Friday, October 13

A Day of Bad Luck and Good Art



Today is Friday the 13th. To celebrate this particularly infamous day AND a certain female supernatural detective that has been turning heads recently in the local comic book scene, Budjette Tan has put together an online collection of artworks called Exhibit 13. A more varied view of Alexandra Trese and her two sidekicks, The Kambal, you will probably never find. Go there and check out the cool art, including a bigger version of my own rendition of Miss Trese.

Check it all out at Exhibit 13.

Trese is a horror/crime comic created by Budjette Tan and Ka-Jo Baldisimo.

Wednesday, October 11

Sweet Victory

The past couple of weeks was a STORM of work... both literally and figuratively.

During the height of the super-typhoon Milenyo, I was in the office working on a pitch. Even after the killer storm had passed leaving Metro Manila temporarily in the Dark Ages, we were still working.

Well, all that work paid off and we WON EVERY FRICKING ACCOUNT WE PITCHED FOR. Four new fricking accounts. WOOHOO!

Of course, with the satisfaction of our jobs well done and the hard work having not been in vain is of course the realization that the real storm is just beginning.

You gotta love advertising.

Oh well. Moving on. Moving on.

Monday, October 9

Back to Ivalice

I've gotten my hands on a copy of Final Fantasy XII. The latest Final Fantasy is pretty different from past recent installments in the series. Instead of the usual anime-laced sci-fantasy soap operas, we get a more midieval/sci-fi setting charged with political intrigue and machinations aplenty.
In the land of Ivalice, the small kingdom of Dalmasca is in the midst of a war between two great empires. One of the empires, Archadia, advances and takes control of Dalmasca after some drama and the shedding of royal blood. Two years after the Archadian occupation of Dalmasca, various individuals within the kingdom come together in order to free their land and people.

FFXII boasts not only a new graphic style but new gameplay as well. Gone are the random encounters of previous FF's; the game now plays similar to an MMORPG, with your characters running around engaging visible enemies in pseudo realtime/turn-base combat. Other new systems govern levelling up, acquiring spells and skills, and using weapons. It's all new and shiny, and goes with the new graphic style and music (which is more FF Tactics than the RPGs) and some decent english voice acting.

I have to say though that the art style and the characters so far strike me as stiff. The story and overall feel though also reminds me uncomfortably of Star Wars Episode One. You have a tiny kingdom oppressed by a greater force, you have a spunky princess and a would-be young hero... you even have a 'Watto' character! To be fair though, the plot will surely get better as I get into the game more.
Unfortunately, my first two hours or so with the game has me running around doing some errands, which while plot-driven, are pretty bland and boring. I eventually put the game down and went with the more instantly-gratifying ninja action of another new game I have, Tenchu Senran for the Xbox360.

Anyway, it's only a matter of time before I get into FFXII deeper soon enough. Perhaps I'm just getting out of the Oblivion mindset and getting myself back into the Final Fantasy groove. Expect a fuller review then.