The World Ends With You

I've blogged about two PSP games so far, but I'm really a Nintendo DS guy. Recently however, it seems like my DS Lite is screaming for retirement. The top screen's colors are a little off, and the D-pad is not working. This means that I'm stuck with the touch screen games, but I'm not missing out much. I still have the Ace Attorney series, Trauma Center, Elite Beat Agents, and thankfully, The World Ends With You (TWEWY for short). I love it so much I named this blog after it.

The reason why I love it so much is because everything about it is great. Here:

Gameplay:

The gameplay is really unique. There are no random battles. You can see enemies on the screen, and you just click on them to activate the battle. The battle itself is confusing. You will fight on the top screen using the D-pad, and the touchscreen below simultaneously. But it's not that hard. Your abilities and money come in dozens of button pins, with each pin artwork having a unique ability. You get your stats from the clothes you wear to the food you eat, all of which can be bought from shops around the city.

Graphics and Music:

The graphics are in 2D with characters in sprites. The backgrounds and the overall artwork are just plain cool. The music is purely J-pop. So you have these songs with pretty cool beats, and the not-so-cool lyrics. Here's the game's trailer to show you everything I just mentioned:

Story:

TWEWY is a Role-Playing Game (RPG), set on the Shibuya district in Tokyo, Japan. It's about a boy named Neku, who woke up in the middle of the street, with amnesia, and everybody else can't see, hear, or feel him. He met a girl named Shiki, who told him that both of them are players in a game. Here's how the game works:

1. You can only become a player when you meet a certain condition.

2. You should give up the most important thing in your life as entry fee to the game.

3. You find and team up with a partner. If you can't, you get erased. (You Lose.)

4. With your parter, you do seven missions in seven days, given by the game master.

5. Finish a mission and the mission is accomplished for all the players.

6. If nobody finished the mission, everyone will be erased.

7. Noise (monsters) and Reapers (in-game characters) may fight the players and erase them.

8. After all the missions are completed, the game master chooses the winner who gets the prize.

Players on the foreground, Reapers on the background

Now I need to tell the spoilers to show how the story goes, but trust me, there are lot more great twists, plots, and sub-stories that I won't mention here. If you don't want any, then my post ends here.

Neku has amnesia, so it's pretty obvious that his memory was the most important thing that he gave up to enter the game. The certain condition to become a player? Death. All the players that enter the game are dead. And the prize? You guessed it! Another chance in life.

Neku gets to finish the game, but because of certain interferences that happened within the game, he gets to play it again, and then one more time, each with a different partner and a different game master. In the end, if everything turns out right (or wrong depending on how you see it), the world does end with him. Oh, and he finds out everything about his death.

Pretty nice story huh? That's the thing I love the most about the game. I play games like I read books, I'm all about the story.

Sugarfree @ SM Marilao

Last November 22, Sugarfree performed at SM City Marilao. Though I badly wanted to go and see them, I couldn't. Luckily, my sister was there to take some videos and posters, and have our Sugarfree LIVE and Mornings & Airpots signed.

Along with our younger brother, all three of us love Sugarfree so when Ebe asked my sister her name so he could sign with it, she told him not to write it anyway because it's all for the three of us. Awww... Hahahaha! Thanks Ate! Anyway, their next single, Feels Like, is their first single in English. However, the best track of their latest album, at least for me, is Hay Buhay. So here's a clip of them performing the song last Sunday:

New Overprints on Philippine Banknotes

I got this from my Dad. He used to collect specially released coins when he was younger. When the printing of the five peso bill stopped, my sister and I kept some, as we did to the ten peso bills (na may isa at dalawang ulo).

Ten years ago, we saw this:

A special overprint for the 50 years of Central Banking in the Philippines.

I thought that I should keep one.

Five years ago:

A special overprint for the UN Year of Microcredit.

Last year:

The University of the Philippines Centennial overprint.

Yesterday, I got this:

60 years of Central Banking in the Philippines.

I realized that it was already ten years since I kept that 50 peso bill and I just thought about blogging it. I know that the bank notes are supposed to be kept in circulation, but keeping a copy or two wouldn't hurt the number of bank notes being circulated, right? Hehe. I wonder when and for what the next overprinted banknotes would be.

I found this blog that's all about Philippine money and found out that all six of our current banknotes from 20 to 1000 pesos have the current overprint. Now I would have to look out for the other five. Haha.

Dissidia Final Fantasy. Finally!

After more than a year of waiting, I finally have a copy of Dissidia Final Fantasy. It was released last August 25 and I got mine on the 28th. I have talked about this game on at least two of my previous posts. It is the reason why I re-played and finished FF VII 12 years after it's release and the sole reason why I bought a Sony PSP, being the Nintendo fanboy that I am. Having played the first nine final fantasies, it's a must for me to get this game.

Story:
It's basically the good versus evil plot between the protagonists and antagonists of the game. Of course, the story focuses on the good guys. They team up with each other to find their own respective crystals, which are their last hope to win the war. Interestingly enough, the individual stories of the characters in the game reflects to the character's story on the original game. Terra suffers from her amnesia, Squall wants to be left alone, and Bartz, the wanderer that he is, ended up in the enemy's base camp.

Voice Acting:
Some voices we've heard before like Cecil, Golbez, Cloud, and Sephiroth. Some voices fit their characters like Kefka and Kuja; but Terra and Zidane, not so much. There are also a lot of times where the dialogue doesn't match the mouth movement.

