Mathias

Is your bark worse than your bite? Hey now, wipe off the foaming spittle, it's getting everywhere Maddog!

I want to thank you, our soldiers, for your service to our country! I don't think you, our servicemen, are respected nearly as much as you should, or praised enough for everything you do for our freedom. If it wasn't for you, ancientclan.com wouldn't be the social gathering and free expression of ideas that it is. Even though we usually aren't that serious around here, believe me when I say thank you on behalf of all of us here.

Oh the good 'ol days of high school and college. Tortuous, arduous, and sometimes ruthlessly cruel were the students, let alone the homework. Ah, the memories...I don't miss them one bit.

I'll pray for you through this tough time.

Alright, I've been ranting in other posts about some of the poor control choices such as the flying carpet and a few frustrating beet the clock sections that weren't required at all such as in Mulan. I liked the cut scenes, but wouldn't have minded them being longer and spread apart more. All too often, I would be in the middle of a fight kicking ass and then be pulled into a cut scene where they said I was losing. What? Go figure, good for plot, but would've been more realistic if you saw the enemies in the background. The battles were better and the horrible randomness of fights in the first game were gone. The Hercule's tournaments have minimum level requirements, but I'm not sticking around for another twenty hours to level up to beat them. For goodness sakes, I've beaten the game and that's a side quest that can best be forgotten. It's a Disney game, so you know they're going to exploit their movies to the max. If you chose to pick up the game, then you probably have seen the movies or you know them by heart. I actually preferred the episodes that followed the premise of the movies if not the script, over the "original content". I was annoyed with many episodes, such as the Lion King's episode two where you had to help Simba conquer his fear of not living up to his father's image. Why do this again? We already dealt with the issue in episode one. The crystal caves in Pooh's world? I don't remember that book. I could go on, but you get the point. I don't like my Disney movie foundations screwed around with much. Though the Little Mermaid didn't have any fighting, the world was fine as a nice distraction from the norm. I would have preferred to watch the scenes than the stupid circles to make sure I pressed them at the right time. I still enjoy the slaying of Ursula scene and song! I think the KH2 pulled too many styles of play into the game. If they would have stuck to the basic fighting system along with the cool reaction commands for performing stunts and solving puzzles, I think the game would have been more enjoyable. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)! I'm very disappointed that KH2 is actually KH3. I had no clue this had gone on and was very confused throughout the game. They had a few flashbacks to explain some key points, but not enough. If the game is a sequel, then fine. If the originating story is from another game, fine. FILL US IN! I refused to watch the intro that comes on when you don't start the game right away, because it looked like a spoiler overview of the game. I had NO CLUE who Namine was, or Roxas, or anything else. A few segments looked like some of the parts I had already played in KH2, so I waited. "Oh, they'll explain this in the game." Nope, not at all. Here's hoping for KH4, I mean KH3 to be a sequel of KH3, I mean KH2, otherwise America will lose favor in the series.

Mathias's wife here I have always liked Pocahontas, even though Disney really screwed it up from history. It would be fun to fight the English. Toy Story would be cool with Sora being some sort of toy and have to rescue Woody with the help of Buzz Lightyear. To infinity and beyond! And the last one is that Sora could help Arthur become King with the help of Merlin as in The Sword In The Stone. Just imagine flying around like the bird or swimming around like the fish. And don't forget the great wizard duel between Merlin and the witch, germ warfare at its best.

