ok for the record its not a sit-com,  its an animated series.  Who knows where hes going with it but there are some decent people attached and with everyone from Family Guy to Robot Chicken cashing in on the comedic cash cow, you expect George to just sit back?  Hell, if anyone has the right to poke fun at Star Wars, its Lucas.

[Spoiler]

Any winning strategies for a chapter 10 fight?

Spoiler for Hiden:

Bahamut

.

He seriously takes my whole group out within two attacks if I'm not in a sentinel/medic/medic paradigm.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think this was an Eidolon battle where you switch out for Vanille?


Yeah the boss was the toughest one for me at that point.  Once I figured out the correct paradigm pattern for him he was not too bad.  I really like the battle system in this game,  it is quite a bit of fun to tinker with.  so many possiblilities. 

Well, I was fully leveled (the alt chars too) in my main three roles at that point. It isn't necessary, but it definitely helps. I don't think I had any weapons leveled at that point.
Start by staying in the healing P like you are doing. You will need to do this for awhile.

Wait for the Eidolon to start backing off, and then start attacking while using a Sentinel P (I think you still have Delta with this group)
There is also a P that has Buff/Debuffs, I would try to use that for a turn or so.
Keep healing in between.

Cast Libra at the start if you can (Make sure that Combat Clinic? is your default P when you retry, just change it back when you are done)
Hit R1 during the battle to see what drives the Eidolon's gauge, I think his was healing and protecting as well as chains.

Good luck.

I havent watched 24 in awhile but its must be getting rough.  It was pitched to NBC after fox cancelled it and they turned it down.  Yes, NBC actually felt the 24 wasnt good enough to fit in thier line up.

well  everyones entitled to an opinion.  I liked SG-1 especially during its Showtime run.  SYFY did fine with what they had but couldnt keep the level of the earlier years up. They did kind of jump the shark when they went all SG-1/ Farscape 

SGU has a lot of potential and thats why I figured its in its last season... yeah I have that little faith in SYFY these days.

interesting article on on SYFY regarding the direction Chuck has taken with comments from exec producer and co-creator Chirs Fedak.  Heres how he explains the choices Chuck has made  "Fedak likens Chuck's journey to that of Superman. "It is one of those situations where it is the hero's choice. It is like Clark Kent could be just a reporter who has fallen in love with Lois Lane, and they could have a life together. There's nothing stopping him from doing that but the call to be a hero. For Chuck, we've realized from last season that he feels that call in the sense that this is the family business. He father was a great man. He feels like he can actually make a difference in the world, like he can actually change the world, and so that's put him, like, in a natural collision course with all people who have, like, these heroic intentions with their personal life, with the things that just everybody wants out in the regular world," said Fedak."

heres a link to the full article.  http://scifiwire.com/2010/03/big-ass-developments-will.php

no double dip here!  Im gonna netflix the April version and then buy the super boffo mega 3D version next christmas when I hope to upgrade to a 3D capable tv. 

dont give up yet.  I have a feeling since they are wrapping up the 13 episode arc and will be going into the final six which have been stated as being a new story arc that the recent dark tone is soon to change.  I do feel the tone of the show has changed as Chuck become more spyish but Im thinking that its more a set up for a payoff than anything else. 

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in regarding the review complaints of the game being too linear for too long.  They were right.  The game has become a wash,rinse, repeat game.  The thing about the exploration aspect of earlier FF games was that it broke up the cycle and thus the tedium.  Right now the only thing that breaks up the walk down the narrow area to the next fight thing are the cut scenes.  I like the game and it is, for the most part, fun but I definitely wish it would open up a bit and I understand now why its taken its share of criticism over this.

Oh and how can Odin be such an SOB when you fight him and then turn out to hit like a girl when you summon him?  Its like they gave him a pony for his 16th birthday... oh wait, they did!

[Spoiler]

regarding that great merchant in the wilds..... 

Spoiler for Hiden:

buyer beware.... mind read him and youll find his stuff is junk except for the earings. You can buy it but youre basically throwing your cash away.  Im assuming this is the merchant near the bandit camp.

ok  thats just mean!   

Thanks for the email and the key Ron.

