I'm Addicted to Final Fantasy XII

That feels better to admit it. I have been playing this game non-stop for the past week now. I even played during the afternoon NFL games on Sunday. I gotta tell you this game is very fun. The more I play the more I think it may be the best one yet.

Pistons crushed in opener

The new rules have already hit the man where it hurts. Rasheed Wallace was ejected from the game with 2 techs and 0 points. Looks like it will be a long year for that fool.

On a side note...Big Ben was dominated by Dwight Howard yesterday to the tune of 27 points and 11 boards. He had a measly 4 points and 5 rebounds. Earn that money Ben!

Pistons season starts today

I haven't paid too much attention to my boys all summer, but I'm getting kind of hyped for the opener tonight against the Bucks. Can't wait to see what our offense looks like with Big Ben winning the lotto with his contract over in Chi-Town.

Having a hard time getting back into the NBA after the joke that was the Miami Heat winning the title last season. The rule changes and the Wade love is making me hate the league again. The man Rasheed Wallace is going to probably be suspended half the year now since the new "whine" rule has been implemented. We will see how that rolls off tonight. Sheed can't keep his mouth shut. Big Ben was pretty vocal last year too and honestly just annoyed me.

3 all-stars in the starting 5 and the great Antonio McDyess coming in off the bench makes the squad a solid contender still. The acquisition of Nazr "I haven't done crap" Mohammed is a bit sketchy, but Flip Murray was a nice pick up. Only a year too late. Should have had him here last year. The owner Davidson is a cheapskate and traded away our bench to save a few bucks last season and cost us big. Joe D is starting to look human now. That trade of Darko last year is going to straight up kill us down the road unless we get a big time pick from Orlando in the draft this year.

Well...Let's get this bitch rollin' boys.

BACK TO THE FINALS!

AZ-The Format

Today is the release day for the new AZ album. AZ is one of my favorite artists and is like my new 2Pac of this era. His style is similar to the man himself, Nas to give you an idea about him. His last album A.W.O.L. was probably the best rap CD I have listened to in the past few years.

The Format is more of the same. Strong lyrically with solid beats. The dude just has great flow lyrically and I love to listen to him. A few cameos on the album include Little Brother for the track Rise and Fall, M.O.P. on Sit Em Back Slow, and DJ Premier for the title track The Format.

Based on 2 full listens so far I haven't picked out my favorite, but I'd say that the M.O.P. track is my least favorite. Don't like the fool. The DJ Premier collab on The Format cash money. Doing That is a great track too as well as the first one in I Am the Truth.

Overall I'd say it is comparable to A.W.O.L.

Jimi Morrison's Head says: "BUY IT NOW!", or whatever it is you do ;).

Final Fantasy XII Early Review

With a Halloween release and me never even paying attention to this game until the 30th I decided to head to Wal-Mart and pick it up at midnight. I'm glad I did.

I started playing Final Fantasy games on the Playstation One so I'm pretty much a FF noob. First one I played was FF VIII and have never played the great American FF fanboy game FFVII. Other than FF VIII the only ones I've played are FFX and FF X-2. FFX is probably one of my top 5 favorite games of all time. Played it through at least 6 times. FFX-2 was fun, but I never really got into it and have yet to finish it either.

There are 2 different versions of this game. There is the regular and a Collector's Edition out right now. The Collector's Edition comes in a tin case and has a bonus DVD with a History of Final Fantasy video, interviews from developers, game art, etc. Most of that stuff will probably be on Youtube with in a week so unless you are a hardcore Final Fantasy fan the extra $10 that the CE costs might not be worth it for you. The strategy guide also has a Limited Edition. Apparently there are 8 of these with each cover having a different character. The LE guide also has quite a bit of extra art in it. From what I've heard they are very nice. They are packaged so you really don't get to pick the one you want unless you know the color covers and such.

Like all the others I start them and then start them over when there is enough walkthrough information on the net to allow me the ability to find everything in one play through. Since I got this on the release I have just been finding things out for myself. I've got 12 playing hours in according to my save slots as we speak so I guess I'll try and give some of my first impressions on it so far. Quite a bit to cover, but I'll try to keep it short and to the point. Probably won't though. I'll start with the gameplay as I think this game has some great new features and is really the best part of the game.

