Happy Holidays!

While I don't really celebrate holidays, I may as well get this out there and over with. A belated Merry Christmas and advanced Happy New Years!

I just googled this picture. I searched "Merry Christmas Happy New Year" and it was the first one that popped up. ^^;

Just by this you really can tell I don't celebrate these holidays. Not that I hate them, they're okay. I just don't see a reason to celebrate. I'm sure I'm not alone in this! Whether you celebrate or not, I hope you're having a good time. Happy Holidays!

Scrapped Princess

Well I've strayed away from World of Warcraft for the past 2 days since it's getting quite boring for me. If anyone's wondering, I chose a Horde feral tank druid to level to 80 (which is still at 70 at the moment) just because I've always wanted to tank stuff. The druid is very old and started at 60. It has been abandoned for years before Burning Crusade. Anyways, this post isn't about WoW so I will be dropping this subject now.

Scrapped Princess (スクラップド・プリンセス). Since I'm too lazy to come up with my own words to describe this anime, I will be borrowing AniDB's summary.

Usually, the birth of heirs would be a joy to any kingdom. But at the time of the birth of the royal twins, it was prophesized that if the girl child reaches her 16th birthday, she would be the cause of the destruction of the world. Out of fear of the prophesy, it was decided that she should not be allowed to live and the little child was cast off the highest cliff to a certain death. Pacifica, the child of whom the prophesy spoke, is now 15 years old and traveling with her adoptive brother and sister who are dedicated to protect her. Chased by various forces dedicated to see that the sentence of death is carried out, Pacifica is compelled to hide her identify and to rely on the strength of her brother's sword and the mastery of her sister's sorcery to stay alive.With an army of warriors, sorcerers, and the might of the church all dedicated to her death, will the assistance of brother and sister be enough, or will Pacifica have to call forth the power to save herself and fulfill her destiny as it was told in the prophesy?

While it may have extremely little, if not any, romance in it - this title still comes up strong and is definitely one of my favorites. Heck, I would go even as far as saying that IT IS my favorite. Yeah it is, seriously. Yeah! An anime with absolutely no romance in it at all is my favorite anime of all time. Who would've thought? Fantasy, sword fights, magic casting. My favorite character, be it a semi-minor character and almost no development, Raquel Casull. Always have a very kind and calm attitude and sometimes goofy. She's the magic caster of the three main protagonist. Pacifica Casull, the blonde lead character. Shannon and Raquel Casull, her adoptive brother and sister. It's such a shame that they never focused much on her character.



I actually didn't just see this anime recently. I've seen it about 3-4 years ago and just remembered it again while digging through my pile of anime collection. I just want to get this out there and if you're looking for a great anime, please check this one out. It may not have awesome animation but it's definitely good enough and the story is just great and unique (at least to me).

No post!

Well it has been a while since the last post. I'm getting lazy again. A friend of mine got me into World of Warcraft again couple of days ago. And that's what I'm doing. :( Anyways, I'll update soon!

Vision of Escaflowne

The Vision of Escaflowne (天空のエスカフローネ/Tenkuu no Escaflowne). I first seen this anime aired on Fox Kids during my highschool years and I loved it. While I am not a mecha fan at all, this one has a rather very awesome storyline and characters.

(I'm not good at summarizing and explaining stuff) The story follows about a girl, Kanzaki Hitomi, who has the ability to see the past and the future. While training with her senpai who she has a crush on, a bright light beamed down from the sky. A boy with a sword appeared along with a dragon and a battle took place between them. After the boy slayed the dragon, another light came down on where they stood closely and they were teleported to a completely different world. The boy's home world, Gaea. From here, Hitomi's life completely changed as she meets different characters and engaged into events she has never experienced before. Including being torn in a romantic interest between her crush look-a-like, Allen Schezar, and the boy, Van Fanel.



That was probably a terrible description but don't be repelled by it. This anime series is very good. Amazing characters, awesome storyline. My jaw dropped a few times during the last few episodes. It was just amazing. I don't know how to describe it. If you're an anime otaku, there's absolutely no excuse not to see this series. It's a MUST SEE.

