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[marulikestea]

Happy Holidays

Albeit a super late OOTD post (like, a year late LOL), I think it still fits the current mood, as today is the eve before Chirstmas in this side of the country. :P

Anywho, this was what I wore during a friend’s wedding:

The same cream-colored halter top from this post.

Rust-colored flowy pants

Black strappy heels

Trying for a mature look during this time since I was recently married when this was taken. XP

(The “what am I doing” face)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! :3

[marulikestea]

Strips of Earth

What I wore:

Korean one-piece dress that looks like a striped sweater with khaki skirt

Simple green canvas shoes

This is also the same dress I wore during our prenup video, hihi. I don’t look at all like a 29 year old in this pic, am I? :P

[marulikestea]

9th Union’s Empress

When there’s awesome lighting, awesome background and a awesome model with awesome clothes. <3

Choker necklace from H&M

Emerald green top from Karimadon

[marulikestea]

Que Sera Sera, Chiquita

Outfit ensemble:

white "que sera sera" dress shirt

white strappy heels from primadonna

sunglasses and pearl accessories

The clothes were originally given to my mom from a friend. But unfortunately for her, it didn't fit anymore, so she passed it on to me.

Anyway, this was what I wore from our recent outing at Acuatico resort in Batangas. It's simple, laid back and the color is refreshing on the eyes. And with the "que sera sera" tagline (on top of an animal print), it’s the perfect attitude in a summer getaway, don't you think? Kinda like "hakuna matata". 😋

What would you wear on your summer outing?

[marulikestea]

Geek Night for Valentines Day

Valentines day has always been a special event for me because it was also the day my husband and I became a couple. But now that I’m married, our anniversary celebration has moved to another beloved date.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t spend Valentines in a unique manner anymore.

So taking into consideration that this day also coincides with Ash Wednesday (gotta do some good ‘ol fasting and abstinence), and that dear hubby also wants to do the cooking in our humble abode (to avoid the Valentines fiasco outside), we’ve decided to go with a geek night celebration, since we haven’t done that yet in any of our previous valentines / anniversaries. (And it’s so totally us X3) 

Having that theme as our guiding light, we started to make hasty preparations (as in, 1 day before the actual event, lololol #cramming) .

PROLOGUE: Conceptualization & Preparation

Because everything will be revolving around the the said theme, we researched on some standard food setups from famous video games as our baseline of what feast we’ll prepare for ourselves. 

Here’s a summary of what we got from the internet: Fruits, bread, cheese, meat and potions. :P

From skyrim dishes to final fantasy and dragon’s crown food, we came up with a menu that is easy to prepare (or buy).

The only challenge we've come across was the replication of health and mana potions, since potion bottles are not exactly a norm from where we are. Luckily, we were able to find something similar from a mall near our home (thank you Landmark!) and proceeded with the other ingredients and table props.

As for the other elements of our celebration, we bought a new PS4 controller, since it wouldn’t be a geek night if only one of us was playing. Doi~! X3 

The game we’re going to play is courtesy of my older brother, which he had lend it to us several months prior. And what better day to play it for the first time than this, right? :D

So yep, we’re all set and ready to go~!

CHAPTER I: The Feast

After much hardships and infinite patience from Ian for having to wait for me to finish taking the best shot of our masterpiece, here is our food imitating art:

BEHOLD! Our geek night valentines celebration feast!

So here’s on the menu:

Health Potion 

Mana Potion 

Lagiacrus Fillet (Some sea food monster to celebrate Lent)

Obligatory medieval bread, cheese, soup and fruits. Plus fur.

Rose and plants as accents (coz it’s Valentines, lol)

PS4 controller as accent (coz it’s geek night, lol)

I’m not gonna mention the particulars of our said meal, but I must share that the fur is courtesy of mine and Ian’s jackets that were fortunately present in the closet of our condo; Wooden chopping board is from Jophet’s wedding gift, used for the first time, brown scarf as table cover from your s truly and Kai & Mond’s engagement apron gift to us as the ultimate medieval backdrop.

Other than the controller, food and potion bottles, not a single cent was wasted on this whole shenanegans. *pats ourselves at the back*

Our desert, though not exactly fitting to the video game food trope, was something I told Ian that I wanted to try several months prior to our Valentines celebration. But being the darling that he is, he bought it days before (on our monthsary, to be exact, but we never got to eat it) for us to consume. Aww~  

Cake shots are basically yummy cupcakes with an alcoholic twist.

Black label chocoholic cupcake, Bailey’s red velvet cupcake and carrot delight cupcake.

CHAPTER 2: Gaming Proper

After having our fill from our medieval video game feast, the next step of our geek night was the gaming proper. Since I didn’t want to fight with my husband during valentines day (and because he’s too good at fighting games that i don’t even stand a chance) we decided to have a coop game with my brother’s PS4 game: Divinity.

Divinity is basically like a diablo game but it’s gameplay is turn based.

Character customization in Divinity.

As always, I would pick a magic class with summoning skills, while Ian would pick the buff shield-type ones... or something close to what I’ve said, lol. The Shield & The Summoner... that’s already a fantasy YA story in the making, LOL!

And while playing, we would drink our pots to gain vitality and magic, lol. XD   

The geeky four-eyed couple holding pots in one hand and a game controller on the other.

Mana potion for the summoner please~

And--- although it’s not that noticeable, we also wore some geek-related shirts to replace the usual fashionable OOTD counterparts we’ve done during monthsaries. For Ian, he wore his awesome green monster hunter shirt. Unfortunately for me however, I didn’t have a geek shirt lying about in our condo so I opted to borrow one from my equally geeky older bro (who’s also responsible for lending us the game). Sadly, the geek shirt I got is too old for my years so I couldn’t relate much. But from what I gathered, this shirt is from the 1979 series called “The Dukes of Hazzard”, that also had a movie remake back in 2005. Not exactly a gaming geek shirt but it’ll do, I guess. :P

Monster hunter and dukes of hazzard shirts.

Anyway, we played for hours until morning came and our eyes were already shutting down and protesting at us to get some sleep. :P

So in summary, this pretty much sums up our valentines celebration:

It’s simple, resourceful and cheap

It’s definitely unique and not the usual dining out in fancy restaurants, thus avoiding CROWDS (ugh, people)

It’s something that both of us always enjoy doing, that when you hear of it, you’ll say, “Oh, it’s so totally them labeled all over it.” :)

It’s fun and memorable

BONUS: Gift Reward

As always, here’s Ian’s version of floral gifts for Valentines. :3

Blue soap flowers with a small teddy bear with “i love you” sign <3

It’s do damn cute, I dunno if I’ll ever use these anytime soon. Anyway, thanks again for this darling! Will treasure them along with your previous flowers lol! X3

[marulikestea]

The only screenshot souvenir I did for my Cora summoner Luxiae who turned level 40, before leaving this mmorpg forever. 

I regret not documenting her growth during those times. :(

[marulikestea]

My Tera Online Character Tribute

Because I want to immortalize her existence here on the internet, after months of leveling her up. :P So here’s an OOTD (lol!) of my baby in her top 3 best costumes that I got in-game (without real money purchase of course).

Name: Heilcrist 

Race: Castanic

Class:  Mystic

I. In her gold/bronze costume that I worked my ass off to acquire (my favorite):

Full body look.

She looks really majestic, right?

Close-up. Just look at those details. :3

My darling is so pretty~ X3

II. In this cool-looking furry blue costume:

Full body look. The stockings aren’t actually part of the outfit but it still looks great imo.  

Strut your stuff girl! :D

Heilcrist with her hair up also suits her, nyuu~ *w*

III. In her red sexy costume:

Bonus:

Xergille, my human character (and also my backup storage girl) in a summer bikini costume.

