ilovezil

                        

It's the start of a typical Sunday for me: wake up, browse the net, wash up, and of course, go bowling at my local alley on a professional sports condition. I had been fortunate enough to come across this opportunity by a guy I've recently befriended and played for the first time on a professional layout. For those of you who don't know much about competitive bowling, there are special oil patterns laid out specifically for the pros to bowl on, which force them to be more versatile and accurate, while greatly diminishing their margin of error. These oil patterns are usually named after animals including the scorpion, cheetah, chameleon, viper, and shark. These shots are much more difficult due to the higher volume of oil and the placement of the oil.


                                                      Typical House Pattern

When you go bowling casually among friends, you would play on a typical house pattern. The pba description of a normal house shot is as follows:

this is a re-post from the thread on p3 fes from the games section, since no one ever looks there.

Reposting this because Persona 3 is awesome and I just beat it. Any Megaten enthusiasts out there that played this game thoroughly? I had a ridiculous amount of hours on this game, I think over twice the normal game time needed to beat it, and I still feel like I didn't discover half the game (probably true since I'm just starting The Answer).

Some stuff I already accomplished include:

+ Show Spoiler +

I've been observing my surroundings lately, noticing an interesting theme amongst people pursuing a higher skill. Those who are impatient or stuck in a rut tend to blame a chunk of their misgivings on the lack of skill due to talent, unless they give up and throw everything away in frustration.

“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.” -Albert Einstein.


I have two activities that I love to death: Starcraft and bowling. First, I've been playing SC:BW since 2002; I consider myself decent, but not too good for the length of time that I've been playing. My records for BW include a few CW wins that I don't even remember and achieving a high rank of B (late season) on iccup. The other, I've been bowling since 2006. I just officially started bowling in a league so I don't have official/sanctioned records yet, but my top three game scores are 258, 266, and 279 during casual hours at a local alley. As proud as I am of these scores, I'd like to remind you that these were accomplished over long periods of time where I poured time and effort constantly by an undying interest that propelled my level of skill higher and higher.

However, I honestly consider myself someone with very little natural talent at the things I try. I started Starcraft, which was popular at the time, by playing with the kids in my grade. I was easily the worst and I would make the most ridiculously illogical decisions and come up with the stupidest ideas. For example, I thought the key to winning any Starcraft match was the ability to produce 12 zealots as fast as possible and thus, would end up having suicided 12 zealots into a line of sunkens, cannons, or supply/bunker, which by today's standards would look like the Sargas Tribe trying to break a Fastest Map player's static defense.

In bowling, I learned that you were supposed to "spin" the ball to hit the pins more successfully. I ended up trying to twist my wrists and body in positions resembling a chimpanzee tossing a coconut downhill. I think that's okay if you were an absolute beginner just starting out. However, I've continued my charades for at least a year within my respective hobbies before eventually displaying the human trait of learning from your mistakes. My point in bringing these humiliating memories out is that it takes time and patience, for some longer than others.

A while ago, I wrote a simple but specific pm about skills to DJetterstyle who was responsible for the Progamer Power Rank at the time. Shortly after, he made this thread discussing the factors that go into skill. Not only was there no instance where skill was wholly attributed to talent, but it was also largely inferred that skills come from experience, hard work, and one's ability to hone his strengths to his advantage. If you're interested in that type of discussion, you should give it a read since there were many intelligent responses given by smart individuals.

In another recent thread, there was a good piece of insight on how talented people seem to truly enjoy what they do as described in the OP. I won't take anything else from that thread since it touched upon other personal issues, but that one insight mixes well with this quote:


“Passion is a positive obsession. Obsession is a negative passion.” -Paul Carvel


Indeed, I feel those who have a positive passion for things they like would do better than people who have an obsession. Why? People who have passion love doing what they do. People who have an obsession are usually caught up in either winning or getting to a certain level that they forget about what's important: enjoying the damn thing. That is not to say people who are skilled and passionate do not care about winning at all; there is a certain amount of a winning mindset desire required to compete amongst high levels, but did Michael Jordan not love basketball to practice many hours a day, every day before finally making his high school basketball team?


Personally, I'd keep it simple. Hobbies are the paths of life everyone should explore. I take a look around me at the people close by and I would find that most of them just hate what they do. Some are stuck at the office doing mountains of paperwork, others like myself are students struggling to maintain their gpa, and there are even those who must LIVE their work such as my parents who run and worry over their business (thanks economy!) Beside reaching for a specific goal, you should not put unhealthy, unnecessary weight on something you should enjoy. When your hobby turns into something to gain profit from, I believe you'll start looking at it like a job. What I wrote were subjects of my thoughts as I pondered, so if anyone wants to create a discussion, please feel free as well and thanks for reading!

