At 9:35 PM, Tuesday, March 25, 2003 Star Drifter posted the following:
The World Sings, "I Have Recess"
And in one unified voice, told me never to touch a microphone again. Days like this, I bow my head and say a little "thank you" prayer to whoever created reverb effects.

Oh yeah, the song is done. For now.

Unlike previous songs, I'm not going to put a real audio preview up. Instead, I'm going to wait until after I've gotten a gold membership at MP3.com, then upload the song there. Ideally, this should happen by the 17th of April.

I'm happy with almost everything. The guitars could have been cleaner. The vocals really needed more feeling, but this was all I could muster without grunting or screaming. The bass is good. The second guitar came out perfectly. The song is finished.

I needed to finish this song. Before it was too late.

Onward ho!

Two more songs are going to need recording now. Goodbye Radio, Craven's act of rebellion. Motorcycle on Fire, Craven's transition to manhood. Not to mention the electronic songs, At the Rave and Get Your Hand Off My Girlfriend. I'm thinking that one or both may be a true collaboration between members of Arcanasphere, and that Rave could benefit from the help of old friends.

Motorcycle on Fire started as a joke. I just started singing it about seven years ago while watching a particularly bad episode of the Outer Limits. It got recorded once, on a long lost master tape. It'll get some lyrics and tie into the story.

Goodbye Radio is new, just for Craven. This is going to be the technical highlight of the album. Odd tempos, strong storytelling, and possibly the only dirty words to make it into the project will be featured in this song. I needed something strong, to point out that he was figuring life out, and this will hopefully push the story in that direction. I'm already working on bass lines, guitar will fit over it easily There are lyrics. But those are the easy parts.

I've been posting a lot here today. This will be it until tomorrow.

At 9:13 PM, Star Drifter posted the following:
Pokemon Sapphire
Initial review.

As I stood in line, my bright blue box in one hand and the complimentary player's guide in the other, the thought occurred to me that the designers would have needed to do something really new to make this game interesting. Well, they did.

Let me take a step back for a minute to say this game looks great. This game takes advantage of numerous GBA advantages, from real time 2D image manipulation to a nicer sound output. Just as a number of games defined what the SNES was capable of, Pokemon Sapphire and Ruby are showcasing this little device's aesthetic prowess.

Back to what's new: Damn near everything. Unlike the Gold/Silver/Crystal games, the new critters weren't simply added to the pokedex. Players are given an all new pokedex, numbered from 1 to 200. I can't recall how many of the pokemon are new, but it seems as though the critters from the older games are outnumbered. Unless Pikachu is your favorite, don't count on seeing it in the new series.

I wanted another Meowth.

Yes, Payday is also gone. On the bright side, the new critters have abilities. These are automatically active aspects of each pokemon. Zigzagoon, for instance, has "Pickup" as his ability. Pickup is a characteristic which means the pokemon will secretly pick up items during a battle. I managed two Gold Nuggets and three Rare Candy items today, not counting a number of potions and other goodies.

So, we have new Pokemon, with new features, in a new nation. Other new goodies are two types of bicycles and a Pokemon fashion show system. This fashion show idea is an odd one.

It's a lot of fun, though. It's like learning to play the games all over agin. There's a lot to like about this, and they make it worth the money.

As always, though, there's a downside. These new critters have almost no established backstory or personality in comparison to the ones who have been plastered all over the tv for the last few years. A lot of them seem like modifications of older critters, and a number of others seem like copies of the modifications. The battle screens need to look better - like the fashion show scenes do.

Next, the experience system just seems way off kilter. I'm used to something simpler, where one or two pokemon can generally conquer an area. Not so in Sapphire; after the first two badges, it seems like 80% of the wild pokemon are able and willing to cause paralysis, poison, or sleep. Having one super-cool Pokemon to bring down the most annoying foes also seems to be a thing of the past. While this does make the game a little smarter, it's also a bit more annoying.

Finally, a lot more of the Pokemon will learn entirely different movies based on when you allow them to evolve. This is also a bit annoying,

Overall, it's fun. That's what counts.