Exploits for the week

This last week a mass banning went out across the MMORPG i play, FFXI. Now the issue which caused this was from a few months ago about Exploiting a broken game mechanic. Many of the players banned were "celebrities" of the game. These are the people other players looked to for advice, new ideas, and so on and so forth. This brings up the question of what an "exploit" really entails.

Every game such as this involves out thinking the system as it is, or discovering tricks to the system. The area in question was known for being notoriously hard so there were some who may have seen this as the "key" to making the system easier hidden in the game. However, all those involved kept this a trade secret and also did not ask any game master about it. The company that owns the game supposedly spent the last several months checking logs of groups to find evidence of "duping." Quite suspicious and hurts their case. However exploits can only happen if the maker of the game messes up. Many argue the fault is with the manufacturer for not noticing and dealing with the malfunction.

Furthermore, the company in question is notorious for having fairly broad use of the term "exploit." A "near" undefeatable monster exists and the first successful attempt on it involved using terrain to stop many of its attacks. This defeat was even congratulated by a game master at the time for beating the unbeaten. It turned out later though another group had tried this strategy only a few days earlier to be informed by a game master to stop as this was "exploitation." Since then this monster has been rethought and every time a strategy is come up with (while those involved in all these attempts were never penalized) it is patched as it was "exploitation" of normal mechanics and not the intended kill process.

Regardless many long time players, often in upwards of 5 years of play and hundreds of hours of work are gone. About half involved got temporary suspensions and will apparently be stripped of items obtained from the exploit (though no reports of this have come in yet).

A list of those known to be banned can be found here:
http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/ffxi-advanced-player-discussion/68852-r-i-p-players.html

While not everyone deserved to get banned from working the system... some were less than
sympathetic about it, much laughter here
http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/ffxi-advanced-player-discussion/68860-delicious-quotes-original-dupe-fix-thread.html

Inaugural Fanfare (like the FF one but more woos)

The air is filled with festivities today for the inauguration. People approached me in the UC about a party going on upstairs with a jovial manner and if you listen with all your heart you can hear the faint whimper of a college republican. Jokes aside, the change of office is a grand American tradition and this year in particular. The fact that this peaceful transition occurs was mentioned in the first speech of the day. If you think about how often you hear of civil wars and foul play in elections of the world you have to admit that here it is a party not fighting in the streets is really rather remarkable. 

The inauguration of the first African-American president and our 44th president is certainly a landmark day. Regardless of your political inclinations its certainly something amazing. My tendency is to of course look forward to other possibilities that are heralded by this, of times a changin' as a certain vagabond rock musician may have said. 

Aretha Franklin's version of my country tis of thee certainly embodied the feeling of what the Obama campaign was working for. A vivacious changed, but still with the spirit, of the original. Bidens swearing in after he was somewhat amusing though, seemed really anxious to say the oath as fast as possible back. 

Obama's speech had some great poetic imagery and certainly seemed to mesmerize the crowd. I hope the rhetoric happens and not what I dread will. The poets afterward were less inspiring for me. Indeed you could also feel even through the TV the crowd was well aware the main event had past.      

Lost Lost Odyssey

My first major blunder of the new year involved overwriting my completed file on Lost Odyssey for XBOX360 with a very feeble new game plus file. The game happens to be one of my favorite rpgs boasting a great story, amazing voice work, an even more impressive score, and a classic battle system with just enough variation to be interesting. As such, Its not such a terrible task to play back through it.
Those familiar with Mistwalker, who published the game, know that much of the staff is made of the old squaresoft veterans with Uematsu and Nomura both contributing on the game. Mistwalker also makes the enviroments in its RPGs very interactive. Busting up old wreckage on a beach replaces the traditional treasure chest for much of the game.

I had downloaded some bonus XBL content just before my saving mistake. However to access what i have downloaded is nearly impossible at the beginning of the story though. Since i have such a long road ahead of me again im going to probably play through with my fiancee. She had come in about half way and really like the characters and their interaction so she would like to see the whole story. Well heres to 50 hours of JRPGING.

Blog is come

Alright well were going to start this thing now. Its cliche this is probably a bad idea for me to put my ideas to "paper" but were gonna give it a shot. You'll probably find game and movie reviews, some pointless updates about my internet dragon fighting and the like. Oh also occasionally relevant personal information and experiences.