Lurker > Kotetsu534

Yuna's ending speech

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MS has been very smart with how it used its money. It never needed big exclusives, just enough little additions (DLC, timed exclusivity, easier development) to keep going 60/40 (or even higher) against Sony on almost every big third party game. Don't know if they can pull that trick so effectively next gen.

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Yuna performs The Sending

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England'll win this match, but I think they'll find it tough going against Ukraine somehow.

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The trial

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Woah.

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Dimitrov really impressed me there. Reminds of a very raw Federer. Wonderful craft off his single-handed backhand and forehand. Needs better movement and strength, but yeah.

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Tidus learns the Summoners' fate

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Nadal has dropped the first set against Kohlschreiber.

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Love their hamburgers. Don't care about their other offerings much.

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Tsonga injured his finger today, as he went down 6-7 6-3 6-7 to Ivan Dodig at Queen's. He's now a doubt for Wimbledon.

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Best fans. Worst team.

Spain still need to avoid defeat against Croatia to guarantee qualification.

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LOL at Webb restarting play with that density of smoke on the pitch.

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Pirlo. The best.

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I don't try to divide "story" from "gameplay". Most of the games I play have far too much going on in them for each part not to be informing the greater whole. That's not to say that you couldn't pluck the basic gaming mechanics from one of my favourite games, or the setting, or the music, or the characters, or whatever, and still have something of value - I simply don't think I would ever want to.

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Netherlands are being picked apart. I feel a bit sorry for the lad at LB.

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Yeah, head-to-head comes first, but if 3+ teams are tied surely that step would be skipped?

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Great match. Sets the group of great too. The goals the Danes scored might come in handy...

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Zuko > Katara > Iroh >>> Korra >> Sokka > Aang > Toph >> Appa > Bolin > Tenzin > Suki > Azula >> Lin > Amon >> Mako > Asami > Ozai

Zuko, Katara and Iroh are in a tier of their own. By far the best three characters in the series and could be ranked any way (Iroh would likely have been 1st but for what happened before S3). Korra is catching them up but still a long way behind. Don't think any of the new cast is as good as Sokka, Toph or Aang were over 61 episodes, and I have a massive soft spot for Appa. Legend of Korra is much more about events than characters so I think that'll remain that way.

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Asami had already joined the group before she knew her father was an Equalist, no?

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Bolin and Mako have as direct a stake as Sokka, Katara and Toph ever did in the Avatar's journey, arguably moreso (except in Katara's case). A. Bolin was kidnapped and in grave danger of being permanently "maimed" by Amon, so revenge is a motivation. B. Korra is their friend, and providing emotional support is something they can do that Tenzin (or whoever) can't so easily. C. Their Republic and way of life is in grave danger of being overthrown and ruled illegal by Amon's revolutionaries, so it makes sense to try to stop that if possible. D. They've grown up poor and disenfranchised, so to be part of something "big" - helping the Avatar - is a way of protecting their place in the world (remember that they needed somewhere to stay after the tournament - they don't have many great options). Gotta say, put in the position of either Bolin or Mako I'd almost certainly be doing what they are.

Asami is more questionable. She's there because she's with Mako, which is fair enough, but it'll be interesting to see if she stays if she breaks up with Mako.

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I'll never understand why there's no grass court Masters 1000 event. Should drop one clay court event to create the space for it. Though it is kind of cool that grass is used only at Wimbledon among notable tournaments (and Queen's/Halle, but they're 250s, two steps below Masters 1000 level).

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One more French Open is enough for Rafa to become the man to have won a single Slam title more times than anyone else (that is to say, more times than Sampras has won Wimbledon). This record would hold even for the pre-Open Era events.

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Yuna performs The Sending

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I love clay, but not when it's wet.

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Respect to both players, but man, that match, for one that's guaranteed to have had big impact on tennis history, was utterly ruined by the conditions and delays. I do wonder how many French Opens Nadal will win before he's done. Could see it reaching double figures.

