Appropriate subject title.

I finally beat FE: TSS yesterday afternoon, and for being labeled as one of the easier FE games (or so I've been told) I found it a great introduction to the franchise. Thanks to a character recruitment guide a friend typed up for me I managed to grab every possible character along the way, and something tells me that made the ending a whole lot better than it could've been. The amount of dialog and character descriptions thrown at you is completely awesome for a person like me - especially since I rotated between so many different characters.

( My complete list of classed up characters )

While it certainly made things tougher, I played as a perfectionist. If any of my characters were killed, I reset. If any town was destroyed before I could reach it, I reset. If any rare treasure was stolen that I could not later recover, I reset. And, if any character I was trying to recruit was killed in the process, I reset. I ended up playing one mission (I think Eirika's chapter 13) 4 times over, but it was so worth it. Every time I reset I was simply compelled to better my strategies for the next attempt.

As fun as playing it was, I think I'll take a break before going back through it again to do Ephraim's story bits. It's about time I completed Chrono Trigger DS... XD

Note: Classed up = "evolved" to me. I even made mock-Pokemon evolution music when classing up my characters ;)

So, I finally connect to the internets on my laptop (dial-up connection. I try to avoid it like a plague because it wastes so much time), and Pokecharms is DEAD. It made me weep inside. At least it should hopefully be back soon. I'm curious to see what has happened in my absence :P

Otherwise, random life stuff.

- My dog almost died - again - on Canada Day (in the evening). He wouldn't lift his head, wouldn't stand up, his back legs appeared to be paralyzed, his heart rate was down, his breathing was labored, he felt cold to the touch (like something dying), and his gums were pale. We had to get our neighbor to help us carry him into the car and take him to the emergency vet clinic. Once he was there... they gave him some pain killers, started an IV, carried him to the clinic kennel... AND HE STOOD UP. AND DRANK WATER. AND STARTED WHIMPERING TO BE LET OUT OF THE CAGE. I swear that dog has 9 lives, but I love him more than I can say.

- Mom bought a 32" widescreen HDTV (only 720p, but still very nice) that I've been abusing lately with my 360, Wii, and PSP. Finally being able to properly hook the PSP up to a TV is nice considering how much the dang cords cost me (which I've owned for ages now but couldn't use) XP

- Currently playing FE: The Sacred Stones (recently hit chapter 14. I played it so much yesterday I DREAMED about it), and Rune Factory Frontier - which I already love to pieces, again. I'm glad my brother told me to pick it up because I might not have otherwise (even if I did love the original on DS).

- Planning to start reading the 6th Harry Potter book yet again in preparation for the movie release. I refuse to watch the movie before reading the book >>

- Living up at the family cottage full-time now, which explains the dial-up connection. Saw two bald eagles yesterday in the nearby trees. So glad to have actual binoculars now :D The beach is also as nice as ever, but it's been frelling COLD lately for this time of year. Supposedly we hit a record low a few nights back for July.

- Still watching G Gundam, which Stel originally dropped on me, and loving it much lots (it's the ONLY Gundam series so far that I've ever taken to). I still have a good chuck of the series left which I'm glad for, because once it's over I'm not sure what I'll watch next.

Derr... That's enough geeky rambles for me. ^^

Happy Canada Day, you crazy lot. =)

Welp, after all of the mind-numbing level grinding I did for a friend on Pokemon Platinum, I've decided to take a break from it and pick up a different handheld game instead. I always figured I'd go back to Chrono Trigger before getting into anything else, but a different game caught my eye recently while going through my GBA collection.

After ages of being told to try the series, I'm finally playing my first Fire Emblem game. I've started with "The Sacred Stones" simply because it's the one I had on-hand, but if I enjoy the gameplay enough I'll probably look into getting the GCN FE game off my brother as well. Starting chapter 2 now, and liking it so far ^^

I finally beat the first part of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years' main story. According to my save file it took me 7hrs and 59 mins, but that could be an hour or so off due to walking away while the console was left running.

