visions of clarity...do as infinity

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Hello

I've finally finished playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village for Nintendo DS Lite. (T_T) So sad!!! I really really really like the game. It's fun, brain squeezing and has got a good storyline + graphics + music. =)

Professor Layton and Luke are the 2 playing characters while the rest simply contribute to the plotline and the game play itself. Luke is the Professor's assistant and the Professor is actually a very famous detective, known for being able to solve puzzles. The story revolves around St Mystere, a town with a secret and townspeople who love puzzles and test you at every stage of the game. The puzzles are pretty random sometimes but some do contribute to the plot and really are well incorporated into the game. Some are pretty tough [not always indicated by the number of Picarats - the point system - in the stupid game.-_-"] but others are pure logic or calculation. I've been stuck more than once [I think of all my friends who also play, I get stuck the most.*hangs head in shame* Thank goodness for having smart friends who "pwn" the game or I'd never finish.] so do expect there to be some puzzles that require you to sit there and think. In the game are mysteries within mysteries, questions within questions and plotlines overcrossing everywhere. You can sometimes guess what's going to happen but Professor Layton and the Curious Village still can sometimes surprise you.

As previously mentioned, Picarats are the point system in the game and each question's difficulty is indicated by the number of Picarats you can earn. There are also hint coins that you can collect along the way to help you when you encounter difficult puzzles. These can come in REALLY handy sometimes and really unhelpful [when it's really vague] at other times..=P

The graphics in the game are really really really good.=) I guess I am still inexperienced and not very knowledgeable about all these developments in the gaming industry..=P But I was pretty impressed at how much effort they put into a DS Lite game! I thought these kind of great graphics and music were reserved more for actual gaming platforms like the Wii or PS3 or even the PC. Within the game are mini movies that highlight some things and give a more story-line feel to the whole thing which I really like because it ties everything together.=) The story makes its presence felt throughout the game so it's not like some random story just thrown in for the heck of it.

Overall, I really don't regret buying this game and pre-ordering it even.=P Thank you Nao [of alice nine.] for this GREAT recommendation!!! xD xD xD

Part 2 is already out in Japan and they are currently developing Part 3! I cannot wait for Part 2 to be released in English.=D =D =D I tried playing online in Japanese and I totally had no idea what they were saying..=S I don't think I should be quite so ambitious yet... Part 2 looks good too, and brings the Professor and Luke out into.. I have no idea where. It's supposed to be about a Pandora's Box or something to that effect.=)

Ahh.. I'm so thrilled with this game, that I'll just let you beam at Professor Layton and Luke for this week's Midweek Men!!! =P

Previous weeks have brought you:

Week 1: Hyun Bin (Snow Queen), Daniel Henney (My Name is Kim Sam Soon), Miyavi and Mr Rabbit
Week 2: Lelouch (Code Geass), Tom Schilling (NAPOLA), Saga (alice nine.) and Mr Rabbit
Week 3: Tachibana Keita (w-inds.), Terashima Nobu (NANA), hyde/HYDE (L'arc~En~Ciel) and Mr Rabbit
Week 4: Initial D Special - Edison Chen, Shawn Yue and Jay Chou

Since Mr Rabbit didn't make an appearance the last time, let us squeal over his great looks!!!

Hello Mr Dustball! You are looking FINE today.xD

And that's it for this week's Midweek Men-cum-Video Game Roundup Report.=D I'll try to feature some REAL humans next time. Heh. In the meantime, I should pack up. I'm halfway through my stuff..

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : 如果的事范瑋琪 & 張韶涵]
[mood : tired]
[food : RAMEN!]

YX: I'll only be back in Singapore in June.^_^"

CCH: If that's Mocca, it would go under "Most AWFUL Ads Known to Man". Haha. Yea! Frankenmuth! ^o~

Labels: DS Lite, midweek men, Professor Layton, video games

Friday, June 15, 2007

PLAY!

Hello

We just returned from PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, the Asian premiere for the Singapore Arts Festival, performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the NUS Choir and conducted by Arnie Roth.

