Ok, my vacation. My family goes back to PA every year to visit relatives. We did all the usual stuff: giant corn maze, playing video games at my cousin's, relaxing, getting Handel's ice cream, lots of shopping, and going to Hershey Park where I won a giant stuffed panthar that's nearly as big as I am. Here's a helpful tip, if you're going to try and win a giant stuffed animal to it right before you leave, carrying it around for the next couple of hours isn't fun. I also was able to attend Otakon. Now this was my first anime convention. I've been wanting to go for years but things just haven't worked out. Anyway, it was amazing. There were around 12,000 people there. I knew it was going to be big but the sheer magnitude blew me away. My cousin Curtis and I spent friday and sunday (we weren't able to go saturday) at the con. Lines were bad on the first day (especially to get in) but after that things were great. There were numerous panels and lectures on everything from Gundam to travel in Japan, we went to some but spent most of our time wondering around and looking in on whatever was closest. There were also around eight screening rooms where you could just sit and watch a couple episodes of different anime. I got to check out a bunch of stuff I hadn't seen before and found a show that could easily compete with FLCL for 'weirdest thing I've ever seen' it's called Bobobo Bo. It's not out in america yet but it's about a guy called Bobo who fights the evil hair stealing Wig Group with his True Fist of the Nose Hair technique. It's weird and extremely random but pretty funny too. When in between places we watched the various cosplayers. There were way to many Yuna's, Rikku's, Vash's, Wolfwood's, and Inuyasha's but it was really cool seeing all the amazing costumes people had put together, kinda made me want to try it... There was also the game room where there were tons of game systems set up with about every multiplayer game you could think of (and some you couldn't). I passed on the DDR (after seeing way too many people that were far better than me) but I did get in a good match of Super Smash Brothers Melee. Then there was the artists alley where you could meet various artists and buy their art. There was some nice stuff but I had limited cash so I had to pass. I did, however, get to briefly meet Mookie of Dominic Deegan and get his autograph, which was pretty cool. And finally there was the dealers' room. It was enormous. Not only could you find just about any graphic novel or anime DVD you could want, there was also tons of cool stuff from Japan that you never see in the US. I could have spent a couple hundred dollars on figurines alone... To summerize, Otakon was really aweomse and I'd love to go again if I get the chance. PS: Sorry I don't have pictures but my camera mysteriously broke shortly after the convention started.

Josiah

Now, as I said before, I'll be at Otakon for two out of the three days (friday and sunday). If any of you guys are gonna be there I'd love to meet you. Um, I'd put a picture up but I don't have any good ones handy... Let's see, I'm about 5' 11", got black hair, and I'll wear a tie-die shirt at least on friday. So if you see me come say hi. If it's not me, well hope it's someone friendly. Hope to see you there!

Josiah

Josiah

Ok, a few quick announcements then I got to run. First, all entries for the guest comic contest must be in before midnight tuesday (tomorrow). Also, to the person who sent me the Brendan's Bright Future comic, I accidently lost the file, please resend it ASAP if you want it in the contest. Second, if you missed it friday there's a new bonus comic up so be sure to vote and take a look. And third, some of you may have noticed that this update is a little early. Well, my parents suddenly decided that we needed a family hiking trip. Normally a good idea but I've got a bunch of school work and with my main vacation coming up in less then a week the timing could have been much better. I'll be home in a couple days but wednesday's update may be a little early or late.

Oh yeah, I probably should have announced this earlier but I'm goin to be attending Otakon this year! I've been wanting to go to an anime convention for years but the places and times never really synched with my schedule so this will be my first. Otakon is over a friday, saturday, and sunday and I'll be there friday and sunday. I don't know if any of you guys are going to be going but if you are I'd love to meet you! I'll announce some more details (to help you pick me out or something) in the near future.

Josiah

Don't forget the guest comic contest. Remember, all entries are due by the 20th so you only have a few days left. I've got some good ones already but I could always use more! If you don't know the rules check the Old News page, they're mentions a few times. Now for the mini review.

I've been a Mega Man fan for quite some time but I never got the money together to buy all the old cartridges. The Mega Man Anniversary Collection saves you the trouble by putting all eight main games from the classic MM series along with too rare arcade games and some extras.
Story: A lab accident turns Dr. Wily evil. He reprograms six of the new robot masters he made with the good Dr. Light. Fortunately one escaped, the lab assitant Rock Man. With no other options, Dr. Light changes the Rock into a fighting robot and sends the newly renamed Mega Man to stop Dr. Wily. He does and Dr. Wily escapes, builds new robot masters, and tries again, and again, and again, etc... Some of the games have a twist or two but they still boil down to the same basic plot. Not like the story matters too much in this type of game.
Graphics: They were great at the time but by today's standards none of the games look very impressive. Still what does that matter when they're so much fun to play.
Sound: The music is very catchy although most of it is from the NES era so it doesn't sound so hot. If you have the PS2 version thought and turn on the optional navi mode some stages will feature new remixed music. The sound effects are mostly good. Mega Man 8 is the only game with voice overs but they're pretty painful to listen too.
Gameplay: This is where Mega Man shines. Some of the games are definately better then others and there are some parts that'll make you want to smash your controller into the floor, but overall all ten games are just a lot of fun to play. Basically Mega Man runs, jumps, and shoots his way through levels filled with traps and robots. At the end of most stages you'll got up against a robot master. Defeat it and you'll get its weapon to use. Each robot master is weak against a certain weapon so you'll need to figure out what order to go through the stages. This is classic platforming at its finest. All the games sport perfect emulations (with a few minor changes that rarely effect the game play) although a few of the old cheats have been removed. The improvements between games are rarely anything major but that's ok by me. The arcade games on the other hand are simply a series of boss fights for one or two players. Nothing fancy but still fun.
Overall: If you like Mega Man even a little bit buy this collection. It's on $30 and you get eight awesome platformers and two fun arcade games. This is every Mega Man fans dream come true, especially if you can't find all the cartridges. There's even some tweaks you can turn on to make things a bit easier for novice players. The only real question is if you should buy the PS2 or Gamecube version. The PS2 has a better controller, remixed music while in navi mode, and an episode of the pretty blah Mega Man cartoon to unlock while the Gamecube version lacks all that but gets some developer interviews instead. Anyway, this is what classic collections should be. Every gamer with a liking for Mega Man, platformers, or classic games should got a copy.

Josiah

See you all friday!

Josiah

Seems I always say stuff is coming but not done don't I? Anyway, there will be a new link and at least one mini-review later this week. Keep in mind that you only have a little more than a week left in the quest comic contest. I still need some more good stuff to use over my vacation so hurry up and get those entries in. And, if you missed them, the rules can be found below in friday's news post.

Oh yeah, don't know if I mentioned this before or not but the Mega Man Anniversary Collection is awesome and worth way more than the $30 it costs. I've been playing it for the last couple weeks and having a blast. Look for a mini-review in a week or two once I've finished it.

