Poll Reminder

Just to let you all know, the poll is still going on until Thursday, the 6th! And right now, as of the last time I checked, Rune Factory has slipped into the lead! I can tell that Epic Mickey 2 won't win, but it's a deadlock between Okami and Rune Factory! So be sure to cast your votes because this is going to be a really close poll!

Late Post is Late

Super, super sorry for the late post! Our power actually just came back on about an hour ago, and my phone was low on power so I couldn't do anything. I honestly didn't have a good idea for a post so I'll just talk about something silly I was doing with some friends earlier.

I was looking through my trophies on PSN Profiles and I was asking them to give me random percentages, as every trophy has a rarity out of 100% so we ended up just naming random percents and seeing if one of my almost 3,000 trophies were at the exact percent xD It's silly, yes, but it was honestly pretty funny!

Something I Absolutely Hate in Games

Okay, so I'm no stranger to games that rely on luck sometimes. It's in a lot of games, but it's sometimes more often referred to as "RNG," or Random Number Generator. Basically, it's the system that determines certain things, like the enemy you encounter in an RPG, the Pokemon you encounter, as well as the possibility of it being shiny, or even a critical hit in Fire Emblem. But of course there are games that rely heavily on luck, like board games or Mario Party, using the dice as a way to describe something you have no skill in. Rolling a dice all comes to luck.

I hate when games are pure luck, and even more so when a trophy requires some form of luck in order to obtain it! For example I'm currently hunting for trophies in Family Game Night 3, and one Mouse Trap trophy requires you to do a task that is actually pretty simple, but you have to rely on the dice rolls to do this thing. And you have to do it 5 times. Five! And every time you need a specific number, you almost never roll it! Like it just frustrates me so much!

I'm sorry for the small rant but my goodness do I hate games based on pure luck alone.

Current List of PS3 Platinum Trophies

I honestly didn't know what to write about today, so I decided to list the (currently) 45 platinum trophies I have so far. Some were easy to get, some were really hard to get, and everything else is in the middle. Again, not a huge post but I figured that maybe some people would like to know. Actually, you can honestly see this as every trophy guide I will be doing (at the very least, up to this point) in the future. I won't spoil what the next guide will be but I sure hope I can actually get it done on just my phone. I should, it's just going to be a challenge really. But anyway, let me get this list going.

1. Assassins Creed II
   - Master Assassin - Some time prior to 12/21/2011 7:41 PM
2. Sonic Generations
   - All Trophies Collected! - 12/22/2011 3:14 PM
3. Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL
   - Punchtime Explosion Pro - 12/25/2011 5:04 PM
4. AC Revelations
   - The Conqueror - 5/21/2012 5:52 PM
5. Toy Story 3
   - Toy Story 3 Champion - 8/14/2012 6:40 PM
6. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
   - The Lombax Triumphant - 8/24/2012 2:54 PM
7. Borderlands
   - Borderland Defender - 8/30/2012 5:34 PM
8. Prince of Persia
   - Master - 8/31/2012 2:34 PM
9. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
   - Prince of Persia - 10/16/2012 6:10 PM
10. Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
   - Warrior Within - 11/16/2012 4:12 PM
11. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
   - Platinuminary - 1/8/2013 4:59 PM
12. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
   - Mask and Stripes Forever - 10/29/2013 3:38 PM
13. Ratchet & Clank
   - Gadget Master - 1/29/2015 6:37 PM
14. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
   - He Went Commando - 2/1/2015 11:31 PM
15. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
   - Hero of the Galaxy - 2/5/2015 11:20 PM
16. Ratchet: Deadlocked
   - Hero of the Shadow Sector - 2/7/2015 4:17 PM
17. Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
   - Can I Get a Pin of That? - 4/3/2015 12:12 AM
18. Final Fantasy XIII
   - Ultimate Hero - 4/27/2015 11:33 PM
19. Final Fantasy XIII-2
   - Master of Time - 5/4/2015 9:15 PM
20. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
   - Eternal Light - 5/14/2015 9:55 AM
21. Final Fantasy X HD Remaster
   - Completion - 6/7/2015 11:40 PM
22. Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
   - Fully Pac-ed - 6/26/2015 1:01 PM
23. Tales of Graces f
   - True Grace - 8/21/2015 3:31 PM
24. LEGO The Hobbit
   - The Road Goes Ever On - 9/18/2015 12:55 PM
25. 3D Dot Game Heroes
   - Congratulations! - 9/20/2015 5:07 PM
26. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix
   - Birth by Sleep Master - 11/19/2015 8:17 PM
27. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
   - Kingdom Hearts II Master - 11/26/2015 6:41 PM
28. South Park: The Stick of Truth
   - South Park: The Stick of Truth Platinum Trophy - 12/1/2015 2:03 AM
29. Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus
   - The Pride of Fastoon - 12/5/2015 12:24 AM
30. Okami HD
   - Top Dog - 12/13/2015 6:38 PM
31. Goat Simulator
   - All The Goat! - 12/14/2015 4:24 PM
32. Bioshock
   - PLATINUM TROPHY - 12/26/1015 8:19 PM
33. Minecraft: PS3 Edition
   - Awarded all trophies - 1/2/2016 7:12 PM
34. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
   - Two Thrones - 1/9/2016 8:41 PM
35. Soul Calibur V
   - Unwritten History - 1/13/2016 6:23 PM
36. Soul Calibur II HD Online
   - Tale of Sword and Soul - 1/14/2016 4:43 PM
37. Deadpool
   - Okay, you can sell the game now - 1/17/2016 12:19 AM
38. Rainbow Moon
   - Official Rainbow Moon Hero - 1/29/2016 12:18 AM
39. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
   - Kingdom Hearts Master - 4/11/2016 3:00 AM
40. Shovel Knight
   - Shovel Justice - 4/23/2016 3:30 PM
41. Tales of Symphonia
   - Symphonia Master - 5/1/2016 8:30 PM
42. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
   - True Dawn of the New World - 5/16 2016 12:45 PM
43. Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny
   - Rune Factory Master - 5/19/2016 2:30 AM
44. Tales of Xillia
   - Lord of Xillia - 6/9/2016 5:37 PM
45. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
   - Wizardry Whiz - 9/27/2016 2:37 PM

Phew, that took a while to type out but here you go! All of my platinum trophies thus far. If you're interested in seeing my entire trophy list, platinums and all, go look on PSN Profiles and look for EtherealWhisper, and in it you can see the silly taste in games that I have. Thanks so much for reading and I will see you later! :D

Sonic 06

Oh my goodness, really sorry about the late post today, I've actually been trophy hunting in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, trying to get my final trophy and the platinum at long last, so one day you can expect a guide on that. But enough about that, that's not what you came to read about.

So.. Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Nextgen, Sonic 06, whatever you want to call it, one thing is true, it is a very broken and glitchy game. It's so broken, even the Achievement list has some fantastical broken English on it. But it was one of my first PS3 games and I got the game, with the complete knowledge of its glitches and, well, generally how terrible it is.

However, despite all of it, I love this game. Not for the story that never happens (spoilers, oops), not for the plot or characters, no, I love it for the glitches and its ability to make me laugh. I know it's a broken mess, but it's just fun to exploit it in silly ways and watch your hero (mainly Sonic because of the gems) go flying in some direction he shouldn't be going. There's just something really fascinating about glitching the game and breaking it that makes me laugh, because it just looks really silly honestly. Launching Sonic somewhere he shouldn't be, making Silver infinitely bounce on the water, etc.

