Subject Association Meme
Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
Given to me by Superbus:
FESS
Pennsylvania
Lunar
Geno
Dreamcast
FESS - Ah, FESS. I don't know what I can really say at this point, as most of my feelings and background on the subject were mentioned in the farewell topic before the site shut down. When I first joined, I had just finished Blazing Sword after borrowing it from a friend (lack of income meant that buying it myself was out of the question), and since I had recently realized that I had missed quite a bit of stuff during my very first playthrough of Grandia II, I figured that I'd look online and see if I had done the same with FE7. As luck would have it, I didn't miss anything overly important, but I ended up registering an account and sticking around.
Quite frankly, I'm glad I did, as I doubt I'd have some of the "skills" I have now if I hadn't. I don't think I'd be nearly as passionate about things that I believe in (in some shape or form) , nor do I think that I'd have any background in pixel art to be able to detect minute details that are wrong in certain things. (Granted, that doesn't help too much in anything other than a hobby, but...) And, though my passion for the series has slowly waned (I still haven't finished Radiant Dawn, though I've made more progress than I had before. And, I'm too cheap to pick up Shadow Dragon right now, especially when college textbooks can be so expensive.), I definitely don't regret joining up in the community and seeing everything happen. Yes, there were days when I really didn't want to deal with some of the shit going on and there were bad days in general for the community, but as a whole, I don't think it was time wrongly spent. (Though, if FESS was running in FESS4 activity levels, I really don't know if I'd be able to handle being staff at this point, with all of the class work I have.)
Looking back, I really wish some of the people that I got fairly close to (with the fact it was the internet aside) were around more often. I remember all of the days when I'd be helping Jack with one thing or another, be it something specifically for FESS or for yet another FESSer Project that went absolutely nowhere. Those days were fun and exciting, and it's sad that they had to die off. Sure, I've got SF to look after, though I can't say that I have nearly as much "fun" as I did back on FESS4 before Radiant Dawn even released in Japan. And, it's not like I've left the fandom. I may not be spriting much anymore, but I've still got my ways of keeping FE as a hobby and not a "job."
Pennsylvania - One of the Thirteen Colonies, often referred to as the Keystone State. Home to two American Football teams, two MLB teams, one NBA team, and two NHL teams. Even as dull as PA can be sometimes and with the stereotypes that get associated with people from the Pittsburgh area, I don't really think there's a better place that I'd live in (at this point). It's rarely too hot in the Summer, almost never too cold (though, Old Man Winter can be really aggravating some years) in the Winter, there's actual scenery to look at (unlike Ohio), and we have tons of roads! Well, that last part is more a negative than anything, given that our roads are always some of the worst in the country. Even the Turnpike is shitty in places! That aside, I really don't know what else to say. XD
Lunar Series - I could probably go on about this subject for quite some time. I got my first taste of the series after reading an old issue of the now defunct EGM some time ago. It was a two page review or preview (I honestly don't remember which, anymore) of Eternal Blue Complete and it looked quite interesting. I didn't have a Playstation back then (I likely only had my Genesis in terms of consoles at the time, in fact), so it was one of those "This seems like it'd be awesome to play if I actually had a Playstation" moments. Apparently (as I was reminded of just yesterday), during one of my routine calls to my friends later on, I had asked if they had every heard of the game. They supposedly said that they had because their cousin or family friend or someone had it. Again, some time down the road, I was at said friend's house, and they had borrowed the game (at least Disc 1, that is) from whoever it was that had it and had gotten to the Disc Change after the cutscene aboard the Dragonship Destiny as it headed towards Pentagulia. Sadly, they had to stop at that part, since they didn't have the next Disc, so I didn't get to see too much of it.
However, I was in luck. My cousin actually had both Silver Star Story Complete and Eternal Blue Complete. After acquiring his ancient PSX (the gray one), the two games, and Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX on loan, I got around to playing through Eternal Blue Complete first. After I made it through, I ended up getting another friend hooked on the game (this was about 5 years ago, IIRC) and also started playing SSSC (which I also proceeded to get the person hooked on XD). They're both two of the greatest games I think I've ever played, even if Working Designs wasn't completely accurate to the original sources during their localization process. All of the Americanized references to things made the games something fun to read as you progressed through them. The only reason I feel I hold Eternal Blue Complete in higher regards is probably because it was the first one I was given exposure to. Sure, it doesn't have the story and overall impact that Silver Star Story Complete has, but SSSC's battle interface is almost archaic compared to EBC's. And, seeing as the Grandia series also holds a place close to the top of my all-time list of games (despite not actually appearing on my top three list on SF... WTF was I on when I made that?), battle systems do mean quite a bit to me.
