Tia Marie

Review: Chaos Rings

Clipped from: itunes.apple.com by clp.ly

You don't typically see a lot of iPhone reviews here on SFX-360, but when I saw that there was a Square Enix game on the app store with the largest price tag I've seen on a game, I knew I had to pull it apart! Chaos Rings, which is presently in the iTunes App store for the beefy price of $12.99. Holy-shit-thats-expensive! 

Why would anyone pay such a hefty price of a stupid iPhone game?  Well let me tell you it this way.  This game is what we have all be wanting from a turn based RPG in such a long time.  Square Enix teased us with Final Fantasy XIII.  They gave us the Active Time Battles back and the elements of the turn based RPG... but it was just lacking.  

It's not fair to compare Chaos Rings for iPhone to a epic multi-disc game like Final Fantasy XIII released for the console.  However, I will say that it was highly comparable to a Final Fantasy game released for the PS2. First, let's delve into the story before we start talking about the nuances of the actual game play.

The story revolves around a tournament where combatants fight for their lives: the Ark Arena. Upon choosing a pair of characters, one male and one female, you will then have to fight against the other pairs. Each pair has their own story, and the truth behind the Ark Arena will not be revealed until each story is completed.

From itunes.apple.com via clp.ly

  The game starts out allowing you to pick between to pairs of characters: Eluca and Zhamo or Escher and Musiea.  There are other pairs that you can play as once you unlock them: Garrick and Alto, Olgar and Vahti and Ayuta and Mana.  The characters were designed by none other than Yusuke Naora, the art director for popular Final Fantasy titles such as: Final Fantasy VII, VIII and X.  

It doesn't have a Final Fantasy tag to it, but I honestly believe that this game should be a Final Fantasy title.  It is simply beautiful, music and storyline.  

It's completely turn based and you have the option of fighting as a pair or individually.  Through your battles you are able to collect "genes" of various types of creatures that you have defeated and you can equip their genes and as you fight more of that type you unlock skills specific to that creature type.

There are some quirks about the game that make it a bit too easy.  After every battle your HP is fully healed up and for the most part, I found that if you simply used the "pair" option for battle every time you smash through people. The boss fights though, can be a bit tricky.  All in all, the graphics and music were incredible for the iPhone, the controls didn't suck!  Seriously, this surprised me the most. The turn-based battles were certainly a gift from the JRPG elder gods and I found myself not angry that I spent so much on an iPhone game.

Seriously, if you are a lover of the old PS2 era Final Fantasy games, buy this game for your iPhone or iPod touch.  You won't regret it and you'll be happy you took my advice.  Now, look below at all the lovely screen shots I took from the game play.  

If you've played this game, let me know what you think! Shoot me a message on twitter: @tia_marie

Work fun with Recursion!

Mmm Recurserific!

   

 

Sadder days as a Community Manager

Image by kamoda via Flickr

I've done Community Management for a long time. In the beginning (not to sound like a hipster) I was managing a community before companies were paying people to manage their online communities. My management style hasn't changed since day one.  My fundamental philosophy of Community Management is "Love your Community."  

 For 99.9999999% of all situations, this is the most rewarding part of Community Management is having community members that you're friends with, that you care about and can connect with.  Twice during my Community Management, I've experienced something that I'll hopefully not experience again. 

This week I've been remembering two young men that died much earlier than they should have.  They were both members of communities that I was managing and both times, I cried. Coworkers and friends couldn't understand why I cried over people who I only knew digitally.  I had problems putting it into words, I still do.

 I often wonder how other Community Managers deal with this issue?  Not just Community Managers, but anyone with a digital life.  How do you deal with the death of an online friend, some one who you shared a friendship with online but not in real life? Have you ever done anything for them in their memories?  

I'd really like to hear what you have to say!  Leave a comment or give me a shout out on twitter: @tia_marie

What is all this Privacy Stuff Anyway?

Image via Wikipedia

Privacy is a word that has been on the mouths of people like: Bruce Schneier (cryptographer and security specialist), Phil Zimmermann (creator of Pretty Good Privacy) and non-profit groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for decades. However, thanks to Facebook, privacy has been a topic of much debate in the world of Social Media as well.  Most notably, Robert Scoble has been speaking up a great deal about his views on privacy. 

I like Scoble, I think he's a smart man who is passionate about the web and Social Media, but I don't want anyone who's voice is heard more than mine helping to share and dictate the direction of online privacy.  Many battles have been fought in the name of privacy way before Facebook's recent debacle with recent privacy changes.

So what is this privacy stuff anyway and why is it important? Privacy is about control.  It is about how in control you are over your information.  Who gets to see your medical records? Where can people use the information I've given them about me? Who can read my emails? Privacy is the expectation that information you disclose will not be disclosed to third parties without your knowledge or consent.  

Every day we share things online, the things we buy, where we are, what browser we use, what sites we visit, who we talk to and many many many more things.  Privacy goes beyond people other than our friends to see what we like on Facebook. 

Remember when Google released buzz?  All of a sudden the people you email the most privately where made public if you followed them. In other words, before you change any settings in Google Buzz, someone could go into your profile and see the people you email and chat with most. 

Commonly people who speak out against privacy advocacy say, "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to hide."  First off, privacy isn't wrong.  It isn't about hiding things you are doing wrong from the public.  Privacy and having secrets is a right and as Bruce Schneier best says:

Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect.

via: www.schneier.com 

I don't believe there is anything wrong with people wanting to share every iota of their personal lives, feelings, friendships, purchase history, where they hang out or other information. However, I believe it is dangerously incorrect that this is the direction that every individual on the internet wishes their privacy should be going.  Don't let anyone take away your ability to choose where and how you use your information.  Make informed decisions about how you share your information with social networking sites.  Take a moment to actually read their privacy policies, then you can make informed consensual sharing relationships with the websites you use.

Being open and public is great, but nobody should take away your ability to control how and with who your share your privacy with.