Thought of the Day:

So at long last... some headway into the Hokkaido Travelogue...

 

I went for this tour in February 2008... having been on a few other tours to elsewhere before this, I'd say that this is the tour (so far.)

 

Rather time consuming to prepare everything ... but as I have mentioned sometime before - the fun is in the process.

 

Just post up first, the map from which we will follow the travels...
Click on the map to get a 1024x768 detailed image.

 

 

More to come.

The purpose of this post is to record a Special Appreciation to my friend...!

 

I am not sure whether he would want to be directly identified here, but I can tell you that he is the webmaster of Ayumi Hamasaki's most popular unofficial fansite - going by his Google Pagerank of #3 - which is the highest attainable Google Pagerank nowadays, given that #1 and #2 are always pointing to the Official Website and Wikipedia.

 

And, as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery... thus, here are two techniques that were unselfishly shared by him ^_^

U Bill says: Everyone needs their contribution recognized 1nce in a while.

I hadn't been able to put my finger on what was that which was bothering me;

 

Now that one has realized them, one can now focus on them.

 

It won't be an easy or fast road; but ..

 

All that talk about stats in the previous post brings me today to the topic of:
 


Yes my friends, today I am going to talk to you about that which is also affectionately known as dating sims.
However, the one that I am going to introduce to you today is not one that most of you are familiar with ... (of course, I could be wrong on that.)
Something you might not have known even existed... until today...

This is by respected game publisher Konami, which has produced a lot of mainstream mega hit video games, series with remarkable longevity throughout all these years - a mean feat for video game company.

 

Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side and its sequel - Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side: 2nd Kiss. The natural consequence from a genre initially started off for guys, from this you know that it was very well received in Japan... it spawned a host of other merchandise such as soundtracks, albums, memorabilia etc. which sell like hot cakes.

 

So what is the premise of the game? Not a big departure from its prequels tailored for guys - the main character (you!! Yess you!!) has entered the first year of (senior) high school. So it happens that in this three years of halcyon school life, you have to net a catch and upon graduation have one of them confess his undying love to you. Of course, you could remain single and concentrate on your studies like every good student is supposed to.. in which case you get the general bad ending where you end up with no one (you might get the ending where your kid brother shows up to console you, though) and is definitely not the reason why you bought the game (or spent all those hours playing it.)

 

So, having said that, what choice(s) do you have?

 

First of all of course is the catch - good in everything and handsome but very lansi (arrogant) one... usually with his own fan club among the girls in the school *KIRA KIRA smile of sparkling teeth sends said girls into uncontrollable pirouettes of ecstacy bordering on epileptic*

 

Oh, he also has the fortituous attribute of being either your early childhood friend... or your next-door neighbour... who for some reason you haven't kept in contact with for ages... and bump into on the first day in school. But rejoice not too early, for this does not help much your case in staking your exclusive claim on him...

 

Of course then there's the sporty type who's no good in studies, the bespectacled bookish type for those who are into that, the rebel who's no good in school but usually a musician... the artsy-fartsy type who places a lot of importance on elegance (goes into affected monologue on the divine beauty of a certain subject matter) ... and the underclassman (kakyuusei 下級生 【かきゅうせい】) of bubbly cuteness for those of you ladies with shotacon* fetishes (i.e. cradle-snatchers. xD )

 

You can also choose to end up with the headmaster (the mustachioed guy in the video, described by one walkthrough as the hentai geezer) ... I wonder why would anyone choose to from their own free will. My, that's a disturbing thought. (Hold on, I need to disinfect my brain.)

 

The teacher, however, is rather cool though... Himuro Reiichi (Ice Room Zero-One) ... would appeal to girls who like mature guys (or those who like cold guys, too)

Here below is the ending with him. For those of you who want to practice your dialogue in Japanese.

 

Or even one of your girl friends... (No such option, though, in the guy's prequels to end up with your male best friend. Tell me why.)

 

Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side Ending - Himuro Reiichi

 

So of course you're asking now... how do I know all of this?

 

Well I've (regretfully) never played this/(these) games before. All the dedicated hours required to achieve the desired ending with the desired guy (girl in my case) ... subsistence pastimes call. However, this all important website

   
 

 

Seriously, guys never had it so good all in the (guy-dates-girl) prequels.

 

Now, the FAQs originate from this website, run by two Singaporean girls ( http://hanegasaki.piyo-piyo.org/about.php ) who played the game in such remarkable detail - even finishing the game with some of the characters that you'll never want to touch in real life (gotta disinfect your brain after that.) So here's a plug to their websites:

 

Rather interesting expositions they write there! :D

 

Okay children, this post would not be complete if I did not post a PV for the guys here (being the hot-blooded guy that I am, too... ^_^ )

Remember folks, always continue to raise stats for your loved one.
Until I hear from you again, Ja na... ~

 

*The female counterpart of lolicon, which is no obscure market as there are cafes in Tokyo with pretty boys dressed in school uniforms to cater to this expanding market (aging population of lonely single women in Japan... perhaps?)

 

I find myself doing as the above at certain points in time, for numerous times, already.

 

The tradeoff for this level of masochism is the long-term reusable benefits. The downside is that the stress stat increases.

 

Well as in all things that is the challenge in raising stats.

To decrease the stress stat, REST is needed.

 

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Also, a long period of time is required to raise stats to an appreciable level - so as long as you're putting in all that you can, you can't be in a hurry to become owning.

 

The good thing is that it you get better faster, the better you get. As a natural consequence.

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About the "Two Things":

It is said that everything there is to know about anything can be distilled into two things - that will completely describe the whole of the subject matter.

For other examples an Internet search for the Two Things will do. Here I can instantly present you one though:

U Bill's Two Things about Human Motivation:

1. Survival.
2. Comfort.

Enumerated in descending order of precedence.

Indeed, these two things, for all animal life (including hamsters and earthworms.)

gohoushi sasete itadakimasu

"Please let me receive the favour of serving you"





Gohoushi... gohoushi ~     ^__^

 

 

This one also Super Batman.