These days I don't have enough interest in playing MMORPGs. I've been exposed to more thrilling games where you get action instantly (Dynasty Warriors 4 Hyper in particular). That's why even potentially good MMORPGs seem so bland to me. Most MMORPGs force you to work your way up through the low levels, facing really easy enemies, barely doing anything, with no exciting skills or items yet to keep you playing. Or rather, they keep you playing by the idea that at higher levels, you will eventually get the cool skills and/or items.

Additionally, most MMORPGs these days are very limiting. A good example is Rappelz. The game is awesome. Good system, good stability, good graphics. Even if it lacks in character customization, the gameplay is pretty good. However, the game forces to use particular builds/weapons for your class. Like if you're a melee build Gaia Fighter, you need to use 2h axes or dual axes. I mean, it's possible to equip other weapons, but all their skills point to axes, to the point of the other weapons being a bad idea.

In which case, I'm annoyed. I want to play a game where I can build my character the way I want to. I want to use any weapon I want, and the effectiveness of the weapon is dependent on the way you use it (or in game terms, skills). Just like in real life. The only game that came close to that was Granado Espada. And even then it's still a little limiting, because some characters are not allowed to wear some weapons. For example, I wanted my healer to be a battle healer. Why do you have to be unarmed to use a healing spell? If you were using bandages, I'd understand, but it's just a spell. By all logic, you should be able to wear a wand or staff or something. Class-based weapons aren't really that good an idea. I mean, in real life there are archers that are also good swordsmen. In the real world (especially in ancient Japan, China and Europe), being a warrior meant that you knew how to use all military weapons. That includes swords, spears and bows. That sort of thing.

Now that I think of it, another game pretty much got that concept down. It's an old game called Ultima Online. Yeah you could use any weapon you wanted. Though it wasn't very flashy, and there weren't any weapon-based "skills" to speak of (all the skills you had for fighting were passive).

Now... if only a modern MMORPG would come up with the same idea, giving us true freedom to choose and create our own characters.

Episode 21 of Lucky Star features the return of Shiraishi Minoru to Lucky Channel. Unfortunately, he's gone nuts, no thanks to Akira's insensitivity. :D I say it's about time, though. Now that he's destroyed the Lucky Channel set, and apparently he's been "sold out", and he even quit, what's to happen of that section of the show? :D

Well, from the looks of things regarding game features, information I gathered from GameNGame.com, this is quite possibly the most exciting and non-linear MMORPG ever made. I'll give a short description on some of the most striking features that I read about that the game claims to offer.

Adorable Graphics
It's a 2D, horizontal-scroll MMORPG (if you know those old beat-em-ups like Streets of Rage, it's like that). Personally I never liked the idea of 2D, horizontal-scroll MMORPGs, because it rather limits the world. What's beyond the horizon? You'll never know, because you can't even go past the bounds.

But still, the game has cute storybook-style graphics, which is always a big plus factor for me. It also means that even low-end machines can run this game without much problems.


Variable Storyline (Freedom of Choice) What this means is that your decisions will affect the storyline you end up with. While many games already offer this, Pi Story took it a step further by allowing you to make alternative choices. E.g., straight from the GameNGame website: "So you went to kill a monster because the village people asked you to… but the monster is begging you to let him go. What will you do? The story changes, according to your decision."

Instant Dungeon System
They have an automatic random dungeon generator, so you don't get tired of monotonous dungeons with the same repetitive strategy for your party. This goes in relation to the variable storyline feature. "Visit another party member's dungeon, or change the structure of the dungeon you are in through our multi scenario quests. The game storyline and dungeon change and adapt themselves according to the choices you make."


Character Customization
I don't know the depth of this feature, but anything beyond giving us just 4 choices of hairstyles and hair colors, and changing your outfit only by level-based armor is good. And for them to advertise this, it probably does go beyond that. From the looks of the screenshots on GameNGame.com, it's pretty good. Even clothing seems to be customizable, as I see a lot of characters in fun-looking outfits without being armor. I hope there are dyeing options, as well.

STUFF TO DO
Yeah that's right, there's stuff to do in the game other than hunting. This is a key feature that most games overlook, but I think should be a standard in all games. In Pi Story, you can farm, fish, mine and cook (and the usual crafting options, such as making potions and weapons). And the GameNGame.com website advertises that there are more "fun-filled activities". You can even raise pets.

