Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Bleach meme: Characters that are fun to poke fun at~

1. Byakuya Kuchiki
Serious, snobbish, powerful, calm, and good looking. A man whom Shinigami women go bananas over.
(LOL pun intended for this captain who likes bananas)
Now who wouldn't want him to be the butt of all jokes? XD
Ain't it fun to see Byakuya being constantly annoyed by Kurosaki Ichigo, Yoruichi Shihouin, Yachiru Kusajishi, and the Shinigami Women's Association?
...And ain't it fun to see epic expressions from him? XD


Byakuya's epic expression upon his defeat against Yachiru

2. Toushiro Hitsugaya
If being treated like a kid already gets in his nerves, what more from his subordinate? XD
He's often annoyed at his subordinate, Rangiku Matsumoto, who always spends her time slacking off than doing her job. No wonder this kid is always so grumpy~ XD
Good thing there's Juushiro Ukitake who often gives him candies and stuffs (because they're both "Shiro-chan")

Yes, Shiro-chan, she's referring to you~

3. Gin Ichimaru
What's not to love about Gin? Aside from being a real bad-ass, he's a really good and funny segment host~ XD
Even though our lovable "Arrancar Encyclopedia" host has several issues with both Shinigami and Arrancar alike, he still manages to pull off that big smile of his and do his job well~ XD
Mayuri did a great job making Gin open his eyes~ XD

4. Hisagi Shuuhei
Mature, calm, and another bad-ass. Who ever thought that this dude can be so cracked sometimes? ....And still be easily brought to tears~? XD
D'awwwww~! Teary-eyed Hisagi~~ XD




5. Izuru Kira
Of course, if Hisagi's there, Kira will most likely be there as well~
Gloomy, introspective, inconfident... and emo. No wonder he's often the butt of all jokes~ XD
Kira--forever loyal to his captain~


Thursday, April 14, 2011

Art Exhibition: BINHI


The exhibit will be showing different illustrations and interpretations made by each artist on the popular Philippine creation myth, "Si Malakas at si Maganda."

Opening Night: April 25, 2011 at LRI Design Plaza (6pm to 10pm)

Participating Artists:

Roy Jann Roger Diaz
Desiree Charm Lombos
Joseph Isaac James Mendez
Katrina Aurea Umawing
April Kristine Lacson
Melvin John Alvarez
Marc Aromin
Carl Regis Abuel

Saturday, January 8, 2011

RPG: Metanoia

Genre: 3D animation, Adventure, Fantasy, Family
Release Date: Dec. 25, 2010



The first full-length Filipino 3D animation and an entry at the 36th Metro Manila Film Festival that bagged '3rd Best Film' plus the 'Best Original Theme Song' and 'Best Sound Recording Awards.'

First off, congratulations to all Filipino animators! Truly, this is a good jump start in the field of 3D full-length animation in the Philippines!


RPG: Metanoia, as mentioned above, is the first full-length 3D animation in the Philippines. It did quite a good jump start being the first one of its kind in the country. It is also very Filipino. Not only Filipino elements are seen throughout the film, but it also reflects the Filipino family, society, and culture. The graphics, animation, soundtrack, and technicalities are all good, though there are some problems in the animation. As for the story, it's simple and cute, however, there are some (or a lot) of flaws in it.

Regarding the animation, there are some parts where the voice obviously doesn't sync with the mouth movements. But the dubbing was good (LOL Aga Muhlach, you are so obvious, haha!)

The characters (the kids) are cute and energetic. They're not boring and they're sure to entertain viewers.

The script unfortunately, wasn't updated, hence, resulting to the so-yesterday humor. So, people with shallow humor are the ones who could appreciate such old fart jokes... and kids as well.
The characters' in-game character names weren't used in-game (except once or twice). It would've been better if the game character names were used in the in-game scenes and the character names in real life. Those names ended up kinda being a waste. AND those names were in ads and standees.

RPG is a family-oriented film, hence, its main target audience are kids and families. It's meant to have a lesson; something that'll teach children something good in the end. But that doesn't mean that the story should be so-so. Gamers, especially online gamers, and techie people would probably get this film's attention based on the title itself.

(I don't want to go very deep into discussing the flaws in the story so I'll just put the main details about those flaws.)
First, is the story's main problem. The problem could've been solved immediately before the widespread online chaos occurred. Second, it is possible the problem would have not occurred. Third, there are plot holes and logical flaws. Fourth, the Metanoia game system.
(Let me bet your boots that gamers, online gamers, and techie people are going to bash the whole Metanoia game system.)
Fifth, the method used to threaten imply on what bad thing will happen when playing too much is wellllllll.... a little so..so...yesterday. Seriously, children nowadays are aware of technological stuffs and trends.

