Rob Galbreath .com

Okay, this game is downright unhealthy. I just bought all three races in the game, raised up my black mages to Firaga, have my white mages on Curaga, my warrior is rocking the bosses and I have leveled characters faster than I imagined. This game is flipping amazing.

I woke up at 5 a.m. unexpectedly. I thought, hm, I should get some sleep. Why is my Wii on? Why is the controller in my hand? Why am I sending out more adventure notices to search for magicite and improve the Mages? Why am I buying downloadable content? Okay, I must stop playing at 7:15. It is… 8 o’clock? It was 5 a.m. only five minutes ago!  Okay, okay, no more, Power Off.

I’m leaning towards an A- for a game like this. It’s not the most appealing game for all people (you do have to build things, after all) but the bonuses for people living next to Mage societies and a scheme for really plotting out the most ideal game is phenomenal. I decided to invest all of my money into paying the adventurers a ridiculous amount of money so they find me great items. I’m also neglecting the white mages because I can’t build parties yet; they’re really useless on their own.

I was surprised to find some of the names in the game. There’s a Pavlov and an Ian, along with a Greta and other irregular names in the United States. Interesting stuff. I won’t say what I’ve done to these three players, however. :)

If you have the cash and need a Wii game, and you like simulation games, and you’ve played the Final Fantasy franchise (any of them, but Crystal Chronicles helps you with race bonuses) then this game is definitely for you. If you haven’t played CC, know this:

- Clavat race is what you start with (and remain with if you don’t download anything) don’t have really major bonuses, but they’re good for a little bit of everything.

- Lilties are serious knights. They’re tiny little midget Taru Taru creatures, but don’t be fooled: they can kick serious ass.

- Selkies are thieves. They look like Clavats, but they can raid stages to find items for you. Great for exploration.

- Yukes are Mages. Big stick characters with a helmet on their heads. Actually, I think that IS their head. Rather odd. Any ways, these knightly-looking sticks are pretty amazing with magic.

Long day ahead. Enjoy yourselves!

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SoraConor1 sent me the following e-mail:  I thought it was too large of a question to fit into an instant message!  So here we go:

Rob,

PSP
DS
PS2
PS3
360
Wii

What a difficult question!  There’s so much history behind Square-Enix that determining this is above and beyond my capacity to provide a clear-cut answer!  Let’s look at each, and I’ll include some nostalgic memories in them, too!

PSP - PlayStation Portable is a decent console.  Not the greatest, but not the worst.  Revising Final Fantasy I and II on the PSP was a great idea, but it was just a rehash.  There are 3-D games that are decent, but they feel like they need extra space to pump out more.

DS - Not exactly sure.  I have not played The Crystal Bearers, and I feel that’s the headstrong game to determine this handheld.  Otherwise, Chocobo Tales was a fun game but didn’t attract the demographic it needed.  There seemed to be a greater following elsewhere, and we’ll get to those now.

PS2 - PlayStation 2 never received the glorious games that the PlayStation received.  Among the greatest games to enter the RPG world came from the PlayStation, including Final Fantasy VII and Legend of Dragoon.  However, PlayStation 2’s Kingdom Hearts I and II are truly among some of the monumental parts of Square’s legacy.  Dirge of Cerberus was also fun, but it was hard making the whole RPG association in a very inspired Devil May Cry ripoff.

PS3 - I do not know what the future of PlayStation 3 will hold.  Ever since the impulses and resounding sonic booms of the Xbox 360 online service and Wii motion controls, the industry has never been the same.  PlayStation 3 is seen as the failure by adhering to old ways while ripping off the competition.  Thusly, they screwed themselves over by having an overpriced console.  Jack of all trades, king to none.  Console sales are increasing, but people are buying PlayStation 3 for the Blu-ray player and any games that might slip on to the system.  It’s just not friendly to developers.  But again, Square-Enix has made leaps and bounds in this gaming industry.  I wouldn’t be surprised that, if anyone could save the PlayStation 3, Square-Enix should have enough Phoenix Down available.

360 - Try.  Harder.  Square-Enix failed with Final Fantasy XI coming to the Xbox 360.  Why?  IT WAS ALREADY DEAD!  WE HAVE WORLD OF WARCRAFT!  HELLOOOOO?!?!!  Okay, enough about that.  The fact of the matter is that Square-Enix promised support for all consoles.  Instead, we received a game that was partially by some people who were kinda involved with Square-Enix after breaking away from them.  The result was Blue Dragon, which had some very mixed reviews.  Xbox 360 could certainly have a great lineup, and a perfect port for Final Fantasy XIII if they hadn’t built the entire game around the PlayStation 3 hardware.  I’m sure there’s a way around it, but seriously: not trying hard enough.  Xbox 360 could be the way to go.