All in all, it sounds like a fun and dynamic game that you can play casually. There's even a housing system, which is basically a spot on the website that allows you to conduct simple business such as leaving messages for players, and making trades and sales without logging on to the game. It's probably to compensate for the lack of space that 2D side-scrollers have. But the point is, if you don't feel like getting into the game, and you just want to see if something-or-other item has been sold already, you can check it on the website quickly and easily.

I'm looking forward to this game. It's in closed beta, but I'll definitely be there for the open beta.

Recently (August 15) Rappelz upgraded to Epic IV. I'm not sure on all the details on the changes, but there's a new newbie weapon, and stuff can glow now. There's also a new high level dungeon. Micko is inviting me to play Rappelz again, because he misses fantasy-setting MMORPGs. All the other MMORPGs we've been playing have been in real-world-based settings, like Granado Espada and SilkRoad Online. And yeah, playing a game of castles and dragons again could be fun. Not to mention a really well-structured game like Rappelz.

The only problem with the new Epic is that there seems to be a lot of bugs, particularly in the client. I dunno, it could be just my client installation. I'll try reinstalling later, but I didn't seem to get any errors while installing or patching. One example is the messed up configuration program. All the text is "Empty string". Another is the weird pop-up window you get in the client advertising their new high level dungeon, right after you log in. This is alright, but the UI has a problem with it, and doesn't show the channel/server selection window underneath it properly.

Then again, all those could still be with my own installation. I'll try reinstalling later, like I said.

Two of my favorite anime, and not just among recent ones, have just had their episode 21's released with fansubs. I'll talk about both a little.

Hayate no Gotoku episode 21

Possibly their funniest episode yet. There were a lot of subtle and random inserts of humor that I found myself laughing hysterically at some points. Even the supposed "drama" part of the episode was hilarious. You could actually see the punchline coming during Hachi-gou's dramatic lines. I think the only part that isn't very funny is the first scene, which comes before the opening theme. Other than that, the rest of the episode is chuckles or more. At least for me.


Claymore episode 21

Kakuseisha have mobilized and started attacking the town of Pieta, where the twenty-something Claymores of varied ranking have gathered. I can't say more than that or else it'd be a spoiler. Let's just say this has got to be one of the more annoying episodes, ranked up there with the death of Teresa. It's not because somebody dies in the episode, but because I was left with the same feeling I had when Priscilla awakened. Not to mention Priscilla actually being there, still annoying. For the record, I never found her appealing, cool, cute or even interesting, even if they were probably aiming for us to consider her as at least one of those qualities when she was a Claymore.

And Raki is as annoying as ever. I actually thought he was going to die, to piss Clare off and make her stronger or something. Oh well. At least Miria was there, being kickass.

Oh and if you noticed, I've been updating a lot more recently. I'm trying to update more often with shorter entries at a time, as opposed to updating once in a while with very long entries.

So that's all for now.

Yesterday was No Interweb Day for our service provider. DSL went down due to an "international cable break", and stayed down for almost a full day. But it's back up now, so it's all good.

My optical mouse, which has been around for about two years, is probably nearing its clicking limit. Dragging releases on its own (even if I press hard), and there are some occasions when clicking doesn't work at all. Meaning, I'll have to buy a new one soon. Also, my computer speakers have been messed up for years (this is the original pair that came with my first PC, which I bought in early 2002). I'll have to either consider getting new ones (Altec Lansing maybe), or getting some decent headphones. I'm voting for the latter, since it's cheaper and with much better sound quality (unless I go Altec Lansing).

I got the episode yesterday, subbed by a different group. It's hilarious. And Hiyori is my new favorite character. Left-handed, meganekko, and an artist like me.



It's too bad these characters were introduced so late in the anime, but they probably get more time in the 4-koma. So after the anime, I'll be looking for the 4-koma. I don't like looking for manga/light novels while watching the anime. It always has to be finish one first, then get the other.

Well, after a year of waiting, we finally got Heroes of Might and Magic V. Despite a few bugs here and there (such as blaring harp music playing when you switch to overworld map from the underworld suddenly, and some times when the camera doesn't follow properly; also inverted camera doesn't invert up and down as it should), the game is awesome, which is saying a lot considering how terrible HoMM IV did. They got the right idea when they decided to pattern it on HoMM III, which is one of my favorite games of all time.

