Ms.Croft

((Love it! Really well done! Awesome.)) As we walked back to the exit, I thought of all that had happened so far and how far I'd grown...and what lay ahead. As this happened, I suddenly felt a piercing pain hit my skull. With the pain came screeching, and chaos as hundreds of people were screaming into my ears at the top of their lungs. I fell to my knees and held my head, wailing. It was then I heard it... Don't forget...Tetsuna... As the voice echoed, the pain increased. I began screaming. Then, I let out a huge burst of energy.

I fell to the floor both from exhaustion and despair. "She's gone...Yuna's gone...they're so far away!" I said to the others, tears filling my eyes. Footsteps approached and I turned to Paine. "Project yourself to her." "What?!" I responded in complete disbelief. Paine sat down next to me then, and patted me on the shoulder. "You saw Yuna when we couldn't, correct?" I nodded. "Then you two must have some sort of...connection to each other. Perhaps magical...like..." Paine looked to Auron for help. "She's right,Tetsuna." He said walking up to us. "You just have to concentrate hard and you'll be there. You are our only hope now. For Spira." I somewhat understood what they were asking of me. I did see Yuna when she was trying to communicate with us, but only I could. There was some sort of magical bond between us, albeit temporarily. "Ok..." I stood up and closed my eyes. "I'll do it." I held my hands to my stomach and concentrated on a power deep within myself. I felt it, a little ray of light waiting to be brought out. Focusing on it, I began breathing slowly, urging it to be brought forward. My hands driifted out in front of me creating a 'ball' and I willed the magic there. Then I felt it. Between my hands a bright light began pulsing, bright and brighter. As it filled them, I propelled my hands in opposite directions. The energy became a ripple and my friends disappeared. It was then that I saw Seymour. "Yes, that's right, Yuna...not long now." Seymour couldn't see me. I looked over to Yuna. She was performing a summoning ritual. "Just a bit more...you'll be able to see 'Him' again." Him? I thought to myself, wondering who he meant. It was then that I remembered the picture I picked up in Spira of a happy blonde boy. The one Yuna spoke so little about. This was what Sir Auron and Yuna were talking about...he's the one to bring back the ultimate Aeon. I had to stop this. "Yuna! Yuna listen to me! It's Tetsuna, you have to stop this. You're too strong for Seymour, he can't control you, remember that!" As I urged her to stop, I felt my magic power draining and the world I was in began to disappear. "DAMN IT!" I needed to do something fast. As if the Fayth had given me the answer, I walked up to Yuna, pressing the white mage dressphere. As my father's robes surrounded me, I placed my hand over Yuna's body and forced it. "Reflect!"

“Blizzara...” I whispered concentrating on the jewel. The spell was absorbed by it, and it eventually began showing condensation on the surface. Breathing slowly, I moved my hand upwards. “Hey, Tetsunie, do ya mind kinda hurrying it up a bit pretty please!!! Yuna’s protection’s not holding out here...” I ignored Rikku’s voice and concentrated hard. “Watera...” The jewel responded and began filling inside with water. I then heard an almighty scream. “It’s using pain!” I heard Auron shouting above Anima. “Not a problem!” Rikku responded mixing two liquids together. “This’ll help!” She said throwing the concoction into the air. It burst and covered us all, creating a magical barrier. “Thundara...” As expected, the jewel began creating static. “Fi...oh no! I can’t do it!” “What?!” Came Rikku’s voice. “You haven’t learnt Fira?!” I looked to Anima and was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. “Allow me!” I turned to Paine as she swung her sword towards me. A powerful fire attack followed and hit me before becoming absorbed. The fire jewel was now full of hot magma. “All right!” I shouted triumphantly. “Let’s do it!! Elemen....” I thrust my stick into the air and began twirling it between my fingers. A huge ball of energy formed consisting of the 4 elements in perfect unison. I held my hand upwards allowing the energy to settle. “....tara!!” ((There's a challenge for you, Morph, try drawing that attack ))

I nodded, and we began walking towards the exit, Yuna in tow. "Honestly," I turned around, shortly followed by the others. "Did you really think it'd be that easy?!" Seymour laughed. "Back you go, Yuna!" He waved his hand and she disappeared again. "Damn it, you let her go!" Rikku said advancing towards him. He stopped her in her tracks with a look and simply smiled. "I said I'd let you have Yuna back if you lived through the battle...but the battle's not over!!" Below Seymour, a portal appeared and a chain sank into it. He pulled out Anima again, but he wasn't the same anymore. He was darker. Auron looked surprised. "That's a dark Aeon! Everyone, prepare yourselves! It's much stronger now! This won't be a battle we can win easily." I sighed and looked at the huge monstrosity. "I won't let you take Yuna...everyone! I need your help. I need to cast my strongest spell again...but it'll take some time. I've mastered ice and thunder, but I need your help with fire..." Auron looked at me and nodded. "I have to cast this spell, it's the only way to beat it now. Protect me!" I said and held my spell stick in front of me, staring at the elemental jewels. I held my hand over the blizzard jewel and concentrated.

