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Hellfire™
Name: Hellfire™
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Certain portions of this journal are open and viewable to everybody and anybody, while the more personal stuff is kept behind friends-lock. Chances are, if you can see it, I've intended it to be that way.

Free text is free.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Links:
Hellfire's Realm
"Oh god, that's Marv!"
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On 2009-01-04, I performed a friends cut to purge accounts that appear to be abandoned. If I mistakenly removed you and you're still around, please let me know immediately! I like keeping in touch with old friends and acquaintances. ;)
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[edit @ 12/29/2009]
The download link below is still broken. There aren't any good download sites on the web that will actually keep the files for an extended period of time. I even tried converting them to video files and uploading them to Youtube, but they disabled the audio tracks on 'em. Shame. If you want me to send them to you, feel free to contact me in one form or another.

-----

Well, it's probably temporary, but it'll work for now. :P

I managed to find a way to extract the SWF files from the Flash Player EXE files, so I've zipped them up, uploaded them to Filefront, and...

"The Ever-Matrix Trilogy" by Fortunado

Ta-daaa!

For those who might not know what I'm talking about (or who may be finding this entry through a Google search), the link above is a link to the "Ever-Matrix" movie files in SWF format. The Ever-Matrix Trilogy is a trio of Flash movie clips that were made by a person named "Fortunado" some years back. (Note: I am not Fortunado.) The title of the movies is pretty self-explanatory -- "Verant" is an Artificial Intelligence program created by a man named "Sony," which is designed to maintain the "Matrix" world (i.e.: EverQuest) and imprison the world's population. However, things are breaking out of control...

The movies are composed almost entirely of screenshots from the original EverQuest game engine, along with music from various bands in the background, and the dialog is text-based. Compared to today's standards, the video may look kinda crappy, but it was really damn good for its time, and I still believe it's one of the best fan-made video series ever made. Total playtime is approximately 50 minutes between all three files. To watch them, simply drag-and-drop the SWF file you wish to view into an open browser window. Internet Explorer or Mozilla should work just fine, as long as you have a Flash 4 (or higher) plugin installed.

Unfortunately, these movies have been on and off the internet for many years now. I'm doing my part to keep them alive! So, even if you've never played EverQuest before, or you hate MMORPGs, the Matrix series, fanfiction, or whatever -- if you have the time, it's worth a watch! (Even if it's just to gawk at the horrible EQ graphics engine from 9 years ago.)
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Towards the end of last year, IGN posted its Game of the Year awards. Among them, Ar tonelico II received PS2 Game of the Year. As a result, NIS America printed a new run of Ar tonelico II... as well as the original Ar tonelico!

If you're one of those people out there who've been wondering what the hell games I've been babbling on about over the past year (maybe you're half-interested in 'em, too!), now's about the best time to find out! The games are located on NISA's Rosenqueen website, specifically here and here. Or just hit up Rosenqueen.com and type "tonelico" into the Search box. The prices are pretty good, too: $20 for AT and $30 for AT2.

I know there are a couple of you out there who were vaguely interested in trying one of the games at some point, but couldn't because you couldn't find 'em anywhere. This entry's for you. Go check 'em out. ;)

Current Mood: sleepy

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So, since I finally finished gathering all the Mysterious Armor Pieces for my Nightfall Heroes, I've been working on finishing up the Ancient Armor Pieces for my last two remaining Heroes. The last two days have seen me occasionally logging in, running that particular challenge mission once or twice a day, then logging out to do other things.

Yesterday, I managed to pick up a single armor piece, which went to Razah. This morning, I got extraordinarily lucky with the spawn rate of Maddened Spirits and survived for a good... what felt like 15 minutes or so.

Read more... )

So, now I'm all finished with the Nightfall challenge missions. It's about time to start focusing my attention on Eye of the North, at long last. Or go back and finish the other half of Factions.

Hooray!

Current Mood: accomplished

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I'd like to introduce you to the early arch-nemesis of Ar tonelico III. Her name is Mute!



Her voiceactor... is Pikachu. No, I'm not kidding. Strangely enough, the voice seems to fit the character quite well. How bizarre is that?!

Current Mood: amused

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Wait, I'm not playing Ar tonelico III?! ... yes, it's true. It's an awesome game, and I'd like to dig right into it... but the language barrier kinda sucks. I'm hoping that some kind of storyline walkthrough hits the web sometime soon, so I can understand what's going on a bit more.

(Or I suddenly learn Japanese...)

Anyway!

I tried tweaking my Shadow Nexus team build a bit last night. I got rid of Dunkoro's more expensive Protective Spirit, gave him Divine Intervention for those really nasty tight spots, and Armor of Earth for his own defense. No interrupts or any Prot spells, just raw healing. Switched Sousuke's secondary class skill to Blood Ritual, from Healing Ribbon, figuring I'd use him as a mana battery for good ol' Dunkoro. Switched Olias to Aura of the Lich + Masochism rather than Flesh Golem + Deathly Swarm, to get him started on his minion-raising even faster, and gave him Blood Ritual as well.

The results... )

Also, just because I'm not playing AT3 doesn't mean I'm not thoroughly enjoying its soundtrack. ;)

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: KOKIA - EXEC_REBIRTHIA=PROTOCOL/

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Surprisingly, it isn't something off of the Ar tonelico III soundtrack... though I'm definitely liking the music from that game.



The battle theme for Haken Browning in Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier. (The guy in the lower-left corner.) Very diggable combat tune, IMO.
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Happy Release Day, Ar tonelico 3!

