Hi Times Issue 5 Vol. 104February 20136

FAFSA Alert

Final Fanasty history intrigues many video game fanaticsBy Will MaeschStaff Writer

Many people have either heard of or played a game in the Final Fantasy series developed by Square-Enix, also known as Square. The series is now 26-years-old. It was first developed in 1987 as a last-ditch effort for game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi. There are so far 35 games to date in the series, two movies and two anime series relating to the Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy VI are all 8bit videogames. After the development of Final Fantasy VI, Square-Enix started playing with 3D animation and re-leased Final Fantasy VII. From there on they made the graphics more and more enhanced and added cinematic scenes throughout the games. Many people have argued that of all the games developed, Final Fantasy VII is the best from the series due to the new look of the game, the characters and the unique storyline from when it came out in the United States for the PSone. Senior Steve Malacina said, “My favorite is game from the series is Final Fantasy XII, because of the fighting, the style in which one attacks and the use of magic is very relevant.” Sophomore Devin Bonnell said, “My favorite is Final Fantasy XIII. I like it the most because it has an emotional stand point and I loved its combat mechanics. The cut scenes had amazing graphics.” The latest installments to this series in the United States have been Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fan-tasy XIII-2, with Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Type-O coming soon. Square-Enix will keep producing more and more Final Fantasy games for the public to experience, play and learn the story of that specific game. Each Final Fantasy game has its own specific plot to it. They all have different villains, a different world that is designed for that game and a different era in time in which they take place. One of the major differences is the variance of the main villain and their personali-ties and motives. Many of these games incorporate four elemental crystals that the player must protect and save, but in others the player just needs to stop the main villain from taking over or destroying the world. “I believe the series has progressed in a good way, because the story has become deeper as it goes on, such as in Final Fantasy VI, it was solely on defeating the empire, but in Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 you become more attached to the characters because they go through emotional trauma and have so long to live to defeat the Fal’cie. You learn more about them on a personal level. Such as Hope, most people don’t like him much, but you get to know him on a personal level, him losing his mother,” said Bonnel. The Fal’cie are machine and monster like life forms that were created at the same time as hu-mans by the Maker. The Fal’cie who live on the world of Cocoon live among humans helping them survive by providing them with nourishments and the Fal’cie who live on the world of Pulse mostly help shape the world by digging tunnels or corroding caves by water. There are also some who do nothing but go around terrorizing the creatures of Pulse. The question on many people’s mind is, “When will the series ever end? Will they ever run out of cre-ativity to produce a new game?”

Shortt and Long: pet peeves strike

League of Useless SuperheroesBy J.T. KlingenmeirStaff Writer

By Storm Shortt and Josh LongStaff Writers

Shortt- I love watching tele-vision, but there are so many things that bother me about it. I absolutely despise it when I’m really getting into a great TV show and they interrupt a very dramatic scene with a commercial. There are plenty of other opportunities to play commercials throughout the show but they chose the best part to interrupt and I don’t get why. I don’t think they’d like it if I interrupted some exciting moment in their life. I think the simple solution to all of this is to wait for a dull moment in the show and interrupt that part, not the part that’s making me shake with excitement. I think the whole world would benefit from this. Since we’re on the topic of entertainment, movies can re-ally upset me. They especially upset me when they kill off the sweet and innocent dog in the movie. This is just not right! For example, there’s an action movie with hundreds of bad guys and a good guy and his dog. The director goes through all the people who could get killed and decides on the dog. The dog usually dies very slow-ly with Adele singing in the background. The owner usu-ally cries and the movie goes on. It’s terrible! I think the very easy solution to all of this is to not kill the animal in the movie. It makes everybody get really emotional and a lot of man-cards are lost. Let’s stop this