Xergille, waving hi. :3

[marulikestea]

My beloved characters in Philippine Ragnarok Online Valhalla server before migration:

Xergille (Shadow Chaser) - my first ever character and twin to Glenn’s Rylen. She’s my money-making bitch, hahaha.

Luxiae (Genetic)  - my all-time favorite main character. Likes to blow up things, hoard various items and collect all manner of pets.

Asphodel (Arch Bishop) - support slave for the other characters, especially Ian’s Slayeth. <3

Eleniss (Super Novice) - my secondary storage and semi-mascot on my character lineup. It only exists to sell random crap and be a potential baby to wedded RO couples, lol. 

And others: Halcyone(Beastmaster), Discord (Gunslinger), Rhisiart (Knight)

[marulikestea]

My Horse Prince

This is one of the most epic mobile games I've ever downloaded on my phone. Just from the title itself, it already exudes great potential and promises an unforgettable experience to anyone who downloads this. Just from the reviews alone, even non-believers have retracted their initial persecution/judgement after getting a taste of this outstanding game. 

Kidding aside, this free offline game made by Usaya is the ultimate parody of otome games. It pokes fun of the typical formula of the genre by presenting an "ikemen"-faced horse, a rather bizarre twist to handsome male characters. But hey, as expected from Japan, right? The game makes use of 2d spine animation that makes actions fluid and smooth. Artwork-wise, the characters (except for the old man), background and other assets were drawn beautifully. Even the music is perfect for the overall presentation of the game. You just have to be open-minded, accepting and jump through the wall of Yuuma's weirdness in order to fully enjoy this rather funny game. Seriously, if you give it a chance, not only you'll die of laughter but it will make your day a happy one.

P.S. I hope they add more horse princes (aside from Yuuma and Ryuuma, who isn't a love interest at all) for the MC to add more romantic tension LOLOLOLOL. 

[marulikestea]

Mystic Messenger

Mystic Messenger is an otome game mobile app developed by Cheritz, a south Korean company also responsible for creating Dandelion & Nameless.

(WARNING, SEMI-SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Aside from its fresh take on its story and playthrough, here are other factors that add quality and class to their game:

It's free. FREE.  

NO ADS!

It does not force you to purchase in-game stuff like the dress-me up stuff or extra story chapters in usual otome games (with enough patience and hard earned hourglass, you can unlock EVERYTHING)

Amazing opening video with cool 2d animation and song entitled "Mysterious Messenger" by Han.

Full voice over audio especially in calls

Cool soundtrack with signature music for each character

Nice artwork

Diversity in the pool of potential love interests by providing a female character

Multiple endings per character

With enough patience, you can earn hourglass to unlock almost everything!

GAMEPLAY

Mystic Messenger stands apart from its other contemporary otome game (or maiden game) counterparts due to its concept of gameplay. It incorporates features from modern-day standard chat applications in smartphones to narrate the story and interact with its characters instead of the typical dialog with background format to visualize the scenario of the game. 

Text messages, chatroom conversations and visual novels respectively.

Incoming calls, phone logs and contacts under the call section of the app.

You can call, text back, and participate in chatrooms (it even shows stickers/emoticons) with the characters to increase your likeability points, that will affect the flow of the story.

You can even see the profile pictures and status of each member.

You can also reply to emails from potential guests for the party, as part of its storyline. By successfully convincing them, they will decide if they will accept your invitation to RFA's fund-raising gala. Of course, the number of guests also have an impact to the game's ending.

The side menu: Photo album, Email inbox and Guest list respectively.

As you proceed through the game, CG images presented as "selfies" and special visual novel art can be acquired and collected in the Mystic Messenger's image folder.

Waiting for the ufo icon in the chat menu to reach the honey buddha chips gives you random amount of hearts too. 

And finally the hourglass feature, a form of currency which lets you unlock special stories and recount missed calls and chats. It can be freely obtained from participating chats (randomly given) or by collecting 100 hearts and exchanging it for 1 hourglass.

STORY

The story starts right off the bat as you download the actual Mystic Messenger app on your mobile phone. After opening it once it's been installed, you immediately get a mysterious message from a stranger named "Unknown". He explains to you that he has found a lost smartphone lying around the subway station and wants to return it to its rightful owner. But without any contact info or call records inside and only a messenger app (to which you answered his text from) as his single clue, he elicits your help into returning back the device. Once you agree to help him, you will be instructed to go to an apartment (its address was stored on the phone) and open the lock on the door to get inside. Depending on your answers, you may get a bad end immediately.

After entering the passcode that Unknown claims to have been saved on the smartphone's notes, you open the door and realize that your phone is acting strangely again. Without warning, it enters a private chatroom, where you see messages from five people with the following usernames: Yoosung, 707, ZEN, Jaehee Kang and Jumin Han.

707, or Seven, is the first one to notice your presence and alerts the others of your sudden appearance in their chatroom. He then does a quick search on you and is surprised to see that you're in Rika's apartment, based on the IP address.

As confusion and accusations (of you being a hacker) start to erupt from all the people present in the chat, they demand to know who you are whilst you tell them to do the same. Yoosung then proposes to introduce themselves to you first in order keep things calm and civil, and also to make you feel less guarded and more cooperative in the process.

After getting a better sense of who they are, as well as their faces from the photos they've posted, you explain to them how a person named Unknown led you to the apartment. Upon further probing from Seven, you also mention that all the chat records from Unknown have been erased. Due to the current gravity of the situation, Seven contacts V, the leader of the group, to inform him about what has happened.

In just a few moments, V logs into the chatroom and tells everyone that he's already been briefed by Seven about the recent events. V reveals to everyone that Rika was the only one who knew about the apartment's password. Though the place was originally owned by V, he respected Rika's privacy and didn't ask for it. He also mentions that the apartment contains important documents and classified information, and other stored sensitive materials. Because of this, its location was not disclosed; only V and Seven (who is in-charge of its security) know where it is, and therefore asks you to keep it a secret as well to maintain its safety.

In line with this, V theorizes that you may have been led in the apartment by Rika or someone she had trusted to continue her previous work: hosting parties. He then asks the other members to trust his judgement and let you become a member of the organization.

At some point, Seven does a background check on you (and finds out that you're a cute girl in the process, lol). After confirming that you're safe and not dangerous, they introduce you to the RFA, as V had requested.

Rika's Fundraising Association, or RFA for short, is a non-profit fund-raising organization that aims to help other people in need by conducting parties for charity. Founded by Rika four years ago, it has already hosted two successful parties together with the current 6 members, whom she knew personally and recruited into the organization.

The parties sponsored by the RFA provides the opportunity for anyone to freely make donations regardless of class and nationality, as well as form business connections with others who attend their events.

But ever since Rika passed away one and a half years ago, the organization has not held any parties. It is in everyone's hope that you, who had stumbled to her apartment by some kind of divine intervention or God's sign, will continue what she has done.

Regardless of your choice, you will be forced to become a member of the RFA and take over rika's previous work.

For the next 4 days, you learn how to use the messenger app and also gradually get to know each member of the organization in the process. On the fourth day, depending on the bonds you've formed with each character, a route will be decided for you. You will also get notified by V about the date of the party, which will take place a week from that time.

Regardless of what route or which character you get, you will need to invite as many guests as you can for the party.  

All the decisions you've made will determine the ending of the story.

CHARACTERS

I. Casual Story

Yoosung★

Cutie Yoosung. The first route I got in Casual story.

Yoosung Kim is the youngest character in the group, seeing as he is only 21 years old. A university student at SKY University, he is also a LOLOL game addict who currently ranks 2nd in the shooting star server (next to Seven who ranks 1 as the player “Hacker God”).  

Yoosung is usually portrayed as a very cheerful and bubbly person who likes to cook a lot (especially omurice) and wear hoodie-type clothes. He also exudes an innocent disposition, to the point of being gullible; which makes him a favorite and constant target of Seven’s pranks. 

