A Year On
Thursday January 25, 2018
It's been just over a year since I left New Zealand on my amazing OE. I don't think about it as much these days, nor do I dwell on what my life was like when I was in Wellington. I guess travelling for a solid six months helped me forget about routine and responsibility, which I'm super grateful for actually.
I was in New York last week for the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Distant Worlds concert. Still as magical as the one I saw in Montreal 2017, but more special because Nobuo Uematsu himself, the man behind all those amazing songs, was in attendance. The crowd went wild when he appeared on stage, everyone knew how big an impact he has made to the franchise, the industry and our lives. The set list was:
- Prelude
- Clash on the Big Bridge (FFV)
- Victory Theme
- Cosmo Canyon (FFVII)
- Not Alone (FFIX)
- The Oath (FFVIII)
- Flash of Steel (FFXII)
- Searching for Friends (FFVI)
- Fang's Theme (FFXIII)
- Theme of Love (FFIV)
- Apocalypsis Noctis (FFXV)
- Liberi Fatali (FFVIII)
- Opening Theme ~ Bombing Mission (FFVII)
- Somnus (FFXV)
- Heavensward (FFXIV)
- Chocobo Medley
- Hymn of the Fayth (FFX)
- To Zanarkand (FFX)
- Maria and Draco (FFVI)
- Credits
- Aeris's Theme (FFVII)
- One Winged Angel (FFVII)
The FFVI opera was epic, complete with narration of the story. The build up to that final note with all three singers resonating throughout the entire hall - absolutely fantastic. Nobuo himself joined the choir for One Winged Angel, as did the audience for the SEPHIROTH!. After the concert, I got to meet the man himself, as well as Arnie Roth, the conductor. I was so nervous. I saw there was a piano in the room and I would have loved to perform Zanarkand for the man responsible for inspiring so much of my piano playing, but I would have been mortified if I had ruined the song in front of the person who wrote it. Instead, I told him about what a beautiful piece it was, and how I learned to play it before playing Final Fantasy X. I thanked him and shook hands with him, and I will forever remember that moment I got to meet the world famous Nobuo Uematsu, composer of so many Final Fantasy songs.
Apart from the concert, I wandered around the city, admiring its busyness and charm. It's been five years since I was last in the Big Apple, and apart from all the regular touristy stuff - the Rockefeller Centre and the Nintendo store, Times Square, Central Park - I also visited the World Trade Centre Observatory, which wasn't finished in 2012, as well as the Highline. I sampled some amazing New York style cheesecake from Juniors, and some delicious pastries from Lady M at Bryant Park. I got to experience Pokemon Go in New York as well! I was actually staying in New Jersey, with an old friend from New Zealand, and to be honest, the one thing you won't get in New York is a magnificent view of Manhattan's skyline - there's a park on the east side of NJ with a beautiful view of the towers and lights of Manhattan.
Returning to Toronto was tiring, as we were delayed boarding by an hour, then sat on the tarmac for another hour as we waited for Pearson Airport to give us clearance to land. Snow had thrown the flight schedules into chaos, and it was around 11.30pm when we finally arrived back in Canada.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:52am on Thursday January 25, 2018 :: 0 comments :: 
Toulouse
Wednesday May 10, 2017
Toulouse is France's fourth largest city, and sits on the Garonne River, which also runs through Bordeaux. The Canal du Midi runs through the city, linking the Garonne to the Mediterranean Sea. Though it's called the pink city from all its terracotta brick buildings, I found it quite green, with trees and gardens everywhere I went.
I dropped my bag off at the hotel yesterday and successfully claimed my replacement Visa card. I walked down the Canal du Midi until the Japanese Gardens and hung around there for a while, enjoying the magnificent sun and warmth. From there, I cut back through the city centre to check in at my hotel, then explored the other side of town, by the Jardin des Plantes.
It was then that I realised that the drawback of enjoying two summers is that I also enjoy hay fever twice.
I wandered in another direction this morning, towards to the northeast but found nothing of interest except a large cemetery and the observatory. I was at the train station and found the Piano en Gare, and played To Zanarkand when a man came up and said to me "Final Fantasy is the best music!" It made my day.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:47pm on Wednesday May 10, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Distant Worlds
Sunday February 12, 2017
I spent the whole day in bed because it was cold and snowing outside - which is kind of novel for me, but I was quite miserable because I couldn't really go anywhere far without feeling like I was going to die. I ventured out to get lunch and dinner, but otherwise it was a pretty boring day to spend in Montreal.
