Final Fantasy V

Okay, so I've gone over every other Final Fantasy game I've actually played, this would actually be the last one I've got to cover. Number five is a pretty good one as far as I'm concerned, especially since it was quite possibly the best use of the job system and inclusion of elemental crystals. Also, it was the first to spawn an anime, which I hope to see some day. The job system was very special because if you had an end game in mind you could create a super character, nay a super party. Every time you master a job, its traits become a permanent part of the character when they go jobless. Arguaby the ultimate physical character would be monk, ninja, hunter as monk gives counter and higher HP, ninja gets you two weapons simultaneously, and hunter give you the ability to attack four times, which means you can hit eight times in one turn, ten if counter gets triggered. Magic characters get a boost from red mage's doublecast and if you set them with mime they get three slots which means doublecast and it can be applied to two other types of magic. The possibilities are endless!

Plotwise it's not bad, kind of straightforward and not terribly original, but not bad. The main character is Bartz who rides a chocobo, wields a sword from the get go and is probably the most generic RPG hero in the franchise, if not the entire genre. One day Bartz meets Princess Reina and an old man who can't remember anything except that his name is Galuf. The Princess was out looking for her father who had gone to look for the Wind Crystal when a meteor interrupts her travels and draws Bartz's attention. The three go to find the king together because the amnesiac thinks that's something along the lines of what he was doing before he lost his memory and Bartz has nothing better to do. They need to get across the sea and since the wind crystal stopped working, nobody can sail except one mysterious crew of pirates led by Faris who catches the party trying to steal their ship and surprisingly agrees to help. As it turns out, the pirate ship still works because rather than wind in the sails, it moves by being pulled by a sea serpent. They get to the wind crystal but it breaks and the crystals call out for these four to save the world and to this end grants them the power of jobs so they can use magic and other cool abilities. Their next stop is the water crystal, and along the way, they discover that Faris is a girl. Again they are too late to stop the crystal from breaking, but they get more jobs. Then they leave the mountain locked region they've been stuck in to look for the fire crystal. They are pormptly imprisoned where they meet the game's Cid who helps break out and once again they are too late to save the crystal and they discover someone is actively destroying the crystals. Now the crystal of Earth is the only one left, and aong the way to find it we get the big reveal, Faris is actually Reina's long lost sister Sarissa! So as you can imagine, this crystal does not have a much brighter future than the others, and it would seem the world is in for a bleak end, but it's not over yet. As it turns out the crystals were used to seal an evil bing known as ExDeath and now that they are broken, so is the seal and now he is ready to destroy the world again. A mysterious girl arrives to help out claiming to be Galuf's granddaughter Kara, and Galuf remembers he was one of the Warriors of Light who sealed ExDeath and no he wants to send ExDeath back to the world they came from. Galuf succeeds leaving Bartz, Reina and Faris behind, but they don't give up, they follow Galuf back to his world through a meteor portal with the help of Cid. shortly after they get to Galuf's world they are captured by ExDeath's henchman Gilgamesh. That's right, the Gilgamesh who keeps showing up in every other FF game, but more on that later. The whole group goes on a desperate quest to find a way to defeat ExDeath once and for all, and along the wya they find out Bartz's father was also a Warrior of Light who fought alongside Galuf against ExDeath. Galuf has a final showdown with ExDeath which is impressive because you can't lose this fight, even if Galuf hits 0 HP the battle continues until ExDeath is defeated, the downside being that Galuf actually dies after the battle, the party even tries using phoenix down and white magic, but Galuf went beyond his limits and he's dead for good...but Kara inherits all of his job mastery so it's cool, you just trade an old guy for a little girl with the same stats, if that makes any sense at all. Also, the party accidentally destroys the crystals of this world without realizing what they are and then things get really wierd. Apparently, the two worlds were one but were seperated by breaking the crystals in two, which was done because a wizard created a powerful void magic that could only be stopped by putting it between the two worlds that resulted from seperating them. Now that the two worlds have become one, there's a whole bunch of new crap which is actually good because most of it is stuff you can use against ExDeath. Oh did I forget to mention, he's not dead after all? Yeah apparently under his armor the bastard was acually some sort of tree demon and he left a twig on the party so that he could regrow later, and then he took the power of the void and actually puts holes in the world, I mean he literally just zaps spots and they become empty holes that water just flows into and it's gone. Many of the targets are places that the game designers just didn't want you going back to this late in the game and if you missed something important, screw you, but storywise the big deal is Bartz's home is one of the first places hit and he goes berserk. Ultimately there is a big showdown...blah, blah, blah...

