Coming soon - Sidewinder, War of the Lions review and Aurvana Day 4+.

I made an in-faction promise evaluate Sidewinder, the greatsword veteran stance, after I acquired it on my stock fighter, Undine, seeing that I am the wielder of a Big Bang +7. It will be analyzed in an unusual manner, combining a meticulous attention to detail with a sensational splash of purple. If you don't gag from it, then we should be bed-mates.

War of the Lions

I haven't finished the game yet, so don't expect a review. Instead, impressions will be thrown into your face.

First of all, Final Fantasy Tactics is an amazing game. War of the Lions is a remake of the title, so it's already worth your money if you haven't played it. If you have, then still consider buying it for the two new classes, the impressive multiplayer modes, rewritten scripts and excellent stylized animations.

However, WotL is not a perfect translation to those with fat PSPs. There is slowdown, a considerable amount of it. The basic formula for calculating the time it will take to complete a skill with a particle effect is (N)ormal time x 1.5 = (L)ion War time. The sound is also poorly executed. Some notes, such as the party selection screen, drawl and cut abruptly. The sound of lightning striking resembles a cat filtered through a square-wave wah-wah. If you've experienced the original Tactics, you'll be frustrated. Even more so if you've played the converted PSX iso on your PSP, which has no slowdown, in comparison to original, and very little sound disruption. Still, you. . . might get used to it.

That being said, the rest of the game the FFT I know and love with a little extra difficulty thrown in. Most classes take one more job level to unlock, which is a pain when dealing with thief or classes that you don't have weapons for. (Lancer, much?) As far as I can see, nothing has been changed for the worst.

I'll cut myself there. As this is being written, I am level 40+ before heading to the waterfall, practically destroying the game with three stock characters and Ramza. All my old tricks still work. It'll take a week before I get level 99 with all masters.

Creative AURVANA DJ - Day 4+

I have one gripe about my headset. The plug is huge. It's so long that it can create enough leverage in a pocket to actually bend the pin. At one point, the end of my Aurvana was at a 45' angle and on the verge of self destruction. Luckily, I reset the pin to a mere <2' point without losing any sound quality. However, I caution owners of pockets and runners that you can ruin your set if you apply enough pressure. Still, my headset still sounds amazing and remains quite comfortable, so I suppose it's good it suffered a crooked situation. (I shall be much more cautious in the future, hah!)

At the moment, I've been picking up on more Chillout. A very complex and thoughtful style of electronic music, comforting as smooth jazz with a futuristic feel. Good for photoshop inspiration and directly responsible for the image above.

P.S.

Anyway, that's a good, fat blog post for ya', no? Also, if you're into giant robots and forum roleplay, go to Mobile Suit Awesome and fire up a character. It's well-concieved and managed by my good friend, Geomaster, and I shall also participate there as an Armored Core pilot. It's fresh, new and damn sexy.