Who are you? (Earn a SPACE COOKIE!)

[Jim]

This is inevitable. May as well play it in the background.

I see a lot of you on here regularly, and I have no idea who you are. I thought it might be fun to do a little thread where we all get to know each other a little bit. (IE, drone narcissistically about ourselves.)

Name, age?
James, 25

What do you do?
I work a dead end job, and I'm going back to school in the Spring. I want to make video games. I also have a gaming channel on YouTube with over 4,000 subscribers that brings me a little extra income.

What's your relationship with Phantasy Star? What classes do you play?
My friend (now roommate) Sam was really into PSO on Dreamcast. I never owned a DC, but when it came out on Gamecube about 10 years ago, he convinced me to try it and I was hooked for life. Played PSO the most on Xbox, reaching level 120-something I think. Never played the old games. Played PSU for 10 hours and didn't like it. I have serious gripes about PSO2, but it's leaps and bounds better than PSU. I'm level 55 or something. I have always been a HUmar, or some derivative of it in PSO2's case. (FImar, BRAmar)

Other video games? (Be as detailed or brief as you want.)
I'm a Steam addict. Gabe Newell is proof there is a god, and that god is Gabe Newell. I have over 290 games on Steam, and I'm always playing something new. The new Amnesia recently bummed me out, but rekindled my love for the original and the Penumbra games. I've been enjoying Skullgirls recently, and I'm just getting into Arma 3. Games I enjoyed growing up include Breakdown, Zelda: Link to the Past, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Megaman X, Mean Bean Machine (or any Puyo, really), PSO (naturally), TeamFortress 2, DK Country, DK64, Star Fox 64, Fatal Frame 1-3, Lumines, Max Payne 1, Rainbow Six 3, Castle of Dr Brain, anything made by Frictional Games, Terraria, and the list goes on. I could talk about games for hours, so I should stop.

Anime?
I'm sort of new to it. Girls und Panzer was the first one I really got into besides Pokemon and DBZ growing up. (It's free on Hulu now and you will like it. Seriously, WATCH IT.) Recently watched Deathnote until the end, (the end being episode 25, naturally) and I'm digging Attack on Titan even though I'm behind right now. Watched all of Sword Art, but it took a shit mid season and I wish I had just quit then. I've dabbled in Darker than Black, Bleach, and Afro Samurai, but none of them have inspired me to go crazy and binge on them.

Television, books, and other media?
I'm watching Breaking Bad. Feverishly awaiting the penultimate episode's airing tonight. I love Sherlock, and will never stop rewatching Scrubs. I also just discovered H.P.Lovecraft, whose work can only be described as delicious. I follow a lot of YouTubers. Too many to name here. Seananners is probably the most prominent at the moment. I watch a LOT of Newgrounds animators.

Hobbies?
I'm a jack of all trades and a master of none. I do music a little (Reason and guitar). I'm to the point in learning C++ where I can make basic games that use ascii pseudographics and run in DOS. I've just started learning Japanese with Rosetta Stone. I'm doing voice exercises every day and would like to do some amateur voice acting at some point... or at least read some stories for YouTube like Cry does. I also recently bought a Bamboo Connect because I want to learn to draw and animate. (I'm bad at animation, but waaay worse at drawing). I'm good with Flash since I've been goofing with it for over 10 years, but I have no knowledge of actionscript. I also work on computers for fun. I have built many and I'm always working on someone's.

If this thread takes off, I might edit in more questions. I don't know if anyone will give a shit. haha

As promised:

Spoiler!

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strikerhunter
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Wyndham
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BIG OLAF
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Polly
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Outrider
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NightSun
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Ami
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Crazyleo
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Neith
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Sayara
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AlexCraig
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Mike
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Shadowpawn

[strikerhunter]

Quite interesting thought on making a thread like this.

Name, Age:
-Don't like my real name much (people make fun of it too easily)
I just go by by nicknames: Leo or gamer names: striker
But in public I go by my real name....................
As for age, just look into my profile details: 18 (19 in 27 days)

What do you do?
2nd year College student. Had not yet taken a job nor dating/relationships since I prioritize my education first along with family needs. I plan to become game designer, most likely an RPG.

