Tachi: Enpi > Tachi: Enpi = Distortion
26 March 2005
I think I'm finally getting back into playing Final Fantasy XI again. Been spending a lot of time in Vana'diel the past few days and it's nice to catch up with some old friends, along with meeting some new ones.
Meikyo Shisui
Currently at level 41 with my Samurai, which I'm quite proud of. I never thought that I'd actually get the level 40 marker so it's quite an achievement. It still feels as if I cheated a little though. The only reason I'm that level is because I decided to party with some random people instead of playing with friends. I'm so used to soloing all the time it feels weird to be getting so much experience points in such a short space of time.
Someone really does need to sort out the price of items in FFXI, it's bloody ridiculous to be honest. As you get to the levels I'm reaching the price of armour, weapons, etc. shoots up to astronomical heights. You're expected to spend days 'farming' items to sell so you can buy 2 rings that some arse is charging 350,000 gil each. It's all because of the rich sods who spend their time over-inflating prices on items so they remain rich sods and everyone else becomes poor. I swear, these people should be taxed like in real life. I hate them.
Mumeito
Guess there's not much I can do about it. Just try and scrape enough money together to buy half decent armour and hope for the best. 350,000 gil... /fume /angry /disgusted
Posted byHocchan at 11:26 am 0 comments
Tactical Espionage Action
22 March 2005
Some of you may have noticed (if there's actually anyone that bothers to read this! /laugh) the picture at the top of the Blog has changed.
Honda Today G Police Type
The original picture that came with the template was OK, but it was nothing special. I don't know why but I suddenly felt like having something different instead. I had no idea about how I would go about this but I was confident I could manage it.
I started by finding out the dimensions of the picture, which turned out to be 800x123 pixels. After this I looked in my collection of pictures for something suitable for cropping into that size. I ended up with two different header backgrounds. Originally, this picture was published last night but it only stayed for about 12 hours before I changed to the current one! /laugh
The most difficult task was changing the template coding to accommodate my new picture. I have a basic understanding of HMTL scripting, ie. I know about 10 tags! /laugh I found the easiest thing to do was to look through the code and mess around with the attributes. After lots of trial and error I managed to get it all sorted (I think I have anyway). It hasn't crashed on me so everything seems fine! /laugh
The 9th Wave
After all the work that has gone into it, I'm very pleased about how the thing has turned out. It was definitely worth the hours of scanning through code I didn't understand! /laugh Maybe I'll dismantle some more HTML in the future...
Posted byHocchan at 6:32 pm 0 comments
Kokoro Harete Yoru Mo Akete
20 March 2005
Goodbye Hello, Hello Flickr
I gave up on trying to use 'Hello' to upload my pictures onto here. I had a look on the 'Hello' forum and apparently a few people were having the same problem as me. I can't be bothered waiting for someone to fix it so I've switched to using Flickr to host my pictures. Hopefully, my extremely basic knowledge of HTML will work and my post will appear as I want it to. I'm not sure how long this Flickr will keep hosting my photos for me so accessing the picture in the future may be difficult. For now though, this is better than nothing.
S-mode #3
I've been searching a long time for some more wallpaper of Yui and a couple days ago I finally found some at: Voice actor Yui Horie. Therefore I take no credit for this picture and I thank the artist for making some nice looking wallpapers of Yui. Arigatou gozaimasu!
Posted byHocchan at 9:21 pm 0 comments
Honto Urusai Desu Yo!
I'm trying to upload a nice wallpaper I found recently onto here but 'Hello' and damn BloggerBot won't bloody load it! Baka-yarou!
Let me get back to you once I've figured out a solution to this little (but highly irritating) dilemma...
