DIE SUPER!!! - G'morning, 2009!

[DjinnAndTonic]

Random: Dhyer and I were talking about annoyingly bad forced characters in RPG's. Is there anyone who is forced on a regular basis that is less useful than Dart?

Dart? Like... LoD Dart? I never noticed him being that bad, but it's been a while and generally I always wish I could take the main character out of any RPG party, regardless of their relative merits. I'm biased against forced PCs anyway.


Re: Days off
Japan is open normal hours on Sunday for the most part.

It's those pesky Wednesdays that a bunch of businesses close ridiculously early. I don't understand this... there's not even a religious precedent for it!

Still, I guess it's better this way. Schools are off on Saturday/Sunday, Businesses are off Wednesdays. I suppose it works.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Freed from Suikoden 2. He is awful, and is forced like five times.

[Dhyerwolf]

Random: Dhyer and I were talking about annoyingly bad forced characters in RPG's. Is there anyone who is forced on a regular basis that is less useful than Dart?

Dart? Like... LoD Dart? I never noticed him being that bad, but it's been a while and generally I always wish I could take the main character out of any RPG party, regardless of their relative merits. I'm biased against forced PCs anyway.

He's a locked character that's most pretty average...but 5th of 7th on speed is not good (But 2nd of 7th on Mdur, which is...not horrid, but boo to the speed). And that Mdur...is really about all he has going for him. The only person that I might really want him for most of the game is Kongol (Albert has about 50%-100% more damage for a really long time, and Rose Storm is solid at least). And sadly, you can never get rid of him.

[OblivionKnight]

Random: Dhyer and I were talking about annoyingly bad forced characters in RPG's. Is there anyone who is forced on a regular basis that is less useful than Dart?

Dart? Like... LoD Dart? I never noticed him being that bad, but it's been a while and generally I always wish I could take the main character out of any RPG party, regardless of their relative merits. I'm biased against forced PCs anyway.

He's a locked character that's most pretty average...but 5th of 7th on speed is not good (But 2nd of 7th on Mdur, which is...not horrid, but boo to the speed). And that Mdur...is really about all he has going for him. The only person that I might really want him for most of the game is Kongol (Albert has about 50%-100% more damage for a really long time, and Rose Storm is solid at least). And sadly, you can never get rid of him.

Don't forget that it also prevents you from having a sexy all girl party.  I hate games that don't let you do that.

Fire is also a boring element too.

[superaielman]

I'll second Idun on all fronts there. Certain absolute essentials should be open on sunday, but otherwise I'm pretty cool with blue laws.

I've experienced living in a place that does shut everything down on Sunday and lets just about everyone have that one stupid day off.  The benefit of the day off is utterly crushed by your inability to do much with it.  It is moronic, inefficient, and has no real reason to be implimented.  Quit bitching about working Sundays, you'll get your fucking day off sooner or later.

It's a standard day off that has a reasonable cultural basis (Day of rest, etc). Blue laws gave people who worked retail and other jobs a firm, set day off every week, which is not the norm in that industry. It's also a day that children invaribly have off from school, so it at least gives you one way with them. Working five or six days a week and only having weekdays off doesn't give you a hell of a lot of time for that. 

I don't recall hours being that bad in the UK, but CT would know better than I about that one.

[Ultradude]

Went to the local ox roast with some friends. For the unknowing, this is where you go to a... I think this one's a sportsmen's club of some sort, and they grind up an assload of ox and make sandwiches out of it. The meat's loose ground like a sloppy joe, for best comparison, only it's just the plain meat. It's also really awesome meat with horseradish sauce or onion, and they've got hot dogs and some sides. Sadly, the mac & cheese was pretty terrible.

They also had guns that you could shoot for a fee - I got to fire a handgun for the first time. Shot a .45 semi-auto and a .357 single action revolver w/scope. Also got to shoot a .22 rifle, which was only interesting because it was my first semi-auto rifle, and I was a pretty good shot with it despite not having shot in years. I'm not really a gun nut (though living where I do, a certain degree of it has osmosed its way into me), but they were pretty fun. The .357 was probably the best of 'em. They had a Garand and a few other WWII guns, but I didn't get around to shooting those. May go up again today.

