Updates

I haven't updated in a few days and I feel guilty about it.

I'll give a Pokemon update. I haven't played this as much as other people so I am going to give up on the Pokemon updates because everyone has already done what I am doing. I'm 5 badges in and I can see it taking me a while to finish because I am putting more time into my college work and don't want to quit my daily exercise routine.
I'm also putting more time into books, on Friday I got 3 books Bret Harts autobiography and Mick Foley's first two autobiography's.
I have been reading Mick's first book Mankind: Have a Nice Day. Recently I made my self read a 400+ page book, this took me two months, now I am reading this book and I don't know if it the material or Mick or what but his book is 700+ pages and I have read over 500 of them in the space of 4 days.

Anyway new stuff soon I promise and I'll try and keep to my promise and not keep doing wrestling and games.

Failing

Well I gave it my all and revised every day for my first AS exam but I still failed. Well shit.
Oh well I'll just have to work harder.
I look at exams in two ways. If I fail then I have to work harder so that I can pass.
If I pass then I have to continue to work hard so that I can continue to pass. If I give up now then I would have lost 5 months of my life that I will never get back and that isn't something that I want to have regrets over so I have to continue to work and learn and make sure that I can pass my resit.

I'm not bitter and I know well that I choose to do the subjects I did. I choose the odd mix of Fine Art, Media and Chemistry. Chemistry is the odd one out here and to be honest I wanted to do physics but I didn't have a choice in the matter it was that or art so I picked art and went for second best with science.

Chemistry CH1 is hard, like I don't know why we didn't do CH2 first because it is much easier, CH1 wasn't pure chemistry and there was a lot of stuff that I struggled to understand. Ch2 though is more pure chemistry and I am understanding it quite well.

It could just be that I don't have the talent for the likes of Science and Maths, I was good at it when I was younger but over the years I have taken leaps and bounds in what was my weakest subject English. I suppose you could say that I have evened out and I would like to think that it is going to help me but at times I can't help but think what if I was still all science and maths? Would I have passed then? It isn't worth wasting my time thinking about such things. I just need to focus and continue to improve. Some people say that the first exam is always the hardest, if they are right then good if that is the case then I should find them easier every time.

I don't intend to quit I want to finish what I started even if it takes longer than I hoped.

Filler

I haven't posted much these last few days because I have been busy so here is some pointless filler that explains the last few weeks of my life.

I've decided that I can't be arsed with retro game systems anymore. The NES, SNES, Master System and Mega Drive may all be classics but for the sake of everything I might as well get rid of them. So I have, in the last two weeks I have sold nearly all of it and I only have a few left overs the money is quite good and there is more to come. I won't really miss the consoles and playing the games won't be an issue because there are other ways of playing them, most classic games have been re-released in some form whether that be a compilation or download or what ever there is always a way to play most of these games. Truth is the main reason for selling was convenience, sure blowing carts may be part of the experience but making the things work can be a pain not to mention because I live in PAL territory everything is slowed down 15%. I recently played the American versions of some of my old NES and Mega Drive games and to be honest I won't be missing them because the games are much better in the NTSC 60Hz format.

Anyway all this selling has left me with more money and free space than I have ever had so what better way to spend the money than on new furniture, in the past week I have torn town wardrobes and cupboards to replace them with clothes racks and shelves and it looks much nicer. I also got a 28 inch CRT telly for a quid which is pretty nice.

I should be responsible and save all that money I made but no matter what way you look at it I still have more than I did before so I may as well spend some of it, on what I don't know.

WWF No Way Out 2002

I actually watched No Way Out on Sky Sports nine years ago, yes nine years, it has been that long. It is always nice to go back to the stuff that I can hardly remember.

No Way Out 2002 has 7 matches on the card as well as a promo from the NWO who debuted that night.

The show starts with the debut of the NWO despite being one of the things that killed WCW the NWO was met quite well by fans. Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan made their way to the ring and explained that they were not at WWE to cause trouble and that they were just fans who wanted to hang out with the boys in the back. Thankfully the promo was no longer than it needed to be and it served its purpose of making us aware of the NWO.