The main differences between Heroes V and Heroes III include:
- A lot of major changes in the towns/races/creatures (too many to list).
- All new [but fewer] heroes, with more unique characteristics
- Full 3D Graphics (orly?)
- Interface (the new interface is nice, feels like you're playing an old fashioned game, but with nice graphics, but there are times when in town that it can get hard to click certain buildings because the floating UI buttons are in the way)
- No more map/campaign editor :(

I've been playing for hours since yesterday. So far I have a good rating for it.

My rating: 77/100 (good job, despite bugs, map editor would've given it another +10)

Well, just as expected, Perfect World Online is a little bit of a disappointment. But I expected it to be one, so that kinda softens the blow really. Here's a short description of the game experience I had.

The plus side? Well the character creation system really is extremely detailed, and is pretty good. It kinda makes me wonder why, because some of the details you put on your character (such as the little tweaking of cheekbone shape, etc) are only visible when zoomed in substantially. But while you're in-game, you can't really zoom in too much (the character becomes invisible when zoomed in at a certain level). And who would want to play the game zoomed in anyway? There aren't even any screens [as far as I've seen] where the character's face is shown close-up, aside from the character creation screen.

One other thing I liked was the world map. It's one of the better-looking map systems in any MMORPG I've played so far. The one thing it lacked was labels or markers on where NPCs are. Otherwise it's very nice and intuitive.

What I didn't like about the game was that the game system itself is not only generic, but actually below average. It felt really rough and unprofessional, in comparison to a lot of the better, bigger games out there. There was no impact in the animation while fighting. Not even in the form of hit sparks. I mean, it does have hit sparks, and they look nice, but they don't make it feel like you actually hit anything. It feels like you swung your weapon around without hitting and for some reason, some kind of lighting effect happened somewhere around your enemy, then a red number pops up on top of your enemy's head. What does it need? It's a little hard to explain. But basically I'm saying it needs to feel like you actually HIT something. Reeling/reacting, a little shaking here or there, maybe some better sound effects, the works. Heck, 2D games can do a better job than that. Not just using sparks and a number. A good example is Granado Espada. When you hit something in that game it really looks and feels like the enemy took a blow.

A game should provide decent newbie help, not just from NPCs, but from the UI. This can also showcase its features rather early on. New players should be excited to play the game because of what they saw in the help file that popped up when something or other happened. Some of the most successful games did this properly. SilkRoad Online shows you the berserk system (China), and offers lots of newbie help in the form of quests. It also tells you about the open PVP, and the caravan system. Trickster Online has a very nice newbie school also. Granado Espada immediately allows you to use the Multi-Character Control system and the Stance System.

In contrast, the only thing that Perfect World Online makes you excited about is the character customization, which seems to serve no purpose currently other than make your character look different. And it's probably best suited for making really ugly, exaggerated characters, such as those with green skin, large and wide heads, and so on. I mean I love making pretty female characters, and I like that there's lots of options for dressing them up, but if that's all the game has to offer, I'd rather free up the 2++ GB hard disk space and download a good paperdoll game instead or something.

Surely it's got to have some other features to talk about, though. Let's take a look at the website. Oh, apparently, later on, it has territorial battle. Whoopee. Almost every other game out there has that too. Oh wow it has a mail system, and you can mount animals. Amazing. It sounds even more generic now than before.

Oh and back on the topic of newbie help, it's almost non-existent in Perfect World. Even the quests don't tell you much. Yeah they tell you where to go, what to do, but it doesn't help you learn how to play the game, which is one of the most important uses for newbie quests. All you get is a skimpy two-page help dialog that pops up when you make a new character. It doesn't tell you anything you need to know, such as what to do, how to fight, how to use skills, etc. A newbie, especially one with no prior experience with other MMORPGs, would be absolutely lost.

The graphics are also not optimized, so much that my new souped-up computer isn't even capable of running the game at semi-low settings without getting choppy backgrounds (I can run almost all other big-time games at max graphic settings with no problems, such as Granado Espada and SilkRoad Online). In PW, I'm forced to stay on 1024x768 graphics with everything set on medium and shadows turned off. Even like this, the background can get a little choppy at times. I can only imagine what one with a lesser machine (such as myself before I bought this new machine) would be experiencing with this game.

