in biochemistry, it refers to an amino avid residue, which is the part of the amino acid that is left over after a dehydration reaction that links two polypeptides together; the residue therefore consists of the R-group (i.e. the remainder group), and the remnants of the carboxylic acid and amine groups.
Origin: Latin (residuum = the remaining/what is left over) via 14th century French (residu)
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YAY! MIDTERMS ARE OVER! It was a grueling week, interruptedin the middle by a day of illness, but it's finally over! AND NOW, READING WEEK!
Monday's midterm was Physical chemistry. Ew. I hate physical chemistry; it's more physics than chemistry, which sounds fine b/c I'm awesome at physics, except not, because it's chemistry, and chemistry has always been my weakest science. Needless to say, the midterm was slightly horrific. I hope I passed?
Tuesday's midterm wasn't too bad; it was on the Immunology section of my MICB 202: Introduction to Medical Immunology and Microbiology course. It wasn't too bad; I knew most of the stuff, and it was all multiple choice, but they had loads of really, really tricky questions. Half of the exam consisted of "Choose two of the following state that are true" and then a lot of them I had narrowed it down to three things, but only two of them were true, and you are only awarded points of you get the whole question correct, so that sucked.
I'd been battling a fever and symptoms of strep throat since Sunday evening, and at 4am Wednesday morning, the Streptococcus bacteria decided to punch me in the face. I ended up skipping school for the first time in my post secondary career in the hopes that one day off would be enough for me to recover so I could write my last two midterms on Thursday. Thankfully, it paid off; I was feeling almost cured by Wednesday night and I was healthy enough and of sound mind enough to trek to UBC Thursday morning to write my midterms.
The last two midterms were Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry. Anachem was pretty straight forwards, so if I'm lucky, I'll have netted an A; if not, I'm almost sure I got a B on it. The biochem course I'm in is honestly a bit of a joke, but that might just be me; everyone else seems to be dying in it like they were in OChem last term. Oh well. It was a freaking two hour midterm that ended at 9 pm; so annoying. It was really straightforwards though so I think I did well on it. Hopefully. I can never tell with these things when I'm this tired and ailing.
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SO NOW ONTO THE TOPIC I'VE BEEN ITCHING TO WRITE ABOUT SINCE LAST WEEK:
FIRE EMBLEM!!!!!!11!!!1!!111!!!!1
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| Game art from Fire Emblem (9): Path of Radiance |
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| Cover art from Fire Emblem (10): Radiant Dawn (sequel to FE:PoR) |
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| Game art from Fire Emblem (7): Blazing Sword [prequel to Fire Emblem (6): Sword of Seals] |
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| Character art from FE:BS |
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| SSBB: Ike (from FE:PoR/FE:RD) and Marth [from Fire Emblem (1): the Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light; remade for DS in English as Fire Emblem (11): Shadow Dragon and its sequal, Fire Emblem (3): Mystery of the Emblem] |
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| Character art & screenshot from the opening intro to FE:PoR |
In my list of my favourite game series ever, I think Fire Emblem is only second to Pokemon and maybe Legend of Zelda, and that's only because I've loved and played those series longer than FE.
My obsession, as it has become, began back in 11th grade when I bought FE:PoR (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance) off of my cousin. I had heard ravingly good reviews about it, and it isn't really considered THAT mainstream, at least to me, so I really wanted to try it out. From what I'd heard, it was similar to chess, only better, and I like chess, so I thought it would be fun to try.
[aside: the game titles are often abbreviated with "FE" for Fire Emblem followed by several letters from the game title, but they are can also be abbreviated to one or two words from the game title, for example, the ninth Fire Emblem, Path of Radiance, can be abbreviated as FR:PoR or is sometimes referred to simply as "Path"; Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is shortened to FR:RD or simply "Dawn"]
AND OH EM GEE DID THIS GAME BLOW MY MIND! I could not put it down! It was absolutely intoxicating! It was like nothing I'd ever played before, and it was just so incredible. When Dawn came out for the Wii, I absolutely HAD to have it, and now I'm going back and collecting the handheld games that I've missed. This month, I've acquired Blazing Sword, the very first FE game to be officially released in English in 2003, and I'm planning on getting Sacred Stones next month and then the newest one, Shadow Dragon for DS (which is the English remake and re-release of the first game; kind of like how Pokemon has released FireRed, Leafgreen, HeartGold, and SoulSilver versions over the past few years; they're essentially remakes, with a few extras thrown in. I suspect the two main reasons for remaking the first FE was 1. as like an anniversary sort of commemoration and 2. so that the English audience that has built up over the past 8 years can go back to the original roots of the series) over the summer.