Match 1 - Tag Team Turmoil
This is a 6 team elimination tag match where in which two teams go at it in the ring and a new one enters whenever a team is pinned.
The 6 teams involved in the match were:
Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert - Scotty was never going to win this but as always he did his job as the hype man and got the crowd in the right mood.
Christian & Lance Storm - The heel tag team didn't get any cheers nor did they get heel heat likes boos, crowd don't care for them that much.
The Hardy Boyz - The Hardy Boyz had been gone for a while so they got a good pop from he crowd when they returned.
The Dudley Boyz - The Dudleys as always came in with a bang and got a crowd reaction that matched that of the Hardy Boyz.
Billy & Chuck - They are not a bad team or anything but compared to the Dudleys and the Hardys no one really cared about them.
APA - The APA were the last team to enter and got a decent crowd pop.

The match started with Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert going up against Christian and Albert. All for put up a decent performance. Scotty went for the worm on Lance Storm but has hit by Christians Unprettier. After that the Hardy Boyz returned with Lita, at that point it because a game of who could reverse the most finishers. hardys got the pin after hitting Christian with a Twist of Fate and Sawnton Bomb. The Dudleys come out and the two teams brawl for a few minutes, Jeff Hardy takes out Bubba Ray Dudley by somersaulting out of the ring and Matt Hardy gets a roll up pin on D-Von Dudley. The Dudleys kick off and beat up the Hardys, they 3D Jeff head first into the outer ring mat. Billy & Chuck enter the ring and it becomes a handicap match as only Matt can fight, the two easily walk over Matt Hardy and get the pin. The APA comes out the two teams fight for a few minutes and the APA win and become number one contenders after Bradshaw hits Billy (or was it Chuck) with a clothesline from hell.
In all because of the nature of the match there wasn't enough time for wrestling so the teams beat the crap out of each other.

Match 2 - Goldust Vs. Rob Van Dam

This is one of those filler matches, the type that are there to help fill the 2 1/2 hours. Lots of mind games by Goldust and lots of high flying by RVD. For the first half of the match we see RVD getting beaten up by Goldust, RVD turns it around and hits Goldust with some kicks and a rolling thunder, he goes for a 5 star frog splash but misses, Goldust goes for a curtain call, RVD counters and continues to fight back he hits Goldust with a spinning heel kick and pins him after hitting a 5 star frog splash. A short match and not that interesting.

Match 3 - World Tag Team Championship Tazz & Spike Dudley Vs. Booker T & Test

For the most of this match Spike and Tazz get their asses kicked by Booker T and Test they throw the odd counter move to help get them back in the match. After the initial beat down Tazz and Spike turn it around, Tazz spends more time in the ring beating up Booker T and Test, Spike doesn't do much in this match, Tazz gets the win using the Tazzmission on Test after he is pushed by the ref. Again short match and not too interesting.

Match 4 - Brass Knuckles on a pole match for the intercontinental championship William Regal Vs. Edge

This is a Vince Russo style gimmick match where the two wrestlers have to fight over an object on a pole. This is actually a normal match you don't have to use the Brass Knuckles to win you just have to pin the opponent which kind of kills the match really. If you get the beat down on your opponent why would you risk your dominance by climbing the pole where you are defenseless, this kind of gimmick match defines pointless. Anyway the two pair up well and it would have been a good match if they didn't have to fight over the brass knuckles on a pole. Regal wins after pulling a second pair of brass knuckles from his tights so instead of fairly winning with brass knuckles he illegally wins with brass knuckles. Bit of a waste if you ask me.

Match 5 - The Undertaker Vs. The Rock

After losing to Jericho at the Royal Rumble The Rock had nothing to do so he was thrown in a short feud with The Undertaker where Taker was mad with The Rock for taking the piss out of him for being knocked out of the Royal Rumble by Maven from tough enough series 1.
This wasn't a great match but then again there was nothing at stake like Goldust and RVD before them this match was there to fill the 2 1/2 hours. The match had a slow pace and for for first half we watched The Rock get beat around by Undertaker both in the ring and out the ring. We see the two fight though the crowd and the arena, Undertaker beats The Rock around some more, the match starts to become really tired and dull so The Rock starts to fight back but Undertaker chock slams him. Soon enough Undertaker gets bored of the dullness and takes matters into his own hands but pulling a lead pipe out of his motorcycle, just then Ric Flair runs in and attacks Undertaker, Take knocks Flair out with the big boot. The Rock gets up and puts Taker into a sharp shooter to turn the match around, Vince McMahon runs in to distract The Rock, Take goes to Tombstone The Rock but Ric Flair hits him with the lead pipe, The Rock hits Taker with the Rock Bottom and gets the pin. In all this was a dull boring match by the two of them and it will be easily forgotten.

