Me

Welcome to my personal page, updated about once a year or so (to update my age).

For more recent stuff, check out my LiveJournal.

IRC Nickname: Filia on irc.esper.net. On the net at large, I generally use "FeatherFall", and this is the name I will use in these pages, but don't be surprised if you see the name "Ucchan"...That's still me...(Why? Ukyou^ used to be my nick on Dalnet ages ago...my oldest friends still call me that, so...). People think I got the name from Dungeons and Dragons, but I actually got it from Dragonlance, before finding out that it was from D&D.

Real Name: Not tellin'...

Age: 28

Field of study: I have a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design and a college diploma in 2D/3D animation.

Languages Spoken: French, English, Japanese and a dab of Russian. Currently studying: Ainu, Ancient Greek, Armenian, Basque, Breton, Bulgarian, Farsi (Iranian), Finnish, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Korean, Mongolian, Okinawan, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese. With *very* varying degrees of skill. I'm doing best with Ainu, Basque and Indonesian, and Ural-Altaic languages (Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Turkish) seem to agree with me.

E-mail: I get too many strange e-mails and spam to leave my personal e-mail address lying around...If you need to contact me for a reason, leave a note in the Guestbook, the guestbook will email me. Alternately, if you want something a bit more personal, you can comment on my LiveJournal and leave me your e-mail address.

Current Favorite Anime: Seirei no Moribito and Lovely Complex. Like Mushishi, Moribito's slow-paced and gorgeous and Lovecom has the kind of emotional roller coaster I love in a romantic comedy.

Favorite Anime Characters:

Shinrei and Hotaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo. They didn't get enough scenes in the anime, especially Shinrei who shows what a truly cool and decent guy he is in the manga. And what great gag fodder he makes now that he joined the good guys. The way he treated Saisei (who is also unbelievably cooler in the manga) goes a long way to establish his claim to Most Bestest Guy in the series. As for Hotaru, he's a moron. But the cute kind of moron, the one you'd want to hug rather than hit. I'm now totally addicted to his insanely funny antics and there is no doubt that he's 90% of the reason why I'm following the manga, which sure is dragging on. Hotaru also deserves an honorable mention for boosting my opinion of Koyasu Takehito to the point where I'm now an avowed fan.

Ginko from Mushishi. He has the requisite white hair, and my favorite eye color, green, but beyond that, he's a surprisingly sexy character, considering the fact that he's not drawn like a typical biseinen. I usually don't like smoker chars, but there's something about his laidback, confident personality that just suckered me in. His personality is hard to describe, but I have yet to meet someone who didn't find him fascinating.

Toma from Sousei no Aquarion. I don't especially like the series. I started watching because I had the OST and I loved Kouya no Heath, and so wanted to see it 'in action', so to speak. I was also intrigued by the fact that one of the chars, a bish as it would happen, was named Sirius. Unfortunately, he turned out to be an arrogant, shallow cad and I quickly switched to the other bish of the show, Toma. This guy is like my dream bish come true. He not only has white hair, which is the ultimate me-magnet, but his hair is made of freaking FEATHERS. He has those gorgeous sad purple eyes. He's openly bi (and was even engaged to a guy) and yet he's not a crossdresser, or a woman-hater, or a simpering, flaming queer like 90% of other gay chars in anime. After the abject disappointment of seeing Kouya no Heath used for some cheesy love scene between the two protagonists (whom I hate), my sole reason for watching this often retarded show became staring at Toma's absurdly beautiful face and mesmerizing hair. In fact, I seem to have a really hard time paying any kind of attention to what he's saying. The anticipation of seeing him again is what got me through some memorable eps as "Pierre Is Really Horny And Needs A Goddamn Lay", or "Oh Noes, We're Fat! Teach Us The True Meaning Of Diet!" and the unforgettable "Help! We've Turned Ugly!". That, and the hope that Toma would get in a mecha with Sirius and do that orgasmic union sequence. Sometimes, wishes really do come true XD

Gin from Bleach. My first impression of him was rather negative, cause....let's face it, he's freaky. In his first appearance, he looked like a goddamn lizard. Still, there is something really fascinating about him. There's the white hair, yes, but more than that ¬_¬. He looks so blatantly evil that I just have to believe he's actually a good guy, because Kubo Tite is never blatant about anything and *adores* misdirection. His various scenes with Rangiku showed that there is a sweet, caring core somewhere behind that cold, ruthless facade and even after all that shit he did, I remain convinced that there is a reason behind what he does, a sense to his evil, if you please. I just hope we won't learn it after his death or some other unpleasant outcome >_<

Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. For a pint-sized Yuber, he sure whups his share of ass with none of the childish whining and insults that come with Yuber's every defeat. It's so rare to see a child char who acts mature, yet still retains very much of a child's personality and attitude. Rather than making me despise him, the times when he shows weakness and cries only make me like him more because he appears all the more realistic. Moreover, the caring relationship with his brother is just so heartwarming when every other series or game pits sibling against sibling. It's nice to finally see brothers getting along and caring deeply for each other, to the point of making incredible sacrifices, and as KIDS, no less. I wish I had kid brothers like them ;_; Not to mention that Alphonse is Taiki~!