Josiah

Don't forget about the guest comic contest. I need lots of comics to use while I'm on vacation so keep sending them in! Here's the rules. Here are the rules. 1: All entries must be received no later then July 20th. 2: Comics can be sprites, hand drawn, CG, animation, or whatever. 3: Comics must be either jpg, gif, or png formats but with the possible exception of animated comics try to keep the file size to 200k or less. 4: Comics must have something to do with either Pokémon or Pebble Version but that doesn't have to be the main focus and putting in characters from other games or comics is perfectly fine. 5: Put your name, initials, web site, or something like that in the comic and be sure to include that type of info in your e-mail to me so I know who to credit. 6: And finally try to keep any violence, language, and sex stuff to a minimum. PG rated stuff is prefered but I may accept some PG-13 stuff too, maybe. And would the people who sent me the Wierd Al comic and the Brendan's Bright Future comic please resend them? I lost them in the server switch.

Enjoy your weekend!

Josiah

Now for a bit about Spiderman 2. Basically, two years after the first movie Spidy is doing great but Peter work, school, and social lives are down the tubes. Just about this time a scientist named Octo Octavious is working on a new energy generator but using requires attaching several robotic arms to his back. They're so complex they can actually take over his mind if they don't work right. Fortunately he has a little chip to prevent that, it's also the only part that isn't covered in steel so when the generator shorts out and breaks the chip Octo goes beserk and turns into the evil Dr. Octopus (bet you saw that coming). Peter has to fight off this new threat while trying to create a balance between his normal life and heroic life and figure out what's going wrong with his powers. The special effects and action are good and the story is pretty good for a super hero movie. Overall, Spiderman 2 is a lot like the first one. Good action, decent plot, kinda corny at times but overall a fun ride.

Don't forget the new bonus comic and guest comic contest!

Josiah

To recap from friday's news post, the new forums are finally up and have replaced the old ones. There is still a little work to be done but mostly we just need you guys to join up and have fun! Although, if anyone has experience creating skins for Invision forums and/or working with extremely complex cascading style sheets and feels like giving me a hand with the new color scheme I want to make for the forums please let me know.

Another recap, you wanted a guest comic contest, you've got one! I'll be going on vacation around the end of the month and need some comics to fill in the gap. All entries must be in by July 20th. And if you're one of the people who sent me one before last friday I'd appreciate it if you could resend it since I lost a couple when we switched servers. Full rules can be found in friday's news post (below) and you can send your entries here.

Josiah

Also, I know the last couple of strips were kinda lame but I was pretty out of it when I made them. But I'm better now and I've got some great strips all ready for next week.

Ok, now for a very important announcement. I've been planning this for a while and lots of people having been wanting one so I'm pleased to announce the very first Pebble Version Guest Comic Contest. That's right, this is your chance to show off your comic making skills. I know some of you have already sent me fan comics before but I lost a couple of them when we switched to the new server so I'd appreciate if you'd send them in again for the contest. The contest is open to anyone although I do hope some of my friends who have their own web comics (you know who you are) will do stuff.

Here are the rules. 1: All entries must be received no later then July 20th. That'll give me time to sort through them all before I go on vacation. 2: Comics can be sprites, hand drawn, CG, animation, or whatever. 3: Comics must be either jpg, gif, or png formats but with the possible exception of animated comics try to keep the file size to 200k or less. 4: Comics must have something to do with either Pokémon or Pebble Version but that doesn't have to be the main focus and putting in characters from other games or comics is perfectly fine. 5: Put your name, initials, web site, or something like that in the comic and be sure to include that type of info in your e-mail to me so I know who to credit. 6: And finally try to keep any violence, language, and sex stuff to a minimum. PG rated stuff is prefered but I may accept some PG-13 stuff too, maybe.

Ok, that's the deal. I can't wait to see your stuff. Remember, if you sent in something before I might have lost it in the server switch so please check to ensure that it fits the rules and resend it. How many comics I choose as winners depends on how many good entries I get but I'd like at least six so I can get three strips a week for the two weeks I'm on vacation. Although if I get a lot of good stuff I may end up posting quite a lot more so get to work!

Josiah

Josiah

Josiah

Speaking of which, if you haven't read wednesday's news post, please scroll down and take a look. I've gotten some great sprites so far but there are still lots more I need to really make the battles look good. I'll try to get a mini-review done next week too, I have a few days off from school so I should have time.

Enjoy the weekend!

Josiah

Ok, in case you missed the last news post here's the deal. I want to make the battle scenes in Pebble Version look better. To do that I need more sprites of the various pokémon. See I only have two of each and it's hard to do good fights with only two poses. I need sprites of any pokémon but the ones currently used in the comic are the most important. The main types of poses I need are running, jumping, attacking, and getting hit. And, to make things easier, I found a web site yesterday that'll help get you started. Although I captured all my sprites myself, the ones on this site are the same as ones I have so sprites based on them would be the best. I've already gotten a couple nice contributions and on monday I'll be adding a new page to the site to list all the people who have contributed stuff to Pebble Version.

It's official, the new forums will be launched on friday. All the most important stuff is done but I'd still like to tweak them a bit. Also, a note to my host if he's reading this, if you have the ftp info for the forums' subdomain could you e-mail it to me? It would help me with the color scheme.

Josiah

Now, I've had some people complain about the lack of animation in some of the battle scenes. See, the problem is in the game there are only two poses for each pokémon which makes it kinda hard to do a really good looking battle and I just don't have the time right now to draw really good looking additional poses. So, if there are any sprite artists out there who have some time to kill and want to contribute to Pebble Version this is a great chance. I need alternate poses for pokémon. Anything would be good but the main things I need are: attacking, getting hit, running, and jumping. Poses can be for any pokémon even ones that haven't been in the comic (although regulars liks torchic and mudkip would be the most help). They need to fit with the poses I already use (which are the ones that show next to the pokémon's name when you check your party in the main game menu) in terms of size, color, and the like. Submissions can be bmp, jpg, gif, or png. If I like what you send me I'll use the poses for the appropriate pokémon, give you full credit for them, and post a link to your web site, if you have one. E-mail all submissions to me.

Have a great week!

Josiah

I've gone to each Harry Potter movie fully expecting it to be horrible. So far I've been correct about each one. I hate it when I'm right... Despite getting a new director, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban once again suceeds in ruining yet another book in my favorite series. For starters, POA is the shortest of the three movies, which isn't good considering it's also the longest of the first three books. Naturally, because of this a whole lot was cut including many scenes that are very important to the main story so those who haven't read the book my find themselves rather confused at times. Even the match where Harry wins the school Quiddith cup is cut. Instead we get a handful of new and completely pointless scenes that add little if anything to the movie. In addition, the entire thing seems to take place over a couple weeks instead of roughly ten months. Then there's the special effects. For such a big movie you'd think they'd spend more on the effects. While Azkaban looks better than the other movies, some parts still look pretty bad. The casting for a couple of the new characters is really bad as well, Tom and Lupin in particular really don't fit the part. Like all the Harry Potter books, the climax near the end is the best part by far. It's also been the part the movies screw up the worst. POA continues the trend by cutting out about 85% of the dialogue so a whole lot of important points are glossed over or not mentioned at all. And finally there's the handful of scenes that just make you want to bang your head against a wall such as the parts with the talking shrunken heads, the entire climax, and when Harry sees a certain person on his magic map (which majorly screws up part of the story). POA might be enjoyable if rather hard to follow for people who haven't read the books but for any serious Harry Potter fans (like myself) it's a total mess which starts off with a horrible incorrect first scene and finishs with a very blah ending. All three Harry Potter movies are bad but POA may very well be the worst of the three.

