Radical Dreamer.

AMG WHAT?

2006-08-15T21:33:00.000+08:00

So, today I'm supposed to post the next review.

Yeah just wait for some time. I signed up at Constant-Content.com and I'll get more money by selling these reviews as a "unique/full purchase" instead of just plain "usage purchase". Let's see if they accept my OST review style. If they do, then I'll stop posting the reviews here. If they don't, music reviews still come here - game reviews go there.

I just sent in my Xenogears review of course, but too bad it can't be "unique/full purchase'd".

Crossing fingers.

Keke.

Some great stuff.

2006-08-10T15:53:00.000+08:00

Remember Star of Tears, the vocalised song in Xenogears' OST? Just found out that the lyrics were written by Masato Kato, scenario writer for Xenogears/saga and the Chrono games. And damn are they amazing.

Star of Tears
Lyrics by Masato Kato
Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda
Performed by Joanne Hogg

Your fingertips moving gently to my heart
The force of life goes on and on
The song remains like a haunting melody
Of angel music held in chains

And I ask you
Can we ease the pain of those who lost (The force of life goes on)
Can we know the cause of all this sorrow (Tears of loneliness)
Can we catch the tears of a broken world
Falling down up the earth, falling down...

The waves of time take me deeper into you
A haze as blue as summer skies
And turn to find the key will not unlock the door
This broken bird away it flies

Masato Kato also wrote the text in the opening video to Chrono Cross, which was accompanied by another Yasunori Mitsuda masterpiece, Time's Scar.

What was the start of all this?
When did the cogs of fate begin to turn?

Perhaps it is impossible to grasp that answer now,
From deep within the flow of time...

But, for a certainty, back then,
We loved so many, yet hated so much,
We hurt others and were hurt ourselves...

Yet even then we ran like the wind
Whilst our laughter echoed,
Under cerulean skies...

Give us the fourth game in the Chrono series damnit!

Lyrics of Star of Tears courtesy of chaos2.org.

Speak not of this horror!

2006-08-09T22:45:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, I attempted my first track-by-track soundtrack review in the vein of Isaac Engelhorn's ScoreSounds' later videogame soundtrack reviews. Tell me what you think about it by commenting in that post, or via e-mail.

I'm going to have several resolutions for this place.

First, this will be a place where I put up reviews of soundtracks and games on a weekly basis. Updated every Tuesday.

Second, a place that does not contain inane ramblings about my day, but rather interesting inane ramblings about my day with internet trolls thrown in for kicks.

Third, a place focused on long(er) posts that are commentary on events and trends which I feel like talking about.

Fourth, a tagboardless, template-that-will-not-render-well-on-alternative-browserless blog that just serves you what you feel like reading.

Feel free to fire me emails on what you think. I don't mind receiving flames, especially if they are incoherent, grammatically incorrect and poorly typed.

[REVIEW] Xenogears Original Soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda

2006-08-08T21:22:00.000+08:00

Album Title: Xenogears Original Sound Track

Composed by: Yasunori Mitsuda Released: March 1, 1998

Published by: Digicube (Catalog number SSCX-10013)

The Xenogears' soundtrack has definitely had an impact on me. The melody of Gathering Stars in the Night Sky/Flight is simply one of the most beautiful refrains you will ever hear. Emotions and Star of Tears share the same melody, another wonderful one. I don't know, but to me, Yasunori Mitsuda creates the best melodies and character themes out of all the videogame composers, and perhaps even the classical composers, I have ever heard.

My first contact with Mitsuda was in Chrono Trigger, like most other video game players. His score brought a new life to the game after I finished it. His primary contributions, the soundtrack of the games in the Chrono scores, had shown the strength of his work. The main themes of each Chrono game: the unforgettable Chrono Trigger theme and the emotional Radical Dreamers/Chrono Cross theme (played to perfection in the track Life and superbly vocalised by Noriko Mitose in Radical Dreamers ~ Unstolen Gem) - all of them simply have some of the best manipulation of musical notes ever.

After a long while, I finally decided to get Xenogears' soundtrack. My high expectations for the soundtrack were completely shattered when Star of Tears came on. The second disc's Gathering Stars in the Night Sky/Flight tune gave me goosebumps - in a good way. Despite the short length of this soundtrack, Xenogears' OST packs quite a lot of must-listens in it. Poor tracks are few and far between in this score, and some of the themes are just so beautiful. One of my favourite videogame soundtracks of all time.

