Hey guys, so yeah I know I'm like late by 3 years but what can I say? I love reading books but when you have a very busy house, with 2 brothers, 17 and almost graduating high school, looking at Colleges/Unies... You tend to do things a little bit late I suppose, anyways I digress. The point is, I want to talk this book that everyone was so hyped about and with a movie adaption coming along with it, everyone must read the book first, or for others the other way around. I've started reading this book right after I got the Trilogy Edition from my wifey, and I love it. Let get to the setting and the main points of the story. Note:IT IS SPOILER FREE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!
The story is set in a fictional version of North America, in a nation called Panem. Panem is governed by the Capitol, which rules the surrounding twelve district around it. The Capitol is known to be harsh and cruel by forcing each of the twelve districts to send one girl and one boy who are the ages between twelve to eighteen to the Capitol to participate in an annual event called the Hunger Games. During the Hunger Games, each of the two contestants from their district are forced to fight to the death, leaving only one victor to claim their prize and luxury for their district. The story follows a young sixteen year old girl named Katniss Everdeen, who lives with her mother and her younger sister. Katniss has voluntarily took the place of her younger sister in the Games to protect her has much as she can. Survival is second nature for Katniss, but she must also weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
My Thoughts
This book is really amazing, as it really touches your thoughts about what we have today, in our society and how grateful that we live in a nation that cares for our citizens. We have Human Rights that have been created to protect the rights of many people around the world. This story strips that away from the citizen of Panem, as they have to fend for themselves, taking risk to find food, trading items for necessities or food, living in a poor community with a harsh environment and not depend on the government. It makes me wonder, if any of the other countries in the book have notice with Panem what they were doing. Having the thought of watching children who are not fully developed into adults, die right in front of me for entertainment is sick, but their are people are like that out there, and that is how this books captures us in. It creates an environment that everyone (or mostly everyone) detest today. It just wrong to have to go through that, or even seeing your own blood to have to suffer the Games. I would recommend anyone reading this to go pick up a copy of this book, or more, the whole trilogy.
Final Fantasy Type-0 is an action role-playing game from Square Enix, along with Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which makes up the Fabula Nova Crytallis: Final Fantasy. The game comes in 2 UMDs, due to high space issues. The name of Final Fantasy Type-0 was changed, the original being Final Fantasy Agito XIII.
STORY 9/10
Since I can barely read Japanese, I can't really give any detailed points. So I'll give the basics. Final Fantasy Type-0 takes place in Oriense, which is divided by four nations known as Suzaku Fiefdom of Rubrum, the Milites Empire, the Lorican Alliance, and the Kingdom of Concordia. Each of the nations contain their unique crystals, which is famous in the Final Fantasy series. Suzaku Crystal grants the power of Magic, Byakko Crystal grants the power of Weapons (meaning higher artillery, technology), Genbu Crystal grants the power of Shield, Soryu Crystal grants the power of the Dragon. All nations are under a peace treaty called Pax Codex, and everything was going peacefully until Cid Aulsstyne broke the treaty and begins an invasion of the other nations with the help of the Byakko Crystal. Cid easily conquered Lorica and Concordia, but has difficulties obtaining Rubrum due to high magical defenses. This is where the students of Class Zero are organizing Operation Apostle, a covert mission to re-capture the crystals and defeat the Milites forces.
Class Zero
GAMEPLAY 9/10
The game-play mechanics are very similar to that of -Crisis Core- Final Fantasy VII. The battle system uses the new evolution of the "ATB kai' system, which was used in Final Fantasy X-2, which was later refined in -Crisis Core- Final Fantasy VII. Though unlike -Crisis Core-, the game-play is party based. Instead of going through menus, actions are mapped on the lower right screen, directly to the face buttons for quick access. SE stated that they wanted the fastest version of ATB ever created, which is true since actions are quickly into play and fast-pace. If you have a magic spell, and hold the button, you can charge the spell and you see a vertical bar going from left to right over the name. This game is literally created to keep you in action and on your toes. If you played the demo, and notice the games camera system was always going haywire, that problem is fix here in the full version, which is nice. Leveling up, and gaining Ability Points (AP) to increase the characters abilities is a recurring system in the game. You use the D-pad to move the camera.