There are many reasons why I love this series, and in order to fully explain why, I think this will take a form similar to a game review, of sorts, so here we go:
~Gameplay and Game Mechanics~
The gameplay in this series is very unique, at least, to me; I've never played a game like it. At the most rudimentary level, it can be described as akin to chess, but only rudimentarily so.
The game consists of a series of Maps where you control army units and play against the computer's army units. Each map is different in both layout and objective. Some maps require you to defeat all enemy units, some require you to claim a certain space on the map, some require you to protect a certain space on the map for a certain amount of turns, and some require you to defeat a certain enemy unit.
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| A screenshot of a player moving one of their cavalry units from FE:PoR |
Its immensely strategical, and very fun. Each map tests your ability to utilize your units in the most efficient manor possible in order to complete the objective. What I love about this game is that each level features a new map with different objectives, so even though the game mechanics are the same, it doesn't get repetitive or stale; each level gets you to think of new strategies, new ways to use your units, new ways to take advantage of the terrain (for example, spaces with sand will slow down land based units, spaces with bushes will increase your unit's ability to dodge attacks, etc).
For example, I love the weapon and speed mechanic in this game; its so unique and so creative and so REALISTIC it gives me tingles. The way it works is this: your unit's Strength stat is mainly used to calculate how much damage it can do to an opponent's unit, but it also serves a second function: you can equip different weapon onto your units, for example, a Swordsmaster who wields swords can be equiped with an Iron Sword, a Steel Sword, or a Silver Sword, etc. Each of these weapons has a different strength (which adds to the damage your unit can deal) but it also has a different Weight. The Iron Sword, for example, has a weight of 6. If a weapon's Weight value is more than the Strength value of the unit wielding it, a penalty is put on that unit's Speed. For example, if a Swordsmaster with a strength of 9 wields a Steel Sword, which as a Weight of 11, since the Steel Sword's Weight is greater than the Swordsmaster's Strength, the Swordsmaster's Speed stat is reduced by the difference between the two (i.e. in this case, 11 - 9 = 2 so Speed is reduced by 2) I love this mechanic because it goes off a very realistic fact of battle: If you're wielding a weapon that's too heavy for you, you won't be able to move as fast compared to if you wield a lighter weapon. The game uses this mechanic to help control power and damage: Stronger weapons are usually heavier than weaker weapons, and some classes of weapons are heavier than others (e.g. axes are heavier than swords, which are heavier than lances, which are heavier than bows).
Furthermore, each of the games in the series (unless it is a sequal or prequal), features a whole new world with new regions and areas and maps. Each of these games also tweak the game mechanics slightly, so that even though the basics are more or less the same, some of the finer details differ to offer a new game experience to veterans. Each game tries new ways of presenting old mechanics in a way that makes it familliar yet fresh at the same time, which is amazing and I think has contributed greatly to FE's success and longevity.
~Music~
For a game that is mostly strategical and turned based, it has an awesome OST. In fact, my cell ringtone is one of the battle themes from PoR. Its dynamic, diverse, and honestly, it's like a Zelda OST. It's fantastic. I love it. Granted, some of the songs do get a tad annoying if you're stuck on one map for an hour and a half, but for the most part, it's really good.
~"Game Experience"~
This, right here, is the crowning jewel. Not only are Fire Emblem games amazingly fun to play and incredibly strategic, the game experience is second to none. The games (for the most part) have a polished finesse that Legend of Zelda games possess, and enormously good replay value. It all revolves around one simple fact.
Fire Emblem sets itself apart from all other games in its turn-based tactic-like genre because of one simple thing: Characters. In every other game I've seen that uses a similar gameplay system with turn-based army strategy, the game basically consists of practically faceless units. In those games your army is composed of people you recruit or hire, but other than a sprite on the screen, they're basically meaningless; when you need more, you can always hire more.
That is not the case in Fire Emblem. In this series, every single unit you use has a name, a story, a personality, a character. They have feelings and emotions and back stories and side stories and motives and each one of the units that can join your army is distinctly different from all the others.
It is this one fact that changes the whole gaming experience, because 1. it sets the stage for FE games to present amazing story lines and 2. it leads to a lot of secondary consequences in the game mechanics.
Perhaps the greatest thing that drew me into this series in the beginning was its plot and storyline.