Match 6 - #1 contender match Kurt Angle Vs. Triple H
Triple H won the Royal Rumble after being out for 8 months with an injury and became the #1 contender for the WWF Undisputed championship at Wrestlemania. Kurt Angle blamed Triple H for ruining his chance to win the Rumble on his first try and wanted revenge. Triple H was having marriage problems with Stephanie and was on the verge of breaking up with her, she didn't want to lose Triple H so she lied to him about being pregnant so they they would renew their wedding vows. Triple H found out about this and split with her. Stephanie wanting revenge made her self the special ref for the match.
The match starts off quite quickly with both wrestlers showing an impressive display of offense, Stephanie is knocked out after being hit with a Kurt Angle clothesline. After that the match goes on and it continues to impress the Pace is constant and the two are giving it everything they have got. Stephanie soon enough returns to the ring and makes herself the ref again, thankfully she takes another ref bump and is KO'd again. Tom White becomes ref again but is attacked by Stephine who will do what it takes to see that Triple H loses. Kurt Angle gets up and nails Triple H across the head with a chair and pins Triple H to win the match. Kurt must have hit Triple H hard because he vomited after the match.
In all it was a pretty good match just a shame that Stephanie was involved.

Match 7 - Undisputed Championship Chris Jericho Vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
This was an OK match but it isn't particularly memorable. The two give the type of title match that you would expect, it is long and evenly paced, the early parts of the match are spent with the 2 wearing each other down, the match becomes much faster paced towards the end. There was nothing wrong with the match itself it was watchable. The match ends when the NWO run in and attack Austin giving Jericho the win.

In all it was an alright PPV, it wasn't anything special though and its only real purpose was to build up to Wrestlemania X8 that came a month later. The PPV is included in the WWE Tagged Classics range and is bundled with Backlash 2002. As tagged classics go it is one of the cheaper ones but then again these two Pay Per Views will be easily forgotten.

The lack of poekmon.

I said that I would update on Pokemon White every day but I have been very busy so I'll play catch up tomorrow. It might be better to do that because I can make the posts bigger and go over more stuff that way. So in all it is more conveniant.

pokemon White Log: Day two

So I've just finished my second day on pokemon white and I'm just over 20 hours in.

Continuing from where I left off yesterday I caught some new pokemon and used them to beat the second gym. Gamefreak has decided to make poekmon locations more coveniant, before it would be that the pokemon near the gym would be the same type as the gym, now the rule is that the pokemon near the gym are the pokemon that match the gyms weakness so there were many fighting type pokemon near the normal Gym. I caught a Throh (a fighting pokemon that does judo) and without training it at all used it to completely walk over the gym.
After getting the basic badge I ran into team plasma again who have stolen a fossil from the musieum so it is up to me to get it back. I headed into the woods which was full of grass and bug pokemon (the same type as the next gym) and I was able to get the skull back. With that done I headed out of the forest and came to that bridge and city that everyone was making a big fuss about when the game was announced last year. So I run across this bridge (it takes like a minute to get across) and I got to the big city and saw the fancy spinning roads with my own two eyes, it was all very pretty. After sight seeing and beating up some break dancers I found myself fighting team Plasma again after they stole a pokemon from one of my in game rivals iwht that out of the way I challanged the bug gym thinking I could walk over it with my bird, I was wrong. I keep an unwriten rule with gyms and it is that you should get through it in one go because of this and the fact that I never bother buying items I ended up getting my ared kicked by the gym leader twice. After that I thought sod this and I went back to the woods to level grind, this meant crossing the bridge again.Turns out my bird pokemon was a level away from evolving so I just headed straight back to the gym and took the badge that was rightfully mine.
Since then I have moved onto route 4 where I have fought both of my rivals again and as always they stood no chance. I should have gone route 4 before facing the bug gym because you can get fire pokemon here. I suppose it doesn't matter now. Anyway more level grinding, hopefully the pace of the game will start to quicken.

