Hello 2009!

First of all, let's have a moment of silence for the melting and shrinking snow that's been with us for the past month or so... There.

I'll miss those pinkish night sky until they loom over us again in the 2009/2010 winter. As long as the snow doesn't compromise the road condition when I need to go out, that is.

Too bad it was ridiculously cold when the snow accumulation reached its highest so I didn't take a picture. Now that it's starting to melt, I have no interest in recording its slow and painful death.

We broke the record for snow fall in December for Surrey, btw.

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Because of the snow, we cancelled our different agenda and stayed home. Mum wanted to rent a movie but didn't have anything in mind. I voted for Wall-E, but bro pushed hard for Transformer, so we ended up with Transformer.

Bro and I had some hearty good laughs throughout the movie, though I had to keep explaining to Mum 'cause she was lost from the beginning and was still confused at the end. I especially love the scene when the main guy (sorry, forgot his name already) was demanded whether he was user so and so, and where item number so and so was. I also burst out laughing not five minutes into the film when the narration, with a low grave voice, mentioned the Cube. Nice name for such a supposedly powerful object. XD

Other than the eBay and robotic jokes, I found Transformer to be all right. The CG rendering and action is pretty awesome, though the fighting scenes between the robots can be a bit too fast paced to follow. And to untrained eyes such as Mum's, she had difficulty distinguishing the individual units unless they're in the vehicle mode.

Bro loved the movie and lauded it as the best movie of the year (2007?) I still think Wall-E would be better. I'm too used to robots fighting for peace/domination/destruction to get excited about Transformer, which is one of the reasons why I voted for Wall-E. I don't usually feel the attraction very often when watching commercials, but I did for Wall-E. It might not beat Fireball in the 3D robot-themed category in my mind, but I have high expectation for it.

Maybe I should just go buy the DVD?

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After my last post in December, I went and bought Puzzle Quest the next day for my Guren. I also managed to get a copy of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III after numerous searches around town. The World Ends With You, unfortunately, is still out of sight.

Bought New Super Mario Bros yesterday 'cause I haven't got any platformer game yet. Bro didn't seem too interested in it and wanted a Naruto fighting game instead. Not a chance, man. Buy it yourself.

Anyhow, I started Puzzle Quest right away and also got bro into it. I chose a knight and named him Fenir to go with the background setting, while bro went with a wizard and named him Naruto. He beat the game two days ago and complained about the difficulty of the last boss. At the end, he had to adjust the game level to easy because he just couldn't win under the normal level. I beat the last boss yesterday in my first try right in his room, causing an appalled cry from him. Then I used his character and fought the last boss using the Choose An Opponent feature, and I beat him in one try as well under the normal level setting. This earned an indignant grunt and a weak excuse from bro. 甘いな、おとうとよ。XD

Since I plan to finish the NES version of DQ IV first, I had Chrono Trigger and FF III to choose from for my next game. I finally went with Chrono Trigger. Listening to its soundtrack has that effect on people.

So I'm now reliving a precious part of my gaming history. Knowing the story development didn't take away the fun of playing, and it's priceless to be able to see those memorable character and monster sprites moving about on the screen. The OP movie (from the PS version?) is very nice, too. I'm having a blast with Chrono Trigger! :D