The Legendary Zoltan

They managed to get power restored to two of the reactors, from there they can probably restore the others. After that, if they can make sure the cooling system pipes and all that are in working order, they can completely cool it all down. In the mean time they're using fire hoses and it seems to be working just enough. A little bit of radiation has been found on some spinach but so far nothing harmful. If they can finish the job quickly then we'll be fine, but if tons more radiation goes into the food, there will be a big problem.

What! There's no freaking way! How the hell did they do that?

I read all those reports in the link about how this is different from Chernobyl. I feel pretty safe. Perhaps my mom is just panicking for my safety.

Thanks Gario. The thing that's requiring me to stay is simply that I live here. It's not unfinished business of any sort. My band, my job, and my HOUSE are all here so I don't really want to leave. If all of Japan is going down, I'll go with it. But I'd prefer that not to happen.

Just this morning they started dumping sea water onto the reactors by helicopter. Currently there is no significant difference being made.

My mother keeps sending me emails that make me panic. And since she knows a lot about science, it makes me worry all the more. Her latest email to me says: Jahan, I’m really concerned over the nuclear radiation. It can spread via wind for hundreds of miles. Any of those plants might suffer a massive catastrophic event under these extreme conditions. The use of sodium iodide tablets to forestall thyroid cancer is of limited to ZERO use because what’s melting down at plant #4 are spent rods. So the early decay products which sodium iodide might have offered some protection against is already long gone and what is undergoing nuclear decay now are the longer lived products which emit a different type of radiation (gamma rays vs. alpha and beta). Let’s put this in perspective. It hasn’t reached you yet. By the time radiation has spread for a hundred miles, you will almost certainly have to pass through areas which are even more highly contaminated, just to get to the air port. You need to leave now. Kaori’s family needs to leave now. I really want you to share my concerns with them regarding this. You are gambling with your lives and your futures on a guess. Maybe it won’t reach us. I’m telling you the odds are that it WILL reach that far, with three plants in a state of meltdown, and three more leaking radiation. No one can control where the wind will carry the radiation. Food, soil, everything will be affected. Uncontaminated food and water are going to be an issue for a long time after this disaster. Come and tell me to my face, I was wrong. I will pay you back, if I’m wrong. I WANT to be wrong. Unfortunately, I know I’m right. I have studied science my entire life. Put a little faith in my knowledge of these types of issues. You are not going to get any warning. The radiation is not going to slowly ooze in your direction, until you decide, it’s too close we should leave. It won’t happen that way. They can’t even track where the air born plumes are going. You need to get out right now, before you get exposed, because it can happen tomorrow or in a week, or in two weeks, but I have serious doubts that you have even that much time. However, when I turned on the news this morning, it was confirming what Pyrion said about there only being 300 msv as opposed to 300 sv. They said that today they are going to try the helicopter method among other things and that right now there is no real danger outside of the evacuation radius. What should I do? Is the entire upper half of Japan really that screwed?

There will be rolling blackouts throughout Niigata (where I live) to create extra energy for Fukushima and Sendai. I'm not going to complain one bit about it, if it helps the evacuated people who are living in school gyms. Also a lot of groceries that would normally be shipped here and to other areas are being diverted to the evacuated area, as they should be. Right now the biggest concern is without a doubt the Fukushima nuclear power plant. I too don't REALLY know how much danger I'm in. My mother emailed me saying that 100 miles away from a disaster that will be worse than Chernobyl is "garaunteed" to get AT LEAST cancer. So she's got me all worried. On the other hand, the Japanese officials have said that the 30km. evacuation radius is fine for now. Pretty scared.

Hey guys. Looks like I really am RIGHT on the edge of some pretty deadly stuff. I've been told that there's a crack or something in a power plant leakiing in Fukushima and that it's releasing a cloud of chemicals into the sky. My wife's brother estimates that it will affect a 200 kilometer radius but Niigata (where I live) just narrowly escapes that. There was another earthquake last night but it was barely noticable. Just leftover tremors I guess. Kaori (my wife) was finally able to hear about her uncle. His building and his body are just fine. He's in an elementary school gym along with a large group of other evacuated people. Kaori's phone works and mine is still completely useless. Did I choose the wrong brand or something? Aside from that, I don't believe there is really anything to add. It seems like you have seen all the same footage I have, including the whirlpool. This SUCKS!

God damn! already over 1,000 people dead or missing. ALL of Miyagi seems to be underwater. My wife's uncle lives out there and hasn't heard from him yet, so she's pretty worried about him. I STILL can't use my phone but my wife can use hers. It says that Okinawa and Kyushu area were both hit with some of tsunami water but there's no footage or talk of it so hopefully that means it wasn't anything serious.

And now you've found ALUNDRA! Are you going to get it?