On the flipside however, Yoosung’s character can be somewhat dark and unstable, as seen from his demeanor whenever his cousin Rika is involved.  

It is also revealed in one of Seven’s phone calls that Yoosung is a yandere.

In his story route, it is revealed that he was once an academic nerd that showed a lot of promise and potential based from his multiple achievements. (He even got a job offer from Jumin once he’s graduated from uni) He considers Rika to be his role model and idolizes her like a lovesick puppy to the point of acute obsession. 

When news came of Rika’s death, Yoosung had a hard time accepting its reality and blamed V for everything, which severely strained their relationship.

Upon reaching college, he became laidback in his studies and got hooked to playing games. Though once in awhile, he would join several clubs that interest him bet never staying in it for long. 

If you choose to fall in love with Yoosung, your major hurdle inthe story will be his tendency of always overlapping you with his image of Rika. It is up to you whether to fuel his way of thinking or make him realize that you are your own person.  

Zen

Born Hyun Ryu, Zen is a very handsome 24-year-old musical actor and model who likes to brag about his perfect beauty.  Aside from being a complete narcissist, Zen can be a total flirt and a hopeless romantic; he doesn’t shy away from voicing out his desires for having a girlfriend (It’s been three years since his last relationship).  Though despite his rather shallow behavior, Zen is very passionate about his work and practices very hard for his roles (even exercising everyday to maintain his physique ) in order to get recognized for his skills rather than his looks.

Zen’s also extremely allergic to cats to the point of sneezing just by mention of it and is known to have a strong dislike for Jumin, because of his arrogance and his insensitivity towards Zen’s “cat-related” predicament.

Though Zen seems like a normal human, his tendency to compare himself to a “god” has some sort of weird merit. Aside from his rather good looks, he also possess monster-like healing powers, like recovering from a leg fracture in a span of 3 days. He also experiences prophetic dreams occasionally, as shown a few times from multiple story routes.

Zen also possesses a bit of a bad boy side, as he was a member of a motorcycle gang back in the old days. He also drinks beer a lot and smokes as well, though he expresses his intention to quite on the latter. Zen is also a bit of a foul-mouth, as Jaehee describes from one of your chats with her. 

During his route, it is explained that his career rose to fame because of a video that Seven uploaded that became a viral hit online. He’s also grateful to Rika for recognizing his talent and giving him the opportunity to broaden his horizons, as well as inviting him to join the RFA.

Later on in the story, he gets into a scandal with Echo girl on top of getting an injury from one of his rehearsals, causing him to suffer from extreme stress. 

After visiting him in his home, Zen talks about his family issues, as well as his estranged relationship with his brother, whom he used to look up to when he was young. Apparently, Zen comes from a conservative family who strictly values success through academic excellence. His mother, being a teacher an all, had high expectations from him and considered his beauty as nothing more but a hindrance and an eyesore, so she pushed him really hard to study. During those years, his brother became his only support and ally, saying that being beautiful is nothing to be ashamed of and that he only has to be himself and not mind what other people think of.  By the time he reached middle school, Zen has gained confidence about himself and realized his dream: to become a singer and an actor. But as years passed, his brother slowly became like his mother, berating him of his naive dreams of becoming an actor and told him to aim for a much better goal. Feeling betrayed and wanting nothing more than to pursue his goals, Zen ran away from home and barely survived the following years by making ends meet, to the point of resorting to “evil means”.  

If you choose to become Zen’s love interest, you have the option to support him and be understanding of his public occupation; or you can be selfish and not care about the consequences of your actions to his career. 

Jaehee Kang

Jaehee Kang is the 26 year old chief secretary at C&R International company, and works as an assistant of Jumin Han. She is also the only female member of the RFA and is in-charge of the overall planning and execution of the party.

Her outward appearances (of having short hair and wearing no-grade glasses) border on the androgynous side but as it turns out, this was one of Jumin’s conditions before hiring her to the company, as to prevent his father from making a pass at her. Usually overworked and haggard from Jumin’s constant demands, she’s still able to keep up and finish everything assigned to her efficiently. 

At first glance, Jaehee may come off as a rather stiff but organized person who is devoid of emotions like a robot, as joked by Seven and Jumin. But in actuality, she’s a very caring individual who deep inside craves for close friendship ties.

She also a huge fan of Zen and is a member of his fan club. She really cares about Zen’s welfare and is always concerned about his career, to the point of always reminding him that a romantic relationship might ruin his image and career. Because of this, Seven would always tease Jaehee that she likes Zen, to which she vehemently denies. During her free time, she watches his DVDs and buy merchandises related to his performances.

A very capable and self-reliant woman, Jaehee’s mature disposition and independence stems from her past when she had to live with her uncle’s family after her parents’ deaths. Not wanting to be a burden to them, she strived hard in her studies in order to graduate early and get a job. Though unfortunately, she didn’t have any fond memories with them as her aunt didn’t like her and felt that she was stealing all the good luck of their family to herself. 

In Jaehee’s route, Jumin overworks her yet again and assigns her to be in-charge of two presentations for the company, one concerning a coffee business and the other for Jumin’s cat-related project. As she researches about both projects, she slowly comes to like coffee and starts to enjoy making the presentation. But Jumin wasn’t all too pleased that she was focusing on the coffee project more than his venture, so she is forced to choose whether to continue working on what she wants or prioritize Jumin’s project.

During Jaehee’s time of difficulty, you can either encourage her to take the path she wants or you could push her to ...   

II. Deep Story

Jumin Han

Jumin Han is considered to be one of the most powerful and influential characters in RFA. The 27-year-old son of a corporate CEO of C&R International, he is usually referred by Zen as the “Trust Fund kid”. Growing up in a different environment compared to the others, his sophisticated lifestyle and formal upbringing is evident in his manner of speech, tasteless jokes and lack of “commoner” understanding during chat conversations, which usually puts Zen and Jaehee on edge. 

Though Jumin can be quite rigid, serious and awkward, he’s a very reliable person in times in need and actually gives really good advice when situation calls for it. He deeply values his relationship with others, especially with his childhood best friend V, and is shown to be very loyal and understanding.

He also exhibits a more caring side when it comes to his pet cat Elizabeth 3rd. He is not ashamed to display his affection towards her and showers her with much love and attention, earning him the title “cat mom” from Seven.  

Although Jumin’s very capable when it comes to his job, there are things that even he couldn’t do, such as driving and taking sharp photos (they’re always blurred). At times when he’s extremely stressed or at odds with his father, he would come up with bizarre business proposals (that are mostly not profitable in the long run) which usually tend to focus on cats, much to Jaehee’s dismay. 

If  you chose Jumin’s route, you will learn about the reasons behind his indifference when it comes to women. Having grown up with a playboy father, Jumin has since been exposed to the ugly side of women who want nothing more than to get his family’s fortune and fame. Thinking that all women who come near him are like that, he has remained distant and cold, to the point of being teased by Seven as gay.

But things suddenly change when his father decides to remarry again to a certain celebrity named Glam Choi. Blind to his new love, he agrees to his new lover’s proposal of having her student marry Jumin. This event forms a rift between Jumin and his father, and also affects his performance at work.  

Jaehee becomes worried of his current predicament, and thus asks you to go to his place to help him calm down and take care of him, to which you oblige. 

Your first meeting with Jumin unlocks his deep-seated feelings of love; and because he has not experience such strong and pure emotions before and has no way of knowing how to express them, he does it in a rather roundabout and forceful way. 

 To make matters worse, he becomes more twisted after Elizabeth 3rd goes missing. Fearing that everyone he holds dear will run away from him, he prevents you from going back to the apartment, and insists that you stay with him for as long as he needs you to be. 

It’s up to you whether you want to trust him and stay with him until he’s able to let go or you can chastise him for his possessive actions and run away.

