Last December, my wife and I have visited Tasmania. Every year, we pick a destination to visit. We must be one of the last few couples on earth to embrace new technology. It was only recently when we have started to plan and book the accommodation for our entire holiday in advance and in the comfort of our home.
But time has changed. We too have embraced new technology for our Tasmania trip. No longer do we need to carry the heavy guidebooks everywhere we go. Instead, we bought the electronic version from Amazon.com and load them into my Nexus 7 tablet. It is not as intuitive because I still prefer to flip through a book looking for what I want. However, electronic version does have its merits. It is extremely easy to search for a place when all of a sudden, we pass by a town and wonder if it is worth visiting – for example.
In Australia, for A$2 a day, we were able to access the Internet on my mobile phone using a prepaid SIM card. 500MB a day. Tethered that to my 7 inches tablet Nexus 7, there are many things we could do!
For example …
Google Maps. With that, we will never get lost, except when the mobile signal is gone. Still, what I do is to cache the maps for offline browsing. A little bit tedious. But that can be done. Wife doesn’t get stressed up reading a map. I don’t get stressed up driving without knowing where we are heading. It is perfect.
And of course, in every trip we go, I keep a diary. Because so much happens during our holiday, it is impossible to remember all the details. So I write them down, on pen and paper. The reality is that it is very hard to keep a readable journal written after a long day of travel. Most of the time, I can hardly read what I have written!
Google Drive. With that, I can write my journey online, using my tablet! It is perfect because for the first time in history, I can read everything I have written. A little bit tedious to type on a tablet. And when there is no data signal, Drive just wouldn’t open my journal. Still, I can write on Evernote as a backup plan.
And the best of all? Google+ the social networking website, my one and only. Everywhere we go, I take picture using my phone (and my DSLR of course). I transfer the mobile phone photos to my tablet, process them using Snapseed, and on the spot, I can share the pictures to Google+ with a location tag! It is like live blogging on our Tasmania trip. We love it so much that I am going to compile all our holiday posts into here, for our future reading pleasure (because Google+ does not seem to have a … erm … timeline feature).Those that are marked are our favorites.
I chanced upon this 2011 movie while exploring movies over Netflix that have Rachel McAdams in it (somehow, Rachel Boston appears as a ‘close match’). I was intrigued by the synopsis and since I enjoy watching romantic comedy genre, why not give it a go? The story is incredibly straightforward. A man (Noah Bean) and a woman (Rachel Boston) has a one-night-stand. In the following morning, the man is concerned that the woman may become pregnant and insists that she should take a morning after pill. At the pharmacy counter, the man discovers that one pill has to be taken immediately while another, 12 hours later. So, he has to find a way to hang out with the woman he barely knows for half a day making sure that she will take the pill. And she has no clue that there is a second pill to be taken. Meanwhile, the woman just comes out of a long relationship and the man actually has a live-in girlfriend to go home to.
I like The Pill because the film focuses on the drama and the dialog. There is plenty of acting involved while the rest like backdrop, effect, and soundtrack is kept to the minimal. It reminds of films like Before Sunrise whereby the actors keep on talking throughout the movie. Everything is stripped to basic excepts character development. Love it. It is a lighthearted sort of movie and is not as unbelievable as some of the bigger budget Hollywood romance comedy. It simply presents the possibility of falling in love.
This post comes in two parts. Part one on what I have done in a national garden today. Part two on the toad and snake my wife has encountered. We save the best to the last so first, here comes part one.
I am a big fan of corporate volunteering activities, even though some are pretty laborious – at least to an office worker like me. Next week, my wife and I will be holidaying overseas. So why not wrap up this work year with some volunteering work at the Botanic Gardens? As usual, I have little idea on what I have signed up for. The event was in the afternoon. My wife and I took the opportunity to have lunch at the garden. She asked what to do while waiting for me to literally get my hands dirty. I said, why not take a nap and play her favorite Android game Duo Lingo?
We visit Singapore Botanic Gardens often. But it was the first time we visited Jacob Ballas Children’s Park. Admission is not free. And it is – I think – for the children. Hence, the why. There were only a handful of us from my company joining the activity today. We were led by a young female staff who walked a lot faster than we did. Oops. I hope we were fit for what we were about to do. And we have gained access to a restricted area! Exciting. As we walked in, I saw rows and rows of plants that I do not know of. Once we were indoor, I saw this lying on a bench waiting for us.
The young staff then announced cheerfully, “Today, we will do rice propagation!” I looked at these two trays of ‘baby rice’ and was wondering, do we need twelve of us working on this?
Turns out we do.
First, we have to take empty pots, put the fertilizer at the bottom and fill them up with soil. Then, we have to move the pots to the bench area where those who were assigned to work with the plant would need to take out three tiny stalks of rice and plant them onto the pot! How fragile these stalks are. All of a sudden, this activity was going to take some time because there were many stalks.
