Pokemon Craze

Ok, recently Nick and Seng Wai have started to play Pokemon Platinum. Since I had nothing to do, I thought I might as well try and see the newest version of the Pokemon game series. Starting with Red, Blue, Green and Yellow, moving on to Silver, Gold and Crystal, advancing to Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald. Now, we have Diamond, Pearl and Platinum (These latest 3 run on Nintendo DS instead of GBA). Hence, the normal Gameboy Advance emulator cannot run the Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games, as they are in Nintendo DS format. There are Nintendo DS emulators, but not so well modified yet. I've downloaded one of the more frequently used emulators, called no$GBA, but it does not come with a speed up function (probably not implemented yet), so it took me 2 days to finish the game (instead of the usual few hours with speed up).


Pokemon Platinum Cover.


The main Legendary Pokemons - Palkia, Giratina and Dialga (left to right)

At first glance, Pokemon Platinum may seem different to the normal Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald players, due to the new Nintendo DS formats. But the opening events are just about the same, with a slight change in the storyline.


Main screen.


Your home in Twinleaf Town.


And, just like any other Pokemon game, everybody will have the headache of choosing one of the 3 available starter Pokemon given to you. The 3 Pokemon are of different types, one fire, one water and one grass. Since Nick chose Chimchar (Fire), and Seng Wai chose Turtwig (Grass), I went with Piplup (Water) just to 配合情况.


The Fire type Pokemon, chosen by Nick. Chimchar->Monferno->Infernape


The Grass type Pokemon, chosen by Seng Wai. Turtwig->Grotle->Torterra


The Water type Pokemon that I chose. Piplup->Prinplup->Empoleon

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum is based on the 4th Generation for Pokemon, meaning there is a whole new bunch of Pokemon that I have never seen before, which makes me quite inexperienced to the new species. There are now a total of 493 Pokemon (from Generations 1 to 4) that you can record in your National Pokedex for Platinum. That's a very very big number. But I'm playing just for the storyline, not for the collection reason.

The main difference you can see when comparing Pokemon Platinum to the earlier versions is the change in interfaces. And now with the new touch screen function for the Nintendo DS, you can too click certain things in the game with your mouse for the PC version.


My favourite Pokemon - Salamence.


The new Garchomp.


One of the main Legendary Pokemon, Palkia.


My HM Buddy, Bibarel.

And as you can see, we even have a new HM - Rock Climb. This move allows the user to climb up slopes with rock paths. And as for some other HM changes, Flash is now a TM instead of a HM, Dive is no longer a HM and Defog is a new HM added. Here's a screenshot of how Rock Climb works.



See that clock under the main screen? That's another new addition to Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Its the thing you see on the 2nd screen for the Nintendo DS, so it comes as shown in the picture. That's a new application called Poketch, and as you progress in the game it not only shows the time, you will get more functions such as Calculator, Memo Pad, Step Counter, Happiness Checker, Item Finder... etc etc. These will help you in game and make your life easier.

The next noticable change are battle-related. Whenever a battle starts, the characters and Pokemon are all animated and will move for a while. And that's not all, there are some new moves never seen before and also changing of the skill's animation from previous games. The Pokemon's stance and back view are also different.
Compare the differences in the main stance of Salamence below.


Salamence in Platinum.


Salamence in Sapphire.

Notice the difference in interface as well. And as for the moves...


Salamence's back view and the Flamethrower technique in Sapphire.


Salamence's back view and the Flamethrower technique in Platinum.






Dragon Claw


Hydro Pump


Special Rend - A new move exclusive to Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Only Palkia can use it.

Another new feature exclusive to Platinum is a different storyline when compared with Diamond and Pearl. This time, you get to capture the Legendary Pokemon Giratina before the Pokemon League, in a new map known as the Distorted Dimension, or dubbed as the Reverse World in the movie. This Distorted Dimension fully makes use of the Nintendo DS's 3D capabilities, and makes it one of the more complicated maps to navigate through. Here are some examples:


Welcome to the Distorted Dimension.


See how the screen turns?


I hate walking on walls. You can even surf up (or down.. whatever) waterfalls in here =.="

Soon, you'll reach Giratina.



