... a while (call it a year, maybe two) ago, I was playing Suikoden IV - despite the games many faults, there were bits and pieces in there that I found genuinely interesting. I finished the whole thing twice, getting all the 108 Stars on the second run-through, and figured that one day when I'm sufficiently bored I might take up the task of novelizing it (yes, I know it's been done professionally already, call it a private flight of fantasy) and including all the little things I felt were somehow missing. Like romance subplots and the hero's personality - because, as much as I liked the guy for some reason, even I have to admit that he didn't have much of one.
Sadly, nothing ever came of it. The desire was briefly rekindled a shorter while ago, when I was beating Suikoden:Tactics where the guy makes a reappearance if and when you load an SIV savegame with all 108 Starts present.
Now I'm in the process of playing through Suikoden V, and while I'm not all that far along I can already tell it'll be a helluva lot more fun than IV was - and not just because of the general consensus that it rocks.
So, I've riddled me up a little ditty during some spare time ...

Grandville, Rogue Isles -[ap] The hero known as Statesman, along with the rest of the Freedom Phalanx was defeated today in Atlas Park in Paragon City, Rhode Island, by a group of Villains led by Lady Nogitsune of the Infamous.
An opening salvo of Ballistic Missiles softened the do-gooders up, as twisted radioactive mockeries of human life began to thrash the brave heroes of the Phalanx. Then, the various superpowered villains got their own hands dirty. A slight glimmer of hope was dashed when the villains suddenly withdrew leaving only Positron and Citadel standing.
Hope was short lived, as the villains returned in force and subdued the remaining heroes.
Positron in a later interview expressed concern at the theft of eight items he called Synthetic Hamidon Origin Enhancements.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Hey guys, just thought I'd let you all know that I've overhauled my Wikispaces page. Changes include a dedicated page for various projects in the works and links to my LiveJournal and DeviantArt pages.
Having those linked will help because people can use the LJ to see how I'm doing on a roughly day-to-day basis and I'll be using DA to showcase work in progress because there peole can easily give feedback (or at least e-mail me comments).
So, check it out. It may not be much now, but hopefully I'll be able to cultivate it into something grand. ^_^

Title says it all, eh? Well there's a little more explanation about what went down to offer. (And I want to show off ^_^ )
So... a couple of weeks back, my COH/COV account went dark. No money to pay it. Same thing happened with WoW a couple of weeks earlier than that. I had JUST gotten a new job and hadn't gotten my check yet.
A friend of mine had an account that he wasn't using at all, for now, and was just keeping the payments up against the time when he felt like getting back into it. (He's been sucked almost completely into WoW and has discovered a new game called RF Online.) So I asked if I could use his account in order to "stave off withdrawal". He said sure, and I made a temp character on his account over on Virtue name Vigdis Brightblade. I even mentioned as much over here.
Anyway, with my own account paid up again, I decided yesterday to delete Vigdis from my friend's account and recreate her on mine on Virtue server. Got Minuet Mac Hine to help in the transfer of some funds from her and from Lora'Lai in order to make things a little easier.
Since I also had since gotten the "GVE" in-game items upgradfe to my account, I decided to upgrade Vigdis' outfit some. As follows -
Original Version:

New Version:

I was getting lots of tells and general comments on the coolness of the outfit, so when I was running through Atlas on my way back from a mission and heard the call for a new costume contest, I figured, what the heck?
I won Grand Prize, 500,000 Influence!!!
That on top of the 100,000 Influence from Lora'Lai means Vigdis won't be hurting for funds for a LONG time! Sweet!
I can't wait to see what that is going to look like with a long red cape!-Logan
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"This kind of thing tends invariably to devolve into the kind of "No, Nakajima, THIS is true power!!" argument that only really works if you're yelling it from the cockpit of a giant robot . . ."
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an ancient pice of fanfiction whose name I can't quite recall. I belive it was Gamma or some other letter of the greek alphabet which probably isn't very helpfull.
It was a crossover between Ranma and star trek and I think other series also showed up but I can't recall.
I recall it being somewhat good but then I also recall it dimly to be one of the first fanfics I read so my memories are probably misleading. I do remember it being huge though.

Another barch of stories I tried lookin up but which disapeared are fire's stories (Vengance 1/2 and so fotrh) does anyone know where he mobved to?
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Hi there. My name is Saotome Ranma. You probably remember me from my many adventures back in the late 80s and mid 90s, but I'm here to talk to you about something else. Something very close to my heart.
Every year, many people suffer from cases of TCBS that go completely unnoticed. TCBS, or Takahashian Circumstantial Blindness Syndrome, is a disease that keeps victims from spotting key facts about the world around them that are completely obvious to other people in their lives. Sometimes this is funny. Sometimes it's tragic.
We here at the Saotome Institute for TCBS Studies are devoted to identifying, counseling and treating cases of TCBS. Because seriously, I'm tired of being groped.
It's a long task, and a difficult one. But for the price of one volume of Manga you could make a vital difference in the life of a incipient Akane, or even a potential Kuno.
Give today. The eyes you open may be your own.

