LIVESTREAM UPDATE:

The next livestream will be this Friday, February 28th at 7pm est!  We finished up the Twilight Princess run last week, so there will be something new to play after the doodling part!  What it will be… I don’t know yet!

See you then!

END LIVSTREAM UPDATE!

I also had a run of FF8 last week in order to test out twitch.tv.  I really like their streaming service, and might switch to it once they have a decent (and free) bit of OSX compatible broadcast software.

Exactly when the switch will happen, I can’t say.

What I can say, however, is that the FF8 run made me realize (or remember) how vanilla a character Rinoa is.  Before any of you Rinoa fans grab you pitchforks, hear me out!

What exactly is Rinoa’s function in the game outside of arbitrarily being Squall’s love interest?  I say arbitrarily because there is nothing that she does to truly earn his affection.  Sure, she dances with him at the Balamb Garden Ball, but she was only there in order to meet with Seifer and Cid.

She briefly drags him to the concert at FH, but their conversation by the stage quickly turns sour, and any romantic atmosphere there might have been should be credited to Selphie and Irvine, who headed up planning the festivities.

It seems to me that Squall falls in love with Rinoa because “Squall falls in love with Rinoa.”

It is because it is.

It happens because it happens.

Heck, I don’t even root for Rinoa’s romantic goals.  In disc one, Quistis makes it pretty apparent that she has a thing for Squall.  Wouldn’t it be a much better story if two mercenaries who’ve lived a life of nothing but danger and discipline eschew the principles they were raised with and overcome their hangups on affection together?

I think it would be.  Quistis got jobbed!

Rinoa appears to be credited with helping Squall come out of his shell.  I’d argue that the combined efforts of all of his friends caring for him in the face of insurmountable opposition did that.

Timber team forever.

I mentioned above that we finished up the Twilight Princess run during last week’s stream, and I’d like to thank everyone who attended for watching!  There were even a few folks who managed to stay for the entire event, which lasted a whopping six and a half hours!  You guys (and your comments) kept us going!

I’d also like to thank my friend Rich for making his third guest appearance!  This was the first stream that made use of a webcam, and it would have been pretty awful if you guys only had my hobo-esque face to look at.  Rich brought a much needed set of good looks to the screen…

…and beer, which definitely rocked.

Finally, during the stream I was about to link to an artist friend, but I somehow derailed my train of thought and forgot.  In an effort to make up for my stupidity, should totally check out More Handclaps!, the tumblr of Lizzy Dawson.  She is a supremely talented artist who I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting a small handful of times through her boyfriend, my college roommate Chris.

Seriously, look at her stuff, she’s awesome!