UPDATE!! New High Score:



We know the pinnacle of every bowler's dream - the perfect 300 game. If you can string 12 strikes in a given game, you enter that group of high rollers in the bowling world who can brag about hitting X's across the board. Yesterday, I was pretty close to obtaining that dream, but missed by one open frame.


Bottom score is mine, obviously

So I started off with a 6 bagger, left a split, and finished out with strikes. The lane conditions were about medium oily, so I was using a traditional stroker's line, throwing straight and in from the 5th board on the first arrow. On the 7th shot, I happened to throw significantly deeper, from about the 2nd arrow and in. I knew that I threw that shot wrong from the moment I released the ball, so I was hoping for a brooklyn hit. Unfortunately, the oil held too strong and my ball had no chance of recovering, resulting in a high hit, leaving a 4/9 split. Some people might say that even if I struck on the seventh, the pressure may have gotten to me on later frames, especially while filling the 10th, but I felt that if there was any night I could hit the big 3 game, it would've been yesterday night.

The bowling balls I use consists of:



Storm Virtual Gravity


One of today's strongest reacting bowling balls, I use this as my main strike ball. Having bowled over hundreds of games already, the reaction on this ball died and it doesn't seem to hit as hard, but it's still a solid bowling ball to keep in one's arsenal.



Brunswick Intense Inferno


I love using Brunswick's line because of their smooth, easy-to-read arcs. I was fortunate enough to find an intense inferno, the longest holding line amongst the infernos at a proshop near me where they had this ball plugged and ready for resale at a bargain $70. I use this ball as my secondary striker, taking advantage of it's easily read hook as I move deeper into the lanes as the boards dry out.



Columbia 300 White Dot


Spare shots. This ball is there to pick up easy 1 or 2 pin spare conversions, especially for hitting the annoying 10 pin. This ball is not meant to hook, as it's made of polyester (pretty much plastic) coverstock, so it's going to go straight at whatever pin you're trying to snipe.




That's pretty much it. I'm happy with my new high game for now and I have plenty more opportunities to hit higher scores. More than that, I'd be happy if I could maintain a steady 210~220 average. Now if only my bowling alley would turn off their annoying disco lights...

EDIT: I'll be updating this thread constantly as my high score keeps increasing, until I hit the exalted 300. Then, I'll make a separate thread proclaiming my perfection achieved :o

You know, my workplace tends to draw a ridiculously oversized bee or two on an annual basis. Last year, I made a thread because of one, and it looked almost identical to the one in this thread.

This time, a more dangerous looking specimen of this repulsive family of stingin' buzzers decided to waltz into my humble abode. Whereas the bee in my previous thread was fat, yellow and lazy looking (albeit fuckin HUGE!!), my guest of today was slim, thin and lethal to the core.

But today, I was ready. Last year's encounter with the wildlings had already prepared me for this one moment, the decisive battle! 10:32 AM, I was quietly working the cash register when I heard a distinct buzzing sound. Immediately, I recognized the heavier tone and prepared for a fight. At once, I whipped out my weapon of choice: an 18" plastic flyswatter (BLUE!!) and the battle ensued. Swift, aerial attacks raining needles from the sky vs. the patient, cocked and ready for action poise of the flyswatter.

The result??



                                                                  Pwnt!!

This year, the dark hot parking lot would carry the carcass of a great fallen warrior. The soul of that warrior now rests in hell, telling its brothers in trepidation about the human monster who turns bumblebees into humblebees, Ziller, the killer!



                                                I win! And look at that size of that thing...




Actually...I was scared silly and ran to the corner of the store like a little pussy. My dad and this carpenter guy killed it with said flyswatter. I just happened to take the victory snapshot after they tossed the bee out the door -_-

Paraphrased, but feel free to add/correct the awesome Day[9] quotes in the Chill vs Combat-ex Showmatch!

"...going for this strategy, which I think is fucking terrible, but what do I know, I'm just a mother fucking A level zerg!"

"That's a terrible proxy! That's so terrible, my grandpa could proxy better than that. He has arthritis too. And he's dead!"

"(Keeps clicking over Chill's hatcheries) and now, Combat-ex will get run over by Chill's fearsome macro of 3 larvae per hatch"

"FIX THE COLURZZZ" -Hot_Bid

Let's hear it for Day[9], everyone!

I DID IT!!!

Following up on my last blog, I needed a 100% to get an A- for my macroeconomics class. I was stressing out really badly about it, since I knew it was a far stretch to accomplish something like that and especially since my test grades were hovering around the 80's and 70's throughout the semester. This was the result:
+ Show Spoiler +

So I need a 100% on my macroeconomics final to barely make A- in the course with rounding.

GGNORE

I'm wondering if anyone's knowledgeable about macroeconomics, by any chance? The final is 25~30 questions on only 3 chapters (6, 7 and 10) on the McConnel and Brue book if anyone's familiar.