Disc One
1	Light From The Netherworld	Xenogears' OST starts with an epic track that goes through several phases and tunes. The song begins in oppressive territory, and an ominous feel. There's even a choir at about 2:20 and at the end of the song. At about 4:00, it enters a more melodic phase, for a very short while. An excellent start to an excellent overall soundtrack.	9/10
2	Star of Tears	Very well done vocalised song with Irish singer Joanne Hoggs's beautiful voice as the star. The track feels Celtic, and has a typical verse-chorus-verse song structure. This song has grown on me over time and now receives a perfect score. This is a must-listen!	10/10!
3	Bonds of Sea and Fire	Although others have said how impressive this track is, it really did not do anything much for me. It does not stand out too much, as well.	6.5/10
4	My Village Is Number One	Upbeat town theme, and the title of this track is the best "town" song title, ever! A cute, lighthearted wind instrument-led ditty.	8/10
5	The Valley Where Wind Is Born	Lighthearted song with some sweet rattle-like percussion in the background.	7.5/10
6	Faraway Promise	Soft music box melody that is rather common in Yasunori Mitsuda's soundtracks. Reminds me of Chrono Trigger's music box song, coincidentally called "Far Off Promise". Ran out of names?	7/10
7	Steel Giant	Fast-paced action music, the first "real" action music on the soundtrack. This track starts off heavy and turns into a high-pitched woodwind part for about 3 seconds before slamming the drums again.	7.5/10
8	Forest of the Black Moon	This track starts off very slowly, but do not let it deceive you. Its main melody is very good, and fits well as an ambient track.	7.5/10
9	Shattering Egg of Dreams	An absolutely beautiful melody is found in this track. A soft opening soon transitions into the main melody played by several wind instruments. Wonderful.	9/10
10	Back to Sleep	Typical sleep theme.	-
11	Dazil ~ City of Burning Sands	This track is exotic and makes you feel that you're in an Arabic desert city like the title states. Some very sweet ethnic instruments feature in this track.	8.5/10
12	Emotions	Easily one of my favourite tracks. This overworld theme carries an extremely lush melody that is shared with Star of Tears. This track should not be missed.	9.5/10
13	Grahf, Emperor of Darkness	A track that outright shouts "EVIL!". Theme of the main antagonist in Xenogears, Yasunori Mitsuda does well to carry the entire evil aura around this track.	7.5/10
14	Fuse	Action track that is a little too slow-paced for my liking. Not too special.	6/10
15	Leftovers of the Dreams of the Strong	This track starts off with a regal feel, and shifts to a more melodic woodwind-led section starting at around 1:40. Good.	8/10
16	The Treasure Which Cannot Be Stolen	A soft, soothing track. It starts with a harp, then moves to a piano solo, before having the strings work its way into the song.	8.5/10
17	Aveh, The Ancient Dance	This track has the same tune which is heard in Leftovers of the Dreams of the Strong (2nd section) and Bonds of Sea and Fire. A Scottish version of that theme.	7/10
18	Invasion	Not a stand-out, but good ambient music with some interesting sound effects in the background.	6.5/10
19	Stage of Death	From my 10-minute shot at Xenogears (I'll get to playing it...really soon), this track is the battle theme for the game. Percussion-heavy like most battle songs, but with string instruments to share the limelight.	7.5/10
20	In A Dark Sleep	The Game Over theme. A piano-accompanied string melody.	7/10
21	Singing Of The Gentle Wind	Soft, melodic track that does not really stand out as well. When you do listen to it though, it is very good.	8.5/10
22	The Wounded Shall Advance Into The Light	Church-like choral theme. Scratch that, this one completely reminds me of those holy songs.	6.5/10
23	Lost... Broken Shards	The same melody heard in Shattered Egg of Dreams. A slow piano solo with a violin accompanying it. Pretty good, short and sweet.	8/10
24	Thames, Man Of The Sea	Starts off sounding action-packed and royal, then goofs off at about 1:00, slowly changing to a soft woodwind section before the loop. Quite a nice track to listen to.	7.5/10
25	The Blue Traveler	The tune of this song sounds great. After an energetic start, this track's tune becomes string-led, but the loop does not fit too well. Other than that minor gripe, this is definitely one of the better songs on this soundtrack.	8.5/10

Disc 2 has the more sombre tracks from the soundtrack, but includes one of the best stretches of music in the four back-to-back songs, "Gathering Stars in the Night Sky", "Tears of Stars, Hearts of People", "Flight" and "Wings". Despite this, disc 2 is a poorer disc overall, and the disc almost ends in an unimpressive way, before the vocal track Small Two of Pieces gives Xenogears' OST a marvellous conclusion.