At first the game was rather confusing with the new battle system and the changes in the leveling. Of course this is nothing new as every one of these I've played had a completely new system. In this instance I was not a fan of the battle system initially and thought I would end up hating it. The learning curve on it was rather long compared to previous titles and I'd say it took me about 3 hours of game time to catch on to it.

At this point I absolutely love the battle system now that I've caught on. There are some really interesting aspects to it. If you have played FF XI I guess the system should be relatively similar to you. The battlefield is more of an MMORPG than anything. There are no random battles anymore. You can actually see the enemies and can judge for yourself prior to engaging with them if it is a good idea or not. There is a good balance of enemies in each are with ones you can't possibly beat at the beginning that you should just stay clear of.

The battle system is called Active Dimension Battle (ADB). IT is still pretty much a turn based system, but has the feel of real-time. When in battle you can move your character around freely and even try to run away if you get into trouble. No "Flee" command is entered, you just run away on your own. The battle menu to select an action is brought up at any time on the battlefield by pressing the "X" button. All the standard attacks are there with Magick (Yes that is spelled right), items, and Technicks which are your abilities such as steal. All of these attacks can be done on the fly and when selected an active ATB gauge fills up before the action is done. When actions are selected there is no need to enter the action again during the battle. For example if you selected "Attack" your character will continue to attack until the enemy is defeated with no further commands needed.

Later on there is something available called "Espers" which are the summonings in this game. Also, you have the ability to perform "Quickenings" which are ultimately this game's version of Overdrives. Each character has unique Quickenings. I have not yet achieved any of these and can't go into much detail about them.

You have control over your entire party and can change the leader at any time while on the battlefield. What is unique about your party in FFXII is a system that they call Gambit. The Gambit system is a programmable interface that allows you to program your party members to do certain actions in certain situations. These actions will be performed when certain conditions are met in a battle and they start through their Gambit system when the leader (you) engages a battle. For example, you may program a party member to heal other allies when a condition is met. You could have a Gambit that says: "Ally HP<70%>

The leveling in the game is that same as usual where you earn leveling point by defeating enemies. Also, when fighting enemies you earn what is called "Licensing Points". Licensing points in the FFXII world is what you use to learn and use abilities. There is a chess board accessible for each character on the menu under "Licensing" with various skill and abilities you can learn. As you gain License Points you can spend them to upgrade and learn abilities. You can move from say "Swords 1" to "Swords 2" to allow you wield stronger swords, upgrade accessories, magicks, and learn technicks. More powerful skills are only available once the earlier ones are learned (licensed). An interesting concept and something that is similar to the Sphere Grid to FFX, but much more simplified. You don't upgrade actual player attributes here as those increase by leveling up in battle.

Graphically the game is similar to FFX for its patented cut scenes and the player models are comparable to the ones from FFX. I am of the opinion that they look much better, but others feel they are not. To each his own. What are most amazing in the game are the environments. Graphically they are superb. From the cities to the deserts to the dungeons the environments are fantastic. They literally blow FFX graphics away here.

The musical score is also very good. It is classic Final Fantasy music and gives the game a nice feel all the way through. I haven't heard any J-Pop yet so hopefully those patented FF love songs that we are accustomed to hearing will not surface.

Plenty of side-quests once again. There is a pretty interesting one that puts you into the role of a monster assassin. Boards in cities display what more or less can be described as Wanted posters for particular fiends and you then go out and hunt them down. Defeat them and return to the one that posted the monster to receive some sort of reward. Very fun side-quest. As far as I know there are about 80 of these hunts so it should be a solid quest. Since I do not have a guide and one is not available I can't really say as to what other side-quests are there, but there are certainly many more.

