Dead Space 3 Review

Survival Horror, why is it so hard to find it in the world of video game this day? Well, i didn't meant that there is no more survival horror game left but what I meant is its really hard to be terrified when you are playing (supposedly) survival horror game this day. Most of survival horror game just wasn't scary anymore. Well, it was at least in the mainstream market.

Resident evil, one of the most well known survival horror game, became (dare i said) a shitty action game with co op partner to ruin your single player game and now one of my favorite series, Dead Space, is following the same step like Resident Evil by adding co op to the single player campaign? What in the name of God is this? A world corporate conspiracy to wipe out survival horror from this planet?

It was so sad because The first dead space is a great blend between action and surival horror. Yes, i do realize that the horror is just a marathon of jump scare but it was executed so well that it managed to make me scream like a litle girl in the haunted house. The second instalment, even if there's more action shoved into our face, still had some good horror moment in it. Now, the third and final instalment is here, I will tell you all my opinion on this game.

Dead space 3 takes place 2 month after the Titan Sprawl necromorph outbreak in dead space 2 where Isaac is now getting romantically involved with Ellie Langford. You know, the one eyed girl who survived together with Isaac at the end of Dead Space 2. After the prologue, we see that Isaac had broke with Ellie and now she is gone missing in a mission to find a way to stop the marker. To save ellie, Isaac now must once again face the horror of necromorph attack, hostile environment, and awkwardly horrible love triangle. No, friendo, you are not reading a typo. Dead space, one of the scariest series I've ever played is now became twilight in space.

 Its a badass version of twilight...but it is still twilight!

To be fair, i knew that dead space was never been well known for its story, let alone love triangle story, but by God the story and the characters here is so painfully shallow. Isaac struggle agains his dementia and his quest to destroy the marker at dead space 2 is much more interesting than Isaac "Cullen" Clarke quest to get back with Ellie "Swan" Langford in the middle of space zombies attack. It's only two month after they first met but they are acting like they had been married for years. By the way, are you wondering about how is Isaac affected by his deceased ex-fiancée that used to haunt his mind with guilt and dementia in the previous dead space? Not a single mention came from Isaac mouth like he never even remember that he used to had a fiance. Isaac is definitely good at moving on.

If the story is awkwardly forced into the game, the gameplay is where dead space 3 delivers the fun. The core dismemberment gameplay still hasn't changed because why fix what isn't broke and with the addition of the robust weapon crafting system, you can create your own perfect tool of dead to kill the space undead the way you like it. Wanna create an acid flamethrower with cryogenic torch? You can. Or maybe you prefer an electrified rocket launcher with shotgun attachment? Be my guest. The weapon crafting system is robust and feels satisfying when you used it to blast necromorph limbs to the space. The game also delivers some memorable set pieces like the spaceship mini game and surprisingly, there's a lot of puzzle this time which i think is fine.

Sadly, even if i had a blast playing Dead Space 3 and i do really want to play it again with the new game+, the fun factor is the thing that kill the horror in this game. Survival horror isn't supposed to be fun, its supposed to be terrifying. It supposed to deliver the "i don't want to play this but i had to" experience like what i feel when i'm playing amnesia the dark descent. Survival horror should make you feel insignificant and weak not makes you feel like a badass who can solve every problem with bullet. The fear factor get even lower because supply is as easy to get as trying to find a sand in a desert. You will rarely feel in the edge of dying in this game.

What about the co op part you asked? Did it ruin the game the way Co-op in resident evil ruin everything that makes survival horror scary? Well, i gotta admit Dead Space 3 Co-op had some unique idea that manage to impress me. When you are just playing solo, there will be no AI partner to ruin your game and if you want someone to accompany you since you are to scared to play this game alone (seriously?), your partner can join anytime you want it. There's also some co-op optional mission that shows how John Carver, Isaac partner in co op, seeing some creepy illusion because he was affected by the marker but the player who plays as Isaac can't see what the other player see. It is a nice additional mission that you can enjoy with your friend.

In conclusion, Dead Space 3 have changed from a good blend of survival horror and action into a simple action game with nothing to scare you. It left me disappointed, but its not making me mad that i want to throw my Dead Space 3 disc into a deep black hole in the space, it just simply disappointing. The game is fun to play but it really lack the feeling that make Dead Space unique and memorable. If you are a horror fan, i suggest that you just skip this game but if you like action game with some minor horror element in it you might wanna give this game a try.

Initial El Score

6.5

 Just a decent survival action horror game

Less is More: menciptakan lebih dari kurang

 
Saya adalah seorang gamer yang menyukai game horror dan beberapa dari pembaca yang bukan gamer juga mungkin mengenal serial game horror seperti Resident Evil atau Silent Hill. Game- game ini terkenal karena mereka berhasil mengusik salah satu emosi manusia yang paling dalam, rasa takut. Karena saya penasaran dengan apa yang membuat game horror begitu menakutkan, saya mulai melakukan riset-riset kecil tentang rasa takut dalam video game. Dalam riset singkat saya mengenai rasa takut dalam video game, saya menemukan sebuah istilah yang menarik yaitu less is more, anggapan bahwa terkadang kurangnya hal yang menakutkan dalam video game horror justru memberikan lebih banyak rasa takut. saya penasaran dengan Apa maksud dari istilah ini? Apakah less is more Ini berlaku juga dalam kehidupan nyata? Ada baiknya juga kita membahas mengenai less is more ini.