707

Seven or Luciel (his baptismal name), is the quirkiest guy among the RFA. He is also considered as the OTP of the main character in the game. At a young age of 22, Seven has already made a living out of being a hacker from a secret agency. He’s also known to have rather bizarre tastes, from collecting expensive sport cars, consuming only honey buddha chips and dr. pepper and the like. He also likes to build stuff like a cat or dog robot, and dreams of making his own spaceship to fly off into space.  

Throughout all the routes, Seven comes off as the comic relief of the group. He would always try to make a joke of things and is never truly offended if any of the members scold or berate him because of his antics. 

He’s also known from breaking the fourth wall every now and then, which often leaves the other members confused about what he’s saying. At times, he would also go as far as cross-dressing just to get  a kick from Zen or Yoosung, his usual victims.  

Though he acts as a cheerful goofball most of the time, it's only a front that he puts up to hide his depression and pessimistic way of living, which stems from his dark past and current profession. 

Seven’s route has proven to have the heaviest back story among all the characters of the game, and is central to all the major plot events of the entire storyline. 

When he was still a child, Saeyoung (his real name) and his younger twin brother Saeran was often abused by their drunk mother. Both of them were a result of an unplanned pregnancy with a powerful politician who was a presidential candidate at that time. Not wanting to destroy his chances in the election, the twins were kept hidden by the mother in exchange for money. 

His younger twin had a weaker body, and thus more prone to their mother’s bullying; so it was always up to Seven to look out for his brother and protect him whenever their mother throws a fit.  At times, when she’s in a drunken stupor, Seven would sneak Saeran out of the house to let him have a glimpse of the outside world, to which his twin is grateful for. 

During spare moments, Seven would  study in secret from a programming book that he got in order to become a hacker and support his brother, once they’ve managed to run away.

At some point, Seven meets with a young Rika and V in a church. Both of them become aware of Seven’s circumstance and tries to help him by suggesting he change his identity and work for a hacking company. At first Seven refuses because he doesn’t want to leave his brother behind. But V was able to convince Seven and promised that they will take care of him in his stead. Trusting his words, Seven left his home, and became a full-fledged hacker.

During the seventh day in Seven’s route, Unknown was able to bypass Seven’s security. Sensing danger and fear of your safety, Seven immediately goes to the apartment and saves you in time from Unknown, which turned out to be none other than Saeran. It is then revealed that Saeran had joined a cult called Mint Eye and is out for revenge against Seven for betraying him and abandoning him with their abusive mother. 

This revelation devastates Seven, and is enraged with V for lying to him and not keeping his promise.

Throughout your interactions with Seven, you will be relentlessly be pushed away by him because he thinks that he doesn’t deserve happiness; and that everyone he loves will be destroyed because of him.

If you choose to remain by his despite everything and make him realize that no matter what sordid past he has, you will accept all of him, then you will be able to unlock the after events  of his ending, which brings closure to all the loose ties in the Mystic Messenger storyline. 

III. Others

Rika

The founder of RFA and V's lover/fiancee. It's been said that she jumped off a cliff due to her mental illness but her body was never recovered. In reality, she succumbed to her illness and later formed a separate cult called Mint Eye, whose main goal is to recruit the existing RFA members and take them to paradise along with the other worshippers.

V/ Hiyun

 The acting leader of RFA. He's a famous photographer and Rika's lover/fiance. After her supposed death, his been showing less of himself in the RFA and seems to be always busy and out of town. In Seven's route, it's been revealed that he was actually been going undercover inside Mint Eye, in order to get closer to Rika and to monitor her activities. 

Unknown

The one responsible for bringing you to the apartment to infiltrate the RFA in the first place. Later in the story (especially in Seven's rout), he's revealed to be a member of Mint Eye, as well as Seven's other twin Saeran . Having a weak constitution since birth, he was brainwashed by the cult into thinking that his brother had abandoned him at the hands of their abusive mother and is now out for revenge.

Miss Vanderwood

A male agent who also works at the same secret agency 707's works for. Forever nagging at Seven to finish his work ASAP, he also has little patience with regards to 707's messy living environment to the point of cleaning his living quarters himself. 

Elizabeth 3rd

Jumin's pet cat. Her name was originally given by V, but is usually called “Elly” by Seven, much to Jumin’s annoyance. Likes to torment Jaehee whenever she’s under her care, and also a constant source of Zen’s allergy whenever Jumin brings her up in their conversations. 

CONCLUSION

When I first heard of this game from a friend of mine, I was totally in denial. I  didn’t want to succumb to the growing fandom of this otome game (blame my pride and hipster ideology) and even laughed my ass out at the sheer idea of playing Mystic Messenger. But during a long (none-Ian) weekend that bored me to tears, curiosity got the better of me. So in the end, I wound up installing this app just for the lolz and started playing it...

...only to fell DEEPLY IN LOVE with the story, its characters and everything else in between.

Welp, there goes my pathetic pride, lol 

What I love most about this game, aside from its amazing concept and storyline, is the authenticity and humor of the conversations in the chatroom. The manner of how the script was written is so engaging and real that it feels as if your chatting with actual people and not 2d characters. From the spamming galore, typos, chat stickers and even the act of posting images inside the chat, you wouldn’t think that its just a game at all.

What’s more, aside from the funny conversations and breaking the fourth wall moments  that certainly brighten my day, there are rather surprising good advises and food for thought from the characters that can be applied in everyday life. Whether it be about business, love life or career goals, the message delivered certainly gives an impact to anyone who’s in that kind of situation. It’s not every day you get a legit advice from a non-human character right? 

  Jumin and Jaehee’s money advice, lol.

Another major aspect that is worth mentioning is how relatable the characters are in the game. Everyone has a certain characteristic that I can connect to, making the interaction with each of them more believable and easy to empathize.  It gives them more depth rather than the usual cookie-cutter character trope that is boringly indistinguishable from existing otome games.

If I were to do a breakdown of the traits of the characters and align it with my own, I’d be:

22% Jaehee - Because like her, I suffer the same career path problems that she has (Earning well but has yet to reach her dream job). I also constantly doubt myself and my skills, and is cautious and pessimistic by nature.

22% Jumin -  Because I sometimes suck at jokes; But more importantly, I become very possessive when it comes to the people I love, and must constantly keep myself in check lest the people I care for get suffocated.

22% Yoosung - Because we both share the same past of being a former honor student that later on fell from grace due to addictive gaming. We also have a nagging mother, as have similar gullible tendencies.

22% Seven - Because I’m a total troll and an outright geek. AND A SADIST TOO, HAHAHA. Oh, and my profession is also related to programming. 

12% Zen - I can be a total narcissist sometimes (as evident in my multiple OOTD posts in this bloody blog, lol); But in terms of love, passion and emotion, I have the same fire as him too. Oh, and my family’s also conservative.

The RFA family

The only things that I saw that need improvement are minor grammar and spelling errors for english text; a few behavioral bugs here and there;  and  the inconsistent art style presented in its CG images.

But other than that, this is one of the most amazing otome games I’ve encountered in a long while. 

I definitely get the hype from this fandom now, ROFL.

   The 707 effect. Super psyched to have found these at a local Korean mart near my workplace. 

To end this post, I’d like to make a virtual toast of Dr.Pepper to the makers of Mystic Messenger. 

Keep it up Cheritz! Kudos to your hard and relentless work and more power to you guys!

I’ll always be waiting for Mystic Messenger’s additional special stories, OK? XD

[marulikestea]

Dark Corridors

Whenever I look for horror Android games that suit my taste, chances are, they’re very hard to find. So I was pretty much happy when I found this piece of rare gem a few years back, when I was craving for something dark and scary.

Dark Corridors 2 is a South Korean mobile app created by SEMS GAMES. Its basically a temple-run-style kind of game where you guide your character by swiping up, down, left or right as it runs continuously while encountering obstacles along the way.

