Hallucinations

My earlier post mentioned that I only had two purpose for the Singapore Trip. I shall now report like the dedicated journalist I am. Ain't it obvious from the state of frequent updates of this blog? *Ba-dum-dum-plish*

Number 1! Out of the 3 Arcade machines that has uber amounts of potential to sap my pockets dry during the trip, the only one that I've discovered costed less than all other stuff I've played in their arcades. I've managed to find Deathsmiles, thanks to my aquaintance. Review of Deathsmiles coming up after all my reports. BlazBlue is nowhere to be found. Perhaps due to the overwhelming presence of SFIV and Tekken 6. DJMAX technika would've stuck out like a really sore thumb, so it isn't there. Or it might've been shrunk to a molecular size where I can't find it.

In the arcades section. I've tried out DDRX. It's still as americanized as the last time I saw it, the major turnoff for me was Candy without lyrics, and the fact that Breakdown was not on the list. I was sad after realizing that and stopped playing. I've also tried out and sucked at Espagaluda, but I'll definitely play it again for the sheer amount of blood the game gives the players. It's pretty copious for a shmup. Lastly, my beatmania skills downgraded, I suspect it's partly due to overstraining my left hand, which resulted in my left index and middle fingers being numb for 3 days. I nearly thought I had Carpal Tunnel, but from a self diagnostic the symptoms were inconsistent with the ones associated with CTS. Thanks Soo-Ann for the information on the diagnostic tests, you rock, and hope you do extremely well in your exams, enough to cut a year or so of being an in-house. :P

In addition to the above, I've also had the privilege of meeting some very good Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX players. As well as acquiring a present card to tryout the new MX-5 introduced in this iteration. Throughout battles and several hours of observation, I've gained a great amount of insight as to improving my own play level. Thanks to Maya for introducing me to them, they're friggin' awesome, as are you, Maya.

Number 2! Cosafe was pretty kewl. From the picture in the link to the left, there's still a Malay(?) girl that wasn't in the picture. But does it really matter? The two Malay girls that works there seems more likely to be temps, since their uniforms are standard and seems nothing out of the ordinary. Either that, or the opposite is true. BTW, my favourite one was the one on the far left, she seems to have her own fan, since my aquaintance seemed to have noticed a certain foreigner only wants to be served by her. The blue ribbon was a nice touch I like attention to details (Her underskirt was red checkers. Contrast.), although I don't think you'd see it in the picture.

I've noticed, that the standard skirts are actually layerred, so they hike up when they bend over a little, just like the ones in mangas. Results were the two Malay(?) girls wearing shorts. Which were surprisingly long since they're actually visible even when they're standing straight. I've had a pretty great time there. Since I've been accompanied by an interesting person. Oddly I didn't pay as much attention as I thought I would on the waitresses, which seems to be the whole point of the cafe... Isn't it?

Price of the place seems reasonable. As long as you stick to coffee and starve. Food is adequately priced for a cafe in a high-end city area (Not to mention this is a novelty cafe). Coffee and Steamed Milk seems to be cheap, considering they're actually cheaper than Starbucks to a certain degree. Alcohol is extremely overpriced in my opinion, regular cocktails were at least 30 dollars. I'm glad I don't drink.

*I honestly do not know their race, they're not chinese, neither do they look too indonesian, in the end, I have to settle with modernized Malays.

No, not the boardgame.

I was playing Ketsui on my DS the other day. It's a Shmup, an arcade styled bullet hell/curtain shmup. As training for my debut with DeathSmiles. Utterly sucking at Ketsui's Very Hard course, I started thinking about what drives me and other people who are into shmups. I can't speak for the veterans, who are absolutely crazy and deserves lots of hentai art for their surprising amount of finger finesse, but I can speak for myself.

I think risk plays a significant major factor here. From the original Space Invaders, we are encouraged to rush the game, since the last few aliens would tentatively move faster as time passes, as well as speeding up significantly the closer it reaches you until the point where they can't be shot, and you die. There's just that much more sastifaction from squeezing that last shot off before they or their shots, or their kamikaze nosedive, reaches you.

This evolved. Free movement was invented. Instead of just sitting there waiting for your death ala Asteroid, you've been granted control over the ships movement, ensuring that you play a much larger part in ensuring your own survival. It fed our desire to be in control and played to our fears of losing. In the end it's a seamless combination of both, with the sastifaction of just plain surviving and sustaining yourself, that drives people to continue playing shmups.

Shmups, after the point of Gradius. was even more gratifying, not only do you get to have control, fear as well as adrenaline to survive, you also get great gratification from bosses. The large nemesis that you are forced to take down after every hair chewing, nail biting stage. The resultant is 2 minutes of even more hair chewing and nail biting, because the bosses are so huge, and obviously overpowering, it feels like you're trying to topple an empire (Built with guns, all firing bullets at you, alone). This serves to positively reinforce the player to continue rather than slump over exhausted. Almost in a self contradicting way. Imagine fighting a leopard in a coliseum and then asking for a tiger. It doesn't make sense, but it sure feels good if you manage to kill it.