Posted byHocchan at 2:53 pm 0 comments
Mumyou Jinpu Ryuu Satsujin Ken: Mizuchi
18 March 2005
Hisashiburi desu ne~~! Been away for a little while due to a small game called "Suikoden III".../laugh
No Mercy
As you may know from my last entry, I finally got Suikoden III to work on my Playstation 2 by using 'Swap Magic 3.3' and a 'Slide Tool'. I've been playing the game almost non-stop since that day and I'm enjoying it immensely. Almost got all 108 stars of destiny and I'm pretty certain that I'm near the end of the game. I'll definitely be making some changes to my list of 108 characters that appeared in a previous entry.
During my free time away from Suikoden III I also got chance to watch Samurai Deeper Kyo. I've been meaning to watch this series for a while but never got the chance to until now. It's mainly because Horie Yui voices the main character (Shiina Yuya) but also because it's full of Samurai and Katanas! /laugh Probably not good enough to be in my favourites but I still loved this series. Very good quality animation and the character of Oni Me No Kyo was very cool.
Also during my anime watching spree of last week, I saw You're Under Arrest: The Movie. Another anime I've been itching to watch for a long time. It was enjoyable enough, although maybe the story wasn't as good as some of the normal episodes. The animation was of a good feature film quality and the voice acting was superb as usual. Extremely catchy ending song which I can't seem to find on the internet anywhere.
Oh, can't forget Spirited Away. I first saw it in Chinese on VCD a couple years back but this was the first time in Japanese. It was just as fantastic as I remembered it to be! Miyazaki is a genius!
Itsumo Nando Demo
That should do it for now. Just a little update so I don't completely forget about this Blog. With Suikoden III drawing to a close I should have more time to do other stuff! /laugh
Posted byHocchan at 6:33 pm 0 comments
Passion Stirs The Ages
08 March 2005
Yatta!! Yatta!!! Kakkou ii!!! Sugoi!!!!
The Call To Glory
As you may have guessed, I'm kind of happy! /laugh The reason for this is that I got my Swap Magic + Slide Tool this morning. For those of you that have never heard of these items, basically they allow you to play import games without having to install a mod-chip in your console. They don't actually modify the machine in anyway so it doesn't void any warranties. I was dubious as to whether this would allow me to play Suikoden III but I gave it a go. It loaded up first time and I was ecstatic! Finally, after almost a year of sitting on my shelf, I can play the game. Thank you Swap Magic!!!!
This Is Endless
Right, got to go and play you-know-what! /laugh Ja mata ne!
Posted byHocchan at 4:03 pm 0 comments
ARX-7 Arbalest
07 March 2005
Today is a beautiful day! The sun is shining outside, I'm listening to a uplifting track by Shimokawa Mikuni (Kimi Ni Fuku Kaze) and I'm feeling happy!
Sore Ga Ai Deshou
Just finished watching the rest of Full Metal Panic! and I'm pretty pleased with how it ended. It definitely picks up towards the last few episodes despite hitting a rut somewhere in the middle episodes. I was quite happy to find out that there's 2 sequels to look forward to. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu which is out, and Full Metal Panic! Second Raid which is due out sometime this year. I can't wait to see more of Sagara and Kaname, they make a pretty good couple! /laugh
I'm so glad that I got the chance to watch this anime. The only reason I wanted to see it in the first place was because Satsuki Yukino was in it (Kaname Chidori) but it turned out to be a good decision. Also because of this series, I've discovered a new singer that I like to listen to (the afore mentioned Shimokawa Mikuni) so it's been even better than I could have imagined! /laugh I hope to be purchasing some of her albums sometime soon.
Kimi No Uta
Hmm....seems that in the space of me writing this post the sun has decided to disappear behind some clouds. Damn British weather...
Posted byHocchan at 1:19 pm 0 comments
Foui
05 March 2005
What is foui? I'm not entirely sure myself to be honest! Whatever it's origin, it sounds extremely cute and adorable and worthy of a post title. I cannot credit this 'word' as my own though. It's a creation of someone I know only as the "Foui Friend". That is to say I don't know them directly, rather they're a friend of my friend Sam. So arigatou gozaimasu to "Foui Friend". /bow
Pika Pika
I'm currently watching Full Metal Panic! and Fruits Basket in duality. I would like to have finished Fruits Basket before continuing with Full Metal Panic! but, for some reason, Blockbuster decided otherwise and sent me my discs out of order.