The screen you get when you fail to dodge an obstacle.

It also contains power ups and upgrades that you can buy and equip to help your playthrough.

But what makes it unique aside from its horror-based genre is that it provides the player with background stories for each unlockable character for every set of missions completed. 

Jia’s storyline with art and (a bit of )voice audio.

Collecting all stories will help paint a bigger picture as to what led to the nightmarish events as seen in the game.

Though it needs a bit of improvement with regards to art style and grammar correction from the translated english text, this game is much more thrilling and totally beats getting chased by angry monkeys. 

Because if you ever tripped yourself and got fucked up while running, this kind of jumpscare will be the death of you... literally.

Game Over.

[marulikestea]

Transistor

I came across this game last 2015 because of my office friend Nats who wanted to cosplay Red for our company's COMICON Christmas party. Curious as to what kind of game it was, I searched it on google and was blown away by the wonderful artworks and in-game screenshots I saw. Wanting to know more, I went to its wiki page and realized that it's a science fiction role-playing video game developed by Supergiant Games, the same company that brought Bastion. I've been wanting to play Bastion several years ago but never had the chance to do so. It just proves that any game Supergiant Games releases is definitely to look out for.

And as the cherry on top of this rather delectable cake, Transistor makes use of computer programming concepts and terms as part of its unique storyline and gameplay. Being a programmer myself, this had certainly piqued my interest. So without further ado, I got myself a copy and played it on my PC.

(WARNING! MAJOR PHOTODUMP AHEAD WITH CONTENT SPOILERS!)

STORY

“Hey Red... we’re not getting away with this, are we?”

The scene starts with Red, a woman in a yellow dress, pulling out a mysterious talking weapon called the “Transistor” from a body of a seemingly dead man. The Transistor acts as the narrator of the story, and seems to be familiar with Red, hinting of a relationship that is yet to be revealed.  

Red donning the man’s jacket. 

As the two of them set forth in the vast city of “Cloudbank”, several unknown entities called the “Process” continue to pursue them. 

They also encounter remnants of souls from former citizens who have "disappeared" along the way, to which the Transistor can talk to and absorb their functions.

Hello World.  

A closer look of the Empty Set, a location in the city.

While trying to find a way to escape the city, a poster of Red can be seen at the end of the Plaza, indicating that she was a a very prominent and influential singer of Cloudbank. If the player chooses to stop by and look at the picture, the Transistor will mention something about the loss of Red’s voice, which will be explained as the story progresses.

A poster of Red at the end of the Plaza.

Red staring back at her poster, as the Transistor apologizes for not being able to protect her voice.

After finally acquiring a vehicle, the Transistor gave her coordinates on where to go next, specifically warning her not to go left. Red had other plans however, and decided to proceed left anyway instead of bailing the city, much to the Transistor’s surprise.  

It then warned her about the viciousness of the Process, and how they’ll never stop hunting them until they’re captured and bring them back to the so-called “Camerata”.

“Look, whatever you’re thinking, do me a favor. Don’t let me go.”

Camerata on the background

The two then continued to look for clues at the Empty Set, the place where Red had last sung on stage. As they reached the platform, the Transistor reminisces about the past and a flashback of the previous night occurs; revealing the events of how Red had narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by the Camerata at the expense of her lover's life; the very same man who was lying on the ground at the beginning of the story.

The man had apparently taken the fatal blow meant for her, but instead of dying, his trace data was completely downloaded into the Transistor, causing his consciousness to assimilate and live on through the said weapon. 

In other words, the voice that can be heard from the Transistor belongs to him.

It was also explained that Red was also partially processed into the Transistor, ultimately leading to the lost of her voice.

In return however, she gained ownership of the weapon, something the Camerata was not able to foresee.

A flashback scene of how it all began.

When the scene had shifted back to the present, one of the Camerata’s members that go by the name of Sybil (as the Transistor had called it), was already waiting for them. Almost 98% processed to the point of insanity, she later on transformed into a process herself and a battle shortly ensued. Once she was defeated, the Transistor absorbed her trace data and found information with regards to the whereabouts of the other Camerata, as well as Sybil’s motive behind targeting Red.

 The Red’s lover greets Sybil thru the Transistor.

According to the Transistor, Sybil Reisz was the “eyes and ears” of the Camerata. She was the one who got closed to Red, but later on became too infatuated and obsessed with her. It is hinted in her data file that Sybil had romantic inclinations for Red and became frustrated when the latter was indifferent towards her. Blaming Red’s lover as the source of the singer’s aloofness, Sybil had convinced the Camerata to make Red their next target; hiding her true intentions of getting rid of her lover in the upcoming ambush.

Needless to say, her jealousy is what triggered the whole events of the story.

As for the Camerata itself, not much is known about its true agenda, aside from the identity of the four people who consist the group. Though the Transistor had mentioned that they were hunting people, the reasons behind it were still unknown. In hopes of getting answers from someone who knew them, the two went to their next destination to meet another member of the Camerata: Grant Kendrell.

Upon reaching High Rise, Red's home, they encountered the “Spine of the World”, a former landmark of Cloudbank that had turned into a Giant process. The monster’s presence affected the Transistor immensely, causing it to slur and speak incoherently as if in a drunken state. Once it was destroyed from the inside, the Transistor’s demeanor returned to normal.

As they drew nearer to Grant’s territory, private messages from Asher Kendrell, Grant’s other half, can be read through the OVC terminals all over the district.

It was stated in one of the messages that they wanted to meet Red; but due to precautionary measures, they’ve walled themselves in the Bracket Towers to prevent “them” from coming in.

The other messages from him shed further light to the current state of the city, as he confesses the Camerata’s actions behind their goals.

“When everything changes, nothing changes. That’s the Camerata’s creed, our mission.”

Asher admits that they were the ones responsible for the disappearances of several high-profiled people in Cloudbank. Like Red, these people who were deemed valuable and unique by the Camerata were handpicked for the sole purpose of acquiring their point-of-view; and incorporating it with the Cloudbank through the use of the Transistor to better improve the city according to the whims and demands of its inhabitants.  

They wanted to give the people what they didn’t knew they think they wanted, and what they did was nothing personal.

“Everything we did– everything we’re doing, is for the Cloudbank.”

But the unexpected transfer of ownership of the Transistor to Red led to the loss of control over the Process. Without Grant (who was the previous user) to direct their actions, the Process are left to their initial basic functionality: to deconstruct the whole city.

Having no other means to stop them, the Cloudbank is then left in unstable state, growing worse and worse as time passes.

By the time Red had reached the two, both Asher and Grant had already committed suicide. A final note was left by former, saying that Grant couldn’t wait any longer, whilst he couldn’t live without Grant.

"Cowards.” 

With only one member left alive, Red and the Transistor travel to Fairview, where Royce Bracket resides.

As the two back track to the starting point, most of the city had already been broken down into its initial building blocks by the Process.

At the place where Red have left her lover’s body, a proxy robot in a shape of a floating monitor contacts them, revealing to be Royce. He asks for a truce and tags along with the two until they reached the Fairview bridge that would lead them to the actual Royce.

While en route, the proxy Royce states that he was the one who found the Process; that these beings come from a different reality that is connected to theirs. Using the Transistor as a "brush", he and Grant were able to build and improve the Cloudbank.

He also mentioned in the passing about the possibility of hearing voices the Transistor downloaded to itself, albeit only the ones who have a close connection to the wielder. This explains why Red is able to hear her lover through it.

After arriving to Fairview and coming face-to-face with the last Camerata, Royce informs Red that the Process cannot be stopped unless the Transistor is returned to The Cradle. 

"I love you. Bye for now. But I will see you again."

Agreeing to getting the deed done, a bright light engulfed the surroundings and everything turned into black. 

