It's over, I'm done with FlyFF.
Heh, not that I was really that much into it anyway, it was just another pretty grindfest. Guess what I ditched it for... a Byond game, Dragon Warrior: Shadows of Erdrick (DW:SoE). Yep, you got it right, a 2D tile-based FAN game. I'll still peek into FlyFF from time to time (one of my friends is a graphics hoe and thusly doesn't "get" DW:SoE), but I won't be playing it much.
See, it's got more content than FlyFF, and a bunch of other Korean hacks I could care to name. I wasn't really a big fan of the Dragon Warrior / Dragon Quest franchise, but I did do my time, and I did enjoy them. The thing about DW:SoE though, it's multiplayer :P What could be better than playing with a bunch of like-minded oldschoolers? Nothing, that's what :D
You can pick up the latest Byond client here: http://www.byond.com/ -- make sure to get the version 4-something link there, not the public release version 3.5 (it's already outdated). You'll need to create a (free) Byond account too. The Byond client acts as a launcher of sorts -- it remembers the games you've played, the friends you've made. It's sort of like an IM client, but you don't chat with it, you just use it to see who else is online and to connect to the game servers.
Sure, I admit, fan games are mostly crap (take a look at the, ugh, anime section). But DW:SoE has been in development and polishing for 6 years. 6 years! You don't find that kind of dedication easily. Sure enough, soon as I logged in the game I saw for myself how friendly and close-knit the community is. True, it isn't a very large server (normally 15 players online at any one time), and true, most of them are the long-time players, but there's always a bunch of new people coming and going. Going, because of course this kind of thing doesn't appeal to everyone. They won't capture the graphics hoe crowd, for one.
But there are way many things that DW:SoE offers that many pretty grindfest MMORPGs don't: there's no cheating, botting, hacking, or farming for one thing. That by itself guarantees a level and friendly playing field. No high level snobby elites running around in glowing +10 gear that you as an honest player will never be able to afford. No constant spamming of websites selling virtual money.
There's alchemy, imbueing items, capturing monsters to use as pets (!) too. That's been a big draw for me, ever since I tasted the original Dragon Warrior Online Byond game a couple years back -- although back then the games were new, and servers were often coming and going (which is why I didn't play for long at the time). Now, with a stable server, DW:SoE's turning out to be the fun time-wasting MMO I've been looking for. Sure, it isn't terribly complex (it IS based on the Dragon Warrior / Dragon Quest franchise, after all), but there's still enough content there to make it worth playing.
Here's the link to the DW:SoE launch page (you'll need to have the Byond client installed, and a Byond ID to join though): http://games.byond.com/hub/SoE_Team/DragonWarriorShadowsOfErdrick
My Byond ID is Senrigan, so feel free to add me to your Byond friends list on the Byond client.
Everything else quiet, mostly. This is the muslim fasting month, and in true Malaysianspirit the locals abstain from drinking and eating, only to gorge themselves at the breaking of fast in the evening, if the quantity and quality of the food on display at the special evening markets are any judge :) Seriously... if you don't eat all day, then eat the equivalent of 3 meals in one go at the end, I don't think that's good for you. I've sampled most of the local delicacies over the years, they're pretty good, although it can be dangerous to people with a sweet tooth - there's simply too much to choose from!
My brother is the more level headed one, so I leave the buying of goodies to him. If it were up to me I'd be going on mini-splurges just like the natives, heh. Frosted mini doughnuts, trays of pastries of all shapes and sizes, sweet flavoured fruit juice of various fruits (and all colours of the rainbow, hahah that can't be healthy, lol), kebabs, satay, glutinous rice, ayam percik (spicy roasted chicken, a REAL treat), popiah, apam balik, putu piring, and so much more...
This should be named feasting month instead of the fasting month, heh.
Not much on the music front either. Just been practising a lot lately, it's vexing how easily Shinju and Izumi perfect a particular harmony in half an hour where it takes me half the day... Well, the guitar isn't really my forte, and I really need to stop neglecting my woodwinds, I made three mistakes in one flute section alone :/
Here's the original Present Holiday by Tamao Sato. For our cover version I had to dub the vocals separately. No problems with the instruments, it was a fairly easy piece. Izumi had the honours of cosplaying Asamiya Athena during the recording ~ originally we thought of Princess Athena's original Golden Armor but that was, obviously, too bulky to be playing a guitar in. The trademark Athena red bikini was out too, so in the end she went with the generic schoolgirl uniform, albeit with Athena's fingerless gloves and signature starred hairband.
By the way, if you didn't get the reference, that song is by Asamiya Athena of King of Fighters fame (this is the KoF'96 vocal). Come on, you guys know game music rocks :p
It's back to Byond for meantime though :)
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