I would say Fruits Basket is good enough for me to add it to my list of favourite anime. Each episode is very well scripted and there's not a single one that feels like a "season-filler". Plus with Horie Yui as the voice behind Honda Tohru, the main character, it has a clear advantage over other shows! /laugh I'll be sad when I finally get to the last episode and have no more to watch.
For some reason I'm not finding Full Metal Panic as enjoyable as I did when I first started to watch it. Maybe it's because there were a couple of ordinary episodes in the middle of the series. It is getting better now towards the finale so I'm still eager to watch the rest, but it won't make my list of favourites. As Roy Walker would say, "It's good, but it's not right".
Itching to play Genso Suikoden III so much after the release of IV. It's so frustrating not being able to play a game I have sitting on my shelf! Damn Konami Europe for not releasing the game in PAL format. If they'd just done what everyone obviously wanted, I wouldn't have had to break my previous Playstation 2 by trying to install a mod-chip. They haven't won yet though, far from it. I WILL find a way to play that game and no-one can stop me!!!!!
Now We Are Free
This has turned out to be more of an orthodox post compared to my previous ones. It's more in line with the type of posts you'd find in other Blogs. I was hoping I could write more about me and my history but I guess I'm just too boring! /laugh I'll just have to do some more interesting things! /laugh
Posted byHocchan at 4:06 pm 0 comments
Millennium Educational Reform Act
04 March 2005
As part of a joint project with my friend Mike, this post will be a list of 108 characters from various RPGs that I have played. It's a list of the people we would recruit if we didn't have the restriction of only selecting from one game. Check out "Mr Haggis" soon for Mike's list.
Why 108? It's mirroring the army size from the Genso Suikoden series which have always produced some amazing characters and storylines.
108 Stars Of Destiny, Time And Space
001.) Alundra (Alundra)
002.) Cray (Breath Of Fire IV)
003.) Nina (Breath Of Fire IV)
004.) Ryu (Breath Of Fire IV)
005.) Scias (Breath Of Fire IV)
006.) Ursula (Breath Of Fire IV)
007.) Crono (Chrono Trigger)
008.) Lucca (Chrono Trigger)
009.) Marle (Chrono Trigger)
010.) Terra (Final Fantasy VI)
011.) Aeris (Final Fantasy VII)
012.) Barret (Final Fantasy VII)
013.) Cloud (Final Fantasy VII)
014.) Red XIII (Final Fantasy VII)
015.) Tifa (Final Fantasy VII)
016.) Yuffie (Final Fantasy VII)
017.) Rinoa (Final Fantasy VIII)
018.) Squall (Final Fantasy VIII)
019.) Zell (Final Fantasy VIII)
020.) Eiko (Final Fantasy IX)
021.) Freya (Final Fantasy IX)
022.) Garnet (Final Fantasy IX)
023.) Vivi (Final Fantasy IX)
024.) Zidane (Final Fantasy IX)
025.) Auron (Final Fantasy X)
026.) Lulu (Final Fantasy X)
027.) Tidus (Final Fantasy X)
028.) Yuna (Final Fantasy X)
029.) Feena (Grandia)
030.) Liete (Grandia)
031.) Milda (Grandia)
032.) Azel (Panzer Dragoon Saga)
033.) Edge (Panzer Dragoon Saga)
034.) Aya (Parasite Eve)
035.) Gui Zhang (Shenmue)
036.) Nozomi (Shenmue)
037.) Ryo (Shenmue)
038.) Chunyan (Shenmue II)
039.) Joy (Shenmue II)
040.) Ren (Shenmue II)
041.) Shenhua (Shenmue II)
042.) Xiuying (Shenmue II)
043.) Cybel (Shining Force III Part 1)
044.) Dantares (Shining Force III Part 1)