Wii - Huge potential on WiiWare, but not on the console itself.  Old Enix managed some amazing Super Nintendo games like Illusion of Gaia and Dragon Quest.  Old Squaresoft astonished the world with Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, but these past several years have dished out a significant amount of crap to balance out a few incredible games.  My Life As a King is proof of this, as you’ll see in my post below.  Square-Enix’s creativity can be immense, just like Chocobo’s Tales for Nintendo DS, but there’s still a long ways to go.  WiiWare still has an awful interface and requires you to input your credit card every damn time you want to buy a game.  And few people will have the points to just casually buy My Life As A King when it’s about $25 USD plus any additions.
Conclusion: I think Square-Enix is fine pumping out games for all consoles, but they’re not strong enough any more.  Their investment time and their amazing team is too far spread out to make any brilliant games,  like those  marvels of wonder of 10 years ago.  We need to see more emphasis and dedication on a game by bringing the old teams together.  Having each fund a new project is not creating those stellar titles any more.

Sora, if I had a choice, I’d go with Xbox 360 for high-definition games and WiiWare for games like My Life As a King (after Nintendo finally makes WiiWare, I don’t know, approachable for the spenders — is it too hard to save my credit card account?  Seriously?  I’m attached to an e-mail account like Xbox 360!)  … maybe Nintendo DS for handheld if they can manage an awesome title and remains lucrative.

There ya go!

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I really didn’t think much of My Life As a King at first.  Until, of course, I played it.  I haven’t been this addicted to a town simulation game since the original Sim City.  While pairing with The Sims, this game packs quite the Final Fantasy punch.  Better than Crystal Chronicles?  Depends on what you’re into.  As a simulation gamer, I love it.

Now let’s kill off the whole sit-back-and-watch gameplay.  It’s really not.  You have to constantly speak with all of your subjects and find out just what they’re thinking and how to build up their relationships.  Not just with yourself, but other people.

Wonder who upgrades the weapons and armor shops in all RPGs?  The king does!  With a set amount of money, you invest in the development of new weapons and armors to help your adventurers out.  But this isn’t some Command-and-Conquer RTS.  Instead, you know the names, statistics, levels, and even talk to the people who make the town.  If anything, I’d compare this to Harvest Moon.  Instead of raising cows and a small lot of land, you’re raising a whole city.  There’s quite a lot of space to play with despite how tiny the download seems to be.

I played the game for three hours longer than I expected, depriving me of sleep for the next day.  I still want to go back in, upgrade more weapons, train up my players and start buying downloadable content.  You can play without it, definitely, but it’s awesome to choose upgrades depending on how much you like the game.

GameCube’s Crystal Chronicles let people down because of the lacking multiplayer and overall battle system.  The potential was certainly there, but the technology was lacking.  Wii’s structure would also be lacking for a game like that, but it’s perfect for a game like this one.  The single-player, autosave experience every several minutes really has a pick-up-and-play feel that Wii hasn’t really had.  To add to the experience, you don’t have to go out and buy the software, and the game is always on your console to click and play.

At bare minimum, I’m very happy with the download.  I’m thrilled to go home and build up more, and I really want to find a means of bringing the Black Mages to my town.

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I absolutely love Lost Wind. The graphics are simple, the controls are simple, but most importantly: I feel like I’ve bought a game worth its price. None of this $50 crap for repeat games found on flash sites. Instead, this feels real. Utilizing the old systems to create new games is a phenomenal idea.

But is it new? Xbox Live Arcade has been doing this for years. The only difference is that the Wii has motion controls. Luckily, that’s all it needs. You see, the real problem comparing the Xbox 360 with the Wii is that the Xbox 360 has far superior graphics for 3-D models and even more processing power for high-definition graphics.

These are not a factor in downloadable games. At most, the N64 could handle games like these.

The only problem is the interface. The Wii’s shopping system requires loading, long waits, and no demonstrations. This could kick the console in the rear. Xbox 360’s paying network service allows them to keep some strong content up at all times. This is vital to the console’s life span.

Luckily, developers are behind it. While I have not played Square-Enix’s launch My Life As King game, it appears to have some interesting simulation systems. Not exactly an RPG, but we’ll see how it manages.

I’d love to see download statistics come out soon. Comparative looks at first-generation Xbox 360 versus Wii would really factor into the progress of Nintendo’s online dedication over the years.

