One for any FF fans who might be reading.
I was looking through the FFVII: Advent Children plot analysis at (huge spoilers of FFVII:AC on the link but NOT on my article) http://faqs.ign.com/articles/657/657331p1.html and an interesting subject comes up.
As far as I'm aware, all of the Final Fantasy games have - until recently - been completely separate, based in separate worlds/universes/what have you. Occasionally there would be inconsequental links between them (such as Zidane from FFIX looking at a large sword and saying "I remember a guy with spikey hair who carried a sword like this", or the band in the same game playing the FFVII Rufus Welcome tune) but they were always just like a bow to the fans and never actually meant that the worlds were connected in any way.
Things started to change with X-2 which is the first sequel to an FF game, and also in XII which will be set in the same world as FF Tactics.
But even still, when you meet a kid called Shinra in X-2, you don't tend to think anything of it.
Well, according to the above link it's been revealed by the scenario writer for Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, and X-2 (Kazushige Nojima) that Final Fantasy X-2 is actually set before the events of Final Fantasy VII (but at least 1000 years prior, and on another planet), and that it was written that way from the beginning when he first started writing FFX.
Pyreflies = lifestream. Spheres = materia. Farplane = promised land
During X-2, the genius kid Shinra discovers that it may be possible to harness the huge amounts of spirit energy swirling around in the Farplane and convert it into power. It's stated by the scenario writer that after the end of X-2, Shinra is given funding by Rin and leaves the Gullwings to create Shinra Corporation. He tries to extract the spirit energy using the remains of Vegnagun, but fails.
Shinra's family and business carry on for generations, and some 1000 years later the people of Spira have advanced to space travel and decided to travel to Gaia (the correct name for the world of FFVII, mistranslated as just "The Planet" in the game). What happens next is seemingly unwritten even in Nojima's mind, but the facts up to that point are stated quite catagorically.
The most likely scenario in my opinion is that the people from Spira are the Cetra ("Ancients"), but they are mostly wiped out - along with their space travel technology - when Jenova crashes into Gaia 5000 years prior to FFVII.
However, back to what we do know... Shinra's descendents survive, along with their desire to find a way to extract the planet's energy and turn it into a power source. Some of his descendents aren't quite as plesant as the good natured kid from Spira of course... either way they eventually achieve this. 30 years later, is the story of Final Fantasy VII.
It's even hinted that there might be a game or story set between the two one day, although the writer in question has since left so it probably won't happen.
So, FFVII most likely happens 6000 years after FFX-2, after the people of Spira have migrated to Gaia and been mostly wiped out. Cool eh. For an FF obsessed fanboy such as myself anyway.
Tuesday, 29 November 2005
Saturday, 26 November 2005
Ulverston Dickensian Festival
One thing you can say about my town: it has character.
lakelandgateway.info has this to say about this weekend's event:
Doesn't that sound really peaceful and cool? You won't get things like this in the big cities, not without fights and riots and such anyway. You'd probably even be hard pushed in Barrow, bunch of louts that they are over there ;)
THIS is what Christmas should be, none of that commercial "go to Argos, get rammed by push chairs and be miserable" crap, but fun and festivity. Dark nights and clear skies where you can see the stars, too.
Like all of the events in Ulverston it's very popular - basically the whole town comes out and takes part. There will be a lot of people wandering round in Victorian clothing today!
What I will be doing though is going to the Dickensian Winter Ale Festival at the Swan and getting hammered (I use the term loosely... I hate getting blind drunk). Now that's definitely no secret! As I said in an earlier article, the Swan is just my kind of pub - good real ale, a nice roaring open fire, a very un-smokey atmosphere, nice people to talk to, no loud music etc. What better way to spend a Saturday evening than having a drink and a chat in there and enjoying the adventurous flavours of the different ales. Winter ales too - the type that are dark, strong flavoured and warming. Mmmm. I could curl up just thinking about it.