045.) Eldar (Shining Force III Part 1)
046.) Grace (Shining Force III Part 1)
047.) Hayward (Shining Force III Part 1)
048.) Irene (Shining Force III Part 1)
049.) Masqurin (Shining Force III Part 1)
050.) Murasame (Shining Force III Part 1)
051.) Penn (Shining Force III Part 1)
052.) Synbios (Shining Force III Part 1)
053.) Aika (Skies Of Arcadia)
054.) Belle (Skies Of Arcadia)
055.) Clara (Skies Of Arcadia)
056.) Fina (Skies Of Arcadia)
057.) Jao (Skies Of Arcadia)
058.) Kirala (Skies Of Arcadia)
059.) Mao (Skies Of Arcadia)
060.) Moegi (Skies Of Arcadia)
061.) Ryu Kan (Skies Of Arcadia)
062.) Urala (Skies Of Arcadia)
063.) Vyse (Skies Of Arcadia)
064.) Alen (Genso Suikoden)
065.) Apple (Genso Suikoden)
066.) Grenseal (Genso Suikoden)
067.) Humphrey (Genso Suikoden)
068.) Jeane (Genso Suikoden)
069.) Kai (Genso Suikoden)
070.) Kasumi (Genso Suikoden)
071.) Lorelai (Genso Suikoden)
072.) Mathiu (Genso Suikoden)
073.) McDohl, Tir (Genso Suikoden)
074.) Milia (Genso Suikoden)
075.) Mina (Genso Suikoden)
076.) Mose (Genso Suikoden)
077.) Sonya (Genso Suikoden)
078.) Tai Ho (Genso Suikoden)
079.) Tengaar (Genso Suikoden)
080.) Valeria (Genso Suikoden)
081.) Viki (Genso Suikoden)
082.) Viktor (Genso Suikoden)
083.) Anita (Genso Suikoden II)
084.) Ayda (Genso Suikoden II)
085.) Genshu (Genso Suikoden II)
086.) Lo Wen (Genso Suikoden II)
087.) Miklotov (Genso Suikoden II)
088.) Oulan (Genso Suikoden II)
089.) Riou (Genso Suikoden II)
090.) Shiro (Genso Suikoden II)
091.) Sierra (Genso Suikoden II)
092.) Tomo (Genso Suikoden II)
093.) Wakaba (Genso Suikoden II)
094.) Yoshino (Genso Suikoden II)
095.) Chris (Genso Suikoden III)
096.) Kika (Genso Suikoden IV)
097.) Lilin (Genso Suikoden IV)
098.) Mitsuba (Genso Suikoden IV)
099.) Mizuki (Genso Suikoden IV)
100.) Ornan (Genso Suikoden IV)
101.) Reinhold (Genso Suikoden IV)
102.) Freya (Valkyrie Profile)
103.) Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profile)
104.) Ashley (Vagrant Story)
105.) Cecilia (Wild Arms)
106.) Jack (Wild Arms)
107.) Rudy (Wild Arms)
108.) Link (Zelda: Link To The Past)
"I Have Become A Summoner"
There you have it, all 108 stars. I'll probably be editing the list in the future as I play more RPGs and find more memorable characters. Could be sooner than I think since Genso Suikoden IV hasn't been completed yet! /laugh
Posted byHocchan at 1:29 pm 0 comments
Voices Of A Distant Star
03 March 2005
After the epics of the last few posts, I'm going to downsize this one and try to keep it reasonable. Partly to make the article more appealing to read, but mainly because I can't think of a decent subject to write about! /laugh
Karenai Hana
At the moment I'm taking a break from playing Final Fantasy XI because it's become kind of tedious. Unfortunately people from my linkshell have either left the game or are too busy to play meaning I tend to spend a lot of time with no-one to talk to. Killing hundreds of enemies over the course of 8-10 hours with no-one logging on can become quite lonely. So in order to keep myself from hating the game, I've decided that a break would do me good. Unfortunately it also means that I miss out on talking to the people that did log on occasionally. I tend to believe now that online RPGs carry a curse with them. And that is that you will make some good friends but invariably lose them as they leave the game due to family, work commitments, etc.