(Oh, and mainly to Chris: If you haven't checked it out yet, you should look into Mage Knight 404's "hack" of FE7, seeing as it's got quite a few characters from SSSC in it (5 of them, IIRC). It's still similar to Rekka's storyline, but it's light humor, it has sprites galore (as you'd expect from MK404), and it has Lunar. XD)
Geno - The only reason I had Chopstick make the Geno avatar back on FESS2 was because I was in a SMRPG fix at the time. I had probably just been playing it at my next door neighbor's house or something, and thus chose that as my second username on FESS. Geno isn't really even my favorite playable character in SMRPG. While I generally swap my team around, I much prefer using Mario/Toadstool/Bowser for important battles. I think that Geno most associates people with the game, however, so I will use him as a symbol of the fact that SMRPG was probably one of the first RPGs I played. (In fact, he was my racing emblem on Mario Kart DS until just the other day (Granted, I hadn't played in awhile either...), as I couldn't think of anything else that would fit in a 32x32 pixel block and be representative of me.)
Dreamcast - Sega, oh how I wish you wouldn't have killed off the Dreamcast so early in its life. I think my Dreamcast (which I got back around Christmas of '99, IIRC), still sits atop all of the consoles I've owned in terms of total time spent on. I really need to get on eBay or something and pick up some more titles that I've been meaning to pick up for ages, since I played the demos of them or played them on my neighbor's DC. This reminds me that I'm still in the middle of a playthrough of Grandia II (which, Chris, if you're reading this, I'm surprised wasn't mentioned as one of five things). I'll have to pick that up again once I finish Xtreme and the other new games that I've picked up recently.
Given to me by Superbus:
FESS
Pennsylvania
Lunar
Geno
Dreamcast
FESS - Ah, FESS. I don't know what I can really say at this point, as most of my feelings and background on the subject were mentioned in the farewell topic before the site shut down. When I first joined, I had just finished Blazing Sword after borrowing it from a friend (lack of income meant that buying it myself was out of the question), and since I had recently realized that I had missed quite a bit of stuff during my very first playthrough of Grandia II, I figured that I'd look online and see if I had done the same with FE7. As luck would have it, I didn't miss anything overly important, but I ended up registering an account and sticking around.
Quite frankly, I'm glad I did, as I doubt I'd have some of the "skills" I have now if I hadn't. I don't think I'd be nearly as passionate about things that I believe in (in some shape or form) , nor do I think that I'd have any background in pixel art to be able to detect minute details that are wrong in certain things. (Granted, that doesn't help too much in anything other than a hobby, but...) And, though my passion for the series has slowly waned (I still haven't finished Radiant Dawn, though I've made more progress than I had before. And, I'm too cheap to pick up Shadow Dragon right now, especially when college textbooks can be so expensive.), I definitely don't regret joining up in the community and seeing everything happen. Yes, there were days when I really didn't want to deal with some of the shit going on and there were bad days in general for the community, but as a whole, I don't think it was time wrongly spent. (Though, if FESS was running in FESS4 activity levels, I really don't know if I'd be able to handle being staff at this point, with all of the class work I have.)
Looking back, I really wish some of the people that I got fairly close to (with the fact it was the internet aside) were around more often. I remember all of the days when I'd be helping Jack with one thing or another, be it something specifically for FESS or for yet another FESSer Project that went absolutely nowhere. Those days were fun and exciting, and it's sad that they had to die off. Sure, I've got SF to look after, though I can't say that I have nearly as much "fun" as I did back on FESS4 before Radiant Dawn even released in Japan. And, it's not like I've left the fandom. I may not be spriting much anymore, but I've still got my ways of keeping FE as a hobby and not a "job."
