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You want to smoke, you make the sacrifice
If you're english you will know all about the smoking ban coming into effect soon. Since TGN seems to be down I've done all my regulars now so I'd thought I'd give my two cents on this. No point in starting a fanfic until I can get into a routine. I'm a non smoker and I'm glad the government have actually done something about smoking in crowded public places. Everytime I go out I always smell of other people's smoke. My clothes stink really bad and there's nothing I can do about it. Smokers go out and they want to light up a fag (cigarrette to you yanks and probably rest of the world too) to enjoy themselves. Now there would be no problem with that if their smoke didn't effect the people around them. Clothes stink, non smokers lungs get polluted and it's all for someone else's moment of pleasure. So I'm glad something's been done about it. Though expectedly non-smokers are pissed off at this. Here's a couple of arguements I've read: Drinking damages health, by same logic drinking should be bannedYou seem to be forgetting that drinking only damages the health of the drinker, not everyone else too. Maybe you're thinking Passive smoking isn't that bad, stop crying, and maybe you're right I don't have the facts. Fact remains smoking effects those around you negatively, even if it's just making their clothes smell. If smoking didn't effect those around you it would be fine. Cars pollute air too, shouldn't they be bannedThis is stupid. Unless I crash a car exhaust first into a pub it's not the same thing. Cars release exhaust fumes whenever you're driving, which means outside on roads. Guess what SMOKING OUTSIDE is OK. The smoke difuses into the air and thus any effect on someone else is neglible. Ban smoking and the government will lose money from taxesIdiotic point this. This smoking ban isn't a TOTAL BAN. You can still smoke in private buildings and outside. Those that smoke loads are still going to buy fags to smoke. Those that would only smoke when they were out (don't get this at all BTW), probably will no longer see any point and quit. Any drop in cigarrette sales will be neglible. Or it's about tax on alcohol. Just because you need to leave a building to smoke is not going to deter smoking drinkers. Pubs will be as busy as always just more people will be outside than usual. Smoking should be banned but cannibis should be legalisedA fair enough point. Though if cannibis was legalised it would probably be under the same rules for smoking, even stricter. It should only be done in private anyway, and most cannibis users are happy with that aren't they? Sneaking around and getting stuff from dealers should be a thing of the past as far as cannibis is concerned. The only possible reason I can see is addiction leading to irrationality. Same thing can be said for ordinary smoking. I have a right to smoke, Taking it away is taking away my rightsOh please. We don't let people murder each other, or steal from each other, or seriously hurt each other, or even allow heavy insults to each other. Why? Cause it's the law, well duh! but when you think about it it's so that people do not negatively effect those around them. Smoking is a selfish act. You do it for yourself only and it effects those around you negatively no matter how careful you are. Same could be said for drinking but they only happen when people lose control, and most of the more serious stuff is illegal anyway. Fighting in the streets after getting drunk? Go to jail. Drink, drive and kill? Go to Jail for a long time. Non smokers have the right to go out and enjoy themselves without any consequences, unless it's from their own actions. This does not include deciding to enter a pub. Why should a non smoker avoid pubs just to avoid smoking effects? Why should we suffer for you? It's your moment of pleasure, you sacrifice. And that's the whole point really. If you want to enjoy yourself that negatively effects those around you, get away from those people. Your pleasure, your sacrifice. Stop thinking you're the only one that matters and try seeing some sense in all this. YOU want to SMOKE, YOU SACRIFICE by going OUTSIDE. I don't want to SMOKE, I shouldn't have to SACRIFICE by SMELLING of YOUR SMOKE, not to mention passive smoking. -------------------------------- On a side note, Happy Birthday to me!
Finished
The above flash menu is now finished, the sidebar has been changed accordingly (bar a link to the post before, which I'll do straight after this), and I haven't got any more projects in progress. And I probably won't for a while. Like I said I'm working and I can choose more hours giving me less free time. I can't see when I would do things like this to be honest. The job is only temporary and perhaps I'll work something out. In less than a week it's my birthday. Thank god I have a cold now and not then. Yeah I'm not 100% but that's winter for ya. One last thing, Power stone is being revived with a collection heading to PSP. OH FUCKING YES!!
