Warriors Orochi 2 NA Version is Finally Released!

I still remember it, my very first game in PS2 as well as my very first one that I finished after I own that precious little black box. Warriors Orochi! Wew! Actually, I didn’t know that such title exist if not for the Revolt clerk’s recommendation. He saw me picking up Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, and gave me Warriors Orochi, saying that the game was the amalgamation of the previous two. Being newbie (in PS2, not in a gaming world), I took it. Reaching home, I started playing that game. Guess what? I was completely astonished with that, even I started learning the background of Sam Kok and Sengoku era from that game. Hehehehe, totally reversed!

Last March (or April?), I heard that KOEI finally released the sequel of the game, Musou Orochi 2: Maou Sairin. Heck! It was still in Japanese and no confirmation yet whether KOEI will localize it in America or not. I was completely euphoric then, and without thinking further, I rushed to game shop and purchased it. When I started playing it at home, everything was written in Hiragana-Katakana-Kanji-worm-like-letters. I could actually play it without understanding its storyline, just like every other kiddo. But then, I was hesitated, since I decided to wait for the translation. Heck, I thought, if the NA version isn’t released, then I’ll play this version instead.

A long, long, long await……… When finally I saw it in GameFAQ. The announcement! The schedule! Warriors Orochi 2 will be launched on September 23! September 23! Exactly on my birthday! Wow, wow, wow! So this is a birthday present from KOEI for me… Hehehehehe!

I didn’t act foolishly by rushing to the game shop on that date. Still considering that the official launching was September 23, and localized (a.k.a. pirated) version in Indonesia will be there in around 2-3 days. So, last Friday (26/9) I went to the game shop. Feeling desperate since I couldn’t find it in the rack, I heard someone sending new games to the shop. And one of them was Orochi 2!!! Yipeeeeee!!! Took it, paid it, went home, changed my clothes, turned on the TV, opened the lid of that precious black box, inserted it, closed it, and turned on the console…. Booting, PlayStation 2 logo, KOEI logo, Omega Forces logo, and finally, WARRIORS OROCHI 2 (press start button.. Hehehehehe!) Yay!

I knew it, many improvements were there. Now KOEI included the ability to do True Musou without red-life bar by equipping some skills (finally! This should be there since the very first instalment!). The second instalment also has the ability to do triple musou attack (a.k.a. support attack) where all three characters will appear at the same time and start butchering the enemy. Huray! Huray! Huray!

Unlike the previous instalment, which have only 4 stories, this one has 5 stories! Shu, Wei, Wu, Samurai, and…….. OROCHI!!! Wow! So now we can play as Orochi and Da Ji since the first stage. Ouch! KOEI really spoiled me… I don’t need to fulfil several criteria to unlock some officers like in the previous instalment. Now, by progressing through all five stories, you can have all officers (excluding Orochi X and some Survival-VS only characters. But, who need those weird officers?). Talking about officer, they included new faces here. Guess who? They are Minamoto Yoshitsune (ouch, they should include Shizuka too!), Taira Kiyomori, Taigong Wang, Himiko, and SUN WUKONG!!!! :-o Fu Xi and Nu Wa also came back here. Wew, so now Diao Chan has a rival!

Another good point, KOEI included the third costume for everyone. Basically, this costume is a costume from Dynasty Warriors 4 and Samurai Warriors 1. But for those first appeared in Dynasty Warriors 5 and Samurai Warriors 2 (or even the original characters like Da Ji and Taigong Wang), they made special costume. And guess what, I could even fell for Da Ji in her third costume… Blonde hair, cat ears, white outfit. Oww, so seducing… We could even see Ginchiyo Tachibana in a non-armor outfit. Geee……….

Okay, now from the storyline aspect. Well, Orochi is not the only bad guy here. In fact, he’s mentioned only in the last chapter. The real bad guy here is Taira Kiyomori who tried to revive Orochi. Minamoto Yoshitsune, his rival, tried to stop him though. On the other side, Da Ji was chased by the mystics, Taigong Wang, Fu Xi, and Nu Wa for releasing Orochi from the prison.

