Tuesday, August 26, 2008--Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Disgaea 3 was released today. (Yay Disgaea!) So I got off work somewhat early and played Disgaea 3 for the rest of the night. The most notable things I've noticed so far are that the game balance is noticeably worse than Disgaea 2. For one, story characters are overpowered again (though not as overpowered as they were in Disgaea 1). Also, they nerfed casters really, really badly. It makes me sad. Casters were powerful, but I don't think they deserved massive nerfage.
Also, you can't us the master/pupil relationships to teach magic, so it's a lot harder to make a Healer that can take care of herself.
Monday, August 25, 2008--I hadn't fully recovered from yesterday, so I opted out of the gym and went to the delicious delicious anti-gym at iHop instead.
On this day:
In 2003: The first day of Berkeley.
Afterwards, I played more Jeanne d'Arc. *spoiler*
Gasp! Georges was a reaper, too. I had cornered him in a temple, and he sic'ed a bunch of monsters on me, but I killed him before he could unleash Tiamat. But then, he turned into Avaritia, and I had to pwn him.
Then, I went to speak with King Henry's mother, Queen Isabeau, but she was a reaper, too, Luxuria, and I had to pwn her as well.*spoiler*
Sunday, August 24, 2008--I was feeling a bit ill today, likely a combination of the sudden climate change and me over-exerting myself with the heavy lifting yesterday moving Jiahua's apartment. If it were a work day, I woulda called in sick, but it was Sunday, so I just stayed home.
On this day:
In 2007:
- I eat sashimi for the first time. (Delicious delicious hamachi.)
- California Kiku waitress.
Today, I decided to play some more Jeanne d'Arc. *spoiler*
So I was going to meet the Duke of Burgundy to try to get some assistance in fighting against the bad guys. However, as it turns out, the Duke of Burgundy was a bad guy. He turned into a Lucavi! Err... a reaper, Superbia. This was a difficult battle, since Jeanne and Superbia were in a room all by themselves, and my other characters had to go through a series of side rooms to get outside, and then break through a stain-glass window into the main room to help Jeanne against Superbia. It was epicly awesome!
Except my attack wasn't high enough to get past the boss's high defense and HP regeneration. So after swapping out La Hire for Rufus (whom I hear is the best damage dealer in the game), fusing some new and improved skills, and using a strategy that involved whipping up some burning auras and using them to deal massive damage, I went and tried again and pwned Superbia.*spoiler*
Saturday, August 23, 2008--Today, I (and some other people) helped Jiahua move into her new apartment.
Afterwards, she decided to treat me (and the other people) to dinner as thanks for helping her move. After dinner (which was delicious at Kiku), when the bill arrived, I was the first to pull out my cred card. (Thus far, Meher is the only one who's ever quick-drawed her cred card faster than I have.)
Jiahua: No, I'll pay for it.
me: Are you sure?
Jiahua: Yes.
me: If you're gonna pay, it should be because you want to and not because you feel obligated.
Jiahua: I want to.
me: Oh okay. *puts cred card away*
There
is such a thing as free
lunch dinner.
On this day:
In 2005: Roommate David makes his first appearance in my bloop.
In 2004: First appearances of Guillermo, roommate; Joyce S, girl next door; Irene (IVY), other girl next door; Lynn, Aura, and Minjung, girls downstairs.
Friday, August 22, 2008--After work, I went down to Uncle's Games at Crossroads Mall for a Friday Night Magic booster draft (Shadowmoor-Shadowmoor-Eventide). This time, I drafted green-black, but unfortunately, I had very little removal.
In round 1, I played against Brian O. I won game 1, but in game 2, he got out a
Deity of Scars and smashed me with it. In game 3, he also managed to get out the Deity, but I had loads of critters, including the dreaded
Quillspike +
Devoted Druid combo (= infinitely big creature). Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough. I could only get him down to a single life before we ran out of time, so it was technically a draw.
Record: 0-0-1
In round 2, I played against Tim, who played a rather fast mono-white deck. In game 1, he overran me with some kind of trampler and a bunch of other mid-sized critters. In game 2, the board position became stalemated, and we went to time. Since he was already up a game, and since there was no end in sight, I just forfeited.
Record: 0-1-1
In round 3, I played against Alex. He trounced me in game 1, but in game 2, I got the Quillspike Combo on him, and he couldn't keep up with the chump-blocking. Unfortunately, he trounced me in game 3.
Record: 0-2-1
In round 4, I got the bye, because everybody with bad records dropped, and we ended up with an odd number. Drat. Not a single real win today.
Record: 1-2-1
On this day:
In 2005: I meet Princess Vivian.
Thursday, August 21, 2008--
On this day:
In 2006: I start full-time work at Microsoft.
In 2003: I meet Kim Hung on the Chancellor's Lawn.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008--
In 2006: Arrival in Redmond
Tuesday, August 19, 2008--After work, I went to Cafe 16/17 to play a Magic the Gathering booster draft (Shadowmoor-Shadoowmoor-Eventide). I ended up drafting a black-white deck. First, I played Felix, who defeated me in some very involved, very difficult games. Then, I played Leo, who unfortunately was playing his first draft ever, so I managed to get a win on him. (Hopefully, this suggests that I have at least improved since I started playing Magic.) Finally, I played Alex, who defeated me in game 1, but I came back and defeated him in game 2. However, he conceded before we could start game 3 because he was too tired to continue, but I'll take what I can get. (It's all informal drafting, so no one's keeping score, so it really doesn't matter.)