Less is more adalah tentang bagaimana kita memberikan nilai lebih pada suatu hal meskipun kita tidak memiliki atau memberikan lebih karena kesederhanaan bisa memberikan nilai lebih dibanding kompleksitas dan membuat sesuatu lebih mudah dipahami serta diapresiasi. Istilah ini pertama kali diucapkan oleh Andrea Del Satro, seorang penulis puisi pada tahun 1885 dalam puisinya yang kemudian menjadi salah satu motto Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, seorang pioner dalam aliran arsitektur minimalisme. Jika ada yang bingung dengan konsep ini, Anggaplah ada seorang wanita yang menggunakan pakaian minim berjalan di mal, bisa dibilang kekurangan kain, apa yang terjadi di dalam pikiran kaum pria? Tentunya insting kita sebagai lelaki (yang normal) pasti akan lebih memperhatikan wanita itu dari atas ke bawah, Kurangnya kain di tubuh wanita membuat pria lebih tertarik kepada wanita tersebut.

P.s: Gambar ini hanya untuk membantu visualisasi less is more, bukan membantu visualisasi yang lain.

Tentunya saya tidak mengatakan kalau wanita hanya menarik ketika mereka tidak berkain dan menyarankan semua wanita untuk berpakaian seperti Lady Gaga di kamar mandi kalau ke mall karena jika kita kembali ke konsep less is more, maka ada juga wanita dengan pakaian yang kurang menonjolkan lekuk tubuhnya namun terlihat lebih menarik karena lebih sederhana, misterius dan elegan.

Bagaimana Less is more ini bisa membantu kita dalam kehidupan sehari-hari? Pertama, kita harus memahami salah satu sifat dasar manusia yaitu rasa tidak puas. Manusia adalah mahluk dengan kebutuhan yang tidak terbatas. Berbeda dengan hewan yang kebutuhannya terbatas pada makan dan berkembang biak, manusia memiliki kebutuhan emosional, psikologikal, spiritual dan masih banyak lagi kebutuhan lainnya. Kebutuhan yang tidak terbatas ini pada akhirnya akan menciptakan rasa tidak puas, sebuah dorongan untuk terus meminta dan mendapatkan lebih. Rasa tidak puas inilah yang membawa kita sebagai manusia ke keberadaan kita sekarang, semua hasil kebudayaan umat manusia adalah hasil dari rasa tidak puas ini. Ketika kita tidak puas dengan kegelapan, kita menciptakan lampu dan ketika kita tidak puas dengan dengan berjalan di tanah kita menciptakan pesawat terbang. Rasa tidak puas ini adalah bagian penting untuk berkembang menjadi manusia yang lebih baik namun ketika rasa tidak puas ini menjadi berlebihan dan membuat kita menginginkan lebih banyak dari yang seharusnya kita miliki atau berikan, di sinilah masalah muncul.

Rasa tidak puas seringkali menuntut kita untuk terus memberikan lebih pada apapun yang kita lakukan, miliki atau yang kita inginkan hingga akhirnya nilai dari apa yang kita miliki atau lakukan justru berkurang. Ini sering saya lihat dalam perilaku konsumtif kita yang selalu menuntut lebih meski sebenarnya kita sudah hidup lebih dari cukup. Tuntutan untuk selalu berlebihan ini tidak selalu berarti positif karena segala hal yang berlebihan akan selalu menjadi hal negatif sehingga yang akan terjadi adalah kontra-produktif, more is less. Nilai dari apa yang kita lakukan, berikan atau ciptakan menjadi berkurang akibat rasa tidak puas yang menuntut kita untuk berlebihan.

Bagaimana kita menciptakan lebih dari kurang dalam kehidupan kita? Saya punya satu analogi sederhana yang saya buat. Anggaplah ada seorang miskin yang cuma bisa makan sepiring nasi meskipun sebenarnya ia ingin sekali makan daging sapi. Jika ia menginginkan daging tersebut secara berlebihan, maka ia akan berusaha untuk mendapatkan daging tersebut tapi lupa bahwa ia harus makan nasi yang ada dulu untuk mendapatkan energi agar bisa berusaha mendapatkan nasi tersebut sehingga usahanya untuk mendapatkan daging teraebut menjadi sulit. Namun, jika ia memahami bahwa ia harus menerima kenyataan dulu, bahwa ia hanya memiliki nasi yang menurutya kurang, maka ia akan memakan nasi yang ada kemudian berusaha untuk mendapatkan daging yang ia inginkan.

Jadi pesan moral ini sederhana saja, untuk menciptakan lebih terimalah apa yang ada dulu, meskipun menurut kita apa yang kita punya sekarang itu masih kurang. Merasa kalau pesan moralnya mirip dengan sesuatu yang pernah kita pelajari di SD? Yep, salah satu bentuk less is more yang bisa kita gunakan di kehidupan sehari-hari adalah bersyukur. Masih banyak bentuk less is more yang bisa kita gunakan seperti semakin sedikit kita berbicara semakin bernilai apa yang kita katakan ke orang, rendah diri membuat diri kita terlihat tinggi di mata orang lain, kesederhanaan lebih baik daripada berboros-boros ria dan masih banyak lagi.