Gilgamesh gets thrown into the void and from there he randomly falls out into other dimensions and makes appearances in various other games including FFVIII and FFXII, and yes this is actually the same Gilgamesh, he apparently is forever stuck between dimensions dropping out randomly for cameos as the most prolific single character in the series. It's also believed that Lone Wolf and Gogo who first appear here are somehow the same guys that reappear in FFVI but with just that one appearance they pale in comparison to Gilgamesh and Omega Weapon who apparently also crosses dimensions after it's first appearance in this game. One more fun fact, You must get collect hte spells Ifrit, Titan, Holy and Flare in order to complete the game, but they are the only spells you have to collect and you could get through the game without getting any other spells, though you're stupid as hell if you do try that. Go ahead, do it, let me know how it goes. Originally released on SNES, it was re-released on PS1, GBA, and iPad.

Supers

So I had an idea for another story, which sadly will remain on the back burner because I have half a dozen other stories to write before I get to this one, but I thought I'd just put it out there to test the waters, see if any of you like it, and remind myself of what I came up with in case I forget it later.

So there are many superhero stories out there that talk about what happens when superheroes just happen with no real reason and there are a bunch of them. X-Men is the biggest one, then there's Heroes, the Tommorrow People and others. The big problem with most is that they all revolve around a mutation which is eventually described as being a single common mutation among all mutants that accounts for an infintite number of powers. I realize that superhero stories require some suspension of disbelief but by now we should know that if there were a gene that allowed for some sort of superpower that it would either be a common power to all mutants or a variety of genes giving a variety of powers. A man who has magnetic powers would not sire a son who has super speed. A man who can absorb powers who has a child with a clairvoyant, wouldn't produce a son that could fly, and if he had a child with a pyrokinetic that child wouldn't have regenerative powers and she most likely wouldn't have a son that inherited a power that skipped two generations without inheriting any traits from the generations in between. Tommorrow People had it much more accurate with everyone having the same power set, but the variety of powers within thta set and the ability to keep it secret seems unlikely. My new story idea, Supers, is what I feel is the most likely scenario, which I will go into detail now.

There is one mutation which comes in two forms and expresses three ways. The most common and basic form allows humans to manipulate kinetic energy to counter gravity which quite simply allows one to fly, and through a quirk can also be applied temporarily to any object one touches which presents as super strength. The other two forms are the same plus something extra, the rarest form allows for electrogenesis/electrokinesis, but this trait is paired with meromelia (missing limbs) and only seems to work with direct contact with the undeveloped limbs so it's arguable that it's not necessarily an advantage over the standard mutation; the final form is when the mutant is pushed to the limit of their abilities and develop the ability to apply their powers to objects without having to touch them, essentially psychokinesis, but this form is also disadvantageous because it comes with reduced mental capacity, either one starts out expressing this way and has some form of autism or other mental disability, or they develop the powers later on and go insane. When this started people were unsure of what to do, many were afraid and the government stepped in. They determined that mutants outside of the government's jurisdiction could be a threat later on and it would be better to collect known mutants to be trained by the military at Area 51. Of course not every mutant was fit for this, most of the autistic psychokinetics that were located were sent to the National Institute of Mental Health, many others of both types were hidden by people who didn't trust the government and felt they were doing right by the children, which would become a problem later, and the one electrokinetic that was identified...well he's the main character sort of, so new paragraph as we get into more specifics.

Our hero, his nickname is Sparky. He was passed over for the military, but he wasn't bad enough for the National Institute for Mental Health, so he ended up going to MIT where he was used for research, but was also compensated with a scholarship and became a psychologist and ends up working at the New York City Police Department where he is reunited with Amber, a childhood friend who did make the military and has been placed in the police department to handle the crimes involving Supers, as they are being called, that slipped through the cracks. She has a partner, Captain Murica, and together they work to solve crimes involving Supers, recruiting a few more to their side including a couple of kids, Ray and Hope, that end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Dragon, a buddhist monk whose twin brother is in the Chinese Triad. Things continue to escalate until they discover the truth about the psychokinetics who have managed to remain a secret but are very dangerous, enough that the team may be the only thing standing between them and everybody else. Top villains include an Irish mobster from Boston that tracks down Sparky, and Teek, who has some history with Captain Murica.

Well, what do you think? It's gonna be a while, but it may happen someday.