Hopefully the beer will be at Dickensian prices. Ha!
Wonder if I should wear a flat cap today? :D
lakelandgateway.info has this to say about this weekend's event:
A fantastic celebration of Christmas and Charles Dickens. Entertainment for all the family, with stalls, a Christmas food fayre, Queen Victoria fancy dress, parades and processions, Father Christmas and a candlelit procession.
Doesn't that sound really peaceful and cool? You won't get things like this in the big cities, not without fights and riots and such anyway. You'd probably even be hard pushed in Barrow, bunch of louts that they are over there ;)
THIS is what Christmas should be, none of that commercial "go to Argos, get rammed by push chairs and be miserable" crap, but fun and festivity. Dark nights and clear skies where you can see the stars, too.
Like all of the events in Ulverston it's very popular - basically the whole town comes out and takes part. There will be a lot of people wandering round in Victorian clothing today!
What I will be doing though is going to the Dickensian Winter Ale Festival at the Swan and getting hammered (I use the term loosely... I hate getting blind drunk). Now that's definitely no secret! As I said in an earlier article, the Swan is just my kind of pub - good real ale, a nice roaring open fire, a very un-smokey atmosphere, nice people to talk to, no loud music etc. What better way to spend a Saturday evening than having a drink and a chat in there and enjoying the adventurous flavours of the different ales. Winter ales too - the type that are dark, strong flavoured and warming. Mmmm. I could curl up just thinking about it.
Hopefully the beer will be at Dickensian prices. Ha!
Wonder if I should wear a flat cap today? :D
PlayStation Portable (PSP)
OK, a few weeks ago now I succumbed to the lure of the PSP, despite Sony's evil ways. I feel dirty! XD
Words cannot describe the graphical capability of this beastie. Take something in between PS1 and PS2, squash it into a portable and it looks incredible. The UMD discs hold a whopping 1.8GB, which is amazing for their physical size and a fair old whack bigger than the similar Minidiscs - which were way ahead of their time when they came out 10+ years ago.
I bought a Japanese import model which is in ceramic white as opposed to the usual black. Have a piccy!
They've had a few improvements over the originals, such as a square button that doesn't stick, and the ceramic white doesn't show fingerprints up anywhere near as badly. It also runs firmware version 2.0 which introduces the best portable web browser I've seen.
Indeed, they can do web browsing in a lot of places, as the PSP comes equipped with WiFi (802.11g) wireless network access. This works in all of the various wireless hotspots that are springing up everywhere - even my little town has a few public ones - as well as in your home or office wireless network. When even a 12" Powerbook is too bulky to carry around, one of these is great when you want a bit of wireless internet access.
They also come with a slot for reading Memory Stick Duo cards, onto which you can put photos, music, videos and Sony-authorised demos. Really it's worth it for the movie capability alone, as not only can you get UMD videos - basically portable DVDs - but you can also play most movie formats off Memory Stick so you can transfer your favourite anime or whatever and watch it anywhere.
The ability to run games from Memory Stick was wide open in firmware version 1.5, where people were happily running homebrew games, emulators, useful applications (awesome in conjunction with WiFi support) etc. This also allowed pirate games, so Sony plugged the hole in version 2.0. Personally I really like the ability to run homebrews and emulators etc - on the other hand, the "open" version 1.5 doesn't support video UMDs and doesn't have the web browser, making it a difficult choice. It'd be nice if there was a compromise.
The build quality seems excellent, although it's called into question by issues like the dead pixels that the screens commonly suffer from. Older (and higher quality) LCDs didn't seem to have this problem, even though the manufacturers say it's natural and unavoidable. It was also called into question by the fact that my first one failed to recognise UMDs after a few days and the battery was faulty - thankfully Scan were a *lot* more helpful with the replacement than their courier Initial Shittylink (sic) who were massively unhelpful about delivering to an alternative address because of fraud issues (surely it's my risk to take?)