I am MORE than satisfied with the game thus far. The plot has been completely crazy and fun, and I adore what happened at the end of the first chapter. I might have seen it coming waaaaay back when you're first introduced to the Hooded Man, but it was still awesome to see. I giggled like a silly fan-girl. A lot. XD

Onto Rydia's chapter next :)

Did anyone else play Lufia: The Ruins of Lore? It's probably the weakest game in the Lufia series (though I've heard Lufia 3 wasn't very good either), but there was one thing that kept me playing it straight to the end: the music. I can't help but love some of the songs in it. Like this one:



For something so simple, it's probably one of the most memorable RPG boss battle themes I've ever heard XD

So, had yet another funky Pokemon dream yesterday, and through the screwed-upness of it some stuff was actually pretty interesting. A good portion of it was VERY Redwall-ish… if you meshed Redwall with Pokemon and about a hundred other Fantasy genre RPGs XP

Excuse my improper tenses, typos, and general crappiness in this if you choose to read through it. I’m writing it VERY quickly and the quality is very, very rough. If I do decide to read back through it for mistakes, it'll have to be laterz XD

( PokeLog Entry #03 - A somewhat epic Pokemon-related dream I feel like logging )

I can't believe I spent a large portion of my day working on this project...

Anyways, many artistic Pokemon fans - especially those on dA - took part in a meme created by a person named aquamizuko. Basically, people used her blank template to draw in their favourite Pokemon of each type. The results were pretty fun to see, and I always wanted to do one of my own... Problem is I have no scanner, can't draw with a mouse to save my life, and overall... rather suck at drawing in general XD

So, a random idea struck me yesterday afternoon. If I couldn't do the type meme with actual artwork... why not do a similar thing with Anime screen-shots instead? Safe to say, that's exactly what I set out to do ^^

I started work on the thing this morning, and even just making up the list of which Pokemon to include was a challenge. I've never been able to pick one single favourite for certain types (Ground, Fighting, etc.) because I love far too many of them, but somehow I came up with my 17 top choices. After that I gathered pretty well all of my Pokemon DVDs together (and attacked certain downloaded episodes), started at the top of my favourites list, picked out choice episodes for each Pokemon, and print screen'd the hell out of 'em. Some of the pictures I ended up using could've been better, but overall I'm satisfied with the selection. Actually cropping the images and resizing them so that they'd fit onto my layout was A LOT more time-consuming than I'd expected, but it all came out nice in the end. Once the pics were placed correctly I touched up the lines, added my type images (stolen off of the Pokecharms WebDex), gave the blank spaces some color, and added my text.

The end result? Well... See for yourself. It might have taken a long time to create, but it was pretty fun to do XD

( Katie's Favourite Pokemon of Each Type (Anime-style!) )

I've been on such a Pokemon kick lately that I wasn't sure which area to write about today. I blame my busy life schedule and slightly increased stress. That sort of stuff makes me turn to the things I find most comforting. I once wrote a lengthy rant about that on another journal... To sum it up, Pokemon is basically my "security blanket". Has been for years now. Anyone who really knows me wouldn't be too surprised by that info, tho xD

Buuuut... yeah. Since a few note worthy, game-related things have happened to me recently, I'll focus on that again.

( PokeLog Entry #02 - EVENT SHAYMIN GET, PBR, more Battle Frontier, and Surfing Pikachu )

My work placement at the college has officially ended, but I'm stilling going to the graduation session for our students next Wednesday. It's amazing how many of them acknowledge my existence outside of work (seriously, this does shock me a bit). I'm always getting bright smiles and waves - and one student asked for my email address so we could keep in touch! I didn't even DO much! XD

But anyways... semi-celebration time?
I was listening to this song on the way home from dropping my little sissy off at school, so felt the need to spam it on LJ. It's pretty upbeat, too XD



(*Wishes she had a better quality video xp*)

I suddenly feel like keeping a dedicated log section for my random Pokemon-related things (team building, which games I'm currently playing, in-game and/or competitive battling, etc.) - so that's exactly what I'm going to do ^^ It's either that or make a journal specifically about Pokemon, but that doesn't seem wholly necessary.

I'll always keep the log text cut to save sanity and space, but if anyone cares... feel free to read XD

( PokeLog Entry #01 - Battling 1st stage Palmer on Platnium )

While all of these images were revealed by Coro Coro recently, I'm glad the main Japanese website updated with them so quickly (scans just can't compare with high quality images xD). The new Johto map in particular makes me really excited to check out these games.