Waking up to the sound of her lover's voice, Red found herself inside the realm of the device with Royce. He tells her the good news, that the Cloudbank is finally safe, with the Process being contained. But the bad news was, both of them got sucked in and were trapped inside. The only way to come back and rebuilt the city is for one of them to defeat the other. 

Now both equipped with Transistor weapons, the two had a final showdown.

Royce, trapped inside after losing to Red.

After defeating Royce, Red returns with the Transistor to the outside world.

Red trying to unprocess her lover.

Elated that everything was finally over, the Transistor asked Red which part of the city she wanted to restore first. But Red immediately went towards the dead body of her lover and tried to unprocess him. When nothing happened, a sad Transistor told Red that it wasn't him anymore, that they could still be together this way.

It then dawned on her that even with the power she held to restore the city, nothing can be done to bring her man back.

Realising this, Red hugs the Transistor one last time before sitting down beside her lover's body and commanding the weapon to impale her, effectively ending her life despite the Transistor's frantic cries and pleadings.

Together at last. 

A song is then played while loving memories of Red and her lover are slowly unravelled.

At the end of the game, the two are seen to be finally reunited at the Country (or afterlife), where Red is shown to have gotten her voice back as she greets her lover “Hey”.   

“Hey.”

ENVIRONMENT

Red and Transistor, staring  at the Cloudbank.

The world of Transistor is represented through a hand-painted and colorful isometric view, much like its predecessor Bastion. With stunning art visuals, impressive music written and produced by Darren Korb and lyrics put to life by the singing voice of Ashley Lynn Barrett, each element of the game compliments one another as it gives an overall wonderful gaming atmosphere and experience for the player.

For better understanding,  I'll let the images talk for itself:

Beautiful graphic art during cutscenes:

Red and Transistor. 

Anyone can't go on an empty stomach.

Privacy please.

In-game environment with diverse sceneries and structures:

GAMEPLAY

Transistor's gameplay is a turn-based battle strategy system reminiscent of the first Parasite Eve. You can perform skills called "functions()" every time the action gauge fills up.

Different sets of functions can be combined and equipped, depending on the kind of play style preferred by the user. 

Functions can be obtained through levelling up or by absorbing trace data from previously processed high-profiled victims of the Camerata throughout the game.

You can also set this so-called "limiters" acquired from monsters that serves as handicap during battles. Each handicap is different, as well as its bonus the player gets from successful battles with it. The higheer the risk (or level) the limiters requires, the higher returns it rewards.

There's also a special area called "Sandbox" that can be accessed via Backdoors after defeating Sybil in the game. It serves as a resting area and training grounds that provides additional challenge stages for the player.

A secret paradise where you can mull over Red’s thoughts, listen to all the music inside the game and play ball with your dog-like process. 

Each practice test entrances provides different challenges.

Inside the challenge room with its own sets of rules and goals.

CONCLUSION

I love indie games with an in-depth world and a controversial ending that makes people think, analyze and come up with their own interpretations as to why it led to that kind of outcome. It’s proof that it had connected with its audience and that they had become invested in the world the developers created. Transistor has proven itself to be one of those games, and as such has ingrained a special place in my gaming heart. 

It's interesting how the world of Transistor strongly correlates our current reality with how technology is today, as well as our growing dependency towards it. Nowadays, everything is easily accessed and conveyed through the powers of internet. People are now more vocal and demanding via social networking sites compared to the previous generations. Gadgets from cellphones to PCs and other forms of consoles and mechanism are easily replaced and released in small span of time.

How do you handle and control such advancements in this present juncture? How do you answer the expectations from billions of people? How do you proceed next?

Enter the Camerata. These people who act as the "authority" of this world are no different than the present leaders of today's society, and are no strangers to getting their hands dirty when it comes to their ideals. They want what's best for the Cloudbank and its inhabitants, but their good intentions are marred with their concept of “sacrificing a few for the benefit of the many”. In retrospect, the manner of their execution is indeed morally wrong, but you can’t totally blame them for doing what they believe is right. But how do you exactly draw the line when it comes to sacrifices and ideals? And who can decide when it is too much?

Sometimes, circumstances warrant a hefty price and only the ones truly brave enough can pay and endure the price of such a burden. 

Lastly, the ending regarding Red’s choice of suicide over the restoration of Cloudbank. I don't know about other people's opinion, but  for me, Red as a person is like any other selfish humans out there, which makes for a more realistic and believable character. Humans in essence find the will to do anything for the sake of their loved ones, if not for themselves. Being the the former kind of person, it's very understandable for Red to decide to end her life rather than live a world without her lover. Sure, people may argue about having gone all the trouble to fight the Process and Camerata and gain the power to rewrite the city should entail some glorious heroic deed but Red is under no obligation to do such things. In the first place, the main drive of her journey wasn't to save Cloudbank, it's to find a way to save her lover. So when she had reached the end of the road and exhausted all possible means to accomplish her goal and even then wasn’t able to change anything, what was there left to do? 

Most people would judge in a heartbeat about some things they can’t even begin to comprehend unless they experience it firsthand. Others are even arrogant as to easily say that she should have done this or that and that her decision made her a weak woman and all that.

Well that’s their prerogative I guess, even if their prerogative sucks and very shallow-minded.

If I were in her shoes, I'd certainly won’t choose a vast number of people I don’t even know or give a damn about over the people who I truly love and care for the most.

In the end, even if Transistor is only but a representation of a world in a science-fiction-kind-of-sense, such events may become an eventuality in the future. 

There may even come a time when humans themselves are integrated into technology and become mindless singular drones. If that ever happens, would you rather stay and live on it or would you rather go somewhere far away into the country?

[marulikestea]

Mobile Game: Potion Maker

Hello random readers! For today, I would like to introduce to you a mobile game that I’m currently playing to pass up the time.

As the image implies, the game is called Potion Maker, a casual clicker game created by Sinsiroad. 

The premise is basically this: you manage a potion shop together with a cute loli-demon named Pio. With the help of pushcat, you create and mix various ingredients to create a variety of potions that can be sold for a price. Often times, a random character will drop by, requesting for a specific potion with a certain level, triggering a quest. Once you accomplish that quest, you will be given a reward in a form of a booster. The characters who requested the potions will gain experience too, which will be useful when asking them for certain favors or tasks.

Characters

The game offers you two kawaii-poster girls to poke on: Pio, the default lavender-haired demon and Tia, whom you can unlock later in the game. As seen in the image below, these characters cater to a certain otaku-taste. The cute loli-flat-breasted-types and the tsundere-big-boobs-type.

Pio and Tia. You only get to unlock Tia after collecting a certain number of stars, which can be obtained by perfecting a potion’s enhancement.

Gameplay

The goal of the game is pretty much straight forward: you create potions and then sell them to gain money. Controls are simple and intuitive, as you only need to tap the materials from the queue to create a potion. Bear in mind though, that you need to pick the key component of the potion first before tapping random ingredients into the cauldron like a crazed person. This is important when customers/adventurers come in and request for a particular concoction. Afterwards, the number of ingredients you put in will determine the total cost of the completed product.

There are other factors to consider too when creating a potion, aside from its core ingredient. You need to take note of its level too. This is where enhancement comes in. You need to "enhance" your potion several times until it reaches the desired level. The higher the value, the higher the cost the potion is sold. But be careful, because upgrading a potion's quality has a percent risk of failure. In the event that your enhancement fails, the potion will be destroyed.

As I've mentioned before, adventurers will randomly drop by with quests at hand. You may opt to refuse them of course, but if you decide to abide by their demands and be successful within the time limit, you will be rewarded with a stat effect (while the adventurer gains exp points for levelling up) that will aid you in creating your potion. Each adventurer offers a different kind of compensation, so here's a basic list of the ff:

x5 Shield - Claire (Knight), Neet (Healer)

Enhancement Success Rate +10% - Dolbur (Swordsman)

20 Nyan Tickets - Luke (Wizard) 

Increased selling price - Piria (Thief), Tirami (Potion Merchant) 

Likability points - Charlotte (Madam), Kyle (Young Man), etc.