After planting the stalks onto the pots, we would need to water them and transport the pots to an outdoor nursery area where we lined them up on the top shelf, and the bottom. Something like this.
In life, I seldom take the role of what everyone is doing. So I volunteered to be one of the two transporters. It was a rather tough job. Two of us went around looking for pots from the bench ready for transportation and moved them onto a trolley. We then took turn to water the plant, pushed the trolley to the designated area, and arranged them nicely. Under a hot sun! We must have moved more than 200 pots in the afternoon. Tiring it was, but pretty fun stuff we did. I have a much better appreciation of what goes behind the scene in maintaining such a large world class garden.
Before we parted, one colleague wished to take some pictures of the fruit of our work. Just as I led her into the nursery area, one Indian staff frantically said, “No photo!” We were puzzled. Just when we were about to ask why, he frantically waved his arms and screamed, “Water! Go! Now!” Lo’ and behold, all the water sprinklers were switched on simultaneously! We were deep inside the rows of plants and both of us ran like mad! What a laugh we had.
What’s the point of doing what we did? I learned that each stalk of rice produces six seeds. So I guess by propagation, we help to increase the seed pool.
When I finally reunited with my wife, I asked her what she has done while I was gardening. She told me that she had a half-an-hour nap on a bench (no wonder her eyes were so big when we met). After she woke up, she saw a toad hopping towards her and stopped in front of her. Not long after, there was a snake coming from behind going after the toad and the toad – naturally – hopped away. Both disappeared into a bush nearby! My wife said she jumped out of the bench seeing the snake approaching her.
“Where are the photos of the toad and snake?” asked I. She said none. So I conclude that either she was dreaming of a toad and snake during her nap. Or the toad came to her, woke her up, and warned her of the snake.
OK. One last picture to share. Here is the entrance of Jacob Ballas Children’s Park. All photos are taken using my mobile phone, Nexus 4.
According to my wife Cynthia, she has used this very photograph taken during our recent trip to France as her profile photo in one of her company’s websites. Needless to say, that has made an impression among her colleagues; forever known as the croissant girl or the girl who likes French café. OK. I have made the last bit up. But you see where I am coming from. That radiance of happiness for the love of croissant and coffee. Now, how does this photo relate to this blog entry? Stay on. You will see.
Left home early for work, because I needed to drop the car at a workshop near the city for its 140,000 km servicing. Travelling more than 70 km a day does age the car pretty fast. Instead of working in the office at the east, I have decided to work in town, taking the opportunity to meet up with the business folks. Every time I visit town, I often call up my friend Shauna to see if she is up for lunch. The challenge of being relocated out of the city is that it is hard to keep up with my friends whom I get to know from previous workplaces. Shauna happens to be one of my few dear friends who is willing to meet up, even when we are like 25 km apart (that is halfway across the country!).
Over lunch, she asked if I still paint. I then replied to her that not only I do not have the energy to paint, but also anything else really. Like writing or creating music. Not even playing music. Since April, I have not had a decent sleep. She nearly jumped out of the chair – we were dinning by the Singapore river by the way – and said, “Me too!”.
It turns out that she too has a similar issue. She would sleep for four hours and then for no reason, become awake. Most of the time she would not be able to fall asleep again. No matter how much exercise she does, the cycle continues. I too suffer the same sleeping problem. The good news (all relative really) is that after months of sleep deprivation, I am more likely to be able to drift back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night. But my sleep is pretty disturbed nonetheless.
There is little the both of us can do. She exercises regularly while I stay out of caffeine all this while. We barely able to pull through the day. And somewhere in our conversation today, she mentioned that she is losing her memory too due to prolonged lack of sleep. I have not done a memory check. However, I would not be surprised that I may be affected in a similar way. So today, I have started to resume my blogging. Even if I – touch wood – lose some memory here and there, so long as I remember the URL of my website, I can always refer to what I have written.
After lunch, I took a walk around Shauna’s new office building – Ocean Financial Centre – and took some pictures. In the past, it was used to be Ocean Building before that was torn down for this new building. I have worked in that old Ocean Building too. A consultant in an accounting firm. Those were the weirdest days of my life. Now, my past has been obliterated together with the disappearance of Ocean Building. I am sure I have written quite a bit of my good-old-days-in-Ocean-Building somewhere in this website, if I care to dig deep through the pile of posts that is.
Before Shauna said goodbye, she told me that the tart from the new sandwich shop near her office is delicious. In actual fact, I have passed by the new underpass just before meeting her and I vaguely remember such a store named Paul. I was attracted by the sandwich filled with brie. It looked so yummy. When I mentioned Paul to my wife Cynthia this evening, immediately she told me that we have visited Paul before, but not in Singapore.