Long story short, it's a glitchy game, but it's so much fun to play, if only for the multitude of bugs and silly stuff you can do. And of course, as with Assassin's Creed, I can't do a trophy guide on this game, as it only has achievements, which is very disappointing honestly. But I hope you enjoyed this small post, again, very sorry about the short posts and the worse quality due to the laptop issues, but it's better than nothing, in my opinion. As always, thanks for reading and I will see you later! :D

A Brief Look at Why Gaming is My Passion

So it's no surprise that gaming is, well, my passion. I talk about it enough times and when I really get going, I can talk for ages and ages about games, and more often than not, I know it can get annoying and probably long-winded. But games are my... escape, really. I know that's a super cliche thing to say, but it's true.

I deal with a lot of drama at home, for the most part. My dad and grandma argue a lot, and my sister has her own issues with her new family (she's engaged, but really it's close enough). As much as I feel like a mediator and a messenger boy, it's just business as usual at this point. Playing games really does help me, well, feel relaxed and helps me calm down and think, especially when the going gets tough. If I'm feeling angry, I usually open my 3DS and play Smash Bros. to calm down. Or if not that, maybe something else that I know will cheer me up. And even if it won't cheer me up, it can still distract me.

Gaming is my life, to be completely honest, and if I ever achieve my dream of being a YouTube Let's Player, then it will truly become my life if I ever manage to be successful in it. My love of gaming has helped me meet so many great friends and has helped me find people who share the interests that I do. Really... without gaming, I would definitely be in a much more different position than I would be today. And I wouldn't have met the same people that I'm glad to know.

For those reasons, at the very least, that is why gaming is so important to me. That's why I made this blog, to share my love and thoughts with people and maybe help people see that if they love gaming too, it's not a bad thing, at all. As always, thank you so much for reading. Be sure to vote in the poll, as it looks like Okami and Rune Factory are in a deadlock right now. As always, thanks so much for reading and I will see you later! :D

Sonic 1

So.. I wish I owned the first Sonic game on Genesis. I first played it on Sonic Mega Collection on the GameCube. It was a lot of fun and I really wish I had it on the Genesis. But I enjoyed playing it and learning how our blue buddy got his start. Most of the time I actually enjoy doing debug mode so I can mess with everything and be silly with the game, and especially make the Special Stages way easier. It's a lot of fun and I always have fun when I play it again every so often. It really is a blast!

I don't have much else to say about Sonic 1, as I don't really play it all that much, especially compared with the likes of Sonic 2 and 3. I'm sorry for the short blog post, though, there's not much I can do about it and I'm really sorry about the inconvenience. I hope you enjoyed the post and I will see you later! :D

Test post!

Okay so this is a post being done on my phone. I learned that I can't really do a post on the 3DS or my PS3, so the posts I can do for now will be a bit short, maybe, and will lack pictures, which I'm very, very sorry about. I have to spend the day with my sister, mom, and niece today so I won't be back for a while but I will definitely try to bang out a post later when I come home! Again, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience but I will do my best to push through this until I get a new computer. As always, thank you for your time and I will see you later.

Important Laptop Update!

So, this is gonna be real quick, because this is important. This laptop has slowly been falling apart over the last... idk, year and a half, at most. And the only damage is the left hinge slowly, but surely, coming apart. And every time I open/close it, it breaks every so slightly more. That being said, when the laptop does eventually die on me, blog updates will be done on my PS3, and I can HOPEFULLY manage to keep updating every day. When that starts happening, I will definitely post an update on it, and eventually another when we get a new computer.

So I just wanted to let you all know what's going on, and hopefully I can continue the blog as normal. Thanks for reading and see you later.

Assassin's Creed

So, Assassin's Creed, one of my favorite game series in the PlayStation library. It actually never started that way. I heard the name but did not look for any knowledge (How seriously stupid of me, like seriously?) on the game, so I said it sounds kind of meh. Skip forward a few years. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was the most recent game, with Revelations on the way. My best friend, Jake, was a huge fan of Assassin's Creed, so one day I asked him "Is Assassin's Creed really all that awesome?" and he said that he would definitely recommend it to me but I would need to play it from the beginning or I wouldn't understand the story. Fine by me, I always do that in my games anyway but it was nice to know. Flash forward again to June of 2011, when I first get my PS3, as well as 3 games of my choice, which were: Assassin's Creed, Sonic 06, and Marvel vs Capcom 3 (and yes, I know what you're thinking, I see you eye-balling Sonic 06. I actually enjoy that game a lot, and in a blog post soon, I will explain why).

So, I went to playing all 3 as equally as I could, but I found myself playing Assassin's Creed the most. I was so invested in it, from the story, the characters, the plot, everything. It was so much fun. Jake later even said to me that when I was finished with it, I could even borrow the other games from him to continue the story, which was super kind of him, and I took him up on that offer until Revelations, which I got for myself instead of borrowing, but that's for a much later post.

Assassin's Creed is just.. fun. I love doing optional missions to get more synchronization - and more health. I love the settings, I love the music, everything. One day soon I'll probably play through my Assassin's Creed games again, but until then I have other things to do, like work on this blog more and get other things done. As always, I hope you enjoyed some rambling and I appreciate every moment spent reading. As usual, thanks so much and I will see you later! :D

(A few things to note. One, sorry for the late post today, I was having a loooong walk with my sister and niece today and I'm exhausted. Second, this game DOES have Achievements on Xbox 360, but it does NOT have Trophies on PS3. Therefore, there will be no guide for the first Assassin's Creed game, even though I could do one for Achievements. Sorry everyone, that's just how it is D: )

Final Fantasy XIII Trophy Guide

Hello and welcome to my trophy guide for Final Fantasy XIII! I'll be blunt, this platinum is definitely no easy trek. You WILL be spending a long time on a few of these, especially in regards to Cie'th Stone missions, fully developing your characters, and most especially, Treasure Hunter. I am definitely no expert with a lot of strategy, so I did use plenty of guides for some of the harder challenges and I absolutely needed a guide/checklist for Treasure Hunter, as the game does not tell you what you have and don't have in regards to progress. I will definitely be linking a few helpful guides here as I am definitely not a master at this game. Let's get started!

*Despite that at times, there may be a strategy for a boss or enemy that always or generally works, I know that strategy varies depending on the person, so I advise you to use your own combinations or characters and roles, as you might find a strategy that works for you without the need to change too much!*

Ultimate Hero Acquired all trophies.
Just like usual, collect all the other trophies and this hard-earned platinum is yours. Congratulations if you got this trophy, you earned it!

Instrument of Fate Took the first steps toward challenging an unjust fate.
This unlocks at the very beginning of the game, right after you defeat the Manasvin Warmech with Lightning and Sazh. Nothing I need to tell you here as the game will tell you everything you need to know and this battle is super easy anyway.

Instrument of Dissent Survived the Purge to confront a greater peril.
This unlocks when you enter The Pulse Vestiges. You'll know you made it when, after a few tutorial battles, Hope and Vanille hop on hover bikes and crash into their destination. Not too much further now, the tutorial is almost over!

Instrument of Tragedy Strode into danger's den and paid the consequences.
This unlocks after you defeat Anima in Coccoon. Anima isn't as intimidating as it looks. Destroy its Left and Right Manipulators and it'll stop attacking for a decent chunk of time, allowing you to deal some heavy damage and hopefully stagger it. If Lightning's health gets low, be sure to use a potion, because if your leader - in this case, Lightning - dies, it's game over, even if your other partners are raring to go. Repeat as necessary and you win. After reaching Lake Bresha and a few scenes play out, this trophy is yours as Chapter 3 begins. Now the real game begins!

Instrument of Flight Slipped through the net and lived to fight another day.
So Chapter 3 ends with a new kind of battle, against an Eidolon, or a summon, essentially. This one pits Snow against the Shiva Sisters. Now, the trick to completing these battles is to fill up the Gestalt Gauge and quickly hitting Square when it's filled. Doom will be cast on you at the start and when the counter hits zero, you die. The trick for Eidolons is that every one of them has a trick that makes the gauge fill quickly, which you can see when you use Libra on them.