Pennsylvania - One of the Thirteen Colonies, often referred to as the Keystone State. Home to two American Football teams, two MLB teams, one NBA team, and two NHL teams. Even as dull as PA can be sometimes and with the stereotypes that get associated with people from the Pittsburgh area, I don't really think there's a better place that I'd live in (at this point). It's rarely too hot in the Summer, almost never too cold (though, Old Man Winter can be really aggravating some years) in the Winter, there's actual scenery to look at (unlike Ohio), and we have tons of roads! Well, that last part is more a negative than anything, given that our roads are always some of the worst in the country. Even the Turnpike is shitty in places! That aside, I really don't know what else to say. XD
Lunar Series - I could probably go on about this subject for quite some time. I got my first taste of the series after reading an old issue of the now defunct EGM some time ago. It was a two page review or preview (I honestly don't remember which, anymore) of Eternal Blue Complete and it looked quite interesting. I didn't have a Playstation back then (I likely only had my Genesis in terms of consoles at the time, in fact), so it was one of those "This seems like it'd be awesome to play if I actually had a Playstation" moments. Apparently (as I was reminded of just yesterday), during one of my routine calls to my friends later on, I had asked if they had every heard of the game. They supposedly said that they had because their cousin or family friend or someone had it. Again, some time down the road, I was at said friend's house, and they had borrowed the game (at least Disc 1, that is) from whoever it was that had it and had gotten to the Disc Change after the cutscene aboard the Dragonship Destiny as it headed towards Pentagulia. Sadly, they had to stop at that part, since they didn't have the next Disc, so I didn't get to see too much of it.
However, I was in luck. My cousin actually had both Silver Star Story Complete and Eternal Blue Complete. After acquiring his ancient PSX (the gray one), the two games, and Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX on loan, I got around to playing through Eternal Blue Complete first. After I made it through, I ended up getting another friend hooked on the game (this was about 5 years ago, IIRC) and also started playing SSSC (which I also proceeded to get the person hooked on XD). They're both two of the greatest games I think I've ever played, even if Working Designs wasn't completely accurate to the original sources during their localization process. All of the Americanized references to things made the games something fun to read as you progressed through them. The only reason I feel I hold Eternal Blue Complete in higher regards is probably because it was the first one I was given exposure to. Sure, it doesn't have the story and overall impact that Silver Star Story Complete has, but SSSC's battle interface is almost archaic compared to EBC's. And, seeing as the Grandia series also holds a place close to the top of my all-time list of games (despite not actually appearing on my top three list on SF... WTF was I on when I made that?), battle systems do mean quite a bit to me.
(Oh, and mainly to Chris: If you haven't checked it out yet, you should look into Mage Knight 404's "hack" of FE7, seeing as it's got quite a few characters from SSSC in it (5 of them, IIRC). It's still similar to Rekka's storyline, but it's light humor, it has sprites galore (as you'd expect from MK404), and it has Lunar. XD)
Geno - The only reason I had Chopstick make the Geno avatar back on FESS2 was because I was in a SMRPG fix at the time. I had probably just been playing it at my next door neighbor's house or something, and thus chose that as my second username on FESS. Geno isn't really even my favorite playable character in SMRPG. While I generally swap my team around, I much prefer using Mario/Toadstool/Bowser for important battles. I think that Geno most associates people with the game, however, so I will use him as a symbol of the fact that SMRPG was probably one of the first RPGs I played. (In fact, he was my racing emblem on Mario Kart DS until just the other day (Granted, I hadn't played in awhile either...), as I couldn't think of anything else that would fit in a 32x32 pixel block and be representative of me.)
Dreamcast - Sega, oh how I wish you wouldn't have killed off the Dreamcast so early in its life. I think my Dreamcast (which I got back around Christmas of '99, IIRC), still sits atop all of the consoles I've owned in terms of total time spent on. I really need to get on eBay or something and pick up some more titles that I've been meaning to pick up for ages, since I played the demos of them or played them on my neighbor's DC. This reminds me that I'm still in the middle of a playthrough of Grandia II (which, Chris, if you're reading this, I'm surprised wasn't mentioned as one of five things). I'll have to pick that up again once I finish Xtreme and the other new games that I've picked up recently.