The game is obviously in its early stages still. From reading the forums, there's a lot of bugs, many of which are terrible, like getting you stuck somewhere or other, and major crashes, not to mention the installer not working and you having to manually patch the thing. Maybe in the future they'll implement some better, more unique, and more interesting features, and not just the ones you see in every other game. Even small-time games out now have better features than this one, and to think this game was hyped and marketed so much in the Philippines, like it was going to be the next big game that everybody's been waiting for.

All in all, I feel a little bad about the game. It had potential and it could've been something great. I guess I'd always known it wasn't going to be good, but it went even lower than my already low expectations, so much that I just had to write this review. They really shouldn't be releasing this to the public just yet, in my opinion. Closed beta until all the bugs are fixed and the game is given some more oomph, at the very least.

My rating: 14/100 (And this is me being nice because of the good character customization system)

I got to play a little of SilkRoad Online (with the new Europe expansion). It's still fun, and I like the way the European skills work. They seem well-rounded and just asking for party help (the magic/support characters are weak and can't tank higher level monsters by themselves, it seems). But for some reason I can't get into playing it as much as before. Maybe because I spent 22 days without even touching a computer. I don't feel drawn to play SRO (or any MMORPG) like I used to.

I also downloaded and installed Perfect World Online. I've been having some patching problems since yesterday. I'm still patching now, but I found a fix on the forums, so hopefully I can get to test it out later.

I know nothing about this game except that it's not popular in many other countries, and it isn't Korean-made. I think it's Chinese or Taiwanese or something. I dunno. The game system honestly doesn't look like anything special. Just your standard run-of-the-mill MMORPG stuff. But what drew me to the game is the awesome customization options for your character. That's pretty much the only thing I'm looking forward to. I figure it's worth at least a playtest.

Again, like I said, I'm not as interested as I was before. It's actually a good thing, though, because that means I'm ready and willing to make time for more important things in life, including, but not limited to, work.

I'd just gotten back yesterday from a 22-day endeavor in Los Baños, Laguna. I was there as an English teacher to Korean students ranging from 10-15 years old (or something like that) on their summer break. This really long blog entry features my non-detailed diary that I kept throughout the duration of the camp. I'll also be talking about some extra stuff that I didn't include in my diary. All regular text is stuff written in my diary, and all text in italics are the stuff I added for the blog.

So here we go!


Day 1 (July 20)
We'd just arrived and realized that it isn't going to be a vacation like we'd previously expected. Without our Korean students here yet, we're treated pretty poorly as teachers. I can't say much else but I have to note that this is one of the hottest [most humid] places in the world.

I woke up at 6 AM despite sleeping at around 2 AM. I always have a hard time sleeping before a big trip like this. The trip on the way was fun, but leaving the Manila proper and seeing the "cities" of other places makes you feel that the Philippines really isn't as developed yet.


Day 2 (July 21)
The Koreans had just arrived. We face problem after problem, including one where I almost end up having no place to stay and no food to eat. But by the grace of God, stuff happened behind the scenes, and I got myself some fun and loveable students. The welcome party bought me the children's affection. I'm so happy.

Additionally, I felt really nervous when I saw the students get off the bus for the first time.


Day 3 (July 22)
The students were working on decorating their room. My kids were so serious and sincere, but came up with something looking not-so-great. Despite the sheer ugliness of their work, though, they're convinced that they're going to win the room decoration contest. They worked so hard. I hope they get some kind of prize. One of the Korean teachers here is really cute too. She reminds me of Kaori-sensei, a Japanese teacher that I knew before. Also it's fun to watch Animax when I can. It's the first time I'm seeing Animax since we moved to our new house about 17 months ago.

In case you're reading this, I'm talking about you, Juwean.


Day 4 (July 23)
This is the first day of classes. I actually forgot to write a diary entry on this day.

My first time teaching. My students were very nervous, but I'd had experience teaching one-on-one before, so I was doing alright. One of my students was wrongly placed in level 3, meaning she should've been able to carry out simple conversations at least. But it was clear that she had no working knowledge of English, as she couldn't understand even simple instructions in English (like those in the level 3 book), hence I bumped her down to level 2. She started to have an easier time but she was so shy that I couldn't tell if she was understanding me or just nodding to be polite.