Now, look closer to the picture in this post, do you see Paul? I love to document my life here, be it as in words or in pictures.
In a rare occasion, I managed to have a decent eight hours sleep on Saturday. I can count how many times that has happened in the past seven months with my one hand. Jolly mood I was at, without having this wanting to fall asleep every other minute throughout the day, I made a list of suggestions on where to go for lunch. My wife Cynthia has picked a Chinese restaurant in the airport called Crystal Jade, which is around 25 km from our home. I was lunching at the same place the day before with my colleague June. My wife asked if it was OK for me to dine in the same restaurant two days in a roll. I am happy to. June has planned to bring her family to Crystal Jade on Saturday for dinner. Imagine her surprise if I was to tell her that I too have brought my family all the way to Changi for food. The love we have for Crystal Jade, try not to underestimate.
I did not plan to return home immediately after our little excursion to the east side of Singapore. After our sumptuous meal, I took out my tablet and secretly check out the movie schedule near our location. The Hunger Game was showing in a cinema 10 minutes’ drive away from us. I asked Cynthia if she has an appointment at four and she said no. So I booked the tickets online and then told her that we were going for a movie. Everyone loves a little surprise, once in a while.
It was the first time we visited the mall Downtown East. If Changi – where I work – is far from where we live, Pasir Ris is even more remote. I do not know what places of interest are in Pasir Ris. Downtown East is one. Pasir Ris Park – where we had our dinner later on – is another.
The mall looks different from the rest that we have seen. We felt as though we were in Malaysia, or in Bandung Indonesia. There is nothing too exciting inside the mall and the cinema only has four screens. Perhaps that is the very reason why we still managed to get good seats so close to showtime.
Catching Fire is a two and a half hours movie. It is a pretty lengthy movie, just like the first one. At the end of last episode, both Katniss and Peeta from District 12 (I always thought he is ‘Peter’) have won the game – a first time in history to have two tributes surviving the game. In this second episode, following the tradition, the winner or in this case winners have to make a tour through the districts and pay respect to the fallen tributes. The concept is kind of odd to me. I mean, there is this game whereby tributes against their will are killing each other in order to survive. And in the end, the survivors visit the homes of the fallen ones to … I don’t know … to gloat? To apologize? To say, a battle well fought? Only Panem can think of a sick tradition like this.
But here is the irony. The movie has gone in great length dealing with character development that is lacking in action but essential in giving meaning to this meaningless game. And then when the game finally came, I wasn’t sure if I really wanted it because it is so sick that I hate it. I cannot pinpoint what I am attracted to. Perhaps I wanted so bad to know how Katniss can beat the game again. Other moral conflicts, I can deal with them another day.
When Katniss and Peeta are back in the game – think Survivor All-Star – the pace of the movie picked up tremendously. It may not be as exciting as the first episode because I can more or less anticipate what is to come, it is still exciting to watch.
Like some other trilogies, Catching Fire being the middle episode sandwiched between a fresh beginning and a climatic ending is neither here nor there. I wish the game was longer, the on-screen romance was more convincing and intense. I can also understand that if it was so, it would look like a repeat of the first episode. It is not quite an ending that concludes this second episode, but rather an opening for the third. Since I am a fan of the franchise, Catching Fire is a must watch, for me.
After the movie, Cynthia and I have decided to have our dinner at Pasir Ris Park. Long time ago, we used to frequent the place. After the government has got rid of many of the eating places there (oh those BBQ chicken wings we so dearly miss!), we have stopped visiting. On our previous visit, it was raining hard. We still remember how all of us dinners squeezed into every last bit of shelter trying to have our meal without getting too wet. The restaurant is by the beach and has an open area concept. On Saturday, we have visited the same restaurant again. The air was fresh. Facing the beach in near pitch dark, it was rather romantic. What a day.
As a Formula One enthusiast, this movie Rush is a real treat. Unlike Senna (2010) – also another great film on F1 but in a documentary style – Rush is a movie based on a true story between the two rivalry drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. All the elements of the sport are there. Classic tracks, ear-bleeding engine noise, the flamboyancy of a F1 driver, how the technical knowledge a driver can bring an advantage to the team, the politics within the sport, the need to fight for a seat, the danger involved, and the sacrifices that the drivers and their families have made for that podium, and to be crowned the world champion. Most of us would only see the sport as fast cars going round and round in circle. Rush is a rare glimpse into what this sport is truly about. While Formula One of today is a lot safer than in the earlier days, much of what is seen in this movie is still relevant.
The drama of the 1976 season is intense and part of it can be so gruesome that my wife has to turn away from the screen in the midst of the show. The determination of winning a season above all sacrifices and this constant satisfaction of cheating death – something it is hard to relate but to a F1 driver of that era, that was all that mattered. This movie is moving for me seeing how the two drivers fought against each other against all odds. In the end, one may wonder what all of this are for. To go down in history as one of the legendary drivers I suppose. Some do live and die for the sport.
