Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance


Over the Christmas holidays, I picked up Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GCN) because I had heard some good things about the Fire Emblem series, plus it was only $9.99 brand new. I have played through about seven chapters so far, and I am enjoying it. It’s basically a turn-based roleplaying game, in which you control a group of mercenaries on a battlefield. It is kind of a basic swords and magic type game, with a rich story, lots of text dialogue, and some nice combat strategy. What I like about it is that there are different difficulty modes, and of course I chose Easy. Less frustration = more fun for me.

I really like the turn-based combat system. I heard it is like Final Fantasy Tactics, in that you move your group members around the environment, and then do your attacks/heals/etc. This is different than the other Final Fantasy games I have played, where the encounter is just attacking/healing, but no movement in the environment. Another neat thing about this game is that the story is pretty interesting. It starts out a bit ho-hum: You are part of a mercenary group, hired to do small jobs like protecting a village or routing some pirates. But the story quickly picks up and the group is thrown in the middle of a war between two rival regions. Like I mentioned before, the dialogue is really good, with lots of humor thrown in, plus each character in the group has his or her own distinct personalities, and they often disagree with eachother in what is the best course of action. Anyways, if you need a good RPG on the Nintendo platform and can’t wait for Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn for the Wii to make it to the States, then I’d totally recommend Path of Radiance!

Touareg

I was behind a VW Touareg on my commute to work, and I noticed that the VW badge on the back of it is way too big. It looks like a friggin frisbee. The vehicle itself looks nice, though.

IKEA


Went to IKEA yesterday to have some breakfast and do a little shopping. For those of you complaining that it is too damned crowded at IKEA, just go Sunday morning. I guess everyone is at church, because at 10am, we got to park right by the entrance. At the cafe, there were only a few families, so no waiting. And we could feed the family for $7.73. That was two “big breakfasts”, two coffees, and two chocolate milks. Not bad, even though the eggs were the consitency of silicone. Tasted good, though. Anyways, after that, we put Bay in the little playland area, and he had fun with the other kids while Koa, Mariko and I shopped. Koa would have enjoyed it, except there is a rule that the kids need to be potty-trained: no diapers or pullups. So he got to ride in the shopping cart with us, and he did pretty good. When we left at about 12:45pm, it still wasn’t too crowded, although the parking lot was getting full.

Friday’s Feast

Appetizer
What does the color pink make you think of?

My wife, because that is her favorite color

Soup
Name something you thought you had lost, but later found.

My High School class ring

Salad
In 3 words, describe this past week.

Improvised, Quick, Normal

Main Course
What are you obsessed with?

Besides the Internets, I am obsessed with video games

Dessert
What kind of perfume or cologne do you like to wear?

Nothing. Perfumes/colognes usually make me ill after a while.

[Meme via Friday’s Feast>

Waiting for Blur

While I wait for Amazon to send my my copy of SSX: Blur (finally moved from “Item not Shipped Yet” to “Preparing to Ship”, yay!), I have been reading the reviews on the gaming sites. Most give it a good score, but there are a few that give it very low marks, basically because of the control scheme. Well, here is an interesting review (from Go Nintendo) that really goes into the control scheme and the possible reasons why some reviewers are giving it a low score. Have a read, won’t you?

Casino Royale


Mr PeaCH recommended the latest Bond movie, Casino Royale, and my friend Jeremy and I caught it right before it left the local theater. I am a fan of the previous 007 movies, I pretty much like all of them. The Roger Moore era was so cheese, with great lines and fashion. Connery was classic, Brosnan was a decent Bond, although not very compelling. I am one of the few who thought that Timothy Dalton was a great Bond. The latest Bond, played by Daniel Craig, is sort of what the Dalton character should have been. Tougher and darker, more brutal and cold. I like it.

The movie itself was great, the action scenes were awesome, especially the beginning where he is chasing that dude throught the construction site. Really good stuff! Also, the very beginning black and white scene was really well done. I liked that style, plus the title credits were so cool. A little iPod-like, but very classy.

There were only a couple things that bugged me about Casino Royale. The first was the CIA agent who was at the card table. The whole movie up to that point was exotic and classy. But that damn American was so… it’s hard to explain. But after hearing him, I felt like the movie got cheaper. I like the Bond films to have really amazing scenery, exotic locales, and mysterious characters. I don’t want to hear American accents or see locations in the US. Like when the plot in A View to a Kill turned to Northern California. *yawn* Keep it exotic: Czech Republic, Bahamas, Venice. Even the space station in Moonraker!

The other thing that was mildly annoying was the copious amount of Sony product placement. The cell phones, Vaios, Cybershots… enough already! Jeremy later pointed out that the equipment in the security center at the airport were all Blu-ray players. Ugh.

Lastly, it was pretty neat to see Richard Branson in the movie. He was in there for only a split second, but Jeremy and I both noticed him and looked at eachother and said, “was that just Branson?” Anyways, I like the direction the new Bond films are going, and can’t wait for the next one.

New Shoes


I scored some new shoes today. I was at REI, and they have this rack of returned shoes, and there was a pair of Adidas Supernova’s, just my size, sitting there. For only $25. I tried them on, and browsed the rest of the store with them on to see how the felt, and they felt gooood. So I bought them.

My New Balance running shoes that I am using right now are still good, with lots of miles left in them, but I figured I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. I like Adidas. I think they are the brand I have run in most. In Japan I had a pair of Adidas Ozweego Classics, which I really liked. Before Japan, I ran in Adidas with Torsion Control (can’t remember the name), and I loved those. And then I had some Saucony Jazz, which were great as well. In HS, I think I ran in Nike Air Pegasus shoes for XCountry. I can’t think of any other running shoes I have had.

*update* Ran last night in the new shoes, and they felt great. I got a small blister, but I was expecting that, with new shoes and rubbing points. But my joints feel good, and I seem to run much quieter in these shoes.