Update History

May 3, 2001- Critically Speaking

    Ohayo minna-san! Guess what? The Weiss Kreuz section is up already, especially the fics and links pages. I'll be putting up the character bios later, though. Have to gather info, you see. ^_^
    If you've noticed, there's two new artworks up this month. Thanks to FalconIce, who suddenly had a drawing and coloring craze [and later, infecting me with the latter], my computer is packed with enough fanart to last me a year or so. So this time, I'm spotlighting two artworks. The utterly kawaii Duo picture is all done by FalconIce, while the Turks picture here is drawn by FalconIce and colored by me [yes, all I ever do is color, ^_^]. I'm also putting up my bio here in the miscellaneous section [it's down there by my name]
    Let's see...what to talk about. Ah yes, there's this anime series called Shin-Hakkenden [I tried looking for websites about it, but there were only a negligible handful]. The series has just finished, and what I can say about the ending is...it's sooooo ANGST-SY!!! [sob, bawl] How can it be a happy ending if it's full of angst?! [cry, weep] Ahem...I'm getting carried away. Anyway, the story is this: Long, long ago, a meteor threatened the destruction of Earth and all its inhabitants. But Queen Fuse had predicted this, and had evacuated most [if not all] of the people just in time. They traveled for a million days and nights and soon arrived at a system called Heaven. The people dispersed themselves among the eight moons surrounding the heavenly body, God's Land. Fuse tried to send a ship into God's Land, but it ruined the balance of heaven. People blamed her for it and refused to acknowledge her anymore. Years later, a young boy named Kou who was born with a mysterious jewel decides to set off on a quest to search for his mother and in the process, meet seven others like him and discover the truth behind the power of their gemstones. This is just my own synopsis, okay? ^_^
    And now, for RPG reviews. I just recently purchased this game titled "Persona 2: Eternal Punishment" from Atlus. Hmm...I'd say it's an okay game, except it's just weird that you could make friends with the regular enemies [demons] you battle with. The battle system is fine, easy to grasp and master. For those of you who have played Final Fantasy VIII, Persona 2's battle system somewhat resembles it, in the sense that characters could "junction" summons [or Personas, as they are called in the game] and improve their stats with it. The Personas also level up the more they are summoned. As for magic, various spells seem to be attached to different Personas, which means that a character could only use the set of spells attached to the equipped Persona. There are also spell cards to make Personas learn other kinds of spells. The story of the game plays along the viewpoint of a young journalist named Maya Amano [related to Yoshitaka Amano? o.0] who is investigating a series of freaky murders committed by a serial killer called the Joker. While pursuing her article, she encounters a mysterious young man named Tatsuya Suou who seems to be full of secrets and surprises. I'm not so far in the game to know what he actually does, but believe me, he's one character who pops in and out a lot. Now, the game utilizes stunning CG sequences, but only for the background. The characters are drawn in a superb anime style, and are expressed with their own unique, varied personalities. The whole game is a fine combination of reality and fiction, as it occurs in modern times. But my final opinion is that though the game may sound good and all, it seems to be in the category of "just one of those RPGs you've played before". Nothing to really reminisce about once you've finished it.
    Now wait a second...since when have I been giving anime and RPG reviews???!!!

April 14, 2001-Of Gates and Dungeons

    Ta-daa! GW character section is up, so now, I can start work on the other sections [whew! I didn't know site-management was this tiresome!] I decided to get rid of my image and music archives, because according to site statistics and personal judgment, they merely clutter my site, and more trouble than they're worth. Also, I already finished the request fic my 1000th visitor, Nguyen Ha Tran, asked for. It's a comedic Vincent Valentine fic, and if you want to read it, it's here.
    This month's artwork is courtesy of FalconIce. Drawn, scanned and colored with the use of her digitizing pen [wah! I can't have mine until May!], she has decided to make Sano of Rurouni Kenshin her first model [woohoo! Go, Sano!]
    If some of you visitors have noticed, my guestbook was down for several days. Why? Because MyComputer.com has decided to terminate their free services and to force me, poor starving website manager that I am, to hand over some cash for their professional guestbook. Ack! Never mind! I'm moving to Lycos' HTMLGear. In fact, I like the new guestbook better. Oi, could you people sign it? For those who signed the first one, could you sign again too? It would give me the greatest pleasure if you would care to leave a legacy of your visit in my site. ^_^
    If any of you are into sci-fi novels, then you must have heard of Dune the Movie. I've read the book, and believe me, it's beautifully written. It's a bit political, but even a politics-hater like me could stand it. I mean, if the book wasn't great, why would people bother to make a video game and a movie of it. Also, in the book, a group of people called Fremen have blue-on-blue eyes, meaning, there are no whites. But in the movie, they kinda botched it, and ended up with having stunning blue mako-infused eyes. Cool, huh? Just like Cloud Strife.
    There's this new anime series that I really liked. It's called Gatekeepers, and it's produced by Gozos, Ltd. It's about a group of students who discover that they have the ability to open the "gate", which is an interdimensional passageway that lends them supernatural powers when it is opened. They then are drafted into Aegis, an international organization which protects the Earth from Invaders, or evil robotic life forms. In my opinion, the show has awesome graphics compared to the others, because they subtly blended computer generated backgrounds with the anime. Unfortunately, AXN didn't release the second season yet, but I can't wait to see it.
    You know, I decided to take a break from RPGs for a while, so I tried playing Chocobo's Dungeon 2. Man, it's probably the most difficult and most challenging PS game I've ever played. And there's this freaky Grim Reaper named Doom who appears when you stay on a dungeon floor for too long. Not to mention, your inventory is limited, your equipment break, and money doesn't flow easily [three factors of an RPG that bother me]. Grr...