Ive seen a number of reviews on this and they seem to average out to about an 8 of 10.  The complaints seem to be pretty universal, too linear, not much of an open world, a low amount of side quests and mini games.  Some of the reviewers take square-enix to task over this and others think that these things make the character driven nature of FF a lot more focused and gives strength to the story line.  Its obvious that once again Square has altered the formula for FF to bring a different but familiar experience to fans of the series.  Pretty much every review says that the graphics are better on the PS3 than the XBox 360,  of course considering that its common knowledge that the 360 version has a slightly lower resolution, this is kind of a no brainer.  Still most have also pointed out that the differences are very minor and without comparing the two side by side with an extremely critical eye, hard to even notice.  In the end, it looks like this game is going to be a very good, but not perfect, game.  It has a huge amount of gameplay in it and without the extra fluff of minigames and such seems to be more devoted to the meat of the game and that sounds good to me.

the first vinyl I got was a birthday present.  I got both Jethro Tulls AquaLung and Thick as a Brick.   The 1st CD I ever owned was The Who's Quadrophenia.     I have all three in digital now and still enjoy listening to them.

from an article I read on this, the whole point is to provide a demo that gives a full game experience but for a limited time.  Instead of giving you a watered down demo they will give you a taste of the good stuff and then water it down.  Their hope is that you will have enjoyed the demo enough to buy the final product.  After all that is really the purpose of a demo,  to get you to buy the game, not to provide you with a free game.  Seems like a good idea to me.  The people really interested in buying will get a demo that can really showcase the game.  The ones who complain about this probably had no intention of buying and just wanted the game for free.

figured Id bump this up with it coming out next week.  Im in  with my 360.  I havent played a good JRPG in ages  ( I did play Enchanted Arms.. not bad, not great )  After checking out the sites, this game will be great looking if nothing else.  I hope it recaptures some of that old FF magic because the deluge of fantasy MMO rpgs has really seemed to dilute the whole genre.

Thanks Gratch,  I figured it was that way but kinda hoped it wasnt.

[Spoiler]

Quick question regarding the Zaeed loyalty mission.   

Spoiler for Hiden:

Is it possible to both save the people in the Merc base and still gain Zaeed's loyalty?

Im my opinion ME2 is superior to ME1 and I am greatly anticipating ME3.  Regarding the prospecting mini game..,Yeah it wasnt a shining example of fun game play but it wasnt like shoving nails in your eyes either.  I did what I had to and didnt sweat it too much.  I would have preferred that they had reworked the Mako and made mining a bit more interesting but it was no big deal.  As far as the powers,  I never felt they were necessary to get thru a fight, most of the weapons would carry you through, but I did find them both fun and entertaining to use.  While I enjoyed ME1, I felt the combat was smoother and more fun in ME2.  I for one welcomed the lack of a need to pick up and compare every frikkin weapon that dropped in ME1 in hopes of getting an upgrade.  Carrying all that crap around was senseless.  I like what ME2 did to streamline things.  After all Im playing Shepard as a fighting force to be reckoned with, not a packrat/trader.  The big difference between ME1 and 2 for me?  I felt they took out alot of what made ME1 tedious and made ME2 just more fun to play.

flipping thru channels I ran across another great western.  This one stars Clint Eastwood and Shirley McClaine.  If you like a little comedy in your westerns, then watch Two Mules for Sister Sarah.   Great movie!

[Spoiler]

one of the best in game moments of hilarity ever.....   

Spoiler for Hiden:

I went to the Local Cluster which is our solar system.  I decided to send a probe to each planet just for the hell of it.  When I probed Uranus, I got the voice message from the computer, in Trica Helfers voice of " Really? Commander?"  absolutely made me LOL

I read on SyFy that Michael SHanks is up for the role of "Danno"  in this. 

  Besides Im not sure how that was a game changer as the Colts need a touchdown regardless of whether the Saints were up by 5 or 7. 

I already explained why it was a game changer.

and I explained why I felt it wasnt.

Regarding the 2pt conversion, the score is valid if the player has control of the ball as it crosses the plane of the goal line.  He did.  Whatever happens after that is moot.  Besides Im not sure how that was a game changer as the Colts need a touchdown regardless of whether the Saints were up by 5 or 7.   I think the key play of the game was the opening onside kick.  If that had gone to the Colts I think we would have had a different winner in the SB.  Ballsy and a bit nuts on Sean Paytons part.  Youre going to get second guessed even if you recover it but if you dont you face some seriously harsh and painful fallout.

Im still pissed at Harmonix for not releasing the full Who's Next album as promised.  It was one of the main reasons I purchased Rock Band in the first place.  Im thinking a class action lawsuit is in order.

I watched this the other day and found it ... underwhelming.  To me it was a rehashed crossing of Alien Nation and The Fly and used ultra violence and profanity way too much.  I know alot of people who rave about this flick but the friends I saw it with also felt the movie was average and overhyped.

[They used to suck on a Lions level.]

having lived in Indy my whole life, I'm used to plenty of people myself included saying bad things about the Colts all the time   They used to suck on a Lions level.  Guess I've been so glad they don't anymore that I don't really notice the media treating them differently.  Probably also doesn't hurt that I usually watch games with the audio off since I hate the commentators lack of focus most of the time.

