Let's Put Our Sins to Good Use... Amusement!

As I was browsing through the forum of my Guild Wars guild, some of my guildies posted interesting Quizes, Tests and the like. No, these are not psychologically approved personality tests or such. They are for mere fun!

I personally liked two of the tests, namely:

1. Dante's Inferno Test - http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv
2. Seven Deadly Sins Quiz - http://www.4degreez.com/misc/seven_deadly_sins.html?g=m

Enjoy!


On the first one I scored Purgatory:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

On the Second I scored Sloth:

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	High
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Very Low

Hell! It's about time...

No, this post is not about Starcraft 2 (I guess that's old news now, but if you haven't heard about it, visit http://www.starcraft2.com). No, this post is about another great game that's about to come out. It's probably erroneous to call something 'great' if it's still more than a year away, but when we (or at least I) say "A great game is coming out", we mean that it's a game we have great expectations of, knowing the producer, past releases, trailers and various other bits of information.

Indeed, the game I'm talking about now is an RPG, is just as old as Starcraft (in fact it's older), had a sequel, a tactics spin-off with an add-on and even a table-top game. We've been waiting for the second sequel for a long time now, but the company went bankrupt and nothing became of it. Another company has bought the rights and is now making the long-awaited sequel.

Have you guessed the game yet?



Beautiful, isn't it? (For a higher quality teaser, check http://fallout.bethsoft.com/teaser.html) The first impression it gives me is that the game seems to retain the whole feel of the Fallout universe, which, of course, is the most captivating thing in the game. I am glad that it's Bethesda who's working on Fallout 3 (not some stupid commercial company, like EA). I just hope they will keep the style of the game as well. I really wouldn't like to see a simple Elder Scrolls set in the Fallout universe, but a game that retains its tradition. It will most likely be 3D, we can't help that nowadays, I just hope they don't screw it up.

Like I said before, I think this will be a great game (as in I have high hopes and expectations, as from Starcraft 2, by the way). However, I have a fear for both of these games. Will they run on a low-end PC? Both Starcraft and Fallout (as well as Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics) ran on minimal system requirements. Will they be able to do the same for Starcraft 2 and Fallout 3? A more appropriate question would be: Is this even among their priorities? We'll have to wait and see... (unless humanity destroys itself till then, in which case we'll be playing these games on the Vault's computer)

Psychedelic ecstasy!

WATCH THE TRAILER FIRST, THEN READ!

Yesterday (actually 2 days ago, since it's past midnight) me and the boys went out to see a movie! Within TIFF (Transylvanian International Film Festival) there is always one anime screening. Last year, it was Howl's Moving Castle (which I sadly couldn't attend, since I was still in Oradea back then), this year, it was Paprika. This is the movie we went to see.

As Serban observed, this was the first anime he'd seen in a cinema in Romania. It was the same for me, though the first anime I'd seen in a cinema was in Hungary, at Szarvas, when I went to see Spirited Away. I had expected to see very few people in the room, yet it was full, to my utmost surprise and joy.

Anyway, onto the anime! I'm not sure I can describe it in any one word. I would like to search www.dictionary.com for synonyms of the word GREAT and put them in a list here... Come to think of it, I'll do that:

The anime Paprika was able, absolute, aces, adept, admirable, adroit, bad, best, brutal, cold, complete, consummate, crack, downright, dynamite, exceptional, expert, fab, fantastic, fine, first-rate, good, heavy, hellacious, marvelous, masterly, mostest, number one, out-and-out, perfect, positive, proficient, skilled, skillful, super dupe, surpassing, terrific, total, tough, transcendent, tremendous, unmitigated, unqualified, utter, wonderful, zero cool!

Having said that, lets get into details. The anime is the well-known style of Satoshi Kon. As I saw Paprika prancing around during the opening credits, it kind of reminds me of the 'evil' Mima from Perfect Blue. The camera movement and impact of the two movies are so much alike. Paprika, however is less scary and more confusing. It's not because of the plot though, I believe he could have easily made it scarier had he wanted to. Dreams can be really scary (just listen to Iron Maiden's Dream of Mirrors and you'll understand what I mean.), but I think he wanted something different. The metaplot, I believe, resembles Serial Experiments Lain the most. In what way? Well, go watch them both and you'll understand. :P

As for the technical aspects, well, what can I say? Animation and production were done by Madhouse Studios. Do a search on that at Anime News Network and you'll soon find some attractive titles and understand what this means. The visuals are just stunning. The carnival scenes are most impressive. It kind of grabs you and folds around you, really taking you into the action. The audio is likewise amazing. The theme song is just wonderful (I got hooked on it from the very beginning). Also, as a personal delight, the main character is voiced by Megumi Hayashibara. I think it is a most befitting role for both her Lina Inverse and Rei Ayanami attitudes.

Say hello to Paprika and Dr. Atsuko Chiba!

This anime is a must-see! Don't expect something light though. It is a typical Satoshi Kon movie, in which you don't know where reality ends and dreams begin.