Swimming in the Seine in Assassin's Creed Unity (Time Lapse)

Figured I'd revisit this game since I missed swimming the Seine river in Paris.

I'm done.

Assassin's Creed Origins // Scenery Time Lapse

Time lapse of various locations throughout Ancient Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins.

I'm done.

Crouch Walking Across Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins (Time Lapse)

The original recording of this feat happened in earlier in the year. While I was deleting files to recover more space in my hard drive, I ended up deleting the clips before I could edit. So I had to re-record the whole crouch walking feat again.

The route is similar to most of the routes I took for horse riding (northwest to southeast of the Egypt map). I made two edits in the middle of the run to turn off subtitles and to reset a route when I went inside a dead end instead of following the usual route. Another change I made is try not to move the camera as much and keep the destination cursor visible in the center and static. That makes it prettier in the timelapse video.

This is the longest of all routes in my Assassin's Creed videos so far, but only about 5 minutes longer than the sum of all strolling (walking) maps from Assassin's Creed II. If I were playing on PC and set the slow walking option instead of sprinting, this would exceed over 2 hours. I'm not sure if I'll do a video for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, though. That game is huge. The biggest hurdle is the numerous islands. There's more stuff to do in each islands compared to past games. We'll see if I have time.

I'm done.

Riding Across Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins: War Chariot Edition (Time Lapse)

I'm riding the two-horse drawn war chariot across Egypt from one point(northwest) to the other (southeast). This is the fastest means of traveling in the game with drifting for quick turns. I had to be careful with huge jumps. Unlike horses and camels in Discovery Tour mode, war chariots break easily with falls and high impact.

Unlike the main game, you can't just whistle and call war chariots in Discovery Tour mode. It's mostly a chance encounter with Roman soldiers. Then you have to follow them around until they stop and get off the chariot so you can use it. There are two towns near the northwest portion of the game where you can find war chariots. Once I gain control of them, I had to drive them back to my starting point. They're about the same speed as the eagle flight.

I'm done.

Riding Across Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins: Cattle Wagon Edition (Time Lapse)

Throughout the game world, there are NPC farmers riding cattle wagons with leaves and other types of plant debris. I think some of these are used in random missions, but they're mostly for show and for NPC to go about their routine. You can hide in the plant debris. They are also slower than running. They don't spawn by whistling like a horse, camel, or war chariot, but they are rideable. Since I'm in Discovery Tour mode, I have to track them near farmland in order to do this task.

I'm riding the cattle wagon across Egypt from one point(northwest) to the other (southeast). It starts out in the same path as the horse and camel ride, but changes in the middle going around the mountains from the right side. I end up back back in Faiyum Oasis. I had to be very careful not to fall and tip the wagon. Unlike horses and camels in Discovery Tour mode, wagons break and the cattle are not invincible.

I'm done.

Riding Across Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins: Camelback Edition (Time Lapse)

I'm riding a camel across Egypt from one point(northwest) to the other (southeast). This is close to the same path that I took with the horse with a slight alternate route about two-thirds of the way. Since I'm in the Discovery Tour mode like my other videos, there are no deaths or enemy/animal fight encounters.

I'm done.

Boating from the Nile to Faiyum in Assassin's Creed Origins (Time Lapse)

Using a boat made of reeds, I traveled from the top of the Nile where it meets the Mediterranean all the way the down south to the embankments and shallow passages leading to Faiyum Oasis. The reed boats are significantly slower than the Felucca sail boats. They are comparable in speed to swimming.

I'm done.

Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea in Assassin's Creed Origins (Time Lapse)

Back to playing as Bayek, I'm swimming from east to west of the Mediterranean Sea (Great Green Sea and Mesogeios Sea). Even on Discovery Tour mode, the NPCs on sail boats will always sail towards you thinking you're drowning. The only way to complete most of this is by swimming underwater in Tour Mode (no deaths). The swim speed is about the same, but I didn't really test it.

I'm done.