Disc Two
1	Ship of Regret and Sleep	This song is led by a harpischord with a choir. Not too much to my liking.	6.5/10
2	The Jaws of Ice	An ambient track, not interesting at all.	4/10
3	Knight of Fire	This track reminds me of the battle theme. Very similar, except with a part with a voice muttering something several times. Of course, this would be the boss battle music of Xenogears.	7/10
4	June Mermaid	A melodic song, soft and probably what would generally be thought of as a "sad" song. Quite draggy though.	7.5/10
5	Shevat - The Wind Is Calling	This is very, very similar to Chrono Trigger's Corridor of Time. Melodic, very nice choice of instruments and overall a very good track.	9/10
6	The Sky, Clouds and You	Cute little song, reminds me a little of a waltz.	7/10
7	Gathering Stars in the Night Sky	Very sweet song. There's a very nice string section which I especially like from 0:13 to 0:58. A wind instrument then takes over for a while, before going back to the strings. One of the best on the soundtrack.	9.5/10
8	Tears of the Stars, Hearts of the People	A strings-based song. This track keeps in tune with disc two's generally more sombre tone and is very good.	9/10
9	Flight	Wow. This track starts with some fast string play, then moves on to the tune heard in Gathering Stars in the Night Sky, with orchestral instrumentation. Amazing, amazing song, taking a very sweet tune and transforming it into one god-awesome track.	10/10!
10	Wings	Another majestic track in the vein of Flight, another wonderful song. This song has the same tune as Disc 1, tracks 3, 15 and 17. The best out of them all.	9/10
11	Solaris - Eden of Heaven	Goofy track that reminds me of Optimism from the Chrono Cross OST in terms of "feel". Silly little song.	8/10
12	Back to Sleep	Another sleep track.	-
13	The One Who Is Torn Apart	This track reminds me of Lavos' Theme from Chrono Trigger. Basically, bland and boring repeating tunes by that high pitched thing the entire track. Some other variations and accompaniment are introduced later on, but this track is still boring as hell.	4/10
14	Pray for the People's Joy	A harpischord or organ solo of The Wounded Shall Advance Into The Light, without the vocals. The melody of that theme can be heard more clearly in this version.	7/10
15	Omen	This track uses the same tune as The One Who Is Torn Apart, except much better. Foreboding and oppressive, this track does a good job at conveying the feel of an omen.	7/10
16	Awakening	Action track, does not go down too well with me. Again, a bit too slowly paced.	6/10
17	The One Who Bares Fangs at God	Some eclectic instrumentation opens up this track that will repeat throughout the entire track. There's a choir in the second half of the track. Although a weird combination, it's actually pretty inventive as a whole.	7.5/10
18	The Beginning and The End	It's a choir! Pure voices, sounds OK, but might not be to the taste of others. Personally, I didn't like this track a lot although it is arranged well. I wonder how those singers can hold their voice so damn long.	6/10
19	Small Two of Pieces - Restored Shards	A very good vocal song, again sung by Joanne Hoggs. An electric guitar kicks in at the second half providing some nice instrumentation. Wonderful way to end the score.	9/10

And with Small Two of Pieces, the entire soundtrack ends. Was it a good experience listening to the soundtrack? Definitely. Should you get this? Definitely.

Final Score: 92/100

Wow.

2006-08-08T19:18:00.000+08:00

Ha, google gives you some pretty nice information about your e-self you've never realised.

I knew a search for "serados" would only bring up results about me, but today I got my mind blown.

I HAVE E-IMPERSONATORS ON OTHER WEBSITES :O

I'm actually a level 21 Warlock I never knew existed on the Sen'Jin World of Warcraft PvP server.

I've been flamed on dotasg and Warcraft Singapore. Too bad for you guys, I'm actually pissed with the SG players who stick to 5.84 instead of moving on to 6.xx, criticising them for not moving with the official development cycle and the entire flow (GPS, or GayPornStar defended SG players playing 5.84, perhaps with a level of maturity I never expected - but look at how many people actually play 5.84 now). And a side note to that I AM BAD-MANNERED dude, l2spell before flaming me, because that post is seriously hilarious. Nope, I have not played in GXL. I'll probably head over to your forums to search for my e-name, because I'm that famous.

I'm actually signed up on several websites I didn't even know existed. Some of them being forums (with people using my signature and avatar, posting stuff), others being sites like www.ddruk.com (holy, I don't even play Dance Dance Revolution!), and a site called www.stoptazmo.com.

I've been quoted on GamerzPlanet (where I actually do have an account), as well as had my Dragon Knight guide translated and posted (hopefully decently) on an Argentinian DotA site, and my N'aix guide translated and posted on a Russian "DotA" site (dubiously called d2hackers.org).