Also, you have 14 playable characters. Yes, FOURTEEN playable characters. This is the biggest playable Final Fantasy cast along side with Final Fantasy VI, which also had 14 playable characters. Each are different and have unique game-play, and would make the game last for hours. For example, Jack uses a Katana and when the weapon is drawn, he suddenly becomes a slow-moving character, but takes the highest damage out of most of the characters. All of the characters are named after a deck of playing cards, excluding two, who are Machina Kunagiri and Rem Tokimiya. When you are on the World Map, you can also encounter random battles, and depending on what the weather condition is, it could effect your battle, such as fog, where it lowers your visibilities and to be able to lock onto enemies, you must look at your mini-map on the top-right screen to determine where your enemies are. Also, if you feel confident, you can face the same enemies again, but at a higher level for a challenge, which is a nice way to level up. Another feature using the World Map is a strategy battle type, where your in the World Map, and you have base to take over by entering into them or damaging them with soldiers you sent from your own base. This new feature is quite different to see in a Final Fantasy game, but it works out well. Here are a couple of screen shots of the game-play.
Instant Death is a new addition to the Final Fantasy series. If you are able to find a weakness of an enemy, a critical chance and based on how well your doing, a circle glyph appears on them, and if you hit them at that right moment, they are instantly killed. Some tougher enemies may take major damage from it, and bosses as well. Trust me, this helps out a lot, since the enemies are usually a higher level than you, and most of the characters take different damage. The boss even have like multiple bars of health. So this a nice and new feature to see.
A glyph appears, indicating a Instant Death.
The Alto Crystarium Menu
Also, like Final Fantasy XIII, the game also has a Crystarium system, called Alto Crystarium. This is where the player can power up the characters' magic, using energy collected from defeated enemies called "Phantoma". When an enemy is defeated, their dead bodies are still on screen. If the player holds the R button and press Triangle, they explode and form into a Phantoma, and goes towards the player. They restore a little bit of the characters' magic. The Phantoma comes in varies types, where they can be used to power up different areas of magic for the characters. An example, if I wanted to power up a character's Fire RF, the magic can be powered up in the strength of the magic, MP usage, distances and speed. This system is a nice and a new way to upgrade magic, but there is also a cost. When you upgrade say, the MP usage(how much MP is uses to cast the spell), another category such as Speed and Distance. You would have to carefully plan what you upgrade, as it does take awhile to get more Phantoma. Also, when you gather up Phantoma, you don't have to go to each and individual body and collect them. once you have one locked on and press triangle, they all form and go towards you, which is a nice change from the demo. The magic that is cast in the game is also different from any other Final Fantasy game.
In Type-0, you have three elements, which are Fire, Ice, and Lightning. The spells also have varies attack patterns and attributes if you know what your doing. There are five varieties in the game, they being:
Shotgun (SHG): This attack type is spread (like shooting a shotgun) at multiple height levels. It doesn't have the greatest distance in the game, since it's like a shotgun, but is VERY effective against enemies that are close. Duh, who would snipe with a shotgun?
Fire Shotgun
Rifle (RF): This attack type has very good distance. Though it may travel far, the homing isn't that great. If you have an enemy that is far and pretty stationary, this is the magic to use. This magic type takes moderate damage.
Ice Rifle
Bomb (BOM): This magic type is only effective in your immediate surroundings. This a HIGHLY useful magic if you are being mobbed and surrounded by a bunch of enemies. This magic type takes a nice amount of damage to the enemies. I use this magic a lot cause it looks cool, and I usually get up-close and personal.
Lightning Bomb
Missile (MIS): This attack type is meant for homing, and chases after your enemy before releasing it's magic. The higher the level of magic you have, such has Fira, Thunderga, it will expand to encompass surroundings.
Fira Missile
Rocket (ROK): This magic attack type is used if you want to precisely aim at a targeted. When used, you will go up close to your character where they are facing, and a cross-hair will appear. You can shoot at whatever you can see. I didn't really like this type, and I rarely use it, but in certain situations it can be useful.
