UPDATES

Recently I went on a two-week holiday abroad, which was pretty memorable (but probably for the wrong reason 😵😵) First stop was Bangkok; though I'd been to Thailand a few times (Chiang Mai and Koh Samui) but never its capital. I was there just at the tail end of its Songkran Festival so the streets were still pretty wet and I find the city a little chaotic and, err, smelly. The soaring heat (37c in the morning!) didn't help but I was there mainly to have an overall body checkup, which was extremely cheap. And thought that was gonna take a whole morning but I was in and out within, like, three hours max. Very efficient. Nothing alarming discovered (yay) though maybe it's time for a colonoscopy (will look into that later ><!) 

The rest of the time I pretty much spent indoors or in shopping malls, which are HUGE!! Like, there is one that is as big as the convention and exhibition centre here. So no temple visits for me ... it was simply too hot to be on the streets. The FOOD was a definitely highlight. A yummy meal + Thai tea 😋😋 cost less than HK$100. I mean, it really is outrageous cheap there. 

After four days there it was time to fly to Portugal for a yoga retreat 😁😁 but before that I had to transit through Dubai and it was there I was, literally, trapped for 1.5 days 💢💢 With the benefit of hindsight, when I heard that a whole year's worth of rain poured onto the city in one day two days ago, an alarm bell should have gone off and I should have just bought a one-way ticket to Lisbon but ... how bad could it be?

Well, it was VERY bad. Thousands of travellers were stuck at the Dubai International Airport (one of the biggest in the world) and all tried to get out. So my flight to Lisbon, scheduled to leave at around 2pm, was eventually cancelled eight hours later. Which meant I would need to rebook 😫😫 my flight to continue with my journey. Even though my travel agent was super efficient and secured me a flight out not on the following day but a day after that, I still needed to speak with someone directly/ in person, to confirm that. Also I would still need to think about spending another 24 hours at the airport....

Cut a very long story short, I managed to find a "queue" that actually moved and finally spoke with an airline staff (after seven hours of solid queueing) .. by that time I was very dehydrated and incoherent. I had to sit down to look at a tiny pile of stuff to realise the airline had organised for me a transit visa out of the airport so I could stay in a hotel (the Hilton!) for a night free of charge. My lower back was v sore by that point but I managed to order myself a butter chicken dinner before falling into a deep sleep...

But it wasn't over yet cos when I got up the next morning (4am!) to return to the airport there were no taxis! Luckily there was a car for hire and I didn't even ask him how much and made my way back to the airport and caught my flight out.

Lisbon (never been to Portugal) is as beautiful as I'd imagined it to be and the weather was incredible. On the afternoon I arrived I immediately visited its famous Castello de S. Jorge and learnt that the Moors were once occupied the country and those beautiful and famous decorative tiles are actually heavily influenced by the Islamic culture (like, how amazing and cool is that?!?) 

I managed to see quite a bit of the (very hilly) city over the weekend and on Monday it was time to go to the retreat at Quinta Carvalhas, an area that is about 1.5 hour-drive north of Lisbon. The location is BEAUTIFUL but when I first arrived and waiting for others to arrive (including a long-time HK friend), I was slightly taken aback (and that's totally just me!) by just how "white" (a la White Lotus) the group was. Ahem. I was so relieved to see my friend -- finally, diversity!!

The mare gave birth to this cute foal when we were at the retreat

But, of course, that slight awkwardness so dissipated cos this group of 30 is just the loveliest people on the planet. They are mainly from Canada (where the organisers are based), the UK and a couple of yogis from Chicago. The FOOD alone was worth the $$$ but the whole retreat was so Zen and restorative (yay) it was exactly what I needed (esp after Dubai 😛😛). Also practised doing the handstand and realised I have some strength back after that Covid hiatus.. am gradually moving forward on that particular journey.

A week flew by very quickly and it was time to leave. And guess what I found at the airport before flying out of Lisbon? Unicorn Overlord !!! 

After having beaten the last optional boss of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Reunion (but not actually finishing the game cos of the very sad ending), I finally started Persona 5 Royal, which I must confess it is a disappointment (might elaborate on that in a later post if I have time) ... it just didn't quite do it for me (for now).

Instead, I have picked up the physical copy of the English version of Unicorn Overload (not available at home) and have been having some fun playing that.

It's not as hard as Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (and you know how much I love this title... played close to 1,000 hours!)  but still challenging ... and there is still so much of the game I haven't explored (yet I have been getting by not even with the best weapons...) But I think I have reached the point of the game where difficulty is gonna spike so that should force me to learn more about the game's combat mechanism.

PHEW!! So that's what I've been up to 😁😁

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core Reunion -- Revisited

Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core (PSP version) was the first video game (handheld or otherwise) I ever played and I remember having a hard time beating some of the mission bosses (cos I had no idea about accessories and boosts). Over a decade later, the title has been ported over to the Switch and I knew I had to play it again.

But I didn't get into it right away. The overall graphics/ presentation definitely received a makeover -- but I was disappointed by how some of the characters (I'm looking at you Angeal) still look so I left the game on the shelves for a few months.

After all the hype surrounding the Rebirth release though, and with Zack Fair putting in a guest appearance, I decided to give it another go (and in doing so I have to take a break from Final Fantasy XV). And within a couple of weeks I'm already on Chapter 7, where I should be completing more than half the 300 missions.

One thing that really stuck in my mind re the original Crisis Core is how grindy it was to max out Zack's stats: getting HP + 999% x 2 (yup, I fused Costly Punch) and 255 VIT and SPR for the Minerva (big optional boss) fight. I remember after maxing all his stats I said I would never replay the game again. It got just too tedious.

Luckily with Reunion, the game is less grindy, partly because there are now more than one way to break damage limit (so, not just Costly Punch in the original); with the new Buster Sword battle stance limit break skill, Zack can do 99,999 damage with any other command abilities (like, High Jump and Darkness). All I need to focus on is getting the +100 ATK. I don't even need to worry about boosting HP cos I am not using Costly Punch in this play through. And getting +100 ATK definitely is less grindy and was actually quite fun. Though that has invariably pushed Zack's level to 40+. I am hoping to end the game at around level 60 (90 in the original game, which I still have on my Final Fantasy VII PSP special edition !! 

I should be able to complete 50%+ mission by end of this week and then will jump back into the story -- there is ONE mini game that I am not looking forward to and that is to save someone from a burning house, like, blind... it's such a ridiculous side quest I wish they had gotten rid of that...