Update lost count +3
Sorry it's been quiet for the last week or so. I haven't really been doing anything. I just can't seem to get the enthusiasm these days. Either that or I have too many games to play not enough time. I got a job. A fairly OK data entry job for the next couple of months. Not much but it's money. It's 5pm-9pm which only really gets in the way of my free time. At the moment I've started: Mario & Luigi: Partners in time - Awesome, more of Superstar saga which was awesome The Rub Rabbits - Same old same old. Good game for valentines day God of war - Well actually I completed the story but I want to try god mode and finish the challenge of the gods too Pokemon Leafgreen (second run) - Really only did it for the other two sets of starters and I'm at victory road. Wipeout Pure - Downloaded Omega pack. Done everything on the game itself. Pro Evo 5 - Not really started just gave it a go World tour soccer - Gave it a decent go. It's alright. Games I've yet to start: Pokemon XD (got for Xmas) GTA:San Andreas (got just after Xmas) Both Sonic collections for PS2, but I only really got them for the collection Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (January, good deal) Oddworld Strangers wrath (January, good deal) Soul Calibur 3 (A few days ago, good deal) I also want to listen to all the commentaries on Simpsons season 7 And finish off some of my dvd's, mainly just commentaries though I also have to finish the flash menu above. I have so many ideas for art and a few fic ideas. Oh and the new arcade at TGN aint helping. That thing is so addictive. So yeah so many things I want to do just not enough time to do it. And I just ordered Shadow of the Colossus as well. Yup I'm crazy (but you knew that already)
Are you confused? / Lesser Known Sonic Month
I've decided to copy and paste my fan character profiles into Blogger so the template remains. If you click the links in the character profile section in the Blog Banner you'll replace this page with that post only. Just like you would if you clicked the time link beneath the post. Also all those Sonic fandom links now work too. They open in a new window though. Not sure how you would get Flash to open them in new tabs though. I think I'll have a Clickable link archive post as well. --------------------------- Enough about the site. With all this crap about Archie lately I came up with the idea of having a month dedicated to creating Sonic fanstuff based on the lesser known universes, i.e. No SegaSonic, Archie or X. There's a post about it on the Sonic Writers Guild (click the link to go to my ff.net profile, click forums, first one). Going to see if the Sonic-Club on DeviantART might like to help as well. If I don't get enough support I'll scrap the idea though. So make a comment somewhere please.
Character Profile - Black Wind
Black WindAppearance: Humanoid hedgehog, Black Spikes with Silver Stripes. Sonic alignment Clothes: None Strengths and Abilities: Identical to Sonic Weaknesses: Identical to Sonic. Also he trusts Eggman. Gadgets: None History: Created by Eggman from Sonic's DNA, BW is a direct clone of Sonic designed to be evil and loyal to Eggman. Project Black wind wasn't only a success, he was so impressive Eggman placed a virtual copy of him inside Amy's Nightmare (see A Rose by any other name). Rivals: Sonic the Hedgehog Link to Sonic's World: New character created for Sonic's world Other notes: During A rose by any other name I decided to use a little role reversal. The bad guy being a Sonic like character and the good guy being a Robotnik. By then I had already referred to a mystery villian as Black Rose. The Black from Black wind came from this and the wind came from literalness (i.e. all Sonic characters should have literal names, e.g. Sonic runs at Sonic speed, Tails has two Tails). BW wasn't a clone at first, but when I wrote Age of Egg I wanted thing from each Nightmare (Neo Sonic, An Unforgettable Tail and A Rose by any other name) to reappear. To explain BW I went with cloning.