Cross-hair appears.
Ice Missile
Like in Final Fantasy XII, you can switch leaders on the fly. By holding L and then pressing the Right D-pad button, you can change the character you are using to whoever you chose to be the other party members. If you lost a member, and want to replace the empty space with another, you can hold L and press up and scroll the characters you want to replace it with. Characters won't disappear forever, and will return at the end of the mission, or battle.
Shiva, the ice-elemental summon. (HOT)
Another feature added to the game is Trinity Attack system. It like a tri-attack combo. To uses these, you require 3 characters, and a mix of combination attacks. These are generally weaker than summons, which we will get to later on, but doesn't require a sacrifice (that's right... I said it... you need a sacrifice), and can be used multiple times.
Summons, a recurring feature in the Final Fantasy series, returns in Type-0. When summoned, the character who acts as the summoner is sacrifice, and cannot return until the mission is completed. The summon replaces the character and can be controlled as a member, similar to Final Fantasy XII International.
MUSIC 10/10
The music, composed by Takeharu Ishimoto, is very compelling and amazing. I just love every score and piece, and felt that I was in the moment of every point in the game. I enjoyed every moment of the game because of the music in the background, though this is just one opinion. There are variety of different scores in the game to provide the right feeling and momentum. Here is an example down below.
GRAPHICS 9/10
The graphics in the game are very amazing, especially on a hand-held platform. The graphics are very similar to The Third Birthday, and Dissidia Final Fantasy. The scenery is very nice, the details are great, the character details are amazing. The CG cut-scenes are also nice to see in-game. The World Map, which is a nice addition, has nice details that you can see. The lightning of the game and in battle are compelling to see and watch, especially if you use Thunder (SHG), and the effects of the magic are also nice.
OVERALL 9/10
Overall, the game was quite amazing. I love the Final Fantasy series, and this game made me enjoy it until the very end. You get an amazing large variety of characters, very interesting characters in fact, a face-pace game-play that will keep you hooked and on your toes, great music and graphics. If you are a fan of the series and you enjoy fast-pace RPGs, I would recommend you pick up a copy, IF the game ever get's localized or if you want to and speaks Japanese, you can pick up the JAP version of the game. I enjoyed the game a lot, and I hope this review gave you a couple of thoughts about it.
*Note: I do not know when the release date for Final Fantasy Type-0 in North America will be announce, and I hope that it does get localized, as it will be a great game. SE stated that they wanted to appeal to Western gamers with this game, so I hope to see it here.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is an upcoming 2012 console role-playing game from the Final Fantasy series created by Square Enix. It is the successor of the Platinum Hit Final Fantasy XIII. Three years after the events. Three years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning, the protagonist of the original game, has disappeared into an unknown world. Her younger sister Serah Farron, a returning character from the original title, and a boy named Noel Kreiss attempt to find Lightning. The game is due to release in Japan on December 15th, and on January 31st in North America.
Serah Farron Noel Kreiss Side note: If you have a save file of Final Fantasy XIII, you will get something that is barely a bonus. Details are down further.
FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 GAMEPLAY Square Enix as stated that Final Fantasy XIII-2 has changed every aspect of the game from Final Fantasy XIII. Active Time Battle (ATB) returns in Final Fantasy XIII-2. A bar charges, while a character picks commands on the character he/she is using and a small block of the command appears on top of the ATB Bar. Once filled, whatever command imputed are played into action. Press Y or Triangle to use the command early if the block is lighted up, or press B or Circle to cancel a command. A new feature added during battle is called Quick Time Events also called "Cinematic Action", which allows that player to deal an incredible amount of damage and a upper hand in battles.
Addition to the combat, Mog Clock is another feature in the game. Instead of monster appearing the screen and roaming around like in Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII. They now appear randomly. Just as the monsters appear on screen, a dial clock called "Mog Clock" appears in the middle of the bottom half of the screen and a red ring surrounds the player's character with a radius of about 3 or so meters. The Mog Clock feature grants the player various bonuses and/or penalites depending on the time it takes them to enter a battle.