[Cotigo]

It's a standard day off that has a reasonable cultural basis (Day of rest, etc). Blue laws gave people who worked retail and other jobs a firm, set day off every week, which is not the norm in that industry. It's also a day that children invaribly have off from school, so it at least gives you one way with them. Working five or six days a week and only having weekdays off doesn't give you a hell of a lot of time for that. 

I don't recall hours being that bad in the UK, but CT would know better than I about that one.

Hardly a reasonable cultural basis.  As I've been saying, and I'll fuckin' say it again, with caps so the point actually gets across, it is a stupid tradition.  No reason whatsoever to have EVERYBODY taking the SAME day off, though the day off is necessary.

Now, you do bring up a very good point regarding children.  However, I'm not saying that we shouldn't take days off on weekends ever, and certainly parents needing to stay home and spend time with their kids should have priority on taking those days off.  Students, too, though frankly, 90% of us I don't sympathize with (Idun included on this one; if it had been a school thing she probably would have said something about having to work when she really needed to study.  Instead, it was whining about having to work on Sunday.  Phoo, wah). 

However, there's no reason for as much to shut down, as most of the service labour force necessary to, say, keep stores open are usually youths, and often aren't students.  There are some demographics that deserve the days off, but having absolutely everybody take the same day off is the height of retardation, with no justification other than archaeic tradition.  ...Or "reasonable cultural basis", if you really must sugar coat it to yourself.

[Cmdr_King]

At this point I'd say that "Sundays Off" is a self-perpetuating cycle, really.  Since a majority of people have been raised to expect Sundays to be slow, restful affairs, people don't really go out on Sundays anyway.  As such, there's little reward in being open (or keeping full hours, at least) on Sundays, giving people even less reason to go out.  And so on.

I can't help but feel that not having a designated 'down time' day would be equally problematic, though.  Since it's assumed that no one works on a given day, consequently any socializing is planned around said day (ie people hold parties on Fridays, or plan get togethers on Saturdays, that sort of thing).  Losing that safe assumption and having days off planned on an individual basis would do even more damage to people's already diminishing ability to have social lives.
Sure, there's no reason for this day to be Sunday, specifically, but considering that it already is that day and various aspects of society are designed around it, no compelling reason to change either.

[superaielman]

Hardly a reasonable cultural basis.  As I've been saying, and I'll fuckin' say it again, with caps so the point actually gets across, it is a stupid tradition.  No reason whatsoever to have EVERYBODY taking the SAME day off, though the day off is necessary.

Sure it is. The majority of the US is still Christian and it's considered a day of rest by said religion. Christmas works the the same way on a larger scale, even ignoring the silly level of commeralization it has in the US.

However, there's no reason for as much to shut down, as most of the service labour force necessary to, say, keep stores open are usually youths, and often aren't students.  There are some demographics that deserve the days off, but having absolutely everybody take the same day off is the height of retardation, with no justification other than archaeic tradition.  ...Or "reasonable cultural basis", if you really must sugar coat it to yourself.

It's more than that. Any type of family get together usually requires a shared day off or any hobby with other people or group activities. A forced day off gives a lot of stability to people who otherwise might not get steady days off or not know what days they have off until right before the week.

Blue laws in the US struck a fairly reasonable balance there. Shame they ended up getting struck down in court.

[Idun]

It sounds stupid and worth a big praise of fail for mass transit to be closed or barely operable on Sundays. I'm living in the Bible Belt, so people here haven't gotten over it at all.

[Ultradude]

Adding to Super's second statement, there's a reason I had D&D games with friends on Sunday every week for years - we all had nothing else going on that day. Varying days off plays havoc with scheduling; I don't see what's so hard about living one day a week without instant service everywhere. Just buy some TV dinners for Sundays if it's really that big of a problem.

EDIT: Also, went to second day of ox roast, had more meat, shooted up sum targets with an M1 Garand. Cool gun, though I'm glad I didn't have to pay to shoot it.

[NotMiki]

Just buy some TV dinners for Sundays if it's really that big of a problem.

You need to look at this from the perspective of people who have no time whatsoever.  Single mothers who work two jobs to make ends meet and don't have cars who can't simultaneously put food on the table and pay the credit card bill without the extra income, or who need the day they don't work to be a day they can go to the city and see if they can get something done about those delinquent alimony payments.

EDIT: Blue laws that prohibit work on a specific day are silly.  Laws that mandate days off per week (and overtime)?  Those are good.  When you force people to recognize the holy day of one specific religion, you're committing an intolerable violation of the idea of the separation of church and state.  Same would be true if companies were forced to be closed on Christmas (there's a world of difference between making Christmas a federal holiday and forcing businesses to recognize it.)

