go into a little more detail after the test windows closes. This blog is hard to find, but it is published under my name
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Crossword 11:14
Google Searches: 0
Cleared stage one of the Great Designer Search. They probably don't have too much time to read the essays for content, just that you know English, can talk about the game, and can follow directions. The multiple choice test is the tricky one. Last time this came around, Billy Moreno was in the running and got the same score as me on the test (i.e., not high enough). WotC shared the test and answers in an article on the mothership, and I remember dissecting out answers in a post-mortem discussion (we got different ones wrong). Billy is retired from Facebook now, and he might be retired from Magic as well. At least, I haven't seen him in the standings lately. But that doesn't always mean anything. Sometimes I'll be looking at GP standings, and there's some random guy I used to play with at Neutral Ground. My old friend Aris Dutka texted me out of the blue when I was 8-1 after Day One of a GP, where I eventually finished up $300 and my very own pro point. We hadn't spoken in a couple of years, and I doubt he plays much anymore, but he was still keeping tabs. Nobody fully quits.
Google Searches: 0
Cleared stage one of the Great Designer Search. They probably don't have too much time to read the essays for content, just that you know English, can talk about the game, and can follow directions. The multiple choice test is the tricky one. Last time this came around, Billy Moreno was in the running and got the same score as me on the test (i.e., not high enough). WotC shared the test and answers in an article on the mothership, and I remember dissecting out answers in a post-mortem discussion (we got different ones wrong). Billy is retired from Facebook now, and he might be retired from Magic as well. At least, I haven't seen him in the standings lately. But that doesn't always mean anything. Sometimes I'll be looking at GP standings, and there's some random guy I used to play with at Neutral Ground. My old friend Aris Dutka texted me out of the blue when I was 8-1 after Day One of a GP, where I eventually finished up $300 and my very own pro point. We hadn't spoken in a couple of years, and I doubt he plays much anymore, but he was still keeping tabs. Nobody fully quits.
Monday, January 22, 2018
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Crossword: 29:08
Google Searches: 0
Wow - tore that thing in half. Under 30 is blazing fast for a Sunday.
I spent most of the day finishing my essays for the Great Designer Search. Whew. Work is work. About 3,000 words all told, and not exactly the longest of time frames. Good thing I don't have a real job, or I'm not sure I would have found the energy.
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Crossword: 23:40
Google Searches: 2
That's more like it, although my cheats were for rather long clues (22 squares combined, but of course I had a few of those letters in place already). But honestly, how many people know Blondie's maiden name? Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead have been married since 1933. The answer is hilarious: it's Boopadoop.
Not much to write here today. Nothing much happens on Saturday unless I want it to. Much of my effort is put to work writing essays for the Great Designer Search, which I might talk more about once the deadline is past (11:59 Sunday). I first went out for this in 2006. I shouldn't stress too much about this section. I get the feeling it's just to measure general competence with the English language and a sense you know what you're talking about with regards to Magic. I initially as worried that I wouldn't be able to write 250-350 words for each question. The questions last time seemed much broader, but my ability to geek out on this subject is everflowing, and I even found myself having to edit some responses down.
Google Searches: 2
That's more like it, although my cheats were for rather long clues (22 squares combined, but of course I had a few of those letters in place already). But honestly, how many people know Blondie's maiden name? Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead have been married since 1933. The answer is hilarious: it's Boopadoop.
Not much to write here today. Nothing much happens on Saturday unless I want it to. Much of my effort is put to work writing essays for the Great Designer Search, which I might talk more about once the deadline is past (11:59 Sunday). I first went out for this in 2006. I shouldn't stress too much about this section. I get the feeling it's just to measure general competence with the English language and a sense you know what you're talking about with regards to Magic. I initially as worried that I wouldn't be able to write 250-350 words for each question. The questions last time seemed much broader, but my ability to geek out on this subject is everflowing, and I even found myself having to edit some responses down.
Friday, January 19, 2018
Crossword: 37:25
Google Searches: 1
Very hard, even for Friday. Hopefully, Saturday will be little more on pace.
Did my first Rivals of Ixalan draft tonight. I first-picked Hunt the Weak, kidding myself that I was staying open, and natch forced Merfolk. Only got one lord, but also Silvergill Adept, 3x Jade Bearer 2x Jungleborn Pioneer., 2x 3/3 for 1GG Flash guys, 2x Crash of Tides. Air Elemental was one of three non-Merfolk in the deck. 3-0, 6-0, with very little resistance. A couple of games, I went to pretty low life totals and then turned everything around. No money cards, but all the store credit. Still infinite.
Google Searches: 1
Very hard, even for Friday. Hopefully, Saturday will be little more on pace.
Did my first Rivals of Ixalan draft tonight. I first-picked Hunt the Weak, kidding myself that I was staying open, and natch forced Merfolk. Only got one lord, but also Silvergill Adept, 3x Jade Bearer 2x Jungleborn Pioneer., 2x 3/3 for 1GG Flash guys, 2x Crash of Tides. Air Elemental was one of three non-Merfolk in the deck. 3-0, 6-0, with very little resistance. A couple of games, I went to pretty low life totals and then turned everything around. No money cards, but all the store credit. Still infinite.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Crossword: 11:25
Google Searches: 0
Eep, well that's what I get for doing the puzzle at 2:30.