Another features that were added was Live Trigger, Temporal Rift and the Historia Crux System. Live Trigger happens throughout the process of the game, where the player will have to pick dialogue from a dialogue tree that will affect what the character says to NPC. Yoshinori Kitase stated that there will be multiple endings, but won't be affected by Live Trigger. Square has also said that the dialogue will allow for more enjoying conversation between characters during cutscenes or NPC chats. The dialogue will also change every time the game is played. Temporal Rifts is a series of puzzle that occur when walking through dimensions and once completed through, they will be able to resolve a paradox happening in the real world.
Historia Crux System, is a time-travelling machine that allows player to jump through various gates throughout XIII-2. This system also plays towards the multiple endings. This allows for non-linear gameplay as the playeer could go forth and back through time, allowing them to turn back time in order to explore different plot possibilities in each location.
Setting
The worlds of Gran Pulse and Cocoon in Final Fantasy XIII return in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Players will be able to revisit old areas that have changed in appearance like Lake Bresha, now called the Bresha Ruins. A re-created version of the city of Bodhum had been made on Pulse, known as New Bodhum. Many of the civilians from Bodhum now live here. The Yaschas Massif on Pulse reappears with its ruins now inhabited by Cocoon soldiers and scientists like the Bresha Ruins. Valhalla, otherwise known as "the invisible world" will also be a playable area. Serendipity is a floating casino city packed with minigames like Slots and Chocobo racing. The city of Academia replaces Eden as the new capital of Cocoon and is Hope's new hometown.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII)
Characters
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, a new cast of characters are playing as the lead with a some of the original cast of Final Fantasy XIII returning as a cameo/playable characters. Certain original characters have been announce so far.
Serah Farron
Age: 18
Gender: Female The younger sister of Lightning. Story wise, she is one the search for her sister Lightning after a sudden disappearance after the fall of Cocoon. A year later, in the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Serah is a teacher in the willage of New Bodhum. However, when Ne Bodhum is invaded by monsters, she is saved by Noel, a man from the future and a Moogle that morphs into a shape-shifting bow/sword for Serah, which is very interesting if you ask me. I mean, who wouldn't want that for Christmas? I would...
Noel Kreiss
Age: Unknown Gender: Possibly Unknown as well... nah I joke. Male
A mysterious man from the future, sent back in time to change the course of history. After saving Serah from an attack of invading monster, he and Serah team up to find her lost sister, Lightning, where he supposedly know where she is. He wields dual blades, with a similar fighting style of Fang. This is a nice touch because I rarely see dual wielding characters in Final Fantasy other then Ninjas in FFT. Other FF that does, please let me know.
Hope Estheim
Age: 24
Gender: Male
A returning character form Final Fantasy XIII, who I LOVE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, is the leader of the Academy, a research group looking to redevelop Gran Pulse. He is specifically studying space-time anomalies. He still carries his giant boomerang, but only as a memento since he doesn't fight anymore. Which I CRIED after hearing this. I can't believe I won't be able to use my hot character to cast his sexy spells anymore! Though I do not know if that is true, and you can still use him(which I HOPE I do...). Look at him... he is so BADASS! (T_T) (http://www.siliconera.com/2011/10/27/see-final-fantasy-xiii-2s-metropolis-and-hopes-home/)
EDIT: He is a NPC! (T_T)
Snow Villiers
Age: 24 in Final Fantasy XIII-2 (I know right... weird... freaking Time screw age over) Gender: Male
Fiance to Serah Farron and a step-sister to Lightning. Snow is the leader and founder of NORA, group that fought off wild animals and then eventually a rebel group against the Sanctum. He has a 'Heroic" personality, where he always calls himself, "The Hero". Other characters in the game believe that he is "all talk" since he usually talk and act before he thinks. Hope in the original game despises him, but later eventually grew on him. I never liked him in the original game cause of his personality. It tick the crap out of me. Though he does look cool now, I just don't know if I will like him.
Sazh Katzroy Age: Not Known
Gneder: Male
He is also a NPC, (WHICH SUCKS... we just lost another black playable character in the series...) and heling with the rebuild of Gran Pulse.
