M.M. Kin Video Game Review - Final Fantasy II

 The first time I played this game, it was the emulated version for the Famicom/NES - translated into English as it had only been available in Japan before.

It was pretty damn weird, the leveling system. To increase your HP you had to basically attack yourself or others in your party, and your magic would gain strength by using the spells. Fortunately, this kind of stat-increasing would not be used in any other FF games, at least those I played (1-7)

The story itself is typical for the FF series - not that that's a bad thing. Your characters are on the run from an evil empire that wants to take over the world. It's been a long time since I played this game, or the GBA update, so I admit there's not a huge amount I remember about the details. You did have key words to remember from conversations, mentioning these keywords to other NPCs would garner you information.

It was an all right game compared to others in the series, and the GBA version did improve it a bit. Not something I recommend unless you're a hardcore FF or RPG fan. Like the other Advanced versions of the FInal Fantasy games, the updated version comes with a bonus dungeon (FF1 and 2 were released together in the Dawn of Souls remake so you can play both games if you get this title)

Grade

FF2 (Nintendo/Famicom) C+

FF2 (Gameboy Advance) B

M.M. Kin Video Game Review - Final Fantasy I

 This wasn't the first of the Final Fantasy games I played, but if you're a FF fan, give the old school a try. I played the original NES version, which compared to subsequent titles, is pretty basic and yes, meh. Nonetheless, it sets a foundation for later games, and featured several items and devices that would become very familiar to longtime FF fans - the metal Adamant/Adamantite, four elements (often in crystals) and several job classes you could choose from to optimize the overall strength of your party (My personal recommendation is Thief, Knight, Black Mage, and White Mage, but that's just a personal preference!)

Gameplay itself is pretty basic, with the HP and GP system you see in most FF games. The MP system was different though, and you could only perform so many magic spells at each level. The number of spells you could cast does increase with each overall level you gain.

The storyline is somewhat simplistic, but easy enough to figure out, and overall it's a decent game for the first in its series, much like Super Mario Bros 1, or Legend of Zelda 1.

That said, I really recommend the GBA version of this game, which smoothed gameplay, brought about better graphics, and improved the MP system and made leveling up easier. After defeating each of the Elemental Fiends, you gained access to a bonus dungeon where you could get rare items and weapons, and even fight bosses from other FF games in the series.

Speaking of items, in the original FF, the item and weapon system was clunky and you could only carry so much at a time. In FF Advance, you can now carry all the weapons and items you like, making optimizing weapons for each player much easier, and you also get a Bestiary, which allows you to see what monsters you have defeated (and how many of each, as well as weak/strong points, possible treasure drops, and the like)

The four characters you play have no history or personality in either version, but the Advanced version is recommended if you ever do try FFI.

Grade

FFI (original Famicom/Nintendo) C

FFI (Game Boy Advance) A-

Stuff

I am going to be using this blog more often. I already have a Goodeads page where I write book reviews, but sadly there is no movie or video game equivalent and I no longer review on Amazon, so I have decided to use this blog for those reviews.

This entry is also an update on all relevant links.

My books on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/M-M-Kin/e/B00BXGVPFY?ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vu00_taft_p1_i0

My books on Smashwords (also available on Apple Store, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and all other channels Smashwords sells through)

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ememkin

My FB page

https://www.facebook.com/mmkinauthor/

My Tumblr

https://mmkin.tumblr.com/

Where I write my book reviews

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/12558730-m-m-strawberry-library-reviews

Have a fantastic day!

Author Appreciation: Rachel Alexander

Today's author spotlight shines on Rachel Alexander, author of Destroyer of Light, an incredible telling of the myth of Hades and Persephone.

A couple of years ago, I had the delight of reading Rachel Alexander's novel, Receiver of Many, the first part of a retelling of Hades and Persephone. I was blown away by the superb writing and thorough research, along with the creative takes she did on various myths.

She published the second part of her story, and I was no less disappointed in it. Destroyer of Light is just as rich and deep as the first, and it is for that reason I am happy to recommend not just Destroyer of Light, but its predecessor, Receiver of Many. If you love mythology, and Hades and Persephone in particular, give this author a try. You will not be disappointed.