So after 10 hours of play: I have seen 36 pokemon and have obtained 23 of them. My party has had a few changes:
Panpour (FRO) Lv.20 - I'm still using this pokemon, it is useable but it isn't a game changer so unless it evolves or something I will replace it when a better water type shows up.
Tranquill LV.25 - My Pidove evolved and now it is an almost unstoppable force with a great movestead, it already knows Roost and Detect.
Roggenrola (The Rock) Lv.19 - I'm still sticking with this little one, not a very good attacker but it's type is useful, hopefully it will evolve to become a tank.
Herdier (Road Dogg) Lv.20 - He is still very handy and I can't see him going anywhere.
Servine (Stone Cold) Lv.24 - Snivy evoloved and now it only knows grass moves. I hope to god there is a water, rock or ground gym later on because it will destroy it.
Throh Lv.22 - Awesome fighting Pokemon who can take a lot of hits and at the same time deliver a lot of damage, I love it.

These daily updates will probably get shorter over time now that my initial reaction to the game has died down but I am still interested in what else the game may have to show me.

Pokemon White Log: Day one.

So today I went into town and bought Pokemon White after saying that I wasn't going to bother oh isn't it funny how things don't go as planned. truth is I had some games to trade so I got it for the sweet price of £3.
Anyway after a good 5 hours worth of playtime before the game has even come out I have to say that this isn't simply more of the same. I don't know why but there is something about Pokemon White that feels fresh, I think it may be how they have adjusted the direction slightly.

Once again I am playing as a boy who has been sent on a journey by a scientist to fill an electronic encyclopedia that can instantly record the data of any Pokemon you find which is funny because this suggests that the pokedex already has all 500 odd Pokemon recorded on it and that the data has to be unlocked by finding and capturing all Pokemon, is it not possible to just jail break the thing, take it to the professor and be like "lol, dun".
Anyway starting my journey I decided to go with the grass starter as it was the least stupid looking of the three. After a fairly well done hour long tutorial where I was introduced to my 3 main rivals and the evil team I was ready to go. I caught some Pokemon and I even had one given to me for free for the sole purpose of using it to beat the first gym. I like the idea of the first gym because the leader is different depending on which starter you choose, it is much kinder in that respect than say Pokemon Red where the first two gyms were Rock and Water putting your Charmander at a huge disadvantage, this problem was around in all the Pokemon games. Pokemon Gold had the first gym be flying screwing over anyone who choose Chikorita, Ruby put the Rock gym first making it harder for Torchic users, Diamond had you start with rock again though the game balanced it out better by having the grass gym straight after.

In terms of leveling the difficulty curve has shot up slightly it may just be down to the fact that the towns are closer together than they used to be, from the starting town you could run to the second gym in less than 5 minutes, i ain't joking the towns are that close together because of the shorter routes it feels like the game is harder, had the routes been more stretched out this might not have been the case because of this design I find myself level grinding quite a lot.

After 5 hours play I have seen 20 Pokemon and obtained 11 with my party consisting of these Pokemon:
-Snivy Lv.16 - This is the grass started and because he is a snake I called him Stone Cold as in the wrestler because his nickname was the Texas Rattle Snake.
-Blitzle Lv.11 - I called this one Awesome because of its design, it is a Zebra with a lightning bolt sticking out of his head. Sadly it isn't as awesome as it looks and is pretty weak I'm hoping it becomes good after I train it some more.
-Roggenrola Lv.14 - Possibly one of the most stupid Pokemon names to date. This thing is basically Geodude but it isn't a ground type meaning that electric attacks hurt it, damn. it is still pretty handy though being rock type and all.
-Herdier Lv.16 - This was a different Pokemon before but it evolved, this is the obligatory Dog pokemon and it is this generations Linoone meaning it gets in the party by default. I name it Road Dogg after the wrestler.
-Pidove lv.15 - I haven't given this one a name because my mind went blank when doing so. Pidove is this generations bird Pokemon and it is a pigeon, literally, it isn't a Pokemon it is a bloody pigeon. Seeing it makes me want them to use Pidgey again.
-Panpour Lv.14 - This was the Pokemon that was given away to me for free so that I could beat the first gym it is one of 3. there are 3 elemental monkeys in this game fire, water and grass, this is the water one. I called it Fro because it has an Afro. Come think of it the Fire starter from last gen was a monkey doesn't it seem like a cop out having 2 fire chimps two generations in a row?
I caught some other Pokemon but they suck hence why I ain't using them.