Another feature exclusive to Giratina is its ability to change forms. In the Distorted Dimension, Giratina retains its Origin Form (the worm like shape). But once you exit the Distorted Dimension and back to your normal world, Giratina will alter its form.



The Origin Form and Altered Form have different stats build, and obviously the Origin Form looks cooler :P So many people will go "Oh man why do I have to put up with this uglier version >:(".

There is a way for Giratina to retain its Origin Form outside of the Distortion World. But first, you need to defeat the Pokemon League, completing the game once. After that, you may return to the place where you exit after catching Giratina. Instead of entering the distortion world immediately, you will be in a cave called Turnback Cave. From here, you must click 3 pillars within 30 rooms and the next map will have a portal in it.



From here, you will re-enter the Distortion World, and after a while, you will find an item called "Griseous Orb", or previously known as Platinum Orb. This item boosts the power of Dragon and Ghost type moves, and when given to Giratina, it will change to its Origin Form and retain in that state wherever you are. To change Giratina, just simply take or give it the Griseous Orb to switch it between its Altered and Origin forms respectively.


Giratina's Altered Form, without the Griseous Orb.


Giratina's Origin Form, with the Griseous Orb.

My Giratina is differently coloured because it is a shiny one, jealous? :X It's real rare to get a shiny pokemon. 1/8192 is the precise probability of getting one, so I'm considered extremely lucky for finding a Shiny LEGENDARY.

Right now I've run out of things to do in Pokemon Platinum. I've completed the game and have a few of my Pokemon to Lv9x. One thing I like about Pokemon Platinum is the new Elite 4. It is very much challenging and more difficult than the previous Pokemon games. The main reason is probably due to the diversity of Pokemon types that each Elite 4 trainer has, instead of having 1 single type that you can easily KO with just 1 pokemon that can exploit their weaknesses. The trainers in Elite 4, especially Champion Cynthia, have Pokemon of a main type, but with additional types and moves to counter their weaknesses. For example, Elite 4 Flint uses Fire type Pokemon, and has a Pokemon called Magmortar. Normally, at first thought, people will use Water type Pokemon against it. However, Flint's Magmortar knows the move Thunderbolt, a Lightning type move that can severely damage Water types. This is especially true in Champion Cynthia's case, as she has not only one type, since each Pokemon she has is of a different type.

For those of you who have nothing to do, I do suggest you try playing this game for the fun of it :)

6A Class of 2004, Gathering @ 1U + Desa Parkcity

Today was the gathering for students of 6A class of 2004 from SJK(C)Kepong 2.

26 old friends manage to reunite at GSC Cinema today @ 11am (with the help of Facebook xD). Unfortunately, there are those who are busy/overseas and could not make it to the gathering. Still, it was a good outcome. We managed to gather more than half the class, which is already a lot of people.

*Note: For photos, please visit the link below*

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150811&id=643867963&l=a0398a44dd


Continue...

While waiting for those late-comers, we decided to find a restaurant to have a bite while waiting for them. The thought of trying to fit 23 people into a restaurant was really hilarious. First we tried Chili's, then Dragon-i. Both could not accomodate (or more specifically, not to our preferences) our huge amounts. So in the end we went to Vietnam Kitchen, and we took a few tables and joined them together. I was thinking we took up quite a lot of space. We used 6 tables (some long some short).

Then later, Eugene and Geng Cheng came, followed by Zhu Jiunn later on. It was a good reunion for everyone. We had a nice talk and meal. I guess the best part was paying the bill. We took more than 10 minutes to settle everything. Since the table was divided into a few sections, each section handle their own bill, +10% service charge and 5% tax and whatnot. In the end we lacked of RM20+ (dunno who didn't pay) so everyone "donated" RM1 to complete the bill.

Later, we went to U-Bowl for a bowling session. We booked 4 lanes, each lane with 3 people in it. All the girls weren't actively involved, but they did play some. I just took photos. Zhu Jiunn had to went back early, so we decided to take the group photo before she left. Ok no matter how lazy I am I HAVE to upload this wonderful picture.



That was undoubtedly the best picture of the day!