I, as a person, will only pour my love and devotion into a form of entertainment if it is the very best; it must me pristine, and one of the most important criteria is that I must fall in love with the story and the characters involved in the story, and that story must be complex. The stories I love the most involve the present being a culmination of events in the past, and characters that draw experiences and stories from the past into the present, bringing a multi-layer history to the story; its one of the reasons why I love Harry Potter and Legend of Zelda so much (in Harry Potter, the entire series exists because of what Voldemort did before Harry was born, and I love that the lives of James, Sirius, Remus, Severus, Dumbledore, and Voldemort all play a huge role in how the current story plays out; I love how you get to not only know Harry, but know the lives and times of the people involved in his life and how it affects the current situation. In Zelda, its how the events of legends in the past affect the present evils and dangers).
This is where Fire Emblem blows everything out of the proverbial water. Its story and plot is incredibly intricate and complex. It weaves an epic tale of continents plunged into war and dishevel, of young men and women who fight to protect what they love, of great evils, great heroes, heroines, and villains. Most always the current plot is a culmination of events, some ancient, some recent, and tensions and political disputes that reach into the past to affect the present. As the game goes on, the story unfolds and the plot becomes ever more intricate, ever more mysterious. The plot and the amazing amount of character development create a sense of familiarity. Playing this game is almost like reading a book with interactive challenges between chapters (in fact, the levels are called Chapters). It's got mystery, action, fantasy, and a little bit of romance all bundled together. The characters make me laugh, cry, giggle, scream in frustration, and heartbreak.
To top it off, this amazing level of character development leads to a swath of ingenious and unique game mechanics.
The most pertinent is, of course, the issue of "lives." In Fire Emblem, if a character dies in battle, he or she is dead. Gone. You can't use them again unless you restart the chapter. Once he or she is dead, they're gone from that file. If a main character that's critical to the progression of the storyline dies, either you get a Game Over, or they're removed from play (they still are alive, but you can never use them in battle again). This totally affects the strategics of the game: if you don't want to lose your characters, you have to be careful of the risks you take in battle.
Another example is the Support game mechanic. In each game, certain characters can forge friendships with other characters by doing certain things on the battlefield. Increasing the strength of the friendship (i.e. the level of the Support) gives those characters bonuses in battle if they are within three spaces of one another (i.e. if two characters with Support are fighting near each other, they can get boosts to their Strength, Speed, Defense, Avoid, etc). Every time you increase the Support between two characters, you get a short cut scene where the two characters interact with a lengthy dialogue that reveals more about each character's back story and personality, so Support not only helps you in battle, it is a major character development tool. It also lends a great amount of replay value to the game because each character is limited to the number of Supports they can have (usually, 5 Support levels; each friendship has 3 support levels, so you can choose to have one support level with 5 different people, or level up the support with one person three times; the higher the support level, the stronger the bonus you get). In this way, it is impossible to see all of the support conversations in one playthrough; each playthrough thus has the potential for the player to learn more about a character and his or her connections to the other characters in the game.
One of the games, Fire Emblem (4): Geneology of the Holy War, takes the Support mechanic to a whole new level. Geneology is a game that takes place in two parts. Part one features a bunch of characters and a story line, which is all fine and dandy, and in this part, not only can you forge friendships with the Support mechanic, you can even make certain characters fall in love and get married during part one. Each character has several possible spouses, and its up to you to decide who falls in love with who. AND THEN! Part two takes place one generation later, where the main character is the son of the main character in part one, AND 75% OF THE CHARACTERS IN PART TWO ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE CHARACTERS IN PART ONE. This means that the characters you get to play in part two depend on which couples you chose to marry in part one: each unique couple will have unique children with unique personalities and stories! That means if you made person A marry person B, they will have children X and Y, but if instead you made person A marry person C, they will have children W and Z instead, and now in part two characters X and Y don't exist (because A didn't marry B) and characters W and Z exist instead. Isn't that crazy?!?!
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| Tibarn - FR:PoR |
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| Edward - FE:RD |
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| SOREN! - FE:PoR. Possibly my favourite character ever. |
This is the main reason why I love Fire Emblem: I love the characters and the story. Like I said, playing Fire Emblem is like reading a book, where in order to get to the next chapter in the story, you need to complete a level. It's so fun and so engrossing. The characters are really what made me fall in love with the series, and its not cheesy or stereotypical at all; its very complex and it, like Battlestar Galactica, offers thoughts and notions on interesting moral and political issues too. It's amazingly fun and awesome to play, and because each game features a whole new world with a whole new story and brand new characters, each game is never the same as the last.
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Anyways, I think this post is long enough ^_^ I'm looking forwards to finishing up Blazing Sword this week, and then finding a copy of Sacred Stones. I hope you're doing well out there ate TWU; I hope I can see you soon.
~Tim~
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