What's your relationship with Phantasy Star?
Although I did touched PSO a bit, it was when PSU was released when my brother introduced the game was when I started into the series. Stopped playing a bit after AotI release. It was the PSp series that really brought me back to the series. Loved the series because of role-playing, sy-fi elements, and my own other reasons.

As for PSO2, it's the current game I am only playing (everything else is either old, not appealing to me, or I had already beaten it). I play it because I can do many things I considered fun unlike many of the others I had played where there was either too much restrictions or I just can't do it there.

Other video games?
Before I played PSO2, I play Lord Of The Rings Online (LOTRO) which has gone shit down hill now. I'm a fan of the Monster Hunter, Mass Effect, Halo, Gears of War (no judgement), and Elder Scrolls series with Monster Hunter being my favorite. Monster Hunter never disappoints me. I'm basically an JRPG fan (western lacks story engagement IMO with the exception of Elder Scrolls) and shooting people in any shooter styled game except for CoD.

Don't stare at the amount of hours I have on each Monster Hunter game alone and the fact that I record all boss kills since the series began.

Anime?
Stopped watching them since I was a kid since I became less interested into just standing infront of the T.V. screen like a mindless zombie doing nothing.
-One Peace, Shamen King (not sure if it counts), and some other minor titles.
-Watched First 3 Pokemon series (Kinto, Hoeno, Jhoto) and stopped after that because of repetitive story and worsen designs of the Pokemons.

Other media?
I youtube a lot, read large novels normally based on sy-fi or adventure. My favorite book is still Lord Of Thing Rings The Fellowship of the Ring. My favorite band
is Linkin Park with New Divide and Iridescent being my favorite song.

Hobbies?
I write books of my story along with some fan fiction, photoshop a lot, play games, and read interesting books.
-Have 6 stories in total with 2 in the works and 1 that I had stopped.
-New One: Ruby A Gem Of Life (still in development, rough draft process is not met yet)
-Other: Lifeless Soul of a Warrior (developing a Sequel for it)
-Other: Shadows and Dream (still in rough draft process)
-Still thinking on whether or not should I post them in the fan works on the forums.

Funny Notes about me:
-If there is 1 or 2 characters you can describe me as, it be Captain Jack and Barbossa from Pirates of the Caribbean.
-If you have ice cream, don't even think about saving it once I see it.
-I go nuts when I go 3+ months without cookies and will at like Smeagul.
-From 8 p.m. to midnight, I'm not myself when I go outside of my house. In fact, it's better if you just forget whatever may happen because I get very crazy.

Series Notes, More like Issues about me:
-I'm a person who looks at every details and very specific.
-I have mental problem where I suffer from a periodic depression and just loose interest to everything about every 3-4 months (sometimes I' lucky) which last for no more than a few days and at the worst being 1 month (worse was 6 months). Also, family and parents don't give a shit about it.
-I am often very quiet but willing to talk if you can be cooperative and don't get offensive.

[Jim]

Come on, people, don't be shy! Everyone who fills out the survey gets a SPACE COOKIE!

Edit: Holy balls, just googled Space Cookie and apparently it's a thing!
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[strikerhunter]

COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wyndham]

Name, age?
Wyndham, 25

What do you do?
I'm a professional Origami artist, and an Author on the side. I'm also an amateur comedian.

What's your relationship with Phantasy Star? What classes do you play?
I started with Phantasy Star 4 on the Genesis, and really got into it on PSO on the Dreamcast. I really played most PSO ep 1&2 on the Gamecube.

Other video games? (Be as detailed or brief as you want.)
I'm big on RPGs, Platformers, Action Adventure, and games with awesome stories. But I really dislike almost all sports games.