It is indeed bad but Halcyon is trying to look towards the bright side and that's good. So I just woke up. It's 6:30 now. I had slept just fine until 4am when my wife's cellphone started beeping like a fire alarm. She an email to her phone saying that there would be an earthquake right here in Niigata. Just as soon as she finished reading it to me we started shaking. It wasn't that bad though. we turned on the news and it was in the Chuuetsu area of Niigata Prefecture, magnitude 6. we live in the next area over, Kaetsu, but it was only level 3 down here. So now I know what magnitude 3 feels like. I'm pretty sure I don't want to experience an 8.8 at this time. So since the big one, there have been tons of these smaller ones hitting all over the place. How annoying. TV says they'll continue for about 1 month. It's times like this you feel really helpless. Hopefully the worst is over like Halcyon said and things get back to normal soon. Thanks everyone.

Just prepared my house and bags for easy hiding under tables and easy evacuation. I feel pretty ready but the news footage of the flood is unbelievable. It's just sweeping away EVERYTHING in Miyagi. Also there are a lot of large oil compnay fires burning. Hollywood movie level of destruction. Anyway, it seems like Niigata is going to be just fine so there's no need to be worried about me but keep sending your thoughts out to Miyagi and Ibaraki. They have it the worst.

Thanks guys. I'm at home right now and still my house sways every now and then. When the big one happened, I was in an elementary school classroom and we all got under the desks. It was two separate earthquakes that happened in rapid succession. One in Miyagi prefecture and one in Ibaraki prefecture. Miyagi is far to the north and Ibaraki is near Tokyo in the middle of Japan. So basically well over half of Japan is being affected by the quakes. I live in one of the more quake-heavy areas, Niigata, but we got lucky this time. However, there are tons of places where roofs caved in and... Oh my god. I am watching news footage of a bridge collapsing and all the cars being swept away by a tsunami. This is really horrific. Huge areas are being evacuated for this, the biggest earthquake ever in Japan. Magnitude 8.8! The areas that didn't get shaken like Kyushu area in the south and Okinawan islands are all unbeleivably flooding. UGH. JUST now it says that very soon there may be another big quake starting in Fukushima. I might have to get under a table since I'm in the neighboring prefecture. I'll write again very soon. Thanks.

[Obligatory FF8 defense statement] [Obligatory Xenogears remake is best statement] I don't know why everybody thinks FF character fashion is such a big deal. It's Final Fantasy, not Final Reality. I honestly never even noticed this "belt phenomenon" until reading this thread. How is Squall better than the other characters? They all have practically the same stats and I'd say that Irvine and Zell's limit breaks are as good or better than Squalls. How does the FF8 magic attachment system not work right? WHAT?! You must be out of yo' god damn mind! Hahaha. But seriously, what the heck are you talking about? Have you REALLY heard of FF4 music being used in a school or were you just joking?Now that all of those are out of the way, what I really want to know is why it is so hard to make a town in a new Final Fantasy. There are great-looking towns in Star Ocean 4 and The Elder Scrolls 4. The FF7 towns aren't large so why can't they do it? I personally enjoy the "running through paintings" style. They should just fix up the characters, make it HD, and retranslate it. An orchestral soundtrack would be nice too. But seeing all those reactors and stuff in HD would be neat. We no need no stinkin' 3D. Just HD.

I've got to agree with the guy in the rubber suit. (ROFL!) All those guys can shred exquisitely but Schuldiner's solos can be described as being much more "INTERESTING." But my favorite shreddy guitarist of all time is Luca Turili. Nobody can arpeggio like he arpeggios! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7IEu1BKFkE&feature=related

a two-minute remix of Time's Scar from Chrono Cross. I just threw it together in a day with performance mistakes and everything still intact. I just wanted to do something productive on a holiday for once. It's not anything I'm planning to expand on or submit but it's still cool how it is. Enjoy it. http://download528.mediafire.com/78coagkpn9mg/ipiecds8npdrpvm/Time%27s+Scar+Remix.mp3

Freaking love it! Thank you. I wonder if it was really 3 people or just one person 3 times. EDIT: Ah. nevermind. In the about us section there are 4 different people listed. So... different people.

Oh crap! Almost missed this one. Happy Birthday, Darkesword. You have the coolest avatars ever.

I'm actually playing the American version on an American PS3. But yeah, you're right. I didn't know I needed an item to listen to the music. Did I find that item? I'll have to check my inventory. Is Vashyron funny and/or charming in English? The Japanese voices are just too good, but I can't quite understand everything he says. Hoping the English voices will be just as good.

Is Puzzle Quest 2 a direct sequel to Puzzle Quest: Warlord's Challenge which is also available on PSN? I have that one and I really like it. I'm almost up to level 50 in that game. But I saw the PC gameplay for Puzzle Quest 2 and it looks WAY better!