Taiki in Juuni Kokki. OMG WHAT A CUTE WIDDLE FLJKHJKDSFDS. Ahem. What I mean to say is that this kid is so cute he deserves to have his own plushie made.

Robin from Witch Hunter Robin. LOVE ¤_¤ If I ever turn lesbian, it will be entirely her fault for being so damn lovable. She carries the whole series on her shoulders like no other char I've ever seen. Not that the other chars aren't interesting, I like most of them, including that bald boss guy whom Ranchan dubbed 'Hitler-chan'. It's simply that Robin spectacularly outshines them all just by her sheer presence. She's a character of unusual depth and emotion, while keeping a relative poker face and a mysterious past.

Katou. Yeah, from Angel Sanctuary. That's pretty much his biggest flaw. He's one of the (very) few AS chars that I actually care about. As in, when they die, I won't just start laughing and break out the champagne.

Mad Hatter, also from the same above-mentioned series. I like hats. Very much. I like her depravity and her fragility. She's a very interesting character. And she has taste in hats. And she's hot ¬.¬

Riko from Yami no Matsuei. Ph34r him. I'm almost kidding....honestly though, a singing and dancing cactus who wears a cowboy hat and hops around in its pot. AND has the 1,000 Needles attack. I just don't know how a character could get any cooler, short of being a monkey ninja giant robot. Riko deserves to rule the world and have his own shrine.

Naya from Infinite Ryvius. She's...uhm...very interesting...without giving too much away...The way she goes around and tunes into people's thoughts is always very entertaining to watch. I'm also a big fan of Juli and Blue.

Favorite Game Characters:

Since I played Suikoden 1 I've been seriously addicted to the Suikoden series, which gives me a whole new(and long) list of characters to love. I might as well make categories out of it.

Sheer Coolness Award: Viktor, Sierra and Viki. More for their whole characters rather than for battle prowess. Viktor looks just so damn, well, huggable, like a huge teddy-bear, and Viki in Suikoden 3 had me rolling on the floor with tears streaming down my cheeks with her theater 'performances'. Sierra, on the other hand, took some time getting used to, but she's so funny in Japanese, and watching her bully Nash around in Suikogaiden had me shaking with laughter. Plus, she married Nash, how cool is that XD (still hypothetical, but the likeliest match judging by Nash's comments)

Assbeating Power Award: Ronnie, Oulan and Emily. They all share the same star, the Chiaku (earth-evil) star. They're all ridiculously powerful. Oulan managed to do the biggest amount of damage I've ever seen in a Suikoden game, 2600 points, to Yuber's undead dragon. The poor thing died pitifully quickly. I never managed to duplicate that feat again, not matter how many times I replay the game, so I really wonder what happened at that time.

"Aww, ain't she a dear?" Award: Aila, Belle, Yun, Lymsleia. So cute ¤_¤ Only Aila is really useful in battle though (especially since Yun sort of doesn't participate in battles...), but all four are eminently likable. I don't understand people who bash Lymsleia, I can only assume her character has been mangled in the english version, because she's easily the most awesome child char I've ever seen in my life.

"Cool Outfit!" Award: Ayame, most of the Karaya tribe, the Queen's Knights in 5 and Yuber in 3. Not that his spiked armor wasn't good, but...the hat speaks for itself. Too bad he's such a pathetic whiner in the game though.

"Huh?" Award: The flying squirrel sentai team in Suikoden 2. Find me another game that has something half as cool.

"Mmm, bish" Award: That is, those who score high marks mostly through bishounenesque qualities such as being a hunk, being cool, having a cool outfit and owning a dragon. This award includes Ferid, Georg and Geddoe for all-around awesomeness, Flik (once he grows out of his reckless twit phase), Futch for growing up from THat and turning into THIS and Percival for not having a stick up his ass, unlike a certain Lord B, Zexen Knight. Also, Jacques reminds me so much of Hotaru he deserves a spot here. And I guess Yuber would fit in the category, even if I despise the guy, he still is a hot bastard. And he does kind of own a dragon, albeit an undead one ¬_¬ Not included in this category are Borus, Caesar and Luc for annoying me, Albert for being willing to sacrifice millions of people so he can get a good job and Pesmerga for lacking a personality.

