The Naturally Insane Experience

New environment. New people. New challenges.

Lots of Goodbyes.

After my less than one year stay in the High School, have to say goodbyes. And then, it was just a short 6 months and I had to leave once again... for my training. Really appreciate the help I got from all my colleagues. I really wish I could go back there after my training.

Hall Life

I have came all the way to the far west to start my training. Since it is situated in some university, and I was not able to get a hall life when I was still an undergraduate. Hence, I was determine to get a hall and relive the life as a student. I was really lucky to get a room which was super near my school, toilet, pantry, and laundry room.  

Living in hall really quite exciting. The time that was supposed to spend travelling has been greatly reduce. I was able to visit gym more often than usual, get to know more people, socializing and most importantly... sleep... lesser! Yeah, the time spend doing all those things have actually taken our sleeping time. Well, this is what we call hall life!

It was pretty ok since I don't really have to spend time committing CCAs to earn points in order for you to get rooms again for next year. That is because my training only lasts for a year. Actually if it is longer than a year, I would most probably join one CCA myself. And I would really love if the course of study is really longer than a year. I mean, who likes to work? Studying is much more enjoyable! Yes, I enjoy student life! But I am definitely not the kind who glue himself to the study desk all day. Passing is good enough for me.

I also get to know my roomie who is a Year 2 Advanced Freshie, majoring in Engineering. A more hardworking student than me. He always bring in two of his friends to study with him. If is me, it would be more like a chillax moment... So really admire his determination.

I do bring in my friends in too. I had friends who used my room for filming videos, chillaxing, and creating a mess for my service learning project!

Will definitely miss my hall life. But it was always a booking in camp feeling when returning there...

Training Course

Our training started early than the others, because our course has a lot more to cover. It involved many troublesome administrative stuff at the beginning. I thought it would be better to settle all those things first, and I became the first few people who sent in my personal particulars to the main coordinator cum lecturer. And so, he took notice of me pretty fast, and always call out my name in the lectures and tutorials for the first month. With that, we start to build rapport pretty fast.

As irritating as I am, I always like to do impressions on the teachers who taught me. And that lecturer happened to be the most easiest to imitate. So I started to imitate him in front of my groupmates. The lecturer lesson only lasted for a month, so as the second month starts (which is also the official school term), we have more new teachers teaching us, and we have another round of ice breaking session with the new teachers. We were supposed to give a self-introduction in a special setting (eg. Matchmaking session, a talkshow setting, etc). Thinking I will not be called, I did not specially prepared for it. In the end, I was still called for it. Since our tutorial sessions have been pretty awkward for the last month, I thought I could spice it up a bit. So I went on giving self-intro imitating the lecturer. It did created a big commotion, and the news spread pretty fast and it landed on all the teachers that taught us. Once again, I became sort of like teachers' pet again...

Projects

Those things aside, our course really have tons of homework with tight deadlines. It was really fortunate to have superb teammates to finish up everything promptly. Well, except for one person, and I would say I am the one to blame...

I knew this person when I first met her in Simei when I was on the way home. We were in the same tutorial group. Since we are in the same group, it would be nice to say hello and bye. But it was still ok back then. We got to talk when she suddenly appeared beside me in one of the briefing lectures and realized we both lived in the same hall, in the same block. And we got more meal outings when we both settled in the hall.

The disaster came when she insisted to be in the same group as me when the second month starts. She decided to leave her current group and claimed that we should work with different people. But according to her friend, it is because her previous group was made up of Chinese Mommies, so when comes to English-medium modules, they would not serve much help in report writing. We were all stunned by the commotion she made, but we could not do anything but just accept it...

But things got more uglier the more we work with her. I could only say she is definitely not a team player. As much as I wish the training course could be longer, thankfully I have another 1 month plus to work with her for the next semester.

I also learned a lot working with a group of girls. It was truly a emotion roller coaster I have experienced for the past 5 months. As much as our team dynamic was great, the others seemed to have their troubles too, and it affected all of our teammates as well. But I was glad we could all solve in like an adult. I was more grateful to learn how to handle situation like that from them.  

Service Learning Project / Saturday Night Fever

This was a compulsory community project. We were grouped randomly. At first, I thought our group will not be a great team. But after few sessions, I could slowly start to see the dynamics were slowly picking up.

And of course, staying in hall brought almost half of our team together. We formed a dinner group after every meetings. This group of 7 people slowly reduced to the current 4, which we call ourselves the Saturday Night Fever. There was one night when we had to stay during weekends for a workshop. The 4 of us when to crash one of the halls to chillax, and that was when I dropped my hall key. I took the night to hunt for it alone but no avail. After the second day of the workshop, it was already the next evening, and I had given up hope finding the key. It was the 3 of them, plus one more dinner gang peep, taking the effort to find my key. I was really really grateful.

The four of us decided to go Taiwan coming December! Probably will treat them for a meal when over there. Can't wait!