[Cmdr_King]

In my experience, if you're working two jobs, you're pulling a 7 day workweek anyway.  So, realistically, maintaining the same hours throughout the week wouldn't help much there.  I know that such businesses (doctors, law offices, Secretary of State, and so on) are increasingly designating one or two days a week to maintain evening hours to cater to that demographic, but in the end it's a sad fact that if you're working that much you probably have to actually take time off work to do such errands.

(Or, more simply, if you're in that situation to start with you're pretty much screwed no matter what.)

[Clear Tranquil]

Zenny has a point about the UK yeah. Sunday service is like one bus every hour for example (if you miss that one you have to wait another hour) and your libraries and small, specialized shops and what not are closed. Supermarkets still do business but not everywhere in Scotland has a super market >_>

Djinn -

Dart? Like... LoD Dart? I never noticed him being that bad, but it's been a while

What Dyher said -

Albert- Is a locked in Bandit's equip but that makes him usable unlike Kongol. He's your additions man and the god that is Rose Storm has it's uses in specific fights (Lenus1, Faust) His magic looks bad on paper but in practice it's not always that bad. Due to LoD's policy of the majority of enemies are weak to magic - abuse it- even Albert does what the hell damage vs the likes of Kongol + Belzac w/th Gaspless. He's outclassed overall eventually by the faster, Destroyer Mace toting Haschel but that's not happening for a while.
Haschel- First for speed of the males and third overall. Has no weakness and meets no resistance (element) His speed makes him solid at offence and he's just a complete and utter beast once he picks up Destroyer Mace.
Meru- Game best speed. That helps her. A lot. Does the damage w/th the attack item spells when she joins (best or second best depending on Sharanda's equips/levels - potentially Meru can join with a higher MAG stat due to a higher level + her Tiara equip) in a game where magic in general is more powerful than additions unless you've extensively trained everyone's additions early on or are Destroyer Mace. Has the best offensive dragon summon. Is a complete and utter beast w/th Blue Sea Dragon and is the most powerful character in the game w/th it until Destroyer Mace + Dart's new spirit as far as I'm concerned. Final addition modifiers gives her decent fall back physicals and even the same damage per hit, sometimes slightly more as Dart w/th his Moon weapon + final addition (different if he has Soul Eater + Therapy Ring though) Healing! I don't need it cause I'm killing things ded but like Rose Storm it has specific uses i.e Faust. Rainbow Breath cures status too for what that's worth. Solid MT damage w/th Diamond Dust.
Rose- Fourth on speed. Still isn't bad. Starts off strong. Does the magicks on disc one. Nice piece of of equipment in Lohan to twink that and she starts w/th spells over Shana. Then ... kind of .. dies once Meru joins + Sharanda picks up. Obtains the best sword in the game though for the final fight! To be honest I'm not that impressed w/th Rose in game overall  (disc one + ultimate weapon excepted) compared to the other girls + Hashcel/Albert but oh well. Isn't Kongol. I'd definitely use her over Dart too. Stuff like her ID + Fear doesn't have many uses in game. However that changes for the DL/Neph's dungeon!
Sharanda- Attack item spells do more damage than Dart/Lavitz when she joins. Indeed she is a beast w/th those and rules overall w/th Meru for the most part until they pick up their dragon summons at which point nothing touches them until Destroyer Mace + DDDart. Also comes w/th all the healing/revival you would ever need but ... WHY are you dying!? Shouldn't be happening in a normal game. Sharanda also has being second at speed going for her.

[Idun]

I think you bring up a good mention CT. Supermarkets in general are open the same times during the weekday/weekend, here too. So I guess you can make the assumption that hours are difficult for single parents, sex not necessary to mention, but there are still options. Bus still runs 'til 1AM here. Wal-Mart open 24/7. Kroger open 24/7. It's less convenient to not just "up and go" somewhere if you generally have a big plate of balancing two jobs and taking care of yourself/family/children, whatever so I assume there's pre-planning involved generally throughout every day. Sad and unfortunate. I don't think Sundays would be the exception here.