Character Profile - Diamond the Rabbit
Diamond The RabbitAppearance: Female Rabbit. 16 years old so think cream only older. White fur with diamond shapes randomly placed along body. Clothes: Black suit covering torso and legs. Sword strap normal way. Strengths and abilities: Diamond is quick and agile. As a member of G.A.S.H. she has been properly trained with a sword, so she has excellent sword skills. She can fly with her ears like Cream. Weaknesses: She is the youngest of the Deadly gems. Sometimes this youth gets in the way. Also she isn’t all that strong. Gadgets: Carries and uses a basic sword, Name pending. History: What is known of her past is similar to the other Deadly gems and Joz. Here’s her story (and Ruby’s and Emerald’s) in her own words (taken from The 3 Shadows: Episode 4: Hunters: chapter 5) Emerald, Ruby and myself joined GASH at a very young age. We had lost our families, and the foster ones only upset us. We felt angry at the world and started lashing out. We robbed people and tested our limits every time. Soon we found we had no moral limits. GASH saw this in each of us and sent Sapphire to collect us. To this date she has never told us her story, but she became our mentors. For years we trained under her, learning expert sword skills and enhancing our strength, speed and agility. We were being trained to kill, to be cold, ruthless and professional. We learned stealth and tracking skills. We were being trained to be the best Assassins, Spies and Bounty hunters this world has ever know. We've worked hard to be GASH graduates. When we passed all 3 of us begged to be Sapphire's apprentices. She accepted and soon we were a team.Rivals: Joz the bat aka Master hunter. Although she is ranked lowest of the Deadly gems she does not envy their rank. Link to Sonic's time: Cream’s Grandmother Other notes: Diamond basically came out of nowhere. I think while I was writing Episode 3 (Miles’ Tail) I needed to make things normal again and came up with the idea of the deadly gems. I used the chapter title “Shining White Light” and soon came up with a pure white character who I would call Diamond. Diamond seemed like a good name for a rabbit and so Diamond the Rabbit was born. She is the only Deadly gem to appear in an earlier episode than Episode 4 (Hunters)
Character Profile - Emerald the Chameleon
EMERALD THE CHAMELEON Appearance: Female Chameleon. Around 18 years old. Green scales. Clothes: Light vest like top and light skirt. Due to her natural camouflage she is the only deadly gem that does not dress for stealth, purely for mobility. Strengths and abilities: A trained assassin with the ability to turn invisible. Her stealthy attacks mimic those of a ninja. She has fantastic aim with ninja stars. Weaknesses: Like Ruby she can often depend on her advantage. Her stealth advantage is easily nullified with infra red or thermal scopes, which Joz just happens to carry with him always. Gadgets: Emerald relies heavily on throwing ninja stars from hidden locations. History: What is known of her past is similar to the other Deadly gems and Joz. Here’s her story said by Diamond (taken from The 3 Shadows: Episode 4: Hunters: chapter 5) Emerald, Ruby and myself joined GASH at a very young age. We had lost our families, and the foster ones only upset us. We felt angry at the world and started lashing out. We robbed people and tested our limits every time. Soon we found we had no moral limits. GASH saw this in each of us and sent Sapphire to collect us. To this date she has never told us her story, but she became our mentors. For years we trained under her, learning expert sword skills and enhancing our strength, speed and agility. We were being trained to kill, to be cold, ruthless and professional. We learned stealth and tracking skills. We were being trained to be the best Assassins, Spies and Bounty hunters this world has ever know. We've worked hard to be GASH graduates. When we passed all 3 of us begged to be Sapphire's apprentices. She accepted and soon we were a team.Rivals: Joz the bat aka Master hunter. Link to Sonic's time: Espio’s Grandmother. Other notes: Once Diamond and Sapphire were set in stone, Ruby and Emerald were natural choices. Emerald seemed better as a Chameleon since they are usually green. Also Ruby fits the Hedgehog better as Amy is pink. It was also a natural choice to have Emerald use invisible stealth attacks and ninja abilities, much like her Grandson Espio.