Day 5 (July 24)
Turns out one of the students I bumped down to level 2 may actually be a level 1. So I feel a little bad, but I have to make her work a little harder than normal. And she's just a little girl. I also had a lot of fun watching the kids in self-study session in the conference hall. I think pretty much all the kids like me by now.


Day 6 (July 25)
The little girl I teach one-on-one is doing a lot better, but unfortunately I also gave her a lot more homework. I hope she hangs in there. My other one-on-one student is doing well too. Again, more fun watching students in self-study. I also got to teach a few kids b-boying during activity period. My ankles hurt so much from jogging while wearing boots since my rubber shoes aren't in good condition, but otherwise I'm okay.


Day 7 (July 26)
Was a rainy day today. Didn't do much. Didn't even get to do self-study with the students in the conference hall. I did get to scare my roommates a little though. But I want to scare them more. Tomorrow is the big weekly test for them. I hope my one-on-one students do well.

I'm really missing home by now.


Day 8 (July 27)
The students had a test and it seems both my students did well. I got transferred to another room temporarily because one of the teachers had to go home for the weekend. Then we teachers went swimming after the students had gone to bed. But I may have spent too much time in the hot pool.

I got sick that night. I'm not sure if it's the pool's fault or not, but all I know is that I was already feeling a little sick when I was still in the pool.


Day 9 (July 28)
The days are going by so slowly. I was sick since last night, but I had to chaperon a field trip to Batangas to go snorkeling. A few students got stung by jellyfish though. By nighttime I was so sick that I felt like I was delirious. Nothing mattered anymore as long as I got some sleep.

By this time I was sleeping in a room with four hyper-active young boys, which made my life difficult. I was falling asleep, though, despite their noise.


Day 10 (July 29)
The boys that treated me poorly want me back. o_o I have to talk to the Korean teachers about it. I still feel crummy but it's better than yesterday. The meds are kicking in. And I got to go to the tiny Robinson's Los Baños, to get a haircut. Other than that, I spent most of the day resting.

It's worth it to note that I spent over P200 on medicines anti-flu and for pain relief the day before.


Day 11 (July 30)
We started on book 2 of the lessons. It felt kinda empty because I got too used to teaching book 1. I spent a lot of the previous week reviewing book 1 lessons, since my student was having a hard time with it. But it ended up alright anyway. Today also featured one of the hardest rains I've seen in a while, though it only lasted several minutes. It became cool in the afternoon, but obviously not anymore towards the evening. Additionally, they implemented new STRICTER rules. Students are not allowed to speak Korean.

This was when we were ordered to issue more yellow cards. The card system features punishments for yellow and red cards, and rewards for green cards and blue cards. Green cards are given to students who study well, find favor in their teachers, and especially speak English all the time. Yellow cards are given to students who are disobedient, disrespectful, or those who speak Korean. It takes 5 green cards to make a blue card, which has awesome rewards, and 5 yellow cards to make a red card, which has severe punishment.


Day 12 (July 31)
Went back to my old room. Lots of stuff happened, but nothing really major enough to write about, except that we had a snack party with a lot of the Filipino and Korean teachers. It was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot of Korean games for parties.


Day 13 (August 1)
I've begun to understand the problem with my other student (the "level 2"). She isn't actually interested in learning English, in my opinion. I hadn't really noticed before, but she doesn't understand English syntax at all. Hence, I've started to work on that. Unfortunately, this end-of-Wednesday means there's only four teaching days left.

I'll miss these kids when it's all over, but I miss home already now.


Day 14 (August 2)
The afternoon was one of the most humid ever. Many students are sick or became sick just because of the heat. I finished reading some fascinating Garfield comics compiled in a Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I remember how much I liked Garfield.


Day 15 (August 3)
Finally it's the weekend. No teaching or studying for days. We got time to rest, which is much needed for both teachers and students. In the afternoon we practiced a little for the IJMC (Infant Jesus Montessori Center) visit tomorrow, and the night was pretty much play time, except for a dry run of the practice in the conference hall.

The Romeo & Juliet mini-play/pseudo-pantomime was our most interesting act because it was so cute.