Both actors – Chris Hemsworth (of Thor!) and Brühl – act equally well. Even to those who are not familiar with the sport (like my wife and my buddy), Rush is entertaining to watch. If you wish to read more about Niki Lauda (ranked 9th as F1’s greatest driver by BBC), check out the link here.
Update 2019.08.25 – Since the demise of Google+, I have been working on retrieving some of the posts from the archive. This entry has been edited to restore the original messages while keeping the mood and tune as it was back in 2012. The photo albums can be found in via this link.
I know I have not been paying as much attention to this website as I used to be. The truth is that I have not stopped blogging. Just that I am doing so more often at Google+ instead. There is something amazing on that social platform.
Now back to our Korean holiday last year, I have finally finished processing all the pictures and have them mostly published at Google+. Photo processing takes time mainly due to the fact that I put captions on each photo that is worth publishing. And adding captions require fact checking and constantly referring to my diary (and my terrible, terrible handwriting doesn’t help). My goal is to be able to view the photograph and read the captions in the future so as to relive the moments.
As always, the links to the photo albums can be found in here. Below are the journal entries for each day of our travel, documented in Google+. Thank you for reading and browsing!
Day 2 Gyeongbokgung Palace
On day 2 of our trip to Korea this year, we have visited Gyeongbokgung Palace. We visit European palaces often on our overseas trips. Besides the one we have visited in Thailand, this one in Korea has to be the second Asian palace we have visited.
Full of traditions and stories, we enjoyed the little tour. The sky was cloudy and later, rained. So we did not do too much inside the palace. Nonetheless, we have got much covered.
Day 3 Jeongju
On day 3 of our trip to Korea, we have visited the UNESCO heritage site Jeonju 240km south of Seoul. We took a free bus – 3 hours trip – departing at 8 am and returning at 5 pm.
It was a sunny day, though it got cloudy and really freezing as the sun hide behind the thick cloud.
Jeonju has plenty of traditional architecture called Hanok housing. It is a land with 1,253 years of history.
Day 6 Seongsan Sunrise Peak / Manjanggul Cave
The first day in Jeju Korea, Cynthia and I have decided to visit the two UNESCO sites – Sunrise Peak and Majanggul Cave – as well as Museum of Women Divers.
The weather was … less than perfect. So, when the weather is ugly, from a photographer’s point of view, there are a couple of things he or she can do. Focus on the model, stay indoors, and go underground.
We did all three 🙂
Day 7 Jeju Love Land
Happy 2013! Day 7, we have visited Jeju Loveland. A sculpture theme park based on sensuality and eroticism.
Day 8 Jeju Museum of Sex and Health
Some have asked what is the difference between the Museum of Sex and Health and Loveland (which I have previously shared).
Well, Loveland mainly displays sculptures of sensuality meets eroticism. Museum of Sex and Health started with a series of statistics and information with regards to sex (in Korea I presume as it is written in Korean and I don’t understand). The museum also has an extensive collection of sex-related handicraft from all over the world. I was very much impressed with the breadth of the collection. Then there were life-size mannequins that depicted different sexual fantasies, which I thought was very creepy. And, a film on how to make love (as well as some vintage sex clips). At the end of the indoor exhibition, there were paintings by local artists that I enjoyed viewing.
Above all, I love the outdoor sculptures decorated in front of this museum.
Day 9 World Cup Stadium
Day 9 of our Korea holiday, Cynthia and I have decided to take it easy, wake up late, and visit the World Cup Stadium nearby. There is a direct bus from our apartment to the stadium, which is also next to a hypermarket, a food court, and some restaurants.
We also took the opportunity to take couple-photographs using a tripod. One thing I love about using a tripod is that – besides having photographs of us together – every photograph is proper and balanced. Little processing is required. They are straight as it is, perspective is just right.
Day 11 Seongeup Folk Village
How time flies! I have no idea why I took such a long break in photo processing. Well, here are the photographs taken during day 11 of our Korea holiday … last year.
Seongeup Folk Village is located at the southwest of Jeju Island. It is an old inland village whereby in the past, was the administrative center of the island. While there are some buildings and structures that are open to the public, most are houses that people still live inside!
Wonderful experience it was. The weather was good on that day too!
Day 12 Jeongbang Waterfall, Korea (Jeju)
For those of you who are following our Korea travel blog album, this is the last of the series! Though that day seems so far away (unfortunately it takes me a long time to process an album), I still remember vividly how excited my wife and I were to finally tour somewhere right next to our apartment, without the need to call for a taxi and try to flag one without knowing the language.
