Badguy Turned Good No. 1

Cyborg Ninja / Grey Fox. Badass. Badass baddie. Oh boy, Just thinking about this now gives me motivation to sit down and play Metal Gear Solid (the Gamecube one, Twin Snakes) in one sitting. I can do it you know.

We first meet Cyborg Ninja after the duel with Revolver Ocelot when he cuts off Ocelot's hand (oo I lvoe that bloody mess). He chops up the entire room with his katana before all the C4 goes off. Oh I wanna at least watch the cinema mode if I do not feel like playing, those cut scenes are super badass.

We next meet Cyborg Ninja in this badass cutscene where he turns invisible and slices and dices and messes up all of these Genome Soldiers (Twin Snakes, not in original). Badass. Here is a screenshot.


Then Snake fights him, and he admits that he knows Solid Snake. You think "What in the world does a Cyborg Ninja want with me?" But the ninja keeps egging on Snake, telling him to try harder and he has not felt that kind of pain in years.

So Snake beats the snot out of him.

To go on, Snake has this "informer," an inside man named Deepthroat, admitting he was the one who leaked out the info on Watergate (stupid old man ruining the plot earlier this year in real life, he is no damn cyborg....) Deepthroat later reveals that he is Cyborg Ninja, and he kinda goes hiatus until the battle with Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Rex.

After Snake weakens the sonar on MGR, Cyborg Ninja (or shall I say the late Grey Fox?) enters and whips out a plasma cannon that is attached to his right arm. He gets tossed around by Rex, and then squashed like a bug. The end for him.


What makes him a badguy was that he was at first a good guy. In Metal Gear, not Solid, Grey Fox was a member of Foxhound with Solid Snake, but betrayed him using Metal Gear to take him down. Snake destroyed Metal Gear with Grey Fox inside. Then the doctors at Foxhound brought him back to life, gave him an exoskeleton, a plasma cannon, camouflage, and badass fighting techniques. Grey Fox was not pleased to have come back from the dead, that is why he wanted Snake to kick his ass. But he was laid to rest (sorta) when squashed by Rex. Poor fellow.

I enjoyed this Top 5 list immensely. Nobody else did because nobody reads this. Fools.

Badguy Turned Good No. 2

Number 3 should have been number 2, now that I think about it. But Number 1 will remain the same, and here is Number 2, the good, the bad, then good again, Kratos Aurion.


Kratos introduced himself to Lloyd, Collette and Genis saying he was a mercenary looking for work, and voluntarily joined their group. He stuck around giving advice to Lloyd on swordfighting and enlightening the group to things they did not comprehend until they witnessed firsthand.


Kratos is feared by Botta, and the group wonders why, and how they know each other. But they are all kept in the dark until much, much later. Now I am trying not to spoil anything, but I realize that if I do try to keep every event in true chronological order, it will take a while. Meh.

Tra la la. Shit happens. When the four seals of Sylverant are released, the group learns they can enter the Tower of Salvation, which is the location in which Kratos reveals himself to be a member of Cruxis. Not just a member, but one of the Four Seraphim, the high leaders of Cruxis, but the prime ruler being Yggdrasil. So Kratos fights them as a warning to Lloyd, and holds back, knowing that he can not hurt Lloyd because he is still needed in Yggdrasil's plan.


Lloyd gets super pissed off that Kratos betrayed them, and if that did not make it worse, Kratos still lends a bit of help to them, still being on the opposing force. This ticks off Lloyd even more because he wonders why he would be helping them if he was their enemy.

It comes to my attention that I have left a whole lotta stuff out, but seeing as how this game took me an average of 35 mours to complete, chances are I will not remember everything.


Well to clear one thing up, Botta and Yuan were fearing Kratos because of the whole Cruxis thing. But it turns out that Yuan was acting as a double agent for the Renegades and Cruxis, for he was also a member of the Four Seraphim. But I think I really need to get to the point.


Kratos was not agreeing with Yggdrasil's plan, which was to use Collette, the Chosen, as the new vessel for his deceased sister. Not only that, but Yggdrasil, being a half-elf, faced oppression as a child (a child named Mithos) and wanted to cleanse the world of humans, dwarves, full-blood elves, anything, and create a half-elf utopia. Thus, Kratos goes from bad to good.

Again, you can not claim Kratos was always bad, more like covering his tracks and proving his loyalty to the real enemy. Kratos rejoins Lloyd (if playing the game correctly) and reveals that he is Lloyd's true father. They use this great bond to strike at the core of Derris-Kharlan and kill Yggdrasil and his dream of wiping out existence.


In the end, Kratos bids adeu to his son Lloyd, saying he is needed more in Derris-Kharlan than on Sylverant/Tethe'alla. They have a tearful good-bye, and Kratos leaves. Again, I realize I left out a lot of stuff, but I made my point.

Number 1 is the true Number 1. The most badass of the baddies. The one, the only..........

Badguy Turned Good No. 3

I love my Top 5 lists. Right now I had to think of how I should order the last three, and so I have it settled. Coming in at number 3 is the one, the only, Magus.


Magus was thought to be the prime baddie in Chrono Trigger, because he looks evil, he talks evil, he is the epitomy of evil. He is the leader of the Mystics back in 600 AD, and is at war with the kingdom of Guardia.