Josiah

Because of the recent weekend of down time Pebble Version has been slipping in the Top 100. I've got a new bonus comic up so be sure to vote and help get this comic back up. As always, check the extras page if you want to catch up on the old bonus comics.

Oh yeah, some people were asking where that seedot a couple strips ago came from. Brendan and May each caught on in a random battle. I just figured that you guys wouldn't want to see all the random battles so I'm kinda skimming over the less important ones. That's ok, right? Oh, and the server crash slowed down my work on the new forums so the won't be ready until at least friday, possibly some time next week but no later then that.

Josiah

For those of you who tried to visit Pebble Version over the weekend I'm really sorry about the massive amount of down time. Indigo Networks is in the process of switching the site over to a new and much more stable server but until they're finished there really isn't anything I can do except hope that there isn't any more down time.

Josiah

I finally got around to seeing Troy. Seems there's a lot of cool looking movies coming up soon. There's Harry Potter 3 which I'll probably hate but plan to see next week. And then there's Spider Man 2 coming out at the end of the month. Ok, so my thoughts on Troy... Overall it was a decent movie is you don't mind nearly constant battles but there's been a lot of changes from the original story. I'm not sure how many people have read Homer's Illiad but it's a pretty interesting myth filled with heros, epic battles, and the like. The movie starts by removing the Greek gods from the story. They're still mentioned but just as invisible figures that the people worship. The active role they had in Homer's story is completely gone which changes the story considerably. Also, the script writers seemed desperate to inject a lot more romance into the story. They make Helen out to be an unloved neglected wife who willingly flees with the overly charming Paris and even add a romance sub-plot between between Achillese and a priestess that he never even met in the original. They've also tried to give the story a clear villian (something the original story lacked) by changing King Agamemnon into a power crazy maniac instead of the somewhat prideful ruler from the original story. The battles aren't bad and neither is the movie as a whole and there's a few brief bits that are there only for fans of the original stories to notice. Unfortunately, the highlite of the film for many people seems to be seeing Brad Pitt mostly naked, something I could easily live without. All in all Tory if you like battles, or Brad Pitt, Troy is rather entertaining although fans of The Illiad are bound to be disapointed with many of the changes.

Josiah

In site news I'm working on new forums to replace the current ones. The new forums will be hosted on my server instead of by Proboards, I'll have more control over them in general, and they'll be advertisement free. Yay! Look for them in the near future.

Josiah

Let's see... My grand parents are coming to stay for a couple weeks so that should be fun. Oh, and I want to thank the people that have done Pebble Version reviews in response to my last news post. We could use some more good reviews on Buzz Comix if anyone has a few minutes to spare... Oh yeah, last announcement. This month's donation gift is the fifth Legend of Zelda page. And I still have one special deal going. If you donate at least $5 you get all five pages. I've had some people tell me that those Zelda pages are some of my funniest work and it'd be a shame if more of you don't read them.

Ever have a group project in school where you need multiple people to complete a project but everyone else kinda ignores the whole thing leaving you unable to finish because of it? It really sucks. We have this essay project going where you have to review other people's essays than modify your own based on others comments. Problem is hardly anyone submitted their essays on time. The teacher was nice and extended the date. Still only about half the people have submitted their essays although only one of them is in my group. And no one in my group has bothered to review my essay even though I need their reviews so I can finish the final draft which is due soon... Ugh, I sure hope the teacher understands that I did all I could. And to the people in my english comp class who haven't submitted their essays and/or done their reviews yet, you all suck.

Well, gotta go. Lot more to get done so I can catch up. Later!

Josiah

Learned a lot of cool tricks in my Photoshop class yesterday. Can't wait to give them a try in the comic. Maybe I'll play around a bit before August. Either way, there's still a couple more things I need to learn first and some things that need doing before that so don't expect anything for at least a couple more weeks.

Enjoy the weekend!

Josiah

Now for those of you who didn't know what JUCO is (probably everyone who doesn't live in Grand Junction) it's the Junior College baseball world series. I'm not a huge sports fan but a lot of my friends go and it's kinda fun. Thanks to my year around college classes I can't go much this year though.

Now here's the answers to a couple questions people have been asking a lot lately. First off, I know this comic could look a little better (textured backgrounds, color text boxes, and the like) not to mention the battle effects. Anyway, I'm taking a Photoshop class this semester and come Pebble Version's one year aniversary in August I plan to try and give the comic a bit of a graphical update. Second, at that same time I'll reconsider doing either larger comics or more updates a week although that'll depend on how my schedule looks then. Lastly, I'm not doing fan comics right now although I will be holding a guest comic contest in the pretty near future so if you want to show off your skills that'll be the time.

Josiah

Josiah

Time Stalkers is another obscur Dreamcast RPG. If you're a fan of random dungeon RPGs this if your dream come true. If not, well, you still might like it.
Story: Sword, a brash self absorbed swordsman is chasing a villian when he chances across a magical book. He opens it than blacks out. When he wakes up he finds that the tower he's in has been transported to a strange world that seems to be made up entirely of pieces from other worlds and times. A mysterious old man says that he's the hero who must save this strange world. Soon after other heros join him in the quest. There's a decent plot twist after a while but Time Stalkers is about the gameplay, not the plot. If you've played some of the older Sega Stalkers games there's quite a lot of cameos.
Graphics: It's a somewhat blocky 3D, nothing too impressive. The worlds are all brightly colorful and very different from which is good. The dungeons, however, are somewhat drab and extremely repititious.
Sound: The music is nice, upbeat, and catchy. The sound effects are there but kinda repetitive.
Gameplay: Running around the small world is your standard RPG fare. Shop, talk, etc. You can only take one of your party members at a time into any given dungeon. Each person can use different equipment, has different stats, and learns different moves but for the most part they play pretty similiar. The dungeon floor layouts are randomly generated but before long they all start to look alike. Battle if your standard turn based system, nothing special there. Each time you enter a dungeon, you can only take a handful of items, usually your equipment, and you start back at level 1. Still, this isn't so bad, the enemies are close to your level and when you complete a dungeon you may gain a new title. Titles give the character stat boosts and new skills and magic spells and they don't reset after each dungeon. Each hero has an extremely large number of titles to gain. Also, you can capture any of the game's non-boss monsters and use up to two of them in battle at a time to help your hero. There are tons of monsters to catch and they can all gain titles and new skills and spells as well. The game has a complete list of both items and monsters that fills as you find and catch them. The game itself if pretty short. Dungeons take thirty minutes to an hour to complete and there's only eight or so. It won't take you long to reach the ending. But you can keep playing afterwards to get some new stuff and keep working on your characters and collection. You can revisit the old dungeons all you want to find new items and mosnters and even complete alternat objectives like killing a new boss or finding a certain item.
Overall: If you find a cheap copy it's worth it just to get through to the ending but most of you will probably grow tired of the endless dungeon crawls soon after. If you don't mind the repitiveness of the game however, there's literally hundreds of hours of gameplay. Between the titles, the monsters, the rare items, the alternate dungeon quests, and the myriads of interactions between various characters that you can stumble across if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you can play just about forever and still be missing something. If this sounds good to you than give Time Stalkers a try.

