Thoughts and Memories

Just a man and his thoughts

Monday, December 29, 2008

Mandatory End of Holiday Post II

And so passes another one of my limited "holidays". Instead of attempting to finish (start?) my project prototype coding, I opted to blog instead. This post will (hopefully) be a condensed version of 2 months worth of blogging. I don't know how long this post will be, but hopefully, it'll be long enough.

I did an entry about Persona 3 back then. And now that Persona 4 is out, I feel like I should elaborate more on it. No gameplay elements will be involved again, and I'll be furthur elaborating on the Social Links aspect of the game. In Persona 3, the main character has 3 features he has to work on, 'Courage', 'Knowledge', and 'Charisma'. In Persona 4, the features are broken up into 5 different ones. 'Courage' and 'Knowledge' are still there, but 'Charisma' has been changed to 'Expression', 'Understanding', and 'Dilligence'. All these features has a maximum level of 5. Now, if I had to rate myself according to these 5 fields, it would be:

Courage: Level 4
Knowledge: Level 4 (If we're talking about general knowledge outside of school work) or Level 2 (If we're talking about school work in particular)
Expression: Level 2
Understanding: Level 3
Dilligence: Level 4 (If we're talking about anything I'm interested in) or Level 1 (If we're talking otherwise)

Why Courage Level 4? Compared to my wimpy 'Level 1' self a year back, I'm quite a 'badass' now. That missing 1 level is because of the supernatural. You can't fight what you can't punch yes? As for Knowledge, I know plenty of stuff in general. Some of my friends term me as a walking 'Game Dictionary'. As long as I've played the game in question before, I will at least be able to produce a half-functional FAQ for it. Outside of games, which means street knowledge, world news and so on, I do know some stuff about it as well. School work? Don't come to me looking for help in that.

Expression. Yeah, level 2. I've never been able to express myself properly, so much so that I used to (or perhaps, still am) convey the wrong message every single time. Understanding. I can at least understand or symphatize with another person's plight or what they're trying to say most of the time. Dilligence. Drawing? Playing games? Hell yes. School work? Naw. Refer to my second sentence of this post for proof.

So yeah, there are several ways to raise these characteristics in the game. For example, you can eat frickin' beef noodles to boost your Courage, Expression, and Dilligence. Que? You got me. If only it was that easy in real life.

"Your social links are what makes up your 'world.'" - Margaret, Persona 4.

I agree. I used to think that doing everything alone makes it simpler. No extra baggage to tie you down. I'm able to proceed at my own pace. I don't have to share the glory with somebody else. I don't have to answer to anybody but myself in the event that something goes wrong. ...Alright, I'd be lying if I said I didn't pursue this line of thought anymore. In some events, working alone is indeed better. However, friends and close ones are important to you as well. During this long and difficult road in life, you'll need friends to guide you around. The right type of friends of course. In Persona 3 and 4, the maximum level for one social link is level 10. It is unfortunate to say this, but I have no maximum social link with anybody yet.

I'm gonna go on a leg here and say that I had a level 8 social link before with a friend of mine. However, because of school and other misc stuff, the social link had gone into reverse. From the looks of it, my social link level with him is at around level 5 or 6 now. We don't even talk about life's problems and discuss about pointless stuff like we used to anymore. The only time we actually talk is when we're together playing an online game. And even so, most of the stuff we talk about are game related. Mmmkay... enough about that for now, before I shoot myself due to emoness.

My other social links, my poly friends, family, etc. None of it is at maximum level as well. My parents don't understand me well, my brother doesn't as well, and needless to say, my sister doesn't as well. In some instances, I hate the way that my brother thinks. Sometimes, I was just passing off some comments as a joke, or commenting that my tv sucks and so on, he'll jump to conclusions and say that I'm pissed off or say something else negative. Even if he doesn't say anything, his head motion and body language seems to say 'Fucker' to me. If I had to rate my family social link, it'll be around level 8. Not much chance of it going into reverse, but meh. Shit always will happen.

As for my poly friends, it's gradually slipping into reverse, but that's totally not my fault. I was slightly pissed off today because one of my friends to refused to go back home to debug a problem by himself, wasting around 1 and a half hours of my precious break time, which is rare for me to have now. He's that perfectionist 'Friend number 1' I described 2 posts back. He's been gradually turning into somebody else ever since he went steady with that girlfriend of his. And seriously, I prefer the old him.

Oh, did I mention that I'm the only one in the group of friends I hang out with without a girlfriend/companion now? I used to have 'Friend number 2' on board the lonely train with me, but he got himself a girlfriend lately. All of them will be hanging out with their boyfriends and girlfriends now. I feel bad and awkward amongst that group of couples, so I generally stay the hell away from them once their date arrives. Yeah, I'm alone once again. But I should be used to that by now, so why am I whining about it now?

Touching on Persona 3 and 4 again, the main character has an easy access to a number of (hot) girlfriends. Of course, he (the player) has to work for them. I'd do that, but all the girls I know are already attached. I've also attempted to assume the identity (or at least, the characteristics) of the main characters in the games.

'Nothing ever fazes you!' - Yukari, Persona 3.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to imitate. I'm usually very calm about school work, because I don't give two hoots about it. But yeah, I lose my cool when I start to get angry, as evidenced by the event I explained earlier. You don't see the main character being angry/sad/anxious about anything at all in the game. Then again, what the hell am I trying to do? Imitate a fictional perfect character? I'm not cool, I'm pretty normal looking, and I have a bad personality. None of these traits are that of a Main Character. Pretty fail, the way I look at myself.

...However, I've read somewhere, a single sentence in a well-explained forum entry by a user.

'You are the Main Character of your own story.' - Some dude.

Very true. However shitty a main character you are, a main character is a main character. You might not be that perfect good-looking cool genius badass, but you are you. And you are unique. As corny and cliche as it may sound, I believe a hidden power of sorts lay dormant inside me, and I believe I'm special. Maybe not in school work, but perhaps I'll be famous one day because of my manga. I guess I shouldn't attempt to wear a Persona that isn't mine. I have my own unique Persona. I'm gonna use it, and it's going to kick everybody's ass.

After this (self-motivation?) post I made, I'm going to start utilizing my authority as a group leader starting tomorrow. My friend is going to use JDBC for his database calls no matter what he says. 3 people changing a perfectly functional code that we know how to do to something that's foreign to us isn't very smart.

And that's it. Go buy Persona 4. It's well-worth the S$69.90. Play it. Love it.

Oh, and Christianity sucks.(Don't ask >_>)

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