Quests and requests respectively.

There's also an option where you can also request for the adventurer's services. For a certain amount of fee, and depending on the task you ask of them, you can gain additional likability points, nyan tickets or even unlocking a fairy. Likability points unlock Pio and Tia's expressions while nyan tickets summons a pushcat (if you're lucky, the legendary black pushcat) to help push materials into the cauldron. On the other hand, a fairy is an entity that possesses certain abilities that can be beneficial to potion making when equipped. For example, equipping Succubus fairy increases likeability reward for 15%.

After accumulating enough money from selling potions, what's the next thing to do? You can now use the cash earned by getting additional materials, improving the selling price of your commodity and increasing the success rate of your enhancements and pushcat speed under the Upgrades section. 

This will go on an on until you've collected and maxed out everything; from the items to the fairies and all existing upgrades and costumes.

Features

Pio and Tia in different costumes!

To make the game more interesting and less boring, they included a variety of costumes for the players to achieve. They can either be unlocked by max-enhancing a potion or buying them via rubies or nyan tickets.

Other times, a costume reward is given after you've completed an event challenge.

Cute mini-game  event. 

Conclusion

Overall, Potion Maker is a very cute time-wasting app that merges a clicker and dress me up genre into one. The artwork is very detailed and "kawaii". Characters are not at all static due to its fluid 2d animation and funny message dialogs, making Pio and Tia's reactions look interactive and fun. The use of events also keeps the game interesting and challenging. With that said, if you're interested in venturing to the clicker genre and a fan of anime-style art, then this is the game for you. :)

[marulikestea]

Spring Fairy

Spring fairy is a free mobile game created by PrismaThunder. Developed using unity, this game is reminiscent of the infamous flappy bird with its similar gameplay but with a cuter and less frustrating approach.  

ART & MUSIC

The art for this game is nothing short of beautiful. It’s what got me interested to try this in the first place. A sucker for all things cute and mori-like (nature/earthy... you get the picture) , I felt an instant connection when I saw this on my google play recommendations for the first time. Of course, once I downloaded this game and played it for the first time, the rest was already history. 

The background music used also gives off an ethereal feel, which makes the overall presentation complete and perfect.

GAMEPLAY

Your avatar can shoot out orbs or arrows to destroy mines.

Like any other tap run game genre, you move ahead by tapping your fairy avatar strategically to avoid mine traps, go through thorny loops and hop from one flower to another to replenish the number of times you can jump consecutively throughout the duration of the run. 

Alice and Peter Pan avatar.

As you go along the enchanted forest, you can collect eggs that you can use to unlock other avatars from the shop (or if you’re impatient to, just by them in-game). One character costs 200 eggs. But don’t fret! You get to have a free gift of 50 eggs every after 20 minutes or so.  

The only drawback is that the everything gets to be repetitive as time passes by, but this remains to be seen as I’ve only reached 40M. I wonder if the background and music changes on the latter levels.. hmm.

CONCLUSION

In summary, Spring Fairy is a visually aesthetic game that is perfect to pass time by. Albeit simple and repetitive, this casual game is worth the try, especially if you like cute and fairy stuff... like me lol. 

[marulikestea]

Peter Rabbit’s Garden

Here's another free mobile game that I played that mori-enthusiasts will surely love: Peter Rabbit's Garden. Created by Poppin Games Japan Co., Ltd., this garden simulation game makes use of the original characters from Beatrix Potter's masterpiece and brings them to life. As you play Peter Rabbit himself who is on a quest to build his own garden with family and friends, you'll be spending your time planting, harvesting, selling your crops and decorating the layout of your little haven.

Story

Following the original story, Peter Rabbit has yet again escaped from Mr. McGregor's clutches, after being chased relentlessly for stealing and eating the vegetables the old man had painstakingly grew on his garden. For fear of capture and further repercussions, Peter's mother decided to relocate the family to a safer place so that they won't suffer the same fate as his father did.

Art

Peter Rabbit at the marketplace.

Preserving Beatrix's classic art style usually present in old children's illustration books, the images presented in-game are very nostalgic and is certainly a breath of fresh air. But what's amazing is that they even took it a step further, by animating such wonderful creations, making it seem that you are indeed in Peter Rabbit's world.

Gameplay

You start out with a short tutorial on how to play the game. Its basically setting a plot of land on your garden and then planting crops to sell it to the nearby marketplace once it has grown and been harvested to earn money. The earnings can then be used to buy items, expand land or build new houses that will improve your new home.

There are different market places that can be unlocked according to your level. On each place, you will encounter several unlockable book characters that will buy your goods. After you've established enough connection and sold enough crops to them, a conversation will ensue and afterwards you can now invite them to live in your garden.

Be warned though. You need to build their houses first before they can permanently transfer to your garden and become your residents and regular prowlers. If in case you ran out time before finishing their houses, don't fret! You can just invite them again.

First mini game you can unlock.

The game also provides limited day bonuses (like discount prices and x2 earnings) and mini challenges wherein you can earn money after completing it per day.

Conclusion

To some people, farm-type simulation games can be quite tedious and boring. It is also a kind of waiting game because you have to wait for the crops to grow before you can harvest it to sell it. And that takes a lot of patience. But to me, the meticulous way of designing your garden while collecting animals and decorations is fun in its own way. I dunno if it stems from my fondness of collecting beautiful stuff, arranging and layouting something in an artistic manner or whatnot, but I find it rather fulfilling. Poppin games actually build a similar game to this titled Alice, but I much prefer the art and presentation of Peter Rabbit compare to the former.

But despite my adoration for this game, there are of course some things I've encountered that I found rather dissatisfying while playing the game.

First, is the manner of getting free sweets. Sweets are the in-game currency used for buying premium items (stuff that are bought with real money). I have no qualms in downloading apps or playing free games (or metaphs) to get these, but most of the free games are downright impossible to do. Not only can I not get the sweets as a reward, I'd be wasting a lot of time trying to accomplish something that cannot be done in the first place.

In line with this, my next complaint is that most of the decorations are only achievable via in-game purchase. This business model is to be expected from free games such as this but this aggressive approach of pushing you to buy in-game items takes the fun out of it. If they could at least put some decorations up for an "event" that doesn't involve spending iRL money or including it on the limited day item raffle bonus, then that would be great.

My third concern is with regards to the difficulty of rearranging your garden if you have lots of stuff already. Putting them in your storage or dragging them from one point to another one by one is uber hassle and time consuming. I wish they could implement a sort of sandbox similar to COC that lets you view (with zooming function) and edit your garden layout with ease and efficiency.

Lastly, their facility to backup and save game progress needs to be improved. Me and Ian have recently lost our previous game data after months of not playing and now have no means to retrieve it whatsoever. Just an invitation code that we can no longer remember. What they can do to resolve this is to sync the game to the player's google play account so it will lessen the loss of game play. Or they can have the user register his/her email to secure the data, similar to mystic messenger.

Overall, this game is unique of its genre and shows promise, but it still has a lot of room for improvement. It's definitely worth to try.

[marulikestea]

Little Miss Poppet

Poppet: An endearingly sweet or pretty child or young girl (often used as an affectionate form of address).

Though far from being the definition of a young girl, this word comes to mind whenever I see myself wearing this coordinated outfit.

And because we recently watched Beauty & the Beast movie that time, so Mrs. Pots' word of endearment kinda rubbed off on me, lol.

A soft back-lit glow for a bit of dramatic effect.

