Duke Reivier's Grand Game Emporium

 Does anyone else think they're bullshit? I mean, what kind of "creative expression" is being defended by copyrighting code anyhow? All code is, is a means of solving logical and technical "puzzles" to get computers to do the things you want them to do. And I bet that if all code was made open source, nothing would be lost. On the contrary, it would improve software development by orders of magnitude. But I suppose it would cut down on coder jobs, and many people do struggle to get good jobs these days. Eh.

 Open mindedness is generally a good thing, but it's also among the most misunderstood principles. The point about open mindedness is not to permit every opinion or to forbid people from expressing "bad" opinions, it's to promote the acceptance of humanity.  So, for example, racist opinions are "bad" not because there's a divine code stating so, but because racists are generally against the acceptance of humanity and want to impose a hierarchy on it. On the flip side, people using "open mindedness" to censor "bad" opinions on, say, fiction, are also applying the principle incorrectly, because they've just decided that the people having different opinions from them are "wrong", thus subconsciously applying a hierarchy to humanity. This is also key to applying it correctly when dealing with tangled issues, like talking about the sexism prevalent in some portions of Islam without coming off as an Islamophobe or talking abou...

  Citan gives a rundown of the current military situation. As expected, Bart's men are heavily outnumbered by the Avehian army. The latter have divided themselves into three groups, one supervising the path to Nisan, one guarding the capital, and one guarding the border with their rival nation, Kislev. Naturally, the latter two contain the bulk of their soldiers, with the Nisan group being merely a skeletal force. He begins laying out his plan. The first step is to stage an attack on their Nisanian force with Kislev gears. Makes sense, it's the weakest force, and causing a diversion there would pull troops away from the other more important forces, especially the one guarding the capital. Of course, the moral aspects of this move draws more than a few concerns, but Citan reassures them that he doesn't want Nisan to draw Aveh's ire, it's just that with their military situation being so bad, he needs to take some risks. On to the next part of the plan. Citan mentions ...

 So, as it happens, I managed to reexperience some of Final Fantasy 6 through a Let's Play of its Pixel Remaster. On the whole, the game remains enjoyable and entertaining as an experience, despite some aspects that haven't aged very well. But that made me ponder what I liked about it, and I think I have found a rather simple, if seemingly contrarian answer: Final Fantasy 6 is a story about losers. Think about it. Terra, the very first protagonist we're introduced to, is a vacuous woman who constantly struggles with doubts about herself and her decisions. Locke, well, he constantly has complexes over a girlfriend who died ages ago and whose corpse he constantly preserves in a basement attended to by a creepy guy. Edgar? Sabin? Well, they're definitely a touch more adjusted than most of the protagonists, but are by no means flawless beings, and definitely no selfless paladins in shining armor. Edgar is, as is often noted, a smart and capable ruler who also happens to be ...

Video: Nisan We set off for Nisan! But not before Sigurd pondering the presence of Ramsus at Bledavik. He knows that he's not any random general, but the commander in chief of Solaris himself! His existence here meant that the empire had some deeper interest in Aveh beyond his ancestral treasure. At Nisan's secret dock, Citan finally rejoins the team. He and Sigurd both seem rather familiar with Ramsus and Miang, with the latter in particular making Sigurd concerned. It seems like she has some sort of fearful power that she's hiding from the world. They're both hiding their suspicions from Bart, because they don't want to make him worried, not when he has a kingdom to reclaim! The residents of Nisan warmly welcome Bart, and inform him of the military situation. It turns out the town has been gaining lots of supporters from people fed up with Shakhan, but at the same time, news of Aveh's armies marching towards them has made them uneasy, and some of the residents...

Last time we checked, Bart and Margie were in a spot. Ramsus, seeing Bart unwilling to give Margie back, pulls out his sword. But Miang tries to negotiate a deal with him - he could get back his kingdom and oust Shakhan if he gave Margie back to them. She explains that Shakhan is naught but their pawn, and they don't care too much about who rules Aveh, so long as they're cooperative to their interests. Bart, of course, finds such an offer inacceptable, and so squares off against Ramsus! Miang and Margie both stand in the sidelines, being untargetable but offering support to their respective sides. The support comes mostly in the form of small heals, though Miang is also capable of clearing out status effects, thus countering Bart's accuracy debuff. Aside from that little detail, this fight is absurdly simple. Ramsus slashes a few times, then enters a defensive stance. Hitting him during said stance triggers a massive counterattack, so all there's to do is to hold back a...