Rage like in those crazy YouTube videos? Hahaha. As to what Prizm said, I don't think it's even close to as linear as FF13 personally. There is definitely a straight line you can travel to get from the start to the finish of an area, but there are plenty of explorable side paths. The branching paths in FF were like a few extra steps out of the way. But I agree that you might want to go for Resonance of Fate without Eternal Sonata. It's better in my opinion. Unless of course you like raelly long and pointlessly drawn out chessy JRPG monologues. Then, Eternal Sonata is the way to go! Hahaha. I'm in chapter 9 of Resonance of Fate and my only gripe about it is that you can't get a star in the arena ranked battles until you beat the same battle TEN times. I've done it from ranks 1-20 but I've got up to rank 40 available to battle. Ugh! That's gonna take forever. Other than that, lovin' it.

You don't have to grind in Star Ocean 4 at all... Unless, of course, you want to complete the entire beastiary. That takes time. I haven't done it yet. Eternal Sonata is a grindFEST because there are no other ways to become more powerful in battle other than levelling up. Yeah, but it certainly feels like a Tri-Ace game. It has a quirky story, over-the-top battle phrases, crazy battle mode, and Sakuraba. What did the guys who weren't from Tri-Ace do? Hahaha. I don't know about the Tales series, but I don't agree that Sakuraba has ever made a generic song for a Star Ocean game. I agree that using him for the battle tracks was a good idea though. That's for DAMN sure! I can't stand some of the trophies that exist in other games. Thanks for not spoiling anything guys. It seems like it's been forever since Tri-Ace finished their last game. I wonder when they're going to make something new.

...FREAKING ROCKS! If you haven't played it, and you like traditional RPGs with less than traditional, complicated, and actiony battle modes, then you'll like this. like the story so far, too. -WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SECTION CONTAINS OTAKU-STYLE IN-DEPTH GUSHING ABOUT THE GAME MECHANICS THAT MAY BE BORING TO SOME PEOPLE- Honestly, as far as in-game systems go, Tri-Ace destroys everyone. In this particular game, instead of having the world open up as the story progresses, you just need hexagonal items called Energy Hexes to unlock the world piece-by-piece. There are also colored hexes, which, if laid down in a way that they connect with "energy stations" on the map, create effects in those areas. Effects like, "Fire damage x2" or "rare item drop rate x2." I guess that means that if you made every single hexagon on the map the same color, you could spread the effects of every single energy station throughout the entire game world. KYAA! That sounds sweet! The battle mode is as unique as they come. You have only guns as your basic weapons. When you level up, your strength and defense do not change. You just get more HP and you can carry more weight. The weight capacity is for customizing your gun with add-on parts that also have their own weight. The more you can carry, the heavier and more parts you can stick onto your guns. Eventually you'll be strong enough to hold a gun in each hand. Customizing your guns can give you more bullets in the magazine, or faster firing rate if you add a barrel, or better aim if you put a handle on it. It uses a graphical interface. So you can put the parts on any way you like as long as all the different shaped ports are alligned properly. FUN FUN! This is the 3rd Tri-Ace game I've played on PS3. Resonance of Fate, Star Ocean 4, and Eternal Sonata. They all rocked but it seems like I'm the only one who ever says Tri-Ace games are good these days. You guys don't know what you're missing.

http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q4-2010/121010a.html I don't know. What do you guys think? I've still never played an MMO but according to all the reviews of the PC version, FF14 is the worst MMO ever. Is it really ALL Hiromichi Tanaka's fault? They said that he "fell on his sword" and took full responsibility but isn't it really that Square didn't give him enough time to make it good in the first place? It's just hard to believe that the reason is that Tanaka didn't have the right ideas or didn't know what he was doing.

...by this website: http://www.gamecards24x7.com/ I sent them payment for a $20 PSN card and after the transaction was complete, they sent me an email saying that they'd need to call me to verify that I am me. I guess it helps protect against credit card fraud. So I gave them my number (all the way out here in Japan) and they did try to call me a couple of times but it was always at times when I couldn't get to the phone. One time it was the middle of the night. I emailed them to say that they just missed me and that they should call me between such and such hours. But after that they neither called again, nor replied to my last email. So I had given up on them. Assuming that it would go without saying that they don't contine to charge me when they have not sent me the PSN card code that I was trying to buy, I just forgot about them. But alas, my credit card bill came and there was the charge for $24 by them. I emailed them right away (just a couple of days ago) demanding either the PSN card that I ordered or a full refund. It's been just two days but I haven't heard from them yet. Any advice about what to do if they don't want to accomodate me? What do you guys do when this happens? It's the first time for me. Thanks.