Onward to Wimbledon!

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Don't understand how you can come out and hit so many poor errors. Oh well.

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I concede.

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I don't think it can be directly compared to the original yet. I'd definitely take the nine episodes we've seen so far over any series of nine in the original... but that's not a fair comparison, because the original's 61 eps long. When all 26 are done, better comparisons can be made...

That said, Korra is noticeable different in structure. TLA was a sprawling adventure, with far more time devoted to character development than to the over-arching story. Some of the notional "villains" - Zuko, Iroh - are some of the most interesting characters in the show, and get significant time in the limelight. If you were to turn the original into a (representative) video game, it'd be a gigantic 100 hour JRPG with great character interaction, lots of towns, lots of small events, a few large memorable flash points, and a fairly sparse story. Korra (season one, anyway) would work much better as a tough third person adventure game, with the main character the player's avatar, lots of interaction with the villain, a grittier tone, and one central setting.

What I think also shouldn't be forgotten is that the standard of animation is extremely high in every episode during Korra, when it wasn't always so great (especially in season 1) in the original.

I think I enjoy watching Korra one ep. a week much more than TLA, but if I was going to binge on a DVD of episodes, I'd rather be with Aang and co.

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Nojima did some more work on the KH series after that (for CoM and II), but as a freelancer, not an SE employee. I've always suspected that Watanabe and Nomura had more influence after KH1 because of this. He hasn't worked on any KH games after II, AFAIK.

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There's always the chance that the French players will turn up drunk to the game.

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Good result for both, I think. They should both be able to get at least 4 points from their other two games, which should be enough to get them through.

I can sort of understand not playing any strikers but I can't understand not playing with width/pace. Decision to bring on Torres ahead of Llorente or Negredo was questionable too.

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To be fair, the conditions preclude battering the ball past each other. Much too heavy for that. Nadal's standard has been very high for the most part.

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Predix: Ireland don't concede a goal in the group stage, unless it's a brilliant shot from outside the penalty box.

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Too many errors from Djokovic. He's smashing racquets and swearing at his camp, but he needs to relax.

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So tense.

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I think it's more that Nadal decided to not play perfect tennis after the change of ends. He actually made a few errors during those two games!

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Lin's soldiers (though Amon, to be fair, did tell Republic City that any bender who opposed him would have their bending taken away beforehand, and the soldiers opposed him).

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Oh yeah, about the characters more generally. I don't think this Team Avatar is as likeable or enjoyable as the original, although I'm enjoying the show in general more. In particular, I don't think there's anyone here who's as interesting as either Zuko or Katara were when it comes to interacting with the rest of the gang, and that's as someone who doesn't mind the romance threads. Sokka was better comedy than Bolin too, if you ask me. I think that might be partly down to the fact that this crew is several years older, and therefore there's not as much ready-made conflict (outside the romance) as there was before, but largely because this series is much shorter and much faster paced than the original. Ep. 9 of Legend of Aang season one was The Waterbending Scroll, by which point the plot had advanced as far as finding out Sozin's Comet was coming! With a much greater pace of events comes a decrease in the presence of the non-protagonist characters.

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Just got a chance to watch Ep. 9.

- Lin rocks so much. By far the most effective fighter on Team Avatar's side. If I was Amon, I'd have her down as my #1 target for equalisation.

- But credit to Korra too for her quick thinking in the box. Not just to dodge it but to segue her evasion into a surprise attack was smart. She even encountered Amon and didn't get captured, for once!

- The snow scenes were simply beautiful. Then again, I'm a huge fan of snow generally.

- So Tarrlok wasn't being built up as a "season one villain" after all, but as (another) device for Amon to show his power. I'm sure the finale with Amon will be incredible, but I think having Tarrlok around desperately vying for control could have made things even better!

- Bloodbending is super OP. Yakone is more or less the undisputed most powerful bender ever (minus AS Avatars, of course). He took down a courtroom's worth of people with just his will (and eyes).