After bowling, we moved on to Snooker. Here some people really showed their expertise, like Pei Ling, Xinni, Khing Yuan (jump shooter). We had a good time laughing over those funny moments and funny shots, but some were quite impressive (and out of luck, of course).

After bowling, we decided to head to Desa Parkcity for a tea break, and at the same time visit 叶桂香老师 since most of the class was here. We divided ourselves into the amount of vehicles that were present (Jun Yean 1 car, Pei Ling 1 car, Wen Jie 1 car, and Khing Yuan 1 car) and proceeded to our destination. However, few people didn't want to tag along due to transport problems later on.

We reached Desa Parkcity and went to the playground there. We played the swings and such, and later tried to get hold of teacher to find out if she was home or not. Unfortunately she wasn't. However, we had a real good time talking about the times we had in primary school. Memories like hating the extra classes, fearsome teachers, funny incidents and whatnot really made us laugh. It definitely made my day a happy one. Later on, we went to Kay's Cafe for a drink (I had french fries). There, we decided that we should have more gatherings like this, and set a more stable date so that more people can make it (though we could have more trouble finding a restaurant xD).

After having our tea break, we sat by a corner near the Cafe and continued our conversation. This time, it was about future education, and Pei Ling was suddenly a counsellor. It was like attending an education fair lol. And soon it was time to go home. Those who can drive were kinda forced to send those who couldn't drive home. However, my parents were not at home, so I went to Nick's house instead and had dinner there.

I really really enjoyed myself today. One of the best things that happened after SPM to be exact, besides my birthday and meeting *someone*. I guess I'm done with this post :)

CNY 2010 @ Hometown in Johor

Went back to Segamat in Johor for CNY like every other year before. My brothers had to take a day off early from school, since we have reunion lunch instead of dinner. The travel time from KL to Segamat is a 3 hour drive (might vary depending on the traffic and our hunger). We left on Friday (12th Feb) at around 10 in the morning.

We stopped by Melaka for lunch, then continued our journey. Instead of taking the usual route my dad always used, we used another route this year for a bit of change. Surprisingly, it was a faster trip since there was less cars and less traffic lights. Reached my grandpa's house at around 2pm.

Basically I didn't do much on the first day. Just unloaded all our stuff into the house and change into cooler clothing (the heat there is really a hindrance).


My dad, my youngest brother and my uncle.


All 3 brothers of the family.


Yep, the house. Single storey.


Sunset.


This cloud looks like an anvil.


Dinner was pretty much easy to guess. The usual pork with eggs, some vegies and curry chicken. At night, we would usually crowd around the TV, or hang out in the air-cond room chatting. Since this year we have 4 relatives back from the USA, the place was more crowded and noisier than usual.


See how crowded the room is.


Yes Uncle Stephen I know that's yours.

And the first day passed just like that. Every morning here, there is always something that I look forward to - Breakfast. Why? Because the roti pisang here is the best. The thosai cheese here is also very good. Hence, our family made the shop near the house a staple place to go for breakfast. I MUST have my daily dose of roti pisang (except the first day of CNY, 14th Feb, yam cakes). Usually I will order 2 roti pisang and share half a cheese thosai with whoever cannot finish the entire thing. I forgot to take pictures of the food this year ):


Later approaching noon, everybody started preparing for the reunion lunch.



Cousin Angie and my youngest bro Valen.


Yumm (Those of you seeing no drooling pls :P)


Aunty Tina: "MY FAVOURITE NEPHEW~!!!"


After lunch, its like "do what you wanna do" time. My grandpa usually goes out to town. Some (including me) gamble by playing card games (blackjack and in between), some play mahjong, my brothers usually play PS2 or use my grandpa's laptop. And of course, most of us just sleep. I do too after our gambling sessions end at 3pm+.



3 brothers VS father in a mahjong match - May the best win xD


Playing Bleach - Blade Battlers 2. Aunty Lilian playing Tetris in the background. Did I mention all the adults here LOVE to play tetris? xD


Yep, its midnight. This is the altar.