---

And so, this was a rough record of the journey so far for this year.

I have made so many new friends this year and I knew somehow the relationship will fade after we graduate from the course. This kind of thought always sadden me. It was always a pity when such moment is not far. My Tutorialmates, the Feverish people... I know I don't have to think about such things right now, just live the moment first!

Mini Post 12: The Impurities in the Pure Mind

After making a detour in my life, I decided to take a step back.

Taking a step back to my comfort zone.

To a place where dreams are still colorful in the eyes of many people.

To a place where utopia is still believable. 

To a place where a mirage stays forever.

To a place where people fell into a deep hypnosis.

To a place where harsh and cruelty reality are well filtered.

Do not get me wrong. This is not a negativity. 

It is a fact in my country. 

I did try what I was taught in this very place.

So, my mind was too well filtered. 

The impurities were never found in my mind,

And when they completely purified me,

They put me in a place where I was completely surrounded my impurities.

Just to make myself impure once more.

Dreams were crushed instantly with these impurities.

What is the point?

I shall now go back to this place once more.

I shall remove this pointless filter for good.

I shall break this illusion.

I shall burst the mirage bubble.

I shall release people from the hypnosis.

There is no such thing as utopia.

I shall, however, continue build dreams.

Dreams which could accept and withstand impurities.

Make even more colors brighter among the impurities.

Welcome to my true Utopia. 

消失的東東

這是一個相依為命，過後卻斬斷緣分的故事。

話說在約2008年的某一天，某人的背部上，肌膚層內長出一顆像似肉瘤的小東東。還在服兵役的他，趁他還可以得到免費的醫療照料下，給醫生檢查一下。誰知，那醫生看不到一秒鐘就馬上斷定是無害肉瘤。就這樣，這塊瘤就呆在他的背上，一起完成兵役。

到這某人上大學時，這塊東東也在`茁壯`地成長，慢慢地長了零點幾公分。某人也在（終於）生了一場病的情況下去求醫。他也順便讓醫生看了那塊似瘤非瘤的東東。大學診所的醫生看了（有觀察了1－2分鐘）也說同樣的話。這可讓這位某人傷透腦筋。到底是為什麼這塊東東會長大呢？

在2013年，某人畢了業，在半年的時間終於得到人生大學畢業後的第一份工作。最糟的是，那間公司竟然是被一群沒腦子的人經營，裡頭的其中一個同事也是個外國賤貨，害某人被沒腦子的老闆炒魷魚。不知是不是在那時的壓迫與憤怒之下，這塊似瘤非瘤的東東又好像長大了，水包也逐漸變大。也因為這東東不是長在肌膚表皮下，單單擠著它也不能讓這水包弄破。

在2014年，離職的幾個月後，放棄了追逐夢想的某人還是終於想和東東做個了斷。6月時前往政府診所要求醫師的推薦函，讓某人能在醫院以政府的資助下進行切割手術。這塊似瘤非瘤的東東似乎很在乎和某人共處8年的時間。在手術時間漸漸逼近的10月時，流下了淚水。而這淚水只是個比喻，其實是蠻噁心的。殘忍的某人還是鐵下了心，終究還是讓醫生們把東東割離了他的背後。就這樣，因為殘忍的某人的決定，東東就因此默默地走出某人的人生，慢慢地等待時間摧殘，讓它乾枯。

傷心的東東也在某人身上下了降頭，要讓某人的背部永遠會記住東東曾經存在著。某人會在康復手術的過程中亂擺動他的手臂，讓手術刀口永遠留下一道傷疤。

除此之外，東東也留下了它的種子...
希望它有一天會代替東東的位置，跟著某人的背部一起成長...

－劇終－

Game Review - Cave Story (3DS)

I picked up this game when I was dying without any other newly released games that could pique my interest. Well, this is definitely not a compliment to this game before I start playing it. I found this game as I was browsing the Nintendo eShop. This game cost 1000yen, and something just told me that I should really spend on this game. As usual, it took me a few days to consider before I really slashed out my card to get this game.

To start off, this game had its first version released on 2004, and it has several updates throughout different gaming platforms and a remake. And yes, these updates and remake were spanned across a decade ever since the first release. This retro style, 2D side-scrolling platform action, has proven itself damn worth to play. A big fan of Mega Man (Rockman) or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or even Shovel Knight are all ENCOURAGED to play this game. 

Plot (8/10)
After a few lines of dialogue, the player would find themselves controlling a human-looking male character in a small cave. Later, the player will realise that the human figure they controlling was actually once a killer robot, suffering from memory loss. It was previously tasked to investigate a mysterious floating island (which is exactly the whole game setting), and to kill off rabbit-like creatures called Mimigas. After knowing Mimigas were actually innocent creatures, you found your partner, Curly Brace. She recalled your memories about everything that had happened in this every island. The source of the problem was actually an item called Demon Crown. An ambitious Doctor now possessed this Demon Crown and tried to build a team of mutated Mimigas to rule the surface world. Curly teamed up with you to stop his evil plans.

