well it’s the fasting month for all our muslim friends. i had a discussion with a muslim colleague the other day regarding the rules and regulation they have to follow during this time. basically the idea of fasting is so we could learn to appreciate those that are less fortunate then us. i can relate to that.
however, what in my opinion is crazy unacceptable is the fact that muslim, during the month of fasting, CAN NOT PICK THEIR NOSE.
ridiculous!
who needs Loki when there is Fiesta Online! i gave up playing Loki. the unresolved camera issues is not worth investing my time in the game. it did however gave me a craving to play something RPG-rish.
thus, led me to Fiesta Online. a FREE online mmorpg. mind you i didn’t randomly come across this game by chance. i spent close to 2 hours surfing for THE game to play. i’d passed on Ragnarok Online (which i’ve played before but is no longer free to play now), Water Margin, Maple Story, World of Warcraft (i’m dying to play this game if it’s free) before deciding on Fiesta Online.
actually, there is another game i’m looking forward to, Perfect World, the ultimate World of Warcraft clone. unfortunately, the server for Malaysian denizens is not up yet.
sample screenshot – definitely looks nicer ingame
anyway, back to Fiesta Online. there are 4 types of classes you can choose from when you first start out – warrior, cleric, archer and mage. i chose a female cleric. 1. because if i’m going to spend a lot of time with this game, mind as well spend it looking at a female character yes? 2. who doesn’t love a cleric? the best groupie around. well my aim really was to just enjoy myself exploring the game and at the same time socialize. see, that’s killing two birds with one stone right there.
well it took me a while to download the 600mb installation file, but i managed to get it up and running on friday evening. i created my first character and promptly went adventuring online. not long into the game, i got players adding me to their friend list (i’m not sure why, but maybe cause i was a girl character). there was a guy (from USA) who was kind enough to group me and show me the ropes (all the while trying to hit on my poor female character). oh, basically ingame, i’m a 25 year old female girl from Asia. lol…shhh…
it’s a quirky game, fun as hell. i played till morning and slept at around 5am. it’s rather addictive on my first run. before i logged off, i managed to accumulate around 5-6 player friends. i spent my saturday playing the whole day till midnight. my character has just reached level 18 and i’m still tempted to continue.
but i really need to rest. 4 hours of sleep is just not enough. going to bed now.
there’s just not enough personal time in a day. after work, dinner, shower, i usually find myself sitting in front of my computer playing Loki, the PC game. the next thing i realize when i look at my clock is that it’s already 1.00am. this has been going on almost daily.
my life has been taken over by this wannabe Diablo game. it’s not even as good as Diablo. well, granted Diablo is pretty hard to beat…but it does have it’s quirks.
when i started playing it, i found a couple of annoying bugs which lead me to search for a patch update for three days. when i finally got an “English” patch, i find out that the problem has still not been resolved. bugs aside, it’s still a pretty fun game.
however, the most irritating thing about it for me right now is the camera angles. i can’t seem to zoom in all the way to third person perspective and still have ample viewing room to what’s ahead of me, thus forcing me to play the game in top-down view.
note in all the screen shots how big the monsters look in first person view. if i zoom in, i get only about half of that right now. not sure if it’s a resolution thing or bug, but it’s just plain annoying.
bullet time, a term made famous by the Matrix movies. it’s way cool how they slo-mo everything to show you the trail of the bullets which normally is whizzing by in real time. since then, the term itself is introduced to gamers as well.
how low can you go
notably made used of in the game Max Payne and soon after found its way to racing games like Need for Speed, it has become a tool to help gamers get more thrill out of the game, not to mention add to the WOW factor.
fond memories from May Payne
if it wasn’t for bullet time, i wouldn’t have enjoyed Max Payne as much nor would i try harder to win a race in Need for Speed.
need for more speed
anyways, i was replaying a favorite fps (first person shooter) pc game of mine, F.E.A.R. and the bullet time concept is in here as well. it just got me thinking…how a cool concept like that introduced from a movie could after a few years become a normal practice in games.
F.E.A.R. gives me goosebumps when playing it
well, not exactly normal in most type of games, but it has made it way to becoming a part of gaming life, should the programmers decide to make use of it. i personally find bullet time quite fun.
warning: spoilers ahead…
Hikaru and Akira, eternal rivals
so i finally finish the whole series. the last few episodes were emotionally intense. Hikaru had Sai (his Go master, the ultimate Go player) for two years. both them living together, playing together, pretty much bonded and became good friends. when Sai finally realized Hikaru’s potential, he fades away and left without a goodbye. now, Hikaru has never beaten Sai before and with him suddenly leaving, caused Hikaru to be totally lost and convinced if he continue playing Go, Sai will never come back. this is when Hikaru sits down in contemplation and finally realize how good Sai really is (in the game). anyways, old friends come into play, bringing Hikaru new hope to continue with his beloved game.
it ends with two rival players getting together, understanding and accepting each other. the series also leaves a question mark for the viewers to ponder to the future of these characters.
Hikaru and Sai
they could probably pull off a Hikaru no Go II, but i doubt they’ll do it. it was a good ride till the end. hmm, now what should i watch next?
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