The walk to Jeongbang Waterfall was pleasant. The waterfall is the only one in Asia that the waterfalls directly onto the sea. Now, I am unsure why such rarity. It probably means that if you were to skinny dip near Jeongbang Waterfall, the water would be salty to the taste.
After visited the waterfall, we continued – on foot – to visit the town nearby. Attracted by the photographs of some noodle dishes displayed in front of a restaurant, we have picked a place for lunch. The dish turned out to be cold (in winter!). Lesson learned, don’t anyhow order food by the cover. The irony is that the owner of the restaurant spoke Chinese but I don’t (I speak Cantonese besides some very broken Spanish).
The little town Seogwipo was charming. Spent 6 hours strolling the streets, we have circulated the “art route” twice, visited a church, and in the end, we were seated at a park to pass time, waiting for a good hour for dinner.
The dinner was sort of anti-climax. We ordered something so gross that till today, we are still trying hard to forget having eaten it.
Let us begin with a quote from the book as it beautifully summarizes the theme of The Silver Linings Playbook.
“Life is not a PG feel-good movie. Real life often ends badly […]. And literature tries to document this reality, while showing us it is still possible for people to endure nobly.”
In my mind, the author does just that: telling us a story through Pat who believes that his life is a movie produced by God. With vigorous exercise and good behavior, God will eventually grant him a happy ending. One that reunites him with his wife Nikki. The story begins with Pat discharging from the mental institution – which he calls “bad place” – and slowly integrating back to his old life: his emotionally unstable father, his ever-loving mother, always-supportive brother, and best friend. No one tells him how long he has been away. He has no recollection on why he was locked up in the “bad place” and what has happens to his marriage. All he knows is that between Nikki and him, they are on “apart time”. His goal in life is to see through the end of “apart time” so that he can see his wife again.
Except, life is not as simple. There are good reasons why his mother has put away all his wedding photos, no one around him wants to mention Nikki, and Pat is having a hard time catching up what he has missed during his stay in the “bad place”.
It hurts to look at the clouds, but it also helps, like most things that cause pain. So I need to run, and as my lungs burn and my back rebels with that stabbing knife feeling and my leg muscles harden and the half inch of loose skin around my waist jiggles, I feel as though my penance for the day is being done and that maybe God will be pleased enough to lend me some help, which I think is why He has been showing me interesting clouds for the past week.
In the mist of all these confusion and necessary adaptation, Pat has met Tiffany who is recently widowed and is also mentally unstable. Since the story is narrated from Pat’s perspective, very little is known about the intention of Tiffany. She appears to be mysterious, yet another flawed character. The extract below shows an aspect of her character.
When [Tiffany] turns to face me, I think she is simply going to say good night, but she says, “Look, I haven’t dated since college, so I don’t know how this works.”
“How what works?”
“I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at me. Don’t bullshit me, Pat. I live in the addition around back, which is completely separate from the house, so there’s no chance of my parents walking in on us. I hate the fact that you wore a football jersey to dinner, but you can fuck me as long as we turn the lights out first. Okay?”
I’m too shocked to speak, and for a long time we just stand there.
“Or not,” Tiffany adds just before she starts crying.
The Silver Linings Playbook is engaging in a few ways. First, I have always enjoyed reading books characterized with flawed characters. Second, the emotion these characters are going through is complex. It is like taking a roller coaster ride reading this book. Third, the plot is unpredictable. It is hard to guess where the author is heading although there is a particular path I may wish the book would resolve. As a bonus, this book is so well planned that it may be worthwhile to read again and everything seems to make sense – from clouds watching to Tiffany’s abrupt entry to the story.
Back to the main theme of the story, The Silver Linings Playbook is certainly not a PG feel-good read. It is a heartwarming read reminding us the importance of stay positive and look for the silver linings in life.
I thought all chick-lit are created equal. Then I realize that just because I love reading Sophie Kinsella‘s novels doesn’t mean that I enjoy reading any chick-lit. Believe it or not, I had no idea that Suddenly Royal is as such. The story line sounded like Princess Diaries, yes. The review seems ravishing. Some said they love how the author makes this story her own. Other said they love the twist within.
I don’t see any twist or whatsoever. It is a feel-good story that is predictable from beginning to end coupled with some steamy sex scenes that are neither tasteful nor artistic. When I read the followings, I knew I have picked up a chick-lit. One takeaway though, is that when you are hot and handsome, you can potentially get away with running your eyes up and down a girl’s body.
I shrugged out of my coat and that’s when I felt his eyes on me. Looking up, I realized Prince Yummy had indeed come for dinner. Jess and the undergrads had been wrong. He wasn’t yummy, he was delicious; a feast to be savored. Dark blond hair hung a smudge too long, eyes so blue it was like looking into the heart of a glacier. Built like the statue of David; the contours of his suit hugging every delicious muscle. Laugh lines around his mouth and eyes brought him into the realm of humanity, and gave him a personality. As his eyes ran over my face and down my body slowly, heat washed over my skin. When I handed the jacket to the maitre d’ i felt naked. There was something about his bright blue eyes that left me feeling exposed.