Gil, the name of Final Fantasy money in this game seems a bit hard to come by. It is obtained a bit differently here. Instead of fiends out in the desert actually carrying wallets around with them and dropping Gil they actually drop items that you would expect from them. Total common sense here. Monsters with money are absurd. Selling these items, or "Loot" as it is called gains you not only Gil, but if enough of these are sold it opens up the ability to purchase more rare items from shop owners. These are called Bazaar. On the shop menu it is on the bottom below the Buy and Sell links. This should be rather detailed so I am anticipating the time someone makes an online guide for the Loot so I know what the heck to sell and what I'd get. The strategy guide is said to have all this information listed.

Well that's pretty much most of the gameplay info. If I missed anything oh well. I think that gives you a decent idea as to what the game involves from the gameplay standpoint. I guess I'll describe a bit of the characters and the story now for those that will like watching the movie that is Final Fantasy XII.

The story is set in a sort of a medieval time and there is a war raging. Your people have been captured by a neighboring empire and now you are pretty much second class citizens. You play as Vaan, a 17 year old that is like every other Final Fantasy character in the leading role. He's girly and he is skinny. Reminds me of Leonardo DiCaprio pretty much. From my experience so far I do not find him annoying and he is definitely and upgrade from Tidus in FFX. The voice acting is very well done. So...I guess Vaan is out to save his people from the evil empire and meet some other friends along the way.

The Princess Ashe who lost her new husband in the war. The loyal Knight Basch branded a traitor who has been accused of murdering the King. Penelo is a 17 year old girl who is a friend of Vaan's and is kind of just around sometimes. Balthier is the pimp in the game and is described as a dashing sky pirate. He is basically a thief looking for treasure. His partner in the sky is a girl named Fran. She is of some form that they call a Vierra. Considered a master of weapons and she is scantily clad. These Vierra girls all wear like bunny ears on their heads so you can imagine that they are rather Playboy Bunny like.

I haven't been through much of the story thus far so to make any statement about it being good or bad would be silly. It appears that it is a much more mature story this time around, however. I am excited to see how it plays out and if it will be one of the greats. I definitely like the theme thus far. It has a feel of a mix between Lord of the Rings and a bit of Star Wars. A mixture that would be hard to fail with I assume. We shall see.

According to most sources the game should last around 70 hours with out doing side-quests or extras. With all of the extras it has risen to the 100-120 hour range. If you are a perfectionist type like me I would probably expect a good 150 hours worth of play time.

Based on how much I've played so far I think the game is fantastic. Going in with no expectations and a really no background on the game before I bought it I was pleasantly surprised with all I've seen so far. I look forward to a riveting story, but the gameplay is so great that I would still play it even if the story was rather dense. All of the reviews so far have given this game an average of about 9.2/10 so the consensus out there is that it is a great game. Lowest score I have seen was an 8, but the review was quite negative. From the sounds of gamers and reviewers so far I'd say that most will love the game and a select few will not be happy with it for whatever reason.

Jimi Morrison's Head says: "BUY IT NOW!"

Fantasy Football League Brag Post

I'm in a league of 8 with some guys for the 3rd year. Everyone chipped in $30 and the winner takes all except $30 to runner up. So you pretty much win $180 to take the league after you exclude your entry fee. We kept ONE player from last season so I kept the great Ladanian Tomlinson. If I lose this league it will be a travesty of epic proportions. No negatives in this league so turnovers don't mean jack.

The stat categories and roster spots go like this:

QB, WR, WR, RB, TE, W/R, K, DEF, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN

Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (6)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing Touchdowns (6)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Touchdowns (6)
Return Touchdowns (6)
2-Point Conversions (2)
Offensive Fumble Return TD (6)
Field Goals 0-19 Yards (3)
Field Goals 20-29 Yards (3)
Field Goals 30-39 Yards (3)
Field Goals 40-49 Yards (4)
Field Goals 50+ Yards (5)
Point After Attempt Made (1)
Sack (1)
Interception (2)
Fumble Recovery (2)
Touchdown (6)
Safety (2)
Block Kick (2)
Kickoff and Punt Return Touchdowns (6)
Points Allowed 0 points (10)
Points Allowed 1-6 points (7)
Points Allowed 7-13 points (4)
Points Allowed 14-20 points (1)
Points Allowed 21-27 points (0)
Points Allowed 28-34 points (-1)
Points Allowed 35+ points (-4)