I agree with Sledgstone on the majority, and won't rehash it here. I wouldn't mind seeing Tron again, but only if they did the games right and only offer them as subgames and nothing more. Aladdin's third movie would be interesting with search for the Midas Touch with his pa. Though it could be annoying, helping Lilo and Stitch recover SOME of the minor experiments and then help bring down a tough one at the end would be nice. I'm just afraid they'd kill it like the cartoon show by dragging the family bit through the mud. Okay, we get it, move on to a different lesson. Sleeping Beauty can be redone with Malificient at the end as a dragon again. Dragon's never get old! Here's one, Cinderella 3! I saw the previews where the evil step mother gets the fairy godmother's wand and UNDOES the happy ending. Help Cinderella with her happy ending and stop the wand wielding evil step mother! Narnia would be a good world to add. Pirates of the Caribbean still has two movies to go. Steamboat Willie was nice for the tip of the hat for where they came from, and I think they kept it short enough. I'm sick of Halloween town and hope it doesn't resurface. Fine, you want something creepy, then pick one of the Final Fantasies. I'm sure you can find something there. I'd seriously like to see fewer keys that looked COOL, than some of the crappy ones we've been seeing. The Pumpkin head one for instance. Make them look like the Leon's sword and such. Give the keys out BEFORE you start the world. It would have been fun to use Pooh Bear's honey key IF I had used it in his world. Outside of the worlds where they originated from, they look out of place. I would LOVE to see a different version of the key system. Let the user choose the key that looks the best for the world that they're on. All of the other keys that have been gained stack with the key currently being used. If that's too powerful, then limit the number of key powers that can stack to Sora's level. I think the third movie will focus around souls. Not sure how yet, but they referenced it a lot in the game. I saw no trailer for the third movie at the end of the game. I saw the clip where they got the note from king Mickey and that was it. I don't really remember the trailer for the second game from the first even happen. Close, but not the same. I was hoping to reenact that scene more closely to the trailer. Man, I could go on and on with comments and suggestions, but its not like anyone cares. Just my two cents anyway.

I was disappointed with the light cycle in the KH2 Tron section. I was really hoping they would follow the same rules as the movie. Maybe even add the tank and the ball throwing challenge. I TOTALLY agree about the stupid magic carpet! That was annoying that they excluded those control options from the other settings. I lost to Seperoth in 3 seconds, 10 if I ran away from him. Sora just now got the Once More and Second Chance abilities, so I'll give it another go, but man was I outmatched there. It looks like there are two or three more tournaments at the coliseum, but I'm not going to do them. I am not going to waste my time trying to level up high enough to get access to them. Oh, and screw trying to get the special recipe items. That requires even more time and effort. Apparently there is a free development section, but it won't let me make anything from scratch, or at least not obviously enough to catch my attention. Just so no one gets the wrong idea here. KH2 was one of the most enjoyable game/show/movie that I have played in a while. While we may rant on these few issues, the game is overall very solid. The plot and movie sequences with a few minor, though annoying, threads were star quality and still deserves 4.5/5.0 stars.

This is Mathias' wife. My idea is that you cook your parents a nice dinner, it can be mac and cheese or anything easy and then if possible take your siblings out of the house and let your parents have a nice romantic dinner and a few hours alone, with no kids or other interruption, even volunteer to do the dishes later so that your parents don't have to do that. Anniversaries are suppose to remind the couple of why they first fell in love, and that is hard to remember if you have a bunch of screaming kids around. Let them relax and enjoy the evening without really having to pay for anything, unless they want to rent a movie.

The best gifts in life are FREE! If your parents are normal, decent folks, then they don't care about gifts. As Spongebob Squarepants learned: "All that glitters is not gold." Its amazing that some of the silliest cartoons still follows the basic morality plays. But I digress. The best gifts you can give are the simple requests that they make. 1. Do as you are told. Basically, if they ask you to do something, do it. Not in fifteen minutes, NOW. Put your heart into it as if it means something to you. If your parent ask you to put their magazines away when you're done with them, that means no pizza stains, rips or tears, and put back nice and neat in the correct order. Would you like your parents to leave your manga in the same condition, that's assuming they even took it out of the wrapping. 2. Do your chores. It's not because they want you to do it, it's because YOU need to do it. Not just for learning responsibility, but to take the stress off your parents. After a hard days work at school, work, and homework, you're pretty beat. Do you think it's any easier on them? Hell no! Look at all the crap they do for YOU. Do you even come close? Probably not, so close the trap, put away the snide remarks when they remind you about a chore and just get it done. Everyone will be the happier, and you'll have a better relationship with them as well. 3. Say please and thank you. It's simple and easy. Make them happy by reminding them that you have manners. By God, is this perfect child ours? Where's my camera? Parents LOVE to brag about their kids. You don't have to have straight A's, or be the star quarterback. Say please and thank you, especially in front of their friends and strangers, and as their compliments about how well behaved you are soars in, the happier they are with you. Don't fight with your siblings. Do what you need to make them happy and healthy. Lead by example by doing all of the above. They may ask if your sick or something. You just tell them: "I love you Mom and Dad," and give them a hug and kiss before going to bed at bedtime. It may sound lame and uncool at your age, but it's what your parents probably would like most. After all, you asked what THEY would want and YOU could do for them. If you do all of this and they haven't died from shock, then you could be their Glittering Gold.