"I'm so sorry!" Award: Nash, cause I called him annoying. After I played the Suikogaiden games and played Suikoden 3 in Japanese, it became clear to me that he is an incredibly cool char and then shot up to become my all-time favorite Suikoden char. I think the english version of Suikoden 3 somewhat distorted his personality through the translation, because he feels like a completely different guy in Japanese.

"Haw-haw!" Award: Snowe. I can't say more without revealing too much of the story, but I started out hating him and ended up really liking him, to my surprise. And his boy-toy pseudo-pirate outfit made me laugh my ass off. Euram would probably fit in this category as well. He's so pathetic you can't help but like him. Much like Seymour, in fact.

"....*speechless*" Award: Yohn in Rhapsodia/Suikoden Tactics. She looks so freaky and cool. You expect this cute little sheep-girl like in so many fetishist bishoujo pics, but she looks like Satan's daughter in a frilly dress. On the Japanese cover, she looks like she's ready to murder you. Heartstopping.

Samus Aran from the Metroid series: My hero *.* I got into Metroid for a cheesy reason, I saw House play Metroid on his Gameboy, She blew my mind the first time I played Super Metroid, and I got hooked within 30 minutes of playing Prime. Finally, at long last, a decent video game heroine, one who doesn't scamper around in hot pants and a bra, one who commands utter respect and admiration with one missile blast from her arm cannon. I love the fact that she can get away with not showing an inch of skin for the entirety of the game. Can't say I like much the treatment she gets when you get 100% though ~.~ If she takes off everything to reward you, that makes her basically a common stripper. I'm glad Retro Studios took a more modest and less objectifying approach to it.

Axel from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories/Kingdom Hearts 2. Simply put, he is the sole reason I had any kind of interest whatsoever in KH past the first game. KH2 would have gotten a 'Meh.' tinged with disgust from me if I hadn't seen him in the first batch of screenshots and decided I really wanted to play that game. Likewise, I played COM, despite its oft-annoying battle system, exclusively so I could see him in advance and understand the plot of KH2 better when it came out. I'm still hoping they'll make spin-off or gaiden KH games where he'll be a playable character.

Riku from Kingdom Hearts 2. I found him an arrogant twit in KH1 and nicknamed him Mini-Seph, but he underwent a full character overhaul in COM and especially KH2. Ignoring his trailer trash outfit in KH2, he just rocked my world, period.

Cloud from Final Fantasy 7. For those who know me, it's a given, since I've been a devoted fan since back in '98 when I first saw a poster of him and couldn't tear my eyes away. The fact that you get to dress him up as a girl, those hilarious scenes in the Honey Bee Inn, and all the really funkily-translated stuff that he says only made me like him more. And he's got motion sickness. That is such an insanely cute flaw. Only Laguna could be that cool. And then the movie came along and Cloud turned into Squall and plummeted down in my esteem. He should get back to his dark bedroom and write goth poetry there under the pen name Deathcrow Gravemist.

Reno from same. He was already cool in the game, but the movie fully exploited all his comedic range, and bished him up 500%. In fact, he totally stole the spotlight from Cloud in the movie, to the point where I constantly found myself wondering how Reno was faring while Cloud was pulling all his best angsty faces and common-sense-defying moves.

Klarth from Tales of Phantasia. I'm gonna be a fangirl for a brief moment and say that it's mostly because he's such a hot bish. As a char in battle, he's not too great, but not too shabby either. He's the best to use in making combos, but what really annoys me is how in the PSX version they tweaked his stats and gave him the defense of a weak little girlie. Back in the Super Famicom version, he was a freaking walking TANK. I'd give him the Opal Ring and put him in harm's way, wherein he would make a really damn good human shield.