Google Searches: 0
Eep, well that's what I get for doing the puzzle at 2:30.
28 Days Later
I last had a cigarette December 19, 2017. This is my second time quitting, and I'm pretty determined to make it my last. It's considerably easier this time around. Cravings are cravings, but they go away as long as I have something to occupy my time with. Like a blog, or applying for an internship at Wizards of the Coast R&D. My brother was supposed to quit, too. I quit ten years ago, and he followed me. He fell off the wagon 3 years ago, and I followed him. He said it was a New Year's resolution, and he was going to get his roommate to quit with him (quitting works best when you have someone to keep you honest). He was still smoking when I left.
I used a nicotine patch the first time, and it was helpful, partly you can't really smoke while wearing one. Early on, I tried to cheat, but more than one drag made me sick. This time I just stopped, despite exercising my usual trigger of drinking while hanging out with other smokers. It's easier to quit when you know the destination. You feel like crap for a little while, but then you start to feel better, and hungrier. The usual nicotine replacement makes you hungry too. Reach for a cookie instead of a Lucky.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Crossword: 43:59
Google Searches: 0
I don''t always think I'm always right, except when I'm sure that I am. I've been playing Magic a long time. A very long time. I remember interrupts, spell batches, banding, and all that other stuff. And I was deep into Standard (I still call it Type II now and then) and Extended even in the bad old days.
So, anyway.
I was drafting Unstable at a friend's house. I had drafted Spike, Tournament Grinder. Through three rounds, I only drew it once, but when I did, I used it to get Umezawa's Jitte. My opponent cloned Spike, to try and get an answer or comparable card, but couldn't come up with anything close for his RWG deck. Artifact removal just has never been powerful enough to get the banhammer. In the post-mortem, (of course I won. What part of Umezawa's Jitte didn't you understand?) we got into discussions of banned cards (eventually, I thought of an answer - Burning Wish for artifact removal). In the course of the discussion, my friend's friend said that these cards had been banned/restricted:
Force of Will (in Extended)
Lightning Bolt (in Standard)
Armageddon, or possibly Ravages of War (in Commander)
None of these are true, of course. I know. I played all those cards. The wrong guy had been playing for a while as well, but not on the tournament scene. I don't know or remember everything, (for that, you need Mike Flores) but I remember enough. It is often a fool's errand to challenge me on Magic history and trivia. I can get pretty passionate when I know I'm right, and it was confounding to me that he couldn't acknowledge that I just know this stuff and he doesn't. (Lightning Bolt? Come on!) Before parting, he turned to me and "Y'know, you're a real cocksucker." I haven't had that one thrown at me since grade school. I responded "So are you," and he agreed. What's worse? Pointing out that someone is wrong, or refusing to admit that it's you who is wrong?
Google Searches: 0
I don''t always think I'm always right, except when I'm sure that I am. I've been playing Magic a long time. A very long time. I remember interrupts, spell batches, banding, and all that other stuff. And I was deep into Standard (I still call it Type II now and then) and Extended even in the bad old days.
So, anyway.
I was drafting Unstable at a friend's house. I had drafted Spike, Tournament Grinder. Through three rounds, I only drew it once, but when I did, I used it to get Umezawa's Jitte. My opponent cloned Spike, to try and get an answer or comparable card, but couldn't come up with anything close for his RWG deck. Artifact removal just has never been powerful enough to get the banhammer. In the post-mortem, (of course I won. What part of Umezawa's Jitte didn't you understand?) we got into discussions of banned cards (eventually, I thought of an answer - Burning Wish for artifact removal). In the course of the discussion, my friend's friend said that these cards had been banned/restricted:
Force of Will (in Extended)
Lightning Bolt (in Standard)
Armageddon, or possibly Ravages of War (in Commander)
None of these are true, of course. I know. I played all those cards. The wrong guy had been playing for a while as well, but not on the tournament scene. I don't know or remember everything, (for that, you need Mike Flores) but I remember enough. It is often a fool's errand to challenge me on Magic history and trivia. I can get pretty passionate when I know I'm right, and it was confounding to me that he couldn't acknowledge that I just know this stuff and he doesn't. (Lightning Bolt? Come on!) Before parting, he turned to me and "Y'know, you're a real cocksucker." I haven't had that one thrown at me since grade school. I responded "So are you," and he agreed. What's worse? Pointing out that someone is wrong, or refusing to admit that it's you who is wrong?
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Crossword: 17.54
Google Searches: 0(!)
Is that really Saturday? I could have gone a bit faster with Google, but only on two clues, which I got from the crosses without a ton of trouble. I found this a lot easier than Friday, and the time really shows it.
