Moar figurines...!! @_@

It's only been one week since the start of my figurine history and already I have a total of 6 figurines... @_@...!!! *Headdesks and dies* 2 of them are large (21cm), 2 are medium (14cm) and 2 small ( < 5cm).

I've already posted a pic of my first figurine (Ace) 2 entries ago, so here's my 2nd medium figurine - Grimmjow. He's the only figurine I have that isn't from One Piece (an outcast...? XD!) and he's a dollar more expensive than Ace. Hahaha! Currently he sits on top of my right speaker together with a 4cm mini-Ace (cos' I really have no place else to put him. o_o) If they come up with a sexy hawt 21cm Grimmjow in the future (cos' it doesn't exist at the moment), it won't take me a second to teleport to the store and buy it, that is, assuming the figurine matches his looks. *_*

Next... I f*ckin' bought LUCCI!! @__@!! *Dies* I wasn't planning on buying him at all but seeing him at the store made me itch for him so bad (cos' he looks SOOO BADASS!!@#$^) my wallet flew to the counter on its own! *Facepalm* But guess what? Even though he's the most expensive of all my figurines ($85... x_X) I don't regret it. Cos' after putting him above my TV and staring at him each time I'm playing a game and it's loading, I ended up falling in love @_@

As you can see 4 posts ago, he's in the my list of favorite non-main One Piece characters but I wasn't that in love with him until yesterday. *Swoons and faints* It's interesting what a figurine can do to fanboys and girls... (or is it just me...? O_o;)

And then there's the 'long-awaited' Skypiea Zoro...!! <333 I've been yearning and desperately surfing for this for days when the local store told me that it's sold out both in Singapore and Japan. Becos' of that I went through a lot of trouble just to get this online (and I did end up buying it online...), only to find out yesterday when I went back to the shop that they have a ton of them in stock. That pissed me off! I asked them why they have it considering they told me it's out of stock just a week ago and they gave me some crap reason like "Oh this is the re-issue and it's a sudden thing, we dunno we're gonna get it." I mean WTF?? How can you not know what you're ordering for your bloody store?!!

However, cos' the online order is much more expensive than the local store (not to mention it'll take up to 2 mths to deliver/arrive), I decided to go home and cancel the order and buy my Zoro from the local store the next day, which is today. So yes, let's welcome him to my sweet little family~ ^w^!!

He's gorgeous (so is Lucci) and I'm proud to own them both but it's a waste that his stand is green. Black would have looked nicer, like Lucci's. Also, I don't quite know how to place the goggles around his neck (I'm too afraid to pull his head off @_@) so I'm temporarily putting it on top of his head until my figurine-expert friend comes by. >_<;

Anyway, I have them both on top of my little CRT TV, and as you can see from the pic above just them two alone pretty much already took all the space there is, and Lucci doesn't look too happy to have to share the space... XD!!!

So that's it, I think. I hope I won't buy anymore figurines (darnit, now I've totally overspent!) for a long time. >_<! 6 in a week is kinda enough... well of course, unless there's a 21cm Grimmjow, Mihawk, Calgara or Wiper (Calgara and Wiper are impossible anyway...) XDXDXD!! Oh wait... o_o... Speaking of Wiper... I forgot there's just one more on his way... ^^; That mini Wiper I bought on eBay... >_o;;!!

One Piece Mugiwara Theatre: Jinginai Time

A few days ago I got addicted to this little featurette which I've almost forgotten about (even though I saw it when it was first shown a year ago or so), and I can't help but watch it over and over @_@. But the fact that I had almost forgotten about it made the second time I watched it so much more hilarious and I'm sooo grateful for that!

I'm not going to say much about this cos' I'd rather you just watch it yourself below (only if you're a One Piece fan cos' there's no reason to otherwise), but I'll just say one thing...

ZOROCIA (a name I'm currently in love with) and Crocodile Luffione take the crown in this one. XDXDXDXD!!

Next, I was on TV.... lulz?

Well... after two months... that thing is finally on TV today. >_>; I'm not gonna write/say much on this cos' I've repeated the story a million times to people around me but I don't mention much of it here so no one's gonna get the whole picture anyway so I might as well just post these instead.