Josiah

Remember, there's only a few days left if you want to take advantage of this month's donation special. Only $10 for all four Zelda pages and an autographed copy of my book.

Anyway, I need some sleep before the game tomorrow so see you friday.

Josiah

I saw Shrek 2 over the weekend. If you liked the first one you've gotten see 2. It's sorta like Shrek meets Meet the Parents. See, Shrek and Fiona, now ogres, return from their honeymoon and are invited to visit Fiona's parents, the king and queen of Far Far Away which is a sorta fairy tale Hollywood. Naturally Fiona's parents are expecting a prince, not a monster. Sparks fly even more when a scheming fairy god mother tries to break the pair up so she can set Fiona up with her own son Prince Charming. Add in you favorite charaters from the first movie like Donkey, Gingerbread Man, and The Three Blind Mice along with hillarious new ones like the sword swinging cat Puss in Boots, and you have another humerous take on classic fairy tales.

Josiah

A new fun park recently opened nearby. You know, arcade, mini-golf, go-karts, that kinda thing. My family and I went today. The arcade was kinda disapointing (what, no DDR?) but we had fun playing mini-golf. There was five of us, my mom, my dad, my brother Noah, Carl (a guy we know), and me. It wasn't a bad course although I was really outta practice. My mom won, which was surprising since she usually gets fouth when we play. She beat my dad by one stroke leave Noah and I to tie for third. My mom had a bet with my dad on the game as well and she won so we got to go to Olive Garden for lunch. Well, after we changed a flat tire anyway. It was fun. I gotta get my mini-golf skills back to par though.

Now, about today's strip. Before you start e-mailing me I know that Pokémon-X did a similiar joke a while back. Believe what you want but I actually had this strip planned before then. This is, to my knowledge, the first time we had a similiar joke but when it comes down to it that footprint sketching guy was in the game and this is really the obvious joke.

And now, finally, the mini-revew.

Elemental Gimmick Gear, or E.G.G. for short, is a pretty unknown Dreamcast title. Yeah it's old but I played it pretty recently. It's a pretty decent action RPG.
Story: 200 years ago while exploring some old ruins people found a sleeping man inside a strange egg shaped robot suit. The used it as a model to make Elemental Gimmick Gear, essiantially big ugly robot suits that can pull their arms and legs in and spin around. The man was moved to a laboratory but remained in a coma. 200 years later tentacals start coming out of the ruins and destorying stuff while monsters start to fill the area. Suddenly the man, Leon, wakes up. Problem is he has amnesia. But the cute scientist on duty decides to give him his old E.G.G. and let him head out to explore the ruins and figure things out. Overall the story is ok but it's unlikely you'll be playing just to find out what's going to happen. The overall plot is a bit basic and threadbare.
Graphics: Most of the game is top down 2D. The graphics look almost hand drawn and are nice and colorful. The boss fights on the other hand, are in full 3D. They're nothing special but they look pretty decent.
Sound: The music is appropriate but completely forgetable. It's so forgetable in fact that I can't think of anything else to say about it. The sound effects are mostly metalic clanks and whirs but they fit.
Gameplay: E.G.G. is Zelda style. You play Leon. Occasionally he walks around on his own but 95% of the time you'll be inside your E.G.G. It starts out with just a basic punch and the ability to ball up and spin around, smashing through enemies with ease although using the spinning mode drains your life bar. Later you'll get plenty of cool upgrades like elemental attacks, extentable arms, and the like. Enemies walk around on the map and may attack you just like Zelda. Also like Zelda there's plenty of puzzles to solve. The puzzles range from easy to insanely annoying particularily a couple of tricky race against the clock type of things. The main game takes about 12 hours but there's also some mini-games and not even the people who wrote the guides on gamefaqs know where all the hidden power-ups are.
Overall: If you have a Dreamcast and like Zelda style games E.G.G. is a rather fun excursion despite a few super annoying parts and if you want to find all the power-ups for your E.G.G. you could be playing for quite some time. Plus you can probably find a used copy for under $10 so if you see it grab it.

Ok, enjoy your weekend!

Josiah

Josiah

Ok, there's a new bonus comic up so be sure to vote. Remember you can vote up to once a day and Pebble Version has been a little low in the top 100 this month. And also remember that there is a donation special this month. $5 or more gets you all four Legend of Zelda pages and $10 or more not only gets you the pages but also gets you a signed copy of my book, Guardian of The Stone. Now that I've switched hosts, I don't need quite as much money as before to keep the site going but I still need some and I've been thinking of saving any extra donation money up to invest in a professional site redesign. Nothing's for sure of course but I've been considering it.

Well, what I really need now is sleep so I'll see you on wednesday!

Josiah

This sunday my congregation has a big Isreali Vendor Fair and I have to help out so it looks like one more week before I actually get a relaxing weekend. Sigh... Anyway, sorry I still haven't gotten to the mini-reviews. Next week is looking good though. In the meantime, check out this nifty site. It's funny pokémon parody flash movie.

I've been checking out E3 coverage on the net. So many excellent sequels coming up over the next year not to mention original stuff. And now that I have broadband I can actually watch all the trailers, yea! Have a good weekend!

Josiah

In site news this is the last pokédex entry for a while. Also, expect some mini-reviews once I have a bit more free time.

Josiah

Yawn... Sunday was one weird day. It was mother's day and my dad's birthday. Then there was a wedding I had to go to (the second in three weeks) and then I had to go back to that rock show I helped on friday. See then we were setting everything up. I got to spend my evening putting everything away. And my new school semester starts today (stupid year around college program). Then there's the part about the rapidly rising temperatures around here and the fact that we haven't turned on our air conditioner yet... Sigh... Just one of those days.

Oh yeah, if you missed friday's news post, Pebble Version is now being hosted by Indigo Networks (see their button next to the voting banner?). They're a great company that does hosting and lots of other web related stuff. I highly recommend them.

Josiah

A couple things to remember. First is that I have a special donation deal going on for this month only. Read the donation info below to find out more. Remember, even with new hosting I still need some money to keep Pebble Version going. Also, this is the last strip of the mew hunt side story. Starting monday the comic will switch back to Brendan and May so don't miss it.

I was going to do a mini-review today (yes, really) but that was before I found out that I have to get up early so I can spend all day hauling boxes of rocks for the local rock show. I'm supposed to get paid a little but the only real reason I'm doing this is because I know the guy in charge of the show so I'm kinda stuck. Oh well, there could be worse ways to spend a day.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Josiah

I'll hopefully have a mini-review ready friday so I'll see you then!!

Josiah

For the second announcement, I got a donation special going on this month. First, any donation of $5 or more gets you all four Legend of Zelda Pages. Even better, for this month only, anyone who donates $10 or more gets a free signed copy of my book, Guardian of The Stone. This is way cheaper than getting it anywhere else and it's autographed, and you get the Zelda pages. Not to mention that you help support Pebble Version. If you're interested, just check the donation info below and pick whatever donation method you like the best.

