When I first learned that Wii was going to put out a sequel to what I have personally deeemed “The most influential video game of my life.” I was astonished and brimming with excitement! Final Fantasy IV was a game which set the foundations for modern role playing games. However, the series, Final Fantasy, is now known for their graphics than say gameplay or story. Final Fantasy IV certainly never had the gorgeous graphics of a modern role playing game so they compensated by bringing a simple story of a knight into a gorgeous piece of work. Each character in Final Fantasy IV was nuanced and interesting, they all had a reason to fight, and often times they fought side by side out of desperation rather than a general fondness for one another. The idea that I might see what became of my beloved characters filled me with such joy when I saw this trailer:

When I say “My beloved characters” I mean that literally. When I was young I spent ours of my youth perfecting each character, even ones I didn’t like, so that they were literal gods amongst monsters and men. I mainly remember getting them to their highest level and then spending hours upon hours fighting for a lame item that could only be gained in the final dungeon. The item could be exchanged for the best armor in the game, and while most people never obtained one of these armors I spent hours obtaining five. Needless to say, I have since always felt a special bond with those characters.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years showed a lot of promise. The soundtrack and look of the game is still very much the same. I actually found myself singing along with the soundtrack, which is something I used to do as a child. The characters that I loved all make a return appearance, even the dead ones, and it was so nice to see what became of The Blue Planet once peace had returned to the land. This peace is something all of the characters had come to love and expect so long as King Cecil, the main character of the original game, was on the throne. So when Cecil’s Kingdom starts to act a little funny, the other characters worry, but are still not willing to doubt Cecil who they personally fought with for the sake of the planet.

I have to say, having been in love with each of these characters all of their reactions felt absolutely perfect. Of course none of the original characters would believe Cecil was capable of doing anything bad, and certainly no one could conquer the knight who was the leader in saving the world! Of course…they are wrong. Even against Cecil’s amazing power, albeit drastically diminished from my orginal SNES cartridge game, there is always someone more powerful. I attribute the loss of levels and powerful weapons to the fact that peace has reigned for about 20 years, and people get older. So it was fun to see the heroes of the past and the hereos of the present unite to fight a new super power that threatens the peace of the planet.

So this review is mainly a love letter to the idea of this game, but it is not without criticisms! The biggest criticism is the way in which you play the game. You purchase individual characters tales, the first being 800 wii point and each other tale for about 3oo wii points, and the final tale another 800 wii points. This puts the total cost of the game at about $40.00 dollars over all, but I am not a big fan of getting the game piece by piece. None of the tails in and of themselves are very long, and once beaten the additional “Challenge Dungeons” are easily mastered with some careful leveling. Some tails are also just more interesting than others, but because I have time to waste till they put out the final installment I find myself playing them just to complete every possible thing. Whereas this is something I would certainly do, I enjoyed the freedom the original game gave to do so on my own time. Sure there were things that were time sensitive, but at least the characters were able to travel around the world a bit more. The fact that your characters barely get to personally pilot an airship during the entire game is incredibly annoying. Some of us would have loved to see the world a bit more from each characters perspective. I understand that doing so would ruin the way these tails only intersect when the narrative permits, but it still would have been nice.

The game also features are rather restrictive level cap. I’m not saying I am going to level my characters up in these areas far greater than the cap provides, but since I am forced to continue to fight battles to get the extras I am annoyed that I am wasting experience that I will need later. It was also annoying because certain characters did not learn all of their spells because they were not a high enough level. This kind of annoyed me as it meant I couldn’t use strategies from my old days as well.

Still, I am glad this game exists. I have already spent more time on it than I should have! I just hope that once the final installment is released my extra work will pay off.

]]> http://expressionsinyarn.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/porom-hat/ Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:22:06 +0000 expressionsinyarn http://expressionsinyarn.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/porom-hat/ http://lindseyrose.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/porom-mitts-finis/ Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:55:39 +0000 lindseyrose http://lindseyrose.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/porom-mitts-finis/

I finally finished my porom mitts!  Having chilly  hands at work and class finally got the best of me! 

They are the same stitch pattern as the Porom hat by Brooklyntweed, but I increased to two purls in between each eyelet pattern to create a thumb gusset and then bound off 10 stitches for the thumb and knit until the gloves hit the bottoms of my fingers.

They are knit in socks that rock in Just a Shrinking Violet. They are incredibly comfortable and I can’t wait until it’s a little warmer, so I can wear my porom again!

My hands are all toasty now!!