So, Apple had it's Apple's Conference some time ago, and release a video detailing the new interior upgrade of the iPhone4S. So before giving you the details, you can watch the video, which you probably did already. I shall be depicting my topics from there, recapping.
Siri A robot chick that takes your every command. YES! EVERY COMMAND! Nah, I jokes, but on a serious not, it a pretty cool idea. The voice sounds pretty legit, and can pick up and understand what you are saying and what you specifically want, form making appointments, changing appointments, reading your messages, looking for specific places, and even text you say. Nice. The thing is about the say and text command. Does Siri really know what you are saying to type it out on the phone? Not to be racist or anything, but what about people with heavy accents or people who can barely speak English? Yes, there is a language change options in the settings, but does Siri also change? I don't know, so don't kill me. That would be cool but if you say something wrong and Siri picks it up and text it to the person, say your going to a strip club for your Brocassion and suddenly your girl texts you and there is people saying stuff in the background?
A5 Dual Core Pocessor: The A5 contains a rendition of a chip based upon the dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU with NEON SIMD accelerator and a dual core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. Apple lists the A5 to be clocked at 1 GHz on the iPad 2's technical specifications page, though it can dynamically adjust its frequency to save battery life. Among the customizations that Apple has done to the chip is including an image signal processor unit (ISP) that will do advanced image post-processing such as face detection, white balance and automatic image stabilization. So they just technically took the processor in the iPad 2, and shoved it in the new iPhone4S, and twice as powerful CPU and seven times more power GPU then the A4. Now this is a nice touch.
8-Megapixel Camera with 1080p Video Recording Very self-explanatory, upgraded camera and recording 1080p videos at thirty frames per second with upgraded quality (30% better clarity, 26% better white balance, color accuracy), or so they say, thanks to an additional lens.
Battery Life The iPhone 4S is stated to have 200 hours standby time (iPhone 4 300 hours) less by 100 hours, 8 hours talk time on 3G whereas iPhone 4 as 7hrs, 14 hours talk time on 2G, 6 hours 3G browsing, and 9 hours Wi-Fi browsing. Pretty standard, a few loses there but whatever.
Design Aww, yes, we are finally here. The design of the iPhone4S. It does have the same exterior design of the iPhone4 which everyone was really disappointed about. Yes I can understand why, over time it does start to look really plain, but you just cover it with a case anyways? So why? People are also complaining that the iPhone4S doesn't have a slightly larger screen, but what for? Doesn't a larger screen take slightly more battery life? They would have to adjust lightly for the retina so that it looks clear as crisp. I saw a few design, some looked pretty cool, especially this one I saw that had the metal backing, (I'm just to lazy to find it to post it, but if I do, I will), other didn't reach my appeal, but some people like it. Shown below the second video gives you the new concept of the new design, I don't like it. It looks like I could break my Ultra Flimsy iPhone just by sitting on it
A nice design, looks pretty the same, just a little different I guess:
The thinnest iPhone 4S/5 Concept I've seen:
My Thoughts I really like what they did with the whole new interior upgrade to the iPhone4S, just wish they did change the look a little more to make it unique, I mean if your going to change the inner hardware, might as well make it look as bad-ass and powerful like the inside, but I guess the saying "Don't judge a books by it's cover" does come into play. I do, however plan on getting the iPhone 4S to replace my Sony Ericsson as it is turning old and I hate the charger. Never getting an Android again, BUT I'm not hating on them, I just don't like most of the interface and the sliding menu is soooo slow... compared to the iPhone or Touch, the swipe is pretty quick. So I hope you have made your decision of getting the iPhone4S through my Blog, and give me your thoughts.
Today, I will start a blog.
Yes, me, cause I don't like twitter... and I don't get the point of it really...
Yes, it is a social networking site, where people can follow each other, but why?
Getting prizes and free tickets to a concert yeah sure, sounds great, but to follow and see what they are doing every moment and where they are? Really? It kinda gets boring after awhile because well, they are just like regular people, (just with a giant wad of cash).
I will probably just post rants of opinions and other important daily news to see what I can conjure up. I guess I'm gonna post up some videos about random things.
SO! iPhone4S anyone? I'm planning on getting it, so give me your opinions!