The picture on the left is the poster they use for advertising on the newspaper. Sadly I'm from the 3rd episode and only people from the first two episodes get to be on both magazines and newspapers. Ggrr... (I prefer magazines!) The second picture is from the TV show's website. By the way, just so you know, the "quotes" on both pics are not quoted by me. The media people wrote it (but they took the points from my story of cos). LOL

And here's the long-awaited show, just my segment though. (Hey sis, I'm posting this especially for you =P) [The vid is almost 9 minutes. Also, please pardon the way I talk. I can has language issues. x_X]

One Piece figurines

For the first time in my life I actually bought a figurine. It may sound like nothing but I for one really can't appreciate display items... so to buy myself a figurine is almost like buying me a painting of Monalisa's. >_>; It just don't work.

So why did I buy it? Cos' it was Ace + I was curious + I thought he was a tad rare for figurines + it was only 7 bucks. XD. Right now he's here with me sitting on top of my left speaker with a small little Brook & Laboon keychain sitting by his foot... and I actually think it looks great!! (It's wonderful to be able to stare at his hot plastic bod anytime I feel like it too) XDXD!! A lot of figurines I've seen don't even look like the characters they are so I'm really glad this Ace does (even if it's not a perfect job).

And thanks to my satisfaction with Ace, I got curious enough to check out more figurines online for fun and I found Zoro from Skypiea Arc!! O_O!! ZOMG!!!111 *Nosebleeeeeds* Skypiea Zoro is like THE best Zoro evarrr!! *explodes* However, becos' the figurine is of the bigger type (21cm tall), it is a lot more expensive (prolly around 70 bucks from a store) and I don't think I wanna spend that much just yet on a figurine.... But then again it's so awesomee!! @_@ Arrgghh! The dilemma!!! @#$%^&*!! I tried to find cheap ones on eBay, but those cheap ones I found are obvious fakes, and the real ones are more expensive than SGD70... T__T

Anyway, I'm still officially not a figurine fan (only for One Piece) but other than the one Ace (which I already own) and Skypiea Zoro which I'm drooling to own, the only other charcters I'd ever be interested in (14cm and above) would be MIHAWK (I don't think he has any 21cm figurines just yet...), CALGARA, WIPER, Bon Clay, and Lucci (preferrably his Galley-La look).

Actually, I just bought a small (smaller than 10cm I think) young Wiper figurine on eBay about an hour ago. XD!! I didn't even think I'd find one at all considering he's far from being one of the main characters, so the moment I found him I was like ZOMG!!! BUY!!! NAOOOO!! And it wasn't expensive either so yeah XP. It's a real shame I can't find an adult Wiper... cos' that would be the shiznit!! *explodes and dies of fangasm*

Game review: One Piece Unlimited Cruise Episode 1

After 50 hours I finally finished this game yesterday night. It was fun... but that's mostly becos' it's One Piece. =P Favoritism does many many things to a person... XD

Graphics – B+

This is an anime-to-video-game game for the WII, so you can't really expect much. The battle effects and such are fine, but everything is nothing you haven't seen. But mind you, I'm not complaining, cos' no matter the graphics I'm still overjoyed to see One Piece characters in non-chibi 3D form for the first time, and they look great~~!! ^w^!!! 

Story – N/A
As the games are not canon to the actual/original series, the story for this game shall not be rated. It's not like Bandai can make it any more interesting/complex considering nothing that happens in this game is going to be remembered/referred to in the original series. But to say a few words, the 'story' is reeeally simple and over-emphasizes on the good ol' "We're nakama alw4ys!!" deal as usual .  

Gameplay – B+
This game's an action RPG that involves some button mashing, lotsa lotsa fishing, item digging, animal catching and treasure hunting. That's... practically everything you do in this game. 

Combat:

Every character has the same commands to execute their moves. You start off with 1 or 2 moves, and the more you use them the more they level up and unlock more moves, eventually unlocking their special moves as well. However, some characters require certain items for them to unlock their  special move, and some special moves may only be unlocked on Hard mode (what the?).  

Annoyingly, target lock-on is not set up very well in this game. Even when an enemy is targetted, your character tends to go off in a different direction and ends up opening himself to attacks, but since I know that this isn't exactly made to be a true action game, I'll close an eye on it.  