Less is more bisa membantu kita menciptakan hidup yang lebih seimbang dan bahagia jika kita bisa menerapkannya dengan tepat karena konsep ini adalah penyeimbang dari sifat dasar kita yang selalu ingin berlebihan. Selama kita bisa menyesuaikan kapan kita menggunakan konsep ini, dijamin hidup kita ga bakal ruwet-ruwet amet.

Semoga tulisan sok tau ini bisa membantu para pembaca untuk membuka perspektif yang lebih luas dalam hidup kita sebagai manusia yang sempit dan kecil. Be seeing you all in my next article. May the force be with you.

5 Tips and Trick Berdoa Dengan Memahami Bahasa Tuhan

Saya rasa kita semua mungkin sadar betapa tidak spesialnya kita di alam semesta ini. Sekeras apapun kita berusaha ataupun berpikir bahwa kita spesial, kita hanyalah debu kecil bagi padang sahara bernama alam semesta ini. Jika kita telah menyadari bahwa kita bukan apa-apa di alam semesta ini, seringkali akan muncul kerinduan akan sesuatu yang lebih besar yang mendorong manusia untuk bertanya dan mencari tentang makna keberadaanya. Dari sinilah konsep akan Tuhan mulai terbentuk di pikiran kita dan dari sinilah juga manusia mulai melakukan ritual-ritual spiritual seperti memberikan sesajen, melakukan ritual peribadatan dan berdoa dalam usaha kita menemukan dan berkomunikasi dengan Sang Segala untuk menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan di hidup kita.

Salah satu dari usaha kita untuk berkomunikasi dengan Tuhan adalah melalui doa untuk mencapai apa yang kita inginkan dalam hidup dan layaknya doa, ada saatnya doa kita dijawab dan tidak dijawab. Seringkali tersirat di kepala kita bahwa pada saat itu doa kita tidak "terdengar" olehNya dan ketika doa kita terkabul maka Ia "mendengarkan" doa kita. Ketika kita menggunakan kata "mendengarkan", sebenarnya kita secara ga sadar membuat Tuhan menjadi seperti kita, seperti manusia yang kecil, berbicara, mendengarkan, berjalan, dan milih-milih apa yang mau didengarkan ataupun apa yang ga perlu didengarkan. Padahal kalo menurut pendapat pribadi sih aneh rasanya kalo kita mengatakan Tuhan yang Maha Pendengar itu tidak "medengarkan" apa yang kita doakan. Doa yang tidak dijawab ini seringkali juga membuat kita merasa jauh dari Tuhan, membuatnya sulit dijangkau di kehidupan  kita meskipun sebenarnya Dia berada lebih dekat dari urat nadi kita sendiri.

Orang yang dipercayai bisa berkomunikasi dengan Tuhan seringkali disebut sebagi  nabi, dukun, shaman atau orang suci dalam agama dan keyakinan mereka. Orang-orang ini adalah sosok manusia yang dipercaya memiliki kemampuan untuk "berbicara" dengan Tuhan atau kekuatan yang lebih besar di alam semesta ini dan mereka mengunakan kemampuan itu untuk menyampaikan pesan-pesan dari Sang Segala itu ke manusia lain yang ga bisa mendengarkan suaraNya agar manusia bisa menemukan jalan hidupnya atau membantu orang-orang di sekitar mereka agar keinginan dalam doa mereka terkabul. 

Sayangnya, Bagi manusia biasa seperti kita ini, berbicara dengan Tuhan kelihatannya adalah hal yang ga mungkin  mengingat betapa kecil dan ga berartinya kita sehingga mulai deh muncul anggapan bahwa hanya orang-orang terpilih seperti nabi saja yang bisa "berbicara" dengan Sang Segala tersebut tapi apa itu benar?

Dari pengalaman hidup dan juga beberapa pengalaman hidup orang lain, saya mulai meyakini bahwa Tuhan setiap hari berbicara dan menjawab doa kita melalui bahasa kehidupan. Apa yang terjadi, apa yang kita lihat dan apa yang kita rasakan dalam kehidupan kita itu adalah Tuhan yang sedang "Berbicara" dan memberi "petunjuk" pada kita. Bahasa ini bisa berupa kejadian tertentu yang seringkali mengusik intuisi kita, mungkin seperti sindiran sarkastik dari Tuhan kalo buat saya tapi tentunya bahasa Tuhan ini akan berbeda-beda tergantung manusianya. Mungkin ada yang mendapat petunjuk dari Tuhan ketika ia sedang melakukan ibadah agamanya, melalui ramalan horoskop, melalui saran teman, melalui quote film dan buku atau mungkin melalui status facebook dan twitter yang kita follow. kemungkinannya tidak terbatas layaknya Tuhan itu sendiri.