With one gym beat after 5 hours I can see this being the longest Pokemon game ever made which wouldn't be a bad thing because the more story events the better once the single player game is done with you are left with the multiplayer and even that grows tiresome eventually.

So that's my first day on Pokemon White this time tomorrow I should be done with the second gym and I would have moved on to bigger things.

Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology

The Immortal Hulk Hogan is without a doubt one of the biggest icons in wrestling and is one of the reaosns that wrestling is what it is today. This man was behind the likes of Hulkamania, the NWO and more recently his shit TNA heel group Immortal.
Anyway Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology is a WWE DVD that takes us through the career of the Hulkster. The boxset contains 4 discs the first 3 being the story of his career, hosted by Mean Gene Okerlund and Jimmy "The Mouth of The South" Hart we get to see some of Hogans most famous matches ranging from his first title win against the Iron Sheik to the famous Wrestlemania matches between him and the likes of Andre the Giant, "Macho Man" Randy Savage , The Ultimate Warrior and The Rock. In all there are 27 complete matches. The DVD features interviews with wrestlers such The Big Show, Edge, Rob Van Dam and John Cena.

The first part of the set goes through Hogans rise to fame starting and ending with his matches against Andre the Giant. With the exception of the AWA Championship Match with Nick Bockwinkel all the matches are from the WWE. Besides the Wrestlemania III match with Andre the Giant none of the matches are anything too special, some are all right but most of them have been dulled by time, still you get to see Hulk Hogan tag team with Mr.T at Wrestlemania.

Part two is all about Hogan through the nineties, we get to some some classic wrestlemania matches such as him and the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI. We also get to see the Hulkster go up against the Undertaker at Tuesday in Texas. After that we get to see Hogans run in WCW with matches against Ric Flair, The Giant and Sting, we also get to See the formation of the NWO. In all the second part is much more entertaining than the first thanks to the matches.

Part three is Hogan in the new millennium and focuses on his return to the WWE as well as his short time in XWF. All these matches are fairly recent so they are all probably the most fast paced of all his matches and you could argue that they are the best. This has the least number of matches of the 3 parts but we see Hulk work with some really big names, we see his Wrestlemania match with The Rock (a match I must have seen 4 or 5 times now), his title match with Triple H, his only Tag title run with Edge and the infamous Summerslam match where Shawn Michaels mocked Hogan by overselling. We also get to see his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. There is also the Wrestlemania Street Fight with Vince McMahon, a match so exciting that I would happily watch it again.

There is also the bonus disk that is filled with extra matches for your viewing pleasure such as a championship match with Terry Funk (I'm still amazed by his hardcore wrestling career) and part of the 1990 Royal Rumble which Hogan won.

In all this is worth owning if you are a wrestling fan, it is a must have if you are a Hulkamaniac. It is one of the cheaper WWE boxsets that I have seen around so it is a good buy if you are looking to collect Wrestling DVD's.

FA Cup: Everton 0-1 Reading

After going against all odds and beating Chelsea it looked like Everton would have been on the up again but no. Everton is such an inconsistent team that I actually went to the Reading game expecting them to lose because they have been bottling it against "smaller" clubs all season.

Anyway I have a lot to say about what I think is going wrong with the club but I'll save that for a separate post.

So once again Everton put on a boring home display where manager David Moyes decided to play it safe and go for a draw, in a cup tie. Everton are a very boring team, they have been using the same tactics for 3 or 4 years now and it has gotten to the point where they have been sussed. I have this theory about football matches, when facing bigger clubs you don't beat them by tactically outmatching them because you can't they are the better team, the only way to beat them is to play a better game than them. When facing smaller clubs you need to use tactics to beat them because you should be able to beat them. Obviously it isn't that simple in football there is a lot of luck in the game but it is an idea that in Evertons case makes sense.

