Final Fantasy Overview and FF VIII

The Final Fantasy series is comprised of, at present, 12 main titles with numerous sequels and spinoffs which can be seen here. The first Final Fantasy game I played was probably different from many people's first. I began with Final Fantasy VIII. This game opened my eyes to a new universe. The characters were interesting, yet peculiar, and projected great depth. This really allowed me to connect with them, and to want them to succeed in their journey, which is always a good aspiration for a novel, movie, play or game. The storyline was awesome, and truly swept me into the strange and surreal world that the game was based in.
The battle system of this game was interesting as you chose your attacks, used potions etc, and summoned monsters called "guardian forces" in this game. When you walked about the landscape while outside cities, battles would occur randomly, and if you defeated the creature, person, or whatever attacked you, you would gain experience, and sometimes collect gil or items that they dropped.

Though I really loved the gameplay, and storyline of this game, the music is what kept me playing in all Final Fantasy titles. My favorite pieces from this game are "Fisherman's Horizon", and "Eyes On Me". These two pieces, though great in helping to advance the story, stand on there own as great works. Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of the music for this game, and most of the music for the other Final Fantasy titles, is able to project the emotions of the characters, and help the player to experience the journey that the characters endure. When the characters feel joy, the players feel it, and when there is great loss the player also understands. This kind of empathy would not be possible without Nobuo Uematsu's compositions.

Unlike most people who have played Final Fantasy, I have never actually completed the games. I get to the final bosses, and I am unable to beat them, or I am too lazy, and want to play the newest version when it is released. So I have begun: Final Fantasy: VIII, IX, X, XII in the main series, and Final Fantasy: Tactics, and Tactics Advanced, spinoffs.

One day I hope to go back and complete all of these games, as this "partial completion" of the games has always hovered over me, beckoning me to finish, and absorb the entire experience of these games.

The Final Fantasy series is one of the greatest series of stories I have ever experienced. From characters such as the loner, Squall of Final Fantasy VIII to the child-like,black mage, Vivi in FF IX, to the passionate Yuna of FF X, to the exile Fran of XII the characters are varied and very easy to connect with.

The locations in Final Fantasy usually have a touch of the exotic, yet most have a slight base in reality. Some of my favorite locations are: Balamb Garden in FF VIII, the city of Treno in FF IX, the blitzball court in FF X, and the Leviathan in FF XII (I have not gotten as far in this game as the others so this favorite location could easily change if I played the game more.)

Final Fantasy is a great series, and I am happy that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to Xbox 360, so that I do not have to purchase a PS3, as this is one series, that could actually warrant a system purchase, almost.

A large chunk of my game playing history is comprised of Final Fantasy games. The series has been one of the most memorable of my gaming experience, and each game has always lived up to my expectations. The series is a great one, that will never cease to amaze me with its excellence.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark, a site I recently discovered, has quickly won me over, and I believe it to best legal music streaming site on the internet. The selection of music is astounding, with music ranging from Hey Jude to Rhythm Emotion from Gundam Wing. Anything I have currently searched for has been available on the site. The Millions of available songs are easily searched via a website with a user friendly format. The website of course also allows you to easily share the songs you listen to with Facebook, Twitter or Dig. You can also upload your own songs, if by a slight chance they are not already on the site. I would strongly suggest that any music lovers at least check out the site.

Miles Davis- Kind of Blue

Miles Davis is one of my favorite musicians. In his career he always progressed, from his work in the bebop era with the likes of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, to cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, electric and more detailed periods in between. Miles never looked back, but in each of these periods, he strived to make great music.

Personally my favorite period in Miles's musical life was his modal jazz period, and the album produced in this period, Kind Of Blue. (Below is a piece, All Blues from that album.)




Miles chose great players such as Julian "Cannonball Adderley on alto saxophone, Paul Chambers on double bass, Jimmy Cobb on drums, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, and Bill Evans on piano for Kind of Blue. Miles Davis chose great players, with individual, developed sounds, put them together and made one of the greatest albums of all time.

The Big Bang Theory

This past weekend I revisited some episodes of "The Big Bang Theory" by viewing most of the Season One DVDs. This sitcom, currently ranked number 7 in the Nielson ratings, number 3 on CBS. (ranking from 8/3/09 to 8/9/09. http://tinyurl.com/kwgz2r). The series is perfect, and viewing the episodes from the first season has allowed me to see that the cast, writing, everything just clicked from the very beginning. The premise for the series, a group of very intelligent people engaging in both geeky situations quite easily, and social situations in a sometimes quite befuddling, yet hilarious manner, is what makes this series special. As the director says however, the episodes are always Big Bang Theory stories. In other words, the writers do not simply input into the Big Bang Theory sitcom formula into any common story, and use it. The story is always very much crafted to the characters in the series. This show is the best show I have seen on TV since Seinfeld, I recommend this series to everyone. If you want to know more about the series head here.

Beginning of Classes

Band camp ended last Thursday, leaving me pain in my feet, but a great sense of accomplishment for the week, as we were able to get a good chunk of the show onto the field.
This week begins a new task as I begin my Fall classes for the year. My first class on Monday is thankfully not until 10:00am, as Mondays are bad for waking up early. On Tuesdays and Thursdays however, I have a 9:25am class. This is really not so bad, considering I had an 8:00am class my Freshman year, a time at which I will never again take a class.
I will be using the Mocs Express, a shuttle bus serviece around campus, after my 1:00pm class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as I must quickly get to the marching field for band at 2:00pm. Hopefully I will be able to get there on time each day.
The academic year has begun.