So let's take a look at my All-Pro team:

QB-E. Manning
WR-T. Holt
WR-L. Fitzgerald
RB-L. Tomlinson
TE-M. Colston (Qualifies at TE in Yahoo leagues.)
W/R-T. Barber
K-N. Keading
DEF-Chicago
BN-R. Moss (WR)
BN-D. McAllister (RB)
BN-L. Coles (WR)
BN-M. Bulger (QB)
BN-T. Heap (TE)
BN-M. Bell (RB)

So check this out. I drafted the bears as the 3rd defense off the board. I got Tiki in the first round because the guy that had him last year kept Shawn Alexander. I plucked Colston off of the free agent list early in the year. Some other moron actually dropped Randy Moss so I got him with my waiver priority. Someone just dropped Reggie Brown too so he might be on my team soon as well.

Right now if you can believe it my team is only 5-3 after this week. Not really a bad thing since I didn't bother filling in my bye slots at TE or defense and played the big scorer the 2 weeks that Tiki and LT were on byes. What's most amazing is that I have amassed 864 points thus far while the next closest guy in the league has a measly 732. I actually scored almost 100 points more than anyone else in the league in Week 6 by racking up an impressive 179 points that week.

I really can't even make a trade because there isn't anything I can upgrade at other than my 2nd RB, but even that is a risk. I tried to get Alexander for nothing a few weeks back, but that didn't go through and it appears it was for the better. Waivers are stacked as you can imagine so my reserve RBs change almost weekly. At this point in the season I have 5 of the top 14 ranked players according to Yahoo rankings. LT, Eli, Holt, Bulger, and Colston. Not too shabby.

Though I should be able to dominate in the playoffs it is weekly match ups so anything can happen. I will be truly disappointed if I lose out once again this year. Last year I got knocked out with a similar team in the first week of the playoffs in a match up that I tied in points. The tie-breaker was Total TDs for the week and I lost by 1. Total bummer and I will be quite pissed if it happens again this year. I couldn't have assembled a better team.

Cardinals: 2006 World Series Champs

I didn't watch Game 5. I couldn't let myself do it. For Game 4 I DVR'd it and watched it the next morning. Right when I awoke and it ruined my day. The whole game they had control and blew it with defense. I hear Game 5 was similar. I haven't seen any highlights. I haven't looked at box scores. I can't bear it. I do it with all my teams. If they get this far and lose I just stop following the media until the next season starts. I've been that way with the Pistons the last couple of years. Every time I think about it I start to feel sick.

The Tigers were supposed to be different. Just like that surprise Pistons team a few years ago that went out and got RaSheed Wallace before the deadline. I kind of knew that team was going to win it all the second that trade went through. The Tigers were a bit more of a wait and see, but they pitched their asses off until the very end. In the end it appears youthful inexperience cost us plenty. I heard there was another pitcher error in Game 5. Lead to a run. I'm not checking this mind you. Only reason I even hear these things is because I wear a Detroit Tigers hat everywhere and have been for the last 6 years. Everyone feels it is necessary to bring it up.

Let me tell you this. If you see a guy that has a Tigers hat on at this point in time leave them alone. They love the team and are sick right now. Joking with them is not funny. They may actually resort to violence. I only tell you this for your own safety. You may think it is ha-ha real funny mother $#!@er, but not in the least to me. Shut your mouth and back away once you see my face. Don't say a thing to me until spring training. Even then don't talk about last season unless it involves statistics. REGULAR SEASON statistics.

OK...When it is due it is due. I like the Cardinals. I am not upset they won. I am upset that we lost. They fought hard and came up with a title. I respect that. They were touted as the worst World Series team ever. Now they must be the worst World Series Champs. That is awesome. The Pistons were the worst NBA Champs a few years back. I sure as hell didn't care about the lack of respect and Cards fans probably won't either. YOU ARE WORLD CHAMPS. Congrats Cards fans. You are TRUE baseball fans. You deserve it.