Magus is so evil that he kills Cyrus right in front of his apprentice Glenn's eyes. If that was not enough, he then uses his Shadow magic to turn Glenn into Frog. Yes, a frog named Frog. At this point Frog learns the only way to hurt Magus is with the Masamune.

So Crono rebuilds the Masamune for Frog using the shards from the broken Masamune and parts of the Ruby Knife (which later was used to shut down the Mammon Machine, or earlier, damn time traveling!) and gives the Masamune to Frog. They rush into Magus' castle (keep in mind they are in the year 600 AD) and challenge him while he is supposedly summoning Lavos. Crono and Frog (and whoever wanted to fight him too) whooped on Magus and created a gate that lead them to the Dark Ages, 12000 BC.

The children of the Queen of Zeal, Schala and Janus, are capable of magical spells, along with all of the other enlightened ones, who live far above the desolate surface of the earth. When Crono and gang try to find out what is going on in this time period, they learn that the Queen has dismissed her three gurus and only listens to one prophet. A very important prophet.

So Crono and gang rescue Melchior, one of the gurus, and the one responsible for rebuilding the Masamune, advises them on how to destroy the Mammon Machine, which drains energy directly from Lavos, hidden deep inside the earth. But in the process, Lavos is prematurely summoned, and attacks.


During this spontanious attack, Lavos unleashes a massive amount of energy and tragically kills our hero of time Crono. The prophet enters, revealing himself as Magus, who then reveals himself as Janus, one of the queen's children. He creates a rift and the gang is transported to the lower world beneath Zeal.

Frog and company now are horrified that Crono has been killed, and meet up with Magus. Frog immediatly wants revenge for the death of Cyrus, but knows that taking Magus' life will not bring back Crono, so Maugs tells them that it is possible to bring Crono back, and thus joins the party.


In fact, it is difficult to claim that Magus was evil at all, because when he was supposedly summoning Lavos, he was trying to push him back into a slumber. He is such an important character to have fighting in your party because of his supremely high attack strength and unrivaled defense. His magic consists of Lightning2, Ice2, Fire2, and an array of Shadow magic. His speed is only second to Crono, and is super badass because he glides when you dash.

So I figure I am only writing this for me, I have not received any comments in the past two months it seems, I hate you all. But I do enjoy writing about Star Wars and Video Games. The Top 2 are next!

Badguy Turned Good No. 4

It has only been a half hour since I posted Bowser, but I need to get the other not-so-good one out of the way, and coming in at number 4 is the SA-X. (The one on the left)


Ok, this is a tough one to prove. The SA-X is the X Parasite version of Samus' power suit. It has all of the upgrades: gravity suit, varia suit, ice beam, plasma beam, missiles, super missles, bombs, power bombs, screw attack, space jump, speed burst thing, everything. Wow, listing those off just made me realize how badass Samus is.

So when the X Parasite infected Samus, her suit had to be surgically removed, and thus, the SA-X was born. It hindered all of Samus' progression though the Bio-lab and even confronted her a few times. But since Samus had Metroid DNA flowing through her blood and the SA-X was powered with teh Ice Beam, Samus had to run away constantly.

During Samus' and the SA-X's final confrontation, Samus weakened it to the point where this time the SA-X was running away from Samus. But when an Omega Metroid was blocking Samus' path to her ship, in came the SA-X and sacrificed itself so Samus could regain her suit and all of her original powers, thus defeating the Omega Metroid and escaping the Bio-lab before its destruction.

Now I swear, the Top 3 will be the best. Each better than the last, I am getting excited just thinking about them. They will also be a lot longer when I write about them.

Badguy Turned Good No. 5

I wanted to make a Top 10 at GameFAQs but I could not think of that many, so I will go for the Top 5, and this spot is reserved for Bowser.


You are thinking "What the hell, Bowser?" And that is good. In Super Mario RPG, Bowser got pissed because his castle was overtaken by Smithy and that Giant Sword thing, so after deciding that he could not destroy Mario, he joined forces with him to take down Smithy, regain his castle and make amends.

What was so great about Bowser was that you always had him in your party for his high attack strength and high defense, with is critical in any RPG. Granted this is the only game where Bowser takes an alliance with Mario, in all other games he is an asshole who just wants to kidnap the princess.

Now starting off this Top 5 list with Bowser might make all my zero readers sceptical, but beleive me, I found four better and more worthy fellows to take those places.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age

I decided that to keep in the RPG spirit, I will occasionally feature an RPG from time to time. I begin with GS: TSA because I want to put this one picture here.

That is Catastophe, one of the most powerful summons in the game. He is my favorite becasue of 1) how badass he looks when you summon him and 2) the amount of damage he inflicts by using both Mars and Jupiter Djinni. The other two powerful summons are the ones you get after collecting all Djinni: Charon and Iris.

The story in TLA picks up immediately after the first game, when Venus Lighthouse is collapsing and the peninsula breaks off from the mainland. Whereas GS followed Isaac, Garet, Ivan and Mia, TLA follows Felix, Jenna and Sheba, who eventually meet up with the Lemurian Piers. Whereas in GS your objective was to prevent the Lighthouses from being lit, in TLA you learn in order for the world to be saved (or immediately destroyed) the lighthouses MUST be lit.

