Recently I've been doing a fair amount of article-writing and proofreading for a Final Fantasy website where I'm a veteran.  That made me realize - I haven't beaten FF VI in something like ten years.  I played it so much in the middle and late 90s that I barely even touched the GBA version.  So I'm remedying that.  Currently around 4 hours in; just finished the Magitek Factory.  I've also done more than the usual amount of introspection on the game.  Two unrelated FF6 comments:

FF VI has a playable final cast of 14 characters.  There are 4 or 5 "knight" characters that can wear the heaviest armor and wield big-damage weapons. There are also 3 or 4 "mage" characters with naturally high Magic (significantly higher than the rest of the cast) and most of whom learn spells naturally.  Is it weird that FF VI has two characters in both categories?  Terra and Celes are beasts!  They have stats like mages and equipment like heavily armored knights!  Sure, they're basically FF VI's main characters, but that's still kinda crazy and different for a JRPG. 

Also, I hit the big return to Narshe (after the three groups of characters reunite) around the 2.5- or 3-hour mark.  At that point, you have seven characters in the party and probably have spent significant time with an eighth (Shadow in Sabin's scenario).  That's eight unique, non-throwaway, mostly interesting characters in just three hours!  This shit moves FAST!  The plot escalation feels natural and the pace is better than I remember.  Probably because I didn't really think about things like RPG plot pacing when I was 9 years old. 

So how are we going to abbreviate this thing?  X1? Xone? XB1? The One (starring Jet Li)?  I'm personally pulling for XBone.

I really oughta play Abyss.  I have an abandoned playthrough from several years ago that I barely remember. I'd have to start over. 

I'm done with all the side quests I want to do in Skyrim, so it's time to hardline the main quest. Right now at Anduin's Wall.  Skyrim has been... quite an experience, but I'm glad I'm almost finished. 

I've been to every MAGFest since MAGFest IV in Charlottesville, VA, mostly because I attended university in Charlottesville and currently live in the DC area, where MAGFest has made its home the for several years.  That convention is great - I've had great experiences and met awesome people; I look forward to it every year. 

I've been to OtaCon, Anime USA, KatsuCon, and NekoCon exactly once each.  Found them ranging from unappealing to insufferable.  I'll stick to MAGFest, thanks. 

Patton Oswalt is amazing.  Parks and Recreation ain't half-bad either. 

Cicero has a commanding lead in the Most Annoying Character in Skyrim Sweepstakes.  It'll take something drastic for him to surrender it.  Like Endarie taking up yodeling. 

Sword & Sworcery - Lone Star

I love how the driving percussion sounds like someone shaking a box of pennies. 

Zeus has more appealing cities and is more about the interconnected domestic networks.  Age of Mythology is about combat.  Seriously, Zeus's combat is so bad that 90% of the time it's easier just to pay off invading armies and it's a blessing that you only need to defend your city instead of invade others. 

That game is so baller.  I replay the Athens through the Ages and Trojan War scenarios over and over and it never gets old.  Ever.  Expansion is okay, but not as strong as the base game.  One of the best city-building games of all time for just checking out how crazy and alive a built-up city is. 

I'm so iffy on the Grandia series.  The first one has a lot going for it, but spell leveling is annoying and it kinda devolves into "crazy demon destroying world" at the end.  The second one has totally uninteresting characters other than Ryudo and his two lady sidekicks, but has a stellar battle system.  The third one had a really interesting opening, with Yuki proving himself to his mother, in addition to that great combat... but oh sweet Moses was it a generic boring RPG in the end. 

So what do I want out of a third Grandia game?  Grandia has always had decent dungeons and skill systems with AWESOME combat, so keep all that.  Give us characters that aren't your typical teenagers or outcasts - Ryudo was great because he isn't a typical teenager searching for adventure and Miranda was great because she wasn't your typical "mother of the main character."  I'm not saying rewrite the book on every anime archetype, just... give us fully-realized characters that aren't obviously destined to be footnotes on tvtropes.com page. 

Estrella from Atelier Meruru.  Mmmm, Spanish guitar battle theme. 

More Skyrim.  Thane in 8 out of 9 Holds (all but Windhelm).  Finished Companions.  Finished College of Winterhold.  Middle of Thieves Guild.  Early on in Dark Brotherhood.  Haven't picked a side in Civil War.  Early in main quest.  Once I get bored of those sidequests, I'll stop ****ing around and just beat the game. 

Dice is a classy lady who sends items safely as advertised.  Cheers!

Nah, I'm not shy about any of that.  Hell, me and my roommate invited perfect strangers to our room for drinks and ended up with like forty facebook invites the next day.  Our room number ended up getting passed around on Twitter.  I just didn't want to seem like a creep by saying "hey, are you guys on such and such website? Because I think I read you?" while waiting in line.  Whatever.  I'm not saying I make sense.