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If you find a Lost Winds feature, let me know.  o_O

Where aaaare youuuuu?

Still apartment hunting.  The one place accepted me, it’s $600/month, utilities not included.  That’ll eat my paycheck up quite a bit - leaving me all of $20 after all utilities and expenses are paid.  Eh, we’ll see how it goes.  I love the place, but it’s like, ugh, too expensive for a single person.

Sadly I can’t post more because of the job hunting and it sucking up all of my time.  Feel free to contact me via Facebook.  By the way, component cables DO look better on my HDTV than the others.  Isn’t that crazy?

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(Geeky paragraph, unnecessary to story) There’s a problem with my 4095dx Samsung: it’s discontinued, and Samsung refuses to acknowledge that they replaced motherboards last year from members of the AVS forums claiming that 1:1 pixel ratio doesn’t work — and it doesn’t. But instead of fixing the problem, they discontinued the product and now they say they’ve never experienced a case before like that. I love Samsung, but this irritates me immensely. So to make a long story short, my PC won’t do HDMI. VGA works, but HDMI does not.

This causes me to wonder: what is the difference? Sure we all know what they look like (Google if you don’t), but how can three totally different high-definition cables be so different from one another?

Here’s the breakdown:

HDMI versus DVI — Same thing, only HDMI has audio these days. There have been three versions of HDMI over the years, and now HDMI 1.3 is standard without giving that number any longer. HDMI 1.3 gives you surround sound, whereas the previous ones gave you stereo.

HDMI versus Component — Component is much better for longer distances. The longer an HDMI cable, the worse quality it becomes. You can go up to 200 feet with a component with no loss, but I’ve found HDMI will become finnicky even at 10 feet. HDMI is digital, compromised of 1s and 0s so there’s no need for gold plates; while Component is analog, so buying gold-plated Component cables is a must.

Component versus DVI — Component typically includes three video wires, but it also includes the standard White and Red cords. Component gives you audio through these, while DVI never can provide audio. You need an orange Coaxial audio cord or an optical (red light) cord to beat out component, here. Unless you have a Nintendo console with Dolby Pro Logic II, then you’re getting a nice, fake 5.1 audio with Component.

PCs: BFG Tech, among the leaders of PC gaming hardware these days, claims that Component, not digital sources, are the best for using PCs. Despite having video cards with DVI and Component connections, it’s ironic that the all-digital high-def TVs and the all-digital PCs can find better colors in Component.

Xbox 360/PS3: HDMI barely, barely wins this one. In comparison with two screens against one another, component did everything that HDMI managed. The only difference: slight detail to fog. If you’ve ever wanted very clear fog, HDMI is ever-so-slightly better. But to be honest, you will never see a difference if you’re comparing the two in gaming today.

Blu-ray: This I don’t know just yet. Any thoughts?

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A revelation of life came to me today: we need more pain. We need more suffering. We need people’s ears to bleed… and we need to relieve cramps in a natural way.

To relieve the stress of those menstrual cramps, we need something that makes us cringe by equal or greater pain and suffering in our lives. Take American Idol, for instance. The popular series, game, reality something-or-other show where fake people sing real songs.

American mIDOL. Because music never sucked this good.

In order to accomplish frantic psychopath girls screaming at the top of their lungs holding up signs (and not the ones on the expressway after their cars break down), creating yet another television spin-off video game, one must endure the suffering of people who can’t hold a note if they had gloves and a bear trap.

But the pain of menstrual cramps is far worse than television. This sort of torture needs to be something you can’t turn off. The American Idol game, for instance, allows your friends to bring the torture of the first week of contestants into your very own living room. What could possibly be better than listening to your friends give you a personal concert of the worst shit to ever be spewed into a sea of polluted carbon dioxide? If karma was a bitch, you were probably the Anti-Christ in an alternate dimension.

But let’s believe, for a moment, that there’s some amazing talent out there. One of your local community members, maybe a mortician or the male sexual relief at a prison camp, can eleganty recite the words of our greatest musicians in a harmony so alluring that it sweeps you off your feet and on to a bed of roses. Then you wake up and realize, hey, I’m never going to meet these people, and your ass is now bleeding from all of the rose thorns.

Suddenly, you become Simon: a British-accented, S&M junky who is more renowned today than the royal family has been over the past several thousand years. A man whose internal monologue can only be hoped for in our daily lives. This is awful, you think, this sucks, you refrain from saying, and yet you keep listening.

Why did you become so popular hating everyone!?! I’ve been doing it for years!