At the beginning of the game the Mercury and Venus Lighthouses have been lit, and once Felix and Company make it to the Jupiter Lighthouse they meet up with Isaac and Company, where they finally come to terms and agree on lighting the final lighthouse. They end up traveling to their worlds equivilent North Pole, light the lighthouse, save Weyard, and discover that Isaac's dad and Felix and Jenna's parents are still alive.


But Alex (above) had something else in mind, He was atop of Mt. Aleph, hoping to gain teh powers of the Golden Sun upon the lighting of all four lighthouses. But the Wise One (a rock with one eye) caused Alex (who had near limitless power after the Golden Sun rose) to fall with the mountain in the grand earthquake caused by the lighthouses.

If anybody who reads this has a Gameboy Advance, get this game. And the first one. Both are RPG greatness with the same turn-based fighting, but the Djinni system allows for a variation of magic spells, stat boosts, and summons. ...And the Golden Sun shall rise.

RPG Wishlist

I have been thinking a lot about RPG's as of late, I have even contemplated throwing in a Top 5 of some sort regarding RPG's. So what I will do is compose a quick list of games I must (MUST) add to the collection of games.

Chrono Cross - Sequel to Chrono Trigger and IGN says that the battle system in CC is the best ever. I must experience firsthand, that is why it is on the list.

Final Fantasy VIII - You knew that this list was sure to have a FF on it somewhere, and this one is it. I think it is sweet because of Squall Leonheart and gunblades. And sweet PSX graphics.
Baten Kaitos - This is for Gamecube, and it is one of the few GC RPG's. I have Tales of Symphonia (worth every penny, it also got my publsihed). A different type of battle system involving magical cards and not the typical turn based (even though there is nothing wrong with turn based fighting).

Final Fantasy Anthology - This is a two pack for the PS including FFV and FFVI, two more games I have not experienced. Looking at screens, they appear like the same as the other 16- and 32-bit games. So, the experience is all that matters not the graphics.

Final Fantasy X - Jeez, another FF. But I figure when I get a PS3 I will have to get X jsut for the hell of it. NOT X-2. No, hell no. Just X. Got it? I do not want to play as three women. Hell no.

Xenogears - I have heard so much about this game and how sweet it is (potentially being the best RPG not starting with Final and ending with Fantasy). And I think it spawned a couple sequels.

Breath of Fire - Fine I will give into the SNES classic. And the SNES game, not the GBA remake. When it comes to the RPG's I gotta go original, not remake. It is just one of those things.

I know this is a lot, but that is not even half of the real list. It also is in the correct arrangement of what I wanna get first and last. But now I am still of Chrono Trigger, and afterward is FFIV. So I leave my loyal imaginary fans with that.

Revolution Update

I just read the transcript to the speech that Regie Fils-Aime made yesterday at IGN, and I just wanted to skip to what he had to say about the Revolution. You can read that part of his speech here. He made many interesting points that pretty much gave me comfort in the Revolution's future.

Nintendo is not in this console race right now because they can not afford it and they wish not to rush into development. And from the speech, Nintendo has made agreements with some third-party developers already, meaning they have gotten past that nervous feeling of wanting to be a part of the Revolution (nervous of losing money that is).

But the Revolution is looking more and more promising each day, still upholding their promise to download NES and SNES games, along with the backward compatibility for playing Gamecube games.

Nintendo also commented on the controller, the most talked about piece of the Revolution these past months. They hope to expand the possibilities of the remote's functions, such as the additional joystick, and the base controller, so "you can have it both ways. Familiar or revolutionary. One hand or two. Today's games or tomorrow's." That was my favorite part of the speech.

But one question still remains. Playstation 3 or Nintendo Revolution? I doubt I will ever get an Xbox 360 for the sake of me not really wanting it. The PS3 is also guaranteeing backward compatibility, which allows me to hang onto such gems as FFVII and FF Chronicles, and allows me to get the PS2 games I missed out on such as MGS2 and 3. The Xbox 360 is trying to be almost "too sweet" by making most games high definition, and not promising that all Xbox games will be backward compatible. The only Xbox game I care about is (not Halo,) Knights of the Old Republic. I might just get that for PC when I get my college computer.

So take care folks, and may the Force be with you. Always.

Metroid Prime

I have not been as frequent as I should be updating this blog. I am sorry to no one because zero people read this anyway. But lately I have been playing Metroid Prime, the first one, thanks to Joe. I have Echoes, but I have never really enjoyed the first one.


The first is way better than the second. Mainly because there are not limitations to the beams. In Echoes, you kept needing to collect Light and Dark ammo, whereas in MP1 the Wave, Ice, and Plasma beams are not hindered by limitations. I also like how the game moves a lot more smoothly. Once you gain a power up, you promptly figure out where it is you must go next, and then you find your next power up.

It seems like the game is just handing you all these power ups! I have had the game no longer than three weeks and I already have the Phazon Suit, in Echoes I had been playing over a month ebfore I found the damn Dark Visor. Or the Annihilator. The Light Suit took so long to get too, but that was sweet. Not as sweet as the Phazon Suit.

