the great December 2006 update

Well, FFXI just got updated with a few new stuff. I’ll just go through it briefly on those that concern me most. DRK75, PLD75.

Mog Locker can now be expanded to 70 slots.
At the cost of 5 Imperial Gold pieces. Good thing I have 70,000 Imperial Standing points to spend freely.

Shortcut to Tu’Lia aka Sky.
3 clear chips are needed and they cost 21k each. Or you can just buy 1 but you’ll only be able to warp to sky from the crag you traded your chip to. You will also have to finish the CoP 8-3 pot battle. Because you’ll need the title you get from that BC.

Excellent. Because I go to sky a lot.

Update: blah, seems like there’s a random chance for the chip to break so you’ll have to spend 21,000 to buy a new one to fix it. Not sure if you have to register again.

5 sets of new equip.
I feel lucky the Ares’s set can be used by PLD and DRK. But then again, to obtain the materials needed to make these new equip would require lots of Salvage battles and about 10~12 pieces of the already expensive orihalcum ingots and other hard to obtain items. Oh, and the Ares’s set looks very cool.


(*´д`*)ハァハァ

If I can, I’d choose the flanchard first! But it’s going to make my DRK’s TP gear look very very ugly…

Sentinel, Rampart and Shield boosts.
Sentinel is tested to give 50% damage reduction. Someone got 90% reduction but he tested it using cactuar’s 1000 needles. Could it be possible that there’s a higher damage reduction for monster’s WSes? Also, with Valor Leggings (relic feet) equipped, he got a 100% reduction from 1000 needles.

I did my own tests, only noticed damage reduction from normal attacks. I tested it with /rdm. I got 0 damage even when I didn’t shield block but my target was just an EP.

Didn’t get to test Rampart. All I know is it gives stoneskin effect against magic spells.

When you cast spells and you shield block when attacked, your spell won’t be interrupted anymore. Good news for the PLD/NINs?

Absorb spells reduced to 2 seconds.
From the previous 4 seconds. I wonder if DRK can create skillchains on their own now. I’ll wait and see if other DRKs can pull it off.

Now, best of all…

Lord of Onzozo will no longer drop Kraken Clubs!
Instead, SE are thinking of new ways for everyone to get the club. It would be damn awesome if I can get my hands on 1. I would like to experience Soul Eater, Blood Weapon + Kraken Club for myself. I may also have to level NIN to 37 for utsusemi too… Oh well, let’s see what the new methods of acquiring it are first!

Read the official update here.

Passion by Eminence

I bought my ticket! S$46.


View website

Performing in Singapore on the 23rd December 8pm at the Victoria Concert Hall. 

Performed by a small ensemble, consisting of violins, percussion, guitar and piano, ‘Passion’ will feature the unique and innovative arrangements of memorable themes from games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Tsubasa Chronicle, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, Xenosaga, Haibane Renmei, Shadow of the Colossus, Super Mario Bros., .hack//Liminality and many more.

Sex MachineGuns

Lately, I’ve been listening to their songs a lot. I like their fast paced rock. Here’s a few youtube videos for your enjoyment.


Good Vibration


Aijin 28


Guitar demo

Canon IXUS 800 IS tests

It was a sunny sunday afternoon. I took a few shots on my new camera. I need to learn more about ISOs and exposures and stuff…

Click on them for a larger view


A photoshopped version of the previous photo. Submitted to deviantart.

Here’s 2 photos taken in macro mode. The first one was resized from a much larger image. The second one (ring on my finger) was cropped.


One of my mum’s potted plants. Lots of life.

my weekend sucked

I was watching a few Sex MachineGuns youtube videos on my second PC when my whole room blacked out. I thought there was a power trip somewhere in the house but when I opened the door to my living room, the lights were on and everything was normal.

After some troubleshooting, I found out that the cause was my main PC and it refused to boot up after. I panicked a little. I was afraid of losing the data on my RAID harddisks if the motherboard was dead.

Next day, Singtel’s line-fault technician came to my house to check the lines. Everything seemed fine with him. He trimmed the wires for me and tidied up the wires outside my house a little. The problem didn’t go away still.

When he left, I rushed down to Corbell’s office at AMK techplace to get my Antec PSU replaced.

Since they don’t have anymore PSUs of my model, I was offered a choice to upgrade to their newer models with an extra $30. But the 3 year warranty will continue from when I bought my previous PSU. I have 2 months left. >_>

Went home, installed it, my PC booted up with no problems and everything was intact. *phew*

Later that day, I went to meet a friend at SimLim Square to buy my digital camera. A Canon Ixus 800 IS. SGD$629, free digital camera kit (mini tripod, some cleaning stuff, a bag), free 512MB SD card and a 1GB SD card, free case. And the best surprise freebie: a calculator.

That was when things start to get worse.

I had my PSP with me. I carried it in my waistpouch together with my earphones. At one point while waiting for the bus, I was leaning against a wall on the waistpouch when I felt a little crack sound. Checking my PSP, I found this….

Sucks… ( T-T)

Update:

I’ve sent in my PSP to Sony for repairs. It costs $178.50 to replace the LCD and a few parts. A brand new PSP costs around $330 but I don’t want to have 2 PSPs at home. 1 for playing, 1 for smashing cockroaches.

A firmware upgrade is a must. They will be upgrading the firmware to 2.82 for me. Sucks because I can’t play homebrew. I’ll have to hope someone manages to come up with an easy way to downgrade the firmware. 

Another user offered me $120 to replace my LCD using parts from his PSP which he bricked. I think it was a good offer but it came too late as I’ve already sent it in and said to go ahead with the repairs.