For the Shiva Sisters, simply shift Snow to be a Sentinel and constantly use Steelguard. If you manage to use it just before you get hit, you maximize the effect. Don't worry about your health, as the other sister will heal you, should your health dip too low. Continue guarding against attacks and once the gauge is filled, hit Square to finish. After Chapter 4 starts and you win a very easy battle, this trophy is yours.

Instrument of Vengeance Resolved to be more than a victim of circumstance.
At the end of Chapter 4, you'll briefly have control of Snow. Simply walk on the pier and talk to Vanille. After gaining control again in the Gapra Whitewood, this trophy is all yours.

Instrument of Survival Evaded pursuers, though memories of the past still gave chase.
The Aster Protoflorian is your toughest challenge so far, and you only have a two-person squad so be careful. As I stated in the beginning, strategy is subjective, but I'll throw some general tips your way, but feel free to do it your own way if it's easier for you. If you have one, try giving Lightning a Doctor's Code to make your Potions way more effective. Toss out a Librascope at the beginning, because this boss changes its element often. This means that when using your Ravagers, they will automatically pick the appropriate magic for the boss' current elemental type when you choose Auto-Battle. For added protection, be sure to have Hope as a Synergist so he can cast Shell and Protect on you both to further protect you. Once you're safe with those, switch to a double Ravager combo to stagger it and then switch to a Commando/Ravager combo to keep the stagger bar from dropping too fast. Repeat as necessary and be careful to defeat the boss. After entering the Sunleth Waterscape, this trophy is yours.

Instrument of Rebellion Made plans to infiltrate enemy-occupied territory.
At this point, if you still want Potions, you NEED a Doctor's Code so you can gain health back, as the damage starts to reach a point where a normal Potion just isn't cutting it. so to start off, go into a Saboteur/Synergist combo, so you can be buffed while you debuff the enemies. This will help you take less damage, while applying more damage to the enemies. Always have a Medic/Sentinel combo ready if you need to heal desperately and potions just aren't cutting it. As usual, stagger as best you can, then be sure to have a Commando/Ravager combo to keep the bar from depleting very quickly. Once control switches to Lightning, this trophy is yours.

Instrument of Shame Carried the burden of guilt to the end of the line.
This chapter is long and I remember it being very frustrating by the time I finally made it past it. Luckily, the final boss of the chapter, the Havoc Skytank, isn't as annoying, especially after the bosses prior to it. Anyways, start with a paradigm of Lightning as Medic, Fang as Sentinel, and Hope as Synergist, this way Fang can absorb damage that Lightning can easily heal, and Hope can throw buff on everyone. Definitely toss out a Librascope here as you'll discover 4 extra targets for you to take out! Destroy the turrets first, then the hulls, by using a COM/RAV/RAV combo. Destroying all of these makes the battle easier on you and deals significant damage to the Skytank. If at any time, you see "Main Cannon," immediately switch to a MED/SEN/MED combo, with Fang as the Sentinel. She'll eat up the damage as Hope and Lightning keep her healthy. Before long, the tank will explode and you'll be done. Upon starting the next chapter, this trophy is all yours.

Instrument of Wrath Took the fight to the enemy's door.
So again, this chapter ends with an Eidolon. This time, it's Brynhildr. Start off with a SYN/SAB combo, so Sazh and Vanille can work together to buff each other and debuff Brynhildr. The Gestalt Gauge grows quickest when building the stagger bar, so use a RAV/RAV combo to do this. Have a RAV/MED combo ready if you need to heal, as you won't be healed by the Eidolon. As always, once that bar hits max, hit Square to win. After some heavy scenes and control switches back to Lightning, this trophy is yours.

Instrument of Truth Recognized the true threat to the world's future.
So this is the infamous battle of Barthandelus, easily the most difficult battle in the entire game, solely due to the power and abilities of your party. Although time-consuming, I advise you to upgrade your Crystarium as much as you possibly can before you battle him, as you will need it. At this point, you will have no doubt developed your own little niche team of 3 to work with and have made adjustments to your Paradigms to suit almost any situation. In my case, my typical party of 3 consists of Lightning, Sazh, and Fang. My typical staring setup is a COM/SYN/SAB paradigm, letting Sazh buff us and Fang debuff the enemy while Lightning does some damage. Again, strategy at this point is very subjective, so this is where I tell you to go with your own instincts and see what works best for you. But I will list some pointers and info about some of this boss' attacks and what to expect.

Definitely throw out a Librascope to see the weaknesses of the Left and Right sets of Pauldrons and Ailettes, because you have to destroy all of them to actually attack the main body. Work on one head at a time, and of course be sure you have a Paradigm that relies on healing, whether it's two Medics and a Sentinel or otherwise. Be absolutely careful when you see "Destrudo," as if you let him unleash it in its full power, you will die easily. The moment you see that, unleash anything that lets everyone attack. Damaging him enough will make him utter a grunting noise and drop the missiles from 20 to 12. Attack further only lets 6 missiles set off. Repeat and stagger as necessary and eventually he'll finally go down. It may very well take you a few tries so if you lose, don't get discouraged, just try again and tweak your strategy is need be. As Chapter 10 begins in The Fifth Ark, this hard-earned trophy is finally yours!

Instrument of Hope Traveled to the world below, seeking a way to alter fate.
Chapter 10 ends with yet another Eidolon battle, this time against Bahamut, the king of summons in Final Fantasy.  At this point, every character has access to every role, so by now you definitely have a team of 3 that can fir almost any situation you might find yourself in.

For this Gestalt Gauge, it's not terribly difficult. Slapping debuffs on him and attacking him will quickly fill the gauge. Be sure to have a healing paradigm, preferably something along the lines of SEN/MED/MED, or MED/MED/MED if you're in dangerous need of it. If you need a good Medic, definitely consider bringing Hope, as he has the best healing spells in the game, gaining Curaja, which is a Curaga for all 3 characters in your active battle team, it's super handy. As usual, once the gauge is full, hit Square to finish this battle. Upon starting Chapter 11, this trophy is finally yours. Not too much longer to go!

Instrument of Faith Defied destiny's charge and embarked on a different path.
Ugh, Barthandelus again. Getting tired of him yet? I know I sure was at this point. There's not much of a difference this time, other than the fact that there's only one target, so there's no beating around the bush, you can go at him immediately. I would advise having a paradigm that incorporates SYN and SAB, as they will always be useful. He has low stagger bar, only having to hit 200%. After staggering him, try to bring that number to 500 for serious damage. Eventually the face will open up to reveal one large head and the 4 smaller ones. However, there's still only one target.

If you see Apoptosis, get ready to start more SYN/SAB shenanigans, as Apoptosis removes your buffs and his debuffs. When you see Thanatosian Laughter, make sure you have healers ready and some buffs if you can, as this is his most powerful attack. Repeat the staggering and other factors as necessary and you can be rid of this pest once again. After some scenes and regaining control of Lightning, this trophy is yours.

Instrument of Change Witnessed the dawn of a new crystal legend.
This is it, the last Chapter, and the final battles against Barthandelus and Orphan. I won't go into extreme detail about any of these fights, as I'd rather you discover them for yourselves. However, I will give a few pointers for each phase of the fight (there's 3 in total).

Phase one is your friendly neighborhood Fal'cie again. He's not really all that different than his encounter in Oerba. The only new thing is that he tends to use Thanatosian Laughter, followed by Ultima. To prepare for that, you'd be wise to include a SEN/MED/MED combo somewhere to withstand the attacks. Otherwise, attack until he finally dies.