Maybe because I experienced Echoes first, MP1 just seems that much easier, because I have the jist of things. But MP1 being a huge step forward for the Metroid series (transition from 2D to 3D) I can imagine being equally difficult having never played Echoes.

I am pleased that once the game is ebaten, the Hard mode is unlocked, because that is a challenge that would suit my gaming skills and needs.

Revenge of the Sith

Since Tuesday November 1, 2005, I have watched Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith twice on DVD. Better everytime. I have also watched the deleted scenes with the introductions by George Lucas, The documentary "Within a Minute," the music video A Hero Falls with the song Battle of the Heroes, most of the web documentaries, the trailors, the TV spots, and that is about it I think. I am ashamed of myself. But I also learned where to find the dancing Yoda secret thing. Boy am I excited for that.

YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!

Final Fantasy VII: Finally beat it!

Yes, after 16 months of gameplay, half of that time not even playing, I have conquered Sephiroth and stopped Meteor from crashing down on Midgar, which would have ultimately destroyed the planet. Why it took me so long to get around to beating this game, I will never know. What matters is it has finally happened.

So thanks to daylight savings time I would not feel guilty about using that extra hour to play games. I woke up at aroun 8 AM (I know it was very early) and decided to traverse down North Crater. I took my time getting a few levels up and gathering items and materia (materia which I did not even use). This time, though, I used the Save Crystal at the correct spot: right before jumping into the core of the planet to fight Jenova Absolute.

Note: None of the three final bosses killed me, it was one of the extremely strong monsters before them whom I took too lightly that did it.

So Cloud, Barret and Cid (I replaced Vincent with Barret because Mr. Valentine was a little too weak) took of Jenova Absolute. Jenova was a piece of cake my friends. After her destruction, we were at the core of the planet and saw Sephiroth in his true form.

Biazzaro Sephiroth was a bit difficult, not strengthwise, but strategy wise. I had two teams fighting, Cloud, Barret and Cid on the left, Vincent, Tifa and Red XIII on the right. I kept hammering on him with the party on the left, when what I needed to do was destroy his defenses from the right first. So boom, he geos down.

Next came the One Winged Angel himself, Safer Sephiroth. The only thing I worried about is his Super Nova attack, which packed a punch indeed, but could not kill me. My strategy here was to pound on him with Cloud, Summon with Barret, and use Megalixers with Cid. It was just a back and forth battle, I do not know what I was worried about. Once Cloud reached his Limit, I whipped out the Level 4 Omnislash and Safer Sephiroth could not take any of it. Dead.

So everyone was all "Yay, he is dead, but what about the planet?" Then Cloud went a bit crazy. He knew Sephiroth was still alive, but it was only in his head. By the way, that is because Cloud is a failed clone of Sephiroth. What Cloud did is, without hesitation, whipped out Omnislash on Sephiroth and went berserk on him. In his bloody mess, Sephiroth imploded into nothingness and was gone.

Note: I am pretty sure he comes back as a clone in Advent Children, I saw the screenshot.

But Meteor was still crashing down on the planet, and Holy was not helping defend against it, but fueling the madness. Until the planet responded with the Lifestream, and saved humanity. Flash forward 500 years, we see Nanaki (aka Red XIII) run toward a cliff with two younglings and look down upon Midgar, which has been overtaken by plants and moss and foliage.

The only thing left for me is Advent Children, out on DVD within the next two months. The puppets of Sephiroth and Jenova must be stopped.

Have I mentioned Killer 7 is freakin' sweet?

I know that I must have at least once or twice mentioned that.... But now that I have my memory card back, I can continue playing Killer 8 mode, where I can use young Harman as a persona to blow away those suicide bombing monsters. They hurt a lot more though when they get you, and the movement system still sucks when trying to run away, but I keep coming back for the story.

Which is what I wanna talk about. After completion, I was a frequent visitor and contributor to IGN's message boards, where myself and other gamers theorized what in the world happened. But recently in Japan, they released a book called "Hand in Killer 7" that explains the truth behind everything. Which means, everything theorized (maybe half) was completely wrong.

Something good came from this book: closure. We learn the truths behind the Killer 7's shape changing and personality switching ability, as well as a clear timeline to the events leading up to, and why we keep seeing the ghosts of those we have eliminated after we (we as in the Killer 7) kill them.

Something bad also came from this book: no more theories. It was great thinking that Garcian was actually having mental problems. He was the one who killed the Smith Syndicate, and took their weapons. When he armed himself with a weapon he became that person. But no. Not anymore. It was fun while it lasted.

But in the end, one must lose. Peace can never last (just ask Japan, my first playthough, I destroyed their country). I (as Emir Parkreiner) killed Kenjiro Matsuoko in cold blood. Oh boy that was a tough decision wheter or not I wanted to kill him (I did not want to, but I could feel Emir wanted to).

To conclude, I now have the game's official soundtrack. What a loser I am. But it is truly amazing. It reminds me of the game, from the song Rave On (the Vinculum Gate music) to the song Reenactment (the ending credits song, the second time we get the credits). In the name of Harman...

Too bad you do not get taht last sentence, it is from the game. So I leave you with a quote.

Christoper Mills: May the Lord smile...
Garcian Smith: ...and the Devil have mercy.

