I’m wondering if anyone remembers Furonda Brasfield from America’s Next Top Model Cycle 6. She’s the one who greatly entertained the judges during their traditional Thai dance with her quirky ways.
Anyways, I saw a McDonald’s commercial recently and wondering if that’s her eating the burger. Anyone else seem to catch this? Or maybe I’m just delirious…don’t mind me…Jon told me to post it :P (ok he didn’t!)
With two seasons under it’s belt, Dexter returns this fall to Showtime to do some more killing as the “master” instead of the “student”. Season 2 Complete DVDs hit stores on August 19th. This is probably my most favorite American TV show, ok not probably…it is! I highly suggest this series if you haven’t been watching it.
I tried googling this earlier after receiving a random text from a friend that works in Manhattan, but nothing came on the searches until I went to ny1.com.
Here’s the article: RIP: Heath Ledger. Just wow…He was found dead today at around 3:30PM EST in his downtown NYC apartment…I’m just shocked…
I rarely post…let alone post about music (eeeek!)!!! I guess I got inspired to look into bands I used to/still like after playing Rock Band with Dylan. I totally suck at vocals, but I can out hum you any day! Also…don’t ask me about drums…would have been a nice dream of me playing the drums, but…nope…the horrors!
Ok, enough about Rock Band, this is a post about Weezer. They have their sixth album coming out in April 2008! I’m excited. I haven’t bought a CD since their last album, which came out in 2005 (can’t believe it’s been 3 years since I bought anything related to music for myself…).
I guess I was a little disappointed with their fifth album. Hopefully, they don’t disappoint us with this one.
On a cold morning of Dec 20th in NYC, I woke up and saw a pink post-it on top a present with my name on it with the message “Merry Christmas”. It was an early Christmas present from Santa!
And being the nice person that I am (^_~) I present to you what I promised from my last post, Final Fantasy IV (2007 remake for NDS, JP version) released yesterday in Japan.
FFIV’s 2007 remake is coming out on December 20th in Japan. I’m gleeing with excitement over here. I mean look at it…how can you not fall in love with this game again? (T_T) I will be stalking and camping import stores here for this game. I will update again once this game comes out.
Until then…Here’s a clip from FFIV’s theme song “Theme of Love” remade with some beautiful lyrics it aired on MTV Japan. If I could sing, I would definitely sing this song…believe me! But I can’t, so let’s watch someone who is better off doing this song justice:
I got this in my inbox the other day and I want to go! But I’m not sure if this little guy is going to motivate me enough to wait on line for 6hrs, and did I mention it’s damn cold?! Unless anyone wants to PictoChat with me…I’m up for a duel of TicTacToe!
Long time no see! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything up. I haven’t been up to much except work so I don’t really have time to actually play much of anything, let alone post about them. But don’t fret, Tally is here to blog about another game that a handful of you might be dying to play. After my last hiatus, I bought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates to replace the void in my gaming addiction. I didn’t get to pick it up before the street date like I did with Phantom Hourglass, but I still think I’m a baller.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates came out in Japan on August 23, 2007 and it seems like it won’t be out in the US until the second quarter of 2008. Being me, I can’t wait for an NDS game to come out a year later in the US, so I bought the JP version. This game isn’t very easy on you when it comes to the language barrier so I don’t really recommend importing this game unless your knowledge of kanji is up there. Also, unlike Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass there are no furigana to help you translate the kanji and all the dialogue takes place in the upper screen along with the action.
To start things off, an opening cutscene takes place in small village where you meet the two main characters, Yuri and Cherinka, fraternal twins, as little children. Yuri and Cherinka are fighting over who gets to be the first one to chop up the logs. Their father, Ratov, tells them to do it together instead. Without their father’s guidance they can’t pick up the axe, but Ratov tells them to concentrate and try to work together. During this cutscene they introduce you to the other two playable characters, Misu and Aruhanaremu. Gnash, the archer won’t be introduce until later on. I’ve included a clip of the opening scene below.