...Okay, I might have said too much (or thought too much)...
...I'm thinking whether I should post an in-depth analysis on this or not (I'm thinking too much again >_\)

Graphics: Good
Soundtrack: Good
Animation: Good
Story: Lame
Script: O-kay


Overall, it was a good and entertaining movie.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Game Review: Suikoden I

Genre: RPG
Developer: Konami
Producer: Konami
Platform: Sega Saturn, Playstation, PSP (although thanks to emulators, I was able to play it again~ XP)




Suikoden is the first of the Suikoden series. Players take control of the son of one of Scarlet Moon Empire's Five Great Generals, who is destined to lead the 108 Stars of Destiny and bring peace and freedom to the war-torn land bound by corruption.




Just finished this game again~! XD
Yes, I spent my holiday playing this. The last time I played this was way back in high school, and playing it again feels so nostalgic~
Yeah, it's kinda veryyyyy late to put up a review on this game, but what the heck, for the sake of those people who missed the chance or would like to play this game.

Konami did a good start on the series with this. The story's simple yet different from the usual RPGs emerging at the time of its release (1995). It also has amazing backgrounds compared to RPGs at that time, and the music's beautiful as well. The game's main feature is its 108 recruitable characters, both playable and non-playable.


Gameplay
The gameplay's like the traditional RPG where the player controls the character on the field and does various missions to advance in the story. The player's party consists of six characters that are freely chosen by the player and controlled during combat. Of course, the main character being the leader, cannot be removed from the party, and in some parts of the story, there are some characters that cannot be removed in the party because their role is needed in that certain part.
There are three types of battle system in Suikoden. One is where the player engages a random encounter battle in the world map or in a dungeon. The combat system is turn-based where the player can choose to fight the enemies, escape or let go of them, bribe them, run away, or automatically attack them. The characters on the other hand, can perform attacks, magic, and unite or co-op attacks with other characters. Characters' battle formation can be classified by the types of weapon they are using: S for short-range (swords, knuckles, claws, rods), M for mid-range (staffs, spears, axes), and L for long-range (bows, throwing knives). Hence, a short-ranged character can't do an attack if he/she is put in the back. It's game over whenever all six characters run out of hit points (HP), however there are certain incidents where winning is optional or the player will really lose the battle.

Unite attack: Pretty Boy Attack


Runes are sources of magic in the world of Suikoden. To be able to use them, the player must have it attached in the character at a rune shop. Only one rune can be attached per character. A certain rune has four spell levels, and each level has a certain number of times that can be used per battle. There are some runes however, that put special add-on skills to the character, like dealing more critical blows or dealing double damage.

Hit points and magic are restored by taking a rest at inns or at certain places (like a coffin) or talking to certain people. Status ailments are recovered as well.

Yes, you can rest in the coffin, whether you like it or not.


Equipment can be bought at the shop. Weapons, however, aren't. Instead, they are sharpened by blacksmiths to strengthen them. Although, there are some characters which the player can't change or remove equipments.

The second battle system is the War battle. It is here where the hero's army clashes with the enemy's army. The victory condition is to eliminate the enemy's forces, which is shown instead of hit points. The player commands the army to either do a Charge attack, Bow attack, Magic attack, or other methods (like raising the charge attack, spying on the next enemy move, or make enemies turn traitors). It's like a rock-paper-scissor game, where Charge is weak against Magic, Magic is weak against Bow, and Bow is weak against Charge. It's game over when all the players forces are eliminated, though there are certain war battles that are impossible to win because it's part of the story.

The third battle system is the Duel battle. Here, the player engages in a one-on-one battle and it also has a rock-paper-scissor system. The player has the option to do a normal attack, defend, or desperate attack. Attack beats defend, defend beats desperate attack, and desperate attack beats attack.

When it's game over, the player must restart from a save point where he/she last saved the game.


Headquarters
Unlike other RPGs where the characters just travel around the world and spend the night on different places, in Suikoden, the hero's army has a headquarters that expands whenever the player has recruited a certain number of characters.
In the headquarters, the player can put up the following if the player recruits the characters needed for these:
- Item shop
- Armory
- Rune shop
- Smithy
- Inn
- Vault (for storing items)
- Library
- Bath house (where the player can put various antiques)
- Appraisal (for appraising unknown antiques)
- Mural

Taking a soak in the bath for too long makes your characters red~


The player can also play mini-games if he/she is able to recuit characters that provide these mini-games.



Characters
The numerous characters of Suikoden (playable, enemy, and side characters) is the game's main feature. Some of them would later appear in other Suikoden games. The hero is a silent character, having no dialog in the game except for the choices presented to the player on how the hero will act or respond to the situation. 

Players have the option to make fun of the hero.


If the player successfully recruits all 107 characters (the player's character, the hero being the 108th) before a certain point in the game, a good ending awaits the player rather than the normal one.