Phase two is the hardest phase, actually, and is the first phase against Orphan. Pause the battle and hit Retry if you feel that you need to better prepare against him. If you do, be sure to bring equipment that resists Death as he has a couple of Instant-Death attacks. At the very beginning he uses Merciless Judgement, so be ready to SEN/MED/MED your way out of that. After, stagger as usual, and be sure to inflict Poison is you can, as it really helps against him with his massive HP. After the stagger, he immediately uses Merciless Judgement again, so be ready to switch. He switches between Consummate Light and Consummate Darkness until he gets below 50% HP, at which point he combines them. At this point, he will use Merciless Judgement whenever and without warning. He also will use a new move, Progenitorial Wrath, which has a chance to inflict Instant-Death, so be careful. After you defeat him, take a breath because the worst is over.

Phase three is laughable in comparison to the last two battles. At the start he will cast Doom on you, which lasts a few minutes. Your goal is to stagger him and mercilessly attack him. Seriously, that's it, he doesn't attack, he only casts Doom and takes some time to stagger. He can easily go down on the first stagger. Congratulations for completing the story! Enjoy the credits and this trophy!

Pulsian Pioneer Took over 10,000 steps on the lowerworld surface.
This is another easy one, but it takes some doing in order to receive. You first reach Pulse at Chapter 11, and from there, any step you take in Pulse counts towards this trophy. Eventually you'll finally reach Fang and Vanille's home: Oerba Village. In one of the houses is a tiny robot named Bhakti. After searching all around the village, finding 5 items to have Sazh fix Bhakti, you can then talk to Bhakti to see if you can get the trophy. He doesn't count your steps for you, but if he calls you a Pulsian Pioneer, like the trophy name, then you're set. He also gives you some neat items, like Deceptisol, Ultracompact Reactors, a Gold Nugget, Perfume, and some Platinum Ingots!

Gysahl Wreath Discovered buried treasure with a little help from a chocobo.
This one isn't too bad, but it will take a little while. After completing Cie'th Stone mission 14, titled "Defender of the Flock," you'll be able to ride chocobos all over the main area of Gran Pulse that you reach in Chapter 11. As you ride, you'll see ! appear over your chocobo's head, and it bounces faster as you get closer to a treasure, which is always in a mound of dirt. Every item you dig up is random, except every 5th item. On your 20th dig, you'll receive a Ribbon, and after getting the Ribbon, you'll get this relatively simple trophy!

Kelger's Cup Completed all low-level Cie'th Stone missions.
See Galuf's Grail for details.

Xezat's Chalice Completed all mid-level Cie'th Stone missions.
See Galuf's Grail for details.

Exorcist Triumphed over undying lowerworld souls in seven fierce battles.
See Galuf's Grail for details.

Floraphobe Toppled a green terror and cut an oversized succulent down to size.
See Galuf's Grail for details.

Natural Selector Passed Titan's trials.
See Galuf's Grail for details.

Dorgann's Trophy Completed all high-level Cie'th Stone missions.
See Galuf's Grail for details.

Galuf's Grail Completed all Cie'th Stone missions.
Not long after reaching the Archlyte Steppe, you'll be introduced to the concept of Cie'th Stone missions, which are missions asking you to kill a specific target in a specific location. These enemies are generally stronger than a normal variant of the monster, and some are unique to the missions, so this is a good way to get more entries if you haven't gotten Loremaster yet. Most are easy enough, but some later ones have you tackling some serious enemies that require some heavy strategy.

Several trophies are linked to this one, which is why I said to come here for more info, as this can kill plenty of birds with one stone. The trophies that you get on the way towards this one are the following: Kelger's Cup, Xezat's Chalice, Exorcist, Floraphobe, Natural Selector, Dorgann's Trophy, and L'Cie Paragon.

Now, I won't list strategies for all 64 missions, I would be here forever, and you would be here for a longer time, I'm sure. So, I'm going to leave a link to a wonderful mission guide that was done by Dark_Raven666 and PS3T, so all the credit goes to them for the time they spent in making the guide to help others get these trophies.

Dark_Raven666's Cie'th Stone Mission Guide

L'Cie Paragon Earned a 5-star rating for all Cie'th Stone missions.
See Galuf's Grail right above this for more details on missions. However, let it be known that you can redo missions infinitely, so don't worry if it takes more than one try to get 5 stars. If you get suck, be sure to use lower-tier weapons and equip the Gold Watch you receive from the final mission, it will help greatly. When I finished the missions, I had roughly 8 or so that weren't 5-Star ranking, so it's not seriously impossible. Just do your best and try hard!

Commando's Seal Mastered the Commando role.
See Master's Seal for more details.

Ravager's Seal Mastered the Ravager role.
See Master's Seal for more details.

Sentinel's Seal Mastered the Sentinel role.
See Master's Seal for more details.

Saboteur's Seal Mastered the Saboteur role.
See Master's Seal for more details.

Synergist's Seal Mastered the Synergist role.
See Master's Seal for more details.

Medic's Seal Mastered the Medic role.
See Master's Seal for more details.

Limit Breaker Dealt 100,000+ damage with a single attack.
There's two ways to do this. Firstly, and maybe the easier method, is to use Bahamut on a heavily staggered enemy (I'm talking like.. maximum stagger, like 999% if possible). After the heavy stagger, you summon him and get the Gestalt Bar as high as possible before changing over to Gestalt Mode, then simply use the Lv. 3 Megaflare, which can easily exceed roughly 300,000 damage if the stagger is high enough. I think a moderately staggered enemy can also take heavy damage from Megaflare but I honestly forgot how I got this trophy. I think it just happened randomly in battle and I didn't notice.

The other way is to equip a Genji Glove to break the damage limit, preferably to Fang, as her Highwind attack can easily break 100,000 on a staggered enemy, but to do that you have to have one of her tier 3 weapons, which takes a VERY long time to do. It's up to you, really. But after you see some 6 digit numbers, this trophy is yours.

Adamant Will Felled a heavyweight of the lowerworld wilds.
So in order to even get ready to do this, you must have beaten missions 56-62. Doing so will make all of the Adamantoise enemies disappear and become Long Gui and Shalong Gui. So good luck in completing the missions!

Ugh, the Oretoise, one of the most difficult normal enemy groups in the entire game, if not the most difficult. This trophy talks about defeating a Long Gui, the absolute strongest enemy in the game that's not a boss of any kind. And with 16/2 million HP and ridiculously high attack power, you're going to be in for a wild ride.

I'm not good at fighting these huge enemies as I tend to stay away from them, so I'm going to leave a link to the video I used to finally obtain this trophy. Maybe you have a better plan or strategy, which is perfectly fine. But this one worked very well for me, and actually allowed me to farm these enemies a little bit for some good item drops.

Master's Seal Fully developed all characters.
So there's no traditional EXP or Level system in this game. Instead, you gain CP, which allows you to upgrade your Crystarium, which acts as a sort of skill and level up tree, to put it simply. As you play, you'll constantly upgrade it in order to gain more skills and better stats. To earn this trophy, your Crystarium must be at level 10, which happens AFTER you defeat the final boss and reload your save. Then, you must complete every role for every character. That's a TON of CP. By fully completing a single role with any character, you get the trophy for that one (So for example, you'd get Commando's Seal if Lightning completely maximizes her Commando tree, and so on and so forth).

So, getting more CP is a little tough, but completing a certain mission is well worth the trouble. Complete Mission 55, "Can't We All Just Get Along?" to collect the Growth Egg, giving Double CP to the person who equips it. Check out the mission guide to see the strategy to get it. Afterwards, maxing out the Crystarium will still take a long time, but you can work on it while you work on the.... extreme load that is Treasure Hunter.

