So I spent my non-schooling days...

Wow lookie. I guessed it is nearly a month since my 'vacation' started, and what have I been doing so far? Clearly not working, but instead just hella' lot of playing.

This month has indeed been a crazy period for rpg lovers. Just for the PS2 alone, we had Persona 3, Wild Arms 5, Growlanser HoW, .hack G.U 3 released local-wise. Coming very soon will be Soul Nomad, which I can safely estimate will soak up a whole load of my time.

And yep, I got all 4 of the already released titles I mentioned above.

32 game cases displayed, excluding one missing

While I have Persona 3 completed (reviewed it on a previous post), I had Wild Arms 5 tucked aside for the time-being at a save just before the final boss. It is a personal habit of mine to leave rpgs unfinished just before the last dungeon, so I can savor the victory on a future date. Yummy~

As for Growlanser, I only gotten it on friday, and .hack gu3 less than half-day ago. You can still see the price tag on it if you look close enough =P

33 PS2 titles in total. One is not in the picture, cos a certain someone has yet to return it to me. Heh.

Other than PS2-playing, I also indulged myself in something less expected.

...Ragnarok Online.

my lv500 creator and his homunculus partner

RO playing, in private servers! With crazy high levelling rates, so I actually don't waste time on actual level-grinding. My fastest record for hitting level 500 (rebirth too!) was within 1hr. Crazy-awesome. Just look at my creator's HP, it is nearly a million in value!

Okay. Actually in truth, I am playing RO as reference for my RO-related comic project. I have been out of that game for 2 years, so there are definitely a lot of new stuff I don't know of. I will go more in-depth on my new project on another day. Stay tune then.

So there ya go; the stuff I generally did in September.
Now, I need to go boot up my .hack cd - time to play again!

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Sick =_= (and other short articles)

As the title indicates, I am currently sick and on medication. Been sick since last sunday, so this marks the 6th day of my physical torture. Headaches, and coughs still burdened me even up till now, though fortunately the fever I initially had disappeared much earlier.
About my sickness? The doctor said it was some form of serious bacteria infection in my throat. Something about me not drinking enough water - but I do drink a lot of..... cold water. Opps.

So meanwhile as I stay 'resting' at home, I began my rush on the recently gotten Wild Arms V. Not as addictive as Persona 3, but still interesting enough to fuel my passion to play - unlike how Wild Arms 4 failed to captivate me.

^Rebecca & Avril of WA5 - here to spice up this write-up

I reached my 50hrs mark just today, and had gotten so far as to levelled my characters to 70+. But due to silliness on my part, I exchanged my characters' lvl for a change of in-game costumes (aka 'Black Market').
Now things are looking real-bad, since half my team are of lvl.1, and the next story-event involves splitting up the party to engage bosses. ARGHHH~

Well, enough of WA5. So I have gotten my poly exam results yesterday. One sentence quoted directly from the result slip sums it up:
Academic Status: COMPLETED COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE DIPLOMA IN INFO-COMMUNICATIONS

Yeessshhh! *does a victory cheer*

To tell the truth, I didn't hold much of a hope of clearing this final set of exams this quickly. Adding to the fact that I was feeling so sick, just seeing the 'F' grade in any of my papers will most definitely make my condition worst. Thankfully, things ended up looking brighter than I expected - and thus, this finally marks the day I can finally 'kiss' Temasek Polytechnic a frickin' farewell. Good Riddance. Took me long enough.

And onto the ranting; why the heck is my Problem Solving Techniques (CDS) just a mere D-grading?! I turned up on time every lesson, did all my work without fail, passed my quiz (7/10), and with my group we came up with a great final project. Not forgetting the fact that I actually DID most of the work - all of the construction of the prototypes + a good portion of the report. I was even kind enough to include a cd-rom that stored the soft-copy of our data and a video I took that demostrated how the project worked. The teacher even said out loud that he was genuinely impressed by our prototype at the end of the day. The marking scheme was of an individual basis, and the end-semester peer evaluation was vital. So why warrent the D?!?! Did my group mates 'saboh' me at the last leg of the race?

Argh...whatever, at least I didn't fail the subject. ^_^

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Persona 3, done!

After clocking up to 99hrs 14mins, I finally finished Persona 3 today. What a long trip it was, but definitely worth every second in my opinion. The ending was nicely done, and had left me a bittersweet aftertaste - so much that I really wanted to reboot and start a new game+.
Of course, the thought of having to spend another crazy chunk of time replaying straight-away isn't a very bright idea, so I decided not to.