Kono Sekai
I'm still planning on going back to the game in a month's time so I hope more of my friends will have come back also. I've had some good times on there and I wouldn't want the experience to end without having reached a decent level.
Posted byHocchan at 8:33 pm 0 comments
What Becomes Of Snow?
02 March 2005
Anime comes in many different forms. Some are about giant mecha kicking large chunks of metal out of other giant mecha. Others are about an aspiring, young sportsman/sportswoman proving their skills and the hardships they encounter. Some are aimed at boys, some at girls, and the rest somewhere inbetween. There really is an anime for everyone - as long as you're not one of these narrow-minded morons who consider anime to be no more than 'cartoons' for kids. Anime are not cartoons!
The Girl From The Mystic Moon
I would love to tell you what my absolute favourite anime is but I'm not really too sure myself. So I shall take the easy way out and tell 3 of my favourite anime.
Aa! Megami-sama (Ah! My Goddess, Oh! My Goddess)
This was the first anime that I ever bought. I had to place an order for them at my local HMV since they didn't actually stock them in the store at the time. I got them on my birthday 3 years ago and I watched all 5 OVA's in one sitting. I loved it so much I was instantly hooked. When the movie came out on DVD a couple years later I bought it straight away. Probably wasn't as good at the original series but it did have splendid animation and was a worthy addition to the collection. The TV series has just been released in Japan but I haven't had chance to see it yet. Hopefully they have kept the elements that made the OVA's such a firm favourite of mine.
Rabu Hina (Love Hina)
The series that introduced me to Horie Yui and cemented my love of anime. Great animation, amusing storylines and some emotional episodes made this series a winner. The series had 26 episodes, 2 specials and a small second series which allowed a lot of character development. You really felt as if you'd been living with the cast for the last few years. Highly recommended.
Taiho Shichauzo (You're Under Arrest)
Written by the same author as Aa! Megami-sama, this anime has many of the traits that made it so successful. Spanning a whopping 52 episodes in the first series, 26 in the second, 20 in the mini specials and a movie, this is a giant story. And that didn't take into account the Live Action Drama series! The characters in this anime are so well developed they could be based on real life people. Set in Tokyo, it shows the daily life of the traffic department at Bokuto police station and the cases they take on. The underlying plot concerns the relationship between Kobayakawa Miyuki and Nakajima Ken. They obviously like each other but are both too shy to admit their own feelings to anyone. Absolutely compelling viewing.
The Day The Angel Flew
Those are just 3 of my favourite anime that I've watched. Other notable anime that I enjoyed are: Fruits Basket, To Heart, Escaflowne, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kiki's Delivery Service and Metropolis. I hope to add more to this list as time goes by. Can't wait! /laugh
Posted byHocchan at 9:19 am 0 comments
Yakusoku ~Eternal Promise~
01 March 2005
Tadaima! I just couldn't keep away from the keyboard! /laugh
Before we move onto the main subject of this post, I'll just explain why I use '/laugh' so much in my writing. Basically, I absolutely HATE (dai dai dai kirai!) the use of unnecessary abbreviations. The type I'm referring to are the likes of: 'lol', 'wtf', 'l8r', 'cu', etc. (yes, yes, I know 'etc.' is an abbreviation but it is a grammatically correct one). It's just lazy writing and gives the impression you aren't bothered about your audience. In a limited space then yes, it is required to abbreviate some words to be able to fit them in. But anywhere else, there's just absolutely no need for it!
Ahem! Anyway, back to my explanation. During my days of playing Final Fantasy XI Online, I didn't want to use the 'lol' as a way of expressing my amusement at a joke. Therefore I adopted the emote command for the laughing motion from the game: /laugh, I've just continued to use it in communications with friends.
There, one explanation done and dusted.