Ayah saya kebetulan adalah seseorang yang mempelajari mengenai bahasa Tuhan melalui kehidupan dan ia mengajarkan saya beberapa tips yang cukup berguna dalam berdoa dan memahami bahasa Tuhan ini.

1. Pray With Your Energy.

Tips yang pertama adalah Tuhan mendengarkan energi jiwa dan emosi manusia. Tuhan tidak mendengarkan bahasa verbal sehari-hari yang biasa kita gunakan seperti bahasa Indonesia, bahasa Inggris, bahasa Jepang ataupun bahasa Arab melainkan energi jiwa kita karena bahasa verbal sebenarnya hanyalah alat untuk menyampaikan makna, bukan maknanya. Ketika kita berdoa dalam mood negatif seperti kesel,sedih, marah dsb, tak peduli betapa indahnya rangkaian kata-kata dalam doa itu, maka energi negatif itulah yang akan ditangkap oleh Sang Segala sebagai doa kita dan tentunya jawaban doanya adalah semakin banyaknya hal negatif tersebut dalam kehidupan kita (law of attraction). Mulailah berdoa dengan perasaan yang lebih positif seperti rasa syukur atau senang ketika meminta sesuatu terhadap Sang Segala tersebut betapapun buruknya keadaan yang sedang dihadapi. Ini bukan hanya agar Tuhan mau mendengarkan doa kita tapi juga agar kita bisa mengasosiasikan Tuhan sebagai sebuah eksistensi positif di alam bawah sadar kita dibandingkan eksistensi negatif yang membuat kita berdoa dan berbicara dengannya ketika sedang menghadapi cobaan saja.

2. Do The Ritual

 

Tips yang kedua adalah lakukanlah ritual. Tentunya saya tidak menganjurkan pembaca buat pergi melakukan ritual gaib ke gua terpencil di hutan gelap untuk meditasi, memberikan sesajen dan membakar dupa demi mencari wangsit karena untuk manusia modern yang serba sibuk hal ini jelas akan terlalu merepotkan. Ritual yang saya maksud di sini adalah ritual sederhana namun memiliki nilai simbolik personal yang bisa dilakukan sehari-hari di tengah kesibukan kita. Ritual ini tidak harus selalu bersifat gaib, religius ataupun spiritual karena ritual pun juga bisa punya efek praktis. Misalkan pembaca ingin membeli sebuah buku tertentu namun tidak punya uang, maka lakukanlah ritual menabung. Ritual ini memang terlihat seperti pelajaran yang kita dapatkan di buku PPkn SD tapi menurut saya hal sederhana seperti menabung adalah sebuah ritual efektif karena ritual simbolik yang paling efektif adalah melalui usaha nyata. Ritual yang bersifat simbolik juga bisa memberikan energi positif seperti memasang note mengenai target pencapaian kita di kamar atau di kulkas, mengganti wallpaper desktop dengan tempat wisata impian, atau sekedar berkhayal melakukan sesuatu yang keren dan tentunya ritual doa yang bersifat religius juga merupakan sebuah pilihan yang baik. Ritual-ritual simbolik kecil ini adalah ritual sederhana yang seringkali membantu kita membentuk mindset positif dalam mencapai apa yang kita inginkan.

3. Do It With Love

 
Tips yang ketiga adalah lakukan dengan cinta. Cinta yang saya maksud di sini tentunya bukan cinta romantis ala sinetron tapi cinta dimana ada dua di dalam satu. Cinta di sini adalah ketika kita melakukan sesuatu dengan sepenuh hati dan jiwa sehingga apa yang kita ciptakan menjadi bagian dari diri kita, sebuah perpanjangan eksistensi diri, sebuah seni. Apapun yang kita lakukan dengan cinta adalah sebuah doa yang paling baik karena kita melakukannya dengan seluruh energi positif yang kita miliki. Jika Hal ini bisa kita aplikasikan pada pekerjaan kita maka kita tidak akan perlu bekerja lagi seumur hidup, aplikasikan pada kehidupan spiritual maka Tuhan akan menyatu dengan kita, dan tentunya aplikasikan ke pasangan kita maka kita tidak perlu lagi pasangan hidup karena kita telah menjadi satu dengan pasangan kita.

4. Listen to Your Life 

Tips yang keempat adalah dengarkan hidup kita berbicara. Hidup kita adalah sekumpulan sebab-akibat  yang berjalan melalui sistem hukum alam semesta. Hidup kita bukan sebuah kebetulan yang terjadi secara acak tiap hari karena semua tindakan, pikiran dan emosi yang kita ciptakan akan menjadi sebab yang akan menimbukan sebuah akibat tertentu dalam hidup, mirip dengan apa yang kita sering sebut dengan karma. Kejadian-kejadian tertentu dalam hidup seringkali menjadi sebuah petunjuk tentang apa yang kita telah lakukan dan apa yang harus kita lakukan dimana hal ini mengusik intuisi kita secara tidak sadar dan membuat kita belajar tentang apa yang harus kita lakukan. Sebagai contoh, dulu saya seringkali tidak memperdulikan perasaan orang dan secara sengaja ataupun tidak sengaja sering menyakiti perasaan orang. Namun ketika karma menampar hidup saya dengan balasan yang setara dimana seseorang yang saya hargai tidak menghargai saya, saya sadar bahwa Sang Segala memberikan arahan untuk menghargai orang dengan lebih baik. Dengan mendengarkan Sang segala dalam kehidupan kita, maka kita tidak akan perlu lagi takut tersesat dalam hidup ini dan kita akan selalu punya inspirasi untuk apa yang harus kita lakukan untuk mendapatkan apa yang kita inginkan.