Favorite Games:

Vagrant Story: I know a lot of people hate it, and to be honest, I can see why. It's not an easy game, it's a time-consuming game, it's not for the casual gamer and it requires a lot of determination and commitment to get really good. A lot of people I know got discouraged by how demanding it is and just gave up and hated it, but to those who get good, really good at it, this game is a mountain of fun and without question my favorite game. On a strictly objective level, the game itself is a gem as far as PSX games go. The plot is intricate and fascinating, the characters are incredibly well-rounded and developped, the environments are immersive, the music is gorgeous (still my all-time favorite OST), the weapons are really fun to develop, the monsters are incredibly satisfying to slaughter (love the SFXs) and the localization is simply incredible. After playing both versions, I can assure you the Japanese one is quite inferior and the dialogs distinctly lack flavor. Also, Sydney puts to shame any other game villain. His sheer charisma and complex motivations, coupled with an unusual character design make him stand head and shoulders above the riff-raff. Sephiroth? Ansem? Troy? Mull? Bitches, please.

Tales of Phantasia: One of the first RPGs I ever played (as a SFC ROM, but that pretty much goes without saying), it made a deep impression on my young and impressionable mind. I still consider it one of my favorite games and I never get tired of playing it, after trying all 3 of its various incarnations and going through it at least half a dozen times. I collect all the guide books, figurines, novels, anthologies, OSTs, etc. However, probably because I love TOP so much, I felt that none of the subsequent Tales games succeeded to live up to TOP's greatness. After Tales of Eternia, I just gave up and lost interest in the series. There is only one Tales game for me.

Kingdom Hearts 2. Great plot and characters, awesome graphics, music and animation, but dear freaking mother of GOD, too many cutscenes. I swear it would have to be one of the least interactive games I ever played, right next to the FFXII demo. It's basically like watching a movie and beating enemies on the ass to make it move forward.

Suikoden 1-3 and 5 + Rhapsodia/Tactics: When I first played Suikoden, it was as though spring had just come. Oh wait, spring HAD come. Anyway, playing it made me realize how the Final Fantasy series had dropped in quality and I hadn't even noticed it because I had nothing to compare it with. After playing up to Suikoden 3, my opinion of FF was very much the worse for wear. With complex plots and intrigues, interesting characters, compelling villains and an incredibly rich background, I don't think any other series will ever come close. For Suikoden 4, see below.

Chrono Trigger: The game that started my love affair with RPGs, as it did for many people, I'm sure. Until then, my only knowledge of RPGs was Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, and games like Lagoon and Illusion of Gaia. Chrono Trigger, with its lovely graphics, gorgeous music, humor, badass Magus and fun gameplay just blew me away. A REAL sequel to CT would be so nice *sigh*

Final Fantasy 7: My first RPG on the PSX. In fact, I bought it BEFORE I bought a PSX. It turned out to be even better than in my wildest imaginings. Although when I play it now, after being exposed to later games and the PS2, I find it horribly obsolete, clunky and irritating. And the Japanese version is even worse, gameplay-wise, since you can't exchange materia between party members, or use the W-item trick. One thing the Japanese version has over the NA version is how powerful Chocobuckle is. In the NA version, the equation for damage is simply the number of times you've run away. In the Japanese version, it's that number multiplied by your level. Ever seen a chocobo do 9999 in damage? I sure have. I beat Jenova-whatsherface in the crater with it. The Japanese version also has this really neat bug where you can transform yourself and the chocobo you're riding on into the Sister Ray. And you can even swivel it around XD Too bad you have to reset after.

Final Fantasy 10: I expected this game to suck and to my surprise, it did the very opposite (Blow? You know that's not what I mean...). I love, but I LOVE the gameplay. There is just so much side stuff that my first game lasted well beyond 170 hours. Most of the playable chars were awesome and I loved the sphere grid. As for the villain, now....I have rarely seen more pathetic. Maybe Doll Master from Threads of Fate? (<Mint> BOOT TO THE HEAD! *learns him to be an ass*) In FF6, we had an insane maniac with a twisted sense of humor and fashion. In FF7, we had an insane maniac with an inexcusable thirst for power, but great fashion taste. In FF8 we had some lame witch who made no sense whatsoever, so I'll just skip her. In FF9 we had a sexy bish wearing a thong and a skirt and very little else, but aside from that, his motivations weren't wholly unfathomable. In FFX, what do we have? Some guy in a bathrobe with blue plastic hair (horns? antennas? handles?) who wants to kill everyone so they'll be so much happier. Uh.......huh. Maybe he should have done a phone survey beforehand or something.

Putting aside his dubious logic and his mother complex, which is on par with Sephiroth's ("Mommy, go vaporize my enemies cause they make me sad!"), he can't even pass for a decent, threatening villain. Why? Well, firstly, I can't stop laughing whenever he appears on screen. Or opens his mouth. Or is mentioned. What kind of villainous, fear-inducing name is Seymour anyway? I can picture him strolling the grounds of an elementary school, wearing an aqua suit, lavender shirt and a tie, without quite knowing why. It might actually even look better than his current outfit. I'm also getting mental images of a suitable last name for him....It starts with a B, ends with an S and rhymes with Butz. Even if he tried reusing Kuja's trademark MWAHAHA laugh, he'd only manage to look even stupider.

