Suikoden IV

That's the game I have been playing within the past week.

It's an awesome game. I completely changed my view about Suikoden once I played this. The bad impression I had gotten was from the previous game in this series, Suikoden III, because in my opinion, it was bad. I regretted buying it.

Now, with 108 characters you can recruit, one can't complain about the lack of characters. (Although, in actual fact, only about 56 can be used in battle.) The only probelm with having so many characters, is that it's hard to make everyone fit well into the story. Some join because someone else they know is on board the ship. Still, I think that's quite a minor problem.

Story wise, it's okay. Nothing too simple or complicated. Gameplay is good. You're sure to be kept busy if you're trying to level them all to 99. Most characters join by just talking to them through the course of the game, while you fight bosses and need to meet certain requirements for others. This, overall, balances out so you won't find recruiting characters boring or a chore. But then again, you only need to use a few of the lot to successfully complete the game.

Definitely one of the better RPGs I've played so far. Planing on trying out Radiata Stories next. Hopefully it'll be good.

Fire... On Fire

Watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire today. Well, it's yesterday now, seeing it's already 1A.M. About time.

Best of the 4 so far?

Maybe... It's just too bad many they cut out many parts from the book. Like the Quidditch World Cup, all we see is the entrance of the players, and that's it. It jumped straight to the Dark Mark part. What about the part where Rita was turned into a beetle? Well anyway, she isn't too important a character. Just that the book could bring out much much more of her obnoxious ways. More like the Quick Quotes Quill, actually.

Damn. Lot's of nice movies coming up this holidays. Gotta catch 'em all! Ugh... the phrase from Pokemon. And games too. Loads of RPGs going to be released.

Honestly, holidays...

Is there anything else to talk about?

Nope.

Finally Getting Somewhere

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opens today. Haven't received any messages from friends about watching the movie. Well then, it looks like I'll be going alone, if need be.

Finally got back to leveling bard after months. And thanks to the frequent deaths, white mage sub will be gimped very soon. Now halfway to 71, and luckily I had done genkai 5 earlier.

Ligerzero, did you quit again? That would probably be a yes, considering that he sent me all his gil and some crystals and equipment. But what nice timing! I desperately need the gil for all the expensive bard JSE in another 2 levels.

Rickimaru, Jakal and me went about to do Zilart Mission 5, the parts which required killing mobs. We did the ones in Behemoth's Dominion and through Ifrit's Cauldron. And yes, it was just us three. Something called the "kiting" method, where you cast gravity on the mob, run a distance ahead and nuke, while throwing in the occasional bind. I am the one keeping them refreshed with ballad.

For the ones in Cape Terriggan and Sanctuary of Zitah, we had additional help. A paladin, a monk and a black mage. We handled the mobs perfectly well, despite websites saying that you need a ninja tank.

Time to do the other parts, solo.

Sayonara

I've decided to give up on Promyvion-Holla. I'm tired of failing loads of times, of gathering all the people with suitable jobs. I don't want to touble those whom I know. They've done them all, and they don't want to go through all of this again. I understand how they feel. I would rather realize that it is my loss, for not having enough luck or whatsoever, than to make people feel as though I'm so desperate that I forced them to help me.

Went to the airport to send someone off this morning. I guess seeing them leave with a smile doesn't make me feel all that sad. I couldn't cry; tears just wouldn't come out. Not to say that I was happy to see her go, but this sense of joy just came over me, because of, well, some problematic situations going on here. Nothing beats being able to be free of it. Well, Yuni, good luck. Even if I forget you someday, the memory won't be lost, ever. It's deep within your heart; you just have to find it, as Sora of Kingdom Hearts had said.

I returned home in less-than-high spirits.

I just realized. I'm the only asian in the linkshell. You know, maybe I shouldn't be there. If only it wasn't for my first mentor...

You don't need to know.

Nuances

Okay. So we're supoosed to go to this website stated on the math worksheet, and do whatever's inside? Apparantly, it's not working. It says here... it's being hosted in a different location, and they need... donations? That's the most I make out of it. But it comes down to this - I'm not going to do it. Not when you gave us a faulty address to begin with!

So that's one task down. Now I have to type two letters explaining for the day that I was absent for Conquer 'O'. Formal letter format, with parent to initial on it. And the content is just going to be like, two lines.

Feeling kind of depressed today. What is wrong with me? It's not like anything happened.

Logged on to FFXI for a minute or so, noticed how everyone else was perfectly blended in through the chat log. Uh huh, I'm Asian, Singaporean to be more exact. I speak Chinese, and for whatever reason, people in the game have such fear of chinese-speakers. Or loathe them, as a matter of fact. Why indeed? Because, the moment they see Chinese, they associate it with gil-sellers, and gil-sellers are widely hated by people all around. Why again? Because they sell gil, and make the game unfair for everyone else.

Look at all those people with "perfect" gear. Whether they really went through infinite hours of farming or through HNMs, or merely bought the gil, I don't know. No one will know, unless they tell us. But you can be quite sure that someone who completely doesn't know what he is doing, but surprisingly decked out in stuff like Leaping Boots, Emperor Hairpin and such, has most possibly earned them through buying gil. Doesn't mean that just because you have the best gear, you're a good player. That's just wrong.

So I have controlled myself not to speak chinese much outside of the linkshell or tells. In fact, why the hell am I even speaking chinese in the linkshells? No one in there understands chinese. People raise eyebrows when I'm seen PLing chinese players, because the same old thought is in their minds. "That, is a gil-seller. Stay away." Was I wrong in PLing them? Maybe I was, but it never occured to me that they were gil-sellers. I had asked them what was the main reason they play the game, and all they say is because a friend had introduced it to them.