Character Profile - Ruby Rose
RUBY ROSEAppearance: Female Hedgehog. Red fur. 18 years old. Think a much older Amy. Clothes: Black top and Black shorts. Clothes are a compromise between a stealthy black suit and light smaller clothes to keep her cool in extreme heat environments. Strengths and abilities: Ruby had been trained to fight under extreme temperatures. Her fighting technique is to choose a hot arena and let the heat wear down her opponent as they fight, thus giving her an edge. She is quick, nimble and trained like the other G.A.S.H. members. Weaknesses: Can rely too much on fighting in a very hot arena. Take away the heat and you take away her advantage. She isn’t as strong as most fighters. Gadgets: Like Amy, Ruby attacks with a giant piko piko hammer. This one is a much more deadly one, having spiked edges. Name pending. History: What is known of her past is similar to the other Deadly gems and Joz. Here’s her story in Diamonds own words (taken from The 3 Shadows: Episode 4: Hunters: chapter 5) Emerald, Ruby and myself joined GASH at a very young age. We had lost our families, and the foster ones only upset us. We felt angry at the world and started lashing out. We robbed people and tested our limits every time. Soon we found we had no moral limits. GASH saw this in each of us and sent Sapphire to collect us. To this date she has never told us her story, but she became our mentors. For years we trained under her, learning expert sword skills and enhancing our strength, speed and agility. We were being trained to kill, to be cold, ruthless and professional. We learned stealth and tracking skills. We were being trained to be the best Assassins, Spies and Bounty hunters this world has ever know. We've worked hard to be GASH graduates. When we passed all 3 of us begged to be Sapphire's apprentices. She accepted and soon we were a team.Rivals: Joz the bat aka Master hunter. She also wants to take over from Sapphire’s reign as Leader, though she is more passive in this pursuit. Link to Sonic's time: Amy’s Grandmother. Due to something completely overlooked I had to come up with an explanation as to why she didn’t change her name when she got married. Simply Rose is such a famous name that the men take that name. Other notes: Once Diamond and Sapphire were set in stone, Ruby and Emerald were natural choices. Emerald seemed better as a Chameleon since they are usually green. Also Ruby fits the Hedgehog better as Amy is pink. For her special skill I went down a clichéd route, with red = fire.
Character Profile - Sapphire the Bat
Sapphire the batAppearance: Female bat. Not too different from Rouge. Has blue fur and dresses for practicality and to hide her appearance rather that to seduce. Clothes: Currently undecided on exactly what she wears, except that clothing is practical and concealing to match her spy and assassin lifestyle. She has a sword strap similar to Joz's, with strong black boots. Strengths and Abilities: She can fly using her wings and can handle extreme temperatures. She has an intense rivalry with Joz the bat and knows all of his moves. She usually does research on all her opponents before facing them. She is a master of martial arts and has lots of skill with a blade. She is cold, ruthless and professional with all the skills and agility normally associated with bat type creatures. As a member of GASH (the Guild for Assassins, Spies and Hunters) she has aquired many skills associated with spies, bounty hunters and assassins. She is the leader of the Deadly gems because she has mastered these skills more than her 3 teammates, Diamond the Rabbit, Emerald the Chameleon and Ruby Rose. Weaknesses: Besides her sword she has no gadgets. She relies entirely on her skills unlike Joz who is supported with his Armour, Stealth and Jet wing modes. She can also he overconfident and unprepared for the unexpected. Joz took advantage of this when he first beat her using his new technique the Shadow blade. Also unlike Shadow for example, she had no extreme strengths like extreme speed of strength. Gadgets: Her Blade is her only gadget. Name pending. The Blade is a standard katana. She is also said to have small daggers on her boots that are normally hidden until she needs to use them. History: Not much is known about her past. She joined GASH at a young age and developed the skills she needs to become a legendary mercenary. Unfortunately this has not been enough to earn her the title of Master and because of this she is envious of Joz and despises him. She is generally called upon for missions Joz won't take or when GUN know Joz wouldn't take them. Most notably the attack on ARK was led by Sapphire. Rivals: Joz the Bat aka Master hunter, a male bat who got his title from being the best bounty and treasure hunter in the world. Shadow the Hedgehog, once her secret was revealed Shadow became more threatening to her than Joz. Link to Sonic's World: She is Rouge's Grandmother. You know Rouge right? The bat in Sonic adventure 2 who is obssessed with Jewels. She is a decendant of both Joz and Sapphire. Other notes: Blue is my favourite colour, the gem Sapphire is blue, this is where her name comes from. Her name went through many changes, Blade, Sharpedge, Jewel. Eventually I picked Sapphire and to introduce her I suddenly came up with the idea of the Deadly Gems. The idea behind her leading the attack on ARK was to make the Episode "Hunters" a little more interesting. It also helped in making her an enemy of the 3 Shadows as whole, not just Joz. I want her to have all the traits Rouge has that Joz doesn't, like the spy skills and deviousness.