Anime?
I mostly read manga, as I find it is most often better than the same series as an anime series. I really like Hellsing/Ultimate, Trigun, and Death Note. I started with Dragon Ball Z at the age of five,and it took off from there,

Television, books, and other media?
I'm big on comedy, like Futurama, Simpsons, and so on. The serious series I like is the X-Files/

Hobbies?
I have been doing origami for 18 years, and now I do decorating and so on. I like Legos, and cryptozoology.
[/QUOTE]

[BIG OLAF]

Name, Age?

Nick, 23

What do you do?

Work at a Hyundai dealership, deliver car parts to body shops and other dealerships. Making just above minimum wage. I want to be a writer or some other profession in the literary spectrum. Doubt it'll happen, but that's the dream.

Relationship w/ Phantasy Star? What classes do you play?

I never knew what Phantasy Star was until I was at a friends house early 2006, and we both had our Xbox 360s hooked up, and he saw the PSU Beta/demo and said we should download it and try it since he played PSO and thought it was the best game ever (some people still do). Downloaded it, played it, loved it, and here I am now.

I pretty much only main melee classes in PS, and any other games I play, since I do enjoy me some mindless smashing. I hate meta game crap. Just let me kill shit.

Other video games?

I don't pay much attention to 98% of the games that come out anymore (case in point, I got a free year sub to Game Informer, never even opened an issue). I keep my spectrum of stuff I'm willing to play very narrow, because I don't have the energy to juggle several different games. I'm mostly into RPGs, free-roam stuff (Saint's Row, GTA, Elder Scrolls, Fallout), and some shooters and some more arcade-type games.

Anime?

Don't watch any. Don't really like it.

Television/books/other?

I pretty much only watch sports on TV, except for a select couple of shows, namely The Walking Dead, and Burn Notice (which is over now, anyway). I do watch some stuff on Netflix, though not much.

For books, I like my high-fantasy and swords-and-sorcery stuff. Big Lord of the Rings buff, and sprinkle in some Conan the Barbarian, H.P. Lovecraft stories, and things of a similar nature.

Hobbies?

Writing, reading, and playing the few video games I actually care about/enjoy. I like doing funny voices and stuff, too. People say I'm good at it and think I should pursue a career, but I don't think I'm that diverse or good at it. Besides that, nothing. I don't have any friends I can go see in the physical world, so I just sit in front of my computer when I'm not at work and let the world pass me by (since it, and most people in it, suck ).

[Polly]

Name, Age:
Polly, 33

What do you do:
I'm a studio drummer and chief audio engineer dealing in both studio recording and running live sound.

What's your relationship with Phantasy Star? What classes do you play?:
I've played every Phantasy Star game released stateside. I grew up playing Phantasy Star-Phantasy Star IV. I still have my original receipt for Phantasy Star IV, and let me tell you that game was NOT cheap when it came out. I've played PSO on and off since 2001, hated PSU, thought PS0 was great, think PSP1 and 2 had decent ideas and flawed execution, and have since given up on the series with Phantasy Star Online 2.
I tend to mostly play Hunters because I like to hit stuff really hard.

Other video games? (Be as detailed or brief as you want.):
I have a strong attachment to the games I grew up with. First and foremost, Super Metroid is the greatest game ever created and I will never hear an argument that says otherwise. I'm a huge fan of the Contra series and have managed to always be fortunate enough to play and complete every installment co-op, all the way up through Hard Corps: Uprising.
I'm not really much into AAA gaming these days, due mostly to just thinking modern game mechanics are fairly boring and my ability to judge distance in 3D worlds is diminishing with time. There are exceptions and still a great number of modern games I enjoy, but I find myself much more excited about the indie scene these days, mostly due to their ability to be more creative and take more chances as well as calling back to and refining game mechanics in the types of games I loved growing up.

Anime:
Not really watching Japanese Cartoons much these days. Haven't for the last couple of years, aside from Evangelion 3.33. That said, I have a sizable collection of DVDs and Blu-Ray titles and still consider myself a bit of a collector. My roots go all the way back to the Laserdisc/VHS days, and those titles are in storage.