Moving on to non-Pebble Version related stuff, I passed my karate test! Yes!!! It wasn't the easiest test I've taken but it wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be either. Got some mini-reviews I want to do but not tonight. Gotta finish reading the last Otherland book. See you wednesday!!!

Josiah

So, do you like the special effects in this strip? If you didn't follow from last strip, the level eater beam is a secret weapon the black suited guys gave to mewtwo. It hasn't been tested yet but if it works correctly it's supposed to reduce the target's level to five, majorly weakening powerful ones like mew. Also, a correction. Back in monday's newspost I said that mew KO'd sableye with a psychic attack. It was kinda late when I wrote that so I forgot that sableye is part dark and therefor immune to psychic attacks. Actually it's a sky attack. Oh yeah, there's a new link under the link exchange section of the links page so go check it out.

Josiah

Ever read Tad Williams's Otherland series? It's a pretty cool sci-fi series with a great storyline. Speaking of which, I should go read more of it. Later!

Josiah

Got a few big projects I'm working on now (which is the reason I still haven't started weekly bonus comics). I'll tell you more once I actually get some of them finished. But some of them are really cool so you have something to look forward too. See you wednesday!

Josiah

Josiah

Now for the Pokémon Coliseum mini-review.
PC is sorta the third Pokémon Stadium game but PC promised more. Not only did you get lots of 3D battling, you also get a full single player RPG mode! But does it stack up to the Gameboy games?
Graphics: The Gamcube can do better but all your favorite pokémon have never looked better. They have good animation and most of them look really nice. The GC excells with fancy special effects and some of the attacks look quite spectacular. Unfortunately, you only see one pokémon attacking air then see the other getting hit by the attack. You don't see them actually hit eachother. Kinda disapointing but nothing major. Outside of battle though things are kinda bland. That may be because of the desert environment but none of the places in the game really jump out in the 'wow that looks cool' way. The animations for the human characters could use some work as well. Some just look too stiff and unnatural.
Music: There's some nice remixes of familiar music from the GB games. Most of the music is new and sounds pretty good and even catchy at times. Although occasionally it's a little misplaced. Like the theme for the disco tech bad guy Mirror B, which is salsa, not disco. The sound effects are a mixed bag. The sounds for the attacks and the like sound fine but the pokémon themselves are a major disapointment. All they do is occasionally let out a low volume cry which was obviously dumped straight from Ruby/Sapphire. Basically they're really quite and when they do make noise they sounds the same on on the GB. Adding some voice samples from the anime would have made a tremendous difference and helped the battles come to life a lot more.
Story: The hero (who seems to get fashion advice from the Yu-Gi-Oh gang) is a former member of Team Snagem, a group of pokémon theives who, for some unexplained reason, destoryed their hideout and stole the snag machine which lets him capture other trainer's pokémon. Shortly after he saves a girl who informs him of people using 'shadow pokémon'. Only she can see the difference between these and regular pokémon. These shadow pokémon have had the door to their hearts artificially closed so they can attack humans (like they couldn't before?). The boy and girl then set off to snag and purify all the shadow pokémon and find out who's behind this sinister scheme. This is the darkest story of any pokémon game (not that that's saying much) but it's also pretty corny if you think about it...
Gameplay: This is pokémon. Everyone knows how it plays. Unlike most games, your main character is no rookie. You start with an Umbreon and Espeon with levels in the high 20s and lots of money and items. Unlike the GB games, there are no random battles, just trainer fights, and there are no routes between areas, you drive from place to place on your motor bike thing. Also, all battles are 2 on 2, an interesting touch. Occasionally a trainer will have a shadow pokémon which you catch the same way you'd catch a wild one in the GB games. Most of these are pokémon from Gold/Silver that aren't available in Ruby/Sapphire, which is nice because after beating the game you can trade them back and forth with Ruby/Sapphire. Once you've caught a pokémon you need to purify it which can be done by having it in your party, usuing it in battle, and massaging it with cologne (yes, I'm serious). Finally you take it to this weird rock and open the door to it's heart. The real question though, is why would anyone want a shadow pokémon? In the game they always go on about how strong they are but after using them for a bit you'll notice that they have several major cons and only a couple questionable pros when compared to regular pokémon. Outside of the story mode, you can use you team from story mode or your GB to fight though various groups of trainers and win items, TMs, and the like.
Overall: If you don't have any of the GB games don't even bother, get them instead. They all have much deeper gameplay and lots more to do. If you have Ruby/Sapphire though and the thought of either the 3D battling or catching all those otherwise unobtainable Gold/Silver pokémon peaks your interest then it's time to get PC and 'Purify 'em all!'.

Josiah

Our congregation had a Yom HaShoa (Holacaust Remembrance Day) service yesterday at the local college. We had a little trouble with the timing on the Powerpoint presentation but overall it went well. And it is very important to remember what happened back then and make sure it never happens again.

There will be a mini-review wednesday or friday and I got a couple big things in the works for the not too distant (I hope) future. That about covers it for now. Later!

Josiah

Josiah

Now onto something I've been meaning to talk about for some time. Donations have been pretty much non-existant for quite a while now. Not good. And no, I don't need the money to buy a new TV or anything. Simply put, Pebble Version costs a pretty decent amount of money to keep going. You may wonder why I didn't get a free site on geocities or something like that. Simply put, I don't want my readers having to wade through a mess of advertisements and out of bandwidth messages just to read my comic. Unfortunately, such goals cost money. And while I love doing Pebble Version, I can't afford to pay for it out of my own pocket. I already put in hours each week working on the site and comics even with all the other things I need to get done. I often check the stats for this site and I know how many thousands of people read this comic each month. If even as few as ten of those thousands would donate $2 every month it would make a tremendous difference. That really isn't much is it? Plus you get bonus gifts and if more people started donating I'd give out new donation gifts every month instead of every other month like I currently am. Well, what do you say? I have to say, I won't try to force you to donate, Pebble Version will always be a free comic but surely there's at least a few of you out there who think $2 a month is an small enough price to help keep Pebble Version on-line, right? Anyway, if you decide to donate, you can find the paypal button below in the Donation Info section along with the mailing address if you prefer to send cash, checks, or a money order (e-mail me if you do and let me know). I'd really really appreciate the help.

See you soon.

Josiah

In other site news, I still have no clue why a large amount of the banners on the link page occasionally fail to display when loaded in a browser. They are all fine in the editor but they literally disapear (both from the page and the source code) at times when I view the page in IE. If anyone has an idea I could use some help.

And that's all for today. Had some stuff to talk about but I've had a cold all weekend and I need my sleep. Later!