Treasure Hunter Held every weapon and accessory.
*sighs* I'm just going to be straight with you, I absolutely hate this trophy. It is ridiculous because of all the grinding you have to do and enemies don't drop gil in this game. I don't know why they chose not to let enemies drop gil, but I just really hate this trophy. But, luckily for me, by the time I did finally start working for this, I had about 50% of the items. And some items are a one-off item! So, huge tip, DO NOT SELL OR DISMANTLE ANYTHING BECAUSE YOU DO NOT WANT TO RUIN YOUR CHANCES FOR THIS TROPHY!

So, anyways, for this trophy, you must have,at some point, held every weapon and accessory. It's cumulative. As long as you has it at some point, it counts. There's a wonderful checklist that's also on PS3T that I used to help me organize, and the best part is that it even lists the catalysts and max exp you need to get one of your weapons or accessories maxed out, it was amazing! After you finally have the criteria done, talk to Bhakti in Oerba. If he says your equipment is flawless, then this trophy is yours Congrats, because you deserve it for all the hard work you put into it!

Dark_Raven666's Treasure Hunter Guide

Loremaster Discerned the full attributes of 100 enemies.
This will come naturally as you will end up fighting a ton of enemies and grinding on them a lot. To speed up the process, use Libra in battle, at the cost of 1 TP, or use a Librascope item, if you have one, to fully reveal an enemy's attributes. Librascopes, however, are best saved for bosses where you can't afford to use Libra multiple times. To see your progress, check Datalog, and look in the Enemies category. If, next to an enemy, you see a little checkmark, then the enemy is fully discerned. Not hard at all and you will get this in time.

Superstar Earned a 5-star rating in the battle to determine the world's fate.
Coming back when you have better equipment, and maybe the Gold Watch, to easily get this. This applies to the final battle against Orphan, the one where he casts Doom on you at the start and he pretty much dies after one stagger. When I first did this, I got 4 stars when I first beat the game, and I had no idea what to expect, so it's not as hard as it may seem, you might even get this hen you beat the story naturally. Either way, good luck!

And that's it for this trophy guide! Whew! Even though it wasn't picture heavy, it was still a lot of work to get this done, because I had to look up strategies as I haven't played it in a year and a half, so it wasn't fresh in my mind. But as always, I hope this helps you reach this difficult platinum. Huge thanks to Dark_Raven666 at PS3T for the wonderful guides, they were extremely helpful and I'm super glad you made them. As always, thank you so much for reading this far, I appreciate it! As always, thanks so much and I will see you later! :D

*This game took me a total of 1 year and 6 months to finish, from my first trophy to the platinum. As with quite a few platinums, there was a hiatus before I finally got back to get the remaining trophies. My first trophy was "Instrument of Fate" which as received on October 22nd, 2013 at 12:55 AM. My final trophy was "Treasure Hunter" which was received on April 28th, 2015 at 4:33 AM, along with the platinum, "Ultimate Hero." This platinum trophy is my 18th platinum trophy I have received.*

Poll Results and a Much Longer New Poll

So the poll just finished not long ago, because for some reason Blogger's time is like 3 hours behind me, so instead of midnight, it ended at 3 am. Surprisingly, the poll ended in a tie!

So, surprisingly, Litten and Popplio tied for most picked! I'm surprised that Rowlet was dead last, but I'm glad to see that Popplio got some much-needed love. I look forward to this next poll I'm making, however. This next poll is to decide the next, NEXT trophy guide! So later today, after I wake up of course, I'll be putting up the Final Fantasy XIII Trophy Guide. The next trophy guide I'll do is already decided, but it's going to be a surprise until the day before (So the FFXIII guide goes up today, on the 22nd. The next guide will be up on the 6th of October, for reference).

So this new poll is to vote on the trophy guide after the next one. So, your 3 choices are the following games: Okami, Rune Factory, and Epic Mickey 2. I hope you enjoy the trophy guide later today and I hope you enjoy the surprise trophy guide coming in early October after FFXIII. Goodnight and I will see you later :D

Final Fantasy XIII

Ah, Final Fantasy XIII, arguable one of the most disliked games in the series, or the one that I see people complaining about the most. I don't quite understand what's so wrong with it. I get that it's linear but that's the only negative thing I can think of for it, because I really enjoyed this game. I loved the story, the areas, I loved the characters and their arcs. Admittedly, this game was my second Final Fantasy game, only beaten by Final Fantasy X-2 on PS2. It's funny how I even got this game. My best friend was going through games to sell on Craig's List, or just sell to people in general. I looked through some of them and this game caught my eye. I asked if I could have it and he said if I give him $5, I can have it. So I paid him and I got it. I loved it, and it's one of the best $5 I've spent on a game, honestly.

Again, one of the best parts, besides the story, was character arcs. At the beginning, Lightning is just.. cold. But as the story progresses, she opens up more and we see flashbacks of everything that lead to the beginning of the game and why certain things happened. Another arc I enjoy is the tension between Snow and Hope, in which Hope's mother, Nora, dies while Snow tries to save her. Snow, feeling guilty about it and remembering her last words, to watch over her son, has Snow trying to find the son. Hope, from afar, sees this and immediately blames Snow for Nora's death. And we see this tension as Hope desperately tries to tell Snow how he feels but falls short. Eventually, he manages to tell him, but after an attack and they fall from a building, Snow risks his own health and life to protect Hope, giving Hope a change of heart after seeing that Snow isn't a bad person.

There's a lot more to it, but it's better to learn it yourselves. Every character has a goal and motive to continue fighting and they all follow their own arcs on the way. I love the battles and the music and just.. everything. Plus, when you hit Chapter 11, it feels more open and a lot less linear, but only for a little while admittedly. I know this is pretty much me gushing over a flawed game, but hey, I like what I like, really. Nobody has to agree if they don't want to.

But those are just some thoughts on this game. I have tomorrow's trophy guide done so I hope you all look forward to that. Tomorrow will have a new poll, as well, and this time it's going to be a bit different but I'll explain that before I put up the trophy guide. As always, thanks for reading and I will see you later! :D

Pokemon Info, Mostly Version Exclusive Stuff

So no new starter evolutions today, sadly, but with just under 2 months to go, they don't have much time left to finally show us, especially if they plan to release the demo next month as well. But we did get a look at a few more version exclusives, as well as a small taste of other features. So, let's get right into it!

So the first thing we saw is this Pokemon, Passimian. It is exclusive to Pokemon Sun and is a pure Fighting type with the new ability: Receiver. The ability is only viable in a Double Battle, from what we see. When its partner faints, it gains the ability. In the trailer, the example was Vikavolt. When it fainted, Passimian gained Levitate, which is one of Vikavolt's abilities, and then as a Palossand used Earth Power, Levitate activated. To be honest I really like how this monkey looks, even though it ALMOST looks more like a lemur, but only cause of the white and black coloring, I suppose. I'm not too big on this Pokemon, but I'll definitely pick it up at some point.

Ah, Oranguru, you poor thing. You have to suffer through Harambe memes and you just wanna chill out really. Anyways, Oranguru is exclusive to Pokemon Moon, and it Normal/Psychic type. It can have the abilities Inner Focus and Telepathy. It also has a new move: Instruct. From the trailer, after Wishiwashi uses Surf, it uses Instruct, and says that Wishiwashi was instructed to use a move. It then used Surf again, which is most likely what it was instructed to use. And because of Telepathy, Oranguru wasn't hurt by Surf either time. I really like the guru look for this Pokemon, I think it suits it quite well. I may not be getting it but I can always trade for it. It looks like it'll be fun.