I have long forgotten this anime years and years ago. While I was bored browsing YouTube, I came across the US version opening of Escaflowne. The JP version of the opening is good but the US version has a catchy tune and they made it a little bit more "exciting". The JP version is more romantic and dramatic. Obviously the preferred opening would be the JP version as it actually suits the anime itself. But I don't mind what Fox Kids did to the US version. What I do mind is the fact that they censored a lot of stuff during TV air time. And they also skipped scenes and episodes. And finally, I don't think they even finished airing the entire series. But no matter. I finally got to see it after all these years. And you should too. Very highly recommended, even if you're a girl. This is a shoujo anime after all.

I don't particularly have any favorite characters in this series. They are all very good. But if I had to pick, I would say Van and Hitomi as I wanted them to be together. They were so indecisive and baka that I wanted to smack their heads. Also, I wish the ending had more closure and romance in it. It just left me wanting more. Why can't they ever make a good ending? Sigh...

On another note, there is also a movie of this which I haven't seen yet. It takes a different approach on the plot. I don't know if that's good or not considering how well done this is already. Oh and there's also a manga.

To Aru Majutsu no Index - Episode 10

とある魔術の禁書目録！It's here! This series is really good. But that's because I'm a sucker for characters with elemental powers and abilities, flashy animation, cute love stories, romantic comedies, characters that's cute, lovable, and funny but not annoying, and any shoujo stuff you can think of. And I have pretty damn high standards. In this title's case, Misaka Mikoto only.


I'll be honest, I know what Touma was doing for Index was right in the first 6 episodes. But I somehow found his personality during those times very annoying and stubborn when it comes to Index. Others might disagree, but this is my own personal view on him. Fortunately for me, past episode 6, I actually like him now. Stiyl Magnus and Kaori Kanzaki are very likable characters too. When I first saw them, I thought, "they can't be bad guys, they look too good to be bad guys." At least that's what I was hoping for since some animes make bad guys look real good. Turned out I was right.

She's back! Finally! We haven't seen her since Episode 1 (and a small bit from Episode 2). Anyways, for this episode, we get to look more at Misaka Mikoto and her clone(s?). By the way, I love how she wears shorts under her skirt. I just love it. (This is what girls should be wearing under short skirts all the time! Way to go, Mikoto! Yes, I fully support proper dress code for girls!) I'm kinda hoping Touma and Mikoto ends up together. She's so cute in this first screenshot.


Anyways, tune in on this anime series as it's getting more and more interesting. More bad guys are showing and really flashy action scenes. If you have the same interests as me, you have to give it a look. Thanks to Eclipse-subs for continuing to sub this awesome series.

(I really need to learn 日本語 so I can just watch them raw and purchase imported DVDs and manga. Have a grand collection. Unfortunately, I'm too lazy do it.)

Oh and speaking of manga, there's a manga for this anime as well with the same title, and a side story manga called "To Aru Kagaku no Railgun" where Misaka Mikoto is the main protagonist. I doubt they'll be translated so I just need to get off my lazy butt and learn 日本語！And buy them imported. Well I'm out.

Swordsman rocks!

Recapping my progress in this game. Since I think it deserves it. After all, I've made up my mind. Check previous posts for details.



When I started this game, I chose a Mage class with female character thinking it will be good. Female because I didn't like the idea of a male Mage. I got to 17 and got bored and overwhelmed by difficulty. (I know it'd be easier to play now because of all the available equips I have for caster classes.) I then switched to Warrior (6) and got bored. Switched to Thief and got it to 24 until I unlocked Fighter, which became my main (66). Unlocked Ninja (51). I then thought I needed the Paladin title for my Fighter, so I leveled Swordsman and Magic Knight to get Radiants and titles. MK became mega fun with the Paladin title so I leveled more to get the Mystic Arte. Then I thought I'll give Swordsman a go with Paladin title too. Yeah sure its Mystic Arte sucks but damn, they can do some pretty damn awesome combos.