A poor dude here at Minitokyo thought the character on my old signature (found here) was an anime character, and asked for a "serados wallpaper". A wallpaper of me. No, sorry, I don't have boobies and long hair :X

I'm a drug, according to this story on Sunday Independant (a google cache, because that section now requires registration). "At the age of 20, an old pro, Jeff Van Kerkhoven, took him under his wing and began feeding him steroids. A dose of Serados today, a dash of Pervitin tomorrow, Willy never considered it dishonest."

I'm a particular Serados-Orgoas mountain range (just Ctrl-F serados).

There's a lot of Portuguese web sites that contain "serados" although I have no idea what it means in that context.

Anyway, Xenogears OST review is going to be up very soon. First disc is done, give me an hour plus and the second disc will be done. Whahay.

And Blogger's Compose creates a HTML wreck.

Laziness FTW.

2006-07-02T21:22:00.000+08:00

Filler post:

For all of you who occasionally have a really bad day when you just need to take it out on someone: Don't take that bad day out on someone you know, take it out on someone you *don't* know! Now get this.

I was sitting at my desk, when I remembered a phone call I had to make. I found the number and dialed it.

A man answered nicely saying, ''Hello?' '

I politely said, ''This is Patrick Hanifin and could I please speak to Robin Carter?''

Suddenly the phone was slammed down on me! I couldn't believe that anyone could be that rude. I tracked down Robin's correct number and called her. She had transposed the last two digits incorrectly. After I hung up with Robin, I spotted the wrong number still lying there on my desk. I decided to call it again.

When the same person once more answered, I yelled, ''You're a jackass!'' and hung up.
Next to his phone number I wrote the word ''jackass,'' and put it in my desk drawer.
Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills, or had a really bad day, I'd call him up.
He'd answer, and I'd yell, ''You're a jackass!''
It would always cheer me up.

Later in the year the Phone Company introduced caller ID. This was a real disappointment for me, I would have to stop calling the jackass.

Then one day I had an idea.

I dialed his number, then heard his voice say, ''Hello.'' I made up a name. ''Hi. This is the sales office of the Telephone Company and I'm just calling to see if you're familiar with our caller ID program?''

He went, ''No!'' and slammed the phone down.
I quickly called him back and said, ''That's because you're a jackass!''

The reason I took the time to tell you this story, is to show you how if there's ever anything really bothering you, you can do something about it. Just dial 823-4863.

The old lady at the mall really took her time pulling out of the parking space. I didn't think she was ever going to leave.

Finally, her car began to move and she started to very slowly back out of the slot. I backed up a little more to give her plenty of room to pull out. " Great," I thought, she's finally leaving. All of a sudden this black Camaro comes flying up the parking isle in the wrong direction and pulls into her space.

I started honking my horn and yelling, ''You can't just do that, Buddy. I was here first!'' The guy climbed out of his Camaro completely ignoring me. He walked toward the mall as if he didn't even hear me. I thought to myself, "This guy's a jackass. There sure a lot of jackasses in this world."

I noticed he had a ''For Sale'' sign in the back window of his car. I wrote down the number. Then I hunted for another place to park.

A couple of days later, I'm at home sitting at my desk. I had just gotten off the phone after calling 823-4863 and yelling, ''You're a jackass!'' (It's really easy to call him now since I have his number on speed dial.) I noticed the phone number of the guy with the black Camaro lying on my desk and thought I'd better call this guy, too.

After a couple rings someone answered the phone and said, ''Hello.''

I said, ''Is this the man with the black Camaro for sale?''

''Yes, it is.''

''Can you tell me where I can see it?''

''Yes, I live at 1802 West 34th street. It's a yellow house and the car's parked right out front.''
I said, ''What's your name?''

''My name is Don Hansen.''

''When's a good time to catch you, Don?''

''I'm home in the evenings.''

''Listen Don, can I tell you something?''

''Yes.''

''Don, you're a jackass!'' And I slammed the phone down.

After I hung up I added Don Hansen's number to my speed dialer. For a while things seemed to be going better for me. Now when I had a problem I had two jackasses to call. Then, after several months of calling the jackasses and hanging up on them, it just wasn't as enjoyable as it used to be.