I've managed to cram the full version of the subtitled Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie onto a 256MB card and it's watchable, which is nice, but low quality of course as you'd expect from cramming almost 2 hours into 256MB! I'll look forward to the English dub on UMD.
So far I have Burnout Legends on the gaming side of things, which is highly addictive and basically a squished down version of Burnout 3 for the PS2. Tis good!
Words cannot describe the graphical capability of this beastie. Take something in between PS1 and PS2, squash it into a portable and it looks incredible. The UMD discs hold a whopping 1.8GB, which is amazing for their physical size and a fair old whack bigger than the similar Minidiscs - which were way ahead of their time when they came out 10+ years ago.
I bought a Japanese import model which is in ceramic white as opposed to the usual black. Have a piccy!
They've had a few improvements over the originals, such as a square button that doesn't stick, and the ceramic white doesn't show fingerprints up anywhere near as badly. It also runs firmware version 2.0 which introduces the best portable web browser I've seen.
Indeed, they can do web browsing in a lot of places, as the PSP comes equipped with WiFi (802.11g) wireless network access. This works in all of the various wireless hotspots that are springing up everywhere - even my little town has a few public ones - as well as in your home or office wireless network. When even a 12" Powerbook is too bulky to carry around, one of these is great when you want a bit of wireless internet access.
They also come with a slot for reading Memory Stick Duo cards, onto which you can put photos, music, videos and Sony-authorised demos. Really it's worth it for the movie capability alone, as not only can you get UMD videos - basically portable DVDs - but you can also play most movie formats off Memory Stick so you can transfer your favourite anime or whatever and watch it anywhere.
The ability to run games from Memory Stick was wide open in firmware version 1.5, where people were happily running homebrew games, emulators, useful applications (awesome in conjunction with WiFi support) etc. This also allowed pirate games, so Sony plugged the hole in version 2.0. Personally I really like the ability to run homebrews and emulators etc - on the other hand, the "open" version 1.5 doesn't support video UMDs and doesn't have the web browser, making it a difficult choice. It'd be nice if there was a compromise.
The build quality seems excellent, although it's called into question by issues like the dead pixels that the screens commonly suffer from. Older (and higher quality) LCDs didn't seem to have this problem, even though the manufacturers say it's natural and unavoidable. It was also called into question by the fact that my first one failed to recognise UMDs after a few days and the battery was faulty - thankfully Scan were a *lot* more helpful with the replacement than their courier Initial Shittylink (sic) who were massively unhelpful about delivering to an alternative address because of fraud issues (surely it's my risk to take?)
I've managed to cram the full version of the subtitled Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie onto a 256MB card and it's watchable, which is nice, but low quality of course as you'd expect from cramming almost 2 hours into 256MB! I'll look forward to the English dub on UMD.
So far I have Burnout Legends on the gaming side of things, which is highly addictive and basically a squished down version of Burnout 3 for the PS2. Tis good!
Thursday, 10 November 2005
Work to Live vs. Live to Work - my take
MG's article below got me thinking, with particular interest towards the title "Live to work? Work to live?"
I'm in the very fortunate (and perhaps rare) position of being able to say I enjoy my job. Working for a charity (Community Action Furness) that serves local interests is very rewarding and provides a much more fulfilling sense of purpose than working to serve the interests of some rich shareholders. I also think it presents a greater challenge (something which us humans tend to enjoy) than working for some high profile national or international charity is likely to. I also like the people I work with, and I like the people we're here to support - both of which are very important aspects of job satisfaction.