madness and let animals live in movies. Please and thank you! Long- When people are rude it really gets under my skin. Just because you are having a bad day, it doesn’t mean you have to be mean to everyone you see. When you are having a good day and someone has to be rude to you it just puts a damper on your positive thoughts. Bottom line, if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all. When you’re super busy mak-ing your way down town, walk-ing fast, faces pass and you’re home bound, pay attention. It irks me when you have to slam on your brakes because “some-one” can’t wait three more sec-onds for you to go by and then go across the road. There must be something fun about hold-ing up traffic and making the person behind them almost go through the windshield.On the radio the same songs are played over and over again. Once the radio plays a song 50 times it can turn your favorite song into an annoying tune that keeps going through your head. The best solution, DJ? Google search top ten most over played songs. And then, don’t play them. The audience is sickened by “I knew you were trouble when you walked in….” blah blah blah.Listen, I’m an easy going guy. There really isn’t a whole lot that really gets on my nerves. But lately, I’ve had it with sing-ing “I feel like, I’ve been locked out of Heaven—for so loooong,” while slamming on my breaks to avoid hitting Mr. Walks-a-lot, and listening to negative Nancy blab about health care.

By Addie BoardmanStaff Writer

Graduating seniors need to make sure they they fill out their FAF-SA forms as soon as possible. With the help of a parent, log on to FAFSA.ed.gov to file your ap-plication for financial student aid. The state deadline to fill out FAFSA forms is March 10, 2013 by midnight. Seniors will need to check with the school they intend on attending to find out when the college or university would like to receive the forms.

Time to get relievedBy Jenna DiehlEditor-in-Chief

With the end of the trimes-ter approaching and the drea-ry, gray weather of February, it’s easy to get stressed out. So, to stay happy and let off some steam here are a few helpful tips. Classes can get boring and seem to drag on, so to keep in-terested, pull out some bright-ly colored pens and doodle! Doodling is proven to help one learn better and drawing about something likable is proven to put a smile on one’s face. “I always doodle on papers when I start to zone out in class, so it’s cool that I was al-ready doing something to keep me less stressed,” said sopho-more Joey Tomal. Homework and school can really build up stress, so next time one is looking for a study break, grab some heavy text-books or weights and do some chest presses or hold them while doing crunches-for one least a minute. This quick burst of activity releases feel-good endorphins, which will provide a much needed energy burst. Sometimes one just needs the comfort of a friend or signifi-

cant other. Weird but true- the scent of another’s (significant other or friend) sweat will help one feel more relaxed by a little thing called “comfort smelling.” It is proven to give one the feel-ing of when you first met that person, which helps increase one’s mood and release stress. On days one is really craving summer and relaxation, dab a bit of sunscreen on the wrists. The scent of coconut helps in-duce a relaxing tone making it feel like summer has already arrived. “I long for summer, so I defi-nitely try to do things that bring the summer feel. Summer is the most relaxing season,” said sophomore Kelly Jones. Wash away the stress! Tak-ing a hot shower and visualiz-ing all the worst parts of one’s day theoretically helps one “wash away” all the bad things “down the drain.” Plus the heat relaxes the muscles and helps one to lose tension in the mind and body. Studies show that looking at the color green or any other common colors in nature puts people into a more positive mood. Since one is stuck in a classroom all the time, and the weather outside is daunting, change the screensaver on a

phone or ipod to a screenshot of nature to start feeling more positively. Now for all those bad days, eat chocolate. It’s true! Choc-olate contains many mood boosters, so even if one is eat-ing them while just watching TV, the chocolate high will make one feel like they’re do-ing something awesome! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, what could be better? “I love candy. it’s the answer to everything, even stress ap-parently,” said sophomore Bobby Barden. Most importantly, the key to being de-stressed is not to worry! Remember, if stress is over-whelming oneself, one can al-ways go talk to a counselor or a parent about finding a way to lighten one’s load. Winter is a stressful and drea-ry season, but with these tips it can turn into a relaxing time for all. Remember, if stress is over-whelming oneself, one can al-ways go talk to a counselor or a parent about finding a way to lighten one’s load. Most importantly, the key to being de-stressed is not to worry!

Storm and Josh show their disgust toward their annoyances.

Photo by Jenna Diehl