Swordsman (60) now became my main and I use all 8 Arte buttons fully to do some really and extremely fun combos. Artes I use are: Tiger Blade, Sword Rain, Sword Rain: Alpha, Light Spear, Omega Tempest , Victory Light Spear, Demonic Chaos, and Rending Tiger Blade.


I haven't had this much fun since I started playing this game. Oh and I still play on Normal (82h) and haven't beaten the game yet. I'm currently burning through my EX magic maps looking for items and levelling up. I got a couple of green items. A Charmir (caster body armor) and an Osafune (short sword for Thief). The armor is decent, sword sucks. Not worth taking a screenshot.

Oh and I can't wait for Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 still. But for now, this rocks. Time to finish this game. じゃ！

Oh the grinding!

A little note before I get started. My Ninja is past 40, as mentioned in previous post, but no Radiants yet. This is because Eugene is the main quest giver and as long as he has a quest for me available, he cannot give another quest in the list. Eugene is the Ninja Radiant quest giver. If I want him to give me Ninja Radiant quests, I have to do the main story quest first. But I don't wanna do that yet. I haven't beaten the game yet. I don't know how far I am in the game but I am now clocked at 75h play time.

Swordsman

Well the other night, I did Swordsman marathon and got it up to 48. Over-leveled a bit since I wanted Hi-ougi unlocked eventually (curious). As usual, the Radiants I got were just plain crap (except for the shield) compared to what I've found and crafted. Swordsman was meh - okay. Definitely a lot different and slower compared to Fighter which I was so used to for a long time. I'm just gonna move on from here but I might have a different say about Swordsman later on in this post.

By the way, the Swordsman (aka. Fencer) Radiant set makes my character look so cute.

And of course, this is how I look like most of the time because Radiant Armor set stats sucks, forcing me to use low level gear but very good stats. Thanks for the shield, though.

Magic Knight

Heh, I never thought I'd actually play this class. Actually, neither was Swordsman. Last night, again I marathon Magic Knight all the way to 57 and unlocked Hi-ougi. The best I've seen. Better than Fighter, that's for sure. Got Radiants, obviously, and of course... you guessed it! They're crap! With a tiny exception for the gauntlets. It actually replaced my green Hyper Gauntlets, but not so much. Let's take a look at the set.

And my current look... as well as my new party.

Sigh. Unfortunately for me, stats are prioritized before looks. Same for people. Can be an exception sometimes ^^; It's the inside that counts!

---

Let's get straight to the point of why I'm doing all of this and torturing myself. "Luceid, why don't you just go with Fighter or Ninja and finish the game?" Well, the reason is simple. Once you get all the Magic Knight Radiant set, you obtain the title "Paladin".

Neat huh? Though it's not full immunity. I'd say it works about 70% of the time. It definitely makes the game a lot funner and not stupid where you get nicked once and you're stuck and wide open for more than a second just waiting for those enemies to surround you and do some insane damage with combos. Not anymore with this bad boy title.

To summarize my experience with these two completely different class (compared to Fighter), my time with Swordsman was terrible. Three Oh-So-Slow sword swings at a time and half the time, I can't even complete those 3 hits. Sometimes they don't even connect! Enemies will sometimes get an attack off right in the middle of the swings. Terrible! With Fighter, you walk up to an enemy, press attack 3 times and you made a 3-4 hit combo in less than a second. It was definitely a completely different experience. Not to mention, no "dash-through". But whatever, I did it. Though, not yet finished. I still need to get to 57 to learn its Hi-Ougi. It's currently 48, but I have a feeling that I will enjoy these 9(+) levels......