Top 5 Most Wanted - No. 1

Here it is, the number 1 spot. True Crime: New York City. Two years ago we saw Streets of LA try to be a good attempt at a GTA, and in some ways, it succeeded. A more linear gameplay with a straight forward story intrigued me, but at my experience level, it took me under a week to complete.


What excites me about NYC is that the producers have corrected almost every flaw LA had. Almost every building you see can be entered, and all the people on the streets are interactive. That is sweet because all the buildings in LA were just giant block renderings that jumped out at you and said "Look at me! I'm an ugly house in the middle of the Downtown area!"


Also, I loved how the fighting in LA made it different from any GTA. You could kick, punch, block, anything, and this helped vary the missions and added some excitement to the game. I also loved in LA how you fought fat Russians in the bathroom of a spa.


LA lacked motocycles, but it seems as if NYC has added them in. Yay! I also hope in NYC that the physics while driving a car is realistic. Man oh man, driving in LA was terrible. Good, but not GTA good.


True Crime: New York City is scheduled for a release date of November 15. Still, I now that this game will drop in price sooner or later. It is such a shame that I totally forgot about the price drop factor when I got Killer 7. Forget that, Killer 7 is freakin' sweet! I hope you enjoyed the Top 5 Most Wanted for the first week of October. Since I had so much fun making this, expect to see a lot more Top 5's in the Star Wars and Video Game blog!

Top 5 Most Wanted - No. 2

Star Wars: Battlefront is the unofficial game of Tim and Erik, but not since his PS2 began to suck. So it has been a while since we could play that. Despite me not having a PS2, I still want Battlefront 2.


A third-person shooter which involves some strategic actions is great, but when it takes place in the Star Wars Universe, that's better. Missions take place in Republic-Era times, and even during the Empire. You can also fight on either of the two sides for each era: Clones or droids, and Rebels or Imps. Infantry ranges from the guys with jet-packs, to Wookiees, to Super Battle Droids, and my favorite, snipers.


Battlefront 2 will be even better than the first because Jedi will be present to face off against, with, or as. Now who doesn't wanna run around with a lightsaber chopping off heads left and right? And who wouldn't want to know what it feels like to cut one down yourself? Or shoot down with an overwhelming amount of guns? You can make this happen, because missions will also take place during Episode III times.


Also, not only will it be a shooter, but you can also fly around in TIEs, X-Wings, Jedi Starfighters, or Tri fighters etc. in a space dogfight. Man, I would love to see this in multiplayer. Erik and I would play through all the missions in one sitting because we could, and if he gets Battlefront 2, we will be flying son!


Closing comments: I love Star Wars. I love video games. Put them together, and you have one giant orgasmic experience. I am still undecided about what will fill the Number 1 spot, so check back soon and find out!

Top 5 Most Wanted - No. 3

X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse, sequel to one of the greatest multiplayer games I have ever played. The first Legends was sweet, fun melee attacks, great mutant super powers, but load times were just a bit sloooow. From what I hear, things have been upgraded.


I am very excited for the sequel. The X-Men and the Brotherhood have teamed up, which means there will be much more characters to choose from. I hope that you have noticed the title of the game, because that is why they have joined forces. Apocalypse is threatening the world, yadda yadda yadda, time to kick some ass.


What really excites me is that Magneto will be a playable character. Booyah! I don't care how evil he is, you have to admit that he is one of the most powerful mutants to ever walk the Earth (and float above it using his powers).


Now I wish I had more to write about, but I can't really think of anything more. Other than I wish they made the characters more distinguishable on screen, and I hope the load times are quicker. I think Number 2 will be another sequel: Star Wars Battlefront 2.

Top 5 Most Wanted - No. 4

Please also check out No. 5, Fire Emblem Path of Radience beaneath this feature. Today is Battalion Wars, a similar but different game and cousin of Advance Wars for the GBA.


Advance Wars was a turn based strategy game where you took control of a Cammanding Officer (CO) and sent your troops in to fight the enemy, using tanks, planes, boats, and infantry, among other troops. Your troops can be destroyed, but you can also create troops using funds gathered from captured cities. The first AW you commanded the Orange Star Army to investigate an eerie attacker and along the way you engage Blue Moon, Green Earth, and Yellow Comet. The four countries later on team up with each other in AW2 to defend agaisnt teh ruthless Black Hole.


Battalion Wars however is a real time strategy game. You take control of one unit, whether it be infantry, tank, plane, artillery, etc. If you die, you just take control of another unit on the battlefield. This is a very fast paced game where quick decisions need to be made or it can mean certain death.


The wide array of units adds to the gameplay. Infantry units can be upgraded, and there is even a new type of infanrty that can weild flamethrowers. The tanks are powered up more, and the recon units can either be fast with little firepower, or not as fast with a whole lots of firepower.


Returning are the Crazy CO's. Their personalities always reflect in the way they fight, and add to a bit of the light hearted fun in this game, already released. Don't be turned away from this sleeper for the Gamecube, and don't think it kiddie (it has a rating of T for Teen). Check it out, and keep an eye out for my next feature: X-Men Legends 2!