Everyone looked at me as if I were crazy. I smiled slightly, and then looked at Auron. "She's in the cloister of trials, at least...that's where she thinks she is." "She thinks?!" Paine responded, "Yuna was talking to you? How?" "I...I don't know exactly, she was just...there. You guys really didn't see her?!" They all just looked at me. "Ok, anyhow...we need to get there. Baralai...where are the cloisters?" "I know..." Auron said without expression. He walked towards a control panel by some stairs and simply waited. "Yeah...I think he wants us to go there." Rikku pointed. We eventually arrived to a pedestal set into a ramp. Again, Auron walked slowly onto it and waited. The rest of us followed and as if it knew, the ramp set off towards an unknown destination. We arrived at a place completely foreign to me. There were magical floorways everywhere with arrows pointing in different directions. "Where are we?!" I asked looking around in wonderment. "In the cloisters...but Yuna isn't here. She must be in Via Purifico or where she summoned Bahamut for the first time." Auron said. "Viawhat?!" Paine interrupted. "The 'underground' part of this chamber." "Oh yeah!" Rikku said jumping excitedly. "Me, Wakka and um...Him had to swim through there to reuinite with you guys!" "Ok, this is all way over my head." I said hurridly. "We need to go find Yuna A.S.A.P, so come on, let's go!" I began walking towards the first magical walkway.

We (Mods) deal with any threads these people post almost instantly to the point where you would rarely see them, but I didn't know they were sending PMs to members. To any future members that get this, please don't hesitate to tell us mods that you're getting these spam private messages ASAP. MsC

And here's some videos showcasing what to expect from the Demo: FFXIII Demo Looking mighty good if I do say so myself! MsC

As Baralai and Yuna talked to each other, my mind drifted back to the thunder plains. My eyes woke suddenly to a terrific noise outside. Groggily I climbed out of my bed and moved to the nearest window shaking the sleep away from my head. Leaning one arm against the ledge, I peered out and saw Yuna hovering above the ground. "That was impressive." I heard Auron's voice say. "I thought so, too." Yuna replied. As their conversation continued, I thought back to the days of being just a novice spellcaster in Besaid, turning cubes of ice into water, and turning drops of water into ice. I'd come so far since then. Adventuring with Lady Yuna had certainly matured both my mind and magic. How any of what lied ahead seemed impossible to me, how could I have the hopes of destroying Seymour with the magic I held in my hands? I needed to improve more, I needed to attain more wisdom in the black arts. Quickly and without thinking, I grabbed my father's stave, and headed for the inn's exit. I was hit by a searing heat and shielded my eyes. Peering through the gaps in my fingers, I looked up at the source. "Yuna..." I muttered to myself. "Wow" Yuna breathed. "'Wow' is an understatement, Yuna" I said "I've never seen anything like that!" "Nobody has," Auron replied "It is...a first...we shall continue now..." I stood still at Auron's words and watched the group leave without me. Yuna turned her head to look for me and noticed. "Hey, you coming?" She smiled. "Uh," I said staring at her, "Yeah, sure. Just let me go grab some things I've left and I'll catch up with you guys in a minute!" I said smiling, holding up my thumb and two fingers to her. She simply nodded, smiled and continued walking without asking a question. When their bodies had all vanished from my sight, I slowly preceeded to the dangers of the thunder plains. "Right...let's..do it, I guess." I left the comfort of a nearby thunder conductor, and walked as far away from the nearest ones as possible. Slowly, I sat down, legs crossed and placed my stave upright between my hands. Summoning the will of my magic, a single lightning strike hit the ancient stick and dispersed quickly. I had to try harder. I shook my head, closed my eyes and slowed my breaths. With all my determination I channeled the magic within, felt myself lighter and lifted off the cold earth beneath me. I was hovering. I couldn't believe it. I was hovering. Ok, Tetsuna, don't get ahead of yourself, concentrate...concentrate.... Clearing my mind of any thoughts, and thinking of nothing but air, I mustered all of my strength and felt the piercing blow of energy flow around me, over me, under me. I opened my eyes. "Whoa..." Before me was pure electricity. It surrounded my body and acted like a cage of protection. I smiled softly and looked upwards towards the sky not wanting the moment to end. Eventually, I allowed it to and gently returned to the earth beneath me. "Impressive!" I turned to the source of the voice, "Tetsuna....." "Tetsuna...Tetsuuunnna, Tetsuna!!" I looked suddenly and realised it was Yuna now calling my name, "What do you think?"

I like it! I know it's a little out of proportion, but it actually looks like it could work in some spin-off. Carry on making some poses with her, Tom, she's awesome! MsC

(Damn right I like it Morph! It's amazing! You really have improved over those two years, substantially. Keep the art coming Morph, you're extremely talented!)