Tonight, however, was the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert at the Place des Arts. Final Fantasy has been one of my favourite game franchises since I played FFVII back in 1997, and since then, I've played all the ones from FFIII to FFX-2, and will probably play FFXII, FFXIII and FFXV at some point. The music has been iconic - for who can forget those emotional, pivotal moments so beautifully captured with the perfect soundtrack? There was the poignant Aeris's Theme (FFVII), played as she is killed in the Forgotten Capital, the encouraging You Are Not Alone (FFIX), played as Zidane's friends fight along side him as he battles the gauntlet of Pandemonium, and of course, To Zanarkand (FFX), the hauntingly solemn song about the journey of Tidus and Yuna. These songs carry so much nostalgia and context behind them, but their true power is the ability to confer emotion to people who have never played these games before.
Distant Worlds has been around for 10 years now, and Final Fantasy for 30 years. I have longed to see a Distant Worlds concert for ages, and the closest I got was last year in Melbourne, when Andy and I saw the New World concert. Distant Worlds is a much larger, more powerful experience, and today in Montreal, we were lucky to be joined by Susan Calloway, the voice behind many of FFXIV's vocals, as well as RIKKI, the original voice behind Suteki Da Ne (FFX). The full set list tonight was:
- Prelude
- Victory Theme
- Torn from the Heavens (FFXIV)
- Character Medley ~ Terra, Kefka, Celes, Locke (FFVI)
- Balamb Garden (FFVIII)
- Rose of May (FFIX)
- Dragonsong (FFXIV)
- Cosmo Canyon (FFVII)
- Blinded by Light (FFXIII)
- Apocalypsis Noctis (FFXV)
- Chocobo Medley
- Man with the Machine Gun (FFVIII)
- Hymn of the Fayth (FFX)
- Zanarkand (FFX)
- Jenova Complete (FFVII)
- Suteki Da Ne (FFX)
- Fighters of the Crystal (FFXI)
- Not Alone (FFIX)
- Answers (FFXIV)
- Credits
- One Winged Angel (FFVII)
I cried so hard at FFVI's Character Medley and at FFX's Zanarkand. Terra's theme has that hopeful beat, that sound of determination to overcome adversity, and Celes' theme has those beautiful notes which make up Aria di Mezzo Carattere. The choir sang Hymn of the Fayth a cappella, then immediately the musicians transitioned into Zanarkand with the first few notes on the piano - totally lost it then. That quietness of that intro mimics the part in FFX's ending where Tidus says "I'm sorry I couldn't show you Zanarkand.... goodbye", and for me, seeing Yuna fall through him was so heartbreaking. Such wonderful memories evoked by such powerful music.
Like in Melbourne, Arnie Roth, the conductor, invited the audience to join in with singing during One Winged Angel, and a chorus of 3000 strong provided a fortissimo "Sephiroth!" that bellowed throughout the auditorium. It was truly a memorable night, full of wonderful music that has stood the test of time for 30 years, and long may it continue.
Posted by Jeremy at 5:18am on Sunday February 12, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Sayonara
Wednesday February 8, 2017
As I make my way to Narita Airport, I'm well and truly satisfied with my time here in Tokyo. I've had such a good time despite not knowing the local language, and I will definitely be returning some day to explore the rest of this beautiful country.
I covered a lot of things in my time here. On Sunday I was ahead of schedule so I decided to check out Tokyo Tower and Tsukiji Fish Market. My feet were still tired from all the walking so it was good to take it easy. At night, I remembered that I needed to book tickets for the Square Enix Cafe, so I enlisted Amy's help to navigate the website. It took a while and a bit of back and forth, but I ended up having to go to a Lawsons store to print out and pay for my ticket. What a hassle this turned into - there were no English instructions, I didn't know which numbers to put where, and I ended up having to ask the store clerk for help. He asked me to write my name down so that he could translate it to enter into the machine and FINALLY I got my ticket.
