alrubedo

I had a Gamestop employee recently come off smug as all hell. My girlfriend recently acquired a new copy of Xenoblade Chronicles for around $90 off Amazon and I couldn't have been happier, but before we went online we tried to go through our local store and a few third party locations and no dice. We understood the game was rare, but we kept at it. Just the other week went in there and one of the guys says, "We were just talking about you. Isn't this the game you were looking for?" And when confirmed, he added, "Bet'cha paid more for it online, didn't you?" I took all my restraint to not smack the smugness of his mug with the facts that not only was my copy factory sealed, new, free of scratches, but it didn't come from Gamestop. The disk was being sold pre-owned for $90 and was scratched to Hades and back. And another instance - We attempted to pre-order Saints Row 4: Wub Wub Edition (and no, not a fan of the name of the bundle but, hey, as a collector of the series and genre in general, why the hell not, right?) and we had the money ready, and with no explanation, this slow fellow (speed, not mentality) working there states, "Oh, we can't order that particular one anymore. But you can order the more expensive one for only thirty dollars more." And then later we found out you COULD still order the Wub edition. Maybe it's a mixed bag of reviews but generally the employees at my Gamestop openly admit their policies and such blow. EDIT: After reading more posts of people not receiving their games from the employees handling the transaction. I haven't had that happen but what I do is before I make a purchase, I must: A) Handle the disk myself and look for wear on the disk, both surface and edge wise; B)If it's special edition but I know nothing of the game, and they don't have the extras, I'm willing to forgo the extras because the last time this particular thing happened, it was Radiant Historia and I had not played it prior so soundtrack wasn't important; And C) I only work with female employees. I refuse to work with the males at our Gamestop because they're not only arrogant, but they lack insight to customer service while the females are all hardcore gamer types who know their stuff.

Happy birthday to ye both!

Listening to this brought to mind Dynasty Warriors for some reason, and I'll say it's mainly the guitar work. This is beyond solid, though - this is adamantly one of the top notched remixes I've heard, and from Lufia II! And the only real gripe I have is the cymbals crash too much for me, but hell, combine it with the overall track and it fits anyways. So it's nothing but a trivial thing.

Downloaded this awhile ago and never fully listened to it. Decided to strap on my headphones to try and can fully appreciate this piece. It's powerful - and well paced.

I've played Mystic Quest! I bought it (or namely, my parents did) when a video store nearby went out of business when I was young. All I knew is it had "Final Fantasy" attached to it so I started playing it... And dear god was I disappointed in some ways but in other ways somehow overjoyed at how different it was from FF3(6). The game was dreadfully easy, though. Right true, that. What about those grind happy gameboy titles?? Did anyone happen to pick those buggers up? I played Final Fantasy II on the gameboy (at least I think that's what it was - it's all a blur) but I died...so hard...so fast..