- Except when it's not. AS Aang is immune to it, as is Amon. Amon is also capable, like Aang, of taking away bending powers. Hmm.

- Was Aang really only trying to warn Korra about Tarrlok's bloodbending? It seemed to me like there was just as much focus on his decision to take away Yakone's bending. Hmm.

- But I think I've spotted a (minor) plothole. Yakone was a huge deal, and would've surely been one of the biggest news stories across the world when he did what he did in the Republic City courtroom. So why didn't Korra know about bloodbending on days other than a full moon? Surely Katara would have told her? Even if she didn't, the knowledge that it had happened would've been freely available. Oh well.

- I don't think Asami's upset with Mako/Korra has been subtle at all. In fact, it's been obvious for several episodes, and was very obvious during this. Every time Mako expressed (extreme, emotional - see his determination and his willingness to interrogate the soldier) concern about Korra she was given a close up looking suspicious or upset.

- Mako and Korra are clearly desperate for each other. Korra's smile while in Mako's arms said it all. I don't have a problem with this - it's perfectly understandable they'd feel that way, but...

- I do have a problem with Mako not making up his mind and treating Asami like this ever since Ep. 5. Korra messed about with Bolin for one day, and quickly realised that was a juvenile and hurtful way to behave. But Mako appears not to realise that. This is going to blow up and it isn't going to be pretty, I fear.

- Nice music when Aang attacked Yakone. Seemed like something halfway between the flowing Legend of Aang style and the staccato tunes in this series.

- Looked to me like Yakone and Tarrlok both revealed their bloodbending powers to the world in exactly the same place (look at it closely, I think it's the same building).

- "I am the solution." Love it.

- That preview for the finale was wild. Everyone will have noticed that Amon was about to put the equalisation on Korra, and will have theorised about whether she'll escape or need to recover her bending in S2... but I'm more interested in Mako's presence there. He was clearly conscious and shouting... so why wasn't he blasting fire at Amon? My first thought was that he'd been equalised, but looking at it closely, it appears his fingers are bent in weird directions (on both hands - there's actually a very quick shot of his right arm close up before the camera cuts back to Amon and Korra), exactly as they go when under the influence of a bloodbender. But then, who could be doing the bloodbending? Hmm.

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Germany need to be more ruthless against a team looking to play defense/counterattack. Podolski's second miss in particular was horribly wasteful, but Muller's chance should have been on target too. Portugal are pretty clearly playing primarily not to lose, knowing they'll be in a good position if they don't.

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Hope Portugal grab a point tonight (don't think they will though), because it would make set this group up to be a classic.

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It's the group of death and the Reaper is having fun; Netherlands 0, Denmark 1.

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Too relaxed from the Dutch, both in attack and defence. Shaky start (and defending, especially the goalie's schoolboy pass) from the Danes, but they looked solid in midfield and on the wings during the last 20 minutes. Sticking with my draw prediction though.

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People are under-rating Denmark IMO. I'm going for a draw.

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Re: who wrote what in the FF series...

Nojima was scenario writer for FFVII, FFVIII, FFX (w/ Kitase) and KH1. FFVI was mainly written by Sakaguchi, but there was input from others, including Kitase and Ito. FFIX was Sakaguchi (w/ Ito). FFT was Matsuno, and so was FFXII, until he left. Nomura hasn't written particularly much.


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I thought Korra was badass as hell when, after turning the tables on him (when he's clinging on the balcony), she blasted him to the ground then knocked him over the room. Unfortunate he had an auto-win card ready to play when she next attacked.

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Djokovic 6-4 7-5 6-3 Federer

Djokovic wins with 57% of the points.

Incidentally, if you chopped Federer's unforced error count down from 46 to 17, to equal Djokovic's, and split those points equally between Federer and Djokovic, Federer would have taken just over 51% of the points.

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Djokovic breaks again to lead two sets to love, thanks largely to some shocking forehand errors from Federer. 6-4, 7-5.

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