You know what? I think I just found what's left of Tarakian behind the curtains. Cobra, you really need to shoot "away" from the noobies.

Well, you're just another noob to me. Of course, everyone is still a noob to me...

Lesson learned. I read the rules a while ago, I just haven't had time to put a signature together.

What was the signature? Man, I haven't even gotten around to making one yet. Better luck on the next signature!

Oh yeah baby, if you're into roleplaying games, then let the laughter ensue. Yes, they're stick figures and they are funny. You start reading for the D&D jokes and the enjoyable humor. You continue reading for the storyline and subplots. Give it a few dozen strips before you make up your mind. Seriously, its worth it, even if your not into D&D and such. There's also ErfWorld, but it's just okay right now. http://www.giantitp.com/Comics.html

I wish I could rewind and watch my kids growing up again. Their 3 and 1.5, and the remote seems like it's stuck on the fast forward button. I hope I can find the play button before I find myself crying on the rewind button too.

I agree that there's a lot of things we can do to help out in our own neighborhoods. Whether it's helping down out the local shelter, or donating to the Red Cross. When I lived in the run down areas, definitely not as bad as others, with drug dealers and murderers, I did all I could to help everyone around me. You can't help others without helping yourself first. I got myself through school and college. Though I don't help out as much as I used to, you have more time when all your doing is school, I still do my part through charity programs. There's a lot of people who can't do better than they already do, and those are the people who the charities are setup for and I gladly donate to. However, there are plenty of others who mooch off the charities and governments wasting donations and tax dollars. Of course, these are the stories you hear of most in the media. Who would want to donate to the begger on the street with the sign? I just saw a story where the lady begger turned out to make over a hundred grand a year. What about the panhandler at the street corner? Am I paying for a good hot meal, or another bottle of liquor? When approached, I offered to take them to dinner and talk. I was insulted and told to either give him money or get out his f***ing sight. If that doesn't put you off from caring, how about this. At my grandfather's funeral, a begger came up to my car before it started and asked for any loose change and food that I could spare. We had none except for a bag of pretzels. He accepted it, but proceeded to hound us for money. I felt so guilty that I couldn't help and at the same time so annoyed that he couldn't accept what I had offered. The funeral directory asked him to leave before she called the cops. He apparently has been feeding off the emotional patrons of the establishment for some time. Call me bitter, but I now donate fairly strictly to my church and their charitable activities only. At least this way I can see the good that comes out of my donations. I apologize for the rant, but your poem hit a nerve. But don't all good poems do so?

When did the president become a racist? That's news to me?

Welcome back you old newbie. I had hoped there would one day be an escape from this joint, but now you have dashed all of my hopes and dreams.

Did he name the small army "The Blood Ravens", or better, they were called that by those who saw their handy work. When Julius' army defeats the enemy, they could strip the victims of the most expensive items, primarily shiny objects like jewelry and coins like those a raven would take. The army could wear crimson armor (leather, plate, whatever) and black cloaks, or some combination of to inherit the blood portion of their names. They could use weapons that would cause massive blood loss. Maybe even cutting off body parts, mostly fingers, to access the easy treasures.

Hi noobs. Like I have much to say. I've just recently become "Anime Fan". Woo hoo! I'm enjoying the perks now.

Kingdom Hearts 2 pissed me off yesterday. I was on the Mulan stages and they enforced a time limit, but they called it Morale. Mulan was still a recruit, so we had to keep her morale up. To raise the morale back up, you had to pick up little bubbles. Why not just use the death of an enemy to boost your morale? Look, if you're going to apply a time limit, which I HATE, at least call it a time limit.

Yes, yes, I'm the eldest. BarterFrog is the youngest and Sledgstone is the middle child. Poor, poor middle child. Never quite as special as the first. Never spoiled like the youngest. Just left to dangle in his self created purgatory. Do not worry my brother, I saved a seat for you in therapy. After all, I was there first!

<chomp> <chomp> Now let me get a good look at you young'n. <squint> Well aren't you a little wet behind the ears. Back in the day, they used to teach you to respect yon elders. Well I remember a story a long time a go when... <snore> <snore> <snort> <chomp> <chomp> where was I? Oh yes, <snore> ....

My brother can't spell. I blame the public school systems for his poor edubication.