Akilae

Most people don't want to have to play with fifty different settings in order to play their game with working titles, smooth text sprites, and non-lagging battleswirls. I got a kick out of it though... SOTN is relatively easy to find though... *shudders at memory of tracking down Valkyrie Profile*

Which is why I just went with the best PSX emu of all... *hugz PS2 * I do miss save states though

Well, I'll have to confess before the GF4 I was running emus on a TNT2, so my view might be slightly biased I've actually never used software plugins (PEOpS), since hardware (Pete's OGL/D3D) has always worked for me. But each PSX game has different requirements so I guess the best answer should be: YMMV. The ePSXe boards should have optimal plugin combinations and settings for every game out there, so if anybody's having problems that should be the first place to start.

Jesus Maria (pronounce with Spanish for effect)!! I was about to stitch it up and notify next of kin too

The emulator itself doesn't make a terrible difference, its the sound and graphics plugins that make a world's difference. Play around with Pete's and you might be surprised. The last time I fired up ePSXe was two and a half years ago on a P4-1.5 and GF4-4800, using ePSXe 5.2 (I think) with the latest Pete's and Eternal plugins. Blew the socks off hooking a PSX up to the TV, and no slowdowns either. mm... speaking of which, I need to finish Vagrant Story Admittedly, laptops, specifically their graphics cards, typically don't really provide the sort of horsepower needed for emulations.

hmm... with FFVI coming out, I just might get a GB Micro, along with SRW J

I dunno, not much of a flood going on arond here...

Comeback? Didn't one already come and go? There was a Shin Hokuto no Ken OVA out a few years back, wasn't too bad either.

Just pointing out that if we keep it tasteful and civilized then all's good

Gentlemen, I refer you to the words of our esteemed mod(s): The original cosplay thread

But at least they respond to questions and assure viewers of their plans to continue subbing... unlike some other more popular groups who mysteriously stop subbing and threaten to ban anybody who asks the Question on their forums

We've had cosplay threads before Just keep the images small and I don't think the mods mind too much.

ROFL Not to mention your money won't be funding some criminal organization somewhere in Asia huh

I entirely agree that the battles depicted in DLDS are the most vivid and well thought out in almost all of anime. What I meant by two-dimensional battles is that the battles fought out existed on one physical plane, akin to contemporary naval battles. Of course I'm basing all of this off the books, so the anime might have depicted the visual aspects differently. "Die Legende Der Sternhelden", the original title printed on the novels. I think Reinhart actually started out just fine at the beginning of the show. It was only after a few significant events that he began to unravel (event not named to keep from spoiling any potential viewers, hehe...). That and being surrounded by power hungry commanders and an equally power hungry sister did not help

Ahem, if you're looking for a region 1 release of Macross Zero... they don't exist, hence by extension they're ALL boots. If you're looking for a region 2/3 official release... well, check to see if it's region locked. AFAIK no official DVD release has ever been region free... there might be exceptions, but most are region locked by far. Also, they won't have English subtitles. You could also track down the DVD covers for your region 2/3 release and compare. Japanese releases usually carry their own distinctive covers.

Buy from Amazon.com, you can trust them to NOT carry bootlegs. Or shope at a place that has seperate "Domestic" and "Import" listings.

LOGH (DLDS is also used in some circles) is... grand, very grand, and with a healthy dose of military strategy and tactics it only gets better. Some of the battles I find a bit two-dimensional, but the sheer beauty of the setup and execution outweights any of that. The story is also about very real people. Personally I identified more with Reinhard and his character development more than Yang's. The author, Yoshiki Tanaka has done his share of research of military history, and written volumes of fictional novels in the same area. "Tale of the Seven Cities" is another story by him (MUCH shorter, 2 eps vs. 110 for DLDS) that I'd suggest tracking down. I believe it's only available via... unofficial HK imports discountanimedvd.com carries both.

Some recent anime I've found enjoyable (here enjoyable being defined as something I'll watch a second time within half a year after I buy it, or something I actively promote to friends): -Beyond the Clouds, the Promised Place (one of the few animes other than Miyazaki that my non-anime friends actually like). -Hajime no Ippo (the manga is ass old though...) -Monster -GiTS (the TV, not the two movies...) -GaoGaiGar Final (the TV series was fine, but the "monster of the week" stuff doesn't do too well for repeated viewings. The OVA on the other hand... ). Other new stuff I haven't been able to watch a second time... Naruto and Bleach I follow as a "soap opera" type of thing to see what's happening this week. In terms of older anime... Tekkaman Blade is actually pretty awesome if you FF through the first half and start right about where D-Boy regains his memory and starts killing off his own family... then actually loses his memory again towards the end of the anime. But an anime for guys really. DLDS is good for something broader and grander... for those who want something else by Yoshiki Tanaka (DLDS was originally a series of novels), try "Story of the Seven Cities" (no US domestic release AFAIK), set on a more WWII-esque Earth. Those who can read Japanese really should try to track down all his novels, they're very well written. Soryuden is also quite a treat, and has been produced in manga and anime form by CLAMP. Speaking of CLAMP, Tokyo Babylon and X are good if you can understand the story and stomach the pacing.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the Ender series, the first book in particular: Ender's Game. I think out of all the sci-fi I've read it's really the most touching: the utter destruction of childhood innocence in order to raise the perfect military commander. The gate is down!!!

Between these two, my vote goes to George R. R. Martin. While Martin's grittiness is a plus, Jordan is really having problems ending his story... every time he finishes writing one more book I have to reread the entire series to keep on track of who's who and what's happening... I got lost around when the Sanchean (sp? The one with the collars...) came into play... Hopefully Martin will end the story as planned instead of opting for an extension in his contract... really looking forward to A Feast for Crows. Dunno how you count epic... but The Dark Tower series and The Stand by Stephen King sure stand out in my mind. DLDS is also a must.

I was talking about Raiden... But that I did not know.. hmm.. gotta pull out my 0083 and listen to Gato's voice again...

I never really got the animosity towards Raiden... sure he isn't Snake, but I think a new protagonist he doesn't do a bad job... it WOULD help if Konami had used an English voice actor who sounded closer to his Japanese one (gruffer and actually sounded like a man).

Ahem... FF: The Spirits Within was Square's first animated movie. 'sides... played fully? I got all the ultimate weapons, the gold chocobo, Knights of the Round, and defeated Emerald and Ruby. I think I played it fully enough I'm not saying I didn't like it, I'll probably buy the DVD like the Square whore I am (even got the TSW DVD). As a FFVI fan the movie is pure bliss. There are just some slight details that seem a bit jarring in light of how I interpreted the game.

Just from what I heard in the movie... there's a fair mix. The classics are in there, but some portions have been heavily modernized (eg pop and rock... guitar strings...). There's the inevitable JPop piece at the end, but that's to be expected. Overall, some nice tracks here and there, but I don't think the CD as a whole would be worth the imported price. Once again, this is just what I heard in the movie, so maybe the CD might be different.

meh, no emotional impact... FFVII did this by killing Aerith.. I guess FFVII: AC *might* approach that by killing off Tifa I think the movie is really an extension of Square's latest FF efforts (think FFX and FFX-2), rather than the earlier works of FFVI and FFVII. I only hope with the new direction FFXII is supposedly taking things will get better...