Posting at night since I'm busy all day. I love me a prerelease. Looks like dinosaurs got the rare hookups, and I expect to see that tribe out in force in a sealed deck environment, as your promo rare is a little more likely to be a dino than anything else, and sealed leads to clunky mana and awkward curves, well-suited for expensive giants. Some idiot might just get two Nekrataal guys and ruin everyone's day. I hope that guy is me. (Yeah, that card is good, but let's not get out of hand. Flametongue Kavu, this is not. Vraska's Contempt at the same cost offers more speed and versatility than this guy in constructed, at least as long as Gods are around.)
Google Searches: 0(!)
Is that really Saturday? I could have gone a bit faster with Google, but only on two clues, which I got from the crosses without a ton of trouble. I found this a lot easier than Friday, and the time really shows it.
Posting at night since I'm busy all day. I love me a prerelease. Looks like dinosaurs got the rare hookups, and I expect to see that tribe out in force in a sealed deck environment, as your promo rare is a little more likely to be a dino than anything else, and sealed leads to clunky mana and awkward curves, well-suited for expensive giants. Some idiot might just get two Nekrataal guys and ruin everyone's day. I hope that guy is me. (Yeah, that card is good, but let's not get out of hand. Flametongue Kavu, this is not. Vraska's Contempt at the same cost offers more speed and versatility than this guy in constructed, at least as long as Gods are around.)
Friday, January 12, 2018
Crossword 23:29
Google Searches: 1
Impressive puzzle construction today. left/right symmetry instead of the traditional diagonal, including a stack of four 15-letter answers at the top of the grid that hold together pretty well without getting too obscure on the down clues. A worthy diversion.
This weekend is packed. I have Rivals of Ixalan prerelease tomorrow morning-afternoon, Unstable/Cube that evening and a second viewing of Star Wars Sunday, not to mention Friday Night Magic tonight. Drafts on Fridays before the prerelease sometimes have trouble firing. Some people don't like Ixalan draft. I like it a lot. I suppose that's because I've gotten pretty good at it. Merfolk seem to murder everyone, and from what I've seen so far, that trend is going to continue in Rivals. Fewer chances at Shaper of Nature, but other great uncommons make up for it. Red seems pretty good too, and I'm fine drafting Pirates if they're there. I prefer Rakdos or Izzet to Dimir, since red seems to have what you want more often.
So, anyway.
I received a Super NES Classic for Christmas, which contains Final Fantasy III (This was released as Final Fantasy VI in Japan, in case you were wondering why the first 32-bit Final Fantasy was VII), and my brother tried to win the game in a week. He would have, too, except that he, like me, has a hard time actually finishing until he's done everything, and Final Fantasy always has a lot of everything. Aside from endless fights at the Coliseum, he just couldn't bring himself to spend the time to break the curse on the Cursed Shield to transform it into the Paladin's Shield. (It requires fighting 256 battles with the Cursed Shield equipped, and that is an epic grind, especially since you can't get the shield until you get Locke, and you usually don't go for Locke too early, since his cave can be pretty gnarly. In my next playthrough, I might go for early Locke. Getting Phoenix and Ragnarok early certainly is appealing.)
I still have my brother's saved file, so I can go finish it if I want, but even before Christmas, I had invested a lot of time into Final Fantasy VI Advance. Final Fantasy VI had already been re-released along with the never-released-in-America Final Fantasy V (also for SNES) as a compilation for Playstation called Final Fantasy Anthologies. But the games were straight ports, not remakes. Even the glitches were still present. They merely added a FMV at the top like a trailer for the game. For the Game Boy Advance version, however, SquareEnix did a lot (these things were also done for the iOS/Android/PC releases). Aside from glitch-fixes. the translation is new. While Japanese Final Fantasy games universally used Gil as the currency, and Cure-Cura-Curaga spell levels, American versions of Final Fantasy did not. Because of the way the Japanese alphabet works, they could fit more with fewer characters. But in America, everything got truncated down to 6 letters (the massive fire spell "Merton" has always supposed to be "Meltdown"). This has all been rectified. Also, the Japanese names for Espers, ninja weapons and katanas are restored. Shadow is now seeking the Ichigeki, not the "Striker." The opera has meter and rhyme that fits the music. And they added a lot more everything for completion junkies.
Four new Espers were added. One is Leviathan, which you can find riding the Nikeah-South Figaro ferry in the World of Ruin (as this battle takes place in water, this is also an opportunity for Mog to learn the Water Harmony Dance, which is a royal pain to do otherwise. (This battle is comical if you equip a Reed Cloak.)). It teaches the brand new spell Flood. Another is Giant Cactuar, which you find in the Cactuar Desert and shows up after you've killed a bunch of Cactuars. It doesn't teach anything you can't learn elsewhere, but it offers a speed bonus at level up. Odin was the only Esper that did this before, but you mostly wanted to change him into Raidan ASAP, so min/maxing was difficult, if that's your fetish. Then there's Gilgamesh. To find him, you have to obtain the Excalipoor at the Auction House (it'll cost you 500,000 Gil) and then wager it at the Coliseum. After a really easy battle for a Merit Award (nice), Gilgamesh shows up and challenges you (your whole party). He teaches the spell Quick and another spell called Valor, which triples the next physical attack damage for the whole party. I've never used it. The fourth is Diabolos, which you can find at the end of a whole new bonus dungeon called Dragons' Den. Dragons' Den is accessible after defeating the 8 Legendary Dragons. I features a 3-party maze-like dungeon, which feature souped-up versions of the Legendary Dragons and the boss, Kaiser Dragon. Diabolos teaches boring gravity magic, but offers a 100% bonus to HP at level up. That seems great, but considering you ought to be around level 60 to attempt Dragons' Den, you don't have much further to go... Except for Soul Shrine, another super-challenging gauntlet only available upon completing the game and the Dragons' Den. You can get some really great and powerful items there... Although it really is the final challenge. You shouldn't need them.