It would be quite messy trying to understand the whole story of the game. The info given to the player was like here and there, by different people with different perspective and emotions. The story also filled with sad sacrifices, involving poor and innocent characters that were destined to be sent to their graves... A player will only get big picture of the story if they are going to get the True Ending.

EH? True Ending??

Yes, a True Ending. You think only Castlevania Series can have different endings? 

This game has 3 Endings: Bad, Normal and True Endings. To get True Ending, player must follow strictly to certain subtle conditions to get it. And it is definitely not intuitive unless referred to a guide... Since the gameplay time is very short, I recommend new players to go through the Normal Ending first, then replay to get the True Ending. This way can really better understand the whole story. The developer, Daisuke Amaya, insisted his games to have multiple endings. Even his small demo to his latest game, Kero Blaster: Pink Hour and Pink Heaven, both have multiple endings too!

The save point could be found almost every corner of the game, so players could safely plunge themselves to death! I meant to be courageous and continue forth! But to be warned, the last stage (True Ending only) has no save point or whatsoever... So you will have to keep trying! As for me, I thought it was quite frustrating, but I became so addicted to the stage, I would not stop replaying the stage!

Anyway~~~ There is still some little setback about this game...
The bad thing about this game - The cutscenes were not skippable! Despite being not a long conversation kind like Final Fantasy or Golden Sun, it was rather annoying to keep tapping A or B button to skip through every line.

Characters and Weapons (9/10)
Those who have played Golden Sun will have to have a sense of Deja Vu. Because this is main character robot, is completely mute! Not that he has could not speak, just that you are controlling him and you will only answer YES or NO. You would not see him getting any dialogues in the cutscenes at all. 

But there is an extra feature mode, Curly Story. In this mode, the roles of the male robot and Curly the female robot were switched, in which player takes control of Curly instead. And player will notice Curly interacts way much more with other characters than the male robot! Other than the speechless male robot, the other characters all served good purposes in the game and each has their own unique personalities. The only confusing thing I had is keep confused with the Mimigas, Sue and Toroko... (Totally like how Misery mistook them as well!)

A typical RPG genre, levelling up! BUT! Instead of the main characters levelling up, the weapons did the trick instead! The robots must pick up the yellow triangles thingy after defeating an enemies to level up their weapons. The max level for each weapon is only till Level 3, which could be easily obtained. However, the catch is... If player received damage, their weapon level WILL decrease as well! There were also several weapons available in the game, and a player can only carry max up to 5 weapons, he must choose wisely when they are faced with options if they are to switch weapons. The choice they made will affect if they could eventually get the most powerful weapon as well!

Music (9/10)
The soundtrack of this game is mainly done by the programmer, the design, basically everything himself too! Yup, is Daisuke again. Cannot really describe further how talented he is. The music for each stage and area in the island was really well-tailored. From the theme for Mimiga Village, Egg Corridor to the Boss Theme, will leave your mind automatically playing those melodies on loop!

Version Releases
As mentioned earlier, there are many versions released up to now. Mine was 3DS Classic Version. Those who have played this game can see the various types of release on the various platforms, and see what are the features your version has to offer. 

Cave Story Version Differences

Overall Verdict (9/10)
This game definitely got its own story to tell. You can definitely feel the work that has been put in by just a small team or even just Daisuke himself.

Pangdemonium Presents: Chinglish

Source: http://pangdemonium.com/productions/chinglish

跟他說你們美國人真坦率，我喜歡！

Minister said he like you Americans! Very Rude!

Lost in Translation. Don't cha just love it?

The trailer appeared right in front of me when I was randomly youtubing in my free time. It caught my eye immediately and thought this really could be my second experience catching a play. 

My First Theatrical Play - Fear of Writing

Ever since the compulsory play we were told to watch, Fear of Writing, during my TS1101, I felt like I was trapped inside the real time emotion played right out by the stage actors. Everything is done by one take. No NG, no mistakes. Other than the conventional stage play, Fear of Writing was a creative playout as it made use of the audience, and made them part of the play! It was mindblown and was a huge step for me to immerse into the great world of performing arts. 

Chinglish - A Brief Introduction

This second play is a normal stage play. The part that attracted me the most is none other than the funny translations! Many bilingual netizens should have known about the funny English-translated signs in China that made many of them laugh their heads off. This story writer was using this as a inspiration to write a story about the forbidden love of an American businessman and a Chinese Vice-Minister. In the midst of romance, sex and even sadness, this play will never fail to break that atmosphere with one or two lost in translation joke! 