Josiah

Before we being you must keep in mind that Drakengard is not a Squaresoft game. It was made by Cavia and published by Enix but because of the merger, it's Square-Enix now so some people got confused when Drakengard wasn't like previous Square games.
Graphics: The gaphics aren't bad. The animation for Caim (the main character) and his allies in battle is quite good as are the character models. And the FMVs (the only thing done by Square) are excellent. The animations for some of the enemies and the out of battle animations are rather jerky and unnatural though. And while the arial environments look nice, the ground levels seem rather bland at times. Of course, since you're in a war torn landscape it kinda fits.
Sound: The music is good although it often grows pretty dissonosant at times. Of course, juding by what's happening the game, it's supposed to sound that way. Interestingly enough, most is remixes of old classical tunes. Sound effects are good, particularily the weapon sounds. Voices are a mixed bag. Most of them sound very good although some seem a bit over dramatic. And some are insanely annoying (I'd love to swat the stupid fairy with my sword) but in those cases that is actually the intended effect.
Story: Um, yeah... Drakengard is probably the weirdest and darkest game I've ever played. The story is decent but nowhere near as epic as you average Square game. In a nutshell the world is supported by several seals, one of which is held by the goddess, Furiai. The evil empire wants to destory the seals even though prophecy says it will bring about the end of the world. The Union seeks to protect those seals, particularily the goddess. Caim is Furiai's sister. While defending her castle he's mortally wounded and makes a pact with a mortally wounded dragon to survive even though he hates dragons (a dragon killed his parents). The pact causes Caim to lose his voice but he and the dragon go on to fight against the empire and protect the goddess. Along the way you meat other characters, most of which have also made pacts. Even when you've gotten all five endings, the story leaves a handful of important questions unanswered. Whether this is intentional to make you wonder or just sloppy I can't tell. The story is very dark, big on cruel irony and twists of fate and violent. None of the endings can really be considered happy. The first one, however is pretty good. The others though... Basically as Caim's world falls into chaos in the later endings so does the plot and things just keep getting stranger. By the time you see the fourth ending you'll be wanting to know what they were smoking when they wrote it (so you can destory the evil substance.).
Gameplay: The game has three play modes. While fighting in the air Caim rides the dragon. You're not on rails so you can go where you want as you fight off a large assortment of flying monsters. The dragon can fly, fly faster, make quick dodge moves, shoot fireballs, shoot smaller homing fireballs, and occasionally fire off a powerful magic attack. The arial battles can sometimes can really fast and frantic but are easily the most fun parts of the game. As you fight your dragon gets stronger and at certain parts of the game the dragon evolves into stronger forms. After clearing the air, you often go to straifing mode. Here you fly right above the battle field and torch the legions of soldiers below. If you run into something the draogn can't handle like magic relfecting enemies and archers, Caim can hop on the ground to fight them normally. Caim too gets experience and levels up. After this you may move on to full ground battles. On the ground Caim runs around with whatever weapon you have equiped and cuts down seemingly endless hordes of enemy soldiers. There's a lot of different types of enemies but with missions having anywhere from 200-2500 enemies, you'll fight plenty of all of them. You don't have to clear every enemy on the map but you will if you want to find new weapons. Battles go something like this: see a group of soldiers, approach group, push square until your weapon starts to glow, push triangle when your weapons glows for a powerful finishing move, grab and health or other spheres that might have appeared, and finally repeat several million times. This can get pretty boring at times but all the weapons handle a little differently and have different magic attacks and there are lots of enemy types. Plus there's just something cool about taking out twenty armed knights at once without a getting so much as a scratch. Still expect to get bored with the combat at times.
Overall: If you like hack and slash games, fun arial combat, and really dark and depressing story lines than Drakengard is for you. If you didn't answer yes to all three, I'd give it a rental first. Drakengard is an interesting game and there's fun to be had even amidst the extremely repititious combat but between the bloodsoaked gameplay and dark linear story this is definately not a game for everyone.

In other news, I've hardly gotten any non-spam e-mail lately. If you have some time, drop me a line and tell me what you think of the comic. I'd love to hear from you. Also, if we've got any web deisgn experts out there, I've noticed that often times a large amount of the link banners on the links page simply don't appear on the page. There's no broken images they're just not there (they even disapear from the source code). Oddly enough, both the banners and the code are perfect in my web editor. If anyone has some ideas that'd be great.

Josiah

Josiah

Anyway, Passover starts this week which means lots of extra prep work for me so I spent the majority of my evening getting school work done since I won't have time later this week. The result of that? The Drakengard mini-review has been postpned till Wednesday. Hopefully there will be no further delays.

See you then!

Josiah

In other site news, that big suprise I mentioned is still coming. I was hoping it would be ready in time for strip #100 but it still needs some more time. I don't have a set date but look for it in the relatively near future. Also, there's a new bonus comic up so be sure to keep voting.

As for today's strip, as I mentioned before, the comic will be taking a brief break from Brendan and May to show what's currently happening a couple routes over. This never happens in the games but it's the first part of the original plot I'll be working in and this little sub-plot will end up being pretty important.

Well, thanks again, and here's hoping for another hundred!

Josiah

Josiah

See the new snazzier looking pokédex design? Wil at Mushroom Kingdom Hearts did it for me. I'll not only be using it in the new comics, I also went and redid numbers #96 and 97 with it. Neat! Thanks Wil!

Josiah

Yawn... Oh man, if I get through this newspost without falling asleep I'll be lucky. I'd be even luckier if I don't dream about Drakengard. See, I was about to call Sony but then I decided to use the CD/DVD player cleaner I'd bought a while back on my PS2 first. It worked so I figured I'd get the remaining four Drakengard endings before starting into Pokémon Coliseum. I only have one more to go now but I'm kinda wishing I'd stopped after the first ending... The first one is good although it leaves a couple unanswered questions. The other endings endevour to answer them but as the world in the game falls into chaos so does the plot. The second and third endings were weird and I've heard the fifth (which I haven't gotten yet) is the joke ending. Ans since the fourth requires you to do all the optional missions and stuff I figured it would probably be the best one. WRONG! To put it bluntly it was one of the most bizzare and disturbing things I've ever seen. I just hope that army of giant naked flying evil flesh-eating zombie babies doesn't leave me scarred for life... You might think it sounds funny but not the way it's done in the game. I don't know what they were smoking when they wrote that part of the game but, ugh...

In site news I added a new link to Alien Dice. Check it out on the Links page. It's a cool web manga that obviously get at least a little inspiration from Pokémon. I also added a new About Me page with a bit of info about, well, me. Anyway, it's there if anyone is interested. And no, neither of these things is the surprise I mentiong earlier this week. As for Buzz Comix, I think we've got a record number of votes this month but the Top 10 is a long ways off and there's only a week left before the 100th comic. Remember you can vote once per day.

Josiah

Josiah

Hmm... Aside from a recurring problem with my MP3 player which the tech support people in India can't seem to understand, much less fix, it seems my PS2 has gone on the fritz again despite being repaired not that long ago. Woke up on day and suddenly half my PS2 games won't load only PS1 stuff works fine (opposite of last time). Guess it's time to call Sony again. Hope they fix it for free like before. If they don't I'll have to attempt it myself or buy a new system (which is currently way out of my budget). Looks like that mini-review of Drakengard will have to wait a while.

See you wednesday!

Josiah

Josiah

I was looking on Buzz Comix. Hmm... If everyone voted once per day Pebble Version could be in the Top 10 before we reach the 100th strip. Not like that'd ever happen but voting only takes several seconds (use the button on the left or the banner up above), you get to see a nifty bonus comic, and it would be really awesome if we could hit the Top 10... Just something to think about.