Top 5 Most Wanted - No. 5

Over the next couple of posts, I will cover 5 of my most wanted games that have been released recently or will be released by the Holidays. Today is Fire Emblem: Path of Radience.


I love Fire Emblem, that is a given. America has been deprived of many great games, and Fire Emblem is one of them. That is until the first American import came on the GBA. Turn based strategy has never been finer. Throw in a great plot with many twists, and then you have the next big thing. Then in May, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones came out, and I immediately downloaded the ROM. (ROMs are easier to play because I can save at the beginning of every turn, and then if someone dies, I can restart.) I am replaying it now as a matter of fact because there are many missions to play and character to unlock.


Now the first Gamecube Fire Emblem is beautiful. They keep the same gameplay, which includes the turn based strategy and RPG style level ups. Plus, if this is even possible, the story is bigger than both GBA games combined, and is sure to pack in more twists. I guarantee that 2 hours into the story, you have already abondoned the initial goal and are now helping other people with theirs. Then another 30 hours after that, you can't even remember what you started fighting for.


October 11 is the released date, but I will wait until after that. Games like these always have a price drop around mid- to late-November. The same thing happened to Metroid Prime 2: Echoes last year. And I promise you, when I get this game, all my friends will get blown off for my own personal fun. Tune in next time when I will cover Battalion Wars.

Revolution

So at the Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo finally revealed what was so revolutional about the Revolution. The controller. My first glance at it made me go "What the fuck!?" It was just like a TV remote, thats the only way I could describe it at first. But I examinded more, it features a directional pad and an A button for the thumb, and a trigger button underneath. You can attach another part to the remote controller, and then in your left hand you have a joystick. With all that shown to me, I decided I would not want the Nintendo Revolution.
But Nintendo is good at proving me wrong.

The remote can be turned sideways, so the d-pad is in the left hand and two buttons are for the right thumb, enabling gamers to play the classic NES games (there will be quite the library of NES and maybe SNES games to download onto the Revolution).

But this is what saves the day.
The remote fits into the newly renovated Gamecube controller. Whew. Thank goodness. I could still play real games, the good button mashers, and still play the innovative new games that require the motion sensor in the front of the remote. Boy oh boy.

For more info, check out IGN.com.

Luke Skywalker: The Only Hope?

I was thinking this morning while having writers block: What made Luke Skywalker so qualified that he could actually bring back the Jedi way? The movies sure as hell don't make him look like the perfect choice, so that is what I am basing this on (because most of my visitors are not aware of his vast enhancement in skills that takes place in the books).

Let's start with the amount of training he received. He knew Obi-Wan for what, less than a week? Ben (as Luke knew him as) saved him from the Sand People, then died on the Death Star days later. All we see that he teaches Luke is using his senses to touch with the Force, that and very minimal lightsaber techniques.

Yoda, I am positive, showed him a lot more. Luke became more aware of his surroundings by then, and could feel the power of the Dark Side in the cave on Dagobah. Luke could focus on more than one object with the Force, but he was very impatient. He foolishly rushed to Cloud City only to fall into a trap for misreading a vision. He could also communicate with Leia and Darth Vader through the Force.

Wow, he came a long way between ESB and ROTJ. Did you see him use the Jedi Mind Trick (not Force Mind Trick, yes I am still upset about that) on Bib Fortuna? And the flips he did on the sail barge? His dueling techniques became on par with his second confrontation with Vader, but we also see his anger ruled him and allowed for the overpowerment of the Sith Lord.

Ok pretty much the small amount of training he received plays a big part, because I covered a lot there. Actually that covers pretty much all I wanted to say. What a crappy topic. But it had to be done. I covered a lot more about the Jedi Order, so read that.

The Jedi Order? What fools...

It seems that the numbers are not in my favor here. That means only one thing: YOU PEOPLE ARE FLIPPING IGNORANT. To me, it will still be Sith Lightning. But I will move on now, to a more touchy subject.

The Jedi Order during the waning days of the Republic. What about them you ask? THEY WERE FOOLS AND DESERVED TO BE WIPED OUT.

Woah, that came out of nowhere right?

Exhibit A: They were fools enough to still side with the Republic when they knew it was being corrupted. I thought Jedi weren't supposed to take sides, but apparantly they thought that the Republic were the overall "good guys."

Exhibit B: When the Jedi were contacted for their assistance, they would side with those who got to them first. If anyone read Labyrinth of Evil they might know what I am speaking of. General Grievous had not always been a cyborg. His race of people were at a civil war with the Huk, the other species that lived on his planet. All was going well for Grievous, leading his army into victory after victory. But the Huk contacted the Jedi, and with their help, destroyed Grievous' men. Thanks to that, they pissed Grievous off even more, and that played a factor into him siding with the Separatists.

Exhibit C: Anakin was not the Chosen One. You can point the blame on Qui-Gon for this one. He felt soo much that Anakin had been the Chosen One. Obi-Wan accepted his wishes to train the boy, on the grounds that he was in fact the Chosen One sent to bring balance to the Force. Yoda felt otherwise, but the council allowed him to be trained. I don't need to mention that was a mistake for them right?

