Kizyr

All I got as greeting messages were: "Mr(s). English - Hi, my name is English. Do you speak English? If you speak English then you can talk with people all over the world!" Apparently all I gave in return was: "Hi, I'm from North America. I'm a researcher. Hi, I'm from Japan! Do you speak Japanese?" Still got to trade maps, though. ...even if no one would play with me KF

Funny enough, I agree a lot with TheCoop, Monobrow, and Abadoss. Well, I did describe having lurked on here for maybe a year or two before starting to post regularly, to figure out how the forums were situated. Naturally, no one forced me to read PPR/UnMod (can't remember if it was gone yet when I came back), so it wasn't a real chore to simply (largely) ignore the thread since any goings-on there were disconnected from the rest of the board. The real distinction is how much the Community/Gen Discussion/PPR (or UnMod) boards are connected or independent of the others. Once I figured that, it felt more comfortable posting here. That's fine, but I didn't miss out on anything by disregarding some of the forums. UnMod wasn't my style any more than a forum about baseball would've been my style. It is still true that once I started ignoring some of the forums, I felt more comfortable posting in the remainder of them. But sorry that I worded that flippantly; I didn't mean to imply that others should be the same as me. KF

I'm still definitely in. And again, I can give anyone around Arlington a ride. ...unfortunately, Mount Airy and most points in Maryland are too far out of the way for me to stop by at. When it gets closer, anyone who needs a ride in Arlington (or maybe Fairfax even) can PM me. KF

Stevo: your new place is awesome. So yeah, I had a great time. I'm glad this has become something of a tradition (sorry I couldn't make it to Xerol's on Friday, though...). See some of you guys soon? And the rest of you at MAG? KF

Oh man, the convention and panels were fantastic. The rest of the con was a bit... eh... but everything OCR and OCAD-related was worth it. My photos are finally up on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=2341624&id=5305416 (Also available here:) http://www.lunar-net.com/kiz/otakon10/ Couple highlights of the night: http://www.lunar-net.com/kiz/otakon10/Jamspace-RareCandy-Keytar1.JPG http://www.lunar-net.com/kiz/otakon10/OCR-Catwalk3.JPG http://www.lunar-net.com/kiz/otakon10/OCR-MakingTheVid10.JPG KF

Hey, just so you know, we may be like an hour late (at 2 instead of 1) but we'll still see you there. KF

Unless you're involved in the site already, you won't be aware of the level of distinction between the different forums in one community. (At LunarNET's forums, for instance, the distinction between each forum is rather arbitrary and just helps organization. At other places, you get chewed out for posting in the wrong forum.) So, if your initial experience is coming across a few bigoted threads in one section (Unmod, PPR, 'anything-goes', /b/, 'free as in destitute', etc.), you won't have any indication whether or not it's the norm for the site or its forums as a whole. It's not that it prevents you from posting, but it removes any incentive or desire to start posting when that's the impression you get. KF

I usually keep a running tally of Rikku and Yuna cosplayers. Day 1: Rikku - 2 Yuna - 3 In years past, I've gotten up to 36 Rikkus over the course of a weekend. KF

From Stevo's place to Arlington? I can give you a ride, no problem. KF

Unmod and some of the threads in PPR are what kept me from posting for several years. Mostly ignoring PPR has really helped {^^}. KF

Nothing came with my phone for that. It's a Samsung and doesn't have a standard mini-USB port (whatever it's called) so I can't use the same cords I already have (like the one for my phone or PSP) and need to buy another one. I'm just reluctant to go out of my way to buy one in case it still doesn't work. KF

We'll be driving up to Baltimore each day (and presumably to Stevo's on Sunday). So an alternative would be for you guys to leave some stuff with us and we can carry it all up on Sunday. ...oh snap, and I still need to return y'all's pastry brush. Got packed in with my stuff by mistake when we left DJP's. KF

Dressing up should not be this much fun in a game. I'm paying more attention to style and fashion when picking out new armor than I am to stat bonuses. KF

I have something like 15 or so quick clips that I'd like to use for a ringtone (Dignity Ark is one that I think will work exceptionally well). I used Audacity to cut them down to size, compress them/change the format, and all. ...now I can't figure out how to get the damn things onto my phone. I've emailed it to myself and the message 'service' removes the attachment. Recording it by holding the phone up to the speaker results in atrocious quality. I'm not sure what to try next. KF

I just realized... they made a bunch of name changes from Japanese to English, so I'm not going to understand a lot of the references folks make to character and place names. (Changes were necessary, though... The original names are a mouthful.) I decided to restart my game since the last time I played was like 11 months ago, and I'd forgotten nearly everything I did. I'll try to get some levels in before Otakon so I can actually try out this tag mode business. KF

Stevo! You can add both me and Jenner to the list. Hm, as for stuff to bring... We can bring corn-on-the-cob to grill again (it worked out pretty well last time at DJP's). If folks want some more variety, we can pick up some ice cream / frozen yogurt on the way, too. KF

Just so it's clear, Sunday August 29th works out for me all the same; either day on the weekend is good. I can provide transportation from Arlington (Crystal City), but... Maryland is a bit too far out of the way to drive up and back down. KF

............that's my favorite aspect of the game, too... Now I'm gonna have to set aside some other stuff (except FF9) so that I can get in some game-time on DQ9 before Otakon, to get the most out of tag-time. KF

I picked up the Japanese version last year. I only played the first 10 hours or so of it before some other games got in the way. It's actually my first DQ title. I really enjoyed it, though it seems a bit sidequest-heavy. Or maybe that's just because I'm tempted to do all the mini-sidequests. ...which might explain why I didn't get so far in the first 10 hours. Anyway, the gameplay itself is really fun. Battles slide by so that they're neither cumbersome nor mundane. The artwork is fun and colorful. The story (at least the beginning) likewise pulled me in. Overall, definitely a good game and worth picking up. ...any idea if tag mode will work between US and Japanese versions? I was never able to try it with anyone. KF

Ok, you can put me down as a definite. Unless something major comes up to interrupt that in the next few weeks, there's nothing I see that'd make me cancel. KF

This game kickstarted my love of RPGs, so I have some fondness for this soundtrack. Danek Palace and the ending credits roll are definitely great enough to warrant some remix attention. KF

AUGH I CAN'T UNSEE IT! But no, really, it looks like fun. KF

The first one I was drawn to is a bit of a tough one. There were many games whose soundtracks I really liked from the beginning, going back to NES (Zelda, Mega Man 2, Metal Storm), SNES (Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country), Genesis (all Sonic games), etc. The first time I really started focusing on game soundtracks was probably when I first started focusing on RPGs. Vay was my first major RPG, and once I heard the soundtrack to Lunar: The Silver Star I was hooked. So... probably Lunar deserves the honor there. KF

Just got back home. Thanks, to everyone. Me and Jenner both had a fantastic time--at the park, at DJP's, etc. Maybe we can get together and play a more extensive cricket game sometime {^^}. Oh by the way, here's the scene in Wristcutters that me and Jenner were referencing a couple of times today: KF

Well... if we're around the shade / near the water, it'll be a fair bit cooler. Plus we'll be heading over to DJP's place in the afternoon/evening, I think. But yeah, it's cool if it's a bit too much of a hike right now. (The last few days have actually had amazingly good weather too.) By the way, if anyone else wants me to grab anything just let me know. KF