I'm not going to lie and say I've enjoyed every Final Fantasy that's released to date. I've enjoyed them in various degrees, some less than others, and some not at all. FF1 - The challenge alone pushed me through the game, and I didn't use a team of white mages like I've heard other people doing. I set out to have a well rounded team and, despite my arse being handed to me on and off again, I enjoyed it UP UNTIL I could freely explore the game. This didn't really take the wind from my sails until I just stopped caring about the outcome of the game. I wasn't invested above grinding and overcoming all obstacles, which I know is the point for RPGs to a large extent, but this one just bored me after so long. I also want to note I played the Anniversary Edition on the PSP and the Final Fantasy Origins version, too. FF2 - I didn't get very far into this game for reason large reason and that was the Saga Frontier like status gains. I found loopholes that made it manageable but I largely felt like I had to carefully mold my characters into what I wanted them to be, and even then, I had no real knowledge of their capabilities overall. The story? Well, I'm a man that enjoys political intrigue as much as the next but this story didn't have it out for me. Like with FFI, I played both the PSP and the Origin versions. FF3 - Dear god, what to say about this. I rather enjoyed the way you could completely overpower your classes, and the story, well...like the next game I'll talk about, just took a large hit in the villain department. Most of the game felt like I was trekking for some greater purpose only to fight...the goddess of darkness, or some nonsense? Okay, sure. I'll bite. But when a game PUNISHES YOU for not taking out four crystals that maintain her power, what the hell? Either way, I enjoyed it slightly more so than the first two. FF4 - I managed to snag the Complete Collection version for my PSP and relieved what I had played from the Playstation version, and oddly enough, I liked Cecil and Kain's story, but felt that overall, the 'cast' that were my party members just outright sucked. Rydia and Edge where useful, if trained, and Rosa? Well, she was largely useless except for healing, and even then, I wish that I had option on who to use for healing. I never made it through the After Years or the middle bit, because it felt rushed and was unnecessarily hard. But I did appreciate them letting me see their lives after the main game, so kudos on that. FF5 - The grind. THE. GRIND. I was over leveled and under classed much of the time because of the steep cost it required to rank up one class, and even then, some of the abilities weren't worth the effort. I've yet to finish this game, and I probably never will because upon entering the second world, I stopped caring. I'd like to point out that I enjoyed FF4 and FF5's music, as well as FF2. Side note. FF6 - This game started me on the FF franchise. I played it on the SNES and thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I didn't understand much of what I was doing then. When I replayed it on the Playstation, loading times be damned, I still enjoyed it. It was mainly for the music and the world itself, but more over...Kefka. Unlike other villains from the franchise, he actually MANAGED to do what he said he'd do, and that was to reshape the world to his likeness. I won't go on to be a fanboy, though, because they could've used more character back story, a little more than polish on some parts of the game, such as explaining why we needed to do something other than, "just because". FF7 - I liked the music, the combat, and the overall presentation. The Materia AP grind eventually grew weary but despite that, I couldn't get into this game all too much even though I finished it because of Seperioth. I know, I know, he's the baddest of bad asses...if you like momma's boys crying about their mother and doing their dead mother's bidding. He often times just came off a pest that threw stuff at you and then squawked about how much he disliked you for some odd reason, and the 'final' battle was fixed and almost a slap in the face to people like me who truly invested in trying to power up. So, flame on me for hating Seph, but he's nothing compared to Kefka. He might be more rational, but he's so...infantile. FF8 - The music and the Junction/GF system really sucked me into this one. To strike a balance between magic use and physical combat as well as the array of useful GF Abilities that could be used made me feel like this was perhaps one of the more customizable Final Fantasy games. Sure, the characters eventually grew dull, and some parts of the game seemed poorly writ, and the final fight was just...lack luster. But all in all, it's not so bad, as many people say. It has it's weak points. FF9 - Okay, maybe this is just me, but I really enjoyed this one. From the music, to the abilities (who's grind wasn't nearly as tedious as FF5, or FF7) to the characters (except Quina...), I sunk into it and followed along. Until the final boss. Who, what, why, and for why the hell should I even CARE about what that thing is!? They not once really mentioned it, and I could've swore Kuja was final baddy, but no, they proved me wrong. And yeah, sometimes the humor and writing felt campy and cartoonish, but it's presentation was a little more well paced than other games. FF10 - I think people have already said what I want to say about the Blitzball, the traveling, the voice acting, and that...GOD AWFUL spheregrid. But, despite it being clunky, it allowed you to over power all your characters which made me use all of them in turn at some point. The story...by way of FF10 and 10-2...Some of the weakest writing, but not the absolute worst. And the music was one of the games better points but I felt it was just too different for it's own good. FF12 - Never finished it because I became too wrapped up in hunting, but I loved the music and the world itself, and only a few characters ever truly irked me. The combat took some getting used to, and I never saw where the Gambit system worked like it should've, even when I set up my characters how I wanted them to work. Eventually I was handling the restoration and attacking, too, while they mainly helped kill off enemies. FF13 - This game can go die in a fire. I bought it when it was only $20 and told myself to 'try' and like the game in some way, but here's what happened: 1 - The Upgrading: For the love of me, I could not understand why Square decided to LIMIT me on how strong I could be. Even after I trained in Gran Pulse (yes, I made it that far despite several rage quits), and the equipment felt so...unimportant. 2 - The Characters: Stoic soldier? Check. Token black fellow? Check. Optimistic pugilist? Check. Whinny child? Check. Amy Winehouse? Check. Amy's slightly special younger sister? Check. And to wrap it up? The baby chocobo. In the grand scheme of things, I didn't care ONE IOTA about these people. I especially cared less for Hope and Lightning, and Fang, like I said, reminded me of Winehouse. The game required you to read a compendium of information to figure things out, and that's just poor story telling. 3 - The story: There was one? From what I saw, it was a group of misfits who couldn't work together to save much of anything, and they fought against...gods like beings who control aspects of life? Pass. And I'd like to point that I spent a week grinding in Gran Pulse, getting the best equipment I could, and tweaking my abilities to maximum (that they'd allow) and when I progressed to the final area of the game I was FLOORED by almost every Behemoth I faced. At that point I stopped caring, stopped playing, and quit the franchise. And the music was too new age for me. But on a whole - the franchise's different entries offer something new in each one, sometimes less exciting than the last, sometimes more. It's all in the approach, I suppose. I tackled each game wanting to enjoy it's entirety, but wound up finding something I didn't like. I guess that's why I favored games like Chrono Trigger and Legend of Mana after awhile - I enjoyed them to no end.