Welcome to another rpg blog from yours truly. Today, I'll be writing about a game in a JRPG series I've recently discovered, titled Persona for the PSX and PS2 platforms. So, as the title suggests, I've been playing Persona 3 (FES) of this JPRG series.





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For those that are new, I'll start off with some boring history/information. The following information included from the indented dashes above to the ones below will contain side information that you can skip. To start, know that Persona 3 FES is the expansion of Persona 3, much similar to how Starcraft Brood War is the expansion to Starcraft. Basically, FES is a two-part game that has Persona 3 with extra features PLUS another chapter in the story, which pretty much acts as a sequel in itself. The first and original part is called The Journey, while the sequel is called The Answer. I'll be covering the first half (The Journey) of the FES expansion in this blog. That being said, Persona is a spinoff series from Shin Megami Tensei and its sequels, commonly abbreviated into the Megaten series. In turn, that series is based on the novel series Digital Devil Story by author Aya Nishitani. I want to mention this because I personally confused Persona with the actual game Shin Megami Tensei. To clarify, take a look at the case covers:

Persona 3/Persona 3 FES


Shin Megami Tensei 3


Observe that these two separate game titles contain "Shin Megami Tensei" in them; however, the two are completely different games. More information on that can be found on its wikipedia page.


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Now, with that fun little FYI session out of the way, let's move onto the actual game!


                                                How the game breaks down


I'll say this straight up and to the point: Persona 3 is a big game, a big game that separates what you do during the day, from the morning when you start school, to after school/evening when you decide on what to do or where to go, to midnight when you enter a separate time dimension called the "dark hour".

Daytime

During the day, you are a normal second year high school student. After waking up, you go to school and decide how you want to live your high school life. You might be the type to become involved in many clubs and make many acquaintances. Or maybe you're the type who loves flirting and hanging out with girls. It is your choice to determine what kind of high school student you'll become. In any case, the decisions you make to establish your reputation will determine your three social status areas:

Charm - How popular you are, usually determines your ability to talk to girls.
Academics - How smart you are, can influence how well you do on your mid term and final exams. Also lets you talk to certain people.
Courage - How brave you are, you might find yourself able to converse with intimidating people depending on your courage.

As these social stats increase, you will find yourself with a broader selection of people you can seek to socialize. In turn, the people you meet provide you with social links, an established factor that helps boost the experience of a summoned persona depending on the level of that particular link. Generally, it is in your best interest to meet new people, establishing as many social links as you can. However, it is also wise to focus on nurturing a relationship with a few people to raise their social links if you wish to raise a particular class of personas. Ultimately, it is up to you to balance those factors.

That being said, what exactly is your daily life like? In the morning, you'll usually find yourself at the school gate. Depending on which days, certain characters may come up to you and ask you a question or strike up a conversation with you. You can usually respond with any answer and it basically has no effect on the actual game. A particular morning, for example, may consist of a character approaching you to simply talk.


Senior Ahkihiko Sanada talking with you.

Generally, the game places you at different times throughout the day (lunchtime, afterschool, evening, etc), depending on any events that may occur on a specific day. For example, your teach may call on you during the morning to answer a question (a correct answer will raise your charm), then during lunch, an acquaintance might come up to you in order to hang out after school (a chance to raise a social link). A school day will almost always have the time "afterschool", when you can make the decision to hang out depending on who's available, or join a club depending on which days they meet, or even hang out by yourself at a local strip.



You are being scolded for giving the wrong answer in class.


The team captain Kazushi puts up a bold front for newcomers to the track team


The Dark Hour

Once midnight strikes, you are no longer a regular high school student. You are a persona user that fights shadows, enemies of mankind who cause apathy syndrome, a condition that pretty much turns you into a vegetable. It is the Dark Hour that makes this game an RPG instead of a japanese school life simulation game, starring a cast full of high school kids.

The dorm you live in comprise of the select few who are your comrades and fellow persona users. Depending on who's available, you might make a trip to Tartarus, a mysterious tower that appears during the dark hour in place of your school. Inside are shadows that lurk around every corner, growing stronger as you climb each level of the giant structure.

To survive within the daunting tower, you'll finally get to use what we've been discussing all along - your personas! Basically, the purpose of your persona is to provide you with the power needed to defeat shadows. Your default persona is Orpheus, a Fire-type persona that provides you with those attributes. The skills that your persona has will be at your disposal on the battlefield (or off, if you have healing skills!) On that note, you have one special ability that the other persona users don't: you can summon multiple personas. This unique ability allows you to choose from many different arcanas, the different classes of persona. It is also this ability that gives you flexibility depending on your enemy's strengths and weaknesses.

Keep in mind, this is also why it was previously mentioned that establishing multiple social links was so important - each social link will represent a specific arcana. Take your time to discover them all - it'd be no fun to limit yourself to the same skills and attributes throughout the entire journey through the Dark Hour.