Character Profile - Miles Prower
Miles ProwerAppearance: Taller than Tails. Singled tailed orange fox with black tiger like stripes. Features similar to Tails. Clothes: None besides the wrist shooters and the ammo storage backpack. Strengths and Abilities: Miles is a brilliant mechanic, just like the other prowers. He is an excellent shot also, which is a skill developed by Paintball championships. Builds upgrades for other characters. Weaknesses: Miles has no physical strengths. Instead he relies on intellegence and his wrist shooters to get him through any situation. Gadgets: Miles developed his own Paintball guns known as the wrist shooters. These are basic guns with pipes leading to a backpack that contains his ammo. The pipes were late replaced with bullet chains. History: The youngest of the prower family of green woods. At a young age he found an interest in paintballing that led to him being a champion, and more importantly a very good shot. Being a Prower he also learned mechanical skills and found a way to combine his two main interests with the Wrist shooters. At the age of 12 he met Shadow in green woods, unconscious and in need of rest. Miles took Shadow in and the two became friends. When Shadow became a fugitive with Gerald, Joz and Miles chased him, Miles being the voice of reason. He naturally became one of the 3 Shadow's when Joz and Shadow teamed up to stop Gerald destroying the world. Rivals: Gerald Robotnik Link to Sonic's time: Miles if Tails' grandfather. After the 3 Shadow's time had passed Miles started a family. His only child started a family also, which only bared one child. Miles Son named his own son Miles in his honour. However an accident, which happened when Tails was too young to remember, took the life of Tails' parents and hence he became an orphan. Miles believed Tails had also died and hence Tails and Miles never knew each other. Other notes: Miles does become the first prower to have a second tail. Like Joz's unnatural wealth sense, Miles has difficulty understanding the new abilities this brings.
Character Profile - Joz the bat (MH)
Joz the bat aka Master hunterAppearance: Male white fur bat with features similar to Rouge the bat. Clothes: Long black coat, Sword strap put on upside down, belt, big boots, sunglasses Strengths and abilities: Joz is very agile and has all the traits that bats usually do (e.g. ability to hang upside down with ease). He is also a very skilled swordsman, which helps in his hunting skills. He is the best hunter on Earth and hence earned the title Master hunter. But above all Joz's greatest skill is his "wealth sense", which is the ability to sense anything which can be valued. The higher the value the greater the feeling. He has mastered this to sense bullets and the trajectories from guns and hence can deflect and adequate number of bullets using his sword. He can also scan areas in infra red and ultra violet. Finally thanks to Miles' upgrades his wings, normally reserved for flight, can be used to guard, hide and fly at tremendous speeds. Weaknesses: Joz does not have the speed of Shadow/Sonic, the strength of Knuckles/Vector or the intelligence of Miles/Tails/Eggman/Gerald. Although he is adequate in these skills he does not excel in them. Also there is a limit to the number of bullets he can deflect, hence the usefulness of the armour wing. His wing upgrades, stealth and armour need to cover his body to work perfectly and this requires him to crouch, thus limiting his movements and can prevent flight. Jet wing, his other wing upgrade is hard to control and so is usually reserved for high-speed escapes. But above all his greatest weakness is his obsession with Jewels, a rather nasty side effect from his unnatural "wealth sense". This obsession makes him go into "Gemcrazes" occasionally, in which the only known cure is to find all 7 chaos emeralds. When Joz has a "gemcraze" he puts the persuit for gems above all else, including the law and even his friends, the other shadows. Gadgets: Sunglasses equipped with several scan modes including infra red and Ultra violet. 