Samantha is a biology graduate specialized in raptor. She works hard for her degree and she has a father with cancer to take care of. Out of nowhere, the royal members of Lilaria (somewhere in Europe) have sought her out in America claiming that she is a royal descendant. Samantha has a decision to make. Stay in US or head to Lilaria claim her title and land. To spice up the deal, the Lilarian royalty has promised to provide good medical treatment for her father. At the same time, the crown prince of Lilarian seems to have fallen in love with her!
But here comes the dilemma. Samantha wants to finish her study and she thinks that falling in love with a prince is bad idea. Because … because she thinks the prince would need a queen who is … a royalty (and she is not?) and a born-and-breed Lilarian (since when a prince must marry someone from his countries?)
Throughout the book, I could not help but to think, how would Sophie Kinsella write this book? Here is my take.
Samantha would have a tough time integrating into the royalty circle since she is not born royal (unlike this story whereby she has no problem with the royal politics as a commoner). She would have a boyfriend but yet, intrigued by Prince Charming. Then, some evil force from within Lilaria would strip her title. Everyone including Prince Charming would despise her. And then, Samantha would do something extraordinary to save Lilaria from this evil force out of selflessness. There will be happy ever after between Samantha and her love interest.
Unfortunately, Suddenly Royal does not have this level of drama.
MMO gaming has been stagnant for quite some years, thanks to Blizzard’s seemingly domination from MMORPG to ARPG. Every time a new MMO game is announced, there is this hope that someone somewhere just may innovate and do something different. I have joined beta launches from Guild Wars 2 to Marvel Heroes, Neverwinter to now Firefall. The free-to-play (F2P) model looks to mature into a viable one. I am a reasonable player. If the game is fun and I spend considerable amount of time with it (like 40+ hours), I am happy to contribute to the development cost. Firefall is an interesting find. It has the potential even at this early stage of beta. I am finding it insanely addictive. Can the ex-team leader of World of Warcraft now the founder of Red5 Studio recreate the magic once again?
After trying out a few of the battleframes, I have decided to go with Dreadnaught, which is more or less a tanking class.
What Is Firefall?
It is a F2P shooter MMO set in a sci-fi backdrop. The music and some of the elements remind me of Mass Effect. You can toggle between first person shoot and third person shoot. Shortly after you have started the game, the first thing you notice is that the entire map is like a war zone. Hubs (or bases) are constantly being invaded by the Chosen. Tornados appear from nowhere ripping everything apart. I seem to be fighting the Chosen all the time but for what? I have no idea. Random events appear all around me. I feel obliged to help driving away the enemies and to donate my resonators for the hub upgrade. I travel afar to link up SIN Towers (really begin to sounds like Ingress). The land area I can venture into is constantly shifting depends on the outcome of the conflict. Something sinister is at work, if only I know what true evil is.
Players collaborate on the fly to tackle group missions. There is no mob tagging in Firefall. You hit with a single bullet, you get the XP and the loots.
Wait, What Is Happening?
Even as a MMO veteran, when you first join Firefall, it is likely that you have no clue on what you are doing, where you are heading to. It doesn’t frustrate though because once you pay attention to the right information, learn the rope through exploration, making mistakes, or simply ask around, you shall get the hang of it in no time. Dropping into water could be fatal. Letting a thumper – a tool to gather resources in the open area – destroyed by the mobs and you would have to build a brand new one again. You see drop ships flying around and guess that there must be a better way to go from one Hub to another. Die too many times and your gears may be beyond repair. Your team fail to halt the incursion and all of a suddenly, everyone perishes as the melding floods over the hub. It is this level of exploration and learning by observation that I found refreshing in Firefall.
Drop ships are wonderful way to travel in New Eden. It is like a bus service. Each drop ship has a list of destinations. You hop in and then you hop out. Simple as that.
Oh Man, That’s Hard!
You know how it is like when you play recent MMO games whereby your characters just don’t die often, if at all. Everything seems too easy. While I am not an expert in shooter games, I have much experienced in Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer. I play Saint Rows 3 too. Firefall is much harder than most F2P MMO games. You may be able to solo some of the missions. However, it is much better when you are grouped or simply follow the crowd. Even so, on any given day, however much I have invested into gear upgrade or learned the maps by heart, my character would die due to all sort of bizarre circumstances such as someone kills a mob that explodes onto my face, someone has made a mistake in diffusing the energy bomb and killed everyone in proximity, or someone has detonate an objective literally behind my back. Or most of the time, I was overwhelmed by the enemies.