Being a Lions fan, I take offense at the highlighted statement!  Your comparison demeans the incredible acheivements the Lions franchise has accomplished for over 5 decades.  No one sucks on a Lions level except the Detroit Lions.  Now if you said on a Buccaneers level Id agree

I am looking forward to this one and yes it has a very "man with no name" vibe to it.  I dont know if a western based game can pull off the game of the year but from what Ive seen I think this will be one of my favorites to come out this year.

Well I hope they have a playable version of Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planewalkers   Havent been able to get that to run worth a damn since XP came out.

Even tho Im not a big "shooter" gamer I am really enjoying the game.  I have to agree that if the Star Wars Old Republic MMO wasnt getting made, they could have done a great job with one based on ME.  The one thing that does suprise me, especially as this comes on the heels of DragonsAge, is the lack of intersquad banter.  A little comic relief in the midst of the waves of baddies would have been a nice touch.  Most of the banter seems to be of the generic "nice shot" or "I got that one good" variety. Thats a minor complaint tho, over all ME2 is a blast.    With the recent releases of ME and DAO Bioware has to be feeling pretty good about now.

[there is no movie that is better than 2001]

2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Aliens, and The Thing.

Yes I like Sci-Fi a lot and no there is no movie that is better than 2001. Avatar is spectacular but 2001 is still much better.

Well thats certainly a matter of opinion, I know a lot of people who felt that 2001 was a convoluted, pretentious piece of crap  ( I am not one of them )  Its a great movie IMHO but it definately seems to be one of those movies you either love or hate, not a lot of middle ground for that one.


Oh on a separate note, any Western Movie list that doesnt include The Good , the Bad and the Ugly seems a bit lacking to me.

Yeah I remember reading that somewhere, still many promising games have failed to see the light of day so its nice to see a strong sales opening for ME2. 

I have no real problem with the MS points system.  It would be nice if the points had a direct correlation to cash, just to simplify things, and a $1 minimum would be nice as well.  They would still get thier interest free loan but people could put out a bit less at a time that way.  Still things are pretty easy to figure out at 80 points per dollar (US).   

2 million sold in less than a week
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=233156

it was released in Europe just yesterday(Friday)so that number is sure to rise

Wow.    Well done Bioware.

Im thinkin that if there was any doubt that ME3 would get made this has completely stomped it.

Well after a couple of hours the game is looking good.  I have the pc version thru a digital download  (D2D) and had issues with the DLC and the Cereberus network.  Im still not sure if its working correctly.  I wanted to map movement to the arrow keys and for some reason I cant so I guess Im gonna have to get used to WASD all over again.

Speaking of release dates why is that stores can hold these midnite openings, which gets the game to people about 12 hours prior to companies like D2D and Steam who are held fast to "official" release time?  Not that its a big deal to me,  I would be sleeping and working during that time window and wouldnt have time to play it anyways,  Im just curious as to why.

if those are not illegal, I can almost guarantee they will be soon, especially the red/blue combo.... they are pretty sweet looking tho!

Well I am disappointed that this is still over a year away but Id rather they get this thing done right than push it out the door early and incomplete ( Im looking at you STO )  While not many games will have a chance at kicking WoW in the jublies, this game may just have the pedigree.  The fantasy MMO thing is getting tiresome and a future/ space based MMO may be just what we need.    Now just implement some small ship space combat along with the planet based stuff and Ill be ecstatic.

Playing the beta.  I have to say that while the game has potential, it should be months away from release, not weeks.  Ship to ship combat looks like the key focus of the game and it can be fun.  Definitely need to learn shield management.  That is critical to survival.  Away missions seem very basic and not too much fun.  This feels like it will devolve to a "free to play" with microtransactions game in order to survive other wise Im afraid it will go the way of Tabula Rasa.   These of course are impressions based on a very small amount of play time and its possible ( and I hope it happens ) that this game may suprise me and prove to be something special.  We could sure use a future/ space based MMO. The whole fantasy genre has become stagnant.   If this Star Trek thing doesnt work then I vote that the next Space MMO be based on E.E. "Doc" Smiths Lensman series.  Just so I can toss a moon at another planet through a hyper-spatial tube.  

ok heres my problem.  I have ME1 on xbox but I lost my saves due to a RROD issue.  Also I am interested in getting the PC version.  I have a newer computer with very nice graphics. So, should I replay ME1 for the saves transfer or is it really not that important or am I better off just getting the PC version of ME2 and going from scratch? Will I miss alot doing that?

I care!  Unwrapping the present is half the fun of getting the gift.