Chrono Trigger Blog Entry Tribute

Guys, you really should hear this one out.

Chrono Trigger ~Orchestra Version~ - Yasunori Mitsuda


(PS: If you can't load this one, try this link - it's for Youtube. Go check it out, I'll wait right here until you're done. (^^,))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mQQTQ8Ur2g&feature=PlayList&p=0EF9FF316C188761&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=34

Amazing work. I can't even begin to describe the nolstagia when I hear this main theme piece. I wonder where else in the world would you get a RPG so loved by the people and became an instant classic for more than 13 over years. Trust me - you guys REALLY SHOULD GET A FRIGGIN' COPY OF CHRONO TRIGGER - it has a lot of story behind it that can impact you for life. As for me, I'm gonna get a Nintendo DS just for the sake of Chrono Trigger - and am willing to pay for it. Highly recommended.

For those cheapskates who want a free game, there's another alternative too. Go get a SNES emulator, download a Chrono Trigger SNES ROM and start playing. It's still nice, except that you don't get a helluva extra stuff like animated scenes and the slightly improved gameplay. But then again, you can do without those - it doesn't affect the storyline anyway, which was what made this game stand the test of time anyway...

For a small synopsis, here's a little bit of what's in store for you when you dive into the world of Chrono Trigger:

Grandfather Paradox

What would it be like, to travel back to 400 years before your own time, watching your royal ancestors fight an army of Mystics to save their own kingdom, which would decide the fate of your existence in time to come? Who would save your great-grandmother from kidnap and if she dies, would it mean the end of your existence, cast into the void?

Apocalypse

Ever heard of worst-case scenarios where the whole world ends with a nuclear armageddon? Maybe even more unexpected - a large parasital being emerging from the core of the Earth having embedded within it for ages, across millenia, destroying everything of civilisation on the planet and resulting in extinction of mankind? Right before your eyes when you dwell into the world of 2300 AD in an accidental trip into the future.

Cavemen and Reptites

An age where humans and dinosaurs existed with one another - the struggle for survival of the fittest. Witness the origins of humankind, and the arrival of Lavos to the Earth and the abrupt extinction of a race of demi-human, demi-dinosaur creatures called Reptites...

Kingdom of Zeal
Get zapped into the Dark Ages, where human segregation of the Enlightened and Earthbound Ones happens amidst the largely advanced magical Kingdom of Zeal floating amongst the clouds, clusters of islands once part of the frozen wastes of the land. Get mesmerised by the sheer strength of the nexus of magical energies - but only to discover something sinister behind the scenes...

OK, maybe I should stop spoiling the game by giving any more details beyond this point...

Apart from all that, there's strong back-stories behind the main characters of this game, making it a solid team of 6(or 7) members travelling across time, righting the wrong, and setting things right that could resonate through the ages... Oh, but for the sake of not putting in spoilers, nah. I gotta resist telling you guys about it anymore - just go get the game and explore for yourself.

Even some of the people working behind the scenes for this game has a backstory too, like Yasunori Mitsuda, the main composer for the scores used for this game. You can check it out here - his path to success. Enjoy the music as well as the visuals for the game. As a matter of fact, I do respect his determination to get things done and perserverance. Producing works of such quality and finesse from days of working with a stomach ulcer sure makes a bold statement somewhere along the lines of striving for the best of one's ability - thought it's highly not recommended to skip meals.

So much has been said about this game, so much of the aspects of this game has been loved, to the extent that people have been trying to do remakes of such a game - a few well-known ones are Chrono Trigger Resurrection Project, CT: Crimson Echoes and CT: Prophet's Guile. Unfortunately Square Enix slammed down on them Cease and Desist letters, so you won't be seeing such efforts for quite a while. What a waste.

Mid Year Post Mortem Report

Finally, after 3 months of mugging and crap, I'm done with PI, the Mid Year Exams, and some nitty-gritty work here and there. So many things have happened during this period of time, I don't know where to begin...

Let's talk about the mid year exams first, since it's the first major thing finished for now...

Basically, I was expecting the examinations to be a lot harder than the normal tests that they were giving us from the start, but it didn't turn out so. That's one incentive to push for the highest grade possible for all the subjects, considering all the studying late into the night since the month of April. Not really bragging, but at least the effort paid off during the class and lecture tests.