So, write a little every day
Google Searches: 1
Impressive puzzle construction today. left/right symmetry instead of the traditional diagonal, including a stack of four 15-letter answers at the top of the grid that hold together pretty well without getting too obscure on the down clues. A worthy diversion.
This weekend is packed. I have Rivals of Ixalan prerelease tomorrow morning-afternoon, Unstable/Cube that evening and a second viewing of Star Wars Sunday, not to mention Friday Night Magic tonight. Drafts on Fridays before the prerelease sometimes have trouble firing. Some people don't like Ixalan draft. I like it a lot. I suppose that's because I've gotten pretty good at it. Merfolk seem to murder everyone, and from what I've seen so far, that trend is going to continue in Rivals. Fewer chances at Shaper of Nature, but other great uncommons make up for it. Red seems pretty good too, and I'm fine drafting Pirates if they're there. I prefer Rakdos or Izzet to Dimir, since red seems to have what you want more often.
So, anyway.
I received a Super NES Classic for Christmas, which contains Final Fantasy III (This was released as Final Fantasy VI in Japan, in case you were wondering why the first 32-bit Final Fantasy was VII), and my brother tried to win the game in a week. He would have, too, except that he, like me, has a hard time actually finishing until he's done everything, and Final Fantasy always has a lot of everything. Aside from endless fights at the Coliseum, he just couldn't bring himself to spend the time to break the curse on the Cursed Shield to transform it into the Paladin's Shield. (It requires fighting 256 battles with the Cursed Shield equipped, and that is an epic grind, especially since you can't get the shield until you get Locke, and you usually don't go for Locke too early, since his cave can be pretty gnarly. In my next playthrough, I might go for early Locke. Getting Phoenix and Ragnarok early certainly is appealing.)
I still have my brother's saved file, so I can go finish it if I want, but even before Christmas, I had invested a lot of time into Final Fantasy VI Advance. Final Fantasy VI had already been re-released along with the never-released-in-America Final Fantasy V (also for SNES) as a compilation for Playstation called Final Fantasy Anthologies. But the games were straight ports, not remakes. Even the glitches were still present. They merely added a FMV at the top like a trailer for the game. For the Game Boy Advance version, however, SquareEnix did a lot (these things were also done for the iOS/Android/PC releases). Aside from glitch-fixes. the translation is new. While Japanese Final Fantasy games universally used Gil as the currency, and Cure-Cura-Curaga spell levels, American versions of Final Fantasy did not. Because of the way the Japanese alphabet works, they could fit more with fewer characters. But in America, everything got truncated down to 6 letters (the massive fire spell "Merton" has always supposed to be "Meltdown"). This has all been rectified. Also, the Japanese names for Espers, ninja weapons and katanas are restored. Shadow is now seeking the Ichigeki, not the "Striker." The opera has meter and rhyme that fits the music. And they added a lot more everything for completion junkies.
Four new Espers were added. One is Leviathan, which you can find riding the Nikeah-South Figaro ferry in the World of Ruin (as this battle takes place in water, this is also an opportunity for Mog to learn the Water Harmony Dance, which is a royal pain to do otherwise. (This battle is comical if you equip a Reed Cloak.)). It teaches the brand new spell Flood. Another is Giant Cactuar, which you find in the Cactuar Desert and shows up after you've killed a bunch of Cactuars. It doesn't teach anything you can't learn elsewhere, but it offers a speed bonus at level up. Odin was the only Esper that did this before, but you mostly wanted to change him into Raidan ASAP, so min/maxing was difficult, if that's your fetish. Then there's Gilgamesh. To find him, you have to obtain the Excalipoor at the Auction House (it'll cost you 500,000 Gil) and then wager it at the Coliseum. After a really easy battle for a Merit Award (nice), Gilgamesh shows up and challenges you (your whole party). He teaches the spell Quick and another spell called Valor, which triples the next physical attack damage for the whole party. I've never used it. The fourth is Diabolos, which you can find at the end of a whole new bonus dungeon called Dragons' Den. Dragons' Den is accessible after defeating the 8 Legendary Dragons. I features a 3-party maze-like dungeon, which feature souped-up versions of the Legendary Dragons and the boss, Kaiser Dragon. Diabolos teaches boring gravity magic, but offers a 100% bonus to HP at level up. That seems great, but considering you ought to be around level 60 to attempt Dragons' Den, you don't have much further to go... Except for Soul Shrine, another super-challenging gauntlet only available upon completing the game and the Dragons' Den. You can get some really great and powerful items there... Although it really is the final challenge. You shouldn't need them.