Frustrated, I fought Kratos, which didn't even try to cast First Aid on himself. I guess I got lucky. Unlocked Magic Knight. I headed over to Doplund to gather my Radiants and fought the R-Fencer boss. Piece of cake. Switched to Magic Knight, picked my mercenaries, entered Hallowed Bastion, WHAT! I have to cast First Aid 50 times? As levels rise, I was overwhelmed by long casting, high TP cost spells that I need to cast 50 times each in battle in order to master. Along with sword skills, which aren't a problem. But magics??? Argh! It was brutal. Fortunately, some sword Artes learned were already mastered, thanks to Swordsman.

To put it simply, the levelling/grinding process of Magic Knight was just extreme compared to Ninja and Swordsman. (See how much I'm complaining here when I don't have a clue what frustration means! The Japanese version of the game have much higher TP cost on almost every Artes and needs to be used 100 times each to master! The US version have been toned down.)

Anyways, back on topic. I finally did it. Mastered everything. Unlocked Hi-Ougi/Mystic Arte. Looks awesome and very useful. (Unlike the Fighter's that misses/slides away half the time.) As soon as I was MK 46, I went and hunted my Magic Knight Radiants. I found a useful combo that made me like MK a bit. Sword Rain/Demon Fang > Lightning Tiger Blade > Guardian Field/Light Spear Cannon. Sword Rain start for bosses to quickly stagger them and do combos. I use Demon Fang > Sword Rain: Alpha > Guadian Field normally.  I also found from GameFAQs forums that if you use Sword Rain: Alpha and Guardian Field over and over, it connects for an infinite combo which is what I used to quickly dispatch of the R-Paladin bosses.

I used SR > LTB > GF > SR:A > GF > SR:A (repeat). Paladin title obtained after MK Radiant set was completed. I have to admit, after playing Swordsman then Magic Knight, I'm starting to get used to (if not already) its playing style. I really like it. So comes to my next subject.

Let me talk about the effect of the Paladin title. This thing makes you immune to staggering 70% of the time (rough estimate). Its beauty shines as soon as I started using it. It was just unbelievable how much funner the battles became. Before the title and playing these 2 sword wielding classes, I would run up, block, retaliate, swing, gets hit, stagger, gets hit more, and more... okay, back up, heal up, repeat. I did mention the enemies sometimes gets an attack in the middle of your sword swings or just hard to make them stagger and combo. There's just so many wrong things happening and it makes these sword wielding classes difficult. (Compared to Fighter/Ninja/Thief. These guys, you can just dash through enemies and attack from behind.) With Paladin title, it's a whole new game. I'd just walk in and combo any lone monster or two even with them getting an attack off, I'd still be killing one. Even if you do stagger from a hit, it's not repeatedly like before and you can easily bounce back and retaliate.

With my bit of love for the Magic Knight (and possibly Swordsman too, now that I know how to use them better), combined with Paladin title, I am now having a hard time deciding if I should go back to Fighter or Ninja or stick with these Sword & Shield classes. MK's Mystic Arte defeats Fighter's. I have yet to see Ninja and Swordsman, however. My next project will be to unlock them both and decide once and for all.

This is Magic Knight's Mystic Arte/Hi-Ougi, Shining Bind! Until next time!

Ninja!

Couple of days ago, I was marathoning in the game, I finally reached Gavada (3rd city). I was able to gather my full Fighter Radiant (ah, too lazy to take a screenshot). And also unlocked Ninja! I'm now 46 and I have to admit, I like Fighter a lot better. Of course, I haven't reached the Hi-Ougi level yet, so who knows. I love how Fighter can dish infinite combos with the right Arte used and sometimes even with just spamming normal attacks on some enemies. My regular combo consists of Demon Fist > Dragon Shot > Beast Impact, followed by an Avalanche throw. Very damaging. For when I have Over Limit (Hi-Ougi combo), I do Demon Fist > Dragon Shot > Demon Shadow > Fire Dragon Rampage.

Ninja

What can I say? I don't have all the skills yet, and with what I have so far, I don't have a very damaging combo. I don't know if that will change with the next few Artes. There is one thing I love about Ninja, however. It is the Samadhi skill that you get at level 30. Basically, it makes you immune to staggering when getting hit. Other than that, I don't know... Anyways, here's a few pics of my not-so-sexy Ninja.


