The Save Spot

First Thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII is the first game I have ever preordered. And we can thank my wonderful fiancée for that. So I, like most of the gaming world, is looking forward to the March 9th release date. But what kind of gamer would I be if I wasn’t willing to share my uninformed well thought out views?

After playing Final Fantasy 12 and not liking it very much, I have been very interested to see the latest version of Final Fantasy, specifically around save spots and random encounters. Now unlike most people, I love random encounters. Sure it’s sometimes annoying and frustrating. But most of the time it reminds me of the old NES days of playing Dragon Warrior. Oh how I used to take my little character and walk him back and forth over the same 4 blocks to unleash Goldmen. But I digress.

But I recognize that a lot of people hated the random encounters. So over time those disappeared to make it more “realistic” and “believable.”

So here is my question – why do we get rid of random battles, but keep the same out-dated save point system? For the love of gaming, can we get rid of save spots?!

All of us here on The Save Spot love gaming, but we’ve grown to detest hunting for the next save spot. And while the Final Fantasy XIII guide tells me save spots will be “no more” than 10 minutes apart, in my world 10 minutes is a long time. Anyone who has kids know that within a 10 minute window any number of disasters can strike. Anyone in a relationship knows that within the next 10 minutes it may be time for “talking” (whatever that means!)

Save Spots used to not bother me, because I had hours and hours to game. Now when my gaming is measured by minutes, not hours, risking a 10 or 20 minute search for a save spot is likely to drive me do something else.

Maybe even read a book.

So please future versions of Final Fantasy if you’re going to take away my random encounters, please take away the save spot system! You did it with The Last Remnant. I have confidence you can do it for Final Fantasy.

Gaming on the Go?

It has been a long time since I’ve bought a laptop. In fact the last laptop I owned had Windows Millenium installed on it. Well just this weekend I braved the black friday crowds and bought myself a new laptop. Now I can finally do some gaming on the go.

Of course before I can do that, I need to get a new laptop bag. Or else I won’t be traveling very much with the laptop!

Of course now comes the hard part.  What laptop bag do I get?  Do I go with the Timbuk2 Commute 2.0 Laptop Messenger Bag or the OGIO Hip Hop Messenger?  Man, compared to this decision, buying the laptop was the easy part…

Gaming Culture Officially Mainstream

Ok, maybe video game culture has been mainstream for a while already.  But as a cubicle-dwelling business professional, it often feels like gaming as entertainment is atypical - perhaps a straightforward consequence of adult responsibilities.  So I was pleased when during a routine check of the Bloomberg financial news and data service I saw an article with the following headline:

“Mark Peroff Wins ‘Final Fantasy’ Maker’s Law Business by Discounting 20%”

To me this said a lot!  Bloomberg is an established, respected source of business news and they could have titled this article “Mark Peroff Wins Square-Enix Law Business…”  I wonder if the Bloomberg news team expected higher click through rates or google search hits by including ‘final fantasy’ (hey, why not!)  Or, did they expect that more readers would be familiar with Final Fantasy as a franchise than with the company that produces it? 

Either way, this is a nice call-out for gamers in the business world.  You are not alone!  Or maybe it’s simpler than all that - now more than ever finance professionals need an escape, and what better way than a good RPG?  An excellent suggestion, and I think I’ll act on it right away!

 

Power User: a guide to saving money

 

 

 

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an environmentalist. 

I am, however, someone who likes to squeeze every last ounce of efficiency from everything I do.  I may not be an engineer, but I really appreciate a clean design.  I especially like this in my computers and gaming systems.  Because of this philosophy, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to improve the usage of my time, squeeze out some extra gas mileage, or get a bit more performance from my PC. 

Frankly, it’s more fun to me to take an old PC, car, office and see how efficient I can make it than going out and buying something brand new.  But there’s one area that I’ve really been neglecting: power usage.  While I’ve always turned out the lights as I leave the room, I never really decided to get “energy efficient.”  It just wasn’t a major concern for me.

But as the economy tanks, and job prospects look grim, squeezing every nickel out of our lifestyles is becoming more attractive.  So while I may not be an environmentalist, I do like money! 

So how do we get more energy efficient?  Well a good place to start is Google’s power calculator.  According to this calculator, I could save close to $300 just by making a few changes to how I power down my computers and consoles.  Which means I could buy 6 brand new PC games, 30 used games, or 1 new console by this time next year. 

What’s not to like about that?

A couple of useful tips from Green Home Huddle:

• 1.  Unplug your devices
• 2.  Plug your devices and chargers into a power strip
• 3.  Remove chargers from the wall when you’re not charging

  

And then a few not so much from Climate Savers:

• 1.  Turn down the brightness setting on your monitor
• 2.  Use a laptop instead of a desktop
• 3.  Trade in a computer for a rock and some crayons

  

Ok, so maybe that last one wasn’t really their suggestion. 

If you want to turn down your monitor’s brightness or use a laptop instead of a PC, go for it.  But that’s just not for me.  Energy is made to be used, and so I intend to use it to power my entertainment.  I’m all for saving money and reducing the impact to the environment, but not at the cost of my gaming experience. 

How about you?  Do you have any good power saving techniques?