Current Mood: cheerful

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So, Ar tonelico III's release day is tomorrow. Yay!
My copy shipped this morning, and according to Fedex, it should be here tomorrow. Yay! (Though I won't hold my breath; I can wait.)

Someone in Japan, I believe, already has their copy of AT3 and is streaming his playthrough live on the intarwebs. If you happen to be curious or bored, check it out over here:

http://www.justin.tv/def_ender

I've already had one semi-major plot event spoiled for me, but ehh, no biggie. I kinda saw it coming, so it didn't ruin much for me; it just confirmed it. :P

The battle system looks interesting, though based on what I've seen so far, I think I prefer the first and second games' battle systems. And thank god the Purge system can be turned off... be warned, some of the battles in that stream can be NSFW. Why? Well, the Purge system (new to the series with this game) involves... well... the Reyvateils (casters) losing their clothing as their songs grow more powerful. And based on what I've seen in previews, it gets rather... fanservicey.

Anyway, Happy Release Day, Ar tonelico III!!

Current Mood: cheerful

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So, uh... are Yahoo and AIM down for anybody else besides me? Just wonderin', none of their websites or services have been accessible to me within the last 30 minutes.

Current Mood: confused

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Yeah... I've gotten four sets of armor from this area so far. I just wish a fifth would drop already, so I can finish re-gearing my Heroes and begone from this damn place.

I hate this game's anti-farming code. I really do. The first three armor pieces all dropped within the first couple of hours of killing portal mages, Friday night. ~10 hours of killing portal mages later (Saturday), the fourth one dropped. I've killed like 500 of these fuckers in total and the fifth one STILL hasn't dropped. Come on already!!

Current Mood: blah

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TheRegister.co.uk: TSA screener plants powder baggie in flier's luggage

Uh, dayumn. Glad to see that that guy isn't working with the TSA anymore.

Poor girl, though.

Current Mood: blah

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Good afternoon! This is [info]hellfire99x, your impromptu local weatherman. Today, I'm reporting from the new polar icecap that has formed over Florida in recent days. At the crack of noon today, it was a startling 36°F (2°C) in south Florida and raining. There are reports of snow in Tampa, and south Florida might just see snow late this evening or tomorrow morning. Rest assured, if I see any snow, I will be taking many photos and posting them. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS MY WISHES MIGHT FINALLY COME TRUE!

Today on my drive home from work, I hydroplaned quite a bit more than I'm used to while making a rather sharp, yet still relatively slow, right turn. Clearly some of the standing water on the road has become, or is in the process of becoming, ice.

Speaking of ice and snow, on Wednesday morning as I was in the process of leaving for work, I was greeted with an unfamiliar sight for this part of Florida: ice! My car was covered with about a quarter inch layer of ice, and all the fields along the way to work had a slight coating of the stuff. At first, to my tired mind, it almost looked like snow. It was really pretty. I really should've stopped, walked back inside to grab my camera, and taken pictures of it all. Sadly, it is but a memory... a very pretty one.

The governor of Florida has declared a state of emergency due to the cold weather, freeing up resources to help farmers move their off-season crops out of the way of Father Winter's wrath. Expect fruit and fruit-related merchandise to crop up in price. *is shot*

In "bizarre phenomena" news, iguanas are falling out of trees. That's right! The cold-blooded creatures are freezing up as the temperature drops, and as they do so, they lose their grip on the trees that they inhabit and plummet to the earth. It won't be long until frozen squirrels, cats, and other assorted creatures start following their fallen neighbors. Mwahahaha~

And lastly... I'm just now getting over a cold that I've had since I attended a New Year's party last weekend. Evidently with this latest round of Nature vs. Florida, the coldbug decided that I was too cold and went off to inhabit my brother for a while. In return, he has decided that today, the apex of his sick, is a really good day for him to find new Youtube videos and come into my room, coughing and snorting, to tell me about them. I JUST CAN'T WIN! GO TO AWAY!!!11

That's all for today, but rest assured, your faithful impromptu weatherman in Florida shall return tomorrow to report on any Florida snow that may occur in his area! Til next time, ciao!

Current Mood: cold

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WoW.com: Blizzard giving serious consideration to mandatory authenticators
[WoW.com = formerly WoW Insider]

Huh. Maybe this is the reason why I've started receiving fake "your account has been suspended" e-mails in my inbox since yesterday.

I say bring it on! DO IT BLIZZARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/thumbsup

In the meantime, a reminder to all my fellow WoW players out there: If you, too, are receiving these fake e-mails, don't click ANYTHING in them, and don't do ANYTHING they say. Just forward them to hacks@blizzard.com and delete them. If your account actually IS suspended or under investigation, you'll probably know it when the game itself actually tells you at the login screen.

[edit]
Another good idea (and one that I did myself, after receiving a rather tenacious fake e-mail this morning): change the e-mail address that you use to log in to WoW.

Byebye, scammers!

Current Mood: tired

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NPR.org: Football, 'Simpsons' at risk in Fox Cable dispute

You know what I have to say about this? Fuck FOX, fuck football, and fuck the Simpsons. I hope they go all the way with their threat to pull their channels from Time Warner. Real smart move there, buckos. If you think your advertising revenue being down is a valid reason to threaten to pull your channels unless someone else (Time Warner) steps up and helps foot your bills, imagine the hit your ad revenue will take when you suddenly lose 13 million viewers.

I dare you to do it, Fox. You know you wanna.

Current Mood: amused