Reminisce to the first game, where KOEI compared Cao Cao and Nobunaga, as well as Keiji Maeda and Lu Bu, now they did it again. This time, Zhang Fei met Tadakatsu Honda, Zhang Xing Cai befriend Ina-hime (considering their father’s background), Ieyasu Tokugawa found a soulmate in Liu Bei, and one (impossible) pair from same franchise, Gan Ning with Zhang Liao! Gee… They really are mad………

With the release of Dynasty Warriors 6 prior to this game, some changes also took place. I was shocked when playing as Sun Shang Xiang. I know that in DW 6, she didn’t have her chakram anymore, but bow. And in this game, her R1 + directional button attack was firing arrows at the enemies. And it really is deadly. Aaargh!!!!!!!

PS : Gee, I know this might be a foolish wish, but could KOEI also release Orochi 3 in the old-but-beautiful-black-console-PlayStation 2???

To CALL or not to CALL?

I attended a workshop on CALL last friday (19/09). Hmm, the presenter was not “okay” for me in terms of face validity. Hehehehe! He looked like a businessman rather than a trainer. Surprise, surprise, when the moderator introduced him, I knew that he took Business and Finance as his bachelor and master degree. However, he took TESOL for his doctoral degree. Hmm, suspicious. I smelled something fishy going on.

Well, in fact he did make some “interesting” points. First, he told us that in the traditional teaching, reading skill dominates all the skills. And that Grammar Translation Method and Audio Lingual Method has been outdated. Thus, we need CALL to create a supportive virtual environment for the language acquisition. However, seeing from his demonstration of the program, we saw that it actually is an Audio Lingual method instructed through computer. WHAT??

Next point was in the point of critical thinking. He said that CALL implemented critical thinking, in which the emphasis was on the pattern recognition, not pattern memorization. Another contradiction, all the exercises there were cloze-test. And what is the basic nature of cloze-test? Pattern practice drilling. And what is the nature of drilling? Memorization!!!! GOOD!

The listening exercises were not using any written sentence, even for the instruction. They used visual aids instead. Yes, using visual aids to explain the meaning is good, but as the semantics theory mentioned that not all things can be visualized! (Reminisce to Bu Veni's Semantics class) How can you visualize passion? How can you visualize itch? And even though all those things can be visualized, the schemata (a.k.a. background knowledge) of every people will respond differently.

Related to the previous point that everybody will respond differently, it will affect their answers. However, the form of the exercises there was close-ended question, which gave no possibilities for more than one answer. And that contradicts the principle of constructivism. Furthermore, constructivism is the hype basis of the teaching-learning activity in the post-modern era. WEW!

This 'big' guy also quoted Krashen and Pinker to strengthen his argument. However, did he really read those, or quoting it from somewhere else? Since he didn't apply Krashen's comprehensible input, i+1. (I was tempted to ask about this, but it turned out that I didn't have the heart to do it. XD) He didn't consider the difference between L1 acquisition and L2 acquisition in adult learners, since he generalize adult and young learners. OUCH! And where did the lateralization and critical period advantages go in young learners?

In the end, the fishy things were out. He was there to SELL the program. Yikes! So, he's some kind of salesman? Educated salesman?? And he took TESOL as his doctoral degree only to smoothen his way in this field?

Waow! Be patient dude, be patient. It's a fasting month. And, you did learn something too. :D

Avalokitesvara 2 - Tara

Something weird just happened to me in last days. This is related to the little annoying childish devil (Wow, so now I’m using that term to refer to her?). Well, this is the case, she texted me once by using her-so-called-romantic-complicated-style of poetry text. And hey, for people knowing me well, I am always tempted to reply that kind of text, using my own complicated thingy. Well, kind of showing off that I can make something more complicated than that! Wahahahaha!!!!

She texted me about Sita and such, taking excerpt from wayang. I thought, wow, so she wanted to have a “duel” in this realm? So I replied by comparing Sita, Banowati, and Drupadi. Guess what, she said that she knew Banowati. Gee, I doubted it actually. Again, she replied using that kind of register, her so-called-wayang-register-but-actually-too-shallow. So, I challenged her by mentioning Avalokitesvara and Tara. Hit the spot, dude! She didn’t know who Tara is (in fact she thought that Tara is the one having hundred kids! Dude! That’s Gandari!!!) Few days ago, she said that I shall never get my Tara. Geee, I never try to look for Tara. See, with that childish mind of her, again, she misunderstood.