You'd think the Excalibur is good, it's actually kind of crap. The Beam Sword (aka. Lightsabre look-a-like) is so much better (except for the attack stats). The Beam Sword is self forged using Septanite at 109 Forge skill with Blacksmith title.


Anyways, that's all for now. This game is still addicting, and I haven't even finish the game yet. And there's a supposedly Hard and Very Hard mode. Level cap is also 250.

Moar PSP!

Silent Hill: Origins

I played around a bit with SHO again after having fully completed it a month ago. I was trying to see what costume should I use for the entire game... - incoming Daredevil costume! I have to admit, I find this quite funny, even if just the slightest.

Ugh, I wish I was allowed to edit my own CSS. I don't like WordPress' themes! I like things simple and also I'm not the best in CSS so I wanna learn more too at the same time. This theme is the simplest I can find with the font I like, sans-serif.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology

This game is definitely one of the funnest games I've played. I do like Tales games but I never really played them fully. I can't wait for the RM2. It looks so cool. Mystic Artes are so awesome. Anyways, I think I'm only about a quarter in the game and this is what my setup looks like...

I did cheated my money and grade points, but that's all. But the funny part is, I cheated so I could have 999,999 gald. If you check how much I have, it's much more. Fact is, I didn't need to cheat but I accidentally saved. I cheated money because I wanted to buy something, which I eventually came to realize that I didn't need them. I grinded a lot that's why I'm already like that level and I just started Doplund. I also just picked up Lloyd recently, I wanted him earlier but I couldn't recruit him. So now he's a low level. I'll get him up along with Kratos when I switch to Ninja. It's a female character because I started as Mage, and a male Mage doesn't seem right to me. But then I started hating Mage (17)... so I leveled Warrior to 6, then switched to Thief and sticked to it 'til 24 and then switched to Fighter which is now that high. This game is highly recommended to all Tales and RPG fan alike.

Anyways, until next post.

Haha, self-pwnage!

After trying to make this blog perfect with the CSS I made for 2 hours, I just came to realize that I have to pay $15 to apply it. That really sucked, I don't really like most of the themes here in Wordpress. SIGH! Ah well, I'll just have to improvise.

日本語：　No progress, I'm so lazy.
I haven't played Clannad visual novel in a long time either. I know there's a 2nd season of Clannad anime and I am downloading them (widescreen version only from Eclipse/Static-subs). I am not watching them though until I finish the game. I have to admit I sometimes hate Okazaki Tomoya so much when he makes fun of Sunohara Youhei and overdoes it. He's really cool as I've already read Sunohara siblings route. I'm currently doing Tomoyo route and I have to say I don't like it very much yet. Just at the part where Tomoyo became student council president.
とある魔術の禁書目録 - To Aru Majutsu no Index is what I'm watching regularly as it comes out weekly. Thanks to Eclipse subs. It's pretty cool story so far although I was once pissed off at the main character until something happened to him. No need for spoilers.

On another note, I've been spending my bored days playing PSP games. Tales of the World - Radiant Mythology, Wild Arms: XF, Silent Hill: Origins, Jeanne d'Arc and GOLF! Love golf!

Hopefully this site becomes active and I unlazy myself. じゃ！

Hi～ya！ よ！

Haha, I still haven't decided what I wanna put in here. Perhaps my progress of trying to learn 日本語！ Haha! Yeah, I'm deeply into manga, anime and other manga/anime related jdrama. I wanna learn 日本語 so I can just buy them instead of waiting for a group to translate them. Genres I like include but not limited to shoujo, comedy, romance, etc. Have a currently big addiction to the anime and game Clannad.

Anyways, I dunno when I'll post again. But hopefully it'd have a progress about one of my goals in life. Like, have a shelf full of imported anime and manga comics ^^; yeah, nerd! Otaku! Whatever you wanna call it! じゃな！