So, I won't go into much detail on this as I've talked about it before, but I will talk about new details. For starters, this Pokemon is called Lycanroc in English. Surprisingly, both of them are pure Rock type. Both have Keen Eye as an ability, but Midday also gets Sand Rush, while Midnight can also have Vital Spirit. The biggest thing is that it's confirmed that this evolution line is NOT based on the time of day! Midday Form is exclusive to Sun and Midnight Form is exclusive to Moon. How crazy is that? I'm glad I already wanted Midday Form though. Again, I can't wait to get Lycanroc.

So next was a tiny look at customization. The two pictures are just two examples from it, but I can't wait. There are more hair options and colors (including white and a maroon-like color), and more clothes. I love that you don't need to wear your hat and I think there's glasses too. And since I wear glasses, it'd be nice to make my character look even more like me for the personalized experience. Also there are more contact lenses for eye colors, such as Burgundy and Violet. There's also a currency called Festival Coins but there's no info on those yet. I assume, however, that you might use them to purchase clothes. We'll learn about it eventually. I can't wait for customization, I loved it in X and Y and I'll love it more in Sun and Moon.

Next is a small look at the new version of Pokemon Amie, now called Pokemon Refresh. It works largely the same, except now you can groom your Pokemon and take care of them. For example you can brush them, hose them, and blow dry them. You can feed them the heart-shaped treats, and in a few scenes it showed a poisoned or paralyzed Pokemon, and some object that resembles  a thermometer was used on them to make them better. I like this a lot more than Amie as this feels like a more personal approach, almost like playing with a real pet.

Finally, Pikachu and Eevee get their own special Z-Moves, and Pikachu's even has it dancing the same way your trainer does as he/she performs the Z-Move dance, which is super cute. Pikachu gets thrown at the opponent. Yes, literally chucked at the opponent. I just like the Pika at the end of the word catastrophe, I think that's hilarious. Eevee's move, Extreme Evoboost, has it call on its Eeveelutions, and they all share their power with Eevee, granting Eevee a +2 boost to all of its stats. That's pretty insane honestly. However, like Snorlax, we might be seeing their own Z-Crystal as well, probably something along the lines of Pikalium-Z and Eeveelium-Z. They look awesome and I can't wait!

So that's all for Pokemon Sun and Moon news. Otherwise, we have small info for a Pokemon Bank update coming in 2017. In it, it says that Pokemon from Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow can be put into Pokemon Bank using the Poke Transporter, just like bringing gen 5 Pokemon to gen 6. However, the gen 1 Pokemon can only be taken to gen 7. And anything placed in gen 7 cannot be put back into gen 6 so be wary of that!

So that's it for today's news. Disappointed that there's no starter evolutions yet, but that's okay because our next news dump comes in on October 4th, 2 weeks from today. As always, I thank you for reading and I hope you're enjoying what you read every day. Be sure to vote in this week's poll, it ends soon! Tomorrow, expect my small thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII and Thursday will be Trophy Thursday so look forward to that. As always, thanks so much and I will see you later! :D

The Blog is One Month Old!

So today marks the one month anniversary of this blog! I can't believe it's been a whole month already. I want to thank all of you so much for, well, taking time to look at my silly and not-spectacular content. I really do appreciate every view and every moment you all take to read my silly thoughts and my opinions. I know nobody really comments or voices their opinion on the blog itself, but I know that comments don't make a blog. I would love more feedback, absolutely, but the fact that at least one person takes a moment to look at this blog means a lot to me. I won't lie, I do feel slightly discouraged at times, like thinking that this blog won't get anywhere, or that people will lose interest, but I know that if I just keep doing what I love, and I enjoy doing it, then one day other people will too.

So, short and sappy words aside, I really do appreciate everything that everyone does for this blog, even if you only look at it once a day or otherwise. I hope this blog keeps going for a very long time, and I hope one day I build a community of wonderful people. This.. honestly means a lot to me because this is the closest thing I can do to being a YouTube Let's Player, which is my all-time dream. This is a similar to doing Let's Plays, but it's more... restricted and more so just talking about games. But it's something right? I just have to keep trying and one day I'll finally get there. Until then, I'll keep up with this blog and try to make it as wonderful as I can!

So thank you, all of you, once again for reading my posts. Be sure to vote in this week's poll, there's new Pokemon info coming tomorrow so I'm super excited, and Thursday's coming, so the next trophy guide will be coming too. As always, thanks a bunch, and I will see you later! :D

I Actually Have a Schedule for This Week!

So tomorrow I have a special post planned and the rest of the week is already set up, which is wonderful. So this won't be anything long, I'm just going to post the schedule leading up to Trophy Thursday. Have a great day!

Today: Schedule post

Tomorrow: Special post

Tuesday: Pokemon news

Wednesday: Small thoughts on Final Fantasy 13

Thursday Final Fantasy 13 Trophy Guide

Be sure to vote in the poll about your favorite Alola starter Pokemon! And the next poll, after this one ends, will last a lot longer, because the next trophy guide I do is already determined, but I'll talk about that on Wednesday/Thursday. Until next time, thanks so much and I will see you later! :D

My First Alola Pokemon Team and Why (Silly Nicknames Included!)

So I know I talk about Pokemon a bit too often, but it really does mean a lot to me. One day I'll have the words to explain why Pokemon has had such a wonderful impact on my life, but until then, I'll let today's post be about my first Pokemon team in the tropical region of Alola when Pokemon Sun and Moon come out in November. I'll put pictures of the Pokemon, of course. And as of right now, only one doesn't have a clear picture because it hasn't been officially revealed in English yet. When that specific one gets revealed, I'll be sure to update this post with the official artwork of it. But anyways, let's get started!

So this is no surprise to anyone who knows me. When I first saw the starters, I had to take some time to pick one because all 3 are super cute. For me, it was a tie between Litten and Popplio, but in the end, my fire kitty won out. Litten, unlike Popplio, has aspects that appeal to me a lot and remind me of me. It's red and black, my favorite colors; it's a cat, and I love cats a lot; and it's got that face that I always have in the morning, the "I just woke up and need some coffee" face. The nickname I'm going to give to my Litten, regardless of gender, is Smokey, in loving memory of a cat that belonged to my sister and bother-in-law, who died in August. She was super old though, and now she's no longer in any pain. She was one of the two cats over there that would come up to me and snuggle in my lap, she was precious and I loved her like my own cat. So, Litten will be a way for me to love Smokey, even though she's no longer alive.

So, Rockruff was an interesting thing for me. When it was first revealed with Komala (back when they were Iwanko and Nekkoala), I fell in love with it because it's a puppy, and I love dogs and cats the most out of any animals. I was a bit nervous about its evolution typing, as I like to do a "no types overlapping" rule with my teams in Pokemon. The first-game-clear team is an exception but with all the rumors of it becoming a werewolf, I was nervous because, if it was a Dark type, and Litten evolved into a Fire/Dark type, I'd be a bit.. conflicted about it. However, with the recent reveal of Lugarugan and its two time-based forms, I can now safely say I can take my rock puppy, because the Midday Form looks like it would stay pure Rock, if not Rock and something else. The pun-tastic name I'm choosing for my Rockruff/Lugarugan will be Roxas, because it has the word "rocks" in the name. Really silly, I know, but I think it fits, and I really hope Rockruff is found early, kind of like Lillipup in gen 5, so I can get it on my team asap.

Lurantis is another one of those Pokemon that I saw and was immediately like "I need it!" There's something about how it looks a little shy, and the way the pink and green colors go so well together. Very very surprised that Lurantis, and Fomantis for that matter, isn't a Bug type, but at least it's not 4x weak to Fire. I can't wait to grab a Fomantis when I first play so I can have this beast on my team, especially with that new move called Solar Blade. Plus, I like how its flavor text says it's the most elegant and beautiful of all Grass-types. That is one heavy title to have, especially when weighed against the likes of Lilligant and some others. I don't know what to call my Lurantis, but I'll probably call it Mantis Bab, to reference the silly joke I have with my friends, since I love the Pokemon so much.