But I don't have the energy to search for it and I'm curious as to what our little slice of the game's overall community thinks.
So. What powersets would you want to see added to the game?
Most of mine, whether oddly or not, seem to be heroside, for scappers or tankers... which is apropos, as that's the lion's share of what I play.
So, the simplest on my list would be the exception to that rule - Pistols, as a Blaster set. Yes, the exact same sort that Thug/* Masterminds carry. Only, you know, with trick ammo and such. Explosive rounds, trank darts, etc. Gun Kata, anyone?
Next easiest to add would be Greatswords, as a Tanker secondary power. Sort of like what Lost Headman Swordsmen already carry, only reskinned and with expanded animations and such.
More complicated, requiring building animations completely out of whole cloth, would be a new Tanker Primary: Shield. Y'know, big flat metal round thing. Stops bullets and such just dandy. Maybe you can throw it, certainly you can conk some inconvenient so-and-so over the head with it.
Finally, trickiest and likely to be the most fun for those who think like I do, Scrapper primary: Two Swords. Which'd be exactly what it sounds like.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

These are just too funny.
CoX Motivational Posters
Global: @Jimmy Amp
"Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow's too lazy to form an opinion." -- Will Rogers

Apparently some of the university stuff with some of the Invention system active in it leaked onto Test. (Cricket already posted in the thread I linked below that it was a bug that it came out) This is looking awesome, though. A nifty glimpse of the future.
College Pics
CoX board thread on it
Global: @Jimmy Amp
"Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow's too lazy to form an opinion." -- Will Rogers