Amy had also given me a recommendation from a food blog for this place in Shibuya, but there when I arrived, the alley was dark and deserted, and there was no signage. I thought to myself this will be an adventure in itself, so I went in and enjoyed a very good and satisfying meal.
On Monday, I covered Akihabara, Ueno, Senso-ji and Tokyo Sky Tree, getting myself a Senor Don Gato plushie from a claw machine in Akihabara and a Pikachu in Mega Gardevoir hoodie from the Pokemon Center. I think this would have been my favourite day, just because of all the excitement of the arcades and the Pokemon Center. There were so many soft toys and figurines around, some massive models of Solgaleo and Lunala, the Sun and Moon mascots, as well as the three starters, Rowlett, Litten and Popplio. A special limited time Pikachu with Alolan Vulpix hoodie and Pikachu with Regular Vulpix hoodie were also available, but sadly I didn't have enough luggage space to buy everything I wanted.
I spent the late afternoon and early evening at the Tokyo Skytree, watching the sun set over Mt Fuji in the west. The expanse of buildings is phenomenal and watching the city lights slowly flicker on as night fell was magical. I had a tempura dinner back at Akihabara and then it was home for the night.
Yesterday I spent at Tokyo Disney Sea. Though the sun was out, it was rather blustery, making the day quite cold indeed. It meant that queuing outside for various attractions very unpleasant and it also meant that the final show, Fantasmic, had to be cancelled midway through. I did manage to go on Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones, Tower of Terror, Raging Spirits and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with my only regret being the Raging Spirits rollercoaster. All in all, it wasn't too bad, just a bit sad that the day had to end with that cancellation.
This morning I was up bright and early to check out of the hotel and make my way back to Akihabara to go to the Square Enix Cafe right in the middle of Tokyo rush hour. After all the hassle of getting that ticket, I was determined to enjoy my time there and treated myself to a Moscow Mule cocktail and some snacks upon arriving. It was okay I guess, the food was nice and the merchandise was cool, but mostly focused around Final Fantasy XV.
Final thoughts: it would have been nice to know some basic Japanese or at least travel with someone who does. I managed to survive fine but probably missed a few things, especially food. The Japanese are very polite and orderly, and they are very advanced in some things, but other things, like e-commerce, are still lacking. There are vending machines everywhere but no rubbish bins. They really like queuing here. I need to come back with someone so I can go to karaoke.
Posted by Jeremy at 4:34am on Wednesday February 8, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
Days Off
Monday September 26, 2016
Taking the two days off after daylight savings weekend (the weekend where you spring forward an hour) was a great idea. This morning, I got up, had breakfast, played some Final Fantasy Record Keeper, then fell asleep again until lunch time. So good. It hasn't been all relaxation though, the weeks of neglect from going out to hunt Pokemon have left my apartment in a little bit of disarray, so there was plenty of cleaning and vacuuming to do. I still want to hit the gym at some point today. I might have an early dinner and go late to avoid the regular Monday night rush.
The past week has been relatively quiet too. We released Shadow Wars, a puzzle/collection game, for both iOS and Android. I had a minor part in this one - the platform services integration - so I'm to blame if the cloud sync or your achievements goes wrong. It's been an interesting experience though, it has made me more aware of how terrible certain technologies are, especially how we have to work around Xcode to get our entitlements and provisioning profiles working. Because we're using Unity, it generates the Xcode project at build time, meaning we can't use Xcode's GUI to manage our provisioning or entitlements or capabilities. We end up having to script in our changes to enable iCloud, allow push notifications, add associated domains, etc. The whole process takes 20 minutes to test and debug as well. It was definitely one of the most frustrating things I've had to do, but we got there in the end. It's one of those things that you tend to do once and then forget about until the next project.
I still need to catch up on food blogging. Maybe that will be a tomorrow job. I'm not always one for completely vegetating throughout the whole day, but it's nice to not have a specific agenda and to just relax and take things at my own pace.
I should take more days off.
Edit: It started raining. I did not make it to the gym. I ended up making my own apple sauce though - it's so good!
Posted by Jeremy at 2:50am on Monday September 26, 2016 :: 0 comments ::
World Famous in New Zealand
Monday September 19, 2016
A lot of things have been happening in the last couple of months. It's been hectic, chaotic, exhilarating and draining all at once. I'm finally able to sit down and write in my blog because... well, I don't need to go out and catch Pokemon anymore - I've caught them all!