5. Have Faith

 
Tips yang terakhir adalah yakin.Well yes, ini adalah tips yang paling generik, sering kita dengar di film-film keluarga, kartun pagi dan sinetron kejar tayang yang membosankan namun inillah bagian terpenting dari memahami bahasa Sang Segala tersebut ketika kita menginkan sesuatu. Seperti Tulisan saya sebelumnya yang membahas mengenai bagimana keyakinan bisa merubah realita kehidupan manusia, kemampuan dari keyakinan ini mampu membuat doa kita semakin efektif. Tak ada gunanya kita menangis-nangis penuh pinta kepada Sang Segala tersebut jika kita tidak meyakini apa yang kita inginkan untuk menjadi kenyataan. Meyakini sesuatu berarti kita telah menciptakan suatu kenyataan dalam hidup kita oleh karena itu kunci utama dari sebuah doa yang efektif adalah meyakini bahwa apa yang kita inginkan akan menjadi kenyataan dalam hidup kita.

Kurang lebih seperti inilah pelajaran yang saya tangkap tentang bagaimana kita bisa membuat keinginan dalam doa kita bisa lebih mendekati kenyataan. Apabila ada komentar, kritik, saran atau hinaan (selama itu hinaan yang bagus) jangan malu untuk berkomentar. Semoga tips and trick ini bisa membantu pembaca untuk lebih positif dalam meraih apa yang diinginkan dalam hidup. May the Force bless you all.....

SKET Dance Review : When i Fell in Love With An Anime series

When you reached the age of 23, you might become a more mature human than you used to be and start looking the world in a more mature way. In my case when i became older, i became a cynical jerk who thinks that humanity can't evolve beyond a jerk who thinks for their own self and inevitably, that will let them to their doom. Being a mature could make you see everything in the suckiest way and it happen with the way i see manga and anime.

I do like to read manga and watch anime in the TV when i was a teenager, mostly all kind of anime and manga like Dragon Ball, Naruto and Rurouni Khenshin which usually about people fighting in over the top way. That day, i am still an innocent boy who see the world as a prairie of flower, smile and love but then, time changes my brain and its really hard to be a happy-go-lucky man like i used to be. I am an adult now and it makes me see most anime and manga as a tsunami of angsty pretty boy dealing with overused cliche dilemma while occasionally an oversexualized hot girl showing up just for being an eye candy. The worst case of anime and manga that i ever see is when some long hard slimy things is wrapping teenage girl with large breatst in the subway while the other people in the subway watching it with excitement and blushed face.

Oh wait, that was something else. Thanks for the reminder spidey.

Yes, I know that kind of anime is called shonen which is aimed at the teenager not adult like me but even if it was for the teenager it is still not an excuse to overused the cliche and angsty storyline that driving me crazy. At first, it is good to see that kind of anime, second one its ok, third is acceptable, but after the fourth one my brain starting to tell me that i hate to see people whining about friendship, courage or any other generic moral message over and over again.

Well, i do have some exception from this shonen anime that i consider as good like Naruto, Gin Tama and Fullmetal Alchemist which i think had some depth and good subtlety in the story. Eventhough i think that anime or manga like Naruto is good, i rarely get invested emotionally into the story and the character mainly because its kinda hard to sympathize with the characters when they can technically blow a mountain into dust to solve every problem that exist.

Sadness? i blow sadness...

But then, i watched some anime that was aired in the animax called SKET Dance which i think is a really strange title and premise for an anime. SKET Dance (a transliteration of "Suketto Dan" which means "helper club") is a story about a school club that dedicated to help students overcome any kind of problem they had. The main characters of this anime is Bossun, a useless boy with an extraordinary ability to concentrate really hard, then Himeko, an ex-deliquent girl who happens to have the strength of female gorilla and Switch, a super nerdy otaku who can only speaks using a speech synthesizer in his laptop.

you can see that it left everyone with a strange impression at first but after couples episode, i was so hooked with the series because it was so funny. I laughed out loud at some episodes from its quirky humour, Japanese pop culture references, and the hilarious fourth wall joke. It also had some cute romantic story between the characters that sometime manage to make me go "awwww".

 

hei, its still better than "ewwww"....

But then, the series caught me off guard when suddenly it became so traumatizing, depressing and above all, emotionally touching. I felt sympathetic and attached to an anime character like i never do feel before. Well, its an angsty teenage dilemma that they faced but it was done in an interesting way that won't bore you to death and you will always want to see how it will be resolved.