Issue 8: To Protect and Serve
Noticed by folks on the forums, but not mentioned in patch notes is that if you have an open arc with a contact, it shows a little book symbol next to their name in your contact list. No more guessing!
NOTE: Veteran Rewards are not a part of Issue 8's initial launch *ON TRAINING ROOM* (will be added to Test in later patch)
Approximate Arrival to Training Room - 10/12/06 10PM CST
Issue 8: To Protect and Serve
Pocket D Changes
Arena Kiosks: These Kiosks will allow Heroes and Villains to fight against each other more easily if they want to settle personal issues.
In front of the bars are two arena officials, an "Arena Information Operator", who will provide information on how to use the kiosks; and a "Games Information Operator", who will provide detailed information on each of the game types of the arena.
Rikti Monkey Fight Club: Due to a combination of the Family cutting in to the RMFC profits in Sharkhead, and an offer from DJ Zero to expand their enterprise, Joe Young and Cornelius have moved their "entertainment concern" on up to the Pocket D. They have set up a new "Lounge" on the hero side of the club. Its a lot classier than the old place, says Joe Young.
Its loud in Pocket D! Local chat in Pocket D will only be heard by players within 50ft of each other now.
Powers
Many objects in the game which were meant to be immune to Teleportation have been made so. This affects several powers in the Traps Secondary and Gadgets secondary for players.
Various Build Up and Aim powers now have a new look.
Alternate flying poses. Fly and Hover (and temporary powers that duplicate their effects) have new poses. Your character will transition into an alternate pose after flying forward for a few seconds. Also implemented a banking animation for flying forward while strafing left or right.
Increased the base flight speed of Hover by 10%.
Added a slight delay to the usage of Team Teleport. This should alleviate the issue of Teammates randomly being left behind after a Teleport.
Soul Storm is now escapable. There is still a bit of delay after you escape before you can move or attack again, but its much less of an I win power.
Rikti ambushers will once again show teleportation FX.
The Helmet enhancement (Mutation/Magic Range) was giving twice the bonus of other Range DOs. It has been reduced to match.
Rebalanced some of the high end Longbow critters to make them less frustrating.
Fixed some animation issues with the Jump Jet Pack power granted from the Good vs. Evil Edition.
Titles
Players may now change their title at levels 15, 25, 35, and 45. These title changes do not stack (if you do not use the one you get at level 25 when you reach level 35, you only have the level 35 change, and lose the level 25 one). At 50, players may change their title without restriction. Talk to any trainer to change your title in this manner.
Tailor
New costume pieces are available at the Tailor and at Character Generation:
Male/Huge/Female
(Head Detail 1)
Galactic Glasses
Government Glasses
Blast Goggles up
(Head Ears)
Floppy
Bunny
Cat
Rat
Teddy
Wildcat
Female
(Upper Body - Chest - Tops with Skin)
Angelic
Assassin
Excess
Savage
Tanker
(Lower body - Legs - Bottoms with Skin)
Angelic
Assassin
Excess
Savage
CITY OF HEROES
Faultline Redux
Faultline officials recently provided funding for reconstruction and work was underway in the first neighborhood, when major disaster struck. Due to strange seismic activity on the moon, tidal anomalies caused the Overbrook Dam to rupture flooding the zone. Additional crews have been called in to assess the Dam and shore up the rest of the zone, however, they are continually thwarted by the recent arrival of new villain groups to the area and one group, in particular, that no one expected: Arachnos. It appears Arachnos has been poking around supergroup base wreckage in Faultline for some time, searching for technology that will further Lord Recluses nefarious plans. Paragon Officials have called in small detachments of the Paragon Police Department and Freedom Corps, but are also asking heroes to come forward and protect the new city.
Features of the new Faultline:
Transition from Trial Zone to a City Zone (with Overbrook Dam as a Hazard area)
Level range has been adjusted to 15 25
Missions have been added (see Jim Temblor in New Overbrook at the Memorial statue in the park as your initial contact)
New Villain groups added: Arachnos, Freakshow, The Lost, Sky Raidersand something lurking in the water.
More plaques and badges
Entrance to Pocket D
Stores, Trainer (Mirror Spirit), and a hospital have been added to Faultline
Police Band Missions
PPD Contacts have been added to all City Zones except for Atlas Park and Galaxy City. They will be added to a Heros contact list as soon as they enter a zone. These contacts will direct characters to missions aiding the PPD in fighting crime in Paragon City.
Once you talk to a PPD Contact, your contact list will have a "Police Band Tuner" added to the top of the list. Clicking this will bring up an assortment of crimes-in-progress.
You will fight level-appropriate Villain Groups in random maps and random mission objectives. Once you have outlevelled a zone, however, you will no longer be able to get Police Band missions in that zone.
In addition to normal missions, the PPD will give out Safeguard Missions. You get Safeguard missions after performing three to five Police Band missions.
Safeguard Missions
Safeguard missions allow the Hero player to enter a large outdoor mission map and defend the city from invading villains. The goal is to defeat the Villain behind the attack, preventing a bank robbery, but there are lots of other things going on, too. Safeguard missions are set up for single players and teams.
When you enter the instance, the bank is immediately being robbed. Dont delay in getting to the bank, or the crooks could get away with the cash, failing the mission.
A 15 minute timer starts once the bank heist has been stopped and the mission is completed. At this point you can use the given time to secure the map, and explore and fight for additional badges and rewards. This allows the players to end the mission quickly, or hunt for additional XP and rewards if they choose.
There are several goals and multiple side missions that can be unlocked and played once the bank robbery has been thwarted. Completing any section of goals or each side mission rewards the players with a special bonus (such as extra XP, temp powers, or unique salvage) and will add some time back to the counter. The more they complete the longer they have to try and complete more goals, so the better they do the higher their rewards.
Giant Monster Spawns Increased
The following Giant Monster Spawns have had their frequency increased;
o Kraken - Perez Park
o Babbage - Boomtown
o Jack in Irons (non-scripted, individual) - Croatoa
o Eochai (non-scripted, individual) - Croatoa
o Adamastor - Dark Astoria
o Jurassik - Crey's Folly
Powers
Controllers Fossilize power will now properly have critical hold effects versus critters. This is a bug fix -- this aspect of the power already existed, but was set to always fail.
Fixed the Short Help text on Stone Cages to properly reflect the powers usage.
Game
Trains will now stay at station longer, there will be shorter times between trains and the doors of the trains will be clickable while the train is in the station.

CITY OF VILLAINS
Powers
Many Darkness powers have a new look attached.
Removed Double Stacked Super Jump from Ninja Mastermind Pets.
Added slightly increased running speed to all Mastermind pets.
Updated the power description on Thermal Radiation.
Arachnos Night Widow Bosses have had their Defense values slightly reduced.
The Arachnos Arch Villain Nocturne has been rebalanced.
Dominators will now build Domination faster depending on the size of the Team they are grouped with. Each member of the team (aside from the Dominator himself) increases the speed of Domination gain by approximately 16%. Note that this bonus does NOT apply to the existing bonus Assault powers gain in PvP. The maximum bonus to Domination will happen in a full 8 person group.
Base Domination gain increased by 50% (to 3 points per attack up from 2 points per attack.)

Global: @Jimmy Amp
"Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow's too lazy to form an opinion." -- Will Rogers