As a fan of the games, it's been interesting to see how Pokemon Go has represented the franchise, and especially its ubiquitous motto - Gotta Catch 'em All. Though the game lacks polish and usability in many places, what they have managed to do very well is - and excuse the pun - capture the core of the Pokemon games: collection. From a developer's perspective, it's been interesting looking at how particular features were implemented and how I could use that to my advantage - density and distribution, spawn points and timers, known locations and nests of particular Pokemon, and so on.
My last Pokemon was a Lapras, which I caught down by Oriental Parade at 7.59pm on Sunday 11 September 2016. It was pretty surreal, I was incredibly excited and sat in my car screaming for five minutes. The NZ Herald got wind of my story and published an article about my achievement, but incorrectly assumed that I was the first in the country to do so. Nevertheless, there were a few other media appearances - I was interviewed on Flava the radio station, and Jeremy Corbett briefly mentioned me during TV3's 7 Days show. It's been funny because I've never had this much attention in my life, and though I'm not a household name nor have I been stopped on the street, friends of friends have noticed my achievements and those friends have then told me about it, and that's awesome.
I think my friends would agree that it's no surprise that I would get this far. Pokemon has been a major part of my life, especially with the management of Psypoke, and it's no secret that all through high school, University and now at work, it's one of my favourite video game franchises. At the same time, I've still held my job, socialised with people, been to the gym (the actual lifting weights gym) and played badminton all in my regular routine, I've just squeezed a bit more Pokemon in every day so I can catch them all.
What now, then? There's four region exclusive Pokemon to catch - Kangaskhan in Australia, Farfetch'd in Asia, Mr. Mime in Europe and Tauros in North America. Generation two must surely be on the cards soon as well. I can prepare for that in advance by making sure the new evolutions are ready to go once the update drops. There's the buddy system too and I can continue levelling everything up. The opportunity to travel is exciting and a good excuse to get out of the country.
In other news, Wellington on a Plate was a blast, as usual. That will be a completely different write-up on my food blog - so much to talk about. On the whole, I thought the burgers last year were of a higher standard, but many this year were still very enjoyable. Mid-autumn festival was last Thursday and on Saturday I cooked a vegan dinner in celebration, and on Sunday I cooked a non-vegan dinner in celebration. Both turned out very well and people were well fed.
In short: there were a few very strong earthquakes centered east of New Zealand that were widely felt in Wellington on September 2; I went with Mana, Mike and Tim to Red Rocks to see the seals; I saw FFXV Kingsglaive and thought it was okay; work has been tough and I've had to put in a few more hours to get things done but the end is in sight.
We're only three months away from Christmas. The year has gone by so quickly >_<
Posted by Jeremy at 10:28am on Monday September 19, 2016 :: 0 comments ::
Still Busy
Monday February 22, 2016
Been back in the country for a full week now, having had an amazing time over in Melbourne seeing the sights, eating the food, seeing old friends and of course, the Final Fantasy: A New World concert which was the main purpose of the trip. I arrived on Thursday night and spent it at Andy's house, eating some teriyaki chicken burgers and the best onion rings I'd ever had, while watching his friend play Final Fantasy X for the first time - great way to get into the mood for the weekend. On Friday, I met up with Sonny at Madame Squint where I had a soft shell crab bao, and did some shopping around DFO South Wharf, H&M and Emporium. I ended up at Lygon Street, because I really wanted something from Brunetti, the delicious desserts place with cabinets of cheesecakes, fondants, macaroons, pralines... every imaginable sweet. After that, I wanted some steak, but because it was the Friday night before Valentines and I was sweaty and gross and #ForeverAlone, I felt intimidated going into one of the Italian restaurants and dining by myself, so I went to good old Chin Chin and dined like a king.
On Saturday, I went with Andy to Manchester Press for their famous bagels, then continued wandering around town for more clothing bargains. I had lunch at Mamak, and trained all the way out to Windsor where I surprised Ben for his birthday. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at the pub there, called Windsor Castle, and even tried a chicken parma. Yeeeah. On Sunday, I met Darius for breakfast at the famous Hardware Societe and had a most delectable lobster benedict. I have so much writing to catch up on for my food blog, it's not funny. I followed him to church as well, inside the cinemas at Melbourne Central, and met some of his friends for lunch at Lentils As Anything, a vegetarian "pay what you want" establishment in East Melbourne. I was back in town to get ready for the Final Fantasy concert at the Melbourne Recital Hall.