I gave the problem some serious thought and came up with a solution:

First, I had my phone dial Jackass #1.
A man answered nicely saying, ''Hello.''
I yelled ''You're a jackass!'' but I didn't hang up.
The jackass said, ''Are you still there?''
I said, ''Yeah.''
He said, ''Stop calling me.''
I said, ''No.''
He said, ''What's you name, pal?''
I said, ''Don Hansen.''
He said, ''Where do you live?''
''1802 West 34th Street. It's a yellow house and my black Camaro's parked out front.''
''I'm coming over right now, Don. You'd better start saying your prayers.''
''Yeah, like I'm really scared, Jackass!'' and I hung up.

Then I called Jackass #2. He answered, ''Hello.''
I said, ''Hello, Jackass!''
He said, ''If I ever find out who you are...''
''You'll what?''
''I'll kick your butt.''
''Well, here's your chance. I'm coming over right now Jackass!'' And I hung up.

Then I picked up the phone and called the police. I told them I was at 1802 West 34th Street and that I was going to kill my gay lover as soon as he got home.

Another quick call to Channel 13 about the gang war going on down W. 34th Street.

After that, I climbed into my car and headed over to 34th Street to watch the whole thing. Glorious watching two Jackasses kicking the crap out of each other in front of six squad cars and a police helicopter was one of the greatest experiences of my life!

Name withheld to protect the guilty.

And They Smell Of Fuzzlies

2006-06-03T14:43:00.000+08:00

Blogger failed the bottom post, which was created yesterday. I was wondering, "Why the hell is my template still unedited when they obviously are edited, and why the hell is my post not appearing?". After what must've been four tries at republishing, my front page was still unedited. I deleted my blog, remade all the settings, and posted again. Still no change. So I deleted it again, and reposted. No change. "Maybe it'll take some time," I thought. So I went off to sleep. This morning, I checked it out again, and yes, there was still no change. When I was about to fly over to Blogger's office and bash the employees' heads in, something hit me.

The deletion of a blog takes time :O

So yes, now it's finally fixed. Been running a fever for about two hours now, totally screwing up my revision/learning schedule. Logarithms is still making me piss my pants. Probably the worst thing in the syllabus, far ahead of Trigonometry on the Ub4r1337StudentKiller scale. Throw in surds and indices and you'll have a fun time. Brian aka bah helped me with some of them yesterday night, but if that's how you solve Indices/Surds/Logarithms questions, I'm going to fail my A Maths.

My sig request on the forums was filled pretty fast, thanks to Vengeance. Warlord made me two versions of the sig, but I didn't use them since I felt Vengeance's fit in better with the avatar (durr, he made 'em both).

So here it is, the sig by Vengeance:

The Avatar:

And the two versions by Warlord:

The render is probably one of the best I've ever seen. Nightmare from Soul Calibur, found at GameRenders. Props to both talented Photoshoppers.

Going to sleep now damnit, having a fever isn't the best time to attempt to write some commentary.

Much Ado About... Mercurial?

2006-06-03T14:40:00.000+08:00

If you don't know me, you could probably check out my profile. This is just a place for me to comment about things around me, and more likely than not a gaming reference might be included. Enjoy? I hope you do!

Defense of the Ancients: Allstars v6.33 was just released earlier today. Maybe not "earlier", since it was already on GetDotA when I woke up this morning at 8. Well, I did know about some of the changes beforehand ("special advantages", *cough*), but I didn't expect Mercurial to kill people...by lagging their asses off. No seriously, even with a decent rig, you can't expect to handle 20 different black splotches on your screen caused by that confounded skill known as "Spectral Dagger". Must've counted two deaths due to my screen jerking around. Thankfully for me the effect wasn't too pronounced, bad luck to those already barely running the game with 640x480 minimum graphics settings.

I decided to get back into Battlefield 2 today, and I saw the 1.22-1.3 patch at an astounding 84MB in size. For the poor fellas who got their BF2 off their shelves, you'll have to download a whopping 448.7MB 1.0-1.3 patch. I still haven't bothered to remove the 64-player "mod" from my version, though the maps have been restored to the 16-player versions. Chaos ensues when 64 idiotic bots fight their way in a map that is way too overcrowded. I entered the Multiplayer menu only to find out that my Favourites list was all screwed up. I couldn't be bothered to wait for the server browser to ping 6000 servers, so I quit and that was it for BF2.

Torrents been running quite well, got myself Metallica's self-titled, "Black" Album and Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory and Meteora. Damned Rise of Legends torrent still running at craptastically slow speeds averaging at around 3kb/s. I'll never be able to finish it by this June at this rate.

On a much lighter note, check out Keith's blog, find all the posts with "Yaoliang" inside, and head over to Yaoliang's very own blog, with special love poem included free. Don't blame me when you choke on your 99% alcohol spirits and burn your throat. The Yaoliang saga is probably one of the most interesting things that happened this June.