Heya! Happy birthday and hope it's a good one! :3

As a child, ReDeads scared me to no end. As an adult, I sort of derive some twisted joy from watching them assault Link. I guess I've grown up and can laugh at them now.

Not going to lie, I haven't played Deus Ex since Conspiracy. But this? This album made me fall back in love with the games again. I've been listening to the tracks since downloading it and I can't find anything I DON'T like. The overall sound quality rests well on my ears, the sound of the tracks is varied enough to play repeatedly, and the final track - The God Machine? Favorite. Following it is Siren Synapse. Tears in Rain and Distortion are two close runner-ups.

Watching one now called Mushi-shi and man...it's hypnotizing and unique. Can't believe I missed out on that when it first came out.

When I first spotted one of those, I approached with reckless abandon towards my own safety. I even went so far as to quote DBZ-Abridged's Bulma: "Kill it with FIRE!" The super mutants and such didn't scare me, but sometimes the Raider hide outs and the Deathclaws appearing for the first time threw me far off my game. And Ghouls? Man...hated a pack of ferals. They pissed me right off.

I'm not afraid to admit this but Fallout 3's over world. I felt secure while in the Vault, which is something they made quite clear should be the feeling as you, the player, are leaving the security of the Vault for the dangers of the Wastelands. When I emerged and characters eyes adjusted, I scoured the landscape, brought up my map and attempted to make some sense out of what I was beholding, then felt dread and apprehension and just...quit. I eventually returned and enjoyed myself but its that initial shock of seeing such devastation.

I recently finished up Mongolian Chop Squad on DVD and have to say that I was rather glad I bought it. I had eyed it for years, being a fan of music, so an anime about a young band struggling to make it had always sounded interesting to me. I felt the characters were real, more so than in other anime I've watched (considering its set in modern day) and overall had a well paced vibe I could get into. And the music was quite catchy. And now I'm running over Sorcerer Stabber Orphen, the complete series. I've watched the first three seasons of The Slayers so I kind of have high hopes on in...

I took the survey for you. Hope my information helps you out.

I grew up with Kirby, among other games, and I have to say I can feel the love in the album. Hearing some of the remixes that appear early on each 'disc' remind me of my first time playing the games, but what really nailed me was Sixto Sounds "The Savior of Dream Land". Holy hell. I had long forgotten that track but then heard that and suddenly felt keen to victory. Good work guys - good work.

LoTRO Theme For Rohan by Taylor Davis

I might be interested in Alundra if it's not sold yet. Anything to help a gamer out - I've been looking for that game for sometime now.

Considering this is one of my favorite songs from the game, I fretted over the lack of violin but my worries were for naught. You guys did quite well! Love the more ethnic sound behind your version.

Later Fallouts, especially the DLC for Fallout 3, had glitches that made the deaths even funnier. Killed a man in a mansion and his body ragdolled all over the mansion and then distorted until I could barely make out it was a human. Fallout and Skyrim have interesting ways to kill people - such as with the various ways to kill someone in Skyrim depending on weapon and skill with either one-handed or two-handed weaponry. And in the Fallout cannon, I found it quite enjoyable in the later installments such as 3 and New Vegas when you'd get 'sonic' weapons that'd...well...blow off the heads of your enemy, leaving the body intact.

Personally I felt that Suikoden I and II utilized death in the story line as a mechanic for character development. One of the stronger points was in Suikoden when Tir's caretaker and friend Gremio sacrificed himself so the group would live, and then when you're presented whether or not to kill the man responsible it puts a perspective on the shoulders of the game and the character, forging a type of emotional tie between gamer and protagonist. And Suikoden II continues this tradition by having pivotal story line characters either die, get wounded, fail their mission, etc, and really drives the story of unity home where others have to try harder when another one fails. Especially so depending on what ending you achieve. I feel that games that use death as a mechanic are often hit and miss, pending on the title. Games that utterly coddle you when you die don't seem stress that you need any sort of skill to succeed, but it does help create less frustrating moments of gameplay where game could honestly hand you your backside on a gold platter. Then there are games that give you some of the most degrading 'game over' screens, and one of the biggest ones, to me, has to be one of the simplest - Red Dead Redemption's "You Died". Really? No, I couldn't figure that out, ya know, with John sprawling out all ragdolled on his back. Now, if death as a mechanic helped enhance the game play or story, that's probably one of the better ways to utilize it. Like someone pointed in Herc's Adventure - I've never played it but that sounds like a neat way to make sure you do well. And someone mentioned MGS3 - The one 'boss fight' where the dead soldiers and bosses you've killed haunt you on your way down the river was a nice way to represent death. But usually for me, I find story line driven death is the best. As long as the story calls for it to really drive the point home.

