Categories
Raves and Rants

Good Taste

My dad’s always complimented me on this.  Back in the days of video renting on long weekends, he usually leaves me the decision on what movies to get, and then kicks back and enjoys my choices.


Persona 3?  This PS2 game that currently occupies my rave stage?


Nuh-uh, I can’t take credit for this one.  It was my wife who discovered it.


But I guess that’s what we are, husband and wife with good taste



“For years now, Japanese role-playing games have been stagnating.  More games than ever are being released, but very few even try to break the mold.  Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei series has always been good for a refreshing take on the genre.  But Persona 3 is its most ambitious and addictively playable game to date.”




“If you enjoy console-style role-playing, and have the courage to put a gun to your head, don’t miss it.”


 

Categories
Raves and Rants

GORGEOUS

Once I tried my hand at computer-aided artwork.  Once only, because I immediately discovered that unlike my good buddy Jie, computer artwork is a field where I will forevermore suck the big one.  Still, that doesn’t take away my appreciation for those who are talented as heck.  And once in a while, I encounter an artwork that stops me cold because of the sheer beauty and emotion delivered in the masterpiece.


This is one of those.


Photobucket


 (Would say they’re Squall of Final Fantasy VIII and Aeris of Final Fantasy VII. But context-wise it’s more appropriate to call them Leon and Aeris of Kingdom Hearts)


 

Categories
Living life

Burning someont to death isn’t fun

My streak of the world’s weirdest dreams continues.

There’s this girl who suddenly starts paying too much attention to me, and one day she invites me to her house, where her friends were having a get-together. Cutting a long story short, I was elated at first but then I realized there was something sinister about the gathering. Having brought some of my friends along, I was gripped by the shock of my life when they all died one by one, victims of traps where blades either suddenly shot out of drinking glasses and walls which sliced their necks or chopped their heads clean off. Horrified, I decided to do what any sensible person in the throes of a nightmare would do, I woke up.

Here’s the kickass part. I only partially woke up and then went back to sleep, with the conscious thought that the carnage has to be undone. So what happens is I went into the dream again, starting at the point when my friends and I were just arriving at this girl’s house. This time, though, I know what’s about to happen (you could say I went back in time, wahaha), so when the blade traps started springing, I somehow was able to protect my friends, save one (don’t really know him IRL). Then I began beating the crap out of this girl and her friends, who were in on her scheme. The story unfolded that in the past my dad had a brief romantic liaison with her mom, after which my dad abandoned her, pushing her to madness and then suicide. So this villain mastermind-ish plot of hers was to get revenge on me.

In the rewind, though, turns out she didn’t realize who it is she was really dealing with. At first I don’t know how I managed to protect my friends. But after realizing she could not win against me, she decided to take her own life by drinking water from another glass that shot a bladed weapon through her skull. But she didn’t die immediately. Somehow she got hold of a device that when activated would release similar bladed traps that would kill everyone I cared about.

So what did I do? I heat-visioned her ass, until nothing was left of her but ash (that’s what I meant when I said she didn’t realize who she was really dealing with).

No, I have no aspirations of being Superman. That’s not even the point of this post. I’m just wondering how come I always get the weirdest dreams. Is this normal? I don’t know. If this is, as I suspect, just a harmless manifestation of my imagination struggling to be unleashed, then I suppose I’m in the wrong line of work.

Categories
Idiosyncrasy

Why thinking about you makes me crazy

One for the road. Those who have time enough to burn to read my blog may have noticed my fondness for writing (fondness, not talent – I leave it to other people to declare if I do have talent). I’ve been thinking about writing a book. Fiction. But my 3-month hiatus aside, I don’t have the time to fully devote to the craft (wish I have 39 million dollars so I could afford to not have a day job). But I still dabble, once in a while.

Also, obvious is the fact that I have taken a liking for Persona 3, and you may have noticed me rambling randomly about it in the form of quotes and posted Youtube videos here and there. What most non-gaming muggles don’t realize is hardcore gamers normally set aside short-timers like Tekken, Need For Speed and other non-story based games. Hardcores indulge in the more immersing genre, for example, RPGs (short for Role-Playing Games), those massive masterpieces that usually take at least two weeks to finish one run. Notable luminaries of the genre are the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series. Shin Megami Tensei is a fast-rising title that threatens to dislodge most of these old favorites. I won’t go into detail, suffice it to say that Persona 3 is one of the newest rages, owing mainly to its unforgettable characters. Like Akihiko and Mitsuru (pictured).

So, when a person combines his penchant for writing and love for these fictional characters, what usually results is a fan fiction.

Now don’t scoff. Many fan fiction writers are better than most published writers. And from my experience, some of the best fanfic writers in the internet have strutted their wares in a site called Final Fantasy Online, specifically its fan fiction forum. Now I don’t say this because I post my writings there too, I’m just stating the facts.

So, one for the road, my Persona 3 fanfic featuring Akihiko and Mitsuru (and a song most of you probably know).