3 Wing upgrades created by miles, The stealth wing, the Armour wing and the Jet wing. But his most important gadget is his sword, the Annemuir. Found from an ancient temple, the Annemuir is a blade that seems perfectly built for Joz. Its creation details are unknown, but what is known is that a legendary warrior used it centuries ago. History: Joz grew up normally but at the age of 16 he had no source of income and his family had been killed. In desperation he turned to R.E.E. (Robotnik's Experimentation Enterprise) and volunteered for an experiment which would change his life and define who he was. This experiment gave him his Wealth Sense ability. From this he started using his new sense to find hidden treasures, one of these being his sword the Annemuir. He soon found himself able to master the blade as he kept searching for more jewels. By now Joz was rich and word was getting around of this hunter who had mastered a blade. He ended up being confronted by many agencies, examining his sword skills and hiring him as a bounty hunter. He never failed and soon became known as the Master hunter. However by now he was finding the side effects of his wealth sense becoming more intense, to the point in which he hated his "Gemcrazes" and felt cursed by it. He vowed revenge against the monsters that gave him the curse despite its blessing. When the CEO of R.E.E., Gerald Robotnik became a fugitive, GUN hired him to hunt him down. It is during this job he met up with Shadow and Miles. Normally working alone he decided to team up with them and become the 3rd member of the 3 Shadows. Rivals: Sapphire the bat - A female assassin and spy envious of Joz's title of Master hunter. Gerald Robotnik - the genius professor, turned insane by what GUN did to him and his family. Link to Sonic's time: After the 3 Shadow's time Joz started a family. One of his granddaughters is none other than Rouge the bat, skilled treasure hunter and Government spy, who first appeared during Shadow's awakening and Eggman's attack on Earth using ARK (Sonic adventure 2). Other notes: Joz wears sunglasses for two reasons. Primarily to scan areas for hidden items and stuff, but also to hide his eyes. His wealth sense is linked to his eyes. When it is in use (i.e. whenever he's near something valuable) his eyes flash the colours of the chaos emeralds (c.f. Hyper Sonic). Sword strap is upside down so his wings don't get in the way. It has a locking system to prevent gravity's obvious effects.
Scourge? Another Sonic recolour?
WEM may have taken priority over my blog but now it's over I thought I'd share with you something I discovered on Sonic Hot Dimensions. The cover of archie comic 161If you're too lazy to click that link essentially Archie has come up with another hedgehog character. He's Green with Blue eyes (Sonic inverted), Called "The Evil Hedgehog" (Hello, Shadow), Dressed like some kind of biker rogue, and called scourge. Sonic/Shadow recolours are so commonplace fans are generally very critical of them. Essentially Sonic Recolours often suck and it's really annoying to see an official universe as popular as the games, if not even more popular, doing one. Maybe harsh to judge a character from just a cover but at the moment he doesn't seem to be more than that. And I can see him becoming as popular as Shadow. So much that soon being Scourge fan will have the same stigma as being a Shadow fan. Too many, too much. Generally Archie sums up what is too cliched in Sonic fandom, and Scourge really isn't a surprise. There is an awful lot of matchmaking and Romance in Sonic Fandom, and it's only really Archie that has a lot of Romance. Coupling the characters seems to be a Sonic fandom obsession. No wonder it's the second most popular forum on fanfiction.net, just under the fan characters one. And this is why I don't care for Archie. Not only is Sally a Mary-sue and generally filled with lots of Romance, but adding another Sonic Recolour. It's a comic that features everything wrong with Sonic fandom. Also with Puke Green colouring and a Biker-esque "cool" image, if he starts talking like a surfer you can tell where they got the inspiration (Manic from Sonic Underground).