Anyway, the story is your usual Final Fantasy style, young heroes/heroines embarking on an epic journey for peace and revenge…Need I add more? The gameplay is similar, if not the same as the FFCC for the GC. Instead of controlling your character’s movements and actions via stylus, the buttons are used. You still control where magics are cast with the directional buttons and just release the X button to cast it. Also, you can combine spells together with another character to turn it into a higher tier version of said spell. After every monster killed, they drop items either spell magicites, potions or items use for creating better weapons and equipments.
I have yet to try out the game with another owner of the game, but I did make an archer character and I tried one simple mission and it seemed like it would be quite fun if you had 1-3 other players along for the ride. The missions are based on your level and the number of party members (up to 4 players). In multi-player mode your character is separate from the character in single player mode…so yes you will have to create a “new” character; overall it would be a lot easier to grind through levels if you can co-op with someone else for the levels instead of soloing dungeons. You get rewarded with prizes accordingly to how well you did in the missions.
Overall, I really like this game. Sadly US gamers won’t be able to get it until next year. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:
As promised, here’s the ad for the upcoming games for the Nintendo DS that was in the FFCC: Ring of Fates manual. (left) Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuketsu no Gurimoa and (right) Final Fantasy IV both for the DS. I’ll probably get the imports of both those when they’re available. I’ve been calling about Tactics A2 for DS all week so hopefully that should be here soon!
So with Ring of Fates and those two imports (just mentioned in the spoiler), not to mention the FFXI expansion which I might be interested in, my Final Fantasy cravings should be more than satisfied! Of course, for those you waiting for the US versions, don’t worry, I’ll be sure to let you guys know how they are.
Speaking of imports and US versions, one last note about Ring of Fate — I don’t recommend buying the import unless you understand a lot of kanji. If your overall Japanese is just conversational, that might not cut it here. So level up! Or wait til next year…
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (ゼルダの伝説 夢幻の砂時計) comes out tomorrow (the 23rd of June 2007) in Japan. Last night I asked Jon to stop by an import game store down in Chinatown, just in case there’s a slight chance they would have it. Turns out they just got it in. So yes, I own a copy of Phantom Hourglass even before the Japanese release, I’m such a baller… or maybe just lucky. I like to think I’m a baller…
The graphics are wonderful for an NDS game~! It’s probably over-the-top Japanese cuteness, but hey it is the Windwaker sequel. I’m not a cutesy type of gal, but if the game can do cuteness some justice, then I ain’t complaining. Just as long as you don’t see me with a pink DS…because you know that’s not how I roll. I’ve been dying for a new game to play on my DS ever since I stopped playing Pokemon Pearl (US version) so Dylan can catch up. Phantom Hourglass kept me up pretty late. I wanted to solve the next puzzle, but by then it was already 2am and I had work at 10am. As for the gameplay, most of the action happens in the bottom screen and you use your stylus for everything. You ocassionally have to use the mic for certain puzzles. The directional button isn’t really used for much except to pull the menu out. The same goes with the Y, X, and B, A buttons. I only played a bit of it last night and got to the second island.
Some of the puzzles are a bit tricky since they rely on you knowing Japanese. You will need to read the clues to help solve the puzzles, which are of course in Japanese. If you think that’s a little too difficult, I suggest you wait until the NA release of it. According to Gamestop.com the release date isn’t until October 2007.
What surprised me most wasn’t the game but the text interface. I like how the JP version has furigana over the kanji, for younger kids or even for adults who forgot how a certain kanji is suppose to be read. All you do is put your stylus over a kanji and the furigana appears above it. Pretty nifty if you ask me! This is cool for people who want to play Zelda in Japanese, but can’t read all the kanji. So, for all you importing this game, as long as you know your basic kana, you can still make out the more difficult kanji and look it up in a dictionary if you’re stuck. And as for people who don’t know what furigana is you can read all about it on Wikipedia.
As far as I’m concerned, I’m pretty pleased with the game. The music is awesome, although low at times. I guess my only disappointment is the constant usage of the stylus, be it for moving around, attacking, or even solving puzzles. As a New Yorker, this is just not a train game.
Images above: I scanned in the box art: front and back, the cover of the manual and the page with the main characters. I’ll post a video of the opening or something soon.