And next day, 14th Feb, is the first official day of Chinese New Year and also Valentines Day. ♥ Someone :P

We had the tea ceremony like usual, and collecting red packets. I'm having funny problems with my converter so there will be no videos =/


Preparing MONEY $.$

I can't believe I only took 1 picture. Sien =.="

My grandpa also organized a dinner the next night on 15th Feb. He invited one of his brothers and 2 of his sisters to the dinner, ending up come with children and grandchildren. So it was quite crowdy at the restaurant. We had to use 4 tables.

The 8 course dinner was the usual. Starting with yee sang followed by shark fin soup. Somemore I heard my grandpa purposely delayed the dishes so that we could spend more time. More like waste our time =.=
Uncle Felix: " WAH, FIRST TIME SEE 4 COURSE DINNER EH~!"
I LOL-ed when he said that.



Yee Sang


Shark fin soup


Admiring the fireworks, in a rather odd way.


Chicken with rice stuffed inside its ass :D


Cousin Calvin. Siao kia.


Siao kia x2.


Around 75% of those prawn shells were from me =X


Kids will be kids :)


Promoting handbags. You'll do a very good job in San Francisco :)



Cute hor? :D


Cute lil girls :P


I guess that should be the end. Not much happenings after that dinner. The usual day, going out for our daily dose of roti pisang and thosai cheese. Normal lunch and dinner + gambling sessions and mahjong. We went back to KL on 17th (yesterday).

Today I went to watch Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief with ZhenYu and his band kakis. Its quite a good show. But they didn't kiss at the end. ARGH!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

I hope you all had a safe trip back to your hometowns, kampungs, whatever you call it. And also an early Happy Valentines to all those lovey doveys out there :)

I'm in Segamat, Johor right now. I reached here yesterday. Thank god there's a wireless modem here, but the router seems a bit buggy, and I had to use a direct line to go online.

Every morning (except on the first day of CNY), our family will go to the mamak stall near the house for a good meal of Thosai cheese and roti pisang. I had 2 roti pisang and half a thosai cheese today, absolutely delicious. Every year back its always this stall that we go to. Beh tahan, too good liao.

Once again, Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Valentines to everyone! :)

The Laws of Life

My friend put a few Laws of life on his blog. Its quite funny, but its also very accurate.

Check it out at http://chanweinick.blogspot.com/2010/02/law-of.html

Nick must thank me for promoting your blog F3.

Life After SPM

I guess I've finally run out of things to blog. There aren't many happenings, not as many as when I was still in school. Sad to say, I miss secondary school life. Even though it might be stressful and all that, it may be wise to appreciate what you are going through. Everyone only goes through secondary school once, remember that.


BOOM...


AJK for kem gabungan SMKB 2009.


English tuition class.

My next driving lesson is on Tuesday. So far I have only had one lesson. Proud to say that I'm driving quite ok, and my dad does encourage me to drive my mom's car under her supervision when she's free.

Other than learning how to drive, nothing much really happens. Sometimes I just hang out with friends, but that's about the most interesting that happens for now. There's no singing competition, essay writing competition (Hoho how I missed pwning other people xD) and whatnot. Frankly speaking, life ain't as interesting as how it used to be, for now though. All that may change once I start college.

I'm thinking of studying Veterinary Bioscience in one of Singapore's polytechnic. They allow SPM students to apply when the results are out so I still have some time (of boredom).

Chinese New Year is coming soon too! I hope you peoplez have already done your shopping, cause the more popular malls should be packed with people everyday. Doing things at the eleventh hour is not always the best thing to do xD

So far I've watched 2 movies this month, that is the Tooth Fairy (starring Dwayne Johnson) and The Spy Next Door (starring Jacky Chan). Both are comedies, but the Tooth Fairy is obviously more comical than The Spy Next Door.




And now, here are the pics of my last few days with the twins Andrew and Chris before they left for Aussie.




Creative way to make a watermelon easier for all to eat.


Twins.


Andrew, Heng Wei, Chris


Andrew, Suki, Chris


Bong, Andrew


The 2 on top are gays.


Nick and Chris


My seafood pasta :O


Eating out


Poor Chris the dog


See that jealous guy on the left


Eating ice cream


Caught in the act? O_O


Best photo of the day.