So Wishiwashi was interesting for me, because I really love how it goes into its School Form at a certain level. It's like an evolution but it's not. And once its health hits a certain point (I would assume somewhere between 50% to maybe.. 30-25%) , it reverts back to the Single Form. It's a wonderful concept for a fish Pokemon, honestly. I just love, also, how its flavor text says that even the mighty Gyarados is afraid of Wishiwashi's School Form. I will admit, though, I needed to see the Pokemon in a trailer before I decided to take the little guy, and I know I won't be disappointed. Also, in a recent Japanese trailer that showed pieces of the game, and almost seemed like a commercial, to be honest, it shows Wishiwashi School Form attacking the player during what appears to be Lana's Island Trial. So I think it's gonna be fun. The silly nickname I have for Wishiwashi is going to be 2Cool4School, because fish puns are very silly, just like they did with the trailer, in which it said "Get schooled by Wishiwashi!"

Ah, yes, my good ol' sand castle buddy, Palossand. This Pokemon quickly got my attention because it's one of those super odd ones, like Trubbish and Vanillite. But, like those two Pokemon, I love super weird ones. I was almost dead set on taking Palossand, but once I saw the trailer showing it in action and 3D, I was more than ready to take the Pokemon. Also this thing is vicious, it steals the grudges of Pokemon it defeats and swallows up, and uses it to make more Sandygast, which in turn will become more Palossand. Talk about dark, am I right? For lack of anything amazing, the nickname I have for this beast is probably going to be Sand Man, because why not, right?

And finally, Type: Null. I love mythical beasts, and a chimera is an awesome idea for a Pokemon! We know next to nothing about Type: Null, only that it was made to synthesize the strengths of various Pokemon in order to let it adapt to any situation.  The mask hinders its agility and it also needed to be powerful enough to rival the Pokemon spoken of in mythology. Next month's CoroCoro is said to reveal the true strength of Type: Null, so I'm super excited for that. I almost wanted to call it Null & Void, but I think Void is a lot better, but maybe that's just me. Either way, I can't wait to claim this Pokemon that Gladion also has.

So that will be my first Alola team. Every new reveal and every day closer to the games releasing makes me more and more excited and I can't wait to play! Let me know what Pokemon you're planning on taking, maybe tell me your nicknames if you want. As always, thanks so much for reading! Tuesday will be another Pokemon day, as that's when our next news batch comes along, so I'm super excited for that. Be sure to vote on the Alola starter you're going to take with you in Alola, and as always, thanks again for reading and I will see you later! :D

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

All aboard! It's time to ride the rails in this fun-filled Zelda game! That probably sounds like the opening line for a commercial on TV for this game, honestly. But silly jokes aside, welcome! As I did with Phantom Hourglass, since I just finished Spirit Tracks last night for the second time, so I figured I would talk about it in similar fashion. I prefer Spirit Tracks to Phantom Hourglass, not just because I enjoy the train travel more, but I just have more fun with it, honestly. I enjoy discovering new locations, I enjoy collecting the Force Gems and opening new tracks, and I really enjoy the music, with a lot of focus on the pan flute (which is pretty fitting when your main musical object, the Spirit Flute, is a pan flute).

Somewhat similarly to Phantom Hourglass, you have to return to a temple frequently to progress the story. However, unlike the Temple of the Ocean King, the Tower or Spirits doesn't make you redo your already-completed floors over and over again, which is refreshing. However, the puzzles can be a lot more tricky and a lot more difficult then the Temple of the Ocean King.

One of the main gameplay focuses hinges on the fact that Zelda, who is a ghost due to plot points, can inhibit the suit of a Phantom and you can indirectly control her and have her and Link work together to solve puzzles together. I think it's great and I think it's fun, but there are some times, admittedly, where Zelda's AI can be a little... annoying, to put it bluntly. Sometimes she gets in your way, sometimes she's frustrating, and maybe I just have low patience sometimes, but it's not all bad.

One thing I love most, besides the train, is the outfit Link begins with, the Engineer Outfit. Seeing Link in something different than the same old green tunic is always fun because, well, it's different. That's why I love Wind Waker's 2nd quest, and because, well, you save the world in your pajamas, that's pretty epic. Sadly, you lose the Engineer Outfit shortly after the beginning, BUT you can get it back if you collect 15 out of the 20 stamps at stamp stations in the game, which isn't super difficult to do and can be done by the time you reach the 4th temple, if you're diligent with side quests and exploration. And the outfit just looks really sweet, let's be honest.

But yeah, those are my small thoughts on Spirit Tracks. I love this game, and despite the few parts where I got frustrated, it's still a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend it if you're able to get a copy somewhere. I enjoy simply driving a train through Hyrule and blowing the whistle constantly. Okay, not every waking moment, but often enough to be fun. As usual, thank you for reading and reading this far, I appreciate it! Be sure to vote on this week's poll if you're a fan of Pokemon and look for the Final Fantasy XIII trophy guide on Thursday, the 22nd, and leave any feedback if you have any for me, I love any and all feedback. As always, thanks a bunch and I will see you later! :D

New Trophy Guide Coming in a Week!

So the results are now in! And it was a close one but here is how the poll ended up:

So, for starters, it looks like nobody(At least out of everyone who chose to vote) cares about Tales of Symphonia. And that's fine, I'm going to end up going to it eventually, so this just tells me that it's not needed now. As for Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, it was really close. In fact, without my own vote, it would have actually been a tie! I did vote for Final Fantasy 13, but not just because I was going to do it eventually, but because I have quite an opinion on some of the trophies in the game, and let me tell you, that platinum wasn't easy to finally get.

But the votes have spoken! For those who voted for Final Fantasy, then congrats! You will see the trophy guide next Thursday, the 22nd! For the 3 people who voted for Kingdom Hearts, don't worry, I might just do that after Final Fantasy, so don't lose hope for it. Kind of bummed that nobody chose Tales of Symphonia, but that's okay. One day I'll explain the games in the Tales series and maybe then a poll about them would be good. But either way, congrats to Final Fantasy 13!

As usual, a new poll is out today, this time asking about which of the Alola starters you're going to be taking when you purchase Pokemon Sun or Pokemon Moon. Vote if you'd like, and as always, thank you so much for reading and participating in my poll. I will see you later! :D

A Small (Lackluster) Pokemon News Batch

{EDIT: So they did release a small English trailer to show off these two briefly, but everything else I said remains the same. The English name for Expansion is Absorption, so I'll fix that now}

So, I'm having some laptop problems, but I'll still try my best to keep updating this blog every single day. If anything DOES happen that would render me unable to do updates like normal, I'll be sure to let you all know, because I can use a few different things to still use Blogger, like my phone, 3DS, and PS3. But enough of that, let's go!

So the news batch for Pokemon that we got was.. honestly lackluster, in my opinion. There wasn't even anything on the English sites, it was all from the Japanese site. And by all, I mean the.. 2 small things we were told. And it's only about the Ultra Beasts. And this time we have some clearer pictures. So let me go grab them.

So these are generally the same thing, except for Absorption being in Sun and Beauty being in Moon. All the same, these Ultra Beasts drop from the sky in a burst of thunder and they do battle with Tapu Koko, who seems to be either under Hala's control, or has simply appeared before Hala. Obviously we don't know how this will play out, but we do have a small amount of info regarding these two Ultra Beasts. Absorption's proboscis (that needle thing that I assume is its nose) is evidently stronger than diamonds, and Beauty is able to run fast enough to out run lightning. Aka Beauty is a low-key Sonic, by the sound of it. The Japanese site also mentions that there are more Ultra Beasts to come. Finally, our next news batch is coming on the 20th. Hopefully it's something.. more.