But it’s relief, and I’ll tell you why. It’s because you aren’t being embarrassed in front of thousands of people, perhaps in front of a live studio audience and across the nations, hoping to get a break from using other people’s material. Maybe you’re better than the original artist, but you still can’t come up with a single good idea on your own. Take that, Alien Ant Farm!

So we conclude today’s lesson with the following: If you have bloating, or cramps, and you just can’t make it to the local pharmacy, then pull up a great game of American Idol. That way, your friends will provide more pain than your body could ever endure.

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Are they recirculating those buggers again? I thought that was a failed attempt at being awesomely Canadian. Around 2001, they attempted making Susan B. Anthony coins. The idea came and went, as nobody ever kept the coins. The circulation may have been little to none, and why they kept the US dollar I’ll never know. I love looking through my change and finding real money. F@#$ pennies.

They look pretty sleek.

So the records indicate that Newegg.com finally sent my order… well, half of it. I’m pretty angry that I spent all that money on overnight shipping for three items and they had the balls to only ship two of them with rush order. What’s the point of overnight delivery and spending an extra $20 if it the processing order doesn’t go anywhere? It should be home, so I’ll likely have an update on this coming Monday.

Apartment searching begins this weekend. For those curious, I’m leaving the inherited home to my mother since she desperately wants it. Seriously, owning a house is not as fun as everybody thinks it is. The estimated costs of fixing the roof on this house (it’s a pretty big house with a separate garage) is over $10,000! Are you kidding me? How many thousands of dollars is it to maintain a garage and a roof? But it never ends: there’s upkeep of the house, mowing the front and back lawn, fixing up electricity for modern-day needs (three holes in a socket, anyone?), fixing up the walls, buying new heating for the place, paying the outrageous taxes every year. It’s like, come on, can I really be saving money by renting an apartment? I didn’t dream it like this!

Halo 3 broke records last year with the largest single-day launch sales record, toppling the industry with $180 million (USD). The figure trampled the competition and suggested Xbox 360 to be the defining console against its competition, Wii and PlayStation 3. Resounding applause for the final game in the trilogy was deemed to be one of the most successful console releases ever, often compared to the success of some top-notch movie releases.

Stand back, Miserable Chief! The Russians clearly have you beat, as Take-Two’s recent launch estimate nearly doubles that number, stating $310 million in 3.6 million copies. Three-point-six million copies, people! That’s astronomical in this industry! Now of course, these numbers could be off. But let’s be honest: double? Seriously? Halo 3 managed 1.7 million pre-order copies from stores. If 3.6 million copies sold on launch day (and this makes me wonder — which country’s launch day? The last I remember, they were a few days apart…) then this has overtaken all records in the gaming industry.

My problem with this fact is that I’m not dying to go home and play the game every day. It’s a great game, no doubt, but are we seriously bowing down and dismissing every great game that has come out in the past 20-30 years? How is it possible that a game I’m not spending 20-30 hours on every day is taking over this industry? Hm, I suppose I should keep playing the game.

This is my second post of the day, but this kind of information is worth chatting about! We’ll see how it goes. (Oh, and my keyboard should be here tomorrow, YAY FOR LIGHTWEIGHT ITEMS!!)

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I’m kind of wondering why I have comments enabled when all of you sent me message comments through Facebook, e-mail, AIM and MySpace! Maybe I’ve given too many methods of contact? Japanese Kirby says YaY. <( ^_^ )^

About two hours ago, I purchased a new keyboard. Here’s what it looks like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126008

See that thing on the bottom? It’s a charge stand. See that wheel on the right? That’s a touch pad. While I can’t say that it’s the most ideal for PC gaming, I’m really not much of a PC gamer to begin with. What I really want is control over my non-gaming experience on the PC. I have HDMI-to-DVI cords coming along with them so I can move the PC to the other side of the room with my Samsung 40″ 1080p. That way I can pull up a chair on 40″ of sexscreen (I have an English degree, I can make up words and make them real) and wirelessly play around from the other side of the room with a kickass keyboard display, YaY Bluetooth. That, and I won’t lose the keyboard if there’s a stand to place it on. It was pretty pricey, but a good keyboard with these many features is hard to find.

Ian provided me notice that the podcast will in fact be delayed another week, so that ensures a better chance of me being on it. As always, I’ll keep you updated on all the new details.

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Note: Raging Rob is a spoof gaming editorial for entertainment purposes only. Please do not believe anything this liar says. Especially when he tells you that cake is truth. With that said, let’s begin.

I love killing hookers. I think that’s a necessity to every child’s dream.