So, write a little every day
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Crossword: 16:43
Google Searches: 0
Hm, well. Coming Attractions:
The Unreliable Narrator
The Geographic Cure
That Time I Was on the Tyra Banks Show
Black Holes I've Visited
How Quitting Smoking Is Going
I have topics, but some of these feel daunting, especially the Black Hole bit, which ties into the Unreliable Narrator, and isn't entirely unrelated to the Geographic Cure. I could frame this whole project around the Geographic Cure motif, but that's even more daunting. I'm just not familiar enough with long-term plans about writing. I wrote my senior thesis in about 6 hours. I spent a lot more time polishing it, but the main creation part was done in one or two sittings with nothing more than a character outline in my head as I rode the train from Penn Station to Philadelphia, then SEPTA to college.
Google Searches: 0
Hm, well. Coming Attractions:
The Unreliable Narrator
The Geographic Cure
That Time I Was on the Tyra Banks Show
Black Holes I've Visited
How Quitting Smoking Is Going
I have topics, but some of these feel daunting, especially the Black Hole bit, which ties into the Unreliable Narrator, and isn't entirely unrelated to the Geographic Cure. I could frame this whole project around the Geographic Cure motif, but that's even more daunting. I'm just not familiar enough with long-term plans about writing. I wrote my senior thesis in about 6 hours. I spent a lot more time polishing it, but the main creation part was done in one or two sittings with nothing more than a character outline in my head as I rode the train from Penn Station to Philadelphia, then SEPTA to college.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Crossword: 14:06
Google Searches: 0
I don't resent this resolution, but it bugs me that I've fallen into left coast inertia so quickly. I want to write abut a video game I'm playing, but I'd rather just play it instead. And I've got TV to watch, snacks to eat. Remember when you had to wait for your favorite show to come on? Technology only made us more productive to give us the time to master the art of inaction.
Google Searches: 0
I don't resent this resolution, but it bugs me that I've fallen into left coast inertia so quickly. I want to write abut a video game I'm playing, but I'd rather just play it instead. And I've got TV to watch, snacks to eat. Remember when you had to wait for your favorite show to come on? Technology only made us more productive to give us the time to master the art of inaction.
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Crossword: 8:21
Google Searches: 0
Ah, back in California, the land of no real winter and legal weed. I had a chocolate at two in the afternoon and slept for six hours. My circadian rhythm is gonna be fucked up.
Got a lot to write about, but really not feeling it. My old English teacher in high school (Hi, Ms. Kocela! I hope you're still alive.) said that Ernest Hemingway, not matter how hung over and terrible he felt, still wrote every day, and I'm neither of those things. I feel comfy and content in the moment. Do I really need to accomplish something every day? I went to the bank, OK? There, I did something. Just don't ask me to do anything else. I'm done.
Google Searches: 0
Ah, back in California, the land of no real winter and legal weed. I had a chocolate at two in the afternoon and slept for six hours. My circadian rhythm is gonna be fucked up.
Got a lot to write about, but really not feeling it. My old English teacher in high school (Hi, Ms. Kocela! I hope you're still alive.) said that Ernest Hemingway, not matter how hung over and terrible he felt, still wrote every day, and I'm neither of those things. I feel comfy and content in the moment. Do I really need to accomplish something every day? I went to the bank, OK? There, I did something. Just don't ask me to do anything else. I'm done.
Monday, January 8, 2018
Crossword: Untimed, but felt quick
Google Searches: 0
Flying today, so not much.
Spelling Lesson
Ridiculous
Multiple times in the past week, from people I might otherwise consider intelligent, I've seen "rediculous." First off, it's not even properly pronounced ree-diculous. Second, its root is ridicule. and you wouldn't spell that with RE. Go forth, and look less stupid on the Internet.
Google Searches: 0
Flying today, so not much.
Spelling Lesson
Ridiculous
Multiple times in the past week, from people I might otherwise consider intelligent, I've seen "rediculous." First off, it's not even properly pronounced ree-diculous. Second, its root is ridicule. and you wouldn't spell that with RE. Go forth, and look less stupid on the Internet.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Crossword: Untimed (did it on paper. Felt pretty easy)
Google searches: 0
Flying back to California for real tomorrow. It sucked to miss GP Santa Clara, even if I wasn't participating in the main event. I had cards to sell, side events, old friends. I like big tournaments, and I would play in more if they weren't do damn expensive.
GP Las Vegas 2015 cost $100 for the standard package. But that was ok. It was sealed deck, so came with 6 pack of Modern Masters (MSRP ~$60) and some other swag.
GP Las Vegas 2017 (with 3 overlapping events) cost $90 per event. One of the events was sealed, but it was Amonkhet (MSRP ~$25). And it cost the same as playing Modern or Legacy (free to the organizer, but putting together a decent deck in Modern will cost the player hundreds of dollars, possibly thousands in Legacy). And the sleep-in special was mandatory, whether you had byes or not. Yes, it's a big deal. There are artist signings and a convention-esque experience. But is it really worth it? You could sign up for all 3 events, but in order to make money, you need to make top 100, which means making day 2, which means, if you registered for more than one event, you're resigning yourself to scrubbing out in one of them. I hope it was Friday and Sunday, or you're out your registration fee for Saturday.