My History, with twins Andrew and Christopher

Yes, as we all know, our beloved 5E class twins Andrew and Christopher are leaving us for Australia to further their studies. Departing on the coming Wednesday, we have only two more days left with them. Sometimes it would seem that without them, it might not affect your life that badly. But sadly it will have effects on people close to them, especially 5E classmates.

The twins are short, and it became their most distinctive feature. They both share the same mischievous, joker and fun loving attitude. And they never fail to amuse us with their behavior. There are two things that I have in common with the twins. One, is that our English is good, and we are usually at the top. The other, is that our chinese sucks big time (3 of us were the lowest scorers during Form 3 in the same class).

The twins studied at the same primary school as I did, SJK(C)Kepong 2. However, I did not meet them until I was standard 4. And that time I only met Andrew, Chris was in the other class. Moving on to standard 5, I was sorted into 5A, while Andrew went to 5B along with Nick. Chris was in E or F, I'm not sure (I never knew about him). And we remained in our respective classes in standard 6.

Moving on the secondary school, SMKB. In form 1, Andrew and Nick both were in the same class with me. Surprisingly, I still remembered both of them since I was apart from them for 2 years (I split from my 6A classmates instead, since most of them were smart and went to the first class, I was in the third). Even though I wasn't in the same class as Chris in form 1, we went to the same uniformed unit, the Kadet Remaja Sekolah. Hence, the 3 of us were in the same unit. And so we began building our friendship.

In form 2, I dropped 1 class from 1K to 2E. This time, both Andrew and Chris were in my class. So is Nick (fyi, Nick has been with me for 5 years straight in secondary school. We never went in different classes). And it was this fateful year, that I started playing MapleStory. Began early February and was in time for the first Anniversary of MapleStory too! Because of this, not only did we interact in school, we also interacted online as well. This further bonded our friendship. And it never stopped, since we played Gunbound together as well, showing great teamwork spirit.

In form 3, all of us went to 3K and reunited with some other friends as well. We still played Maple as usual, and we continue to be the top 3 scorers in the English subject, as well as the lowest 3 scorers for the Chinese subject. We continued studying together, and faced the PMR exam. And like always, the year end holidays we continuously played Maple together.

As fate would have it, we would get seperated at one point in life. The twins, being better at studies, were sorted into 4E class, while Nick and I went to 5L. Even though we were in different classes, we always hang out together during recess most of the time. Another factor is because 4E and 4L has a very strong bond. The friendship that was built up over the years never fell, but instead grew. Remember, we still played Maple during the holidays. And it was this year, that we had one of the most intense gaming time (Maple) in our lives. We trained from Lv12x till 14x. Andrew and Chris both reached 150, but I got stuck at 149 =.= . Being in a different class never really affected us this way.

And finally, last year (Form 5). It was the same as how we were in Form 4, except less Mapling due to the SPM examinations. We have some small study sessions together, though they will revise with their classmates most of the time. It was slightly different than what it was in forms 2 and 3. Instead of being together in school and online, we spent time apart in school, but end up playing Maple together later, or maybe MSN/Facebook. And of course after the SPM examinations, we had a few hang outs together with other friends to celebrate the occasion.

Since January this year, the twins and I have been actively Mapling, fighting bosses and doing quests together. On the first day of our school's orientation, we were supposed to return to school to check out the kadet stall, but they didn't set any, so we went to McDonalds for lunch instead. And after that, we went home and continued Mapling. I am not surprised that we will be going for another Zakum run tomorrow, it has become a daily basis.

And tonight, there was a farewell party at their new house in Sunway SPK. It was meant to be a surprise party, but someone (I'm not mentioning who) sent a sms over asking "When is your party?" and ruined the whole thing. But there was one thing that did shock them - there were a lot more people than they expected. We had fun chatting, eating, playing chor dai di and showing some magic tricks. And from what I heard, there is to be another farewell dinner this coming Tuesday at Desa Parkcity.

And by the way, Andrew and Chris, you still owe Seng Wai some (not some bah, few million) mesos for his spamming + ringer service. Please settle your debts with him before you leave TQ.

[I will update this post with the pictures tomorrow]