Okay, enough with the introduction. Let’s just see who is Tara here!

Tara is not the husband of Sugriwa. She is not the one who is the daughter of Indra. Instead, Tara is the avatara of Avalokitesvara. Legend mentioned that she is born from Avalokitesvara’s tears when seeing so many creatures in-need of help. Though she’s powerful, she still can’t do it alone. Thus, born Tara. Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in samsara, She is the consort of Avalokitesvara, and also devoted her life to help others.

In Buddhist pantheon, it was said that there are 21 taras, each with their own specification. Below are the most famous incarnation of tara

Green Tārā, known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
White Tārā, also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
Red Tārā, of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things
Black Tārā, associated with power
Yellow Tārā, associated with wealth and prosperity
Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger

Last word for that little devil, I’m not looking for Tara to be my partner. It’s just a figurative expression. But thanks to Tara, I can get rid of you!
Om tare tutare ture Svaha!

The Call - Another Ranting of Faith and Belief

It started out as a feeling,
Which then grow into a hope
Which then turn into a quiet thought
Which then turn into a quite word
And then the word grew louder and louder
Till it was a battle cry
I’ll call back when you call me

That was a lyric from “The Call”, an ending song of Chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian. The song was sung by Regina Spektor. Ever since I first heard it in the cinema, I was drawn into it. Well, the melody is the one I like. Googling for it, but never got the MP3, perhaps because it is not a famous song. However, thanks to the miracle called youtube, I was able to get it complete with the lyrics.

No, I’m not going to comment on the song, on how it really is good. Still related to the previous post of mine, about the call. Is it an accident that I stumbled into this song on my playlist this morning? The very first part of the song gave me a clue of what a call is.

It was first a feeling, and then a hope, then we start thinking about it quietly, lingered in our mind. Okay, period here. I am in this stage, where the idea, the feeling lingered in my mind for like an eternity. But for me, that word is not, I mean, has not become louder as a battle cry. Instead, it is (still) a whisper.

Pay attention to the last line, I’ll call you back when you call me. So much of my missed-call concept, eh? That I’m delaying replying the call from above until I’m ready. But when is the exact time of my readiness? Is it now? Now that I’ve entered the grey area of life?

I humbly realized that no single living entity under heaven could help me in making decision. It’s solely the product of my own mind. In a flash, my mind flew back to SPD class, where bu Lani told us about CAC, Choice, Action, and Consequences. That we have to be ready to take any consequence from any of our action.

Going back to the fire aspect, I think I have yet to discover the fire within my soul. That fire will be the driving force (and no, I’m not referring to libido, since the context is out of Freud!). Once I find it, I’ll know where to go. Thus, I have to once again depart for a journey to my deepest self. Kinda remind me of tarot, where Hermit card is said to be my personal card, along with High Priestess. High Priestess means the esotheric side, and Hermit means a journey within to look something veiled deep in the soul of ours.

Gee, what’s the bottomline of my ranting? That I stumbled into a perfect song to add my confusion!

PS : Romo Agus replied my email of confusion and responded. “Maybe it’s good to consider your feeling over those options. What feeling is more dominant, then follow it!” (automatically translated into English – red. Huahahahahaha!)

Hypochondria

Again, I was tickled when reading the article in recent edition of Intisari. This article was in the health section and talked about Hypochondria. Wow, wow, wow, what the hell is hypochondria?

According to the article, hypochondria is an extreme paranoia of disease. Some people have the awareness towards diseases, but in the case of hypochondria, they tend to think that they have certain disease. They are convinced that they have, say for example, deadly cancer within their body. Moreover, the information that they got through reading the health article convinced them more that they have that. Wow! In relation to the recent development of information technology, there is also cyberchondria, in which one got the information of diseases through the internet.

Bad news, hypochondria and cyberchondria is classified into a mental disorder caused by trauma. WOW! Big wow!