Anyway, it isn't too late to re-live Persona 3 once again when an english-translated FES expansion hits our shore. No word from ATLUS regarding FES, but hopefully the somewhat good sales of Persona 3 will urge them to get the expansion localized - and make us fans happy people.

A little on FES ; it is a direct sequel, continuing where Persona 3 left off. The player will be in control of someone else instead, though I can't say who, as it scream 'spoilers' all over. I heard it is packed with roughly an additional 40+hr gameplay, and with a lot of additional features not available in the original title.

Mouth-watering already? I sure am. Really hope FES get translated~

Here's the opening/intro of FES - a little of spoilers, but mostly safe imo:



Now, I need to turn to Wild Arms V to entertain me!

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I am TWENTY-ONE yrs old now!

Whoopie-dee-doo.
It is the 5th of Sept, and I am thus fully one year older, and now somemore above 20 le. Anyway, I just thought I wanted to post something in my blog on my birthday this year, so this is it. Let me talk a little crap then~

Can't remember what Singapore allows one to do when he hits 21 of age. I think is can watch those x-rated films in cinemas legally* right? Haha. Oh yea, need to vote during elections too henceforth. Boo!

No plans on what to do on my birthday today, but definitely no party bash or that sort. Since, I don't like them, and I never organised one in the first place. Well, I already treated last year (20yrs old) as my coming-of-age year, so this year won't be anything special.

ODEX, the 'notorious' local company which deals with anime vcds etc., had unexpectedly gave me a present...or some sort. This is what it is:

"If an individual stop downloading now, today, on the 3rd September, 2007, he will have no possibility of ever receiving any letters from the copyright holders, (aka the Odex letter) as we will not take anything that he has downloaded before this date against him. We will not send any letters to him."

So I guess I am spared from ODEX's wrath then? It calls for a celebration! No need to fear of suddenly getting fined by at least $3k. =P

And for something else that I wish to have as a present, it just have to be Mizuki Nana LIVE MUSEUM x UNIVERSE
It is a 4-discs DVD, featuring her live-concert on early 2007 (and 2006). 7,700yen, which I estimate to convert to about S$100+. Not the cheapest thing, but I will get my hands on this!!! Mizuki Nana!!! *fanboy screams

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Updated portion:

Oh-kay. I guessed I spent my entire birth-day like any normal day. Pretty much stayed at home till 4pm; playing Persona 3 and watching anime.

I had a late lunch (5pm) with my mum at Waraku - Central, and ordered Japanese Curryrice. The standard for their curryrice is quite good, and it is a 'win' in my book since I had a cute waitress serving us. The two of us then headed over to General Hospital to visit my grandma.

Stayed till 8+, and together with my grandpa, parents and one of my aunt + uncle, we decided to have dinner at another Japanese restaurant. I didn't quite took note of the shop's name, but the food was sooo good that my mum swear to come back again. I am thinking next week that we will drop by at that place, and then I will surely get the name. The boss is a really nice dude too, and even treated us desert (total worth of S$20+ off). There was yet again another cute (my type) waitress who served us too.
Makes me feel like as if God is giving me some teeny consolation for my 21th birthday, as I got no gf. Thank you, God. haha

So as I typed this, I am left with less than an hour before the day is over. The day had been nothing spectacular and definitely humble, but I was still happy nevertheless. Well, hope I will do better in my life for the coming days!

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Persona 3 ~my 30th PS2 game~

I am estimating about two weeks back, I got a call from my regular gameshop to picked up my reserved copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. 'Number 30' title entered my PS2 collection.

Obviously, I immediately inserted the game disc into my console as soon as I got home. Even if it was the week that TP students referred to as 'Study Week'.
Myself: "I wanted to study! But I can't resist NOT playing Persona 3?!"

So I basically bombed my whole study-week playing through Persona 3. Of course I still studied, but that happened only on the actual exam week itself. Hahah.

box package, including game-case (bottom), and bonus artbook (left) + soundtrack (right)

I already clocked up to 81 hours as of current into this game, yet I am just getting started on the last dungeon. Kinda like paying $1 per gaming hour for my case, whew.~ I speculate I will actually hit the 100-hour mark by the end of the whole thing.
Talk about super-long; this is probably the first rpg to make me spend so much time in a mere first playthrough (not that I am complaining though).