Josiah

Josiah

As for Drakengard, I'll post a mini-review once I finish it but for now here's some thoughts. It has got to be the most violent game I've ever played, although I usually avoid overally violent games so overall it's really not too bad (a bit of blood when guys die). The story is interesting but pretty dark. There's melicious psycho faries, a zombie like evil army, and child soldiers who must be killed. Not stuff for kids. Basically, the main character Caim makes a pact with a dragon joining their lives so Caim gets the power he needs to fight The Empire, an evil army out to kill the goddess (Caim's sister) who supports a seal that is said to keep the world from falling into chaos. There are three types of gameplay. Arial, in which you fly the dragon around and fight off airships, other dragons, flying rock things, and the like. The action is fast but these stages can get pretty difficult. Fortunately, your dragon does get experience and level up so it's easy enough to power up if you get stuck. Things can get pretty nasty if you get surrounded by large groups of enemies. After the skies are cleared there's often straif missions. In these you fly around with the dragon while raining fire down on the hapless soldiers below. You can also hop off to take care of archers, mages, and other things that can knock your dragon from the air. Then there are ground missions without the dragon. Fighting is basically a hack and slash. Square, square, pursh triangle at the right time for a finishing move, repeat. There's lots of different enemy types but you'll see tons of each and none are very smart. You'll slash your way through wave after wave of enemies with a variety of different weapons which all handel a little differently and level up as they get kill. Each also has its own magic attack that also levels up. Actually, the lack of enemy AI is probably good. Considering the sheer numbers of soldiers that come at you in each mission if they were any smarter the difficulty would go from decent to nightmarish. An average ground mission has between 200 and 500 enemies while I've seen up to 850 in some of the bigger ones. Even with the different weapons and magic things get repititious pretty quick. Anyway, if you don't mind the endless hack and slash violence and dark plot Drakengard is an interesting hybred game you may want to check out.

Josiah

Vandal Hearts is an old PS1 strategy RPG made by Konami. I picked up a used copy a little while back. Here's what I think.
Graphics: No nice way to put this, the graphics suck. And I'm not talking about modern standards either. While the battle fields look decent enough, the character models are just plain ugly, no way around it. And it doesn't help that 80% of the characters and enemies practically errupt in a fountain of blood when killed (how to skeletons have blood anyway). Still, don't judge the game by the graphics.
Music and Sound: The music is pretty good although not really memorable. The game could use a few more tacks however, short as the game is, you'll no doubt tire of the couple of battle themes before the end. The sound effects are decent too, there's even one for those erupting blood fountains I mentioned.
Gameplay: If you've played any Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre games the system is similar. But instead of taking turns based on speed, all your characters take their turns in any order you choose than all the enemies take their turns then it repeats. Each turn a character can move than act and all physical attacks are countered. There is a limited job system. Characters can advance to a stronger job when they reach levels 10 and 20. Occasionally you may get to choose between two jobs but not often. The game has a rock, paper, scissors feel. Each job type is strong against another job type and weak against another. For example, Airman are strong against Soldiers but weak against Archers. Battles are huge. You eventually end up with a massive 12 man party and all of them fight in every battle! Plus you usually end up fighting at least twice your number of enemies. The AI isn't very good. Enemies will often get killed with counters and in the bigger battles about half the enemies will stand around doing nothing until you've slaughtered the first half. Still, the sheer numbes and limited healing items keeps things challenging. Outside of battle, you can manage your items, shop, talk to people in bars, and that's about it. There are no random battles in this game and you can not revisit old battle fields, making the game's only sub-quest (which involves collecting certain hidden items) a miss one and you're screwed deal. Completing the quest though, allows your main character to change to the ultimate job. Aside from the big stat boosts, it lets him use every spell and special attack in the game and let's him use unlimited amounts of every item!!! This is kinda cheap but very cool too.
Story: You control a young member of the peace keeping force in Istaria, a newly formed democratic country. Unfortunately, there's a plot afoot to take the government over and your party gets caught in the middle of it. While nothing amazing, the story is pretty good and has a few interesting twists. It'll keep you playing for the 12-16 hours it takes to beat this extremely linear game.
Overall: While it has nothing on Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre, Vandal Hearts is still an enjoyable strategy RPG and is worth the $10-20 a used copy will probably cost you. Just don't get turned off by the ugly graphics.

Josiah

For those of you tired of the poorly thrown pokéball gag, this is the last one in the forseeable future. Brendan has improved a bit and May usually doesn't miss. Not much else to report in site news. The forums are going well, and I have a sort of mini-donation special going this month if you didn't know (see below for more info).

I just got my Pokémon Coliseum bonus disk (yes, Jirachi is mine!) and my copy of Drakengard. I'll tell you more about it later. I also plan on doing a mini-review later this week for a little heard of PS stratagy RPG called Vandal Hearts. As for revenge, I've got some good ideas, maybe I'll even tell you about a couple after the fact. MegamanX724 suggested I don't do anything and while that has some merit, not this time. They made too much of a mess of my stuff to let it go or even attempt a psyche out.

See you wednesday!

Josiah

Got a ton to do before the weekend so I'd better run. Have a good weekend.

Josiah

Speaking of bonus comics, there is a new one up in case you didn't see monday's news post so get voting! Also, I got a new donation gift this month and a sort of mini special offer going. It's a pretty nice deal if you haven't gotten all the pages of The Legend of Zelda A Dink in the Past. It's a comic I'm doing based on TLOZ A Link to the Past. Each page is really large and really funny so check either monday's post or the donation info below to find out more. Remember, Pebble Version doesn't only require my time to stay on-line. I also have to pay for the hosting, domain name, etc and all donations are greatly appreciated.

Josiah

Speaking of donating there's a new donation gift this month so read the donation section below to find out more. Remember, just $1, or 5, or 200, will get you a nifty gift and help me pay off this comic's hosting fees. Got a special deal running this month too. This month's gift is the next page or two (time depending) or The Legend of Zelda A Dink in the Past, my hillarious full page Zelda comic. And since the majority of you readers missed out on the first three pages any donation of $5 or more gets them all. What are you waiting for?

Don't forget the forums either. We're having a lot of fun over there and the more the merrier. Just sign up and start posting. Hope to see you there!

Josiah

Sigh, wouldn't it be nice if things worked like they did in Final Fantasy? My luck sucks. At least when it comes to the more random things like luck of the draw in card games and dice (don't get me started on dice). On a RPG stat scale of 0 to 255 my luck is seems to be about a 20. And when it is good it never lasts long enough for me to finish whatever game or tournament I'm in. It's time like this I wish I could just go out, kill some monsters, and drink a few luck potions for a much needed stat boost. Sigh...

Well, I got a math test tomorrow and to make matters worse I forgot to bring a calculater on this trip. It's going to be interesting and I'll need some rest. See you next week!

Josiah

Josiah

Well, here I am in AZ. And I'll be here until sometime early next week. I'll do my best to keep the updates to their usual times but no promises. I went to a Shlock Rock concert this afternoon. They're one of my favorite groups. And there's another concert sunday. Not sure exactly what I'm going to do the rest of the time here. School of course, and I want to try and find an anime store.

One last note. You never realize how great broadband internet is until you have to go without it. Argh! Dial up is so slow! I miss my cable modem and wireless network... Well, that's all for now. Later!

Josiah

I'm gonna be in AZ over the next week. As usual, I'll have my laptop and updates should continue as normal. Although the updates may be a few hours early or late. And for those of you on the forums, if I don't post as much this coming week you'll know why.