Working for a non-profit is by no means well paid in my experience, and most people in my line of work (IT) tend to ask "what are you still doing there?" It's a fair enough question, and I'd be blatantly lying (as would any of the other staff) if I said the same question didn't occur to myself once in a while. My first answer is, ask yourself why the organisation has so many and such dedicated volunteers, who happily spend their time there for nothing. As for my personal answer, I'd rather be paid less in a job that I enjoy, than paid more in a job that I dislike; something which I think is a good example of balancing "living to work" with "working to live". We spend most of our waking lives at work, and I'll be darned if I'm going to be miserable there, for just about any money! Sure, one day soon I'll be needing something better paid one way or another (bills just seem to keep growing, whilst income remains consistently low), but until that time I'd rather stay put, even if I *could* probably earn 3-4x more by moving South a bit and/or applying to some IT firm. The place is finally starting to flourish and find its feet, and I want to be part of that success, having proudly been an active part of the team (for the past 3.5 years) who made it happen.
But despite enjoying it, I don't live for work, I believe a balance with a personal life and interests is crucial. In fact apart from one or two places where they sometimes intermingle: the occasional friend made in the course of working there, I tend to keep my work and private lives separate. Come 5pm, I mostly switch off and forget about the place. Whilst I do tend to find myself thinking about technical issues etc unnecessarily at home, it doesn't tend to take me long to find a distraction or zone out.
Work is work and life is life - staff booze-ups are a bit more difficult to place, but those are a whole different kettle of fish! (what cruel person puts fish in a kettle anyway? Answers: postcard@deryk.co.uk...)
What do you get out of work? The obvious answer that most people pipe up with is of course "money". But there's more to it. Surveys have proven that I'm actually in a majority when I say that I'd probably not give up my job if I won the lottery. If it was a large amount (enough to live off for good) I'd most likely switch to volunteering for that extra freedom to choose how my time was divided, but I'd still be there because I'd want to have the other elements that people tend to forget you get out of work - whether it's for a commercial entity or a non-profit:
I think living to work can be unhealthy - you get stressed, you miss out on other fun aspects of life, you can lose sleep and it can become an obsession. You can also end up being shunned in the non-work life for being 'sad' (not that you should worry too much about what other people think, but it is a disadvantage.) On the other hand, I think working to live is also unhealthy - you spend most of your waking hours working hard to support that little bit of free time you have left.. assuming additional responsibilities don't consume even that! Then you end up resenting the very work that you spend most of your life doing. That's a very depressing thought, and not the road that I ever want to go down.
The key, I think, is to try and strike a good balance. Even though I separate life and work very well most of the time, I still think that the two should support each other - it's just on a much lower, deeper, and less visible level.
Right, one more day to go before the weekend! :D
I'm in the very fortunate (and perhaps rare) position of being able to say I enjoy my job. Working for a charity (Community Action Furness) that serves local interests is very rewarding and provides a much more fulfilling sense of purpose than working to serve the interests of some rich shareholders. I also think it presents a greater challenge (something which us humans tend to enjoy) than working for some high profile national or international charity is likely to. I also like the people I work with, and I like the people we're here to support - both of which are very important aspects of job satisfaction.
Working for a non-profit is by no means well paid in my experience, and most people in my line of work (IT) tend to ask "what are you still doing there?" It's a fair enough question, and I'd be blatantly lying (as would any of the other staff) if I said the same question didn't occur to myself once in a while. My first answer is, ask yourself why the organisation has so many and such dedicated volunteers, who happily spend their time there for nothing. As for my personal answer, I'd rather be paid less in a job that I enjoy, than paid more in a job that I dislike; something which I think is a good example of balancing "living to work" with "working to live". We spend most of our waking lives at work, and I'll be darned if I'm going to be miserable there, for just about any money! Sure, one day soon I'll be needing something better paid one way or another (bills just seem to keep growing, whilst income remains consistently low), but until that time I'd rather stay put, even if I *could* probably earn 3-4x more by moving South a bit and/or applying to some IT firm. The place is finally starting to flourish and find its feet, and I want to be part of that success, having proudly been an active part of the team (for the past 3.5 years) who made it happen.