Pokemon

Hard to believe I haven't touched on this one yet, but it's high time I gotta. Pokemon is the most ridiculously popular video game/anime combo to hit America, probably even bigger than Dragon Ball Z, not necessarily better, but bigger. I admit, I am a bit of a fan even though I haven't really kept up since the first generation, but I am rather happy that it lasted this long. Yes, I actually caught all 150 original pokemon in the red version and a few years ago I finally got the yellow version and tried again this time using only Ash's team from the first season (Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charizard, Butterfree, Pidgeot, and of course Pikachu). For those who don't know, you can halt evolution for pokemon that evolve at level up by pressing B during the evolution animation and they still level up, so Bulbasaur and Squirtle are actually on the same level with the rest of the team. Ash's team works pretty well except for Sabrina who is a bit overpowered and Butterfree seems to be the only one that can do anything and it took a lot of leveling up to pull that off. They can handle the first three of the Elite Four, Pikachu or Bulbasaur can take down Lorelei's water types with Charizard backing up on ice types, Squirtle or Bulbasaur can handle Bruno's ground/rock types while Pidgeot can handle the fighting types, Butterfree leads the team against Agatha's ghost team, it's Lance that kicks my butt and if I get past him, Gary takes me down. I wondered why it seemed easier when I played red, then I remembered using Zapdos, a level 70 legendary pokemon makes a difference and you just don't realize that until you try to go without.

Okay, now I gotta be objective, I love the game, but as RPGs go, this one had a weak story and relied almost entirely on the gimmick of "gotta catch 'em all". If you let the novelty of capturing all of the pokemon distract you, it's totally fun, but the story itself is pretty weak. There's basically three major plots running through the game, qualifying for the pokemon league, your personal rivalry, and Team Rocket. Team Rocket is potentially the most interesting plot regarding criminals who steal rare pokemon and use them to commit even more heinous crimes. Seriously, they have moments where they seem kinda badass, but somehow, they take a backseat to the other plots. The whole thing starts with a kid selecting his first pokemon which he will use to capture other pokemon by weakening them until they can't fight back and capturing them in poke balls. Then his rival picks the pokemon that has a natural advantage over the one you pick because there's a rock paper scissors relationship between them, water extinguishes fire, fire burns grass, and grass absorbs water, so no matter which one you pick, the other guy just picks the one that can hurt yours and you're kinda screwed. Both of you go off into the world to build your teams and every now and then your rival comes back to taunt you with his team. For the most part you just kind of ignore him and move on to your bigger goal of proving yourself against the gym leaders and collecting badges which qualify you to go to the final tournament at the Indigo Plateau and prove your the best, only to find out your rival beat you there and your final test is beating him. That really is the overarching plot that dominates the game, but fortunately some other fun stuff happens to keep things intersting along the way. First you meet Team Rocket between the first two gyms where they are stealing fossils(you'll find out just how valuable they are later on) then when you get to the next town you find a house where they have ransacked a house for no real good reason, they are just criminals commiting crimes because they are the bad guys. You have trouble getting into the next town geographically which is Saffron City so you have to take the long way around which involves getting the first of five special training tools called HMs or Hidden Machines which involves boarding a cruise ship, then it's off to Lavendar Town, known for the Pokemon Tower where dead pokemon are laid to rest and you meet the one pokemon in the game that can't be captured and doesn't belong to another trainer, the Marowak which is a boss at the top of the tower. After beating it you will get the Pokemon Flute which you will need to wake a Snorlax blocking your path later on, and you can get a Marowak by evolving a Cubone you can capture in the tower, and Team Rocket is there giving all of the pokemon a hard time. However before you can do any of that, you first need a Silph Scope from Silph Co. in Saffron City which is dealing with Team Rocket in their biggest scheme, takign the entire company hostage, but before you can get into Saffron City you first need to bribe the last guard who is thirsty by buying him a drink from the vending machine at the top of the Poke Mart in Celadon City which also has a casino that is a front for Team Rocket. Yeah, those bastards are everywhere. Once you manage to settle all of this it's pretty easy going as you got to Fuschia City and take a break to visit the Safari Zone to get another HM so you can surf to Cinnabar Island also you can collect some unique pokemon in the Safari Zone. Once you reach Cinnabar Island there's a wierd bit where you can go to an abanadoned mansion where you can collect some more unique pokemon, but if pay attention to the lab notes, you find out that the local gym leader actually captured Mew and bred Mewtwo who subsequently destroyed the mansion. Also, there's a lab where you can take your fossil that you recieved as a reward for fighting Team Rocket way back at the beginning and have a rare extinct pokemon brought to life from it, because apparently the scientists haven't learned their lesson from playing god. Then for the final gym leader who turns out to be the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni, who you caught red-handed in the Silph Co. hostage situation, but for some reason, all you care about is the damn Earth Badge. I mean it's cool and all, but you just took down a criminal mastermind and the sport of pokemon fighting is somehow more important I don't know what's more disturbing, finding out that he's part of the league or that as badass as he is, he's not in charge of the league. So what should have been the final boss of the game is just another stepping stone to finish your sporting career, which by the way, when you stop and think about it, the entire game is basically a combination of Beanie babies and cock-fighting.

Oh yes, I just ruined your childhood, see you next week.