So far, there is 2 particular story that i think is really superb and unique. Thoose 2 stories is the backstory of 2 main character which is the story about Bossun and Switch past. The story explain why bossun so determined to help people in need without favor and why switch never talk with his own mouth. I won't tell how the stories goes since it will be a spoiler but trust me, there will be some unexpected twist so you will want to see their story by yourself. Personally, Switch backstory is the most emotional one and i'll even admit that it made me drop a man tears (not pussies tears) at the end of the story.

if you don't feel any emotion after watching this scene, then congratulation! you are emotionally dead.

SKET dance could make you laugh out loud then makes you cry after it. That is why this series leaves an emotional impact to whoever watching it. It is not all about laughable stupid things but it could also make you care in the emotional level which i rarely do feel when i watched an anime.  When the season 1 ended, there's some funny feeling that i felt, i feel like there's some part of me that die inside where it almost feel like someone that i cared is leaving me to somewhere far away. It is that good

There's some gripe that i have with this anime like how it sometime the story could end in a cliffhanger without any resolution that will satisfied anyone, some character could be a lil bit over the top and some unnecessary angsty dialogue can be a little annoying sometime. Also, it might be just me, but i am kinda hoping that they show the serious emotional case more often since most of the case is just there to make you laugh.

Overall, SKET Dance is a really great anime. The manga itself won an award for best shonen manga in 2011 so we know that it got a good reception in Japan itself that. This might be one of my most memorable anime that i ever watch so far and I'm so waiting for the second season to start. If some people asked me "do you like SKET Dance?" i will replied it with "no. I love it.".

The Initial El Score Review

9.5  

Love it!

 

Dragon Nest T4: a review for the Pro and Con of Physician

In the dragon nest SEA, the alchemist is one of the most hated class in the game whether if it was for the lag maker skills or the so called imba skills. Now, in the T4 update patch the Alchemist can take 2 new jobs called adept and physician, creating more pissed up player across the server which i find amusing. Since i am an alchemist, i'm doing some quick reseach (read: google) before taking the two job that the alchemist can take.Then, after some quick research, i found that Physician is actually a less favorite class in Dragon Nest and almost all guide and video is about adept.

Now, since i love to be different, i pick the Physician class when i reached 50 and found that i am the only physician in a guild with 120 members on it while the other alchemist on my guild pick adept as their third job. I almost think that i am the only stupid one to pick the physician as my third job. Luckily after 1 month playing as an Physician i found that i'm not actually that stupid since physician is an awesome class to use.

So, i'd like to share about my opinion for Physician in this review. This review is strictly based on my build and experience so you are all free to comment, giving suggestion, or insulting me. Just, please, don't use the word 'noob'. Its just too 'noob' for an insult...

PRO

1. Injector EX+ healing shower = higher survivability, higher popularity

In the T4 update, enemies in dungeon now do significantly more damage and with the greatly nerfed HP suffix for every equipment, the class with the healing skill is badly needed for every nest party. The demand of healer class for the nest and raid party is so high that i even find some healer class who charge their party with gold if they want him/her as a healer in their team.

no offense ....

In this T4 patch, Physician as a DPS/healer class is actually gaining a lot of advantage. Since Physician still maintain the alchemist skill which can deal decent damage, it can take the role of DPS while at the same time healing their team with their 2 new skill, injector EX and heal shower.

The normal injector is probably not a very good skill since it doesn't do much damage, had a small range and only heal you way to little to be called a healing skill but the Injector EX is the steroid version of the alchemist injector with extra range, decent damage and a far superior healing ability where now you can also heal your allies 10% of your total injector EX damage. It might not heal like half of your max hp but with its low cooling down and a proper build, injector EX will help you in nest and raid party. The other new skill for Physician is healing shower which in this T4 update heals like half of my max HP in PVE and heals better than the cleric heals (its still depends on your magic attack though). Add it with cocktail and this 2 new skill, the demands for Physician is high and it will help every party to succeed in their dungeon.

2. Going solo? no problemo...

Some title in DN gives you a really nice stats that will give you a nice advantage both in PVE and PVP and some of that title requires you to go solo in a nest. In the previous cap, going solo for a nest dungeon is an easy job as long as you had decent equipment but in the T4 patch going solo is far difficult than it used to be. At the previous cap, the non healer class depends on their HP Suffix from their armor to survive longer in the nest. In this T4 update, they can't rely on their HP Suffix anymore because its greatly nerfed and the monster deal more damage. The cleric class may had an advantage since it was well known for its high survivability but some cleric class like saint can only deal little damage so it makes the dungeon run tend to take quite some time. Physician in the other hand is more balanced than the cleric class since it can take the role of DPS and healer. It can survive better than most DPS class and had a decent DPS ability to help her finish the nest faster but remember, you will still need a decent equipment. If you run a solo dungeon with Berlin set you might wanna check whether your brain is still in function or not.

3. Dark build takes your enemy into a dark future

Physician at its core is a dark element class so if you wanna be pure physician, like i do, you will be putting your SP in the dark skill tree. As a PVP player who used a dark build for my Physician, i had a fun using the dark skill to piss off another player since dark build tend to be a deadly slow killer build. I found that Physician is best used as a support fighter, the class that fight behind the main attacker dealing poison debuff to slowly and painfully drop the enemy HP.

