I'm such a procastinator. In fact, I have a lab assignment due in 3 days time. Have I started on it? Actually... yes. (Gimme some credit man.) I've created a new document in MS Word and named it "MedPhysio - Lab5.doc"
Ok... so the document's blank. At least it exists. Now all I need to do is fill in the blank pages and I'm done! Then on Wednesday when I go for the next lab session, I'll hand it in. QED.
... Uh oh...
Oops... accidently deleted the damn document while switching applications... Ah... Who cares... Thank God it's blank.
Anyhoo... Perseus is lying on the floor trying to stay awake... his head keeps dipping and he's unable to keep his eyes open but he just refuses to go to sleep. Hee hee hee.
Duncan is already sawing logs under the desk. He has made the space under my desk his den.
I was playing a game on my PSP earlier but was interrupted by Weng calling to ask me to watch this hilarious video clip on U-tube about some guys doing a mock NDP in the locker room. Search for the words "NDP" and "Football".
Anyway, it's September 11. This entry is dedicated to the people who lost their lives and loved ones in the 9-11 attacks on the WTC, as well as my ex-camp mates who had to suffer with me through high alert during that period. All the bunker building, sandbag carrying and increased inconvinience caused by increased security... I hope those terrorists burn in hell. This entry is also dedicated to Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, who will be sorely missed by the people of Australia (whom I've seen crying on TV), and his beloved camel in the Australia Zoo.
As I type, Animal Planet is showing a marathon tribute to Steve Irwin.
God bless your soul Steve. You will be remembered for your efforts in conservation and your love for all creatures big and small.
Frankly speaking, I was never really a Steve Irwin fan... somehow, he was a little too animated for my liking. Kind of distracting and after a while, kind of irritating. Sorry man. It's the way it is. I just thank God it didn't happen to Jeff Corwin. Still, due to the underwater thingie with the Stingray last week, I suddenly found my nightly 1am episode of Corwin's Quest being replaced with repeat episodes of The Crocodile Hunter.
CRIKEY!!!
Crikey? Try Cranky! Imagine staying up for your favourite show and finding it replaced... not just one night... but the entire week! There wasn't a single episode of Jeff Corwin throughout the week's program. All his slots were replaced with The Crocodile Hunter. What gives man??? Sometime, I think the media is always trying to jump in on people's misfortune in order to gain more viewership and in the long run, more money.
Anyway they'll be bringing back The Jeff Corwin Experience tomorrow night. Yay! Finally!
Had to turn off the TV... couldn't concentrate with all the sudden exclamations of "That's Conservation!" and "Crikey!" going on behind me.
Perseus has just decided that the floor is not comfortable enough and is now happily curled up on my lap. Well... he's happy. I'm not. He keeps fidgeting around and I have to arch my arms over him to type.
Now playing: Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (PSP)
Just bought this game less than a week ago, so I'm still not very far off in the game.You play a Valkyrie, the War-Maidens of Norse Mythology. The gods are on the verge of war and you have been sent by Odin to seek souls of warriors worthy to fight in the holy war. Each chosen soul is then kinda "trained" by accompanying you through dungeons filled with undead opponents and dark mages. Once a soul has reached a suffcient level of accomplishment, you can send him/her to Asgard in exchange for goodies that help you down here.
Unlike most RPGs where you run round and round fighting and fighting till you've leveled up sufficiently, Valkyrie Profile Lenneth comes with a limitation to the amount of running around you can do.
The entire game is divided into periods and chapters. Each chapter is made up of a set number of periods (Usually 24 so far). Each time you enter a location, be it to pick up a soul or to explore a dungeon, you use up a number of periods (1-3 so far). During this time, you have to train up your newly acquired souls and send them up to Valhalla (The Norse equivalent of Mount Olympus). Once a chapter is up, you get a report on the progress of the war and the differences made by the souls you've sent (or failed to send).
The challenge comes in training and selecting the right candidate for Valhalla. You get to pick up quite a few characters throughout the game depending on the level of difficuty you picked. Some are better than the others and the big boss in Valhalla also has certain criteria in terms of specific skills and abilities. for example, they might require an archer who is skilled at finding items and war tactics, or it may be a warrior with a whole list of other required skills. Each time a character levels up, you have to decide how to distribute the points awarded among the various skills and attributes that character can learn.
Bottom line is, the better the level and the closer the character fits the requirements of each round, the better your reward will get.
Content wise, I personally find the mini stories that shows how each character comes into the picture quite insufficient for you to get to know them. Perhaps it's due to the translation from Japanese to English where some implied message gets invariably lost in translation. Graphics in story mode and the general areas could be better. Some animated sequences are quite shaky but interspersed within the game are stunning Full Motion Video (FMV) sequences that make the game oh so worthwhile.
As for game play, the battle system is quite unique and a little confusing at first. Each of your characters (You can have up to 4 in a party) corresponds to each of the four action buttons of your PSP. A character attacks when you press its corresponding button and depending on the speed and sequence of the buttons pressed, all four characters can team up in combos against the enemy. Some characters can make multiple moves per turn depending on the type of attack and weapon they are equipped with. Each hit from a character results in points that build up with each connecting hit in a combo. Once the points reach 100, the characters whose attacks connect (not blocked) are able to unleash their devastating final move, which involves some pretty nifty CGI sequences. In fact, these "Final blow" sequences was what drove me to part with 70 bucks for this game. Depending on the number of hits each finishing blow deals out, the points are racked up again, which means that each of the 4 characters can unleash their awesome powers in succession, one after the other, as long as the one before racks up another 100 points in the meter.
Being a newbie to the Valkyrie Profile Series, it took a few hours of playing around to get the hang of the battle system. Also, depending on the level of difficulty selected at the beginning of the game (Easy, Medium or Hard), you get to see different endings. (There are 3 I think).
Also, there are NO CHEATS. (Believe me... I tried) Just some hints and walkthroughs. Still, the game is not that hard. I'm sure most people will get by without any help from walkthroughs. (You just don't get all the super cool, super powered stuff!) You also get to re-view all the unlocked FMV sequences form the main menu.
As mentioned earlier, I paid $70 for the game. (Someone please tell me if I have been ripped off. They are supposedly giving me a good price.) At the moment, no regrets yet. Still can't beat Monster Hunter Freedom in overall game play satisfaction and adrenalin rush but it does have its own merits.