Items such as healing pills and bombs can be used in battle. Some items can also increase your damage when equipped (1 hit = 1 item). For example, when equipped with ___, Franky's Nail Burst turns into Fresh Fire and damages a tad more. These items may be created by going to Usopp 'invention' menu and Chopper's 'compound' menu. Of course, like typical RPGs, you'll require several ingredients to create every item. 

Now for your viewing pleasure, here's a video of my battle against Buggy. Don't look down on the clown, man, he's the toughest (optional) boss on normal mode by my experience. You'll see why soon. @_@;

Fishing:

Fishing is one thing you will find yourself forced to do even if you don't like it (cos' it takes a long time and some fish are really hard to catch), especially if you have any intention of powering up your characters. Every island in the game (4 total) has 1-3 fishing spots and each spot contains different fish, and fish is what you'll need for Sanji to cook a dish to feed the crew in order to increase their HP and SP gauge. In other words, your stats do not increase via the standard RPG method of “the more you use them the better their stats grow”.  

There're 9 crew members in total so to feed them all, you'll have to cook the same dish 9 times, and if that dish requires 3 ingredients you'll have to get 3x9 times the ingredients which makes it a tedious job cos' some of them are hard to get or takes a long time to get, but then again which RPG isn't tedious??? *Sighhh* Other than Sanji, Usopp may also require some fish for his inventions. 

Just for fun, here's a video of all 9 characters' fishing moments. Warning, however, it's not exactly the most exciting vid ever:

Item digging/collecting:

After acquiring the pickaxe, you'll find yourself using it almost all the time to break rocks and dig stuff up to collect. (However, collectible items are not limited to digging.) This is done for two purposes – to collect ingredients requried for creating items, and to convert them into points that are required to get past certain stages of the game, just like one of those typical RPG mechanisms.  

Animal catching:

This is just another version of 'item digging'. You do the same movement with the wiimote as with item digging, except you'll be equipping yourself with the net and that you may fail in your catch. This can get annoying and troublesome sometimes cos' some animals only appear singularly and in one area in the whole game, which means to get a few of them you'll need to exit the island and re-enter the island and go back to that area again just to catch another one. =_= RPGs... But well, at least it's not nearly half as ball-busting as FF12 =P 

Treasure hunting:

Certain enemies drop pieces of a map (more like a photo) that hints you at where hidden treasure chests may be found. Every map requires 4 separate pieces to complete and they may be aquired by luck or by using Nami (higher chance). The treasure chests have to be dug up using the pickaxe once you figure out where the spot is. Some of the items found in these chests are required to create certain crucial items and to unlock some characters' special moves. 

Exploring Thousand Sunny (the ship):

This is prolly the best thing you can get to do in this game. Everything from the characters' costumes to the islands and to the 'plot' in this game is irrelevant to the actual series, but Thousand Sunny stays true, and you get to explore it! If it weren't for this game I still wouldn't know where and what cos' all I remember is the wide and open lawn near the deck. But now I can even recognize which corner of the ship it is when I saw the latest episode 384 of One Piece! XD! 

[On a side note, the reason why I took 50 hours to beat this game is mostly thanks to fishing, item collecting and animal catching, and my file isn't even perfect.] 

Sound – B
It's not too bad, but there aren't a whole lot of tracks in total and every island has only 1 BGM + 1 battle BGM, which means I've been listening to practically 8 tracks throughout the game, and it gets tiring... o_o Also, after listening to it for so long, the BGM starts to haunt me and keeps replaying itself in my head even when I'm not playing the game. x_X Now how do I get it to shut up!? 

Replay value – B+
When you've beaten the game, it will auto-save itself and add a 'star' icon to your save to mark its completion. From there, you can choose to continue on Normal or Hard with the same file. If you choose Normal, you will return to your game and be free to roam around doing any optional side quests you may not have done. Sadly, completed boss battles may not be activated again. If you choose to go on to Hard, you will restart the game from the beginning but with all your stats/items transferred, phew! 