From what I have seen this season when Everton beat one of the big teams it is because the players are fired up and they really want to go. When Everton face one of the teams that are deemed smaller than they are it we see that the players are not fired up and that they don't want to go, this lack of motivation could be down to many factors. Either way because of this lack of spirit going into these type of games you need to use smart tactics to win and this is exactly what manager David Moyes isn't using.

These last 3 or so years the manager has been using these same tactics with everton.
- All attacks are done on the wing, never down the centre.
- Mikel Arteta and Leighton Bains always, and I mean always take the free kicks and corners.
- When we have a corner against us all 11 players have to be in the box.

There are other things to note but these are the main three and they were all present in last nights game.
Throughout the entire game Everton were attacking down the wing just like they have been doing for years now, because of this the Reading players can easily defend against the attacks because they are so predicable, they don't have to have players cover the centre area because there is no threat of an attack coming from there because this is Everton. This type of attacking play has gotten to the point of being incredibly boring, like I was yawning every time they attacked on the wing, their game is so easy to predict that it is boring, there is no excitement when you know what they are going to do, exciting football is a guessing game where you don't know whats going to happen next.

Mikel Arteta, sorry the guy was great once but he has past it, he is a smart guy, he worked hard at Everton for a few years and now he has the big money long term contract, he doesn't have to work for his bread anymore. What do I mean by this? Well he doesn't give off many high performances anymore but he is in the team because dropping him would be an embarrassing waste of money, come on you know I am right, when someone is the highest earning player in your team you do not drop from the squad because you want to feel like that money isn't going to waste, I think this is the reason why David Moyes still plays Arteta every game. Even so it still doesn't change the fact that the man isn't preforming like he should be, everything he does has this half arsed feel to it, look at his corners, the ball goes no where and most of the time the goal keeper gets the ball and going back to last nights game he had a free kick from outside the right side of the box, instead of trying to give the ball to a player who could be a threat he decides to take a
shot and would you believe as always the shot flew into the bloody wall.
Bains I have problems with but it is just him being the only other person who takes the corners and free kicks because like Arteta nothing ever seems to come from it.

The last problem is the worse one and it happened again last night. David Moyes is clueless when it comes to defense, why would you push all of your players back, pushing back lets the other team push forward and create pressure, there is nothing at all smart about this tactic, if Moyes was to leave his attacking players up the field as opposed to down in the box then teams like Reading wouldn't be able to put on pressure and gain an attacking advantage. There isn't really much to say about this stupid tactic because it works with everything, for example if you hold your pieces back in a game of chess then you give your opponent the room to push forward and attack.

Anyway that is mostly why Everton have lost this game and have been losing most of their games all season, no one is taking risks on the pitch, playing a game not to lose gets you nowhere, you want to play to win.

As for reading I'll be fair to their fans they had more passion than the Everton fans but this could just be me sitting in the Park End where all the pissed off supports give the team stick for being predicable, boring and crap.
The reading team did everything right, they were able to defend so that there was hardly ever a major threat from Everton and they were able to attack in a way that made them look like a threatening side.
So well done to Reading you deserve it because Everton are crap and you made them look so.

So there you have it, if I had summarise the night quickly then all I want to say is that the piss I took during the game was more enjoyable than the game itself.

Spring is here.

March has come around again and it has put me in a good mood, goodbye winter your cold is horrible and no amount of snow will ever make up for that.
Now that the winter has passed it is that time of year where people get of thier arse and do stuff, I've already started but I'm not a fan of elitism or snobbery so I'm not going to be a git for the sake of it.

I've noticed that there hasn't been any of those special K challange adverts on the telly yet, that could just be my bad luck but it is normally this time of year where everyone is told to get fit so here is what I suggest you do.
Never put off to tomorrow what you could do today. It is easy to say that you will start something and never actually get around to doing it what you need to do is force yourself into a routine. Try and exercise everyday even if you can't find a free hour, if you can keep your heart pumping for 20 minutes at the least then you will have had some exercise. Of course not all exercise has to be hard just doing tasks like washing, cleaning and such can also be considered exercise even if it just casual exercise. You don't need to go to a gym, you don't need no membership and you don't need any tools there are many ways of exercising with just your body.
I'm not going to tell you to change your eating habits but I would advise you to think about what you are eating, if you can make just a small change to your habit then that's good enough. I've stopped eating sweets and I have gone off fizzy drinks, you don't have to do this but try and make some change to your everyday diet even if it is a small one.
The only person who can push you around is yourself, exercise at your own pace, work at your pace and do what you feel like doing, I have no right to tell you how to live your life the only person who does is yourself.

