Happy Sunday! The weekend is almost over, (well sorta, those of us in the states get MLK day off.) so get all the video game playing in that you can before you are forced to return to your comparativly dreary lives that probably don't involve Sphere Grids, Werechanges, Tactical Battles, or murdering gangbangers. Viva electronic escapism!

Today was bonus fansub sampler at Anime Club. Here's some quick synopsis/reviews:

Noir: Two women with guns. One is an amnesiac schoolgirl, the other looks like a cross between Julia and Sylvia Stingray from the new Bubblegum Crisis. Sweet.
Fruits Basket: Girl winds up living in a house with a bunch of guys who have a bad habit of transforming into animals from the Chinese Zodiac. (Specifically, Dog Cat and Mouse, to start) Goofy like a shoujoish Ranma 1/2.
Scryed: Fighting anime about guys who have weird mecha powers. Standard hero, heroine, rival, evil corporation stuff. Not my favorite.
Najica: Secret agent woman show that contains so many panty-shots that it goes from bad to funny to just making you feel dirty. (Example: She fights her way past 50 maids who, when defeated, land on their faces with their skirts around their faces. No lie.) Sheer creepiness factor overrides semi-interesting plot.
Hikaru no Go: Boy gets possesed by the ghost of an ancient Go player. Boys plays Go (with the help of an ancient ghost) to keep the ghost happy: ghost helps boy out on history tests. A little silly, but enjoyable.
Rave: Something about magic stones. Somehow, it involves a girl and a boy with a large sword. Eh.

And as such go my extensive reviews. Column time.

Hi again.

Good on Locke for his hard work deciphering Hoshigami's ludicrously intricate engraving system! Let me just add a few tidbits...

In addition to dual engraving, sometimes single engraving can work out just as well (with no morphing worries). This is especially true if you get your hands on some of the super seals, as I call them. They're as follows:

Amu - Entity
Zeneth - Tundra
Kashis - Tempest
Sonova - Chaos
Ema - Spirit
Gote - Mirage

These things rock! Use them on a coin of the same deity type to get a sweet boost to all stats except Range. Or, you can use them on a coin of the deity that their respective deity assists in order to get a boost to everything except AoE (ie: use Entity on a Sonova coin). This is the only way I've found to raise Range without lowering any other stats. So if you find any of these seals, hang onto them! They're fairly common if you hang out in the Towers of Trial often.

As for Locke's question regarding whether or not it's possible to find a manual to learn Bat's Wing - As far as I know, enemies can never be found equipped with either Bat's Wing or Lizard's Leg, since those skills have no actual effect in battle. So that pretty much rules out getting it via attack session... It's still a possibility that you might be able to find one via buried treasure somewhere, but I doubt it. I do believe that every single ability in the game has a corresponding manual; I just don't know where you'd go about finding it. :/

Anyway, Zeneth units get the short end of the stick when it comes to just about everything aside from Luck, but they can still be useful if used right. They may not have the raw Spirit and CF power of Ema worshippers, but their specialty is black coins. It's been proven that Luck plays a factor in determining the hit percentage of status ailments, so Zeneths make nice debilitators (case in point - Jacqueline's annoying cohort Eitolle). Why else would they have abilities like CF Success +20%? ;)

As far as weapons go, spears aren't always the best choice. Your damage is always going to be pretty low regardless of what you equip, so you might as well give him a knife and use him like a Kashis unit. You'll get more swings per turn and hit a lot more often, but sacrifice some damage and two-panel range. Equip abilities like Charm and Sandman when you learn them, and rely on inflicting ailments with your attacks as opposed to dealing raw damage (a bow and/or boomerang work very nicely for this application). Also keep in mind that Fazz has tremendous stats when compared to your average mercenary, so he can still fight fairly well even as a Zeneth (be sure to equip Amu's Aid so that his Strength will grow at a boosted rate). It's a long road, but it's well worth it. A fully decked out Vugtis has to be seen to be believed...

-Salivator

Hi Chesh!

Just wanted to put my two cents worth in about blitzball. Having reached the end of FFX, (I am on the airship now), I have found myself playing blitzball WAY too much, (about 50 hours worth now I would guess.) My keys to success in blitzball would be as follows:

In Luca, sign Zev Ronso, Zalitz, and Jumal.

Thats it. You will not lose. Keep Tidus and Datto at the wings and have Zev play center. With Jassu and Zalitz on defense, and Jumal at goalie, no one (and I do mean no one,) will score against you and you can take your time running the score with Tidus. Even if you don't have the Jecht shot.

I found Wedge to be a waste of time. He looks good to start, with the 17 shot rating at level one and all, but he maxes out on offense at about level 25 and actually starts to lose points on his offensive stats. Stick with Datto, in the long run it is well worth it.

Just thought I would share my thoughts! Red beans and ricely yours, Valhalladeath nschroeder@iowaone.net I really need to get a life, hehe.

• FF1-9
• ICO
• Super Monkey Ball

• FFX
• Hoshigami
• Saiyuki