Television, books, and other media?
BREAKING. FUCKING. BAD. It's the only show on television I've found worth watching over the last few years and I am going to be super sad when it ends this week.
Modern living, social life, and general laziness have sorta taken away most of my reading time, which I'm a bit ashamed of, though I do try to find time to pull something off the shelf when I'm feeling a little too dumbed-out by the internet.
Of course, given my profession, it shouldn't be a surprise I'm hugely into music and to even begin naming artists and albums that I enjoy would take far too much time, and nobody reads these things anyway.

Hobbies?:
Music and videroogames for the most part. I've played drums for 20+ years and it's part of my career, I can play decent guitar, and I'm currently working on learning bass. I'd like to add more hobbies to the general list of "things I get up to" but still haven't quite found anything that resonates as much as my love of music and videroogames goes.

[Outrider]

Name, age?
Greg, 28

What do you do?
Product management for the Games division of a web utilities company. It's not the most glamorous job, but it pays well and I like the people I work with. It's also been within walking distance of my apartment for the last 5 years, which has been great, but we're moving to a new office next month and now I'll have to commute.

What's your relationship with Phantasy Star? What classes do you play?
I was completely unaware of the series until PSO came out Dreamcast. I played it a bit at a friend's house and thought it was awesome. I finally got the game when Episode I & II came out on Gamecube and became obsessed with it along with my younger brother. We still reminisce about the hours we'd spend playing split-screen (and oddly enough, the specific albums we'd loop through as we played). We picked up Episode III and I was not a fan. I picked up Phantasy Star Collection on the GBA a little after it was released, but didn't get much further than the second planet in the original Phantasy Star. (I'd still like to play through the original series one of these days.) Outside of thirty minutes with the demo, I never played Phantasy Star Universe. I picked up a JP import copy of Phantasy Star Zero because it was $15 and (I think) made it to the moon but never completed it. I eventually picked up the US version and recently beat it for the first time with my Hunter. I'm actually still really impressed with the game, even if it's just because of how well they were able to make a PSO experience on the DS. I figure I'll play PSO2 one of these days, but I haven't yet.

Other video games? (Be as detailed or brief as you want.)
I'm a big gamer, focusing these days on breadth over depth. I don't play a lot of 100-hour games or games without endings mostly because it means I have to dedicate myself to only a handful of games instead of playing through lots of titles. I grew up playing Nintendo games and still much prefer them to most of what we get on other platforms, but I also enjoy my Xbox 360 and my PC. While I had a Playstation and Playstation 2, I wound up getting the 360 because in college I discovered that I loved the Halo series. I am currently borrowing my brother's PS3 so I can get caught up on some games I've missed, but after playing the first Uncharted and hating it the system has been collecting dust.

I'm very much a fan of weird and experimental games, even if I don't always enjoy them. Killer 7 is one of my favorite games and I'll gladly rant about how it was a high point in the industry that nobody seemed to notice. Steam sales have made it so that I've picked up lots of indie games on PC, but I haven't had much luck actually playing them. Finding free time is hard!

My favorite series is The Legend of Zelda (OoT being my favorite game of all time), but I'm also a complete sucker for the Resident Evil games. I love RPGs even if I don't finish them. (I discovered years ago that any game that has a fully-realized world is something I will latch onto, and RPGs often prioritize the setting.) I wish Final Fantasy games weren't all about catering to weird anime fanboys these days. I think Mass Effect, for all the flaws the third game contained, was one of the best narrative games I've played. I like Dragon Age II, even if some of it feels mindbogglingly low-budget and poorly-designed. I wish Chrono Trigger had a real sequel, but I kind of don't, y'know what I mean?

Anime?
I used to be super big into anime in high school and early on in college. A story, if you don't mind: In high school, my friends and I tried to start an anime club. The administration told us we couldn't because clearly we were just trying to find a way to show lots of violence and sex to students. We wanted to show Spirited Away, so needless to say, we were a little confused. It turns out that they based their decision entirely on one administrator who was a bit of a Japanophile (he lived in Japan while in the Navy and still kept up with pop culture) whose knee-jerk reaction to hearing about an anime club was that it was going to be kids trying to get all of the inappropriate material without any appreciation for the good stuff. We spoke to him, and he realized he had made a mistake, but even after he corrected himself we still couldn't get any teacher to agree to be our faculty adviser.