( Observe! )

Apparently there are new areas west of the National Park AND Cianwood City. The new area next to the National Park seems like a city of sorts (not overly big), but the area beyond Cianwood is HUGE. It almost kinda looks like the top area of that new mountain is broken up into 6 smaller locations, making me wonder if it's a new Battle Frontier. Can't say for sure until more is revealed, but it's a great location for such a place. Cianwood always seemed out of the way and pointless for it.

Also, I'm REALLY happy about the confirmation that all 493 Pokemon can follow behind your player character simply by placing them in the first team slot. I'm going to be squeeing about that function for ages to come xp

It must be said... As stupid as the new female character's artwork was, her in-game sprite... is actually really cute ^^;;;

I really wish I could read Japanese now. Needing to have other people translate the info for me is a hassle when there's so much to go through... The new touch screen applications for the PokeDex, backpack, and PokeGear seem really nice, and I like the interface of the PokeWalker.

The new box art looks nice, too. Lugia's just as nifty as ever. ^^

Lastly... THIS...



Pretttttyyyyyy... :O I must have that blasted Pokemon to unlock that event! ;-;

Err... yeah. People can complain about how all the new stuff is "ruining the nostalgic feeling of G/S", but I say bring it on! Gimme more for this under-developed region! XD

Earlier today I finally reached the point I wanted to be at before re-challenging Platinum's boosted level E4: having all of my Pokemon at level 55. Since my Plat. team was made up of 9 Pokemon, I wanted to take the 3 who missed out on the E4 last time through it this time... And man, they were tough. The level boost sees all Elite 4 Pokemon get a 16 level increase, and the results are niiiiiiice. All of Cynthia's Pokemon are in the mid to high 70s. x3

You can see my team going into 'em this time 'round under the text cut: ( I call it... pre-Hall of Fame standings! :D )

It was an awesome set of matches, but my final VS Cynthia battle was definitely the best. I restarted that battle at least 3 times right at the start because Spiritomb kept giving me hell (had nothing proper to counter it with), but I'm glad I didn't stop trying. Here's how the true final match went:

I started out with my Drifblim and used Stock Pile. As expected, Spiritomb Dark Pulse'd her and took her down to 30 HP. Barely alive, but it was enough. I used the opportunity to Baton Pass to Porygon2, who took a Psychic from Spiritomb nicely. After that, Porygon2 let rip with a Thunder Bolt - and to my joy, the first strike was a critical. Spiritomb's remaining HP was just enough to prevent Cynthia from Full Restoring it, and the next Thunder Bolt finally took it out. That's when the fun began.

Cynthia sent out Milotic, so I swapped in my Gallade. The most my Gallade could do was get in a single Leaf Blade before the Milotic OHKO'd it due to a Critical'd Surf (thankfully Cynthia's beast had wasted its first turn using Mirror Coat because Milotic was faster). After that, I sent my Muk out and used Poison Jab a few times ... To my luck I ended up poisoning Milotic, and even though it had Aqua Ring in play the poison status was just enough to knock it out.

Then came Garchomp. I decided to switch in my Rapidash and Will-o-Wisp Garchomp, but I ended up missing and Rapidash went down. Didn't let it discourage me, tho! I sent my injured Drifblim out to buffer while reviving Rapidash, then sent it out again. Will-o-Wisp hit its mark that time, and... ( My ravings over mIRC say all. )
... Naturally it KO'd my Rapidash the next turn, but it was worth it. After that I swapped in my Porygon2 again and Ice Beam'd Garchomp to death.

After that came her Lucario... I switched my Aerodactyl in and EQ'd Lucario, but it managed to hang on in the red and OHKO'd my Pokemon. Naturally Cynthia Full Restored it next turn, so while my Muk was sent out to buffer I revived my Rapidash and Aerodactyl. When Muk went down I tried Rapidash's Flare Blitz (KAMIKAZEEEEE!) but it also couldn't OHKO Lucario - the level differences were just too much. Thankfully, however, since Cynthia had already used up her Full Restore my next attack from Aerodactyl KO'd the thing.