But despite enjoying it, I don't live for work, I believe a balance with a personal life and interests is crucial. In fact apart from one or two places where they sometimes intermingle: the occasional friend made in the course of working there, I tend to keep my work and private lives separate. Come 5pm, I mostly switch off and forget about the place. Whilst I do tend to find myself thinking about technical issues etc unnecessarily at home, it doesn't tend to take me long to find a distraction or zone out.
Work is work and life is life - staff booze-ups are a bit more difficult to place, but those are a whole different kettle of fish! (what cruel person puts fish in a kettle anyway? Answers: postcard@deryk.co.uk...)
What do you get out of work? The obvious answer that most people pipe up with is of course "money". But there's more to it. Surveys have proven that I'm actually in a majority when I say that I'd probably not give up my job if I won the lottery. If it was a large amount (enough to live off for good) I'd most likely switch to volunteering for that extra freedom to choose how my time was divided, but I'd still be there because I'd want to have the other elements that people tend to forget you get out of work - whether it's for a commercial entity or a non-profit:
- A sense of purpose
- Something to do when your other interests go through 'burnout' stages
- Gaining new skills and experience
- Being part of a team that accomplishes something good
- Being part of the biggest social network outside of the Internet
- Meeting an incredible variety of people (especially true for my current job)
I think living to work can be unhealthy - you get stressed, you miss out on other fun aspects of life, you can lose sleep and it can become an obsession. You can also end up being shunned in the non-work life for being 'sad' (not that you should worry too much about what other people think, but it is a disadvantage.) On the other hand, I think working to live is also unhealthy - you spend most of your waking hours working hard to support that little bit of free time you have left.. assuming additional responsibilities don't consume even that! Then you end up resenting the very work that you spend most of your life doing. That's a very depressing thought, and not the road that I ever want to go down.
The key, I think, is to try and strike a good balance. Even though I separate life and work very well most of the time, I still think that the two should support each other - it's just on a much lower, deeper, and less visible level.
Right, one more day to go before the weekend! :D
Live to Work? Work to Live?
This is a guest article by MG
I'm sat here typing this during a period of our system's downtime at Furness College. Yes, Furness College. For once in my life I'm not at an educational institution in the interest of obtaining academic honours - I'm actually here to earn money.
It came about from nowhere. Following a period of carrying out some research for DEFRA via South Lakeland District Coucil, via Simmonds Technical and Drafting Ltd (a work agency here in the UK - their website looks ridiculously professional for the stereotypical types they cater for), I received a phone call asking whether I was available to work in Furness College's Finance Departement, solely based on the fact that I had worked temporarily in BAE System's Finance Dept in Barrow during my HND studies. I accepted, and since the 21st of September, the near majority of my waken hours have been spent working at either this desk, or the desk next to me. This has been part foreign to me. Prior to the aforementioned date, I have never worked full-time as such for a sustained period of time. You may think that I might be lazy for waiting 23 years until I reached such a position, but now I'm here, I don't think I'd have it any other way. Here's why.
The UK Government realises that the population is a) living longer and b) increasing in average age. It can't fund this long-term. Solution? Make people work longer. I'm 23. 47 years later, I'll be able to retire. What's the rush? I may be in what's deemed to be a poorly paid temporary post, but what's the merit of being any further up the ladder at this stage? Better pension? Probably. Career progression? Undoubtedly. But I think that there's still plenty of time. Stereotypically, the older you are, the more pay you are eligible to get (don't look too much into equal opps - there are still different levels in operation that relate to age alone), and as a 23yo post-graduate I think that if I am to remain alive for any sustantial period of time, something will probably crop up which will move my earning level in an upward direction. But for now? I'm enjoying being at the bottom wrung. Few worries, no monetary problems for the time-being and the licence to celebrate. Hey, I won't be celebrating much at 70, so even if I get there, I may as well do it now (hysterics).
This is a guest article by MG, imported from Wordpress. Please ignore the 'author/contributor/posted-by' tag on this post, which is incorrect.
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