Exhibit D: Jedi did not use their time wisely in the 1000 years before Darth Sidious surfaced. They became kinda relaxed when it came to lightsaber dueling. It shows during all of the duels in the prequels. Given that Qui-Gon was talented, he was still brought down by Darth Maul. Obi-Wan was only able to strike him in half because he had allowed anger to enter his manuevers for only those couple minutes, and he had the element of surprise.

Now to the main point of Exhibit D, four Jedi together COULD NOT defeat a Sith Lord. Mace Windu led Kit Fisto, Stass Allie, and Saesee Tiin to Palpatine's quarters to arrest him. But old man Palpatine took out the first three like they were just flies on the wall. All of them were well respected Masters, but screwed up big time.

Exhibit E: The Jedi way made them too much of a pussy.

Palpatine-"Kill him!"
Anakin-"It's not the Jedi way!"

Bad example because Anni ends up cutting off Dooku's head anyway.

Anakin-"You can't kill him! It's not the Jedi way!"
Mace Windu-"This man is a traitor!"
Anakin-"He must face trial! ... I NEED HIM!"

Now if Mace Windu, the most badass of the Jedi, had said "Fuck you Anakin, I'll do this myself," then his arm wouldn't have been chopped off and he wouldn't have been tossed out that window. And Palpatine would have been over with. And the the Galaxy wouldn't be forced into the Empire.

SO IN CONCLUSION: The Jedi pretty much fucked over the Galaxy, NOT the Sith.

Please, folks, it's SITH Lightning!!!

Now, allow me to get this off my chest. We have seen two men use lightning to attack their foes, Darth Tyranus (Count Dooku) and Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine). Both men are Sith. Sith. Not Jedi. The attack should be known as, from this day forward, "Sith Lightning."

The Jedi are keepers of the peace. They are not to take the offensive.

The Sith are sworn enemies of the Jedi. They use their hate to inflict pain.'

The Jedi tap into the powers of the Force. They have no need for physical strength when the Force is their guide. Just look at Yoda. "The Force" by itself implies the light side of the Force.

The Sith tap into the powers of the Dark Side. They too feel no need to rely on physical strength. Just look at Emperor Palpatine. The Dark Side (of the Force) implies that those who use it attack with anger and aggression.

I hope you know where this is going. There is no reason to call the attack "Force Lightning" when only a Sith is capable of creating lightning from their fingertips. From now on, please refer to the attack as "Sith Lightning." Thank you for your cooperation.

EDIT: For further discussion on whether it is "Force Lightning" or "Sith Lightning," or if you need more evidence to support your answer, check the comments left by Martin and myself.

EDIT: I am obviously not getting through to you people, and it seems like most aren't even bothering checking the comments, so I'll post a good point here.

Obi-Wan uses the "Jedi Mind Trick." Not the "Force Mind Trick," because it is a Jedi ability that they developed. Therefore, since the Sith use the lightning attack that was developed BY THE SITH, it shall be called "Sith Lightning."

Lightning Attack Poll Which do you think is the correct term? Force Lightning Sith Lightning view results

Seeing as how the last post was about video games, I think I should throw in Star Wars, to keep the blog varied. Haha, only two topics and I call it "varied." That might be spelled wrong.

On November 1, 2005, the DVD of ROTS will be released, along with Battlefront 2. The sad thing is, I do not have a PS2 and therefore, no Bttlefront 2 for me, unless Erik gets it and I go to his house and we play it for hours on end. Now the real question is: How do I pass the time until November 1?

Well the answer is simple. To me at least. I will watch and re-watch, and re-watch, Episodes I, II, IV, V, and VI. I might just watch all of them in the same day if I feel like it. But after I get sick Attack of the Clones being THE WORST of the six, I will focus on staying in the Star Wars galaxy by reading.... yes, Tim reads.

Currently I have read five books this year on my own time. Shadows of the Empire, Heir to the Throne, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and Labyrinth of Evil. I beleive some of those are on my favorite book list. I recommend the Thrawn trilogy (written by the undisputed greates Star Wars author, Timothy Zahn) to all Star Wars fans. It is my understanding that there are three other Zagn books out as well: Survivor's Quest, and the Hand of Thrawn duo, Spector of the Past and Vision of the Future. Those are on my "to get" list.

It is also my understanding that on October 25, Zahn will release The Outbound Flight, a telling of where Palpatine sent the select pioneers (the Outer Rim territories) and who was, exactly, the Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth. (Not to be confused with Joruus C'baoth, his insane clone who tried to take Luke as his apprentice and almost killed Mara Jade).

Martin, you understand what I am talking about, you read some of those books, you loser. Such as The Truce at Bakura, which I am currently reading, and currently using as my escape to-

THE STAR WARS GALAXY!

KILLER 7 IS FREAKING SWEET

This was originally written on Thursday, July 14, and takes place moments after I complete Killer7. I have done minimal editing to the post, and have decided to keep the language to retain its overall tone and context. Enjoy.

WARNING! MAJOR BOREDOM OR DISINTEREST MAY OCCUR WHILE READING THIS ENTRY. IT IS JUST ME DESCRIBING THE ENDING TO A VIDEO GAME. IT IS VERY LONG AND I WAS JUST RAMBLING ABOUT THIS CRAP. But it's fun, give it a chance...