PPTQs are getting this way, too. Nobody should have to spend $45 in a constructed tournament just to play when they already spent time and money building their deck. When you have weekly $5 tournaments at your game store, it takes chutzpah to ask for 9 times as much money to try and take their game to the next level. We may not get back to $20 PTQs, but $45 for the benefit of playing with your own deck? Its even more egregious when the TO owns the space people are playing in. If you have to rent a hotel ballroom or something, that's one thing, but if all you really need is hiring some judges, the excessive cost of tournaments isn't justified.
Google searches: 0
Flying back to California for real tomorrow. It sucked to miss GP Santa Clara, even if I wasn't participating in the main event. I had cards to sell, side events, old friends. I like big tournaments, and I would play in more if they weren't do damn expensive.
GP Las Vegas 2015 cost $100 for the standard package. But that was ok. It was sealed deck, so came with 6 pack of Modern Masters (MSRP ~$60) and some other swag.
GP Las Vegas 2017 (with 3 overlapping events) cost $90 per event. One of the events was sealed, but it was Amonkhet (MSRP ~$25). And it cost the same as playing Modern or Legacy (free to the organizer, but putting together a decent deck in Modern will cost the player hundreds of dollars, possibly thousands in Legacy). And the sleep-in special was mandatory, whether you had byes or not. Yes, it's a big deal. There are artist signings and a convention-esque experience. But is it really worth it? You could sign up for all 3 events, but in order to make money, you need to make top 100, which means making day 2, which means, if you registered for more than one event, you're resigning yourself to scrubbing out in one of them. I hope it was Friday and Sunday, or you're out your registration fee for Saturday.
PPTQs are getting this way, too. Nobody should have to spend $45 in a constructed tournament just to play when they already spent time and money building their deck. When you have weekly $5 tournaments at your game store, it takes chutzpah to ask for 9 times as much money to try and take their game to the next level. We may not get back to $20 PTQs, but $45 for the benefit of playing with your own deck? Its even more egregious when the TO owns the space people are playing in. If you have to rent a hotel ballroom or something, that's one thing, but if all you really need is hiring some judges, the excessive cost of tournaments isn't justified.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Crossword:17:55
Google Searches 0
Corrections: 2
Not bad. Corrections are when I get stuck somewhere and do a check for wrong answers. It doesn't tell you the right answer, just what's wrong. I had six correction squares.
Here is a card.
Form of the Dragon was never a great card in terms of playability. It saw very little play when it was printed. Old-schooler Alex Shvartsman made a mediocre Standard deck at the time called "Bad Form" (based on a line from the movie "Hook." Why don't decks have real names anymore?) but it never really got anywhere. Eventually, it found as home as a kill condition in the Enduring Ideal deck, though that deck was never really a powerhouse either. Yet it got reprinted in 8th Edition, and even got a slot in the first From the Vault box.
But this card was, and still is. awesome. Hands down, I believe is has the best flavor of any card printed to date. You are a 5/5 dragon. You deal 5 damage a turn, you don't care about creatures that don't fly, and you have to be dealt 5 damage in one turn to die. The cost is steep, and the risk is high, but the "Moat" effect alone is fairly powerful. Plus, I'm a dragon comin' for ya! Rawr!
Here is a card.
This card is not very good. It might eventually kill all their creatures, it might save you if you're very low on life. It might do these things. But it might not. It does legit nothing against a deck like Approach of the Second Sun, and even something like Temur Energy can get around the dino with tokens and such. It also doesn't win for you. You're still going to need to kill them somehow, and that's the biggest strike of all.
Zvi Mowshowitz once said that anything that costs 4+ mana has to be able to win by itself. That is actually pretty accurate for most rare/mythics that ever see play. That you have to invest 6 mana is this and it might not even have an appreciable impact on the game is just not getting there. "If you can blink it repeatedly..." But you can't. "Maybe in Commander..." Setting yourself to 15 in Commander is usually not a great idea, and this only triggers on your turn, not each player's upkeep like Sheoldred or The Abyss.
But what about the flavor? Aren't you a dinosaur? Rawr? Well, no. Obviously, being able to deal 15 to the opponent and healing to 15 every turn would be stupid, but nothing about this card makes me feel like a dinosaur. If I'm a dinosaur, why am I fighting their creatures and not the opponent? If I stomp a 1/1 creature, why am I not healing from the paper cut it inflicted? I'm not opposed to bad cards. I'm not even 100% opposed to what this card does. A one-sided Abyss can't be that bad, right? (Wrong). I am, however, furious that they called this misfire Form of the Dinosaur. I cannot understand that the team completely missed the point on what made Form of the Dragon so cool. "Hey guys, people like Form of the Dragon. Let's do it with a dinosaur!" "Great idea, just make sure it looks like Form of the Dragon but is actually unplayable!"