So, out comes Togekiss - just as I'd predicted. Aerodactyl did some nice damage with his Rock Slide, but Togekiss being the bitch it is managed to stay alive with about 40% of its HP and Water Pulse'd my fragile Pokemon to death. Out comes Porygon2 then to buffer while I revived Rapidash and Aerodacytl yet again (those two were definitely me heavy hitters, and Porygon2 was awesome for taking hits). When Porygon2 went down, Aerodactyl came back out to finish the job it'd started. Bye bye, Togekiss~

Finally, her last Pokemon - Roserade. I switched in my Rapidash, who was at half-health (after being revived n' all), then kamikaze'd again. To my surprise, Roserade went down! OHKO, w00t! The recoil damage left my Rapidash at 10 HP, but it didn't matter. I'd won! :D

I love my Platinum team. They're an awesome bunch of awesomes. ;-;
To give an idea of who I relied on the most, check out their final standings: ( As they now stand in the Hall of Fame )

... and I think that about covers my geekiness. Seriously, tho - it was pretty tough, but I had a lot of fun. Seeing them all in the Hall of Fame after those battles felt good ^^

"I hope I win! I hope I win! Do you know whyyyyy?"
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to lose."

~ Conversation between Julia (5 years old) and myself while she played Mario Kart Wii.

I generally don't like to post short entries with mindless angst in them, but eh. If it didn't hurt, wasn't disfiguring, and I wasn't still of semi-sound mind, I'd be pulling my hair out right now. Just having one of those moments. Possibly one of those days. The simplest things are making me want to hold my head and groan.

'Guess that's what the internet is for.

So, with the recent happenings with my mother (read previous friend'd Journal entry if you're curious), I've pretty well become the caretaker of this household and everyone/everything in it (minus fun stuff like bills). Mom's still good to watch the kids when I'm not home and do basic things, but all of the heavy duty stuff (cooking, cleaning, shopping, dealing with the dog, getting the kids to school, etc.) I'm in-charge of by default now. It's pretty time consuming, eh? Another reason I never planned to be a parent XD

I'm actually not TOO torn up over it - shit happens, right? - but it has pretty well killed a lot of my spare time. I think my general internet activities are going to be hit by it the most, as somedays I may not get online much at all. That more or less means I won't be able to keep up with GPX much at all anymore, but at least I get a number of unique views per day to keep things moving.

In other news, my brother gifted me Final Fantasy IV: The After Years over the Wii Shopping Channel Saturday, and I've played a couple of hours into it. Very nice so far. I'm loving the old-school graphics (which are even better than the original FF IV's) and all the classic music again. Already bought the Rydia chapter. I'll be sure to keep up with the rest as they're released.

So, I randomly pulled up one of my old Pokemon websites (my 2nd Pokemon site to be specific) for a friend tonight, and happened to glance at my "About me" page again... I think my reaction to it is pretty well the same each time I read through it. It makes me laugh, cry, and die a little inside.

( Me at 15... the worst kind of geeky. Read on to see why :P )

Really, I think the text I bolded and the final paragraph describe 15-year old me in a nutshell... as well as why I want to go back in time and slap her upside the head XP

Why didn't I know there was yet ANOTHER Lunar Silver Star Story remake?!

Seriously. This is the first time I've heard any word about it. From what I've read on IGN, it's set to be the best version yet, remastered music and effects, new story bits, etc. The character models aren't that catching for me, but everything else sure is. I WILL have this game. Again. Then I can judge how it measures up to Lunar: SSSC. As for Lunar Legend... let's not even compare them XP

So, now we have Star Ocean remakes, lots of stuff being shoveled onto the PSN, Kingdom Hearts, and stuff like THIS... Much more content now with owning a PSP. It might all be remakes and ports, but still stuff I enjoy owning XD

I blame trainer_irene for this one xD

Rules—
01. Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal.
02. Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
03. Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!

Had to jpg it to prevent the file from being huge, so here's hoping there was no noticeable quality loss. Photobucket, being its usual annoying self, auto-resized it, too >>

( Current desktop and reasons why I love it )

Finally bought a SD card to go with my Wii and DSi (8 gig), meaning I'm finally able to make use of the DSi camera (I'm thankful that my laptop has a slot for SD cards). Yes, it's sad, but it's the only digital camera thingy I personally own XD

Anyways, also finally bought a connection cord to hook my PSP up to my laptop for downloading purposes. Beyond that, took advantage of Indigo's (aka. Chapters) 20% off sale yesterday and bought over $50 worth of graphic novels.

( Look! I have a picture :D (Solely posted because I CAN) )

I have no idea what the quality of the LoZ graphic novels will be, but I'm a big enough fan of the franchise to give 'em a shot.