March 4, 2001-Snitches and Broomsticks

   Yahoo! It's March already! Just a few more weeks and it'll be summer vacation!
    The picture on the left is a cutout from one of my artworks. It's my depiction of Harry Potter, in case it's too unintelligible to be recognized. I only included part of the drawing here, because the whole picture takes up more than one screen. That's the Snitch at the right side of the pic. I didn't color this in Adobe Photoshop, but I posterized it a little cos the original was too plain. Credits to PirateBurn for effectively capturing the details and minutiae of my artwork and establishing it onto an image file in a computer (in layman's terms, thanks for scanning it!)
Gundam Wing fans will be pleased to note that I have already put up a GW section in my site (hey, where's the applause?!). The fanfic section is up already, and in the next few days, I'll be putting up the character bios and images section. Perhaps in the next few weeks, I'll put up Fushigi Yuugi, that is, if I can find time.
        Hey! No one EVER goes to the message board! That's not fair! FalconIce and I placed it there for a reason! The least you visitors could do is post something, anything, there, be it a question, an answer, a tirade, or a philosophy in life. And there's also the guestbook...among the 30 or so people who visit my site everyday, only one or two sign the guestbook! And it's either because they had the consideration and thoughtfulness that all Web surfers should have...or because I asked them to. *sweatdrop*
I'm still in Disc 3 of FF9. The reason why I'm lingering around is because I'm pumping up my characters. I'm supposed to get a flying chocobo by now, but I don't have Hilda Garde 3 yet. I'm even more powerful than my sister, who prefers to get on with the story rather than level up. I haven't touched BOF IV since my last update, not because I don't like it, but because I don't have time to play it.
    Heard of Harry Potter the movie? How about Final Fantasy the movie? They're both due to be released sometime this year, depending on your country. Pirateburn saw the trailer of Harry Potter, and she said it was great. I keep wondering...how are they able to create a realistic Quidditch match on broomsticks? Can't wait to see the movie and find out. And FF the movie is awesome too. I'm talking about the graphics, of course. I mean, you could barely tell whether it's real or not!
    Just for fun, I'll put a mini-fic here. Ahem...here goes...
    //"Hey, FalconIce! Guess what?"
    "What?"
    "<insert funny comment>"
    *FalconIce starts laughing her guts off, which escape from her mouth in the form of black vomit*
    *Raijin comes rushing in* "I'll save the floor!" *dives in front of FI, right in the trajectory of the, erm, spilled guts* SPLAT!
    *Farfello bursts in* "Is that spilling guts I hear? Cool! I'll spill my guts out too! Ehehe..." *vomit*
    "I'll save the floor!" *Raijin leaps in front of Farfello*
    *KnM and everyone in the immediate vicinity is turned off at the sight and smell of Raijin and start vomiting in revulsion, which in turn, causes people around them to vomit, and so on and so on until the entire world is literally drowning in barf*
*PirateBurn, on the other hand, is one of the few who could hold her bile in, so she sweatdrops*//
    Okay, this Raijin and "save the floor" thing is an inside joke from a what-if. And if you find it gross, gomen nasai. I just had this urge to put it in.
    Aiya! Ranted on and on again. Why can't I stick to the updates and just shut up?

February 11, 2001- Reeve!!!

To commemorate the month of hearts (February, duh!) I have changed my updates background (gee, even Reno can get boring for a while). Ta-daa~! Meet Reeve...What?! You don't recognize him?! You know, Reeve of Shinra in FF7, creator and controller of Cait Sith. After reading Reeve fics on the Net, FalconIce and I have gone into a Reeve craze (doesn't she draw cute, kawaii Reeves?) I colored this picture after she scanned it (Cait looks kawaii!), and am currently waiting for my digi-pen to arrive (no, not related to Digimon).

Okay, time for updates. I put up the new Poetry section in my site (What?! You didn't see it?!) after getting into the craze. FalconIce kinda sparked the inspiration in me after letting me read her poems. You see, I write my poems when I am most inspired...that is, when I am most bored. And the best place for that is during classes at school! I've put up more fics at both FF7 and FF8 shrines, so I hope you check them out. I also segregated the yaoi fics from non-yaoi, so innocent, naive people won't stumble into places they're not supposed to be in. ^_^

Hmm...what else...Ah! I changed my message board. I linked to FalconIce's forum 'cos it's cooler-looking and it loads faster. So I hope you people (and fictional characters) check it out. And go sign in. You know, leave a legacy of your visit or something.