Anyway, a little about my impression and thoughts about the game overall. It was definitely a unique play-experience. Really liked the artwork and stylish design interface (menus etc.). The US voice-cast was pretty good too, though a few characters' voices were a little 'off'. Like say, Fuuka.

titlescreen on my (father's) HD plasma tv, woot~

The game is like a mix between relation-simulation and dungeon-crawler. I would say 70% of the whole game focus on the school/social life of the main character (player) while the rest of it revolves on trying to conquer the top of the only dungeon the game has to offer.

I am actually glad the major bulk of Persona 3 was about the social-part, and the game definitely provided quite a lot on the main characters' development and interaction. Many comical (and memorable) scenes packed throughout the course of the game, and that was what truly kept me playing - even if the dungeon-crawler part was a little tedious.

Yep, Persona 3 is definitely a worthwhile purchase. I am pretty sure this title will be in my top-10 PS2 game at the end of the whole PS2 lifespan. This game definitely make firing pistols at your head look way-cool. And how I missed having classes like in secondary school, while interacting with peers to open up new social-links. =P Oh, and obsession with full-moons!
So, Atlus better bring us the FES version = expansion for Persona 3. Need moar P3!

Hmm keke, well I guess I gotta go complete the game now then~ weeeee

To JW: you can actually name the main character whatever, but just for your information, the Persona3 novel did gave him a name as Minato (firstname) Arisato (last/surname). Yep, I used that, so you may want to too. =D

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Backlog Chapter: Cosfest'07 + Aruru (ftw!)

Phew, finally the last chapter to the current backlog - I bet anyone who have been following this 'series' of chapters are already getting sick of it anyway.

The previous 3 chapters were pretty much me ranting and complaining regarding various events that had taken place. This time however, I am gonna talk about things on a brighter note (negative vibes, begone!).

[Cosfest '07 at DTE]

I mentioned before in the earlier chapter about being at the annual cosfest event down at DTE. Unlike last year, this time I decided to go there easy (camera-free) and just enjoy the crowd. Pal - Jun Wen tagged along as well, and it was his first to such an event.
Well, I am quite sure that day left a fairly good impression on him; I mean, there were a handful of pretty ladies in anime/game costumes, and you can take pictures with them - what's there not to like?

Being not weighed down by a camera was good. Since I have no self-control whenever my hands hold onto a camera, I will end up struggling to snap every single cosplayer in-sight. It is a tedious nature, and definitely kills off whatever relaxation to be at the event.

So you will ask, what if I saw a cosplayer that I die-die must take? Simple, grab the 'friend' that is with you and use his camera(-phone). *cough* Jun Wen *cough*. Since he is there, might as well get him to pose as your photographer while you get close to the said-cosplayer.

Example:

Maya cosplayer from Gyakuten Saiban, and me of coz

^ Photograph courtesy of Phua Jun Wen. Thanks dude! Hope to see you at the next cosplay event ...to be my standby photographer kekeke

That cosplayer is my definite favourite of cosfest '07. Looked very much like the original Maya from the game - don't you think she's quite adorable? Hope to see her at another cosplay event. Although I doubt I will be able to spot her outside that costume, you can bet the heavens I will keep my eyes peeled wide-open.

Next on the agenda is something I purchased a little while back...
(Too little about Cosfest? Go read sgcafe etc. if you want to see the other cosplayers' photos =P)

[Aruru 1/8 by Nakamura Hirotoshi]

I had this on my wanted-list for quite a while already. And I finally gotten my hands on it (her). Blew a hole in my wallet, but every cent was worth the cost.

^Aruru, still sleeping in her box

This is Aruru - the super, adorable girl from Utawarerumono. Don't mind the title, I know it is a tad weird. This 1/8 figure from Kotobukiya, focus more on her innocence and sweetness than her usual playfulness. Comes with that little squirrel-thingie (I forgot the name) perched on her shoulder, and a separate apple. Too bad of the lack of Mukkuru though. rawr

the sisters!! (erm, lousy backdrop =_=)

I already had Eruru in my possession, so having Aruru finally brings the two siblings together. This pair is currently my prized favourite of my whole figure-collection. ...Maybe until I get ALTER's Tsuruya-san, that is.

The end of my Backlog Chapters. I wanted to conclude this chapter with the PST Project I did a month back, but who give the crap over it anyway (I was proud of the final prototype though).

I still need to blaze through Persona 3 so, gaming calls~!!

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