"So Yuna...I guess...I guess it's all down to us...right? I mean...uh...you know...I've...um...uh..." Yuna only looked at me to fathom what I was going to say. I composed myself and breathed, "I've never had this much responsibility! I mean, to summon a spell that'll save someone?! I've only really practiced black magic! Surely white magic will only heal you, it's the only thing that'll break a spell on you. Unless...unless it's a black magic spell Seymour created that I can counter with an equally strong black magic spell, yeah?! But no, black magic spells can't cancel each other out, only opposites can, so it has to be a white magic spell. BUT! What if Seymour used a white magic spell on you, and you know, now I have to use a black magic spell to counter that! That could be it! Oh but there's also green magic, but that type of magic only controls time! Red magic?! No...not red magic, surely. So, it has to be black magic, but then again I have to work out if Seymour is using a white magic or black magic spell, but how can I do that Yuna..." I began pacing, "So, how do we find out if Seymour is using white or black magic Yuna?" Yuna opened her mouth to speak, "I've got it!" I interrupted, "We can just read it, right? I think there's something in black magic that allows me to read the type of spell, you know, like an aura? Yeah? You understand me, right? Of course you do, I mean, you're Yuna, the one who defeated Sin! What was I thinking?" I giggled to myself. "So!" I turned to Yuna, "You ready?"

"This is bad, bad, bad...and bad, where am I?!" I mused, looking around myself. The others had gone and I was stuck in this haze. "Aw, man! Talk about a spell backfire...if I never make it out of here, I am so busted! Then again, where is here?" I appeared to be floating on smoke and surrounded by darkness. Something was definitely not right. What the...? A whistle?! Where did it come from, and from whom? "H-hello? Hello?!" Without thinking, I began running towards the whistle.

Megan Fox has said she won't be doing it, so it's very likely it will not be her, though I'm not surprised Angelina Jolie isn't reprising her role. It'd be nice to make a film of Lara in her very early years raiding tombs and perhaps being quite a rooky when exploring them and making mistakes she wouldn't usually make. I'll give whoever plays the role the benefit of the doubt until the film is released and I've watched it. A lot of people were unsure of AJ playing Lara, but she's won many fans over. MsC

I like Vista, it's just a shame it's such a resource hog. Windows 7 is apparantely the upgraded Vista that runs more efficientely so I'll most probably get that, but for the specs my laptop has, other applications should be running faster and better than they are, but Vista's hogging a lot of it. Can't complain though, I actually haven't had many troubles with it. MsC

It's a fan-made video game cover Raider Man has created for his made-up Tomb Raider adventure. MsC

And I love it! Of course, who wouldn't!? You've definitely not lost any talent since you made my previous one, in fact, I think you've gained some! Thanks so much, Morph!! MsC

I'm shocked that you're still visiting here then, really. This is a Lara Croft, Tomb Raider forum afterall. I found Anniversary, Legend and Underworld awesome. Sure there was some glitchy issues, but I enjoyed the game so they're fine by me but that's your opinion and this is mine. I'm actually not too bothered about this DLC. It does--annoyingly--continue some plot points of Underworld, but if those plot points are completely tied up in Lara's Shadow, I'll be happy. I don't have a 360, so I won't be able to play these, but I don't really feel like I'm missing out on much. It's nice they re-introduced talking over the headset though! MsC

...interesting...but does that mean CrystalD will still be developing Tomb Raider? Only time will tell I guess... (Please no turn based Tomb Raider action! *prays*) MsC

Shrensh is right. Basically, there are two pressure pads either side of the door. You have to pick up both blocks and put them on the left pressure pad. Then, to activate the right pressure pad, you have to grapple the dragon's head, pulling it down and landing on the pressure pad (Which I think you've already done). After that, pull the switch in the centre of the room and a cutscene will begin. MsC

Personally I think people are expecting too much from this game. CrystalD aren't directly developing it anyhow, so it's not like they can make it identical to Legend/Anniversary without delaying it another year. I'm sure they would if they were allowed to but Eidos saw a money market in the PS2 and asked a company to port CD's version ASAP and corners were cut. At the end of the day, the best way to look at it is you were never going to be able to play it on PS2 at one point, and now at least you can, just wait for it to drop in price if it really is that terrible. MsC

Play it a lot when my brother's not using his Steam account (I borrow his since he buys Half Life episodes, and stuff like that and I get to play them for free ). It's always great fun whenever you play it since the zombie/weapon/health, etc, spawns are different every time you play it, so it's never the same. Always great fun and I very much recommend it. MsC

I want to try it, but I'm rather worried a lot of my files won't work...and you can't revert it back to Vista, can you? Big worry for me... MsC

Exciting news, I hope it's good...and does well. I better start looking for an agent to get me an audition then! Thanks for the news, Tom. MsC

The graphics look better than Uncharted, certainly. I like how Naughty Dog have said they've pushed the Ps3 to its limit...I very much doubt it. I'm sure they've pushed it to the limit they are capable of pushing it to in understanding the system, but look at the first Ps2 game and then look at God Of War 2. I'm pretty sure there's plenty to come for the PS3 yet...personally, I have yet to see its full power. MsC

Thanks for the information, Gia, I'll edit my title to reflect this. That is rather insane though...why--if the game is in its final build--is it being released 3 months later on your PS2 consoles? Is this some form of clever marketing scheme by Eidos to make the hype of the PS2 game increase so that it sells more in the USA? MsC