Drama Centre - Holding Area

As we reached the holding area, there are so many stand up signs of the actors and actresses and a huge poster for people to take photos. I did not expect there will be sooooo many people. Nevertheless, it was nice to see so many people would come and watch the show. And THEY ENTERED IN AN ORDERLY FASHION without much queue control. 

Actually, I did not read the synopsis before watching the play. I wanted to challenge myself to get tte gist of the story without much aid. Phew, luckily the story was not too cheem. Haha.

PEOPLE WERE ALSO ALL PUNCTUAL (well, except two people), PROPERLY SEATED,  AND NO PHONE INTERRUPTION AT ALL THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE SHOW.

Stage Settings and Transitions

The show started with the funny girl (Audrey, starred in the trailer) stepping out to remind us about not to use handphone in a very simple YET extremely funny way.

The stage setting was also very simple, rotatable yet modern looking. The change of settings was just a simple rotating action without much help from the stage crew people to carry or bring the props in and out. Most actions were all done backstage. All the transitions were smooth and tight, but the music used during the transitions were from songs by Jay Chou and Cyndi Wang, some of which were kinda inappropriate to the theme, and left us a bit perplexed. 

Story and Script

The story depicts how two languages clashed and sparked off many hilarious lost in translation jokes. On an intercultural level, it portrayed some hiccups when people from two totally different backgrounds worked together. It could also be in a situation where you totally mistook the message and almost about the made a serious error in your life. 

It was comical and yet serious. 

It was daring and yet cowardly. 

It was modern and yet oriental.   

I shall not reveal too much. But most theatrical plays like to leave people thinking about the world. Your life. The subtext. The truth. 

This play does it too. The struggle of the power between two nations. But not too cheem like Fear of Writing. 

The script was also well thought of with many quirks and classical dialogues. You can feel how intense the script was when two people: American and Chinese, without an interpreter, had to speak with all their might just to get each other to understand a small concept. 

Actor and Actresses

The acting crew was amazing. No flaws. No tongue tied. The expressions and emotions - Simply awesome. Or probably that is just the fundamental thing each of the acting crew must have. I know nothing more about them since I still not familiar with this industry yet (except for Guo Liang and Adrian Pang). But probably Adrian Pang And Oon Shu An still need to work a bit more to pull off the China Chinese Accent. They should learn from Chua Enlai and Alaric Tay!! Thumbs up for Matt Grey pulling off great Chinese even though he is not a Chinese speaker!!!

Overall

Thanks for reading this piece of junk!!! Haha. Of course my way of writing is still not comparable to those any kind of standard written reviews. But in the end, it is just a way for me to remember such an excellent piece of performance by Singapore. I really want to support Singapore production. As much as I could.

This play was actually done in Broadway in 2011, by David Henry Hwang. Now this was brought in by Adrian Pang to show you how Broadway could be done better here in Singapore! The last day was actually on the day I typed this blog. Did not regret buying ticket to watch this excellent piece. And really. This is a play Singaporeans must watch. Because all the 洋鬼子 and Cheenas confirm cannot understand the translation joke at all!! Haha.


Other notable reviews:
http://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/no-language-barrier
http://whatsnext.sg/singlish-or-chinglish/
http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/quick-sketch-of-cultural-misunderstanding-or-realistic-portrait-chinglish-cant-decide

Chinglish, it will kick your ass!

Chinglish, 會踢你屁股!

Hyperthyroidism

It all began with the sudden lost in weight.

Towards the end of May, after one infection on my skin for 2 months or so, I was rather shocked. I was hitting the gym one day to discover the 62kg of weight I maintained months dropped to 58kg without any particular reason. After another month, my weight dropped another 2kg. My shorts began to give way and became damn loose on me. 

I thought the main cause was stress. 

I also realised the limbs tremble ever since I recovered from the infection as well. I thought it might some little side effect from the medicine I took for the infection. 

I went for a 2.5 months continuous teaching in the same Secondary School. I was requested to replace a teacher who went for a course in NIE. As time passed, people started to notice I got thinner my cheek became much thinner as well.

After the term was over, I weighed myself and was distraught...

It was fifty freaking three kg. 

I decided to bring it up to the doctor when I was having pre-op consultation for the excision of the sebaceous cyst on my back. During the consultation, we suspected the probably case of thyroidism. A lifelong condition my mum had more than 10 years back... 

I may appear like we finally know the answer and feel like normal. But deep down I thought it was a freaking women disease. Freaking no guy around me got this kind of disease. I began to hate myself for having yet another woman-like thingy. When I was young, I looked totally like a girl on makeup. I was told my gestures are very girl like. There were many times I start questioning myself if I was born the wrong gender when I had depression. 

I finally got through the bad times, but how come these things just keep coming back to me... -_-

After a couple of blood tests and ultrasound test, it was confirmed to be hyperthyroidism, not hypothyroidism. Due to this condition, I had to once again, postponed my operation... 

Oh wells, I had to be observed... I was given medicine worth a few weeks to see how before I can continue my operation. 