Anyway, really looking forward to Rivals of Ixalan. I hope I open one of these so I can set it on fire.
Google Searches 0
Corrections: 2
Not bad. Corrections are when I get stuck somewhere and do a check for wrong answers. It doesn't tell you the right answer, just what's wrong. I had six correction squares.
Here is a card.
Form of the Dragon was never a great card in terms of playability. It saw very little play when it was printed. Old-schooler Alex Shvartsman made a mediocre Standard deck at the time called "Bad Form" (based on a line from the movie "Hook." Why don't decks have real names anymore?) but it never really got anywhere. Eventually, it found as home as a kill condition in the Enduring Ideal deck, though that deck was never really a powerhouse either. Yet it got reprinted in 8th Edition, and even got a slot in the first From the Vault box.
But this card was, and still is. awesome. Hands down, I believe is has the best flavor of any card printed to date. You are a 5/5 dragon. You deal 5 damage a turn, you don't care about creatures that don't fly, and you have to be dealt 5 damage in one turn to die. The cost is steep, and the risk is high, but the "Moat" effect alone is fairly powerful. Plus, I'm a dragon comin' for ya! Rawr!
Here is a card.
Card Name:
Form of the Dinosaur
Mana Cost:
Mana Value:
6
Types:
Enchantment
Card Text:
When Form of the Dinosaur enters the battlefield, your life total becomes 15.
At the beginning of your upkeep, Form of the Dinosaur deals 15 damage to target creature an opponent controls and that creature deals damage equal to its power to you.
This card is not very good. It might eventually kill all their creatures, it might save you if you're very low on life. It might do these things. But it might not. It does legit nothing against a deck like Approach of the Second Sun, and even something like Temur Energy can get around the dino with tokens and such. It also doesn't win for you. You're still going to need to kill them somehow, and that's the biggest strike of all.
Zvi Mowshowitz once said that anything that costs 4+ mana has to be able to win by itself. That is actually pretty accurate for most rare/mythics that ever see play. That you have to invest 6 mana is this and it might not even have an appreciable impact on the game is just not getting there. "If you can blink it repeatedly..." But you can't. "Maybe in Commander..." Setting yourself to 15 in Commander is usually not a great idea, and this only triggers on your turn, not each player's upkeep like Sheoldred or The Abyss.
But what about the flavor? Aren't you a dinosaur? Rawr? Well, no. Obviously, being able to deal 15 to the opponent and healing to 15 every turn would be stupid, but nothing about this card makes me feel like a dinosaur. If I'm a dinosaur, why am I fighting their creatures and not the opponent? If I stomp a 1/1 creature, why am I not healing from the paper cut it inflicted? I'm not opposed to bad cards. I'm not even 100% opposed to what this card does. A one-sided Abyss can't be that bad, right? (Wrong). I am, however, furious that they called this misfire Form of the Dinosaur. I cannot understand that the team completely missed the point on what made Form of the Dragon so cool. "Hey guys, people like Form of the Dragon. Let's do it with a dinosaur!" "Great idea, just make sure it looks like Form of the Dragon but is actually unplayable!"
Anyway, really looking forward to Rivals of Ixalan. I hope I open one of these so I can set it on fire.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Crossword: 9:33
Google Searches: 0
Sub-10:00 is pretty decent for a Wednesday.
Q; How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: That's not funny.
Dave Chappelle's two specials recently released on Netflix are quite good, but he doesn't pull punches. Arguments about "inappropriate" jokes never really resonate with me. All jokes are, by definition, inappropriate. A punchline is usually an unexpected outcome, i.e. an inappropriate one. But there's this one. It's about one of Louis CK's accusers, who said her dream of being a comedian was deferred because of Louis's misconduct. Chappelle joked that her dream must not have been that strong. Would Martin Luther King have abandoned his dream if Louis CK had jerked off in front of him?
Pause for laughter...
The acceleration of #metoo surprised me. There's always jokes about the casting couch, or how Megan Fox got her role on Transformers, but outside people never lent it much weight. I saw this before, when it was Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill in 1991. That was supposed to be the thing that brought sexual harassment into the open, and it had that kind of effect. Many companies vowed changes, held sensitivity seminars, and so on. Apparently, Hollywood wasn't paying attention. Then, it was mostly about sexist jokes and comments, a "hostile work environment." Now it's full-on sexual assault? Talk about hostile. This is far beyond a "boy's club" mentality. I have to imagine that most of the accused men right now weren't always predators. But naturally, in a city where success is even more about who you know than it is elsewhere, power dynamics are stronger than ever. If everyone around you with power is acting one way, you start to think that's the way you ought to act when you have the power? Maybe.
But you have to take a step back, too. Yeah, there are a lot of revelations coming out right now, but this is what, ~20 people in an industry that employs thousands of others with similar power who aren't doing this? The vast majority of priests aren't pedophiles either. But wow, it sure felt bad to be a man in 2017.
Google Searches: 0
Sub-10:00 is pretty decent for a Wednesday.
Q; How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: That's not funny.