Rakuen
The main subject of this post was not to ramble on about my hatred of 'lol' (though you'd be forgiven for thinking it was). No, it was about Horie Yui. My absolute favourite girl in all the world! /laugh
(You can find the link to her official website on the links to the right. It's all in Japanese but even me with my limited knowledge of the language can navigate it, so you'll be fine)
I first discovered Horie Yui from the anime 'Love Hina'. I can't for the life of me remember why I decided to watch that series but I'm eternally grateful that I did! /laugh It was one the first anime series that I watched and it became a favourite of mine due to the hilarious antics of the characters. Horie Yui stars as the leading female (Narusegawa Naru) in this show and becomes the main love interest of the male lead (Urashima Keitaro). It might have been the character of Naru, but I found myself drawn to the voice.
At the time I had no idea what seiyuu were but I was determined to find out who the voice was behind Narusegawa. Finding that out was the easy part, the real test came when I tried to get information on Yui. I searched the internet for ages and eventually found a link to Yui's official website (which I now have as my homepage so I don't miss any new information). I discovered that she had also released some solo albums (as most seiyuu do) so I ordered her second album from HMV Japan. I got it a week or so later (no thanks to the rejects that are FedEx) and I loved it so much. My first CD from Japan and it was a joy to own since it was such high quality (I didn't know it but it was a limited edition, first pressing version of the album. I absolutely love the high quality of Japanese CD's and I love the way they have special editions of almost all new CD's).
Over time I amassed a collection of stuff related to Horie Yui ranging from CD's, DVD's, magazines with Yui on the cover, calendars, etc. I even managed to join her official fan club: Kuroneko Doumei. My collecting's slowed down a little bit now due to me being extremely short of money (importing stuff from Japan is expensive...) but I hope to resume it soon.
Egao No Rensa
So there you have it. You're now all thinking I'm truly obsessed and you're probably right. You can call me 'sad', you can tell me to 'get a life', but I don't care, I'm obsessed and I'm loving every minute of it! /laugh
Posted byHocchan at 5:14 pm 0 comments
The Rising Sun
The French call it "histoire", the Spanish call it "historia", the English call it "history", but I like to call it "rekishi".
Hajime
In this post I shall be talking about one of my favourite interests - Japanese. As you may have guessed by now (from the constant reference to it) I like to use the language they call 'Nihongo'.
My interest in Japanese has probably been around for quite a few years, maybe since I was a child. My parents are Chinese so therefore I am obviously of Chinese origin. But having been born in England and having lived here all my life, I don't consider myself completely British or Chinese. I am both, and I am neither and I like it that way. It allows me to experience the best (unfortunately some of the worst) of both cultures and I am grateful to have that chance.
How all this culmulated in me liking Japanese, I have no idea! /laugh My only theory is that during my trips to Hong Kong during my childhood, I was exposed to all that cool Japanese anime that was on television and had the culture ingrained into my subconscious. Whatever the reason, that love of Japan has recently surfaced and I am now completely obsessed. From the usual anime and J-POP, to the culture and history of the place, I'm fascinated by it all.
I love the sound of the language, it's just music to my ears. The words and sentences of Japanese flow so well and there's almost a melody to it. It's not quite as good as Cantonese (which I consider the nicest sounding language) but it's a close second. I love the obsession with anime. I love the obsession with manners. I love the obsession with RPGs. And I love the beauty and craftsmanship of the Katana. Centuries of making the world's best swords have produced not only a perfect fighting weapon, but a work of art. A well made Katana is truly a masterpiece to be admired and respected. These are just a few things I find interesting and I enjoy learning more about them.
I am currently learning Japanese at the local college with the hope to go on and study it at university. I would dearly love to spend a year in Japan and experience what it would be like to live in that country. It's still a while away yet but I'm working hard to make this dream come true and maybe one day, I'll get my wish.
Owaru
So there you have it. A brief history about my love of Japanese. Join me again next time when I'll explain all about my other great love - Horie Yui.
Doumo sumimasen!
Posted byHocchan at 11:55 am 0 comments
