Video Games

I love playing console RPGs (Role Playing Games). I don't like playing online, but rather like the ability to hit pause at any time, do whatever I want, and then resume the game when I am ready. My favorite series is Final Fantasy, although there are some other nice RPGs out there. I have written some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about some of these games. You can find text versions of these FAQs on GameFAQs. Here is a list of those files:

Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XII
Radiata Stories
Blue Dragon
Lost Odyssey
Final Fantasy IV

Chrono Trigger Endings: I created this FAQ when original Chrono Trigger was released for the SNES. It has updated for each release of the game.; If you aren't familiar with this game, it had a lot of endings, depending on when you beat the final boss.
Final Fantasy XIII Paradigm Guide: This FAQ explains how the paradigm system works, giving examples of how you can configure paradigms to suit your fighting style. I had such good reactions to my Gambit Guide for FF XII and had heard so many people complaining about the paradigm system, that I decided to write this guide.
Final Fantasy XIII Upgrading: This FAQ explains how to calculate how much EXP is needed to upgrade items and the necessary procedures to perform the upgrading. It also includes instructions for the spreadsheet tool I created.
Final Fantasy XIII Upgrading Spreadsheet Tool: This is a spreadsheet tool that can help you calculate how many EXP are needed to max out an item in Final Fantasy XIII.; The spreadsheet is in Open Document format, so Excel might not handle it correctly. (Excell had problems handling this, and I only use free open source office tools.) I sugges that you download a free copy of Open Office, which will read this spreadsheet just fine (and most Excel files as well).; Personally, I use Libre Office, but for some reason they don't support the Sigma function (sig). You can work around this by writing your own sig macro. Nickolas Hook suggested creating your own sig macro:

Open the ffxiii_upgrade.ods file
Click Tools -> Macros -> Organize Macros -> LibreOffice Basic...
Click Edit
Below the "End Sub" line type the following...
Function sig(ceiling) sig = 0 For i = 1 to ceiling sig = sig + i Next End Function
Save the macros changes
Close the macros editor
Close and Reopen the spreadsheet
Gambit System for Final Fantasy XII: This game introduced a new AI combat control. Rather than the traditional turn-based combat style, you can essentially program each character in your party to behave according to a wide variety of conditions and actions. What makes this even more interesting is that the gambit system uses a functional programming style, rather than the procedural programming methodology which most programmers are familiar with.
Items and Enemies for Final Fantasy XII: I created a tool that generates a cross-reference FAQ that lists the enemies, where they are located, and what items can be obtained from the enemy. This FAQ cross-references enemy, item, and location, so you can see what enemies are in what location, what items can be obtained from a given enemy, and where a given item can be found and from what enemy.
Radiata Stories Recruitment Guide: This is a really great RPG by Square-Enix, the makers of Final Fantasy, that allows the player to recruit a large number of characters. Furthermore, it takes at least two times through the game to recruit all characters. Each character has a different method of being recruited, and sometimes can only be recruited at specific times.; This FAQ explains when and how you can recruit all the characters, and why you might want to recruit each character.
Blue Dragon Skills Strategy Guide: Blue Dragon was the reason I finally bought an XBox-360. This game was written by the person who created the original Final Fantasy game, and turned out to be a great game.; The purpose of this FAQ is to give players some guidance on how to level up their skills, which skills to use, and how to configure their characters.
Items and Enemies for Lost Odyssey: This FAQ was the original file generated by the tool I wrote to cross reference items, enemies, and locations.
Final Fantasy IV Game Plus Guide: This was the first "real" Final Fantasy game I ever played. It was on my Super Nintendo System (SNES). It was recently released again for the Nintendo DS, and added some new features that requires you to play the game several times before you truly complete the game.