Maybe this might be a good thing to slim down my little tummy to reveal my last 2 packs. But I will still rather regain my original weight! Time to bulk up!!! Protein powder? Hehe.

Game Review - BRAVELY SECOND: END LAYER

Bravely Default Players should have known this game.

It a sequel to the brand new series that Square Enix created in 2012. With the success of the first game, the developers had the motivation to create this second game, to complete the loop. They made several adjustments and improvements to the first game to complete the loop.

WARNING SPOILERS FOLLOW.

I intend to spoil the whole story.

Setting (7/10)

It was 2.5 years in the World of Luxendarc since the Ouroboros attempt to destroy the world. The World of Luxendarc was safe and peace until an unknown Masked Man, who called himself Emperor Oblivion, intruded a chapel and kidnapped Agnes. Agnes, now the Queen of Crystal Orthodoxy, was brought to the Emperor Castle. The adventure started with a team of 3 musketeers to help save their Queen.  

Fans who followed the promotion videos and played the demo, some would think that the total number of playable characters is 6. BUT NO! This is half true. The first two characters were accomplices of the Emperor! (I kinda expected actually. :P )

As usual, the story is broken down into 2 parts. The first part of the story developed quite during the first 4 chapters. Each chapter depicted how the characters travelled from one continent to another. After travelled to the last continent, if the players are not smart enough (like me), the game will end with this bad ending, leaving the players totally unsatisfied with the game.

At the end of Chapter 4, this is the part where the meaning of the sub title comes in. The Emperor will activate a device, leaving that time of the world to stop eternally. This phenomenon is called ''End Layer'', where the time layer of this parallel world stops. If the players don't get the hint given in the game, they would not carry on with the story.

The second part begins once the players managed to get the hint to release them from the ''End Layer''. By now, the hidden meaning of ''End Layer'' is revealed in the title screen.

Yup. The game revolves this term called SP, which is a power of time. To get off the End Layer world, the players were sent back in time to stop the phenomenon from occurring. By adding S and P to the sub title, it became ''Send Player''. While the developers had their own explanation of the meaning, I would prefer it as ''Sending the Players back into time''. 

The second part of the story was far shorter than the first game. It was only 2 chapters. One chapter to stop Emperor Oblivion from activating the End Layer again, and the other to stop the final boss. The fight with the final boss has also quite an interesting plot. But I shall not reveal too much to this instead. (Even though I had revealed so much of the plot...)

A total of 6 Chapters only, this story seems to be a bit shorter than the usual FF kind of game, which I felt is something amiss. The Hidden Meaning of the Sub Title this time doesn't seem like as impactful as ''Lying Airy'. But the part to crack the key to Chapter 5 did blew off my mind. But the most surprising element is just this part... The rest of the story was not too fantastic as the first one. In Bravely Default, we did not know that Airy was the bad guy. It was the time and feeling built up in the whole 8 chapters that we were caught by surprise in the very end. But in Second, when Emperor Oblivion had another same looking fairy with him in the very beginning, we would have all guessed that she was the one controlling that guy. So nothing much really surprising throughout the story other than the truly creative part in the middle. 

Many people did mentioned that this story was too closely linked with the previous game, and which is not a good principle when designing a sequel game. Because this will not appeal to new gamers to the Bravely Series. But I thought it might be a nice move to boost the sales of the previous title. It is quite evident when Japanese has introduced a free play of the first 4 chapters to the game, and has greatly decreased the price of the first game as well. 

I was also hoping to see the rebuilt Norende, but the place is still shrouded in cloud of darkness... 

Characters (9/10)

The game featured 2 same and 2 new playable characters. The previous game setting provided detailed backgrounds to all main characters. However, this time, one character, Magnolia, her background was remained as a mystery. She claimed that she was from the moon, and we did ''reconstructed'' her homeland. But how much do we really know about that? And how much do we know about her commander Blackberry? It would probably be a foreshadow for the next game. But we would never know if the sales of this game is good enough for the third game. 

The new Asterisk Holders, like the previous game, had their own stories and touching moments as well. And their plus point, they even added more stories to the previous Asterisk Holders as well. How some of the really bad asses had turned over a new leaf and helped people or the country is many ways.

Music (7/10)

Till now, I am still wondering why the composer of this game has changed. WHY?! 
It doesn't mean that this composer sucks. But the original music guy, Revo, the famous epic music creator, made really cool and epic music that made Bravely Default. The first game is not Bravely Default without this music epicness. 

From the first time I played the Demo, I was like... Urgh, what battle theme was that. But glad to see ryo(supercell) tried his best to recreate that epicness. It was still not comparable to Revo's work. It was still a commendable effort in his part. I still quite like a few pieces. 