Day 16 (August 4)
IJMC came to visit us today. They spent the better part of a day hanging out with us. We played relay and party games, had an exchange of performances, and the kids from both countries went swimming together. By the time they had to leave, everybody had made a lot of new friends. At night our students had a film showing, and we watched Coach Carter. Busy busy day.

Most of the kids were too tired from the day's activities to enjoy the movie. But I enjoyed it, with a bag of microwave popcorn.


Day 17 (August 5)
A day of rest. In the morning we painted T-shirts, in the afternoon we had a little practice. In the evening a short performance with the kids, face-painted and all.

Teacher Juwean is so cute, as she displayed by trying to push me in the pool that night, but failing. :D

Also, apparently it's the 62nd anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. I watched a TV special on Discovery about it. It's the end of our last weekend at this camp, and tomorrow is the second-to-the-last day of teaching.


Day 18 (August 6)
Second-to-the-last day over. Rather uneventful really. I really have nothing to write. I'm just glad it's all almost over. Oh and I need to mention that it was rather windy today.


Day 19 (August 7)
Mom's Birthday! I called her and she was very happy.

Last teaching day too. And tomorrow we go shopping at MALL OF ASIA! The kids are all excited. Rather strong wind too.

It was also very rainy. It turns out there was a storm and a low pressure area around the Philippines, causing all the rain and wind.


Day 20 (August 8)
MALL OF ASIA! This is only the second time I've been here, and it's as huge as ever. The kids were surprised at just how big it really is. We spent a lot of the time buying snacks in the Hypermart grocery for some reason. Not my idea. The boys spent PhP1887 on snacks (I have the receipt with me).

I gave one of my boys a Parker pen with his name engraved into it. He gave me a Yankees bling necklace. It's all good.

A very tiring day, because of just how huge the mall was. A lot of running around. The time in the bus was also pretty good.


Day 21 (August 9)
The kids had a test today, and my students did well. This was the last full day of our stay. In the evening we had a teacher's night and farewell party. It was relatively fun. I had a short b-boy number, in which I did rather poorly because of the slippery floor and my lack of practice. We had spaghetti after.

Later we had a few drinks then I went night swimming with Juwean, Ginno and Hazel. We finished at 2:30 AM since it's our last night. I'm so happy.

Juwean was particularly cute here because she was learning to swim with my help.

I also forgot to mention in my diary that we went on the Giant Slides in Splash Mountain in the afternoon. It was fun going up and down the slides. The students all enjoyed it. I didn't go on the red killer slide, which was about 60 feet (or more) high, and featured a steep, sudden drop.

Still at the poolside of the slides, I got to talk to Juwean for a long time. We got to learn a lot about each other.


Day 22 (August 10)
This is our last day. In the morning we had a touching graduation ceremony. Students and teachers gave gifts and letters to each other. There was a lot of hugging and a few tears. I felt sad as I saw the students rolling their little bags to the waiting area. I felt even more sad as I watched their bus roll away. This may be the last time I see them. I tried my best to supress my tears, but it was hard.

Despite the tears, I was filled with a sense of accomplishment and contentment. I felt that I did a good job. I'll miss the students a lot.

I didn't go straight home afterward. I got to hang out with my sister and Art in Megamall for a few hours. I also bought a new 1 GB stick of RAM, so my computer now has 1.5 GB RAM on it. We ate at Sbarro's (my treat) and fooled around an Online Gaming and Internet Cafe convention at the Megatrade Hall.

It feels strange to be back in familiar grounds, particularly the Ortigas Area. When I was in Los Baños, I didn't feel like I was in the Philippines. We were outnumbered and surrounded by Koreans, so it felt more like we were in Korea. We joked constantly about that, and how when we got back to Ortigas, we'd finally returned to the Philippines.


- End


Thus ends my diary for the camp. I took the e-mail addresses of most of the students, and some of the Korean teachers, Juwean included of course. A lot of the students sent me e-mails already today, and so did Juwean, much to my joy.

If you're wondering, I keep mentioning Juwean's name because I gave her a link to this blog.

The camp was fun, despite the hardships. No matter how many complaints I had about it, it ended up being a fruitful and memorable time of my life. I also lost some weight over there. I need to continue my good eating habits for continual weight loss.

I hope I never forget everything I learned in the camp, both as a teacher and as a person.