Next item on the subject of 'Why Seymour sucks', he's a twinkie. He. Just. Won't. Freaking. Die. Literally. And finally, you know what else sucks about him? He's not even the villain of FFX. There's never been any doubt in anyone's mind that the final villain would be Sin. So what was Seymour then? A bump in the road to Sin. A mere obstacle, to be bulldozed over. He served no purpose whatsoever, his (eventual) death was pointless and changed nothing at all in the plot, except that I didn't have some dimwitted moron coming after me at every turn to go "Nyah, nyah, you can't kill me, now watch me make mush out of you!", only to be promptly smacked all the way into FFXX. Poor guy. He read Kefka and Sephiroth's biographies and longed to be a grandiose villain who'd be remembered for eternity. Well, he's not wrong on that last part. I'm certainly never going to forget that colossal a loser XD But wait, I suddenly realized that from my rant, you might think I hated him. Not at all. He's way too pathetic to hate. Actually, I kinda like him, in a kitschy, campy way. He's just like the Eye of Argon: so bad, you can't help but love it.

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: The main reason why I got a N64, and the main reason why I kept it, until I got the Master Quest for the Gamecube. I ADORE this game. I played it a dozen times and I still adore it. Playing the Master Quest was incredibly fun for me, it was like playing OOT, but completely new! It almost made up for the fact that Wind Waker was a sad excuse for a Zelda game.

Love/Hate:

Final Fantasy Tactics: I find it incredibly fun when I'm kicking ass, but it makes me swear the names of all the Saints in Heaven when I'm getting my ass kicked.


Kingdom Hearts: I never thought I'd see that hated name here, especially after that long and juicy rant I wrote on LJ, but after I played Chains of Memories, I just fell in love with the background plot and all the mysteries.. Hell, after playing through Riku's side of COM, I now have nothing but respect for him. He looks badass in his heartless outfit (despite wearing purple spandex and a skirt) and he's a beast in battle. Not to mention the black coat XD

Least Favorite Games:

Suikoden 4: What's this?! A Suikoden game on that list? Yes indeed. While it might have been an OK game on its own, considering that it's a Suikoden game, it's downright horrible. The plot is simplistic, the bad guy is despicably one-dimensional, the shopping interface (and all other similar interfaces) are several steps back in terms of user-friendliness and usability, the combos are for the most part useless and the characters are ostensibly spacetakers to fill all 108 spots. The vast, vast majority of them are extremely forgettable; in fact I'm doing my best to forget most of them. Actually, what riles me most about this game is the fact that they had a really nice story flow going, building up to a climax ever since Suikoden 1, and they decided to just shitcan all that (or at the very least, shelve it) and go back in time for a completely useless side story that not only didn't bring any new elements to the plot, but had no relevance to anything else except Ted's story. They pissed away time and money to make a goddamned sidequest. It would have been OK as a Suikogaiden. But as a part of the main series, it's simply unforgivable. Konami's really gone to the dogs since Murayama left >_< He'd never have let them make such a abysmally ill-inspired venture.

Ys6: Ark of Napishtim: I already wrote a long-winded rant on LJ detailing exactly why it sucks, so I'll be concise: the voice acting is laughably bad, the jumps drive me nuts, the button timing is too difficult, the translation is awkward and clunky and the game is only 14 freaking hours long. I can excuse Threads of Fate for being about that length, because you actually have two chars' stories to play through, but this is just insulting for an 80$ game.

Chrono Cross: Square needs to DIE. To GO TO HELL and to DIE for coming up with that piece of shit. It's insulting my intelligence and soiling Chrono Trigger's sweet memory. Like Frank or Chrissy said, "It would be nice if Squaresoft did a sequel to Chrono Trigger *nod*".

Alundra: It's got the single most frustrating joke of a gameplay ever. That little guy just can't jump.


Mario Games: Pick any one of them and I probably hate it. But Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64 top that list without a question. As if those games weren't hard enough in 2D, now you have a whole other dimension to contend with and a wacky camera that pretty much does whatever it wants. I played 2 hours of Super Mario Sunshine, gave up in disgust and discovered Metroid Prime and the joy of adventuring without risking death by falling.

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