iKatz

Majora's Mask is great for its gameplay, its characters, the atmosphere, and the story. Even though seemingly 95% of character models from Ocarina of Time are borrowed for Majora's Mask, this time you are far more invested in these characters. The sidequests are numerous, each one letting you learn a little something more about the personal lives of Termina's inhabitants. You become familiar with what everyone's dreams, aspirations, and troubles are, and how they try to meet or solve them in what little time they have left, whether they may know they're doomed or not.

The story lends to the atmosphere as much as the setting (Termina) itself. It gives me a tribal vibe with all of the ceremonial masks, and their importance. The world is going to end, and you know exactly when it will, to the minute and even the second. The world and the music is often eery and foreboding; you are always reminded that the clock is counting down. There's always an underlying sense of urgency, even as you are free to begin again from Day 1, withy 72 Hours Remaining.

Personally, I like to take my time with this game. I've never beaten it really fast; it can take a month or two for me, usually, if I'm really set on beating it. I'll always stray aside and fill out my Bomber's Notebook. One thing I've almost never bothered to do, though, are the Great Fairy Collection Quests for the temples, though the rewards are great.

I think that Majora's Mask will endure as a great game. It took the same engine, character models, and overall visuals from Ocarina of Time and still gave us a vastly different, unique experience. I'm leaving this as a short review. It's a small tribute from me to my favorite game in the Zelda series. I'm looking to Skyward Sword, and the future of the Zelda series, with a hope that I can love what's to come as much as I did Majora's Mask.

Final Fantasy IX is my favorite Final Fantasy, and one of my favorite RPGs period. It has its flaws, which I will cover. This game, however, presents a very fun experience to me despite its problems.

The story is fantastical, a tribute to the Final Fantasies that we saw on Nintendo's home consoles. A "Fantasy" can be many things. It could be a love story with sorceresses and soldiers. It could be a world of deceptive preachers of an ancient faith, where an abominable monster threatens the lives of everyone, and their homes. In the case of Final Fantasy IX, it is back to what you most think of when you hear the word "Fantasy" - swords, colorful creatures, monsters from a mysterious mist, princesses, and knights. I like this approach. However, this is where a roadblock comes for some people: the character design. The characters are short, no longer proportioned realistically as they were in Final Fantasy VIII. It's fitting, however, to the game. There are many races, a lot of which represent animals such as hippos and rats. It is a very unusual medley of characters to interact with. There seem to be many who dislike this direction in design, and I was among them when I first played this game at a young age. When I returned to it years later, though, I came to like it a lot more. In summary, I feel that the atmosphere, setting, and characters of Final Fantasy IX are very well done.

The story takes place on Gaia, and begins with an attempted kidnapping of Alexandria Kingdom's Princess Garnet by a troupe of thieves, led by the boy Zidane. It turns out that the princess wants to be kidnapped, eager to escape for her own reasons, which involve a recent change in the behavior of her mother, Queen Brahne, who resembles a fatty mass of mint chocolate chip ice cream crossed with the Hamburglar. The story's troubles begin to spiral into an even greater scale as time goes on, eventually culminating in a fight for the biggest stakes you could possibly have on a battle. I am a great fan of the story of Zidane, his friends, and the mysterious man, Kuja. This is what I love most about this game.

With that said, there are flaws.

One is the Trance system. Final Fantasy VII and VIII have Limit Breaks, X has Overdrive, and IX has Trance. These are all super powerful attacks, unique to each character, which can be unleashed once certain conditions are met. With Trance, every time your characters suffer damage from an enemy, a Trance Gauge fills. Once it is full, a character automatically goes into a "Trance", where they receive their own unique commands that will greatly benefit you in battle. The problem with Trance is that it is automatic once that gauge fills. This means that it can happen at the very end of a battle, one which contains weak enemies, with only one small fry left. Your Trance is wasted, because after any battle in which characters switch into Trance, the Trance goes away and you must wait for the bar to fill all over again. The only positive for me is that Trance is actually an important part of the story in FFIX.

This game was also, unfortunately, somewhat rushed. This means that there is an unfulfilled potential with FFIX. It could have been better. Certain moments that were going to be included in the story were left out, for example.

I could write so much more about this game, from the many locations, enemies, and sidequests to the Abilities system, where you learn new spells and skills from the equipment that your characters carry. I'll cut it short here, however, and conclude with what I said at the beginning: this is my favorite Final Fantasy, and one of my favorite RPGs period. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Final Fantasy.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl had so much hype, I think it took a lot of effort not to wet myself waiting for the next update every night at the Smash Dojo site, eagerly watching like an obedient little Nintendo lover, thinking to myself "*CRAG* YEAH SMASH BROS." This game had so much damn hype, I think everybody knew it couldn't possibly have met it, however much we might have hoped that it would. The game did not turn out to be the Second Coming of Santa Christ, but rather was ripe with some flaws that could have been more forgivable, but sadly drag the game down to where I consider it to be 'fair, but having had the potential to have been far better'. To me, the problems with this game are:

Subspace Emissary single-player. This was muchly hyped like any other part of the game. No dialogue except for some grunts and maybe some single words like "Yeah!" from Mario. Epic scenes with explosions, women, and Luigi. But it's clear that HAL Labs spilled Kirby on their Subspace. *crag* dem other guys, KIRBY is the real savior of the universe.  And the gameplay and design of  Single Player Mode shows it, too. But that would be just fine by me if the gameplay was more compelling. I actually enjoy Adventure Mode on Melee more than Subspace Emissary. Once you've beaten Subspace once, you probably don't want to play it again. I know I didn't. You watch the epic cutscenes, get through the game, and your experience is pretty much done. Well, at least it's an incredibly easy way to unlock new characters. I didn't care for that, but some may like that it was made so easy. We're an impatient species and want our lasar-robots and rock-hard Solid Snakes quickly. Playing Subspace with a friend can elevate the experience, but can also be annoying when you have to catch up with one another, and Player 2 keeps getting thrown around as a ball of blue light every minute or so. Personally, I would have liked a story or stories that changed more according to what character(s) you choose to play as.

The second big problem I have is the Online. A hugely important thing to me. A part of this game that I looked forward to probably more than anything. Clearly, they should have delayed this game even more, because myself and probably many others would be giving this game a far higher rating if they had taken whatever time they needed to perfect online playability. Being able to connect with your friends around the world and spam Kirby's taunt and/or actually fight was tantalizing. But it takes way too long to connect to a game with three other strangers in 'With Anyone', whether you're playing an all-out 'Brawl' or 'Team Brawl'. I could be waiting in a room for 20 minutes, if the game was kind. Online play is just not as smooth as it could have been. I point to Mario Kart Wii as an example of how smooth Brawl's online mode should have been. It's perfectly possible for this to have been better.

I'll end by defending the game, however. What I love the most is just how crazy it is. There's nothing funner to me than a crazy battle with some friends that has bananas, smart bombs, shells, and whatever else falling all over the place. Unlike most other games where characters kick each other around, Smash Bros. Brawl can have a funny story to just about any battle. Weird and amusing things can happen at any moment. This makes each game different to me, and just as fun and unpredictable as the last. I enjoy the large character roster. I thought Melee's was big, but Brawl has made it look rather small. The characters themselves are entertaining, and I actually like the Final Smash mechanic that was implemented. It gives the characters even more unique flavor and makes for even more amusing moments. This game is so crazy that is still manages to draw me back to it every so often despite its unfulfilled potential. It feels like they tried to stuff too much into it too quickly to make it as huge and epic as possible. If Super Smash Bros. Brawl was just now coming out, I can't help but think it would be a far better game.

Look wut Blumi and I did back in the day on the old, uh.. what was it. Draw program thing. Whatever. Blumi did most of it.

Captain Douglas Falcon drew in a great beath, filling his lungs in preparation for the exclamation that would soon follow. He gazed upon his foe, a rogueish glint inhabiting his eyes, for he would deliver pain beyond pain to this hapless sap before him. And so he spoke the first portion of his declaration, drawing back a single arm that bulged with muscle and sinew.

"FALCON..."

Now! It was time to unleash the blazing fury of his attack. Captain Falcon concluded his shout:

"PAUNCH!!!"

As he did so, the Captain brought his fist forward with incredible speed, crimson flames bursting into life and enshrouding his arm and fist like a fatal wreathe. Both fist and inferno, one entity of pain and suffering, slammed directly into Captain Falcon's foe. The enemy was sent flying, soon gone with a departing twinkle in the cloudy skies.

"YES"

It's Mario! And he's poorly drawn! What poorly thought-out adventures await him next?

What is this I don't even

Oh what marvelous creations we made

"Enjoying the mystery that is Dimentio?

*appears in a flash*

Ah... what a fine idea this is. Full credit to you, my tasty morsel of a fan! Count Bleck is just a puppet... and I... am the master!

Of course, I couldn't have done it without first setting up all the chess pieces. I have the heroes of legend to thank for that.

As for my mask... why, it hides my true face! Evil smiles behind the cold, yet laughing mask, of deception... I would send you to the Underwhere in a heartbeat, with but a smile upon my happy face!"

- ME, the Charming Magician, in 2007, year of years. The year of... Dimentio!~ ♪

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Item Name-----------------Short Description-------------------------Usable---------------Sold---------------Left---------------Cost

1up-Mushroom------------Increases lives by 1.----------------------Users------------------3--------------------2-------------------75

Healing-Mushroom------Restores 10 HP-----------------------------Users-----------------10-------------------5-------------------15

Mushroom-PIE-------------Throw at someone, or eat for 5hp.----Users-----------------16-------------------11------------------5

 DO IT GODS OF GAMING

There could be more to see than Wanted/Owned/Played/Beaten games and Awards on the Profile tab. I'm just starting to visit the site more, and I remember Francis mentioning something several months ago about a 'room' feature for members, which could be decorated with user-created furniture and decorations and shit, if I read right. That sounds like a very good idea, and I wonder if Francis still plans to implement something like that, because I'd love to see more unique things available for each member's personal forum. I think it'll be helped a lot when things like Items and Shops come around again, if they do. Basically, more life to User Profiles.

Also side question, since I haven't been here in a while. Did Subscriptions get removed? I don't see that anymore. Maybe I'm missing it.