I stopped searching out anime after a while due to a combination of realizing a lot of what people loved was actually pretty crappy and also getting fed up with the way US anime fans fetishized Japanese culture. I still go out of my way to see every Miyazaki film I can see and I still claim Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite (and one of the best) TV series ever made, but I'm not too aware of the scene anymore. I have watched a few series here and there on Hulu and Netflix when I'm bored, but it's rare. (Though, to be honest, as terrible as Gurren Lagann should be, it's just too insane for me to not admit I enjoyed it.)

Television, books, and other media?
I keep up with the Daily Show and Colbert Report, but other than that there aren't too many shows I go out of my way to watch. I don't have cable, so I just consume everything through Hulu Plus/Netflix/Amazon Prime. Community was really good back in the day, and only kind of okay during the fourth season. Parks & Rec is pretty great. Avatar/Korra are great, so great, I'm not even kidding great. I mostly watch TV while doing work on my computer, so I have a hard time watching shows that I really need to dedicate myself to watching. That's why I haven't watched Breaking Bad or Mad Men, but I'll get around to it one of these days.

I used to read a lot more back in the day (Fun fact: I was a Creative Writing major in college), but I find these days that I pretty much only read when I go on vacation during the summer. Maybe because of this I find that many of my favorite books are things I read when I was younger, such as The Great Gatsby, The Hobbit, and Catcher in the Rye. I wish I read more. I did finally read The Bell Jar this summer, and it was pretty good. One of these days I need to read some Faulkner. I read comics from time to time; mostly just Atomic Robo and the occasional Spider-Man (or whatever Comixology has on sale). I read a lot of webcomics.

Music is big for me, but I don't have too much interesting to say about it. I live just outside of NYC, so my girlfriend and I love going to concerts whenever we can. Arena shows are fine, but these days my favorite kinds of venues are the ballrooms and bars. I'm mostly a fan of rock and (recently) some folk, but y'know, there are great songs in every genre. Off the top of my head, the last three albums I bought were Anamanaguchi's Endless Fantasy (pretty great, though it overstays its welcome at points), Fitz and the Tantrums' Pickin' Up the Pieces (fun, retro, some catchy tunes), and Jimmy Eat World's Damages (some good poppy songs, not as good as their last album.) The last three concerts I went to (not including shows my friends played in) were Jimmy Eat World at Summerstage, Dawes at the Capitol Theater, and, uh... Third Eye Blind at Citi Field, which was just weird (mostly because it was a show after a baseball game, but also because Third Eye Blind is an old favorite and it's kind of depressing seeing them now).


Hobbies?
I draw. I draw a lot. I've liked to draw since I was a kid and longtime PSOW members probably remember that I used to post fan art (both good and bad... mostly bad) in the past. I did a comic for my school paper back in college (which, looking back, was occasionally funny but more often than not filled with inside jokes and half-jokes that are way more offensive than I intended at the time). I do a webcomic now with one of my friends, but nobody reads it. It's completely self-indulgent at this point, but it gets me doing artwork three days a week, so it's been a huge success on that front. Unfortunately, considering the 20 hours each week I spend on the webcomic, I generally don't feel up to doing a lot of unrelated artwork, but sometimes I still have some fun.

I also make the occasional game, though so far I've only had time to work on simple arcade-style games. They're nothing special and often very rushed and, honestly, in a lot of ways they're not as good as most good flash games, but... y'know, it's fun.

[NightSun]

Name, age?
Michael, 18

What do you do?
Retail jobs to pay for school. I do plan to major in Accounting and become a CPA.

