• 1Oct 10

  Alex of the Opera

  So I've been at MSU for about a month now, and things are going pretty well. I've made a lot of new friends, I've eaten more ramen than I thought humanly possible, and I've overcome having my clothes smell like onions. My cIasses are mostly all right, too, though I absolutely despise my Humanities cIass. Who knew that the study of the human condition could be so boring? Or would include Greek architecture? I've heard more about the seven parts of a Corinthian column than anyone should have to hear. And, if that wasn't bad enough, I have to keep an architecture journal which, as the professor states, "requires one to snap photographs of various architectural elements when one is out of doors." I also have toendure an opera.

  After much procrastination, I finally broke down and bought two tickets to see "The Mikado" at the Detroit Opera House in a few weeks. The lovely Courtney817 will be joining me for an exciting evening in the 'hood. I'm dreading the opera... I'm not even certain what "The Mikado" is about, nor do I really care. At this point, I'm just looking forward to spending an evening with Courtney. For the record, I did give Aidan the chance to come, but he flat-out refused--not that I blame him. So no, I'm not stealing his girl.

  In gaming news, I recently wrapped up Metroid: Other M. Aside from the detective hunting in first-person mode, and the cumbersome transition to-and-from first-person, it was a pretty good game. It didn't come close to matching Metroid Prime in it's awesomeness, but it was nonetheless a game worth playing. While I liked the story, I felt Samus was a little too emo at times (such as the moments before the Ridley fight, or any other time she was talking about the baby), and while I totally understand the need to limit when Samus gained access to her powers, it made Adam seem kind of lame at times--how long was Samus running around in the scorching heat before Adam gave her access to the Varia suit? Heartless bastard, Adam. Anyway, in honor of Other M, I got Aidan to make me a pretty cool Metroid signature. Thanks, Aids!

  

  I've also been working my way towards the end of Final Fantasy XIII (though "end" is highly tentative considering the amount of post-game content). After wandering around the Archylte Steppe for about ten hours, I have finally made my way into Taejin's Tower. I have to admit, while I liked the game from the start, I didn't truly begin to love it until the world opened up in Chapter 11. All of this newfound freedom makes the game feel a lot more like Final Fantasy. Plus, I really like the music in the Archylte Steppe. I'm looking forward to the day when I can roam the area without fear of getting clobbered by a Behemoth or Megistotherian.

  The 3DS is looking pretty awesome. I'll probably have to pick one up on day one. The amount of quality games for the system appears to be staggering--Ocarina of Time, Star Fox, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Kingdom Hearts, Kid Icarus, unnamed Final Fantasy project... and what is this about Tales of the Abyss 3D? I just saw it while looking at Wikipedia. Of course, being Wikipedia, one should take that with a grain of salt, but Abyss is one of my favorite games, and if there is another Abyss game coming, or a remake, or even a crappy port of the original, I am stoked. 8)

  

  

  Holy crap! I just did a little more investigating, and discovered that Tales of the Abyss 3DS is actually going to happen. And not only that, the excellent Abyss anime is being localized! Calm down, Alex! Calm down. Of course, given Namco-Bandai's recent anti-Tales stance here in the US, I doubt Abyss will even make it's way over here from Japan, but still... I'm excited.

  

  If there are any Abyss fans out there... who's your favorite character? What's your favorite moment in the game? How much did you hate navigating those dungeons that took place on the world map? As for me, Jade and Peony are two of my favorite characters. Whenever those two are in the same room, hilarity is bound to ensue. This is one of the best scenes in the game.

  Lastly, I'm trying something new with my hair. I think it looks okay, though it's a little messy right there.

  

  • Posted Oct 1, 2010 8:09 am GMT
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• 9Sep 10

  The End of the Beginning

  What's up?

  I've been busy as hell the past few days. I've been at MSU for about a week now. It's definitely taken some time to get used to everything. The biggest change, for me, at least, is living in such cramped quarters. My dorm room is literally about the same size as my closet back home. At least, with all of the clutter and stuff building up, it's starting to feel more like home.

  

  My roommate is pretty cool, I suppose. We share a lot of similar interests, like video games and anime, but our personalities completely diametric. He's shy and quiet. And very neat. I'm like a hurricane; I leave disaster in my wake. So it was a little awkward at first. We didn't really say much of anything to each other the first few days; I also took one of my world-famous twenty-hour naps the third day I was here, so that cut down on our social time. But we're starting to warm up to each, mostly thanks to Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii. We also went to the Spartans' first football game of the season on Saturday and got to watch them beat the crap out of Central Michigan.