Dave Chappelle's two specials recently released on Netflix are quite good, but he doesn't pull punches. Arguments about "inappropriate" jokes never really resonate with me. All jokes are, by definition, inappropriate. A punchline is usually an unexpected outcome, i.e. an inappropriate one. But there's this one. It's about one of Louis CK's accusers, who said her dream of being a comedian was deferred because of Louis's misconduct. Chappelle joked that her dream must not have been that strong. Would Martin Luther King have abandoned his dream if Louis CK had jerked off in front of him?
Pause for laughter...
The acceleration of #metoo surprised me. There's always jokes about the casting couch, or how Megan Fox got her role on Transformers, but outside people never lent it much weight. I saw this before, when it was Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill in 1991. That was supposed to be the thing that brought sexual harassment into the open, and it had that kind of effect. Many companies vowed changes, held sensitivity seminars, and so on. Apparently, Hollywood wasn't paying attention. Then, it was mostly about sexist jokes and comments, a "hostile work environment." Now it's full-on sexual assault? Talk about hostile. This is far beyond a "boy's club" mentality. I have to imagine that most of the accused men right now weren't always predators. But naturally, in a city where success is even more about who you know than it is elsewhere, power dynamics are stronger than ever. If everyone around you with power is acting one way, you start to think that's the way you ought to act when you have the power? Maybe.
But you have to take a step back, too. Yeah, there are a lot of revelations coming out right now, but this is what, ~20 people in an industry that employs thousands of others with similar power who aren't doing this? The vast majority of priests aren't pedophiles either. But wow, it sure felt bad to be a man in 2017.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Monday, January 1, 2018
Crossword: 9:54
Google Searches: 0
I thought I'd fly through the puzzle today. I filled in the top-left corner, inferred the theme and dropped in the first themer in 20 seconds. But I finished well over a good time for a Monday.
Anyway, welcome to my blog. I've been meaning to write more essentially my whole life, and I decided to make a resolution to do some every day. I've got some unbottling to do, so the first month may be denser than others, but we'll see how long I can keep it up. At the very least, I'll post my (New York Times) crossword stats. First up, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
I'm not sure how much of a Star Wars fanatic I really am. I was born in 1977, the year it was released. While I have a reasonable memory of waiting in a block-long line for Return of the Jedi at age 5. I doubt I was in attendance for the earlier films, or would remember them if I was. Yet everyone was into it. My kindergarten class of other xillenials made up lyrics to the John Williams theme (well, it was just the names of the three films sung out loud). I knew Vader was Luke's father, I had some action figures and a second-hand Millennium Falcon. So I guess I was a fan.
I read a lot as a kid. There was no Harry Potter for my generation, but Susan Copper wrote a great series of YA fantasy books (the first one is called "Over Sea, Under Stone"). And Lord of the Rings changed everything. Nintendo changed everything too, and the two combined cemented my identity as a nerd (Magic came much later). I've met people who say they don't watch Star Wars because they dont like sci-fi. But Star Wars isn't science fiction, it's fantasy. There's wizardry, magical creatures, sword fights; the fact that it takes place in space is secondary. The Death Star might as well be a dragon destroying villages. As a nerd, loving Star Wars is kind of imperative, and I need to keep my street cred up. It's kind of an arranged marriage, but the bride is hot with a great personality.
But this was supposed to be about The Last Jedi, wasn't it? It was good. You should go see it.
Google Searches: 0
I thought I'd fly through the puzzle today. I filled in the top-left corner, inferred the theme and dropped in the first themer in 20 seconds. But I finished well over a good time for a Monday.
Anyway, welcome to my blog. I've been meaning to write more essentially my whole life, and I decided to make a resolution to do some every day. I've got some unbottling to do, so the first month may be denser than others, but we'll see how long I can keep it up. At the very least, I'll post my (New York Times) crossword stats. First up, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
I'm not sure how much of a Star Wars fanatic I really am. I was born in 1977, the year it was released. While I have a reasonable memory of waiting in a block-long line for Return of the Jedi at age 5. I doubt I was in attendance for the earlier films, or would remember them if I was. Yet everyone was into it. My kindergarten class of other xillenials made up lyrics to the John Williams theme (well, it was just the names of the three films sung out loud). I knew Vader was Luke's father, I had some action figures and a second-hand Millennium Falcon. So I guess I was a fan.
I read a lot as a kid. There was no Harry Potter for my generation, but Susan Copper wrote a great series of YA fantasy books (the first one is called "Over Sea, Under Stone"). And Lord of the Rings changed everything. Nintendo changed everything too, and the two combined cemented my identity as a nerd (Magic came much later). I've met people who say they don't watch Star Wars because they dont like sci-fi. But Star Wars isn't science fiction, it's fantasy. There's wizardry, magical creatures, sword fights; the fact that it takes place in space is secondary. The Death Star might as well be a dragon destroying villages. As a nerd, loving Star Wars is kind of imperative, and I need to keep my street cred up. It's kind of an arranged marriage, but the bride is hot with a great personality.
But this was supposed to be about The Last Jedi, wasn't it? It was good. You should go see it.
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