WEM 06 - LOZ: Ocarina of time
And so Winter-een-mas ends and we come at last to my favourite game of all time. Yes it is of course Ocarina of Time. Since I was up quite early today I attempted to finish the main story all in one day. Let me tell you unless you go with next to no sleep at all it isn't possible. I started at 11:30am and stopped at 22:15pm and I had only reached the water temple. Not to self never push yourself to play a game. It ruins it. well enjoy --------------------------- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time If you’ve ever picked up an N64 pad, hell any joypad, chances are you have heard of this legendary game. Legend by Name, Legend by Nature, Ocarina of time is frequently found very high on top 100 lists everywhere. So many have a lot of respect for this title even if it isn’t in their personal top ten lists, though the majority of the time it is. Released at the end of 1998, Ocarina of time came out as the N64 was starting to become popular. It was the first time Nintendo favourite Zelda had been taken into the third dimension and the results were amazing. Let me start by saying this is for the gamer who wants a fairly long one player experience. It’s not the kind of game you can play for 5 minutes and with no multiplayer options it was never going to be the highlight of a party. Though rarely does a player get so caught up in the world. The game centres on manipulation of time. Environments change as they go from day to night, and dramatically change when you start going to a dark future seven years later. Most of the NPC’s seem to have their own personality and will be as memorable as you play it as most main characters. Seeing how their lives change really gives you the sense that Hyrule is a living breathing world. Really that’s what makes this game so great, the feeling. It was the first time I ever felt like I was taken away to a living breathing world in a game. Others have made believable worlds in games since but Ocarina of Time was the first for me. But besides feelings what other merits does this game have? Well possibly one of the best control schemes ever devised the brilliant Z-targeting system. By holding Z the camera centres behind you, waiting for something it can lock on to. Once it locks onto a person to talk to, a strange object to check or an enemy to fight the camera will focus your view on that target no matter what you do. By targeting enemies you can get info on their weaknesses, defend their attacks directly, back flip or sidestep around them, and strike with much stronger attacks. However you are completely focused on that one object, leaving you vulnerable to attacks from behind and making it really hard to do the actual levels. Used primarily for fighting, testing your reflexes and skills, it’s also useful for interacting with other things in the game. It’s pretty easy to master too. An odd feature for games in this genre at the time, considering the number of jumps your expected to make, is the lack of a jump button. Instead there is an auto jump system in place. Walk up to a gap and Link will automatically jump across it best he can. It may sound dodgy but it actually works very well. It’s important to remember this isn’t a platform game; most of the gameplay is around puzzle solving and combat. Typically the same formula from the prequels is in place here. You have an overworld that links all the towns and dungeons. Towns have shops where you can buy items, mini games and side quests, and lots of people to talk to. Dungeons are the meat of the game as you venture through enemy filled caves and temples, solving puzzles, avoiding traps, collecting keys to unlock doors and finishing with an awesome boss battle. The bosses are one of the many highlights of the game. They are challenging and tense with each one being memorable. The extra dimension has really allowed the bosses to seem huge and intimidating. It has also let the team create some fantastic though provoking dungeons. Such as the water temple that really feels like a labyrinth most of the time. The only bad thing I can say about the game is it does feel quite slow sometimes. Link seems to take forever to walk across the main fields, which in his defence is quite large. Though it is still annoying when you want to move on and you’re spending what seems like an eternity moving across a field. You do get a horse that speeds things up a bit though and it more than makes up for Link’s slow running. There are some moments with Epona that are just as memorable as some of the other things I’ve mentioned. It’s hard not to call this game perfect. And best of all there’s plenty of it. The main quest, despite not being a Final Fantasy style RPG quest, will still take some time to complete. Many games these days can be done in a day when you know what you’re doing. Not the case for Ocarina of Time, unless you pretty much avoid sleep. And with plenty of good, easy to find, side quests including a fairly long find 100 enemies and beat them quest, you first time has the potential to last months, quite a few months. Visually it was ahead of it’s time. Today the N64 limitations are clear as day, but back then the effects were just stunning. There’s a particularly cool effect with a twisting corridor about half way through the game that just really summed up what the graphics well, mind blowing. The soundtrack has its ups and downs. There are some fantastic melodies particularly in towns, which are hard not to hum along to. But there are some tracks that grate after a while, mainly the temple stages. The forest temple stage music for example is quite creepy but repetitive. Overall Ocarina of Time is an incredible game worthy of being hailed as a classic for all eternity. It was ahead of it’s time both gameplay wise and visually and it has enough to keep any gamer going for ages. But above all the feeling you got when playing it back in 1998 is indescribable. It was one of the first, if not the first, to offer a convincing living breathing world. Add to that loads of memorable moments and it’s clear to see why people rate it so highly. + Loads of quests on offer including a fairly lengthy main quest + Ahead of it’s time visuals + A convincing living breathing world with plenty of memorable moments - Perhaps Link could move a little faster - The plot isn’t going to win any awards - Music can get annoying late on during dungeons 10 out of 10
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