Blow up a few cars, knock down a few lamp posts, hijack a garbage truck and dive out of it before it slides into the river. That’s the American Dream. But how much better can Grand Theft Auto become? Raging Rob Technologies has taken statistical figures from places that have no relevance to gaming and come up with something also making no sense. I call it “WTF Predickshuns lol”.

Doesn’t this look professional!?!

So taking into account all of these numbers, we have determined that people have other strange fantasies that should not be written or spoken of anywhere. Of course, that sort of information belongs here. Our number one statistic from those pointless graphs is that people love kicking midgets. Considering this is rather touchy for most people, the T-for-Teens version will have munchkins from The Wizard of Oz. Feel angry about the cops just catching you? Don’t really feel like having the cops come after you again? Then kick a munchkin like a football and see how far it flies.

Our second finding is that people love hurting anyone working at a low-paying job. Children’s birthday clowns are at high risk for this, as are jugglers, mimes, fast-food employees, mascots in sweaty fur costumes, and has-been actors like Mr. T and Carrot Top. Admit it, you want to virtually blow up all of these people and more! Add in politicians and the characters from Family Guy and you are all set for a great game!

Come on, you know you want to!

But it doesn’t end there! No, the weapons need to be far more powerful. What’s this about a rocket launcher? How about city-leveling bombs, turrets, proximity mines, and magic from the Final Fantasy series? Oh yeah, now we’re talking destruction.

I’m sure it could get better! How about hijacking an ice cream truck with a high-powered laser beam on the brim? Travel in space with the Star Trek Enterprise? Fight against hobos on the street that were genetically modified in BioShock’s Rapture? Could we add some demon summoning to that? Absolutely! Why not turn the sky blood red and let your angels from hell tear apart several innocent bystanders at once! That, my friends, will be a true 10/10 score. The online structure will be just as brilliant, but kick out any player who can’t turn his f@#$ing microphone down while on the phone. Not only will he be kicked, but he’ll be transported into the game for you to destroy.

Raging Rob is back. Stay tuned for many more to come.

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Did I tell you how much I love Facebook?  Speaking to all of you individually is such an awesome experience.  It’s weird when you’re putting your face to the microphone and not recognizing who is listening or what they’re interested in without a ton of e-mails.  Now, I have the chance to speak to all of you personally.  Such a wonderful system.

Enjoy that Raging Rob.

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Wow, the page has changed!  Where’d this all come from?  I have my own web site and everything, now!  That’s really crazy.  I should really spend the rest of the day updating this.

So you’re probably thinking, “damnit Rob, I want to be entertained!”  Well, I’m working to ensure that the layout is very open to all of my posts and all the different sites I recommend people visiting… at least that’s the idea.

If you really want entertainment, read up on all of those blogs I posted back in September of 2006.  Some of them were right, some of them were wrong, but it’s really awesome to look back at the Wii before it was the Wii at all.  Those were the days of Revolution Report, and I had already played the console before anyone else had at E3 2006.  It’s really amusing, and I had just ended my blogspot account that spanned me several years before that!  I’m amazed I’ve been posting this long!

I’ll come up with ideas for this page.  If you have any, feel free to tell me them!  I’m eager to hear all the thoughts of the readership!

I wonder if I should waste my time with advertising?  I mean, it’ll pay off the expenses of the site.  Nothing crazy like any other site.  Maybe a small non-obtrusive side banner that doesn’t play music or rollover crap.  I never liked those.

This is exciting!  Tell me what you think!

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Thanks for all of the responses!  I see some mixed reactions, but predominantly an overall interest for me to make it into Episode 100.  This will be rather difficult with my new scheduling.  I shall see what I can do.  The schedule planned (once again; as it’s changed just about every week) for this one is conflicting with something I must be at, so I don’t know how this will turn out just yet.

I saw “Avenue Q” the musical production yesterday.  Talk about raunchy!  It was quite possibly the most adult-themed, highly-funded puppet production I have ever seen.  I was terribly impressed with it.  I am sure many of you have heard that WoW video called “The Internet is for Porn” — it has a scruffy-sounded ox guy and a female singer.  That song is from this musical, among some many other awesome songs.  If you’re over the age of 18, YouTube all of the videos from Avenue Q.  And if you’re old enough, go see it.  Or tell your parents that you want to see Sesame Street on Crack with cases of beer and hookers.

My Xbox Live Gold account expired today.  I may take a week to financially recover.  I’m also looking for a new apartment.  Long story, and I have to go immediately.

That’s all I can write for now.  Comments are loved, as always.  And if you want to make it easy for people, post your favorite Avenue Q youtube videos in the comments.  With a disclaimer.  :D