Disease is one skill that will deal a massive poison debuff to enemy since its debuff will poison the enemy with 10% of its damage for 15 sec and it can infect nearby enemy teammate so it can be very helpfull if you had a proper build. Poison break is also the best burst damage which is similar to the priest detonate but it deals more damage which can deal even higher damage than magma wave in PVP. Having a good Physician in your PVP team (like me, of course :P) will definitely increase your winning chance.

4. Love virus? you will love the chaos.

This is why i picked Physician over Adept. This one skill is what makes Physician unique to other classes in DN and make it as a great supportive class to play. Its none other than the lovely love virus.

Surprisingly, not much  peoples in DN SEA knows about how dangerous love virus can be. I once had a chat about physician with my guildmate and he told me that love virus animation looks good but he didn't know what did it do to the enemy that hit by its. So, for those who didn't know about love virus let me enlighten you.

Love virus is a skill that makes you invulnerable from the enemy attack and makes your enemy attack become friendly fire to his teammate for some seconds. It also lower the magic defense of your enemy by 10% and had a low cooling down for spamming purpose.

You can see that love virus really is an unique and dangerous skill if you used it in a proper way. I had this scenario on PVP where an Elestra who is an enemy captain charging with its teammate to kill my team captain. That elestra and its team gangbanged my captain until i saw the Elestra casting blizzard storm and hit it with the love virus. As you might suspect, that Elestra wiped out all his teammate in confusion and giving a chance to my captain to do the counter attack, leading our team team to victory.

Nothings feels better when you see your enemy kill his own teammate in confusion while you laugh evilly like Saturday cartoon villain in front of your PC. Its feels almost better than a sex .

Con

1. Physician do less damage 

Im going to be honest, Physician is a weak class if you don't know how to used it. Compared to any DPS class, Physician  might be the weakest DPS class since it might take a time to kill your enemy both in PVP and PVE and If you are using a pure dark build its even harder because most enemy in the dungeon is a dark monster that will resist most of your dark attack.

This con is why people prefer to be adept rather than Physician. Adept can deal more damage with its new ice beam and magma punch EX while Physician new skill is mostly for support and debuff rather than DPS.

2. Physician is kinda sucks at 1 on1 batle

As a semi support class, Physician isn't well known for its 1 on 1 capability which make ladder fight rather hard. I wont said that playing in ladder as Physician is impossible since that title is still held by the saint class who is a full support class but its still rather hard compared to other class. Physician skill is mostly a ranged attack skill so you will mostly playin with hit and run tactic when you are using Physician in a 1 on 1 battle and rarely go in a frontal fight unless you really have to.

Adept in the other hand had a better chance to fight in a frontal fight compared to Physician because their skill is mostly for close combat purpose so they had a better advantage in ladder match.

3. Physician still had paper defense

 Alchemist is actually a paper defense class in the previous cap and it always be the soft spot for merc and sword master to aim But in the T4 patch, alchemist now had more decent defense than it was before so it now had a better survivability.

But even though they increased the Physician survivability, the alchemist class is still a vulnerable class because they are weak in close range and didn't have much counter attack skill. when you are caught in a combo it will be rather deadly for Physician if you already used the hypnosis to run away from the previous attack

Conclusion

Physician isn't a perfect class, hell, there's no perfect class in DN unless you are Berlin. You will need a lot of experience to use physician since it wasn't an easy class to use at first, but when you get the hang of it there is a great fun to used this class. I recommend all of you to harness the power of love virus since i think its the sexy spot for physician so you can be a master in a battle.  

Looper Review

As someone who were quite a nerd, I love the Sci-fi movie like Terminator, Star wars, The Matrix and alien. Its always a thrill to see a film maker create a non existing world that is relatable to our real world. Lately, the only Sci-fi movie in this year that really attract my interest is only prometheus, the prequel of the Alien series which peoples said it gives more questions than an answer to the Alien franchies, making a lot of people disappointed by it including me. Luckily, the God of Sci-fi listened to my prayer and gives us one more great sci-fi movie to enjoy this year called Looper.

In the year 2044 a man called Joe, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt or JGL because i'm now too lazy to write his full name, is working as an assasin for a mob in the future called looper. 30 years from that year, time travel is possible and immediately become illegal so only the big crime organization used it to eliminate people since its impossible to make someone disappear in the future without being noticed. One day, Joe had to assassinate someone different, he had to kill his older himself as a part of his jobs.

not metaphorically, he literally had to kill himself...

The premise of this movies is really original for a sci-fi movie, but this premise is not the only great things that this movies can offer because surprisingly, it is a really complex movie with a multiple layer on it. The movie could just be a story of 2 man running and chasing around like Tom and Jerry but they didn't do that. The story become bigger and each character decision in the story is really intriguing to watch. I can't tell you more about the story in this movie since more than that will be considered as a spoiler but trust me, you will be surprised on how much this movies expand itself from its basic premise.

As usual, JGL as Joe manage to steal my heart with his acting (no gay undertone) and he is officially one of my favorite actor now. Joe character is really a selfish Jerk when you first saw him, in fact you will hate him more than you like him but when situation and decision happened, his character will develop and you will rooting for him in the end. The older Joe is played by Bruce Willis who is surprisingly doing great in this movie because you can feel the determination of his character to get  things done no matter what the cost is. 