Some examples of the different persona:


A Tower arcana persona gaining bonus experience from the maxed out social link.


The stats of Jack Frost, an ice type persona from the Magicians arcana.


Your default persona Orpheus of the Fool arcana leveling up and learning a fire skill.



                                                            Final Comments

Overall, Persona has earned the top spot in my favorite RPG series next to Tales. I have just started playing this series and am about 30 hours into The Journey, so I am unable to really delve into the mechanics and gameplay. I know a few of you already know the Persona series, so please leave a comment!


                                                                  ~Fin~

With the new season under way and thousands of eagerly-awaiting fans swiftly swarming the refreshed Iccup ladder, I feel a strong foreboding of a promising era to come. As with the recent previous seasons, there is sure to be an extremely competetive pool of gamers scouring every level from the initial red ranks to the prestigious gold. Reading the blogs and brood war section on this site, I see many aspiring ICcup players hoping to gain that extra leap to finally achieve their goals, whether it's the next rank or new level of skill. Seeing so many motivated iccup players inspires me to help you - the fresh wave of ladder players, so this blog is dedicated to the new season before the new year!

Beginning of the season

To begin, I want to discuss a few things regarding ladder gaming. As you all know, the beginning of the season is the scariest time around. Why is that? This time of the season is when all the big fish of the sea mix in with the small fries. In other words, it is very possible that you may be a D/D+ skill user facing off against a previous B or A rank gamer, so watch out for the sharks and predators; they'll be infesting the shallow waters for a while.

On the other hand, there are among those who are bold (crazy) enough to actually seek out the big names to get a feel for high rank gaming. That is good and fine once in a while, but I personally feel it's pointless in terms of learning to play against those who are on a completely different skill level. Imagine a small elementary school student picking fights with jacked high school football players. It just won't work out in the end. For the sake of this guide, try to stay within your skill range or slightly better.

Learning to see beyond the rank.

One of the things I fear for each generation of aspiring gamers is their tendency to fall for deception. I know it's easy to sway into the rhythm of looking at a gamer's rank, but try to avoid achieving a rank for its face value. Sure it's nice to receive praise for achieving that blue and shiny B- rank, but the real question is, how well can you do against the variety of gamers within that same rank? Like any other manmade design, ladder gaming has its systematic flaws, which many players know how to abuse. In some cases, players get to B- by avoiding certain matchups, some play only on certain maps, and some cases even include racking wins by playing or asking a certain player to lose against you. I'm not necessarily saying the higher ranks are full of abusers, but be wary. It's better to seek experience from the games you play rather than simply bragging you got A+, which 99.99999% of the time, is an obvious lie.

Understanding the game

More importantly than winning, the goal of iccup training emphasizes your ability to analyze your losses. If you've played 20 games on iccup at your approximate level and won each game effortlessly, you're not going to get any better. Improving your skill will require facing multiple situations against strong opponents. However, on the same note, if you're playing 20 games and collecting losses down a one-way street, you're probably not analyzing your game correctly. Think about weight training - to become stronger, you'll need to struggle with the weights you can handle. If you take on too much, you'll probably injure yourself; if you take on too little, you probably won't see any results.

That being said, how do you analyze losses and improve? That question doesn't have a set answer, since people have different methods that work for them. Personally, I have found my best method by watching my own replays. However, instead of watching what I did, I'd look at what my opponents did. Turn off your own vision and place yourself in the other guy's shoes; you'll be surprised to see the same battles fought from the opposition's point of view. Replays are a great resource that many people neglect as part of their training, perhaps because it's so hard reliving the humiliation of losing.

Patience

Have patience. You probably know what I'm talking about. Many a keyboard and mouse equipment have seen all sorts of damage to the frustrations of a ladder game on a tilt. If you play enough games on iccup, it's bound to happen sooner or later, but most of you already know this. Learning to overcome these down times is one of the hardest parts of training, so bear with it. For those who are just starting out, simply stop and take the time to recover if you're feeling too frustrated to go on gaming with a clear mind. Remember, you're playing in a ladder with the most competetive seasons BW has ever seen. Playing at the current C ranks is on a way different level than playing C ranks during the PGT seasons. Everyone is on eRoids these days and have eeh han timing. The guy on the other end has a progamer's mentality and aspires to become the next Savior or Flash, while Protoss simply got better at 1a2a3a4a (this, coming from a protoss player). To become better at Brood War now will require more determination and perseverence than ever before.

Conclusion

Have enough determination and perseverence, and you'll accomplish your goals. It's disgusting to see gamers play like 15 games on iccup, lose, and make a thread on TL crying about how they can't get any better. People learn at different paces. Stick it out to the end and don't give up. That's pretty much all I have to say. I was bored at work, so I decided to write this mini-guide.

64.8% of the statistics I've used in this guide are 100% true.