Battle and Job System (10/10)

After introducing Bravely Default battle system, now the Bravely Second was implemented in this game. By using it, players can freeze the time in the battle to take attack without using their BP. This feature was actually not the first time it was introduced. It appeared in the first game as well. However, Japanese Players who did not played Bravely Default: For the Sequel will not know about this system. 

This feature in Bravely Default was also acted as a key to link the Bravely Second story together. I thought it was a clever move as well.

This SP is also another clever move. It also allowed IAP... which we called it as ''In-App Purchase'', because when player used up his SP. Instead of waiting 8 hours, they can purchase to fill up the gauge instantly.

The developers also added shortcut keys for Bravely and Default options, having auto battle system as well to mature and complete the whole system.

Overall Final Verdict (8/10)

Nonetheless, it was a game for Bravely fans. The cliffhanger in the game still somehow hint the plot for the third game. The third key... How about Bravely Third: Last Sword?

Game Review: 大逆転裁判 -成歩堂龍ノ介の冒險-

大逆転裁判 -成歩堂龍ノ介の冒險-
Dai Gyakuten Saiban -Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken-
The Great Ace Attorney -The Adventure of ''Ryuunosuke'' Wright- 

Welcome to another Amateur Review. This might be a review that you may not agree with. But this is how I feel after playing this game for the first time. 

This is the 8th installment of the Gyakuten series (Ace Attorney series). The father of the Gyakuten Series, Shu Takumi, is back to produce and direct this game. 

Ace Attorney players by now should be very familiar with the gameplay style of this series. This game series is an interactive visual story, where the players would take up the role as a lawyer to defend their client to get a ''NOT GUILTY'' verdict. The storyline is not a typical survival horror type, it is usually linear and will not have multiple outcomes. 

It was not long when Gyakuten Saiban 5 was out in the market when they released the news to make this game. Instead of Gyakuten Saiban 6, Shu Takumi decided to take the story back to the past, to the ancestors.

A totally New Gyakuten Story
Personally, I think by bringing the story to the past, it is another way to start everything anew. After releasing 5 mainstream games for this series, it would be harder to come up with stories and yet to be constrained by the personalities of the characters they have set for each of them. It would be so much easier to create stories with a set of brand new characters for them to unleash more of their creativity. 

WARNING SPOILERS FOLLOW.

I intend to spoil the whole story. which is necessary to follow up the review.

Story (6/10)

This game consists of 5 episodes and 5 cases. Each episode is pretty much on its own. Except Case 3 and Case 5 which are closely linked, which is rather disappointing. Fans of this series would have noticed the following several things.  

The Theme and The Mastermind

Let's look at the following games:

Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright - Dual Destinies) 

--> Phantom

Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth)

--> Yatagarasu

Gyakuten Kenji 2 (Not localised)

--> Mastermind Puppet

The words in bold are actually the theme of the each game that linked the whole 5 cases in each game. Ever since there is this ''Theme'' about the greatest villain that ties all the cases and episodes together, I kinda like this concept. It creates more suspense and a more complete picture which gives the ''mindblown'' effect when the final episode is finally completed. Even in the first Gyakuten Saiban game, Case 1, Case 2 and Case 4 are pretty much inter-related, and then the greater picture is revealed in Gyakuten Saiban 2 and 3. 

However, in this latest game, there not much relation between each episode. The whole theme is more about how Naruhodou Ryuunosuke got about being a law student instead and his encounters in London during his studies. I hope this is actually to build the foundation for the 2nd game for this title.

Unsolved Mystery in Episode 2

In this case, which is another tragedy similar to Ayasato Chihiro (Mia Fey), it was told that the murder accidentally occurred because of a cat. The case was indeed solved. However, that cat was never found!!! Although the owner admitted that the murder, I still think that finding the cat in the end gives a more complete picture, which makes the whole case more complete and feasible. 

The Missing Interaction with the Prosecutor

Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth), Karuma Mei (Franziska von Karma), Godot, Garyuu Kyouya (Klavier Gavin) and Yuugami Jin (Simon Blackquill).

Familiar with all these prosecutors? These are all the featured prosecutors in all the Gyakuten Saiban series. Notice these prosecutors not only appeared in court, but they did engaged conversation with the player outside court as well. However the featured prosecutor in this game, Baroque, did not appeared elsewhere outside court at all... 

The lack of interaction outside the game left more mysteries on this unknown prosecutor... The story mentioned he was a Shinigami (Death God Prosecutor), and took a hiatus for about 7 years. But no details were mentioned anywhere about all these. I thought it would eventually mentioned in the final case. But he did not appeared anywhere else... 

Hope this is also another foreshadow to a bigger story... 

Characters (9/10)

The setting mainly revolves around London. So most characters are based on the foreign land. And in fact, I feel that the team is also a bit lazy coming up with their own original characters, so they based most of them from the novel ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''. Even Tobias Greyson also appeared in the game as well. 