I'm not actually impressed by the make up in this movie since JGL doesn't look that much like younger Bruce Willis but even though  the make up didn't convince me, what makes them feels like one character is how JGL play his subtle Bruce Willis impression. The good dialogue which shown how the two character interact also helps you too see the two character similarity and its also one of the best aspect of this movie. The other character like Joe boss, played by Jeff Daniels is also giving a great performance even if he is not getting much screen time like another character and There's also Emily blunt who played as Sara, a single parent who lives in the farm with her son who also did good performance to entertain us.

The world of Looper is also worth mentioning because it was relatable to our real world, yet it had a distinct feels to it. Its not the typical slick and futuristic future but its rather a dark and grim version of the real world with some added technology. Hobos are everywhere and the rule of killed or be killed applied on the street. It really feels like what our future might be. Add it with some stylistic and unique screenplay and you'll had a great immersion into this world

So for conclusion, Looper is a great Sci-fi movies that you have to watch. Even if you are not into a Sci-fi movie, the character, the emotion and the drama in this movie is more than enough to win the heart of non-sci-fi fan. It wasn't an exaggeration if some said that Looper is one of the best Sci-fi movie you can find.

The Initial El Score Review

9.0

High Class Sci-fi

Resident Evil: Damnation Movie Review

The Resident Evil movie franchise now has 5 movies on it and none of them is able to redeem the peoples opinion about video game movies being sucks because it was also sucks. It may be the only financially successful movie game to date but if everyone thinks that Resident Evil way is the only way movie games could exist then we got no hope for movie games genre. Luckily, today movie is an exceptional case for movie games genre where the movies isn't sucks. Today movies is about Resident Evil Damnation.

Well, You might be wondering about this specific Resident Evil (RE) movie since you can't see this movie in your local cinema. RE Damnation isn't actually a Hollywood blockbuster release like the new Resident Evil: Retarded...i meant, Retribution. This movies is actually an animated DVD and blu-ray release only where the story of the movie is a prelude to the new Resident Evil 6 video game. So as you can see, if you want a real Resident Evil movie which stick close to the game look no further, buy this DVD and don't spent your money for the new Paul W.S. Anderson Resident Evil so he couldn't makes any more shitty video games movie.

or else, there will be Resident Evil: Reloaded and Resident Evil: Revolution

Resident Evil: Damnation isn't the first Animated RE movie because there is RE Degeneration which generally had positive review but leave a lot to be desired from it like the sometime bad animation, bland story and forgettable characters (its still far superior than the live action movie, by the way). Fortunately, Capcom listened to what the fan wants because almost every bad aspect from Degeneration seems to be improved from the previous movie unlike Paul W.S Anderson RE that getting degenerated more and more from its previous one.

RE: Damnation took place in a fictional conflict area of Eastern Slav where Bio Organic Weapon (B.O.W) has been reported being used in the conflict. and Leon S. Kennedy, the RE fan favorite character, is sent there to investigate the report. As you can see from the movie plot, the story is as simple as it can get. I didn't find much surprise in the story but the story did well to drive the action in the movie and the action is what makes this movie worth watching. What i liked about the movie is they are trying to show how the creature from the game is used in the war which is really nice since i always think that all the monster in RE had no pragmatical use in the battlefield.  Even if the story is neither bad or good, the pacing of the story is far better than the previous movie, showing that the movie maker is willing to fixed what it need to be fixed.

 Unlike RE: Regrettable...sorry, Retribution. My bad, I keep telling whats on my mind

In the previous movie, fan complaint that Leon face looks strange and his character is so flat, almost like he had no emotion at all, that you think he is a zombie itself. In Damnation, Leon face is now looked more like in the game and his personality is more relatable. The other character from the game in this movie like Ada Wong at first feels more like a fan service than an important character but in the end he had quite an important role both in the video game and movie story. There is also a new character introduced in the movie like JD and Budy. JD is a really likeable comic relief while Buddy, his friend, is the emotional core of the movie. Both were a member of the country rebel army that tried to coup the government of the country lead by the hottest president you will ever see, Svetlana Belikova.

No wonder she Won the erect...sorry, again, election.

You may know that RE is also quite famous for its unintentionally hilarious dialogue which somehow makes the first RE as one of the funniest/scariest video game and this movie had some of it inside. Even if it had some bad writing going on it, the dialogue serve it jobs well to create a good character interaction and some funny dialogue did manage to make me chuckle once in a while. 

I only had one problem for this movie that it isn't scary at all for an survival horror video game adaption. It looks like Capcom want to tell everyone that RE, both the movies and the game, is not a survival horror anymore through this movie. I'm fine with the action focus direction in this movie and the game but i kinda hope that there is one or two scene that really terrify me and remind me that RE is used to be scary.

So for conclusion, i think this is a really great movies for the RE fans. It is almost like Capcom goes "we are sorry for the terrible live action movie. Here's the real RE movie as an apology" and did the movie really well. If you happen to find one in your DVD and Blu-ray store, buy it and enjoy the real RE movie.

 Initial El Movie Score

8.0

Damn, its good