However, things were different during this Mid-Years. For one, I completely screwed up my Economics essay question 1b, which means I'm, by default, am likely to fail the entire paper because of one careless mistake of not reading the question carefully. The question said "maximum retail price" which meant government-set price ceiling. And I answered the question as the price floor. How careless can one get? I ain't gonna make the same mistake ever again - it's as humiliating as being a Mas Selamat running away from Singapore without his underpants. As for Chemistry and GP, I did my best - so I'm expecting my results to justify all that studying.

And right after Bio paper, I went to explore Tampines 1("explore", because it's my first time there). And boy, did I get a pleasant surprise - it looked far better than VivoCity. Cruised around the places, and their price tags were, should I say, not as affordable as what I've been expecting. As for the makan places, nah. I didn't bring enough money yesterday, so the standard answer would be "ah-aah." That being said though, the food they sell down here looks so appealing, I swore I'd write a journal entry on such stuff down there should I ever bring enough money for a gourmet trail around Tampines 1.

So now, the studying's over. Awaiting the Promotional Exams - not! It's time to relax for a week. If not, I'm still going to be happy with just one weekend...

Sense of achievement

Finished up more work in the college study corner. Found it more productive - there's a lot more indirect motivation from the other people around the college study because everyone's practically studying and doing nothing else. Except for a few oddballs like me, blogging in the college study, haha!

The biggest obstacle, I think, is the idea of studying at home. At home, you can sleep as long as you want, and I'd grab the best possible opportunity to sleep rather than do something productive like studying for Biology and Chemistry, and the like. Oh, and there's PW too, so I shall keep this post short. 

Simplified - I finished a bit more Chemistry than I thought I'd be able to finish. Biology is boring once you already know what's going on in the lecture notes, and there's like hardly any more extra practice questions. As for Mathematics, I'm not gonna do anything about it today. Maybe tomorrow?

Studying like there's no tomorrow

I'm getting used to this lifestyle, I hope.

Get up in the wee hours of the morning, and you find an Eiffel Tower of Notes & Homework standing on your table. The next thing you know it, coffee stains appear on your homework that you did last night with much effort. Sometimes Soyjoy's advertising serves as comic relief, in times of such high-stress levels from studying for the Mid Year Exams, that likely will put Mas Selamat's meticulous but futile efforts to escape from re-capture to immediate shame.

Along with a disappearing donation card that is likely to cost me $200, you feel the pain in your wallet. No more eating at Good News Cafe - I'm broke, "Pok Gai*"! Sometimes even I feel a bit ashamed about this, but why is it that I look for the Lord only when I'm down and out on every side of life? Sharing the painful moments with Him, but keeping only the joy of the good ones to myself instead? What is this, a relationship with the true God of the universe that goes only one-sided?

Perhaps it's really high time I've spent time reflecting on this.

*Pok Gai = bankrupt.

Taking a day off from school due to sickening virus

The title explains it - I've got an official MC. This means terrible news for me. 

Missing lectures in JC ain't a good thing, especially when it's your worst subject ever. And when you take your medicine and feel groggy and drugged, it's worse news - you can't do your homework at all! All I did was sleep, sleep and sleep even when I'm fully mentally awake. And check this out - tomorrow's going to be a super-long day, so taking medicine in school means waking up early in the morning when your body's still barely recovering from the side-effects of flu medicine. Trust me, you wouldn't even want to eat anything because of the stupid cough that just won't go away.

As perfectly put as Kenny's catchphrase, "Whalau, madness!" These few weeks were definitely madness. I mean, look at the workload that we have here - stringent PI grilling and editing, grilling and editing. Last week was worse - I stayed back both on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday until as late as 9pm in school, just to make sure that my PI is done properly. You know the stuff - original ideas, strategies on how to solve similar situations happening in Singapore... you get the drill. 

As for some friendship matters - it's better left unsaid. If you guys insist on knowing what happened, let's just say that misunderstandings can be fatal, unless resolved early. And of course, it just goes to show that some people can't be trusted to keep secrets...?