Then the extreme forms, almost like cocaine, popped out. Bullet Hells, the arcade variation of Danmaku. Involved raining projectiles on you, challenging you to weave yourself in and out of the trouble, navigating a maze of several pixels thick, of abnormal dimensions and shape, just purely out of the will to survive a session of the game. This proved to be an extreme concept that completes the whole package, I don't think the games' design gets more primal than that. The games gets more advanced in terms of graphics, mechanics, complexity, but the most basic of our mindset, survival, makes it all the more gratifying the harder it is. As long as it doesn't border on unfairness.

However, the more advanced our shmups have become, the more estranged are the laymen who doesn't know how to play, because if they lack the ability to survive for a decent amount of time, before the gratification arrives, they basically can't see the point of continuing, therefore abandoning all efforts to continue playing.

Perhaps then, in the future, there will be more games that emulate Geometry Wars' success, combining frantic pace, advanced features, as well as letting the players gain gratification, just enough to continue to play; just enough to convince themselves that they can survive. Maybe, the shmup genre will receive new blood in their userbase as well as game variety. To continue the chain of evolution in this particular strain of games.

I'll be heading to SG for a one/two day hiatus. Actually it's for gaming, I've been itching for a round of Beatmania IIDX 16 DJ TROOPERS and the crowd's attention so I want to go to Bugis Jt to get some beatgame fun. Or Plaza Singapura...

Anyways, this will also be a spelunking opportunity for me to check if SG received any good games that deserves good attention. DJMAX Technika being one of them, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is also something I would like to see on one of their cabinets. Lastly, if I see Deathsmiles in their arcades I can't assure that I won't jizz in my pants. Which would be a social faux pas since I will supposedly be walking about arcades accompanied by an arcade racing game vet. One that has proven to be very much friendlier than the Malaysian counterparts.

On a side note. Last time I was in SG, which was in Dec, I've had 2 occasions where I was alone with a female friend, going on activities that vaguely resemble a casual date. Meanwhile, in Msia I have had no similar experience (Or no experience similar to that of the trip in SG). Whenever I do ask, usually I get thrown a lemon. There must be something going on here. Hmmm...

Lastly, I also want to check out that Maid CosCafe around the Raffles City area. I'm sure the coffee will rip burning holes in my pockets the size of jupiter's moons. But meh, I'm still being served by people who get paid for wearing victorian maid inspired dresses (That's Laces and Frills, two of my favourites accessories in female attires) Perhaps I need to check if I need to pay for pictures. Cause if I do have to pay, my pockets will be gone altogether. Maybe I can get my female accompaniment to have a drink there. Hopefully it won't end with Iced Lemon Tea.

Oh BTW, Malaysian arcade vets are 50% pricks. 40% that treats other players with indifference (I belong in there, depending on the game) and the last 10% are kids who somehow are able to excel at the game. They deserve a spot. Nice guys in arcades are rarely found, if they ever existed in the first place. Literate people in arcades are even more rare. It has something to do with images of arcades in my nation, but it's hard for me to go into detail without creating another entry, perhaps next time then.

Who are you and why did you invade my blog?

Just joking. Always glad there's someone here, even though there's not much for these someone's to read.

As you've noticed, I don't update my blog often, because I never made any commitments. Unfortunately, this blog will remain this way unless I can actually find a method to generate revenue off this place, then I'd start blogging for my life, since it'll be considered a job. Most of the articles here are mainly personal anecdotes, testimonials as well as pseudophilosophy, kindly do not take them too seriously. However, when I blog about something, it will be something I feel strongly about, not just "I had a cake this morning", so rest assured that anything recorded here are major events or thoughts that have haunted.

Been catching up with gaming lately, have to finish the following list of games:

Assasin's Creed
Burnout Paradise
Dead Space
Devil May Cry 4
GRID
Pure
Sid Meier's Civilizations 4.
Silent Hill Homecoming.

Unlike blogging, I dedicate a lot of time to gaming, so you can imagine what I'll be busy with for these next few weeks. If I do find anything interesting though, I'll let someone(s) know.

*Insert cue for awkward laugh*

I'm still here! (ba-dum-dum-plish)

That wasn't really a punchline, was it? More like a line that will get you punched.

After that dreadful year working with a call centre, I've decided to call it quits when my contract expiry came up, I'm now official a NEET (Not engaged in Employment, Education or Training). I heard they're in fashion nowadays.

I also got my first birthday cake this year, there weren't any candles, or singing, or wishing, but it was my first birthday cake that I've gotten for my birthday.

Maybe I'll take some of that NEET time to work on this blog. Let me see what I can do.