As you upgrade your gears, you would find that some gears are not repairable. Others have a constraint on how many times they can be repaired. Because crafting can be expensive, there is a price to pay every time you are defeated.
These are my real life buddies Mark and Melvin. We often group with one another to take down missions. They are shooter veterans. Even they think Firefall is hard.
Has Someone Called A Thumper?
In most MMO games, resource gathering and crafting is one of the core experiences. Firefall is no difference. I usually dislike these mini-games. However, there is something special about how these activities are implemented in Firefall. There are three groups of resources in this game: material, gas, and organic. Within each type of resource, say material, there are a multitude of resource types such as copper, iron, and etc. These resources are dynamically spawned underground all over the map. You may use a scanner to measure the composition, the quality (with a score of 0 to 1000) and quantity (from 0% to 100%). Once you have found the right spot, you can begin the extraction by calling down a thumper. During the 5 minutes long extraction, you have to defend your thumper from attack. You may send the thumper back at any time. However, upon completion, there is a double bonus. Depending on how many times the local area is thumped, the resource may become exhausted. New one may spawn.
Thumping for resources is rather enjoyable. You can set the difficulty level too by choosing the thumper type and level.
Once you collect the resources – which are also available as mission reward, loots, or crates – you may refine them. Crafting items require at minimum refined resources. Because the resources may have different quality as well as attributes (for example copper is high in conductivity while aluminum is high in malleability) and because crafted items have different attribute requirements, crafting in Firefall is an art. You have total control on the overall item quality (again, with a score of 0 to 1000) and the attributes that deem important to you. You may ask, why not craft the most powerful gear you can? Due to the fact that powerful gears have a high loading requirement, there may be tradeoffs to be made.
Before you can craft an item, you have to spend time and resource to research for it in-game. Because there is a constraint on how much you can do at the workbench, you have to balance your time between research and development.
Crafting in Firefall has much depth in it. And it is pretty satisfying when a product is finally ready for manufacture.
How Does Leveling Work In Firefall?
As you complete missions and kill mobs, you gain experience point (XP). Unlike traditional MMO games, there is no such thing as character leveling. You have access to five battleframes (or more commonly known as classes). You are free to try out which suits you the best. Ultimately, you may wish to invest your time on one battleframe.
For a start, XP that you have earned for each battleframe can be spent to unlock that battleframe’s ability and gear slots. Once all the slots are unlocked, you may then use the XP as well as other resources to increase the battleframe’s attributes: mass, power, and CPU as per your gear requirement and personal preference. Each battleframe attribute has a total of 10 levels. As you level up the attributes, you gain another in-game currency called Pilot Points. These points can be used to unlock any of the 10 advanced battleframes (each battleframe has two advanced variations).
You can upgrade your gears through loot drop or crafting. There are in total 4 item levels. Each level costs more to research and build than the previous tiers. Gears do break eventually (yet another constraint). You may need to balance between play style aggressiveness versus how fast you can acquire resources in order to replenish the gears.
It is all about leveling your chosen battleframe.
Let’s Talk About What to Do In New Eden
While the lore seems enticing, in this stage 1 of beta, there are no main story related missions. The map of New Eden is filled with dynamic events. Some missions can be soloed. Others need a group. If you have played other shooter games, you may be familiar with some of the objectives. Besides these open world solo and group missions, there are raid missions such as Chosen incursion and tornado attack. As long as you manage to kill one target or are within proximity, you earn the reward. During my adventure in New Eden, I often start out solo and very soon, squads are formed with random players. Because this game is hard, everyone seems to yearn for grouping.
Some missions can be soloed. But best to play with friends or group up with others.
When I prefer a more relaxing moment, I would do thumping and gather resources. Thumping can be soloed. However, as the group size increases, there are options to increase the difficulty level in order to reap better rewards.
Besides these dynamic events, resource gathering and exploration activities, R&D work at the Hub, there are three random daily missions a day. You don’t have to do them if dailies are not your cup of tea. Having said that, most of the time, I find that as I play the missions, I get to complete some of these dailies without consciously doing them.
And of course, there are PvP actions for those who are into competitive sport. I have not tried them yet.
I spend much time chilling out at the hubs too.
Sounds Good But What’s The Catch?
Red5 Studio promises that Firefall is not a pay-to-win game. So far, from what I have seen, I tend to agree. Their in-game store sells cosmetic and convenience items. I like their game so I bought a bike and a rechargeable glider. I do get to places faster at times. But due to the fact that the terrain can be pretty hilly, especially where the missions are, having a bike is totally optional because traveling on foot with the jumpjet can be more efficient.
I love Firefall and Red5 Studio enough to purchase this bike for US$25 (with some change). You don’t have to buy it. You can craft it. Or take a walk. A bike is totally optional.
