Recently, i was reminded of a time when someone told my quite inebriated friend, "You're not going to Joplin". After a brief laugh, i then came to the realization that i held much stronger animosity towards anyone telling me what i'm not going to do, rather than what i should do. I spent some time deliberating why i felt stronger about being told what i wasn't going to do, rather than what i shouldn't. The answer was obvious, one was a suggestion the other was a direct order against my own right to freely choose. I really, really do love my country, but at times (more and more frequently) i find myself at odds with some of the directions that our "representatives" are taking it. Now, separation of church and state has always been a really big factor in my life. This typically has extended from politely butting heads with public school administration to outright yelling at the tv/radio/computer. Infractions upon this ideal is something i very strongly oppose, much like the many other unconstitutional laws that trample over the fundamental design of our country. In the same day i ran across two postings on Fark that i couldn't help but feel served some kind of warning. The First was an article about bill signed into law by the government of Georgia that would "make Georgia the first state to offer state-sanctioned elective classes on the Bible". The article continues to explain that "The law requires that the courses be taught in an objective and nondevotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students. Now, while i personally don't subscribe to the christian mythology, i have taken a few classes in college on christian/bible history and always found them to be a bit lacking and biased. I have a complete lack of faith (for lack of better word) in any US based, state funded public education system's ability to teach this in an objective manner as they can't even get enough money to fund the more important school curriculum and fine arts classes over the local football team. Unlike some of my friends, i've yet to have any children that i know of but do plan on it someday in the future. Part of the many, many things i want for them is the total freedom to adopt any religion (or none at all) as their own. The second article is about Baylor University's recent decree via email to students. "Baylor Vice President for Student Life Samuel W. Oliver sent an e-mail to women students this week warning that any who 'associate' with Playboy would be subject to the university's disciplinary processes." Thankfully, this very sexist/prejudice mandate was met with a civil disobedient response. I can say i'm quite displeased with the administration of one of Texas' top medical based schools and their whole approach.
It would appear that i've become fully addicted to Suikoden V. Now, as an avid fan of the whole series of games, there have been a few that are better than the others (namely the first two), which lead to a slow start in the game for me. Overall, it's got all the good elements from the previous four with a few new ideas mixed in. The gameplay is semi-linear, with a rock solid plot and pretty spell/combat effects without the need to overdo it. That being said, it does keep with some of the nifty elements from the previous games. One said element is that there are few characters that appeared in the very first one and kept showing up throughout the series. It does need to be said that these are not just cameos, but full on playable characters that have a defined personality, backhistory, and quirks. In a RPG with 108 total playable characters NPCs, this has always been a really unique factor in the series. Somewhere around 25 hours into the game last night, i not only unexpectedly bumped it, but recruited my absolute favorite character from the series; if not one of my all time favorite characters from all games: Viki. Viki is a young (mid 20s) mage with a Teleportation True Rune. True runes are magical artifacts that all hold incredible power, one of which is eternal youth. She isn't the strongest character in the game (maybe in the top 10%), but that isn't the reason i'm so fond of my digital mage-friend. While she is a powerful mage character, the main appeal of such a character is her personality. She always has a similar entrance in the series; it would seem that occasionally when sneezing she accidentally teleports herself. Her spells are teleportation based and two of the three have an unhealthy chance of teleporting one of your players away instead of the enemy. This can be quite harsh when you're 2 hours into some dank cave/dungeon and instead of a really strong monster, your main healer goes *poof*. She does, however; have one of the most useful utility abilities in any RPG. Viki offers two way teleportation from your base of operation to any town you've visited in the past.
![Quiz Result Provided By: theOtaku.com.]()
What Rurouni Kenshin Weapon Are You?
It would appear that i've become fully addicted to Suikoden V. Now, as an avid fan of the whole series of games, there have been a few that are better than the others (namely the first two), which lead to a slow start in the game for me. Overall, it's got all the good elements from the previous four with a few new ideas mixed in. The gameplay is semi-linear, with a rock solid plot and pretty spell/combat effects without the need to overdo it. That being said, it does keep with some of the nifty elements from the previous games. One said element is that there are few characters that appeared in the very first one and kept showing up throughout the series. It does need to be said that these are not just cameos, but full on playable characters that have a defined personality, backhistory, and quirks. In a RPG with 108 total playable characters NPCs, this has always been a really unique factor in the series. Somewhere around 25 hours into the game last night, i not only unexpectedly bumped it, but recruited my absolute favorite character from the series; if not one of my all time favorite characters from all games: Viki. Viki is a young (mid 20s) mage with a Teleportation True Rune. True runes are magical artifacts that all hold incredible power, one of which is eternal youth. She isn't the strongest character in the game (maybe in the top 10%), but that isn't the reason i'm so fond of my digital mage-friend. While she is a powerful mage character, the main appeal of such a character is her personality. She always has a similar entrance in the series; it would seem that occasionally when sneezing she accidentally teleports herself. Her spells are teleportation based and two of the three have an unhealthy chance of teleporting one of your players away instead of the enemy. This can be quite harsh when you're 2 hours into some dank cave/dungeon and instead of a really strong monster, your main healer goes *poof*. She does, however; have one of the most useful utility abilities in any RPG. Viki offers two way teleportation from your base of operation to any town you've visited in the past.
What Rurouni Kenshin Weapon Are You?