I thought I could bring a drink into the amphitheater so I purchased a large bottle of cider from the bar while mingling in the crowd of hardcore Final Fantasy fans, some of which had brought along plushies (Tonberry, Boko, Cactuar :3) or even cosplayed for the night (Red Mage, White Mage, Auron, Cloud, Aeris). As I reached the door, I saw a sign saying no food or drink inside, so I had to scull my drink and ended up extremely drunk and emotional for the first half of the concert. But even as I sobered up for the second half, the music was still fantastic and nostalgic and powerful. There were cheers from the crowd during the most epic themes from almost 30 years of Final Fantasy music, and as the night drew to its climax, we were invited to provide a single word vocal for the final song - One Winged Angel!
I was off to the airport extremely early on Monday morning. I played To Zanarkand and Let it Go on the piano in the departure hall, but there was no applause this time around - probably because the airport was pretty empty at that time of day. Of course, Jetstar was late by an hour, which meant that once I got to Auckland, I would only have an hour to get through customs, get lunch, get to the domestic terminal and catch my flight to Wellington. That lunch I had from Auckland International Airport was the most depressing meal I've had - having spent four days in Melbourne eating the most delicious food ever and having to come back to New Zealand and eat Subway of all things... truly sad.
Since then, I've been super busy still, trying to finish the project I'm on. We were at Coenn's Provisions on Tuesday for Tim's birthday, drinking heavily at Fork and Brewer and S & M's on Friday for Bobby and Cory's farewell, I was at Pete and Bronwyn's wedding on Saturday where I was the only person to volunteer to speak, and I was at music at Central Baptist on Sunday. It's been an action packed weekend and I need another couple of days to unwind... but there's no rest for the weary. I was almost tempted to go back into work to do some loading optimisations, but I think I should stay at home and relax.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:01am on Monday February 22, 2016 :: 0 comments ::
Oh Geez, It's October
Tuesday October 7, 2014
I can't believe it's already October.
I've been hard at work on the site, updating its interface and structure and essentially rewriting the code from scratch. The result is something that is finally mobile-friendly and something that doesn't look like it was written by a 21 year old in 2007. Bootstrap is pretty awesome and it has made designing the site easy. Thanks to Vincent for showing me the ropes and for inspiring me to make something more contemporary and classy! In addition to this, I also have my Food Blog, which is a formalisation of all the pictures and descriptions from my Facebook page.
Work has been busy. I've been working on upskilling in Unity by making a sweet version of Final Fantasy VIII's Triple Triad game, but themed with Pokemon - aka, my two most favourite game franchises in the world. Last week, I started pre-production on my new project, which should tide us over until the end of the year. I haven't actually started a project since Dash n Drop in 2012, so I'm looking forward to all the challenges that this will hold.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:36am on Tuesday October 7, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
World Cup Finals
Sunday October 23, 2011
It's a sunny and peaceful Monday morning, the morning after the Rugby World Cup 2011 finals match. I think the nation sighed a collective sigh of relief last night, which erupted into jubilance and excitement as thousands of people streamed onto the city streets, partying loud and hard into the early hours of the morning - some probably still going as I type. It was amazing.
The day started out kinda poorly for me. I was aiming to get to church but I've been sniffly for the past few days and wasn't feeling great at all. I was quite lethargic throughout the afternoon, but had enough energy to beat the last boss in Final Fantasy X-2 (and no, the story isn't over, it's New Game+ time!). I was about to doze off for a nap before hitting the fanzone when Jono texted, trying to arrange some board games before meeting up. We ended up playing Forbidden Island for a while before donning our black attire and heading into town.
Our original plan was to try and get a table at Mac's Brewery but it seems a lot of other people had the same idea. We eventually settled for Electric Avenue - cheap food, cheap drinks, a table right in front of the TV and direct access to Courtenay Place for the ensuing mayhem - if we win then that's great, if we lose, then we can go looting, said Jono. We killed around three hours there, eating and playing card games. By the time 8.30pm rolled about, the bar was packed and we knew the atmosphere was going to be awesome.