GOSH IT WAS GOOD.xD xD xD I made little notes beside each piece in the form of symbols and I can safely say that 90% of them have at least a heart.xD Haha. Beams! Now people will pay more attention to the artistic value of soundtracks from games.=D =D =D Beams! On to the setlist!

PLAY! A Video Game Symphony
Fanfare
Nobuo Uematsu
- With a little video clip to ease you into the whole performance, this gave a nice start to the programme for the night.^_^

Accompanying most pieces [except for both Final Fantasy ones and Chrono Cross] were clips from the games, little bits like the playing parts or those epic movie sections.^_^ I loved it and wished they could have included more!

Super Mario Bros.
Suite
Koji Kondo
- xD xD xD The audience giggled collectively when everyone saw the little Mario clips! SO CUTE. *squeals* You could see the evolution of Mario from his 8-bit 2D days to the full-on 3D wonders of closeup Mario! I gave this a little star for memorable moment.=D

Shenmue and Shenmue II
Sedge Tree
Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
- OH HEARTS!!! I gave this a double heart because I absolutely ADORED the main melody.=D =D =D I am a sucker for nice melodies.=) Plus, it had this GREAT epic-ness to it!! The video was very random though. First you got bizarre Mongolian looking girl on cliff with flying eagle. Then you got random men fighting in period Chinese costumes. Then you got one of the random men with a random girl on a MOTORCYCLE zooming through a city. Like, how is all that connected?! Nevertheless, the music was BRILLIANT and the composer was in the audience! ^_^

Lost Odyssey
Main Theme
Nobuo Uematsu
- Yumminess. Great score once again.=D This included the choir who didn't impress me much but who am I to talk anyway? *thumbs up* Great music! I love Nobuo Uematsu.=D He composed the Final Fantasy music as well! Oh, and once again, EPIC clips.xD

Sonic the Hedgehog
Suite
Masato Nakamura
- Hehe. This got a star for memorability! Hehe. Who doesn't remember Sonic, our favourite blue hedgehog? =P I squealed silently in giggles everytime they showed Sonic speeding merrily through the path of coins.^_^"

Metal Gear Solid
Main Theme
Tappy Iwase, Kazuki Muraoka
- Nice music once again but how many ways can you say COMPLETELY GUY GAME? -_-" Very militaristic type of music to suit the fighting and testosterone in the game. This got another heart from me.^_^

Blue Dragon
Main Theme
Nobuo Uematsu
- Nice music but not particularly memorable but heart-gripping. The animation was super cute though.^_^ Hehe. It was this little boy sitting in a plane that was dying and flying through the air! It's a new game so I'm assuming they don't really want to release details of it yet... [hence the spartan video.]

Kingdom Hearts
Suite
Yoko Shimomura
- Who doesn't like Kingdom Hearts? IT IS SO CUTE!!! With random characters ranging from Mickey Mouse to Stitch and randomly cute Final Fantasy guys, Kingdom Hearts is a game for everyone! And with it comes a easy to listen to and very nice soundtrack.=D I gave this double hearts for sheer likability and a nice tune.^_^

FINAL FANTASY VI
Dancing Mad
Nobuo Uematsu
- A first time debut of this arrangement for an orchestra, Square Enix was all stingy and didn't provide merry video clips! *deep sigh* And to think we could have drooled over cute FF guys while enjoying the music! Rearranged from rock tracks, this piece was very nice indeed.=)

Intermission

Daytona USA
Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
- As a surprise, the composer himself came out to perform by playing the piano and singing. Hmm. The tune wasn't too bad I guess but I can see why he's a COMPOSER and not a PERFORMER.^_^"

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Suite
Jeremy Soule
- Doesn't the title simply sound epic??? I mean it's called "Oblivion"!!! Ahahaha. Sorry but I find that highly amusing. Anyway, I loved the music because I gave this a heart! ^_^ It was nice if very epic and you know. Dramatic. And epic. And.. I need a thesaurus.-_-

Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross
Suite
Yasunori Mitsuda
- HEARTS HEARTS! I gave this a double heart because it had a brilliant piano part!! =D I loved it. Or maybe it was a pipe whistle. Or something like that. But anyway. It had a wonderful section that I really liked!!! =D =D =D And it had a really nice melody too.=) Plus I like the name. Doesn't Chrono Cross sound REALLY cool to you?