Dimension W

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Dimension W, the newest series on Toonami, and I feel I have to say something about it. It deals with the fourth dimension, which is always a brain bender. I would say it's right up there with time travel, but in many schools of thought, the fourth dimension is time so there we go. Dimension W has taken an intersting view on the fourth dimension by suggesting it could be used as an energy source, which I suppose is possible if you consider that across the fourth dimension there are other places where energy may be available that we can't access from the third dimension, ut perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself, which might actually be possible in the fourth dimension.

Dimension W follows the story of Kyouma Mabuchi, who is a Collector, someone who collects illegal coils. Coils are the devices which collect energy from the fourth dimension to power everything. This technology was created by a company called New Tesla, named after Nikolai Tesla who used coils to create electricity when it was first discovered years ago, so yeah, huge nod to science nerds. Some people have developed coil that are not part of New Tesla's global system and the company is paying out to bounty hunters to collect these illegal coils. If you think about it, the company is holding a monopoly on this energy source, but as we soon see, it's not just abou corporate greed, accessing the fourth dimension has some serious potential repurcussions and New Tesla is doing everything they can to protect the world from what could go wrong. Mabuchi is a little wierd because he prefers not to use newer technologies, using a phone that runs on batteries and driving a car that runs on gasoline. He lives in an old gas station that nobody uses except him and presumably he only lives there to hold the gas that he takes as payment for his jobs. Things get complicated when he meets Mira Yurizaki, a top of the line robot that claims to be the daughter of New Tesla's founder who disappears shortly after the two main characters meet so he can't really explain anything, but Mira insists that the last instructions she got was to follow the illegal coils, which means she has to stay with Mabuchi. Mabuchi is not happy about this because Mira is a high tech coil powered robot, representing everything he stands against. The story has gotten a little more twisted now that we know Mabuchi is motivated by the fact that he wanted to save his girlfriend from a terminal illness by having her transferred to a robot body by New Tesla and he joined their private military group Grendel to pay for it, but something went terribly wrong, she died and now he doesn't trust coils at all. To make things even more complicated, Mira's body was actually made for Mabuchi's girlfriend, so he thinks of her everytime he sees Mira and he's not sure if that's good or bad, so he's very melancholy(read grumpy) all the time.

Now for my conspiracy theory, I believe Mira actually is Dr. Yurizaki's daughter or Mabuchi's girlfriend, or both. It has been demonstrated that the fourth dimension is all about alternate possibilities, and that sometimes these possibilities can continue to exist in conjunction with this world with coils tying them together. My theory is that Mira is programmed so that her coil is specifically attuned to the possibilities where these girls didn't die and draw on their life force from another dimension to create the mind that functions in this world. This would mean that she either is one of the girls or possibly both fused into one in Mira's mind.

Okay, I'll let you think about that and if your mind doesn't split into the fourth dimension, you can watch the show on Toonami at 12:30. Also, don't forget to check out TOM's endorsement of my book on YouTube. Stay gold Toonami faithful!

STEVE BLUM READS 7TH MOON! Tora Con 2016

So you may have already noticed the blog posts I put up, and that was the biggest thing to happen at Tora Con as far as I'm concerned. Even if somethinge else did happen and I'm not sure whether anything else did, that was really the coolest thing ever. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look here:

This means we have audio of TOM from Toonami saying a promo for 7th Moon. I may get in trouble for this in the long run, but Steve was super cool about it so it was fun while it lasted. Fun fact, I found out he and Mary MacGlynn are a couple, nay, the power couple of voice acting. Somehow, still only the second coolest thing about his panel after reading 7th Moon. I wrote the description as a Toonami promo and even though I didn't have the guts to ask him he threw in the "Only on Toonami, on Adult Swim" and I almost died. If anyone can attach this audio to some TOM footage and the fight scene I posted on YouTube to make this look like a real Toonami promo, that would be awesome. Also he signed two DVDs and two video games that he did voices for, three of them in character. He was Vincent Valentine in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and Dirge of Cereberus, Orochimaru in Naruto(these are the episodes that introuced the character though not why I got them originally, but for this it works) and he was also Sanjuro and Wiseman in .hack//MUTATION which he signed as himself because he didn't remember before signing, but still cool.

In unrelated news, I held a panel and only three people showed up, one of them was Angela Demchak, the artist who is working with me on making 7th Moon into a graphic novel. It's coming along slow, but she hung out with me for the rest of the day and it seems she's still workign on it, so it will happen...eventually...probably. She's passionate so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and waiting for results.

So that covers most of the cool stuff that happened, other than that I just sat at my table and sold copies of 7th Moon, Red Ellen, Waking Dream, and Superfrenemies. And while I sat there, I took photos of cool cosplayers and I will leave you with them now.

7th Moon Toonami Promo w/TOM HQ

Steve Blum 7th Moon Toonami Promo