I remember seeing aerial footage of the All Blacks bus arriving at Eden Park, and hundreds of people lining the streets to cheer the All Blacks on. As the team stood in the corridor, waiting to enter the field, everyone began applauding and cheering. Despite being so far from the action, we all knew that our hearts were there with everyone at Eden Park, united in spirit to cheer on the All Blacks. We all joined in with our voices as the national anthem played, and again the emphatic applause and cheering after the haka. Who could have realised what a thrilling game was ahead...
Emotions ran high and low throughout the game. We celebrated our only try. We anguished over Cruden's injury. We gasped in terror as Dusautoir crossed the line. I'm pretty sure I was close to this around 70 minutes:
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
As the clock continued ticking, we held on to hope that we'd be able to defend just that bit longer. A score of 8 - 7 to the All Blacks could have easily become 10 - 8 to France if they got close enough for a dropgoal or if they got a penalty.
At five minutes to go, the crowd at Electric Avenue began chanting, willing the All Blacks to keep their defense strong. Anxiety was slightly relieved as we turned the ball over and began an attack on the French. With ten seconds on the clock to go, I started a countdown, to be joined by everyone around me, everyone holding their breath and waiting for that last play to finish. At the final whistle, a thunderous roar of approval echoed through the room as we celebrated a close win over the French. People jumped and threw their hands up in the air, we screamed and shouted and high-fived. We hugged and fist-pumped. It's been 24 long years and 2011 is the new 1987.
The same enthusiastic applause and cheering continued while the presentation began, with the volume peaking when Richie McCaw, Piri Weepu, Dan Carter and Graham Henry all received their medals. As Richie took center stage, the whole country must have risen to their feet and yelled in approval as he lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in victory.
We took to Courtenay Place shortly after, joining thousands of people arriving from all over the city to sing and dance and shout. Crowds had gathered around drummers and street musicians. People were still proudly waving their black flags and banners of support. I've never seen so many people in Wellington (probably because I don't go out for the Sevens Weekend). What an awesome night. Gallery pictures available here. Congratulations to the All Blacks - you've done the country proud.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:20pm on Sunday October 23, 2011 :: 1 comment ::
A World of Real Emotion
Sunday September 25, 2011
Yesterday I completed Final Fantasy X after spending 141 hours on it. I defeated Penance and Nemesis, maxed almost all my stats and got all the Celestial Weapons, Crests and Sigils (I hate you, Chocobo Races). The ending was still as poignant and emotional as it was when I played FFX 10 years ago.
My strategy for Penance:
- I used Yuna, Kimahri and Rikku. Using Yuna was a mistake because Nirvana deals damage based on her MP and Penance's Immolation attack does heavy MP damage. I should have used someone with Counter Attack, like Auron.
- Rikku and Yuna had Dispel and Quick Pockets, Rikku and Kimahri had Use. All three had Quick Hit.
- Everyone had max stats except for Luck, and HP above 50000. Luck was at 89.
- Yuna's armour had Break HP Limit, Auto Haste, Auto Protect and Ribbon. Kimahri and Rikku had Break HP Limit, Auto Haste, Auto Protect and Auto Potion.
- When the battle started, Rikku Mixed Ultra NulAll, which additionally provides the effect of five Cheers, reducing physical damage from Obliteration. The next turn, she used Three Stars to reduce the party's MP cost to zero. All this time, Kimahri and Yuna Quick Hit the arms to prevent them from attacking. During the entire battle, the only time the arms got to attack was once when the Left Arm cast Slowga, which Auto Haste protects against.
- When my HP got low, Rikku's Overdrive (Comrade mode) had already recharged, so I Mixed Trio of 9999, which lets Potions heal for 9999. I Quick Pocket some Mega Potions with Yuna and get Rikku to use a Stamina Tonic to boost the party's HP to 99999.
- While there are no arms, I attacked the main body. After three million HP, Penance loses its tail and gains Haste which I dispelled using a Purifying Salt.
- In its new form, Penance uses Immolation which deals around 7000 damage with Ultra NulAll and Protect, but also causes Full Break and 999MP damage. I got Yuna to cast Dispel on the affected character and continue Quick Hitting the arms or the body as necessary.
