This isn't a passel of good news for your disposal. Just two, actually--a worldwide news, and a personal news.
The first one, the worldwide news, is this: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won Best Picture in the Academy Awards, and a flurry of other awards besides--including Best Adapted Screenplay and, hurrah--Best Director. All of the awards for them are, I think, very well-deserved...mostly because I'm a very biased Rings fan, but a lot still goes to the entire movie and everything and everyone involved in it. The trilogy was truly a masterpiece, and I'm sure even J.R.R. would have thought so, as well.
Having said that, I just realized that I have a handful of movies on queue to watch, the primary one being Finding Nemo, which, loser that I am, even though we have it on DVD, I still haven't watched.>_< Yes, I am a loser. But at least, I am a smart loser, if only on vocabulary and grammar and French and English History and Special Products and Electron Mnemonics.
The personal news, being personal, has something to do with me (of course). For the past months, I've constantly agonized over the Level 3 Japanese Proficiency Exam and how despite the fact that I've worked so hard and studied so much, I knew deep inside my heart of hearts that I wouldn't pass. But you know what? I just got a call from my Sensei earlier this afternoon (while watching the Academy Awards), and up to now, I *still* can't believe that I actually passed. I mean, sure, it may be a measly 63 or 64 percent, but by heck, how many people can say that they've passed that exam by studying in just, oh, less than six months? Needless to say, I'm proud. I still can't believe it, and for the past couple of minutes I've been slapping and pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming and I really did pass...and I'm not dreaming. I really passed. And it feels good to know that.
Sad news, though, is that among the seven of us who took the test, two didn't pass, and one of them is my very good friend. I think she might have been expecting it, but still...I don't know how to tell her about it. I'll have to rehearse. It's such a shame--she only needed ten percent to pass, or so Sensei said.
Anyhow...moving on. I did say early this morning that I was going to give a review of Final Fantasy X's ending and final boss battles. So I'll be doing that now.
Well...I wonder if I can consider Omega Weapon as one of the final bosses of this game. He is an optional boss, but well...my fight with him didn't really go on that long (as I cheated Anima's stats so that his damage was 99,999 of which Omega's HP is twice the number of, I think), but I knew if I had allowed it to go on so long, I would've died in a VERY bad way. I know Omega, and I know Light Pillar and his other attacks, so I was kinda scared to let the fight go on long. So I knew I had to dispose of him quickly--and I did.^^ Level 4 Key Spheres (6) are nice rewards for beating him--just what I needed to finally let Lulu learn Ultima.
And then, for the Final Battles inside Sin's City:
The first one is the ever-enduring Seymour (whom I now really hate). Still ever-annoying, so I had to dispose off of him quickly. He wasn't that hard to kill (because of my cheated Anima stats)--only took a hit, really. I didn't like him, so it wasn't like I was sad when he died. I wasn't.
Before the second battle, there was that little mini-game where you had to collect ten treasures from this weird Macalania Woods-like place, and while trying to collect the treasures (which come in balls of light) you had to evade these ice stalactites (or stalagmites?) because if you bump into them, it's fight time. Anyway, first time I played this I got the game over (was petrified--yeah, how stupid of me). Second time I played I got it all done but the player hanged up on me. Third time's the charm. Third time, everything all worked out nicely--and this time, I didn't cheat at all.
Anyway, yes...after that ball collecting, I was transported to the "Zanarkand that never sleeps," where the ultimately cool Jecht was waiting--to fight Tidus and everyone else, I suppose. Here is where I went into waterworks.;_; "Braska's Final Aeon," Jecht, that is--wasn't so hard to kill, even with his two forms. He didn't give status attacks, and you can actually finish him off real quickly. And plus, you can actually lower his Overdrive gauge and attack by making Tidus talk.;_; Poor Jecht. Anyway, in the end, he died, and just as he was falling to the ground...Tidus catches him.;_; Me and my sister were going into major waterworks here. I totally love Jecht, and it was sad how Tidus only finally accepted him when he died. And still, the only thing Tidus can tell him is "I hate you, dad." But for what it's worth, he did tell Jecht that: "for the first time, I'm proud to have you as my father.";_; So sad.
The second to the last fight (series of fights, really) was an emotional turmoil for Yuna, because it involved having to fight and kill all of the Aeons. The sad thing about this was when you're fighting the nice Aeons who are big on reaction, because when you put the cursor on them, they say various things, like "please kill me," "soon it will be over," and such. It was sad, but...just sad, mainly. But pretty easy, considering you had Yuna and her Holy and Lulu and her Ultima (and Auron, Wakka, and Kimahri, whose damage were a never-fail 9999 in my game--no cheats!) were in a win-win situation, as you were all in perpetual AUTO-LIFE status, meaning, no one can die, like, ever.
The final battle was with the man himself, Yu Yevon the immortal. Honestly, Yunalesca was harder than him...all you had to do was give him one of Auron's Zombie attacks, then finish him off with a Phoenix Down, or if you want--just hit him and hit him and let him Curaga himself to death.^_^ And then, here's where the ending plays, and the ending video.
I wasn't too partial with Yuna, so much of the love ending between her and Tidus didn't impress me much (the video was great, though). My favorite part was when Tidus finally jumped into the abyss under the old Zanarkand and we see Braska (who's very HANDSOME) and Auron (HANDSOME, what can I say? I LOVE him), and then, Tidus high-fiving Jecht (ahhh...I really LOVE him to pieces, I SWEAR to GOD), which is one of the coolest scenes in this game. Finally, the two of them have resolved their differences and now...they were Father and Son, in the ultimate sense. They understood each other. That's the coolest bit of this game--the relationship between Tidus and Jecht (and the second coolest is the Braska-Auron-Jecht relationship. Kinda reminds me of Laguna, Kiros, and Ward in FFVIII).
The final ending was a speech from Yuna, in which she tells everyone in Spira "never forget the dreams..." undoubtedly, she was talking about her dear love, Tidus. After the credits, a little Tidus scene plays. Of course, we know he's still alive.^_^ Not that I particularly care.
All in all, the ending was pretty good...the Tidus-Jecht-Auron-Braska parts, at least. Those are my favorite scenes. And oh yeah, I remember Auron patting Kimahri just before he (Auron) was sent. I think that was sweet.^_^
For my part, I wish X-2 wasn't about Yuna and her search for Tidus, but rather, a prequel of sorts, about Jecht, Braska, and Auron and their pilgrimage. Sort of like the Laguna Dream Sequences in FFVIII. But that's just me.
To end this, today's been a...pretty interesting day. It's quite hot, though. But interesting nevertheless.
Current Mood: Curious (I wanna see my Level 3 score sheet and the certificate)
Current Music: Into The West (Annie Lennox, 2004 Academy Awards Best Song, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
Posted by apple-chan
at 3:43 PM WST