See below for my review (contains mild spoilers)

The author can be found at

Amazon

Indiebound

Kobo

Smashwords

iTunes

Barnes and Noble 

Goodreads

M.M. Kin's review for Destroyer of Light (from Goodreads) 

AMAZING.

Simply amazing. After I read the first book, I was eager for more, and boy howdy, I was not the least bit disappointed! The writing and use of research in the story is brilliant, and I love the creative twists that the author used for various myths she incorporated into this story, such as the gods of the Levant, or what happens to Sisyphus.

I was intrigued when Minthe was mentioned in the first book, and her story is revealed here in a brilliant twist of the original myth. I never liked that in the original myths, Hades cheated on Persephone with Leuke and Minthe, so the author changed that for a much more intriguing and believable story.

The erotic scenes, as one might expect after reading the first story, are absolutely delicious. I've read enough erotica with cheesy or ludicrous descriptions, and it's always a treat to read elegantly-written intimacy.

Overall a brilliant sequel to a wonderful book, and altogether an incredible series that shows the talents of creative and thoughtful author.

The Meddler

If you’re a voracious reader (or movie-watcher, or both) you’re likely to have become familiar with various tropes and cliches. Some are more genre-specific, such as a ‘chosen one’ in the realm of fantasy and sometimes science fiction. Some cliches can be fun, if carefully worked with, but others just annoy the fuck out of me.

The particular topic I am going to discuss today is typically seen in a certain genre, though you can find this character in nearly any other genre in varying capabilities.

This character type is often seen in the romance genre and is usually a secondary character to the story. It can be a friend of the main characters, or a neighbor, or relative, or such. She – and I’m not trying to be sexist here, but it often IS a she – goes by various names and epithets; meddler, busybody, pushy, and so on. They also have the tendency to think themselves above the rules, whether actual rules, such as in a workplace, or the rules of polite society. Many authors often take this cliché too far, creating characters that do not endear themselves to the reader.

Two examples come to mind – Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich, and All At Once, by Nora Roberts. I was very disappointed in both books.

Big Girl Panties is a romance novel centered around a personal trainer and a widow who’d had a difficult childhood before watching her husband die from cancer. I liked this book at first because it seemed to be an unconventional romance with a believable storyline. However, we are then introduced to the character of Amanda Walker. She is the wife of Chase Walker, Logan (the male lead)’s best friend.

Amanda sees the potential for romance between Logan and his client and teases Logan about it. It is clear that Logan and Chase have long experience with her bossy personality, but they still let her walk over them, resigning themselves to the fact that she will find out about this or that sooner or later. She came across as a know-it-all, and even after Chase told her in no unclear terms to leave Logan and his client alone, she still finds ways to push everyone’s buttons. With a blatant disrespect for other’s personal lives and spaces, Amanda’s meddling comes across as someone bored with their own life and needing to prove themselves smarter than others by being like, 'ha! See, I was right!’. Ugh.

Normally, I enjoy Nora Roberts books. I’ve read about a dozen of them, but All At Once was terribly disappointing. It is a two-story collection, and my focus is on the first story. It centers around a woman and her longtime best friend founding a summer camp for tween girls that happens to border an apple orchard owned by a handsome and wealthy man. (You can see where this is going, right?)

One of the campers is a, if I remember the age correctly, twelve-year-old girl named Roberta Snow. She is a very intelligent but devious and manipulative character who acts under the guise of innocence. The female and male lead of this character meet by chance, when Roberta and a couple of her friends sneak over into the orchard – a blatant violation of the camp rules that Roberta is well aware of. When caught, she will act all sweet and apologize, and when your back is turned, she will be off breaking another rule. When she catches wind of the male lead’s interest in the lovely female lead who is also her counselor, Roberta gleefully gets herself into the role of matchmaker and manages to embarrass Eden more than once. Honestly, I didn’t blame Eden for wanting to strangle Roberta.