I am in the biggest "what the fuck" moment I have ever been in my life. I recently got addicted to Killer 7 again, and well, I beat it. But then you unlock the 'Killer 8' game mode so that will be started later tonight. But WHAT THE FUCK! First let's begin with the guy who created this game. His name is SUDA 51, that's his name, and he is wearing a wrestling mask in almost every public photo there has been taken of him. Now this genius wrote, directed, and designed this game. I use the term genius literally. This game touches on a lot of political issues at hand, and some in the future. It has the same thing that I believe every book, movie, and videogame has ever tried to preach: Love each other. That, and world peace isn't all what it is cracked up to be.

But the game features the infamous Killer 7, a band of assassins that is hired to take out the terrorists known as Heaven Smile. HS is a bunch of fucked up people that look like monsters and have bombs on them. And they explode. So wow. I am still in shock. Whoever is reading this probably gave up on me already. But thanks for sticking around if you aren't one of those people.

So we have the Killer 7: Garcian, Dan, Kaede, Kevin, Coyote, Con, and Mask. They are led by Harman Smith, and are also known as the Smith Clan. All have their special abilities and come in handy in a lot of different situations. Dan is my favorite. He's got the Magnum. so as the game progresses we learn that some people are joining up with Kun Lan, the leader of Heaven Smile. Some other people are just bad. So the Killer 7 go around and kill them. And in some cases, they actually kill themselves.

At the end, Garcian returns to the Union Hotel, because the other "personalities" have been killed while doing a job at a school in Washington state. Garcian notices there are multiple bloodstains on the walls, and then sorta has a vision of what happened, but through the perspective of the killer. We are shown the deaths of every assassin that was in league with the Killer 7: first Kevin, then Con, Kaede, Mask, and Coyote. As Garcian reaches the 6th floor, he remembers much more clearly. He is having a conversation with Dan, and Dan asks "Who the fuck are you? You gonna killer us?" They both pull out their guns, and Garcian gets to his first. Bye-bye Dan .

Now Garcian enters a suite on the 7th floor, which is occupied by two men, one of which is the REAL Harman Smith. He explains to Garcian, or shall we say, EMIR PARKREINER, that he was raised to be a killer in that same school in Washington. And at the bold, young age of 13, Emir murdered each and everyone of the Killer 7. Garcian is confused by all of this, but somehow is beginning to understand...

Garcian reaches the the top floor and enters a room where Harman and Kun Lan are playing chess. They acknowledge the presence of Garcian, but as they turn to him, they are both pelted with a fine amount of bullets. So I guess one could say mission complete.......

But it's not. Garcian is now on the roof of the Union Hotel. He turns to see a young black boy holding a gun. He approaches the boy, but not quick enough. The boy has pointed a gun in his own mouth and commits suicide. Garcian runs to the boy, and he places the briefcase that he always carries with him down next to him. The discovery that the boy, Emir Parkreiner, killed himself taunts Garcian, for that is what happened to him. Garcian cannot accept the facts, and he finally takes a look at his briefcase's contents. The look of horror in Garcian's face is enough to give any person nightmares. The briefcase contains one magnum, two grenade launchers, a knife, two automatic pistols, a revolver, and semi-automatic with a scope: the exact weapons of the Killer 7.

Now have we been following along to all of this? I know it is quite long and detailed, but there is more, beleive it or not.

The credits roll, and then it says 'The end.' BUT it unlocks another mission to play. Three years later Garcian heads to a tiny remote island to exterminate the last of the Heaven Smile. He reaches the sub-basement of this creepy-run down abandoned place, and runs into (forgot his name), the Japanese guy. He's like "Behind this door is the last of them, kill it and it's all over. But, it is harder than that. What are you gonna do with me? I guess you'll have to kill me, otherwise I'll head back to Japan and then you will totally be fucked." I am paraphrasing. So Garcian kills the mother fucker (I got to choose to kill him or let him live, I show no mercy) and runs down this winding hallway till he corners the last one. He can't see it too well in the dark, but pops that motherfucker. A closer look reveals the face of Kun Lan dressed up like Iwazaru. WHAT THE FUCK AGAIN!!! If you aren't confused, then mad props to you, because I still am. That shit happened an hour ago and I am still trying to process it all.

More credits roll, and it says 'The end?' with the question mark and all. I shout out "NO GOD DAMN IT ITS NOT THE END YOU ALREADY SAID IT WAS THE END I CANT TRUST YOU AT ALL!!!!"

I take a couple breaths, and then I see it isn't the end at all.

Another scene takes place between Harman Smith and Kun Lan. This is 100 years into the future now, and the happenings between them are the exact same ones that happened at the beginning of the game. So I guess you can never truly defeat evil (I already knew that by the way). Well well well. There is my story. The ending of a pretty damn good game. GamePro does not know what they are talking about. They are only good at making me a published writer. HAHAHAHAHA. Just thought I'd mention that again.

OK, now this is the end of this entry, for real, I ain't playin' with yo head.

Welcome, friends

So this is the actual blog. I promise to stay on topic(s). Those two beign my true loves: Star Wars and video games. I have my xanga still, I will leave Big Brother there and everything else that doesn't fall into Star Wars or video games. Please, sit back, and enjoy.

One more thing, I promise not to use any Force tricks on you...