The main character is Naruhodou Ryuunosuke proved that he can improve throughout his adventures in this game. You could actually see the growth in him from the first to last case. Instead of the usual ''Hold It!'' to press the testimony, he used ''Yup!'' in the first case. It is also evident that his confidence level progressed well in the game.

The assistant in this game is Mikotoba Susato, a refined, cultured, and the know-it-all young lady. This is something refreshing. Because in the past games, the assistants were usually hot-headed, less girly type. She also had a special self-defense skill which could send Ryuunosuke upside-down. She is also the first assistant (or game) without any fancy device or gadget that seemed unrealistic in real-life. 

1. Mayoi (Maya) has the Magatama to summon dead souls.

2. Harumi (Pearl) has the Magatama to uncover the mental locks.

3. Mikumo (Kay) has the Little Thief to simulate scene with Holograms.

4. Housuke (Apollo) has the bangle to discover lies.

5. Kokone (Athena) has Mood Matrix to identify witness's emotions. 

However, instead of the ever serious with a hint of sarcasm personality, CAPCOM created a lively and a funny Holmes. And a Holmes that ALWAYS gave not-so-accurate deductions. And instead of John Watson, Iris Watson became Holmes's new assistant, which allowed more dramatic comedy effect in each conversation.  

The other characters had their own dumb-looking, funny and typical personalities. The design of all these characters are well taken care of. It seems like they have fixed the idea of having a symbol for each main characters.

Music (9/10)

Welcome to London! So expect to hear the type of the BGM that uses LOTS OF Bandoneon!!! Yup! You will somehow feel that you are playing Professor Layton! Is interesting to have such a feel that is the same as playing Professor Layton VS Gyakuten Saiban.

Exclusive Features  (8/10)

Joint Deductions
This is somehow like the Chess Logic Game featured in Gyakuten Kenji 2. It is during the investigations where the players will press on further on the witness or case-related characters to know more facts about the case.

This brought in the famous Sherlock Holmes, who ''purposely'' made wrong or funny deductions, which always ended up in a wrong conclusion. Ryuunosuke, or you, will have to correct that wrong deductions.

This is quite a interesting feature where the game fully utilised the 3D environment. And it brings more drama and funny reactions to the game. 

Jury Examination

Jury System is more evident in Western countries. And just nice, since the setting is in London, the developers carefully brought in this into the game. The logic behind the examination is the same as well. Finding contradiction. Players have to find 2 statements that contradict each other. 

Downloadable Content DLC (5/10)

Non-playable Story
Unlike Gyakuten Saiban 5, in which the DLC provides more detective questions and even another playable interesting case to solve!

Contrary to the previous game, the DLC comes in the form called ''RANDST Magazine''. The magazines come in total of 8 volumes. Each volume contains a short story featuring a conversation between the characters, unreleased BGM, a short video of Shu Takumi's Commentary, illustrations and a free 3DS Theme Wallpaper on the Homepage. 

As much as the contents may sound, it was nothing much. The short stories were just text that you have to keep pressing A button. And it was not any detective kind of story that players can play and solve. It was more interaction with the main characters. 

AND NO INTERACTION WITH BAROQUE AGAIN!!!

Lacking Features

Memo

Remember this feature? It helps the players when they are stuck during the investigations. It did not appear in this game!!! And since Susato appeared to carry a mini encyclopedia around, why can't that be a tool they can use to be a diary to keep track of their investigation?

Hint (After Pressing too Long during Cross-Examination)

Another feature in Gyakuten Saiban 5 to help stuck players when they could not get past a Cross Examination. This feature is not included as well! I did stuck for 2 Cross Examination though... 

Overall (7/10)

This is the overall verdict. It was rather disappointing, but still have to thank the developers continued this legacy! 

The end of the story seemed to hint a Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2, but we have to support the effort the developers have done, so could motivate them to continue making such games!!!

After leaving my First Job...

The stress, the insecurity, the fear, the nightmare.

All these were how I felt during the 9 months of my first job. I recorded down in Japanese how bad the company was and it was one of my previous posts. It was horrendous. A boss can be totally no faith in their employees, but trust a foreign talent with no other apparent skills, other than using Microsoft Paint. I always kindly helped that FT when she met any difficulties with IT stuff, and yet she could still betray me. Nevertheless, I heard that disgusting FT was sacked as well, and I still wish that company would just continue the way how the founders managed it. No foresight, no planning, no knowledge about IT industry, and no welfare for employees. The only thing that keeps the company running is a strong financial backup from a particular source that I shall not reveal. 

I do check the website back once in a while though. It seems like there are already some social media accounts that were already inactive for almost a year. Good, keep it that way. The way how they torment me, how they abuse me, have already wounded my heart deeply. The deep scar they have inflicted in my heart will never ever be healed...

Anyway, after gaining some experience through more interviews and some reflection, I have decided to take a step back from entering IT industry. And pursue my old dream: To become a teacher. 