This hat will probably be my last FO of 2008.  I don’t think I’ll be able to finish any of my other WIP’s before the clock strikes midnight tomorrow.   I’m happy to report the snow is starting to disappear here and I hope that we don’t have any more for a while.  It’s a real pain to work a guide dog through the tiny little walkways that people shovel, plus it really cold out!  Maylee is the only one in the family who is still excited about the snow.  Well everyone have a safe and fun New Year!  I’m going to be thinking about my knitting resolutions for the upcoming new year, plus I will be reviewing my resolutions for 2008 in the next week or so.  Till then knit on!!

Pattern: Porom

Designer: Jared Flood

Made for: my daughter, Mini-me

Yarn: Berroco Comfort DK

Yardage: 186.9 yards (170.9m)

Needles used: US 6 / 4.0 mm

US 8 / 5.0 mm

Notes: I love this pattern and this is the second hat I’ve knit. I plan to make some more once I’m done some other projects. It’s a quick easy knit and well written pattern plus charts.

Pattern: Porom, from Brooklyntweed
Yarn: Country, by NaturallyCaron in claret, 1 skein
Needles: Sizes 6 and 8

Another early-morning insomnia project, made possible by tea, companionable cats, and free Studio 60, thanks to Hulu. The pattern is a joy to knit, and the color makes me think of a good wine. Which I should definitely treat myself to…it’s bound to be happy hour in some part of the world.

and I am – as always – WAY behind on the knits.

I put forth the following warning:

If you are on Ravelry, you see something that says super secret (or top secret or something that basically seems to indicate that it is just a place for me to remember what I am working on) and you have ever met me in person, click at your own risk. Elves will cry and Santa may give up all hope if you inadvertently ruin your own present. I accept zero responsibility (ok, ok .. I accept a bit).

That said, tomorrow I will draw up the final list and then we will see how much time I can squeak in over the next 8 weeks. I am predicting that I will get 5 gifts done total. 5, people. This from the woman who said “I will plan better this year …” Yeah, well, ADHD + knitting = cast on, OOOOOOSHINY! cast on, OOOOSHINY, cast on, OOOOSHINY and where the heck are my needles … oh..they’re already being used ….

Speaking of progress, despite the lack of photos (I’ll drag it out here in a moment and add one) Porom is about 1″ away from the decreases. It would be farther along but.. I finished a burp cloth of the set I wanted to make. I then cast on for a towel in the burp cloth pattern, and a hat that was maybe going to be a present for one person, but now not so much since I found something WAY BETTER for them.

I think I may have also FINALLY found the PerfectPattern® for that Tilli Thomas I picked up a while back – yeeeehaw. Rip back a few rows of what I HAD started, and go from there.

Back to the salt mines I go….

Walking around Salem on Sunday with Ben and my mom we wandered into a couple of cool little galleries. This was one piece that I really liked-

What a neat idea- embroidering thoughts that you don’t want to say out loud.  I thought it was cheeky and fun.

Last night I worked on some more brooches- these all yarn themed!  I’m totally gearing up for Rhinebeck!!

I start with a circle of wool felt, and then I needle felt another color onto it. Then I embroider the yarn and needles on. It was a great project to do while watching house. I also finished up a bunch of other brooches that were hanging out waiting for backings. I hope to update the shop on Friday now (Ben’s taking his computer on Thursday, so it won’t be Thursday anymore). YAY!

I have also started my first wrist warmer!!!

I basically started out in the same motif as in Porom, but with one less purl. I plan on increasing and adding in the purl when I get to the hand. I think it will work. I probably won’t have them done by this weekend, but they’ll be a great Rhinebeck project to pull out during the day! And so small and easy to carry!

So many fun things going on and only 3 days until Rhinebeck! Are you going? Are you going to the Rav meet up or party?!

According to weather.com we’re looking good weather wise!
Oct 17 Friday
Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 50s and lows in the mid 30s.
Oct 18 Saturday
More clouds than sun. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the low 30s.
Oct 19 Sunday
Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 50s and lows in the upper 30s.

Perfect for sweaters! And new slouchy hats!

I finished my porom!!

Pattern: Porom by Brooklyntweed
Yarn: Socks that Rock in Just a Fading Violet
Mods: None!

I LOVE the hat- I love the slouchiness and I LOVE the colors!  It’s exactly what I wanted for Autumn.  The pattern was very fun and quick to knit, but I did do an extra inch by accident (that’s what I get for not reading the pattern so closely), but after thinking about ripping back I decided that I like the extra room, and should leave it be.  If I pull it more to the front- it looks cuter than the droopy action I had going on this morning in the car.

I don’t love how the decreases look with the self striping yarn, and I stupidly didn’t block it- I always think it’s going to be fine, and it never is. So, that’s the plan for tonight! I’ll get out a bowl and go at it. I can’t wait to wear it at Rhinebeck! I started wrist warmers in the same stitch, so hopefully I’ll finish them up this week!