- When Rikku and Kimahri dropped below 50000 HP, Auto Potion triggered for 9999 HP recovery, meaning Immolation can never kill them as long as Full Break is dispelled.
- When Yuna drops below 50000 HP, I get her to Quick Pocket some Potions or Mega Potions to heal the whole party. Occasionally I give her a Turbo Ether so she can cause 99999 damage with Quick Hit, but generally you can just keep her hitting the arms.
- Immolation triggers Kimahri's Counter Attack, so I get a free 99999 damage every so often.
- Eventually after a total of 12 million HP damage, you get this:
Anyway, I managed to catch the All Blacks vs France game as well. Fantastic game, though a bit of a nervous start. Congratulations to Richie McCaw on his 100th game for the All Blacks, and hopefully he can lead us to victory.
We better bloody win.
And finally, today I went to see the Lion King in 3D. The 3D was not intrusive or overly noticeable at times, which was great, but more importantly, all the things which makes the Lion King so awesome remained intact. The magnificent score, the songs, the humour, the dialogue... amazing. Brought a tear to my eye :P
So now that FFX is done and dusted... I guess it's time to get my X-2 on. What can I do for you!?
Posted by Jeremy at 1:07am on Sunday September 25, 2011 :: 2 comments ::
Change
Friday July 15, 2011
So for the past three or so weeks, I've tried growing my facial hair out, just as an experiment to see if I can grow a decent beard - which everyone knows, is vital to a person's programming ability. It's been received well at work; best compliment was from Dale ("Woah JLai, you look like you're 25 years old"). My parents were a bit shocked to see me unshaven though. I don't know how long I'll keep it. It's getting a bit itchy and long, and I will need to trim it to stop it looking gross.
Work is going well. Still busy. Thanks to this article, I can say I'm on the team working on the "social smartphone game". Whoo.
Portal 2 is going well. I'm in this large underground cavern with water and large broken spherical objects, and a tower with stairs leading to the top. The game is clever and humourous, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Final Fantasy X is also progressing. I've just finished Bevelle and I'm rolling around the Calm Lands now. Eventually I'll have to do the stupid Chocobo Racing...and those butterflies...and blitzball. Blerg.
Oh yeah. I'm on Google+.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:33pm on Friday July 15, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
July
Friday July 1, 2011
It's hard to believe it's July already. On one hand, we're getting to the coldest part of the year - this week has been absolutely freezing. On the other hand, the days are supposedly lengthening, but we won't actually notice a difference until much, much later. It's still depressing getting up in the dark and coming home in the dark.
Work has been incredibly busy. I'm finding myself having more responsibility, which is great and all, but it means I have to attend more meetings when sometimes all I want to do is just sit and program in silence, har har. Despite being busy though, I'm still enjoying where I am and what I'm doing.
I had Burger King for dinner for the first time in ages, and I'm reminded why I don't eat Burger King often.
It's gross.
Now that I have heaps of time on my hands, I've lined up a healthy set of games to keep me occupied: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2 (don't hate), Final Fantasy XII, Kingdom Hearts and my most recent purchase, Portal 2, thanks to a Steam Summer Sale. That'll keep me going for a few months!
Posted by Jeremy at 11:41am on Friday July 1, 2011 :: 0 comments ::
Final Fantasy IV DS
Saturday December 11, 2010
This has to be one of the worst designed games I've ever played, because the difficulty and level ramping of wild monster battles was absolutely atrocious. It's like someone went through the original SNES version and decided to multiply monster stats on everything by two - take the final boss, for example, which has 65,000HP in the SNES version and 150,000HP in the DS version. Despite its unfairness, I liked the story and characters, and would have probably even enjoyed the game on the whole if I had played a non-DS version.
I was tasked with the important duty of ensuring everyone was well fed at Bryce's farewell dinner last night at Majestic Cuisine. With my fellow Asian accomplice, Juliann, we decided on Chilli Blue Cod, Grilled Prawns, Crispy Skin Chicken, Pork and Taro, Black Pepper Beef, Roast Duck, Tofu and Seasonal Vegetables. I was fretting the whole night about whether we had ordered enough food, but it seemed everyone was satisfied and full, so mission accomplished and thank goodness for that. There's nothing worse than leaving hungry from a restaurant...