With spring comes spring cleaning and the carboots, this is a good time to clean out and make money. Take a step back and look at all the stuff you own, ask yourself "Do I need it? Do I want it? Do I make use of it? Will I use it in the future? Will I miss it when I'm gone?" questions like this are helpful when deciding on whether to keep something or get rid. Once you have your spring cleaning sorted see if there is anything you can make money off, if so go to a carboot or market and sell it, if you only have a few things then you might want to try ebay.

There you have it some personal advice about early spring. Again you don't have to follow any of this as it is just my opinion but it never hurts to try new things.

Essential Gamecube Volume 1. RPG's

Games Featured:
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Tales of Symphonia
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Skies of Arcadia Legends

Also worth a mention:
Baten Kaitos, Phantasy Star Online Eps I & II, Final fantasy Crystal Chronicles.



Fire Emblem Path of Radiance
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Released: 2005
Expect to Pay: £20-£30

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is the 3rd Fire Emblem game to be release outside of Japan. Just like the other Fire Emblem games this is a turn based strategy game with RPG elements such as being able to level up your characters as well as equipping them with new items and changing their class.
Path of Radiance was a welcome entry to the franchise with new classes, support systems, soldiers and so on. Previous Fire Emblem games featured side quests for when you needed to level up your characters, Path of Radiance doesn't need that thanks to its well thought out pace.
The game boasts a strong story with well developed characters and a brilliant musical score.

Try this if you like: Advance Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea.




Tales of Symphonia
Publisher: Namco
Developer: Namco Tales Studio
Released: 2004
Expect to Pay: £25-£35

The Tales series is one that is unknown to most people it is only recently that the series has started to become noticed by gamers, to date Tales of Symphonia is the best selling game in the series.
Tales of Symphonia is your typical Fantasy JRPG that fits in with the expected genre conventions so it isn't a very original game but something old told well is always better than something new told badly so you take what you get. The gameplay for the most part is your typical RPG but the game really shines in battles where the game becomes a free for all hack 'n' slash feast where you are in full control of your character, you can even play with friends. The game a well put together battle system that awards you for skilfully pulling off combos.
In all the game is well put together with good gameplay and a well put together set of characters. Tales of Symphonia also offers more freedom than most RPG's.
Try this if you like: Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia,




Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Released: 2004
Expect to Pay: £20

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is the sequel to the 2001 N64 game Paper Mario. The Mario RPG's are famous for being turn based games where the player does not just pick commands, the game is an active turn based RPG where you have to be paying attention at all times, Mario can block enemy attacks as well as increase the damage of his own attacks, it is a simple system that is effective in stopping repetition. The game has an endearing charm that comes from its unique art style and humour. The plays with the paper idea by allowing Mario to fold himself into objects like paper planes and boats, it also plays with idea in other ways such as ripping paper off walls to reveal hidden paths.
Thousand Year Door is wonderful, pretty and funny game full of huge bosses and a likeable cast of characters.
Try this if you like: Mario & Luigi




Skies of Arcadia Legends
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Overworks
Released: 2003
Expect to Pay: £20-£20

Skies of Arcadia Legends is a port of the Dreamcast game Skies of Arcadia. Skies of Arcadia is an Pirate themed RPG which sees you sailing through the skies in search of new lands. Legends takes the Dreamcast original and adds new features to the game such as an improved battle engine, new side quests and new items, at the same time it is missing some of the features from the original such as the ability to sell your ships. The game has a strong emphasis on exploration with most of the game spent flying around in airships looking for new lands and treasures, because of this there is a lot of random battles because when you break it down the games world map isn't that big so you end up with with loads of obstacles such as stone reefs and strong winds that for the first half of the game force you to stay on track. Despite some of these flaws Skies of Arcadia is still a very good RPG with a good story, strong characters and last but not least air ship battles and giant bosses.
Try this if you like: Rogue Galaxy

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