What I wore: - Ribbon headband from Forever 21 - Loose red Korean plaid dress - Burgundy tights from Forever 21 - Rust-colored shoes

Originally, I bought this dress ages ago as a gift for my mother. But unfortunately, the sleeves weren't big enoughto fit her. So I ended up wearing it, lol. XP

An example of a pose of one pretending to candidly adjust a shoe but still looking photogenic... or someone suffering from blisters but doing a tiis-ganda smile because there's a camera present. ROFL.

I dunno how many times I've reiterated this, but I'm extremely fond of wearing loose clothing. Gives a lot of space for the body to breathe, you know?

The face of a 28-year-old. Not lying. :))

So, did my overall outfit do any justice to the title? I sure hope so! :D

[marulikestea]

Indochina Trip - Vietnam

Having learned from our previous mistake of not getting Mekong Express as our ride back in Cambodia, we made sure that this time, we’d definitely book one no matter what the cost. Luckily for us, our hotel managed to arrange it without problems so on the morning of our departure from Phnom Penh, they were able to pick us up on our hotel.

Our Mekong ticket from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh.  

Since there were only a few of us who’d be traveling to Ho Chi Minh, our ride was in a form of a van instead of the standard bus. And as part of their package, they also provided us with a free bottle of water and wet wipes for the journey ahead.

Our trip to Vietnam was approximately around 6-7hours (traffic and pit stop included). I wish I could say that our drive went smoothly, but as the universe had other plans, it didn’t went as I expected.

How so? Well, as it happened, there just a couple of noisy old ladies in the van chatting like they were the only ones inside and a certain chinese-looking man who had his tablet at max volume while playing a mobile game. And because I wasn’t smart enough to bring my own earphones during our indochina trip, my poor ears had no noise cancellation to protect itself to such abuse. And I wasn’t alone in all this suffering. Even my seatmate, who was a male westerner, locked eyes with me and rolled his eyes in understanding as the commotion ensued.

But despite this mishap on our trip, it still had a sort of silver lining to it. For example, that western seatmate I was talking about? He offered me some sweet crackers during our trip (and I took one because I was hungry, huhu)… which earned me an earful of teasing from Arlyn and Denise at lunch during our short stop in the middle of the road. I was also tickled by the fact that Ian bristled his manly feathers when I told him this story after returning home.

Aww Ian, you’re still the number one guy in my <3.

Anyway, we finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh at around 3:15pm, and fortunately enough, our drop off point was just a few steps away from our hotel. So we walked for a couple of minutes and finally found the dragon palace hotel.

DRAGON PALACE HOTEL

Our room.

In my opinion, this is probably the most gorgeous looking room that we stayed into in the whole duration of the trip. What’s sad about this is that we’ll only get to use it for less than a day, since our flight back to the Philippines was in the evening. So basically this room just served as a locker for our stuff while we tour around the country for a certain number of hours. Boo~

So to start our Ho Chi Minh exploration, we got a map from the hotel’s lobby and some directions from the accommodating receptionist. Due to Denise amazing foresight when it comes to booking hotels, our hotel was just a walking distance away from the landmarks we intended to visit.

REUNIFICATION PALACE

Due to shortage of time and laziness on our part, we skipped going to the Reunification Palace in favor of going to the Cathedral directly. But unfortunately, it wasn’t open at that time yet so we crossed the street to visit the central post office.

SAIGON CENTRAL POST OFFICE

This building is one of the most recognizable landmarks (and therefore became a tourist spot) in Ho Chi Minh due to its French-inspired architecture that stemmed from its colonization in the late 1800s.

The Central Post Office from outside.

Stepping inside this structure is like being in an old train station in Europe.

The maps representing telegraph lines that covered Vietnam and Cambodia in the olden days. One of building’s highlights.

There are also souvenir shops on each side near the post office entrance.

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL

One of the remaining strongholds of Catholicism in Vietnam, Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral was build by French colonists during the late 1880s. It’s just a few blocks away from the central post office.

Beautiful stained glass on both sides near the entrance.

Interior of the cathedral.

A better view of the cathedral’s arches.

After our tour, we had a short snack break in one ofthe local coffee/ milk tea shops in the area. When we’ve gained back a bit of our strength, we then stopped by at Ben Thanh market, just a few blocks away from dragon palace hotel to buy souvenirs.

BEN THANH MARKET

Ben Thanh market is a large market place that is popular with tourists and foreigners seeking for some local merchandise and handicrafts. From food to textile prints and even flowers, this place provides a large variety of goods at an affordable price.

Pro tip: Don’t forget to haggle.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to keep tabs on my souvenir expenses. But as far as I can remember, I only bought the mandatory magnets and keychains for the folks back at home, as well as local artworks which proved hard to hunt as the place was really big.

The three artworks I bought. Cute right? :3

The three of us also bought bottles of Vietnamese coffee from this one stall, which earned the love of the two female sellers there, haha. They even gave us a free box and a tape for our extra luggage when we travel back to our country.

Aww, such thoughtful women. <3

When it was getting dark, we decided to leave the premises since we had a lot of packing to do back at the hotel.

I swear, traffic in Vietnam is very hazardous. Even during our tour, there wasn’t a moment when a motorcycle honked behind us, despite the fact that we were walking on the side. At one point, when we were crossing a pedestrian lane of a street on our way to the market, a taxi almost ran us over. The nerve of that asshole! Ugh.

Seriously, I thought Philippine traffic was bad. This was worse.

So to commemmorate our near-death experience at the hands of the many motorcycles and a certain taxi in Ho Chin Minh, Denise had us take a video wherein we’re turning around at the middle of an island whilst a number of motorcycles pass by. A fitting end to our day at this country.

Buwis-buhay moment due to Denise’s shenanigans, lol.

Upon returning to our hotel, we packed up our stuff, put the excess items that won’t fit in our Herschel bags into the box we acquired awhile ago and took a bath afterwards. When everything was ready, we went downstairs to buy dinner at one of the local diners just beside the hotel and ate at our room.

Prior to our tour around the city, we booked a taxi in advance that would take us to the airport via our hotel. So after dinner, we checked out of the hotel and waited at the lobby for our taxi to come and pick us up. When we were notified by the hotel staff that our ride has finally arrived, we got our stuff at the back of the trunk and got inside the taxi…

…after getting into a weird one-sided argument with the driver. For some blessed reason we were unaware of, the driver suddenly got pissed of when Denise mentioned the airport as destination. He then shouted at us in their native language and kept shouting “Hanoi Hanoi” at us. I dunno if there was a misunderstanding on his end, but since we didn’t had the slightest idea what the hell he was talking about, we just shrugged it off and laughed at the insanity of it all. (Denise even rolled her eyes and gave up being civil, lol)

Thankfully, in spite of all that debacle, the driver was able to get us the airport safely, with a few grunts on his part as we thank him before going inside the premises.

Seriously universe, what the heck? :))

Once again, we waited for our plane to arrive and disembarked once everyone was in their designated plane seats. We landed at the NAIA airport early in the morning and met up with my 2nd older bro after bidding a sleepy farewell to Denise and Arlyn.

Fare thee well, Vietnam.

When I got back to my condo unit, I was welcomed with a cute round Siberian husky plushie which I named “pochie” and a love letter from my beloved Ian. Aww, he totally missed me these past 8 days, so cute! X3

CONCLUSION

To sum it all up, our Indochina trip has been one hell of a roller coaster ride. It certainly had its ups and downs, but it’s an experience that I will never forget, hahaha. Seriously. 

I am also grateful to my two gorgeous friends Arlyn & Denise, for making this love-hate adventure into a colorful and joyful one. In a land full of uncertainty and language barriers, what better comrades could I ask for than them, right?

And~ if you ask me if I would like to return to these 3 countries in the near future, I would most likely say no, LOL. Well, maybe except for Cambodia. I’d definitely return to Siem Reap and  visit all the other temples there, hmph!

So with that, I end this post and hopefully, this would be a helpful story for the random people who had stumbled into my blog and read it. Toodles~