Wahoo! Finished FFTactics! Love the game. I'm in Disc 3 in FF9 (hey! I have to balance school, the website and Playstation!). I bought Breath of Fire 4, because I really loved BOF III (which I finished a long time ago). So far, what I can say about that game is that...they have really weird art drawings. Okay, to be honest, the anime is horrible! Did they boot out the character artist of BOF III?! The field graphics are still kawaii, and everything is more 3D. Even the enemies are 3D. I haven't gone far in the game yet (Ryu is still the silent protagonist, as usual, and there's this COOL guy named Fou-Lu who kicks ass!) and I think I'll be concentrating on it after FF9. Oh, and don't bother asking about Legend of Dragoon and Legend of Legaia.

Okay! Enough rambling, Kasa no Miko!

I know yaoi is immoral (very!) and that an innocent (?) girl (yes, I'm a girl) like me should stay away from such sinful topics, but I can't help it. Yaoi has its pros as well as cons. I don't completely disapprove of yaoi, but I'm not so hot about it either. First of all, yaoi is basically not the same as being gay. For one thing, the stereotypical meaning of a "gay" is a guy acting like a girl or wanting to be one. Yaoi is merely a guy liking another guy, yet may or may not want to be a girl. Second, in most (if not all) RPGs and anime shows, I dislike, no wait, loathe the female characters, especially if they're b*tchy (mind the language) and annoying. And if you're a hard-core fanfic reader, you would NOT want to read about them (you've had enough of them in the game or series, why read about them too in fanfics?!) So, if you're like me, you would prefer yaoi fanfics to straight. But I read straight, too. In fact, I read both, and am neutral to both kinds of fanfics. Like I said, I don't disapprove of yaoi, but I'm not a hard-core yaoi person. I can't write yaoi. No wait, rephrase that. I haven't TRIED writing yaoi, but given the inspiration and determination, I might. But I don't think I would have the courage to write lemons (fics with explicit sexual activity, to put it formally)

Am playing FF9 (finally got a better copy), FFTactics, Chrono Cross, Legend of Legaia and Legend of Dragoon now (like anyone cares). I missed a significant plot part in Chrono Cross, and I'll have to play the game again, and the last two mentioned RPGs are rotting away in my memory card (can't they get any more exciting?!). My younger sister's playing Lunar I and Rhapsody (kawaii prince!!!), and is now in Disc 3 of FF9 (weep weep, I'm still at the beginning). To tell ya the truth, FF9 utterly pales in comparison to FF7 and 8 (what's up with Squaresoft?!), and I think it would be better for them to go back to the technofuturistic RPG style of 7 and 8.
Darn, FF the movie won't be showing here at the cinemas (if they ever will be) until the second half of the year (waaahh! Why?!) and I'm thinking of buying PS2 sometime this half of the year (Whaddaya think? Should I?) There's just one teensy problem... I NEED CASH! *weep weep*

FalconIce: Hey, KnM, don't worry, you can always beat people up for experience and gil!
Hmm...not a bad idea.

Ohayo, minna-san! You know, this site has been online for quite some time, and I just remembered that I didn't have an updates page! So...might as well make one.

Like the Reno picture? I made it! Ain't he cool?! (Okay...I think I'm a bit hyper today, so I must calm down). Ahem...anyway, I'm planning to make more art work, but I'm not really a good artist. A nice drawing only comes once in a blue (ooh, Turks!) moon, like this one. My forte is more of coloring. Give me something to color, and I'll transform it into a masterpiece (ahem...thank you, thank you)! FalconIce is a better artist than I am (she taught me how to draw!) and she draws kawaii gifs for me to color and animate. Too bad she doesn't post more artwork at her site. ^_^

I'm thinking of making another RPG section in my site (I bet you're thinking, "WHAT?! But you haven't finished the others yet!) I will! Don't worry! I was just thinking anyway...FalconIce suggested Chrono Cross, but I'm still currently playing the game, along simultaneously with FF Tactics, FF9, Legend of Legaia and Legend of Dragoon (the last two are merely pending games, which I have started a long time ago and haven't finished until now because they were either too boring or I lost interest, which are basically the same thing anyway). And I can't make a section in my site if I have no experience with it whatsoever (Okay, okay, I've never seen a single episode of Gundam Wing or Weiss Kreuz yet, so sue me). But if I post up fanfics about CC and I happen to read them (I have to!), they might spoil the story for me, and I don't like spoilers! Any of you played FF9 yet? I'm still in disc 1, in the part where you have to name Vivi (yes, sadly, I'm still there). But it's not because I'm a sucky RPG player! My copy of FF9 is so defective in such a way that I can't view a single FMV sequence without having it hang up! But the game still works though, (I just open and close the CD console). I saved my game at the first Mog and stopped, because I can't stand playing an RPG without seeing those delicious eye candy, and I am currently searching for a better copy. Unfortunately, FalconIce had decided to offer her sympathy and had SPOILED the game for me! Now I know most, if not all, of the game's plot! So now, I repeat...I DON'T LIKE SPOILERS!

I guess that's all I have to say for the moment, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! ^_^ And, oh yeah...go bother my message board.