People in Ga got over the fact that Chik-Fil-A (Yes, I know, fast food. Just an example) is closed on Sunday because the company wants to uphold its religious ideology. So yes, it sucks that I can't get a chicken biscuit (. . . I'm not really a fan of CFA) in the morning for breakfast, but I don't think it's such a huge issue that enrages me and makes me want to Boycott CFA [edited since I think simply putting 'stupid' here may seem like I didn't read any previous posts']. Thankfully this isn't such a limited country in businesses anymore to where I still have a plethora of options.

Oh. Another edit. No, I can truthfully say I wouldn't complain about working Sundays and having to study for school. I didn't whine about having to study because I've learned how to balance the plate I have now. That said, all my homework for this week is done. Thankfully I stuck to that course >.> Who knows if I'll be consistent, though I know I need to be as it's my last year and getting sucky grades is a waste of money.

[Grefter]

It is a stupid tradition that makes people's social lives easier, so it does have some functionalist merit in society and I can't see it going away entirely.  That said, I would be all for certain industries (like transport for fucks sake) be operating at full or at least not skeleton crew for them.

Laws specifying a specific numbers of days per week/month off are good (and should be pretty damned standard in first world countries).  Laws specifying certain days though?  That can get fucked unless I get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off minimum.  May as well throw in Monday and Tuesday while you are at it.  With regards to public holidays for religious holidays?  I am all for more public holidays to diversify the whole thing.

[Idun]

What a Frenchie. Sarkozy doesn't approve anymore.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MK2 arrives, and along with it, comes a poster that I put above my bed and a soundtrack album that I gave to my mother. Hope it has enough mellow tracks for her to use at work.

EDIT: I think I'm turning into Tally-chu.

[superaielman]

Why it's cool to leave a job on good terms: I walk in to the FA office today, ask about my placement. Ten minutes later I have the form, speak to the supervisor, get hired in, and spend five minutes talking to my old boss and getting hours. I start working at the library again tomorrow. I had similiar hire at Chanello when I worked there briefly.

This is why I try to never burn bridges, unless Meeple's on them.

[metroid composite]

Zenny has a point about the UK yeah. Sunday service is like one bus every hour for example (if you miss that one you have to wait another hour) and your libraries and small, specialized shops and what not are closed. Supermarkets still do business but not everywhere in Scotland has a super market >_>

I'm not sure that's exclusively a religious thing, though.

I mean, San Francisco's bus service is way down on Sunday (although there's still a bus like one every 10-15 minutes because it's San Francisco).  And you know what?  The busses are actually less crowded than weekdays because most people aren't going anywhere (nobody's, rushing off to work, going to the bank, etc).

[Sierra]

MK2 arrives, and along with it, comes a poster that I put above my bed and a soundtrack album that I gave to my mother. Hope it has enough mellow tracks for her to use at work.

EDIT: I think I'm turning into Tally-chu.

...Don't say that.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Why it's cool to leave a job on good terms: I walk in to the FA office today, ask about my placement. Ten minutes later I have the form, speak to the supervisor, get hired in, and spend five minutes talking to my old boss and getting hours. I start working at the library again tomorrow. I had similiar hire at Chanello when I worked there briefly.

This is why I try to never burn bridges, unless Meeple's on them.

You also mentioned the workplace being pretty good, so you'd really have to try to leave in bad terms. Sounds nice regardless.

[Idun]

My cat is getting neutered~

[Yoshiken]

Had a college induction today, that was pretty fun.
I'll say now, I don't really understand the American education system, so I'll just explain the English one for those who don't know it. Lv 1-2 are compulsory education, ages 4-16. Then, Lv 3 is college/6th Form, Lv 4 is university and Lv 5 is Honours/Masters.
I've already done two years at a 6th Form already, got myself average grades in Maths, Business & ICT. Now, I'm off to do a course that basically entails 2D & 3D animation & modelling, games design and website design. Maaan, I am looking forward to this course. Of our first year's modules, only one is entirely theory-based, and that's looking at the games and interactive media industries. ...Business was my best of my A-Levels, so I should do pretty well at that section, and the only real problem I'll have is about learning to draw people well enough to do storyboards and basic designs to animate later on.
Oh, and it turns out I know about 10-20 people at the college already, all of them are in on the same days as me, and I know 1 person on my course already. These are gonna be a fun two years. <3

Edit: Oh, and just to top it all off? Birthday's coming up soon~

[Idun]

Kitty back~


And yay Yoshi~~~~~~~~~