As for the incentive to replay, I guess there could only be two things. 1) To fully unlock everyone's special moves. 2) To fight stronger bosses, considering they're not hard on Normal mode. (It seems that Hard mode disables the use of items in battle, which would make it a lot harder for someone who regularly relies on items) Personally though, I'm gonna try replaying it for both the above reasons. =)

Overall - 6.8/10 (objective), A (subjective)

Extras (just for fun)

These are the looks on their faces when they use the cannon on Thousand Sunny to fly to a specific part of an island as a shortcut. Obviously, they are the 'cannonball'. XD! (It seems that only two are excited about it LOL)

These are the looks on their faces when they ride on a giant catapult to send themselves flying back to the ship as a shortcut. Some of their lines are funny when it happens. XD

When they're trying to haul up a fish... (Luffy looks constipated LOL!)

When they successfully catch a fish... =) (1 of 2 variations)

When they successfully catch an animal...

Their first special moves...

Hope you enjoyed the pics! =D (And please pardon the quality. My capture device in Singapore can't take good quality videos & screenshots like the one in the US T_T)

Having been back into One Piece for a while, I decided that i should write a small entry about it =P Since I've written/talked about the main protagonists before, this time the list is on "My favorite characters outside of the main cast". One Piece is so/too awesome I can't possibly neglect the other kickass characters just cos' they aren't fulltime main. >:3

The characters below are listed according to their order of appearance in the series. (Warning: Spoilers for those who aren't up-to-date enough with the anime)

Prince of Persia (PS3) review

I got around to finishing Prince of Persia on the 23rd of December but I was too lazy to write its review so pardon the lateness! I dunno how long that took me cos’ the game doesn’t record the number of hours played (lame), but my feeling is somewhere around 15 hours. The game’s not bad, but still it has its fair share of disappointments, which made me sell it soon after ^^;

Graphics / Design / Animation/ Presentation - A-
Typically I have nothing to complain about when it comes to graphics. Regardless if it’s cell-shaded or made to look similar to Okami, POP’s graphics are still pretty in its own way. The level design and gameplay animation (the way they jump, etc) are also very impressive. However, it’s sad to say that the characters seem to lack a variety of facial and body expressions (partly due to the lack of cutscenes). In the actual game, you don’t actually get to see close-up character shots like those pics you see on game sites, which is why I’m not posting those pictures in case people think those screenshots are possible. (That’s how I was deceived) Also, after staring at their hair texture for a while sometimes, it makes me wonder if this game could have been made for the PS2... >_o;

Speaking of cutscenes, it is a shame that this game doesn’t have much of that at all. I understand that with practically only two characters there’s probably not much need for cutscenes but replacing it with conversations that have to be activated while standing still does not help. (You have to literally sit and watch them stand and talk to each other with their hands on their hips, oh god) Unlike Prince of Persia Sands of Time and The Two Thrones, the Prince and his girl in this game don’t actually talk as you playand move around in the game. Well they do but it’s not story-based but rather randomized fixed lines that they’ll repeat over and over throughout the game depending on what they’re doing, like climbing on vines, shimmying on a ledge, etc.

The Prince is an entertaining man. He has a great sense of humor and his lines are fun to listen to, but since listening to them talk means you have to stand still in the game, it becomes a hassle after a while, which was why I soon gave up listening too all the optional conversations even though I may miss out on some hilarious ones. It's also sad how the camera angle is always the same (see above), not to mention that's practically the most close-up you will ever see of them in the game (cos' cutscenes are rare and non-close-up anyway).

Story – B-
There isn’t much to the story. In a nutshell, it’s about a princess on a quest to stop a demon god from escaping its prison, and the prince just happens to bump into her and ends up helping her. I suppose the irony of the ending is a pretty good one, but until you reach the ending, there’s nothing in between that you’ll learn (other than minor non-critical details about the enemies/country) that you haven’t already know in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Gameplay – A-
This POP is a much simpler and friendlier version of the previous POP trilogy. In fact, I’m sure most POP fans would complain about how too easy it is, but I for one don’t mind. =P In this game, you practically can never die; I mean you don’t even have a life bar. O_o Each time you fall off a cliff or something you automatically get to restart from the last proper platform you stood on, which makes retrying real easy and friendly, unlike the PS2 POP games where it could take 5-10 minutes just to get back to the spot to retry.