Look, I don't mind small updates and learning more about Ultra Beasts, but we expect more since they give us more. Then again maybe it's a small taste of what to expect next week. Maybe the 20th will give us a trailer for these Ultra Beasts as well as some info on Lugarugan, and we're always still holding out for starter evolutions, especially now that Rockruff's secret has been revealed.

But anyways, that's it for today's update with Pokemon stuff. Be sure to vote on the poll, it ends at midnight, which is 12 hours from now! It's a neck-and-neck tie between Final Fantasy 13 and Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, so it's all coming down to the wire! As always, thanks so much for reading this blog and I will see you later! :D

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

So, in my opinion, this is one of the... least liked Zelda games. I know why, too, but generally people dislike it for a few things that I'll get to in a bit. I just finished this game for the second time last night (and by that I mean from start to finish, not just re-loading my save to fight the final boss again), and I missed how fun it was, and I enjoyed reliving the fun from this 2007 DS title. Since tomorrow will be more Pokemon news, because of the official English news batch coming tomorrow morning, I figured I would talk about Zelda today since I just spent the last few days completing Phantom Hourglass.

So, let's start with the basic new feature: Touch Screen movement. Simply put, you hold the stylus where you want Link to run, and that's how you move. You swipe the screen to thrust your sword and you tap enemies to do a targeted attack or a jump attack, depending on your distance from the enemy. Of course, being a direct sequel to Wind Waker, there's a lot of boat travel, which I love. You draw a route for your ship to take and away you go, sailing the seas, discovering islands, defeating monsters, and working to save the world, because that really is Link's only job, let's be honest. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of using the stylus to move because it reminded me of one way to play Animal Crossing Wild World, but unlike ACWW, you can't change to the D-Pad in this game. You do get very used to it in time though, and then it just feels like second nature, but I do see why some people are annoyed with that aspect.

However, the big, big thing that a lot of people like to complain about is the 4/5 mandatory visits to your main temple, the Temple of the Ocean King on Mercay Island. The reason is because you have to redo all the floors you already did on a previous visit, while getting down further each time, and you're on a constant time limit, as once the Phantom Hourglass runs out of time, your life starts depleting when you're not in a Safe Zone. However, the dungeon gets progressively easier each time you enter, as you have more time in the Hourglass, and you have more items to use to find shortcuts through the floors, or even skip some floors altogether. I say 4/5 because, on your 3rd visit, you can continue onward to grab the final sea chart during the same visit, if you think you have enough time left to do it, saving you a ton of time later on. It's not as difficult as people say, but it does become tedious and, admittedly, annoying after you go back the 3rd time.

But those points aside, this is still a fun Zelda game, and being able to draw notes on your maps is really fun and useful, and they make sure you remember to do it because people give important info, or dungeon tablets give away puzzle hints that you need to know to complete them, or Gossip Stones give you hints to a buried treasure and have you mark locations and other cool stuff. I enjoy this game a lot, and once I finish its distant sequel, Spirit Tracks, again, you'll be seeing me talk about that, too.

And that's all for Phantom Hourglass. I tried not to add plot this time as I really don't want it to be spoiled for the people who want to play this but haven't, and I felt that adding plot makes this more of a review than my own opinion, honestly. If you made it this far, as always, thanks a bunch for taking time to read this, I appreciate it a lot! Be sure to vote in this week's poll to decide next week's trophy guide, as the poll ends on Thursday! Thanks again, and as always, I will see you later! :D

CoroCoro Finally Leaked! Hooray!

I'm really excited right now! I know you're all probably sick and tired of Pokemon stuff from me, but what can I say, I'm a huge Pokemon nerd, and proud of it. So, for me at least, around 5 am CoroCoro finally leaked. Meanwhile I'm fast asleep with thoughts of Pokemon and Zelda (Zelda only cause I've been re-playing Phantom Hourglass, which I'll talk about some other time) and hoping we get CoroCoro soon, since the next news batch drops on the 14th, so in 2 days from the time of typing this. So Wednesday's blog will be about that info as well. But enough introduction, let's jump right into it!

So first, and probably the most important and exciting part. These two Pokemon are called Lagarugan. We don't have the English name yet, but yes, these are the same Pokemon, but different forms. The top picture is the Midday Form, and the bottom is the Midnight Form. Now, I love these, and I love that Rockruff has a time-based evolution, because now I have a choice of what I want. I DO need to see these Pokemon in a trailer and in action, along with types, before I can choose. I love both, though, so it's really hard. I love the Midday Form because it looks like my rock puppy is all grown up, and frankly I really love dogs, too. But the Midnight version gives me Zoroark vibes, and Zoroark is one of my favorite Dark types, as well as one of my favorite Pokemon to come from gen 5. I'm thinking Midday Form will retain the pure Rock typing, while Midnight Form becomes Rock/Dark, or something with Dark in it. I love these, and they're absolutely worth the wait and worth all the hype!

So in our last reveal, we met one of the new Ultra Beasts: UB-01, who looks a lot like Lillie. Well, now we have UB-02, but there's two of them, one for each version. While the picture cuts it off slightly, the top is UB-02 Expansion, and the lower one is UB-02 Beauty. Expansion appears in Pokemon Sun, while Beauty appears in Pokemon Moon. Below, you can see Expansion facing off against Tapu Koko, while the picture below, that's cut off, is the same thing but with Beauty. I really am starting to think that Ultra Beasts might just be legendary Pokemon in a sense, but of course it's way too early to have an answer to it all. But I'm still getting suspicious about Aether, considering they're conducting research on the Ultra Beasts. Hmm..

A closer look at the 3 known Ultra Beasts. It's stated that UB-01's name is a mystery, but it may have a deeper meaning. Also, note how UB-01 looks sort of like Lillie. Well, do you notice that UB-02 Beauty looks a bit similar to Lusamine, just a bit? Obviously it's impossible to tell who or what Expansion is based off of, as we know neither Gladion or any other character is that muscular. But we'll see when the time comes.

Not much on this page, save for some Munchlax and Snorlax promotion to receive the Snorlium-Z to get Snorlax's unique Z-Move, and a bit of info about how Pokemon GO might let you see Alola Forms for existing Kanto Pokemon. But the thing that I'm interested in is that next month's issue of CoroCoro is going to show the true strength of Type: Null. And seeing how much I need Type: Null for my team, I can't wait to see how strong this beast is. Something tells me it might have a Form change or something along those lines, but we'll see.

And finally, of course, confirmation that the anime will continue into Alola. The main premise so far  is that Ash goes to school in Alola and his goal is to graduate "like never before." And of course, as you see here, he receives a Z-Ring, and he meets Tapu Koko, mirroring what happens with your character in the game. From the picture you can see a few screenshots, like Tapu Koko about to fire some attack; Lana, Mallow, and Sophocles lined up with Popplio, Bounsweet, and Togedemaru, respectively; Pikachu in some forest; and, although it's hard to see, Ash and Kiawe facing off against Lana and Sophocles. From the look of it, Serena isn't with Ash, which makes every Amourshipper sad, but the general consensus is that Mallow will travel with Ash, which makes people think those Chinese starter evolution leaks are even more real. Also, just want to point out, Ash looks really goofy trying to do the Z-Move.

So that's all the info from CoroCoro today. Super excited for Lagarugan and really hype for these Ultra Beasts and Type: Null's true strength. Let me know what you thought about the info. If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading, I greatly appreciate it! Be sure to vote in this week's poll, as it's going to end on Thursday! As always, thanks so much for reading, and I will see you later! :D