What was holding back me previously was handling students... But after going through the first job, I tell myself, I should totally educate the young kids, not to be like these people when they grow up. 

I started relief teaching duties at Holy Innocents` High School. So far was quite enjoyable, even though they are quite an unexpected number of mischievous, rebellious and talkative students. At least the teaching staff is really a bunch of nice people, which makes me feel quite homely. 

During Term 3, I took over a teacher temporary while she went back to NIE for a short term course. And now Week 8 is over. Time passes so freaking fast. And I really dunno if I had taught in the correct way, in the correct manner. But I do enjoy teaching so far. Not really enjoy as compared to drawing and designing. Nonetheless, it is still a job that I know I can stick with it. 

Left 1.5 weeks more. And even though I shouted and scolded the classes a lot, I think I will still miss them. I`m quite an affectionate person after all. I will try not to stick too much emotions into it. Hehe.

Game Review - BRAVELY DEFAULT: FLYING FAIRY

3DS Players should have known this game. 

This game is a new title from Square Enix, the maker of the famous Final Fantasy. This game, BRAVELY DEFAULT is so called to be another Final Fantasy, because this game rekindle the name of the Four Warriors of Light. Hence, this game is known to have only 4 playable characters, namely Tiz Arrior, Edea Lee, Ringabel and Agnes Oblige. The story is set in the world of Luxendarc, a world powered by 4 enormous crystals. 

WARNING SPOILERS FOLLOW.

I intend to spoil the whole story.

Setting (8/10)

In the world of Luxendarc, the four crystals suddenly were swallowed by darkness. A hole suddenly appeared and engulfed a little town of Norende, Tiz's hometown. As the sole survivor, he teamed up with Agnes, Edea, and Ringabel, and guided by the little fairy, Airy, they set off to uncover the truth of the Darkened Crystals. 

The story was nicely broken down into a prologue, and then 5-9 chapters, depending on the type of endings the player seeks. 

The first part of the story developed quite during the first 4 chapters. Each chapter depicted how the characters travelled from one continent to another. And also each chapter will purify one crystal. After which, a Holy Pillar should appear to stabilize the whole situation. However, after entering the Holy Pillar, the world seems return back to the state before the crystals were purified! 

(This kind of story also remind me of Golden Sun, where the heroes travelled the world to light up 4 lighthouses despite people trying to stop.)

After that, the progression may slow down during the next few chapters, depending on the player's intention as well. Due to the subquests, it may slow the players down. But players could also just go ahead to purify all 4 crystals directly. Purifying all 4 crystals will trigger the next chapter. And this action was repeated for the next 4 chapters, until chapter 8. 

On the side note, if a player decided to break a crystal instead of purifying them during any chapter between 5 - 8, this will trigger the bad ending. And the player will not fight the final boss to end the game. 

If a player obediently followed the fairy, Airy's instructions until the end of Chapter 8. The story will proceeded to the final chapter. But either way, whether is Bad Ending or True Ending, the story would hint that the characters did not went back in time at all. They taken to another parallel world instead. By unlocking 5 sets of crystals would channel enough energy for the mastermind, Ouroboros to awaken, and the mastermind's assistant was none other than Airy. 

By the time, when Airy's true intention was revealed, the Main Title will reveal its true title (by taking out FF) as:
BRAVELY DEFAULT: LYING AIRY

During the final boss fight, when the characters were in despair, Agnes's pendant would reveal that it is a device that could communicate with their other selves in the parallel world. (And that explains the part during all the battle, players could actually summon other players to assist in battle). 

When I reached that moment, it was the point when I felt that the struggle I had been through during Chapters 5 -8 was worth it. And which kinda make sense. 

Characters (10/10)

The game featured 4 playable characters, with their own background stories, and each character's development along the story progression was well written. Their personalities were all well written, which is why I enjoyed the story even though the second part of the game might be a bit too tiring. 

Music (10/10)

Revo, the soul of Linked Horizon and Sound Horizon, was also the soul of this game's music. It went too well with all the places, and especially battle themes. I can just replay the music in my minds. TOO EPIC!!! Trust me, only a good piece of BGM can gain the recognition and having the very own BRAVELY DEFAULT Concert. The concert was really amazing. 

Battle and Job System (8/10)

Battle system was quite refreshing with the concept of Bravely and Default, which allows a lot of fighting combinations. The job system was even amazing, adds on to the different fighting combinations too. But the characters can only obtain more jobs when players defeated the Asterisk Holder Bosses, which kinda reminds of Rockman though. 

Overall Final Verdict (9/10)

I have only played the Japanese Version of the FLYING FAIRY, not the improved version, FOR THE SEQUEL. So I did not get the experience of the improved battle system. And I didn't expect the concept of Bravely Second (Time stopping) to be featured in it as well. If I played FOR THE SEQUEL, I might give it 10/10! But the part where players can use Bravely Second might not be well explained in the story...