Gameplay:
I consider the game as an RPG-ized fighting game. You choose your character, level them up, buy equipment, collect summons, and play through the character's story. The fighting is done in 3D environments. One set of attacks increases your bravery, and another set deals damage to your enemy's HP. The more bravery you have, the higher your damage on the enemy's HP.

Battle:
Some characters use the classic Final Fantasy magic: Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard. Many characters use their attack from their original game: Squall's Fated Circle and Rough Divide, Cloud's Cross Slash, and Zidane's Solution 9, for example.

EX Mode (Limit Break):
Terra, Zidane, and Kuja enter Trance. Cloud, Tidus, Squall, and Firion obtain their game's ultimate weapon. The Onion Knight and Bartz's job class change. Squall's EX Burst: Lionheart = FFVIII nostalgia.

You can even save videos and take screenshots.

So far, my favorite character is Zidane, because he's fast, can jump high, can evade attacks relatively well, and can attack from long distances; and I have to admit, FFIX is my first RPG and my favorite game ever.

I find this game worth every centavo that I spent, not only on the UMD, but also on the PSP itself.

Paying respect to President Aquino

This is just one side of the story of the thousands of people who waited in line for hours to pay respect to President Aquino.

Yesterday, I asked my mom if she wants to go to President Cory's wake. She asked me if it's okay with me and we went there that afternoon.

We parked near Letran in Intramuros, went to the Manila Cathedral, followed and got to the end of the line, which circled the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila block, at around 3:20pm. We met college students from Laguna, High School students from Manila, a woman from Bulacan, and a mother with her child from Cavite. We were thankful that PLM opened its restrooms and clinic to the public, and it took us two and a half hours to circle 3/4 of its block. Then my brother came and my mom sat down on the side of the street.

Suddenly, there was a collective scream from behind us and everybody turned their heads. We saw everyone opening their umbrellas and rain started to fall. A strong gust of wind upturned my umbrella, and then the rain was gone. It was around this time that the line became two, and there were frustrating moments when the newly formed line (of newcomers) started to cut in with us when they realized that our line was "the" line. People from our group were so frustrated that we were shouting "BAWAL SUMINGIT!"

The line got so long that we caught up with another part of it along the way, and it was much more in chaos than ours. We did not move much for at least two hours while the necrological service was conducted. There were occasional cheers every time the line moved a bit. Street food dinner for everyone. It rained and stopped occasionally, then there was a downpour. Many umbrellas like ours are grouped together forming a huge shell. It went on for a while and when it stopped, we were still nailed on the same spot, feet wet and hurting.

Then the line moved, and there were policemen and people from the cathedral facilitating the lines, which they should have done five hours earlier all throughout the line!!! People are cutting in line, people!!! But since then, the line merged into one and it got a lot more orderly.

Then the line split into two again, this time, it was facilitated. And the lined moved quite fast. Then there were girls screaming in front of us, then James Yap was there, then there was a woman being rushed in a stretcher, then we were inside.

It took us seven hours. We were able to see and pay respect to President Aquino and her family in less than 30 seconds. Then we were heading out the cathedral.

Then people were giving out pandesals and energy drinks. There was food here? We were hungry three hours ago! But it was still helpful, people were getting their hands on it. Then we got back to the car and drove back home to Bulacan on a downpour of rain.

7 hours in line. Somehow, it was worth it.

On my phones: Mornings and Airports

Earlier today I got my much awaited copy of Sugarfree's latest album, Mornings and Airports. I've been waiting for its release since I heard their latest single, "Hay Buhay," on the radio weeks ago. We played the whole album in the car on the way back home. I'm still familiarizing myself to most of the songs, but it's clear to me that "Hay Buhay" is my favorite by a mile.

Unfortunately, I didn't like as much as I have expected but it was still good, being a Sugarfree fan that I am. Haha. Many songs are in english, which makes this album from the previous ones very different, but it still has the Sugarfree feel to it. Kinda hard to explain but you'll know it when you're a fan. At least a couple of songs were sung by Jal, whose voice I recognized from when he sang "Batang-bata ka pa" alongside Ebe on their Apo tribute a while back.

So far, the songs that I like are Hay Buhay, Mornings and Airports, and Patawad. More songs will most probably be added to that once I listen to it more. Hehe.

Edit: I'll add Mamang Driver, Heto na Naman Tayo, and Form Factor to the songs that I like.

My new PSP and Crisis Core: FFVII

A week ago, I finally bought my own PSP 3006 for what I think is a really great price. All thanks to my ninong. Hehe. Salamat!

The main reason why I bought one is because of Dissidia Final Fantasy which would be out by next month. Before then, I thought I'd go play Crisis Core: FFVII, having finished the original game a few weeks back. Earlier today, I finished the game.

The game is very short, has impressive graphics and voice acting, an easy gameplay, and quite a nice story. Zack's back story with Angeal and Genisis is nice, but his relationship with the characters from the original game and the events that intertwined with it made his story very interesting.

Having played FFVII, I know how Zack's story would end. I never expected that watching it would actually be heart wrenching. His final thoughts of Cissnei, Tseng, and Sephiroth then that of Angeal, Cloud, and Aeris while battling for his life made my lungs inflate and my eyes burn. Specially that of Aeris (I still feel uncomfortable calling her Aerith) who actually felt him go to the lifestream, being an Ancient that she is. The ending is a tearjerker - not a happy ending, unlike all of the Final Fantasies that I played (haven't played X yet but I'm familiar with its story.) But it was still really satisfying.