Progressing through the battleframe takes time. Real money can speed up the manufacturing process. But the cost is high. I doubt many would do that. Majority of time I still need to be out there gathering resources and earning Accord Merit Points (another form of in-game currency) in order to upgrade my battleframe. It is something money cannot buy.
What money can buy though is the unlocking of advance battleframes. You can earn them in-game by upgrading the basic ones to near-max level (that may take hundreds of hours). Or if you have lost faith in your current battleframe or patience, you may opt to unlock new ones with money. Unlike other F2P games I have played, the basic battleframes are pretty good and sufficient. The advance ones may enhance the experience. But they are often harder to play. In short, I am happy investing my time with the basic battleframes.
This is the in-game store that sells all sort of cosmetic and convenience items.
What About Shortcomings?
Perhaps it is too early to criticize Firefall as it is still a game on stage 1 of beta. Having said that, I would love to see improvements on certain areas.
An overarching main story. Firefall reminds me of vanilla World of Warcraft. There are conflicts around the world we are in. Everything is evolving. However, for World of Warcraft back then, there was an ultimate villain, living and breathing inside Molten Core. While there is plenty of lore written in Firefall website, what we do in New Eden seems to only scratching the surface as far as the story goes.
Late comers for missions. As a squad leader, this is what I do. I check the map for the closest mission. Set the squad waypoint and direct my squad to the location. I do the same thing when I solo too. At times, once we reach the rendezvous point, the mission has been completed by the previous group. We head out to the next one and it is completed too. Imagine our disappointment. By and large, Firefall seems to be smart enough to spawn new missions nearby. Or large scale raid mission to suck up all the players in the region. Maybe the game needs to fine tune in some ways to split the players up with various new activities in the region.
Ability cool-down and health regeneration is too long. Like Mass Effect, besides shooting with your weapons, you can augment the experience with battleframe specific abilities. This makes Mass Effect insanely fun, mixing things up a bit. Firefall allows us to use four abilities but the cool-down is long (like half a minute for the battleframe I am playing). Health regeneration is long too when outside battle. Just too much unnecessary downtime.
There is no synergy between abilities and players from different battleframes. In other MMO games, very often, different abilities from different classes synergize with one another in order to create spectacular results. There is no such thing in Firefall. The strategy then becomes rather one-dimensional. That is, shoot anything that moves with the same set of abilities while trying to stay alive.
The entire action interface needs an overhaul. I think this game is designed with console gaming in mind. I haven’t tried it yet but I reckon you can play it with a gamepad. In order to say use a health pack during life and death moment, I have to hit the C key for call down support. Then scroll down to the packs category and click select. After which, scroll down a long list (according to what I have in my inventory) to find the health pack and click select. This health pack is then bound to the key 5. I then have to press 5, locate a clear spot on the ground and click so as to call down a health pack. Next, wait for the animation to complete and walk into it in order to replenish my health slightly. I end up not using it. This is just one example. Calling a bike to ride, inviting squad members, leaving squad, opening daily reward crates and etc., I have to go through the same routine.
Squad looting needs to be looked into. Firefall is the only MMO game I know of that group looting is free-for-all and free-for-all only. There should be some fair way of loot distribution, especially when we cannot trade items between us.
Gear durability may need to be looked into. Currently, I am slowly upgrading my gears to level 2. However, my existing level 2 items are also going to break soon. My challenge is that as a Dreadnaught, at least three abilities and gear items require the same specific DNA that is hard to come by. In short, I may lose my level 2 items faster than I can build them and hence, forced to revert to level 1 items. Regression is a hard pill to swallow.
More mission variety would be good. So far, we seem to do the same set of mission day in day out. I can’t wait to see more content.
In Firefall, the tide of war is constantly shifting. You have to be aware of the situation as it affects the things that you can do.
In Summary
Despites some of the shortfalls at this early stage of beta, Firefall is a refreshing game much needed in the current MMO scene. It is a free-to-play shooter with a sci-fi background created by the ex-team lead of World of Warcraft. Firefall has an innovative crafting system with much depth in it. Time investment is expected to be heavy. To fully level a single battleframe (out of 15 available ones) – extrapolate from my current data and play pattern – may take 240 hours. That does not take into consideration of the item upgrade.
From what I have seen, Firefall is not a pay-to-win game. The basic battleframes suffice and do the job well. The advanced battleframes can be unlocked by in-game currency earned while upgrading the basic battleframes (or can be unlocked using real money). So far, the in-game store only sells cosmetic or convenience items.
Do not expect a linear storyline to handhold you through the game telling you to go from A to B. The entire map is a war zone with dynamic events of various scales spawning every moment. The most common thing that new players say in general chat is: I have no idea what to do. My advice is, take your gun, open your map, and start shooting!
Taking down a tornado – especially a high category one – can be challenging. And that requires a lot of players to join force.