Once I had the chance to meet several chinese players in Valkurm Dunes. And that was when I chanced upon this all Asian Linkshell, a mixture of Singaporeans and other chinese in whatever place. I was rather surprised when I saw the people in there; some of them were notoriously referred to as none other than gil-sellers prior to that, and this is where most of them had gathered.

The most ironic thing was that a fellow chinese player had told me that the Linkshell was "bad". She told me to toss it away. Okay... so unless you're a gil-seller, you will say that it is bad. Thus, the conclusion is that not all chinese players are gil-sellers. (Right. Duh, you might think.)

Enough about that. Now that I've finally taken the chance to just spill everything out, I don't feel that bad inside anymore.

Quote: Tarfur - "We will eat like kings... and there will be cake."

Still laughing to that this very moment. I thank you for your very entertaining statements. Haha.

Hempishere

Really busy for the past few days. Busy playing, heh.

Yes. Soul Calibur III was really worth the money. It's probably the best I've played since SCII.

Right now I've completed "Chronicles of the Sword" once, and going through it a second time with an army of sword master classes. Also unlocked most of the stuff, except maybe some stage arenas and the character, Amy, who is... Raphael's foster daughter?

Haven't really specialized myself with any character, but I guess I'm fairly okay with Killik. Still learning the ropes. Needed more human opponents to practice with, so two of my friends and me did just that. But my friend here was merely button-mashing! And that, I tell you, earns you an easy victory, unless you guard impact ALL of the attacks, which of course, I couldn't manage.

My life seems to dim down quite a bit. Despite it being the holidays, and when I have an online game to keep myself sane and even lower the chances of me talking to myself. Yeah, I'm wierd. But, the maid is going back this weekend, and my father is on frequent business trips overseas, which leaves just three people remaining in the house. No prizes for guessing who. Heh. It's going to be really quiet, or so I think.

FFXI? I don't know what my aim is now. I'm wandering around aimlessly as a rather useless white mage. I stand in front of the Auction House for hours. I teleport people who shout for Holla randomly. I try to chat with people in both Linkshells. I attempt to solo for experience, only to fail miserably. I can't switch back to bard because I have no mood to transfer a massive amount of stuff over from mule. I never get in the mood to party. I reject all invites when I get them.

I shall not rant on. Keep them for another day. Eh heh heh.

Soul Calibur III

I got hold of my copy of the game yesterday.

Hurried to set up my PS2, which involved bringing all the wires, controllers and the console itself from my room out into the hall. Not that I would complain, but I had always left them all in the hall. Ever since my brother was born though, leaving such expensive items lying around is definitely not a wise option. Sometimes I can't even play in peace. He's dying to snatch the controller out of my hands. He's attracted to the lights of the reset button on the console, so much that he's always attempting to press it.

Now that's another thing. So, barely minutes into viewing the new features of the game, I was momentarily distracted by a sharp crackling sound, or at least that's how it sounded like. I didn't know what it was, and resumed with my game. Then it came again. And again for a third time. I looked around, only to catch, in the corner of my eye, the main powerpoint where my PS2 adaptor was connected to, spurting out wisps of black smoke. I was stunned. Then the screen went blank, and at once I rushed over to turn the switch off.

Whoa. That could have resulted in an electric fire! I let everything cool down, before I unplugged the two-pin plug. The plastic of the plug had melted, and one part of it broke off. Oh damn.

Well, at least I managed to get it replaced with a new one this afternoon. $25 for one. Ah, I'm broke. But I must say, the game is really good. Quite the step up from the previous (SCII). The most interesting thing would be the character custamization feature. Pick the gender, job and outfit them with anything you want. Of course, the items are gained through buying and unlocking, only if you have money, which is in turn obtained by fighting through the charaters' story mode. Haven't tried everything yet, so I don't really know about the other stuff in there.

Oh, and failed Promyvion-Holla again. 7 wonderful losses. Hope 8th's time the charm? It is considered a lucky number here at least, right? Luck is so not on my side. And I only did it because whoever didn't invite me for genkai 2. They all asked me to go- no wait, in fact only Schinn and Tarfur asked me to go. So I stood there like an idiot, waiting, waiting and waiting. No invite whatsoever. Basically I got the impression that I wasn't wanted, and there were already 6 people, or so I counted. Someone shouted for holla then, so I jumped in on the chance. It's not my fault, I hope? I was so damn bored...

Well anyway, looks like I'll be waiting, once again. Tomorrow, the day after, and more. With the Conquer 'O' programme ending as late as 1:30pm, it's largely affecting my gaming schedule! "We need to cover the syllabus" is what the teachers say. Okay, okay, I understand. My soft side is giving in.

Lastly, Selemat Hari Raya to everyone out there. Have a nice day... no, night. Heh.

[Edit: It's "calibur" and not "caliber". Sorry.]

Holidays...?

Today I learned that jack o'lanturns originated from Ireland, and was actually first made out of turnips, not pumpkins!

So while the people in the other parts of the world were probably celebrating Halloween, I was sitting in my room, and confined in there for nearly 12 hours, playing, of course. Well, not really playing, considering that half the time my character was just standing there, in front of the Auction House, with massive amounts of text in linkshell chat, and Jeuno shouts.

Managed to get my white mage up to level 37. Apart from finally being able to teleport, I can really "dump" it off after getting all the crap done. It's just a sub-job for my bard.

School tomorrow, thanks to the whatever conquer 'O' programme they have for us. Having holidays... is like not having it at all.

Baka? Sou dane!