  

  I did some laundry the other day; for some reason, all of my clothes smelled like onions when they were "clean." I'm not sure if it was the machine or the detergent, or some other mysterious factor. I've invested in some Tide of my own, and plan on doing laundry, part II this afternoon. Hopefully things are smelling a bit more pleasant this time around.

  Other than that, I've spent a lot of time just exploring the area, familiarizing myself with my new surroundings and the lovely ladies within them--of which there are many. I'd probably have better luck attracting them if my clothes didn't smell like onions. I've also been going to cIasses, believe it or not. I didn't take anything too extraordinarily difficult; I didn't know how I was going to adapt to this whole college thing, so I took English, Math, Computer Science, and Humanities. All required, so it's good to get them out of the way. Humanities is going to suck, though. I can just feel it. It's not a difficult cIass by any means, it's just... artsy-fartsy for lack of a better term. That is so not me.

  On the video game front--well, obviously there is not very much to report. I've been so busy getting settled into my new digs that I haven't really had much time to play anything aside from the requisite Brawl and Mario Kart. However, I have managed to sneak in a few hours with Metroid: Other M. It's quite a departure from many of the more recent Metroid games, but it's still pretty awesome. The graphics are pretty damn good for a Wii game, and while the music is mostly non-existent, the voice acting is moderately impressive. Samus's narration isn't that great, but most everything else is passable. The game itself also plays fairly well, though I think that, at times, the transition from first- to third-person is a little cumbersome; it would also be great if you could actually move when in first-person. But these are all minor gripes. The game is still great; I should probably have it wrapped up next week sometime.

  

  And so, this is the end of the beginning. (That's some pretty nice symmetry with your blog title, right Aidan?)My first week at MSU is about over, and I've survived mostly intact. We'll see if that continues. I still have a lot of family drama going on back home. Only time will tell if I survive.

  See you around, guys!

  (Random shout-out to Dr. Awesome. )

  • Posted Sep 9, 2010 7:53 am GMT
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• 23Aug 10

  Atop the Summit of Mount Alex

  What's up, GameSpot?

  So, as many of you know, I am leaving for Michigan State University in a couple of days. I'm still having mixed emotions, but in general, I'm pretty excited. Don't worry, I will still be around GameSpot. I'm not here very much to begin with, so you probably won't even notice a change.

  Anyway, today I decided it would be the day that I finally start to pack some of my things, and perhaps even straighten out my bedroom and game room a little bit. I'm pretty sure that my parents are going to clear out my game room and turn it into an office or something after I leave (they've already bought the paint ), so I have the rest of the week to make sure all of my stuff is safe and secure. My definition of "trash" is very different from my parents' definition, so if/when they do go clean out my room, I don't want them throwing out anything near and dear to my heart. As I hinted at in my previous blog, I have a lot of stuff that is near and dear to my heart. This is but a portion of my sizable collection of video games and related goods. As I tried to allude to with my blog's title, I have a mountain of stuff in my collection. Clever? Perhaps... perhaps not.

  I'm no photographer like Aidan, so don't expect these pictures to be brilliant pieces of art.

  

  I wish that I was more organized.

  

  

  

  

  It's Oni-Link! I wish that I had a Fierce Deity Mask!

  

  

  
  Mario has his own energy drink, believe it or not.
  

  

  Clearly, I've got a lot of work ahead of me. I've been at this for an hour or two, and it's already been a total b**** to organize. I haven't even started packing the stuff I want to take to MSU, either. I'll probably procrastinate and just throw a few things into a bag on Thursday night or something.

  I suppose that's about it. I got deodorant on my lips today. For some reason, I found myself smelling it this morning, and I got a little bit too close and got it got all over my lips. I had to wash my face repeatedly after that, and I'm still anal about licking my lips, fearing that I might accidentally swallow some deodorant. I have absolutely no idea why I decided to share that story; it's not even remotely interesting. I suppose I'm stalling for time now.

  Thus, I shall leave you with this picture that I found somewhat humorous.

  

  • Posted Aug 23, 2010 1:47 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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