Anyway, a whole bunch of photos from the past month or so have been uploaded, including pictures from Guy Fawke's, BBQ at Charles', Sidhe farewells, random meals, random weather phenomena and Sunni's birthday.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:10am on Saturday December 11, 2010 :: 0 comments ::
In The News
Monday February 16, 2009
Alright, so I finally finished that piece of crap game called Final Fantasy III for the DS, and let me tell you, the final dungeon would be infuriating if you had died and had to start ALL over again and beat ALL those bosses. It's utterly ridiculous. And it had the lamest ending ever. It wasn't even a proper FMV. It was just them running around dropping all their friends off around the world. Sigh.
Anyway, there's been two things that have really been pissing me off lately.
First is the Australian forest fires, and the fact that they've been started by arsonists. I mean, for crying out loud, do they KNOW what the hell they've done? Do they comprehend the number of deaths they've caused and the number of lives they've ruined? Do they feel any remorse for what they've done? I don't understand what goes through the minds of these morons when they decide to have a bit of "fun" at the expense of a thousand lives. It's tragic, it really is.
Second is the story about a thirteen year old brat who has become a father. I quote from the newspaper article:
Asked what he would do to support the child financially, Alfie asks in a small, high-pitched voice, "What's financially?"
Does this guy even understand the responsibility of bringing up a child? Will these freaking brats stop breeding like horny rabbits and creating evil spawn that are there to steal our oxygen? Why the hell would you even have SEX with someone who has BARELY gone through puberty? Not only is this morally wrong, it's also incredibly disgusting.
NOTW also says that there may be as many as eight possible fathers, including 14-year-old Tyler Barker, who claims to be terrified at the possibility.
If you're so freaking terrified, why don't you STOP HAVING SEX WITH THESE SLUTS SO THAT YOU DON'T GET THEM PREGNANT? And furthermore, EIGHT possible fathers? What the hell is wrong with this sex-starved girl?
And the fact they're getting so much bloody media attention isn't helping. The guy is completely oblivious to the responsibilities he faces in bringing up this kid, but yet there's suddenly this incentive of tens of thousands of dollars from these moronic tabloids offering him money for an 'exclusive' documentary. Isn't that some kind of INCENTIVE for him to breed more? What is wrong with this world?
UGH.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:28am on Monday February 16, 2009 :: 1 comment ::
As the Olympics Close...
Monday August 25, 2008
We watched the failed kayaking races on Friday and Saturday night, much to the surprise of John, Jono and myself as we listened to Dave's enthusiasm for the Kiwis in Beijing. Good effort though, but not quite the result we were hoping for. After that, we decided we would drown our sorrows with some feijoa vodka...so we went to New World and bought some mixing drinks. White Grapetise and feijoa vodka = epic win.
Andrew had cooked a whole pot of rice on Friday night that he didn't use at all, so on Saturday, I decided I would use it in the most Asian fashion possible - fried rice. I will let the pictures do the talking.
Weng-Hao and I also had a 90 minute DotA game where I was Zeus and he was Clockwerk, and we were against Mortred and Spectre. We didn't get sassed, but we just had serious issues trying to break the towers while defending our own. In the end, we broke all three lanes for Mega Creeps and for the win \o/
Went swimming on Sunday again - this time to Freyberg Pools on Oriental Parade. Good exercise, yay, whatever. But more to the point, we went to the Parade Cafe afterwards for a good hot chocolate and some wedges \o/!!! Good food, yay.
Poor Andrew had been stuck in his sleeping bag all afternoon, so when I got home, he was still watching the movies he had rented. I went into my room to do some work on my websites when I heard a crash from the bathroom. I thought it was just the clothes horse that had fallen and made a noise, since I thought Andrew was still lying on the couch...but around 30 seconds later came the call "...Jeremy...". I was rushed out to the bathroom where Andrew stumbled out, saying he'd just passed out, when he started blacking out just as I grabbed him and stopped him from faceflooring. Turns out he was dehydrated and dizzy from sitting in his sleeping bag for so long. Geez.
John came home pretty soon after and started diagnosing all sorts of problems. I offered my advice - clearly it was cancer or AIDS.
Also, FF3 sucks.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:39am on Monday August 25, 2008 :: 0 comments ::