Battle/combat in this game is also easy. Instead of having to face and fight off several enemies at once, this one forces you to fight one-on-one. The button-pressing timing and pace are relaxingly slow, and even in a boss fight you still don’t have a life bar! XD Furthermore, each time you screw up the girl will automatically save your ass, the only penalty being the boss would regain some health, but it’s not like you won’t kill him eventually. O_o; So, objectively speaking, this is good news for casual gamers and bad news for hardcore ones (especially POP fans). Personally, I don’t quite mind. After all I’d much prefer playing like this than like the brain-hemorrhage-inducing POP Warrior Within.

Also, the animation/battle sequences during battle are pretty; I’m sure everyone would enjoy how neat it looks. It’s not everyday you get to fight with a girl by throwing and swinging her around. =P It’s also nice (and cool) to be able to connect/prolong your combos by mix-matching the Prince and the girl’s abilities.

However, this game is pretty much 85% platform and 15% battle (not to mention you can skip battles), which means for the most part you’d be just repeating running/climbing/jumping all over walls/vines/poles over and over, much like Assassin’s Creed. Sadly, it won’t take a few hours before you realize that’s all you’re gonna be doing throughout the entire game. I know it’s the same for the other POP games, but the platforming wasn’t this simplified then - it was a challenge in itself (especially with all those *ARGH!* puzzles). Mind you, I’m not complaining that easy = boring. In fact, I hate puzzles, especially like those in POP Warrior Within *pukes blood*, so it was actually quite a relief to know that this POP almost has none of that. But, considering that the platforming is simplified this time, there aren’t all that many different ways to platform around the world and that world is quite a huge one, which makes it very repetitive even though it’s not hard to accomplish that.

Sound – A
The main theme is great and very Prince of Persia, which is the reason I gave this an ‘A’, but c’mon you gotta admit it’s prolly the only track you remember in the whole game anyway, right? =P I know it’s unfair to rate this based on just one track, but seriously as far as I remember it’s the one track that plays through 90% of the game. O_o…

Replay value – C-
Considering I sold the game soon after completion, this game is definitely not one I’ll replay a second time. It’s not a bad game, but there’s also no reason to play it again as there’s nothing new other than a few unlockable alternate costumes. I would also have no motivation to re-travel the world re-jumping over the same walls and vines for hours.

Overall - 6.2/10 (objectively), B (subjectively)

My Digital Camera History

I just bought a new digital camera out of a whim (>_>;) today and since I'm so bored... here it is! =P Oh yeah, before I forget, I know I'm late but... Happy Belated New Year to all~

	1) Olympus C-720 Zoom Year bought: 2004 Period of ownership: 2 weeks? LOL Attraction(s): Many shooting (+ manual) modes, 8x zoom Price: USD 330+ (Online) Why I sold it: Too ultra bulky, bad results under poor/indoor light
	2) Kyocera L4V Year bought: 2004 Period of ownership: 1 month? LOL Attraction(s): Giant screen (according to standards at THAT time!), sleek body Price: USD 230+ (eBay) Why I sold it: Ultra bad battery life
	3) Canon A80 Powershot Year bought: 2004 Period of ownership: 3+ years (?) Attraction(s): Good battery life, flippable screen Price: USD 335+ (Online) Why I sold it: I didn't. I lost it!! T__T!! Dude I loved this camera!! T__T!! It fell out of my bag and I never found it, dammit!!
	4) Canon A520 Powershot Year bought: 2006 Period of ownership: 2+ years Attraction(s): Slimmer body (compared to A80), less batteries, cheap Price: USD 99 (Online; eBay) Why I gave it up: Poor results under poor/indoor lighting, slow capture/processing speed
	5) Canon IXUS 80 IS Year bought: 2009 Period of ownership: 1 day! XD Attraction(s): Slim body, lithium battery, good indoor captures (hopefully), bigger LCD screen Price: SGD 350 (USD 240) And so this is my newest camera... and I agree it's quite the compulsive purchase ^^; But ah well... as you can see I've stuck with Canon since my 3rd digicam... and I usually remain loyal XD I sure hope this one can take good indoor/low lighting pics tho....

On a random note, I finished Prince of Persia about 10 days or so ago...? And I sold it off last week. LMAOZ. I wrote the review halfway... but I got lazy to finish it, so we'll see if the next entry is gonna be its review. =P Until then~