On this day:
In 2006: Departure from San Jose.
Sunday, August 17, 2008--
Happy Birthday Nadia!
So recently, Abhi bought a new Xbox, so he invited me to his place to play on his new Xbox. I also downloaded my Xbox Live profile (yeah, for some reason, I have an Xbox Live profile even though I don't have an Xbox) onto a memory card, so I don't have to "recover" it to people's Xboxen all the time. This makes it easier to play with my Xbox Live profile on other people's Xboxen.
Thursday, August 14, 2008--
On this day:
In 2005: In Diablo 2, Justin and I visit Chaotic Tristram for the first time ever.
Birthday, August 13, 2008--
Happy Birthday to me!
To celebrate, we went to Maggiano's for dinner. In attendance: me, Abhi, Chris "G-Man" G., JKern, MichCh, Fred, Zach, Lois, and Jiahua. Photos are available on facebook. The food was simply divine. The only way it could have been better is if
the mafia owned the place.
Abhi: The mafia prolly owns this place anyway.
On this day:
In 2004: "Holy shit! I have negative one of nothing!"
Tuesday, August 12, 2008--So Lois had wanted to get a hot pot for a while. So she organized one, and Spiro volunteered his apartment, so we all went to his place for hot pot. (Which in Chinese is literally translated as "fire pot".) It was good.
Monday, August 11, 2008--
On this day:
In 2003: Convo with me and Lei about how girls with boyfriends are more flirtatious...
Sunday, August 10, 2008--While playing Soul Calibur 4 online (which is generally a bad idea, since Soul Calibur 4 online is a lagfest*), I Critical Finished somebody. Sweet!
*It's not so much that Soul Calibur 4 online is laggy. It's more like, since Soul Calibur 4 is a fighting game, and fighting games take frame-perfect timing, a lag of even 10 milliseconds may be enough to throw off your timing, and thus, ruin your game. Which is why you never take Soul Calibur 4 online seriously. Because you can't. Seriously.
Saturday, August 9, 2008--So apparently, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is available for download on PSN (PlayStation Network), so I downloaded it. It was a pretty difficult game. I got my ass kicked by the first boss, and after chucking a bunch of daggers at him, I got my ass kicked by the second boss. Maybe I need to level up some more?
On this day:
In 2006:
- I beat Suikoden 2.
- I get my first digicam (which gets stolen 4 months later).
In 2003: I play my first MTG booster draft ever, an Odyssey-Odyssey-Judgment draft at Hedayati's place.
Also, I unlocked 30 honors finally in Soul Calibur 4, which unlocked all the Create-a-Soul (Create-a-Character) parts. The last honor I unlocked was getting all weapons for 5 chars. Apparently, it wasn't enough just to unlock the weapons. I also had to buy those weapons.
Friday, August 8, 2008--The 2008 Summer Olympics began today, so at Abhi's behest, we decided to watch the opening ceremonies. They were pretty epic, and I'm not just saying that because I'm Chinese.
Thursday, August 7, 2008--Today, I went to the gym. There's this machine where you basically do pullups, except there's a platform you stand on and a series of counterweights. So effectively, you can do pullups except not at your full weight. So I set the counterweights to 60 lbs (which would be a pullup weight of 100 lbs) and did 60 pullups and 60 dips (in sets of 20). I'm getting stronger every day!
On this day:
In 2005: Justin and I fight the Uber bosses for the first time in Diablo 2.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008--So I was playing Soul Calibur 4 today, and I decided to learn Voldo so that way I can keep improving my skills with Amy but not so greatly out-skill my friends that the game is no fun anymore. Unfortunately, it appears that Voldo is not as easy to use as Amy. But it's okay. He's creepy. And he can do the worm. The worm is awesome.
On this day:
In 2006: I take my first picture with
Little Vivian.
Little Vivian is so gosh-darned kyoot!
Monday, August 4, 2008--Today, I went to the IMAX with Lois and the gang to see The Dark Knight in IMAX. (Okay, that might have been a little redundant.) Jiahua closed her eyes every time *spoiler*
Two-Face*spoiler* showed up. Hehe, silly girl...
Saturday, August 2, 2008--So today, MichCh and Abhi showed up at my place, and we played some Soul Calibur 4. (Because I've been itching to try it against human opponents... except I've actually played the game before, and they haven't, so I ended up pwning them with Amy. Hehe... oops?)
On this day:
In 2004: I beat Golden Sun 2.
And then we went to JKern's place for a party, where we watched The Illusionist. Good movie.
Friday, August 1, 2008--After work today, I decided to play Jeanne d'Arc (the PSP game vaguely based on the story of Joan of Arc). *spoiler*
There was this one mission where I had to escort the Dauphin on his way to the cathedral through a bunch of enemies. It wouldn't have been so bad, except the Dauphin is so weak, he dies in one hit. That wouldn't have been so bad either, except he's so stupid that he just charges straight for the goal, which is generally suicidal. It took me a few tries, but I eventually won by positioning my characters to block his movements and using my archers and mages to take out the bad guys. How annoying.*spoiler*