Josiah

Ok, just some thoughts on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (a full mini review will come later). This is not a regular FF game. The story is pretty barebones. The world is covered with a deadly mist called miasma. The power of the crystals protects the villages but they need to be repowered each year using Myrrah which can be gotten from trees which go in really hard to reach locations. Your group is in charge of finding the Myrrah each year for you village. I've only played multiplayer so far but single player sounds pretty similiar exept you have a AI moogle to assist you. For multiplayer every needs a GBA. This is expensive but the setup has its advantages. Players use the GBA screen to access their menus and shop without freezing the action for everyone else. Also, each player randomly gets one of four screens in each dungeon, a map, a treasure locator, a monster locator, and monster stats. To protect you from the miasma you carry a crystal chalice. If you leave its protective barrier you'll gradually take damage. Unfortunately, whoever's carrying the chalice can't do much else so it usually gets dropped when monsters appear. Your party goes to different dungeons to find Myrrah inside you'll search for chests and fend off monsters action RPG style. The combat is more hack and slash than anything else. Just walk up and start swinging your weapon. Or you can use a focus attack, magic spell, or item. You can even combo spells and attacks to create new and/or stronger moves if your timing is good. Teamwork is a must, you'll always be yelling to go that way to get a chest or to bring the chalice that way or heal some one, or something. Tip: don't give peole you don't trust control of the chalice. Tip: you may want to make a deal about who gets the chests and items dropped by monsters so it doesn't turn into a first one there swipes it thing (yes I'm talking about you Jacob, stop hogging the gil). Leveling up is strange, mainly cause you don't do it! Instead, you find stat boosting items in dungeons and at the end everyone gets to pick one item to permanently keep. First dibs go the the person who racked up the most bonus points by fufilling the condition on their GBA screen. Throw in maze like dungeons, challenging monsters, occasional puzzles, and a bunch of unlockable mini-games and you've have a very expensive but insanely fun multiplayer experience. If you've got the friends and the GBAs this is a game you don't want to miss.

Josiah

In game news, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a blast to play, at least the multiplayer is. Going dungeon crawling with three friends it insanely fun and addicting. I haven't had a chance to try single player yet so no comments there. I'll talk more about the gameplay later this week but for now, if you have some friends with GBAs who are willing to give it a go, FFCC is a must get.

Now, there is a new bonus comic up so be sure to vote and see it. This is particularily important now because Buzz Comix just did some major upgrades which unfortunately required resetting this month's vote totals so Pebble Version's posistion took a serious dive. Please vote! And while you're at it, you can check out some of those new features I mentioned. Now you can get a Buzz Comix account even if you don't have a comic. Why? With an account you can leave reviews for comics (please leave some reviews for Pebble Version) and even set up a personal favorites list so you can easily acces and vote for all you favorite comics. And, as an added bonus, comics gain one popularity point for each favorite list they're on (hint, hint).

I'm kinda in a hurry now so I'll talk more on wednesday. Later!

Josiah

Well, I was going to do a mini-review but that was before I found out that I need to get up at 5 AM to take a math test. Long story short, my brother, a couple friends, and I are going to the local ski area tomorrow to attempt snowboarding. I say attempt because my brother is the only one who has done it before and he's only a beginner. Problem is, I'm taking classes over the internet now, that usually lets me choose my own schedule within reason but my math teacher is a pain and for some reason he sets a very small window of time in which you can take each test. So I have to get it done tomorrow before sundown since I can't do school on shabbat (sabbath) and we don't know when we'll get back from snowboarding. That means I have to take the test really really early Which in turn means that I need my sleep.

Oh yeah, if you read the updated version of the last news post you'll notice my thoughts on the temporary demise of Squidi.net, home of A Modest Destiny and The Starship Destiny, two of my favorite comics. Read the post if you want more details. First the good news, both comics are back on-line and the updates continue, yea!!! The bad news is that that comics are about the only thing that is back. Aside from the forums, FAQ, and the comics themselves pretty much everything else is gone which means no cool extra features. Hopefully they'll return soon though. Please?

Josiah

I just got Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Haven't got a chance to play it yet but I went through the manual and it looks cool. I'm having some friends come over this weekend for a four man multiplayer session (Note to Jacob: Get a GB-GC cable!!!) so I'll fill you in after that.

And, just in case someone missed the last couple news posts, the Pebble Version forums are up and running!  The link is on the nav-bar on the left so head over and start posting!

UPDATE!!! Squidi.net the home of both A Modest Destiny and the new Starship Destiny comics is on indefinite hold. Sean Howard, te creator, makes completely original pixel art (aka sprites) and all he asks is that people don't steal and/or modify them. Is that so wrong? I write books and I wouldn't want people stealing and modifying them. Sure, shutting down the entire comic might seem a bit extreme but if he feels that strongly that's fine because it's his original art that's being stolen. For any of you who like Sean comics, check the site, send him an encouraging message, and send an entirely different message to the jerk who drove Sean to shut down the site.

Josiah

In case you missed friday's post, the forums are now up and running! The link can be found on the nav bar on the left. I'd like to thank everyone that's already posted and for those of you who have yet to sign up and/or start posting and replying, hurry up and do it! I'm having a lot of fun withe forums so far and the more people the better!

Also, I realized it's been a while since I nagged you all to vote and donate so I'm going to do that now. Voting is the quickest and easiest way to help support Pebble Version. It's free, takes only a few seconds, and you even get to see a cool bonus comic. There's nothing to lose! You can vote with either the button on the left or the banner near the top of the page and can do it up to once a day. As for donating, any donations of $1 or more get a special gift. Sometimes it's Zelda comics, sometimes it's wallpaper, and right now it's a hillarious short story I wrote. And, if you donate $15 or more you even get a free autographed copy of my book, Guardian of The Stone. Of course, you don't have to donate a thing to enjoy Pebble Version but I do appreciate all donations. Keeping this comic going takes money (hosting fees, etc) and a lot of my own free time and sending me a few bucks every now and then is a great way to say that you like what I'm doing.

Well, I could say more but instead I think I'll keep reading A Game of Thrones. Must... Finish... Chapter... Later all!

Josiah

In other news I'm planning to start adding new bonus comics once per week instead of every other week like now. But it'll be at least a couple weeks before this starts since I want to get a few other Pebble Version things done first. Speaking of which, I fixed up the old bonus comics on the Extras page. They're more like the regular archives now so they're much easier to navigate.

Anyway, please go post in the forums and have a good weekend!

Josiah

There's a new bonus comic in case you missed the announcement on monday so be sure to vote and take a look. Still working on the forums and a couple improvements to the site too. Hmm... Seems the only e-mail I've gotten lately is copies of that new virus (good thing I keep Norten updated). Sure would like to find something else in my inbox for a change. Drop me a line if you feel like it.

Josiah

Played football and watched the Super Bowl sunday. Actually I'm not a big sports fan but a lot of my friends watch and I like the commercials. Our football game was interesting. The field started out kinda muddy and ended up almost swampy. You couldn't stop or turn of anything. And you got coated with mud.

Don't forget to vote and donate. The forums will be done soon. See you later!

Josiah