Suikoden I - The Grand Gate Rune Wars (WIP name) Hello Remixers, I’m Samuel of the Suikoden Revival Movement and I wanted to pitch a few album ideas your way in hopes that you’ll help make this project a reality. I was thinking on directing a multi-album Suikoden project and applying themes to each game based on the most dominant cultural indicator in the game. I’ll bring up the other album ideas if this one gets good feedback, so hear me out, would you please? The first game I was going to suggest is, of course, Suikoden I - the one that started the franchise off! I’m open to suggestions (since this will be my first time directing anything) but I was hoping to have remixes span the entire soundtrack from the game (allowing medleys and so on - no restrictions!) but as far as style, I’m at a bit of a stand still. As I am new to directing, I don’t know how this album should be handled and I was wanting to simply say that, based on what I’ve heard from Maverick Rising, Random Encounters and 25 Year Legend and Badass Boss Themes, I can safely state everyone’s capable of a broad amount of musical styling! With Suikoden, I was envisioning styles of rock, jazz, orchestral and such in time with heavier oriental themes that are found from some of the tracks in the game. I do have the full track listing available too, and I suppose I should post that as well. If anyone’s interested, too, a website to host the downloads and such from would be awesome, seeing as it’d give fans of you remixers a place to go download the music and members of the Movement something to flock too, as well! Artists welcome, too, for original art and designs. Also, if anyone’s willing to help me direct, please do. Maybe some kind veterans would lend me aid so I can become a directing semi-pro? Before I list the tracks, I wanted to thank anyone interested ahead of time because, as a person, I’d love to chance to work with many great artists and people such as yourselves, and it’d also mean a lot to the Movement. We’re dedicated to raising awareness to Konami and we’re stressing to them to revive the series and to localize newer entries, as well as stressing for other things Suikoden related. Now, how about those track titles! Into a World of Illusion (Opening) Beginning Theme Royal Palace Consultation Eternal Empire Beautiful Golden City Main Theme Arrangement ~ Guitar Fly, Black! Black Forest Touching Theme Tiny Characters in a Huge World Distant Mountain Penpe Confrontation with Monsters Victory Theme Rock Rockland Theme of Tension - Ensemble Theme of Sadness - Ensemble Eternal Flow Joy Joy Time Invasion Mysterious Forest People of Great Pride Theme of Despair Peaceful People Rising Tide Theme of Perversion This Sweetie is the Town Treasure Theme for a Narcissist Gorgeous Scarleticia Dancing Girl Collision! Premonition of Victory An Explosive Situation Theme of Sadness - Guitar Within the Silence Gathering the Warriors Theme of Tension - Impact Version This is Just a Rumor Forgotten Days Passcaria Main Theme Arrangement - Ensemble Island Fortress Glorious Island Fortress Blue Ocean, Blue Sky An Old Irish Song Gate Theme of a Moonlit Night Theme of the Advancing Army Echoes of the Changing Past Ultimate Enemy Theme of Tension - Tama-dator REQUIEM Avertuneiro Antes Lance Mao - After the Battle Heartbroken Fanfare I can supply any tracks needed for listening, just PM me the ones you need and I’ll email them. Or I can find a way to help you. Or, erm, you could locate them yourself rendering me slightly useless. I jest. But yeah, feel free to discuss with me anything that needs to be…help me and I’ll help you. Hope to hear from you ladies and gentlemen.

As I was playing Fallout 3, I noticed there was a lack of musical presence except every so often. When I found this track I loaded up the game and played along and it was nice to have an atmospheric piece to play the game to. The piano is one of the strongest parts of the piece and it goes along nicely with the theme of the game. As someone else said, way to bring life to the Wastelands!

From the opening moments of the song it captivated me as the game had -- that I was starting my journey into realms unknown, fraught with peril and treasures waiting to be found! The overall strength of the song is amazing. I'm an admirer of instrumental, and especially orchestral ones, and hearing this pulls me along the whole song through. Listening it now, I hear no real fault with the track and perhaps that's just me enjoying the song to it's fullest.

As a fan of the game, the source material and of course being the game that started me on roleplaying titles, this song has struck me harder than other covers. There's something professional about the sound - from the driving beat to the fretwork, it all feels as if it's in place and that it's the right track for a showdown where it's life and death.