World of Warcraft
Suite
Jason Hayes
- Epic! The many many many closeups of the towering snowy mountain in the video clip was very ... URM.O.o I liked this bit where they had an elf zoom through the forest though. It suited the music very nicely.=) I gave this a heart too!

HALO
Suite
Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori
- One look and you know this game is by Americans and not Japanese. Not that it's a bad thing but since I'm not all about killing people to earn points, I actually care about aesthetics. Even the super guy Japanese games have pretty backgrounds even if the characters are ugly. HALO? Tsk tsk. Nevertheless, this was a nice piece IF very guy-ish. ^_^"

Castlevania
Suite
Michiru Yamane
- Oh very cute soundtrack!!! xD They had this really cute section with a stacatto-ish kind of rhythm that I liked.=D Plus the name "Castlevania" is so vampirish and then when I saw the video, I wanted to laugh. They have little characters running around with CLOAKS. It's hilarious. Hahaha. So I gave this 2 hearts! =D I find the idea of fighting in a cloak rather charming.

The Legend of Zelda
Suite
Koji Kondo
- Another cute soundtrack, the 8bit-ness of the game was too cute to resist.xD Another heart from me!

FINAL FANTASY VII
One-Winged Angel
Nobuo Uematsu
- I was SO looking forward to this piece!!! I love the "SEPHIROTH!" part of the chorus.=D =D =D Haha. It's brilliantly dramatic. Except that the choir wasn't particularly fantastic so that kind of spoilt it for me. Apart from that though, I felt that this piece was a GREAT ending for the programme this evening.=) It's got all the elements! Dramatic finish, epic sounding singing and much action-related melody. Too bad Square Enix didn't provide them with a video. The Sephiroth-Cloud battle would have been a FABULOUS companion since it appeared in Advent Children with this piece.^_^

Encore
The Revenge of Shinobi
- Not too bad, but the video clip sent me into peals of laughter. It was SO old school!!! Ahaha. This was picked out by an online poll on GameAxis.

^_^ Overall, a GREAT concert.

Random bits of updates:
- Gackt's new video cost 30 million yen to shoot!
- Gackt's Arena 37C photoshoot used kimono that cost more than 50 million yen in total!
- Gackt looks REALLY good in kimono and epic samurai scenes.=D
- Gackt's new song, Returner~Yami no Shuuen~, is the theme song for the Japan release of The Prestige. I don't really see how English magicians and Japanese samurais tie up though.O__o
- Shou has dyed his hair a dark brown. [Not that no one knows this..]
- The S.K.I.N. trailer [S.K.I.N. being the new Yoshiki-Gackt-Sugizo-Miyavi band] is up on Gackt's official website! They've also got a logo:

I was honestly expecting a nicer logo but what do I know right? xP
- I bought books today! And I think they are mildly intellectual.=D Murakami Haruki is intellectual right?

I have not yet finished my friends page!! O weeps. And my computer restarted just now so all the pages with the links to my scans are gone! O weeps again. Nevermind. I shall watch Advent Children soon to calm my spirits [and drool over Cloud! xD And my other cute guy whose name I can't remember. Yabu? Yasu? Yazu? O__o]

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Returner~Yami no Shuuen~ Gackt]
[mood : ^_^]
[food : --]

wendaye: You fail lah! Haha. You're in London right? Must go eat the chocolates at La Maison du Chocolat! =D =D =D It's in one of those chichi areas. Urm. I have no idea where they have good macarons in London. O__o I suppose you could try those department store food halls like they have in Japan? =X Oops. And that SO counted as a Japan post!!! There are... 27 photos there!!!

Labels: alice nine, Final Fantasy, Gackt, music, Play A Video Game Symphony, skin, superband, video games

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