The story is brought to its denouement with Roberta breaking YET another rule (and in somewhat dangerous circumstances) and forcing a confrontation between the orchard owner and the camp counselor. The male lead was arrogant and kept disrespecting Eden’s boundaries but THAT is not the kind of character cliché that is being discussed in this essay!

In both of these books, these two unrepentant meddlers go on about their merry way after the book is ended, with no repercussions for their actions, the feelings they hurt, the toes they stepped on, and the embarrassment and anger they caused towards the people they were trying to “help”. The only time I am amused by this character cliché is if in the end, the meddling character gets his or her comeuppance in some way, because too many of these 'I don’t care if this annoys/angers/embarrasses you, I’m just trying to help and you will accept my help whether you like it or not!’ assholes really need an ass-whooping, or at least a bitch-slap.

Intelligent design, my ass.

You all know about basic human biology and how we grow, right? Typically, we hit puberty between ages 12 to 14, signifying that we are capable of reproduction (not that it's a good idea to reproduce at that age, haha!) and for many, brains do not finish developing fully till around age 25 (although I've seen some older people whose brains have never apparently fully matured, haha)

This makes absolutely no sense to me. We're ready to reproduce in half the time it takes for our brains to complete their development? There's no way this is intelligent design, folks. How many of us were ready to be parents as teenagers? Or even in our 20's or 30's? I knew that as a teenager, I was nowhere near ready to have a child (having several younger siblings helped, I am sure)

I see people with the self-control and intelligence of small children, spitting out babies without regards to the consequences. Their sense of responsibility is practically nil, and they leave their crotch droppings for others to take care of, which just leaves a mess all around.

The human race would be much, much better off if the stages of our development were reversed, and it was our brains that were mature at 13, and our bodies didn't become able to reproduce till 25. Dealing with all the raging hormones of being a teenager would be much easier if we had fully developed brains to deal with the stress of that, along with the other stuff we have to deal with in our teens and early 20's. THAT is how I would intelligently design the human body (along with taking out the wisdom teeth and appendix, or at the least, making sure these two body parts actually serve a real function instead of hurting our jaws and rupturing in our stomachs)

It’s a total dick move, fellas

Piracy, that is. I, and many other authors have to deal with assholes ripping our books for illegal downloads/torrents. I can’t tell you how many DMCA notices I’ve had to file since I published my first book.

 

People who want to whine and be all like ‘but I can’t afford a book/movie!’ STFU., The Internet costs money, and so do the devices that access the Internet. If you have a desktop, tablet, laptop, or mobile phone, then you certainly can afford the price of a book, or movie, or song, or whatever it is you’re looking to pirate. Said devices cost a hell of a lot more money than the few dollars it takes to purchase an e-book or movie download. So does that Internet/service/data plan.

I price my books with my readers in mind - my books are only 4.99 each for the Nook or Kindle, which is cheaper than most meals, and cheaper than nearly every form of entertainment out there, including, yes, your Internet and device!

Complaining about the price of a book/movie/music download and going to illegal sites to torrent it is no better than bitching about prices at a brick and mortar store, and helping yourself to a five-finger discount. Either way, it’s stealing, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. There really is no excuse for stealing, unless you have absolutely no money and your children are starving so you steal a loaf of bread and some milk so you can feed them.

I’ve witnessed shoplifting several times (both as an employee at the stores i worked in, and as a customer at other stores) and it was NEVER for something that was actually important/lifesaving (except for condoms, but that’s another matter…)

Authors and artists work hard at their craft. Every dollar an indie author earns means a lot to them. Not that I encourage ripping big-name authors like Stephen King or whatever, he works hard at his books like I do, and even if he makes a lot more money than I do, I feel he is entitled to every bit of it. All the books I own have been either purchased properly, were hand me downs (from people who presumably paid for them) obtained from Little Free Libraries, or were given to me by other authors for reading and reviewing.

Illegally downloading books is a total dick move. It hurts authors, especially indie ones who have to scramble for each cent they earn, and if you really could not afford a few dollars for a book, you wouldn’t be able to afford your Internet subscription or electronic device, so you just look like a lazy, cheap dumbass when you pirate.