What's your relationship with Phantasy Star? What classes do you play?
I remember one day I was going through a demo CD for DC when I came across a video for Phantasy Star Online. Not sure what it was but as soon as it ended I wanted that game. Long story short I got the game and fell in love with it. From that point on I played every Phantasy Star game. It remains my favorite series of all time.
My favorite class is Force. I'm a sucker for magic using classes, and above all support. I'm that type of person who loves to aid others.

Other video games? (Be as detailed or brief as you want.)
I enjoy just about every genre. That being said I could write a whole page on games I like, so to save time I'll just list my top 3:
Last of Us, Skies of Arcadia, and Persona 3.
Like I said I enjoy just about everything; recently been playing a lot of FIFA, Diablo III, Personal 4 Arena, and Metroid.

Anime?
Not into it as much as I used to be. My top 3 are: Gurren Lagann, Black Lagoon, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Television, books, and other media?
I love the History Channel: Pawn Stars, Counting Cars, Top Gear, American Pickers, and American Restoration. My favorite show though is The Big Bang Theory, always cracks me up.
Not really a big reader, but every now and then I'll enjoy a good book or two.
As for music my Father really loves old school rap so he got me hooked on it.
Too $hort, NWA, Digital Underground, and Public Enemy is what I can think of off the top of my head but you get the point.

Hobbies?
Computers. When I was younger I always wondered how computers worked and that interest grew as I got older. I've build computers, repaired computers, upgraded computers, etc. I love working on computers whether it's just dusting them or replacing the Power Supply. It's not just hardware but software too. I taught myself C++, java, C# and all that.
Family and Friends love it too, they know who to call if they ever have computer issues ha ha.


On this topic; good idea. Interesting to learn about others.

[Ami]

Sure why not?

Name, age?
Brenda, 23

What do you do?
Officially? Registrant at my church's outreach center. Lots and lots of paperwork. Been doing that for about 4 years now. Unofficially? The sorta kinda second in command director mentee. Lots and lots of paperwork and coming in at hours I would usually get a day off on and being told info that I can never tell anyone else.

What's your relationship with Phantasy Star? What classes do you play?
Right now, I don't play any of the new games. I may play Infinity from time to time. Mostly play PSOBB with people. But I got started in 2006? I don't really remember. All I remember really is borrowing my friend's game collection for the Gamecube and he happened to have PSO on it. I realized I was hooked when I stayed up all night to play it. I went without Phantasy Star for a couple years until I happened across PSU at a gamestop, been hooked ever since. Most, if not all people know me as that Hyuga fan. I don't know how to feel about that now...

Anywho, I main Hunters. Humans. The only time I main a Newman is in PSO. I play the other classes too. But HUs are my babies.

Other video games? (Be as detailed or brief as you want.)
RPGs, Rhythm games mainly. Currently waiting for God Eater 2 to come out. Currently got into VNs as well. I wanna say I play Otome games, but I'm really new at it. I usually go for the import. But it doesn't stop me from enjoying a good translated game.

Anime?
Started off with Sailor Moon (that's the inspiration of my PS character Ami) when I was 5 and I never looked back. Since I usually watch dubs my collection isn't has big. My favorite series would have to be the Saiyuki series and X/1999. Anything that can make me feel so many emotions is just ah. I'm not really picky over genre, but I can't do too much gore. Currently watching Strike Witches 2. It's waaay better than what I had implied it would be.

Television, books, and other media?
I have a secret thing for talent reality tv shows. But not of the US brands. Like right now I'm watching Superstar K. I do a lot of K/J dramas too. I LOVE TO READ. LIKE WHOA. I tend to pick up vampire fiction (don't judge me >: ). But I'm cool with just some action books. I need to go to the library again :C.

Oh I also watch WWE stuff

Hobbies?
I still say Sleeping is a hobby dammit. I cook mostly. Baking is my favorite thing to do. I watch a lot of cooking shows and it shows somewhat. I draw, not that well. But way better than I used to. I got into writing last yearish with doing NaNoWriMo. Once you get a good support group, it's very relaxing. I sing (to myself). Listen to music. The usual. I try to be more easy going because of my workload now. But it's a process @~@