Of course- I’m also hoping to do a store update on Thursday. We’ll see how it goes. Rhinebeck in 4 days! I can’t wait!!!!

So- I’m plugging away at Porom. It’s a super fun knit- easy to memorize and easy to work on standing up while waiting in line/ on the T/ in the elevator leaving work…. I am really enjoying myself. I think that part of it might be that the colors are just so gorgeous!!  It’s been my evening knitting two nights in a row- you can see how far I’ve gotten today in the last picture.

I LOVE these purples. All of them. They make me happy everytime I pick up the hat. And the yarn is so springy and fun!! I know I should be working on Ben’s sweater- trying to get it done by his birthday, but I totally need a cute hat! Maybe I’ll finish it soon, and can turn my attention to Ben’s sweater.

I even like how it’s striping. I didn’t at first- in the first couple of rows past the rim I was a little worried about it, but I love how it looks now! I just want it to be done so I can start wearing it! And I’m totally into making matching wrist warmers.

In computer news- it’s dead. Officially. Unless I want to pay Apple $1250 to fix it (which I don’t!- more than I paid for the computer 4 years ago!) it’s a goner. I’m going to try to retrieve my files, but I’m not overly confident about it. Considering I’m starting a graphic design program in January, I’m definitely going to need something then, but I’m going to have to look at what different options I have. le sigh

Porom is knitting up very quickly: I’m at the point where I could start the crown shaping, but will probably do another lace repeat or two to make the hat extra slouchy.

Sorry for the delay in the update folks. Well in today’s segment of Scarlet Moon Studios presents Final Fantasy 4, we get inside of Baron Castle and fight the second of the Four Fiends of Elements, Kainazzo… aka Cagnazzo. Cagnazzo is our water fiend and he is seriously a push over. After Tellah has acquired his full potential as a Sage…well lets just say this turtle is toast. I continued my adventure through the lands of Toroia and work my way to the Dark Elf!

My friends! Here we go with another update via Scarlet Moon Studios. In today’s update we continue our quest to get back to Baron. Along the way we are shipwrecked thanks to the King of the Summoned Monsters. Cecil makes his journey to Mt. Ordeals and we face the first of the Four Fiends of Elements, Scarmilione of Earth aka Milon. Well enjoy.

Šiandien buvo pirma diena po Naujųjų metų senoje mokykloje (mokyklos pastatas yra toks senas, kad net vokiečių turistai paveiksluoja jają). Mums dėsto naujas, bet ne itin geresnis dėstytojas. Jo tautybė neegzotiška – latvis. Berods, ar tik ne vienintelis latvis iš visų dėstytojų dėstysiančių mums tą žaviąją ekonomiką ir žavųjį verslą. Paskirstė į labai nedideles komandas po 2. Man papuolė kažkoks modelis (moterų rasės) iš Latvijos. Deja, ji neatėjo, ir teko dirbti vienam, kaip ir visą savo gyvenimą. Menu, dar pas mama pilve vienas visokias veiklas dariau.

Dienai bebėgant sutikau savo komandos draugę – ji, ką tik grįžusi iš Egipto (ruda rudutėlė kaip.. šokoladas), ėjo į mikroekonomikos egzamino perlaikymą (spėju – ne į paskutinį…). Susitarėm susitikti vėliau… Užduotis padariau pats… Jos iš mandagumo vakare paklausiau: „O kaip manai mums reiktų sudėti viską, kad gražiai atsispausdintų?“. Ji tik gūžtelėjo savo gražiais pečiais ir atsakė net neįsivaizduojanti. Dar šiek tiek su ja mandagiai pabendravęs, įsitikinau, kad nebūna ir gražių ir protingų… Na gal nebent Vladimiras Putinas (Владимир Владимирович Путин)

Rusai vieni kitus (irgi rusus) sveikino su Kalėdom (tokie jau jie neeuropiečiai). Juos tikrai pradžiugino pirmadieninis sniegas, nes rūkė lauke dažniau nei įprastai. Beje, gražias porininkes gavo beveik visi mano draugai (išskyrus tokį Joną – jam papuolė savo paties išrinktoji moteris). Kaip jiems su tokiom seksis dirbti – nežinau, bet linkiu, kad geriau nei man (vienam). O dar bejau: administracija visus padalino į mišrias poras. Naujasis prezidentas (sutrumpintai galima ir prezikas), per rinkimus, pažadėjo pastatysiąs prezervatyvų automatą mokykloje… Pavasaris artėja… Rygoj atšilo vienu laipsniu…