Cha and Mit were always annoyed with my over analyzing the symptoms within my body. I once thought that I had skin cancer, though in fact I got allergy. Thinking of having a brain cancer while I actually was totally tired. The recent one, I thought that I had prostate cancer while actually it was just the cold weather forcing me to urinate often. I once also thought that I got HIV when the mosquito bites in my skin leave a black spot, while in fact it's the genetic skin problem from my mother side. From D to A, to M, to N! Gimme DAMN!

PS : I actually want to write this article under the name extreme paranoia, but after reading the article, I decided to change the title into Hypochondria. Wew, what the hell did the writer in Intisari think?

Ranting from AJCU - EAO Annual Meeting 2008

Still another rambling from last AJCU-EAO Annual Meeting. This time, I’m going to rant on the very first session of the meeting, presentation of GC 35 result. Father Bambang from ATMI Solo presented his understanding on it, putting the emphasis on the 4F, which are Fire, Frontier, Fidelity, and Friendship. Those points were quite interesting and inspiring though, with the tagline to summarize it saying “Fire in our hearts, Frontier is the mission, Fidelity is the cause, and Friendship is the way.”

Hmm, talking about the fire and frontier, it really is inspiring. Fire burning within the heart to start the frontier. But, I’m not writing to preach upon those. It is so not me to preach something that I didn’t do. Some parts of his paper are the main point of discussion here in this article. It tickled me so hard, pondered my mind quickly, and banged my soul to pieces. It was under the sub-heading “Religion in the Post-Modern World”.

“The Renaissance and sociologist in the forties, made a hypothesis that religion will slowly disappear. Contrary to that prediction, in the post-modern society, religion way of lives still exists and can grow in the framework of secular government system. Religion and religious lives still give the important foundation where the collective and personal identity can be formed. This becomes a source of extraordinary energy to motivate common action. The Renaissance, which brought the demystification of the world, has reached its limits. Indirectly, what is the most essential in religiosity comes to surface in our age, as an irreplaceable horizon, which can even embrace the most secular.

(Yep, I’ll give my comment directly per paragraph between brackets. Can’t deny the fact that religion is still considered important, though it doesn’t rule every aspect of life. GOD! I can’t imagine my whole life being controlled by those strict rules. I mean, there are some good points in religion, but giving my life all to those dogmas? You gotta be kidding me! Giving my life all to God is okay, but to Dogmas??? Get real, dude! Dogmas are man-made. And, I believe with all my heart, that God didn’t spend His time to construct strict rules, like how we should pray, when should we pray, what should and shouldn’t be eaten, what tools to use, and blah blah blah….. Call me heretic if you want, but for me rules are made to break. Place as many rules around me, and I’ll find a way to break it without anyone accusing me guilty. Wait, that’s so Jesuit, isn’t it? Hehehehe… kidding!)

“In the modern society, religion is practices in the context of technical, rational, science based, and communication media focused environment. Those are not the main problem. The most dangerous threat to religion is the individualism which grows together with modernity. It is the very problem which is fought against by fundamentalist movement, or better expression: the “counter secular” movements. Individualism makes religion lost its unifying social role. The trend is to treat religion like supermarket, where rituals, myth, and mysticism, as well as dogma can be chosen as individual likeness. The pure individualistic and market oriented approach creates a spirituality which is incomplete and without commitment.”

(DAMN! This is the very point which strikes me in heart, pierced my soul and shattered it to million crunches. I put logic in every ritual that I had to follow, analyze those in many angles. I started to hate the unity, hate the fact that I’m going to meet many people in churches. Hate seeing people that I considered as hypocrites, placing religion above GOD Himself. Especially after the incident with that BITCH named FEA. Yep, I finally write her real name. Still can’t forgive her for that, way too deep, brainless girl. Wew, I ranted again….. Sorry guys. Back to topic, I went studying other religions, even those paganisms. I was into Kabala, Buddhism, Hinduism, and lately, I studied Druidism. Am I just a customer in the market? My real reason for avoiding going to mass all this time is this boredom towards the long ritual as well as the annoyance of people who place rituals and dogmas as something strict as nail.)

Here comes the most surprising fact. Despite those rants and ramblings I had above, I did consider entering the scholastic! Marvelous!!! What could be funnier?