Sailing Through the Mediterranean in Assassin's Creed Origins (Time Lapse)

Playing as Cleopatra (using Discovery Tour), I'm sailing from west to east of the Mediterranean Sea (Great Green Sea and Mesogeios Sea) on a Felucca sail boat.

I'm done.

Sprinting Across Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins (Time Lapse)

Playing as Aya, I'm sprinting across Egypt from one point (southeast) to the other (northwest). This is the opposite direction as the route I took riding a horse. The console version of Origins removed the "sprint" button and incorporated both walking/running with the left analog stick. Since I can't do a consistent walk animation, there won't be a walking across Egypt video. I avoid water as much as possible, but it's fine here.

Warning:
Due to YouTube re-encoding the videos to their specs in a lower bitrate, you will see a lot of pixelations in 60 frames per second videos in any fast moving scenes. It's too bad because the original video looks really good on my system.

I'm done.

Riding Across Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins: Horseback Edition (Time Lapse)

Assassin's Creed Origins is a big departure for the series with an expanded world and new gameplay mechanic that focuses on RPG elements and more action instead of the tailing and stealth missions in previous games. Fans are divided, but everyone can agree that this is a beautiful game.

Set in Ancient Egypt, you play as Bayek, the last of the Medjay from the Ptolemaic Kingdom as he searches for the people responsible for the murder of his son. His wife, Aya, works with Cleopatra to take back the Ptolemaic Kingdom and investigate the mysterious masked men from the Order of Ancients.

Playing as Aya, I'm riding a horse across Egypt from one point(northwest) to the other (southeast). I believe this is the longest straight path of the map from the northwest to southeast. I avoid water since the horse riding animation ends. Note that horses slow down to half their top speed when they are near/inside towns or cities. A small section has me going through Cyrene so I slowed down the time to half speed as well. It's not really an accurate estimate, but I basically lose about 30 seconds. With Senu's flight speed, an unimpeded straight horse ride is probably faster.

I'm done.

Thanksgiving in New York 2019

After a year hiatus, we are back in NYC again.

Went by the Vessel in Hudson Yard on the way to High Line Park in Chelsea. Then took the subway to Chinatown for Hop Kee (Thanksgiving dinner) and Taiyaki NYC for desserts.

Went to the Vessel with our tickets the next morning. Went shopping with my sister in the afternoon. Dinner at Toni's Di Napoli: Family Style Italian Restaurant. Siblings and parents had broadways shows for the night. I just went around Times Square and to Rockefeller Plaza.

I'm done.

Final Fantasy XV - A Playthrough

I know I basically lambasted this game in my review and I didn't really expect much. However, I'm still going to finish this game for reasons. I've been playing most RPGs with a guide in hand to help me along the way. When it comes to JRPGs or just huge open world games like Fallout 3 or the Assassin's Creed games, I've got a strategy guide on the ready to get all the collectibles and game objectives for perfect playthrough. Back in the late 90s and 2000s, I used to buy strategy guides. Now with a really fast Internet and more developed online presence, there's really no reason to buy strategy guides when you have a gaming community contributing strategies for the game for free.

That said, I've been pretty relaxed with Final Fantasy XV. I'm treating this unlike any of the Final Fantasy games i've played before. I'm going about it my way like a sandbox game. Maybe that's how Squeenix designed it: to be a Final Fantasy game that is not as rigid and linear as past games.

Anywho, I've been doing side quests for the most part of my current 35+ hour playthrough. Actual game time is probably closer to 30+ actual hours of gaming. I'm still on Chapter 3 of the main story and already pretty high level. I logged in close to 12 hours of progress between Saturday and Sunday night this past weekend when tragedy happened: I accidentally overwrote my current save data with an older one.

Balouve Mines

The following day, I checked what quests I had to redo. They're not much, but they're still a pain to do with driving, running, riding a chocobo to the destination and fulfilling the quest. Prior to tackling these quests again, I remembered the various treasure spawn points in the game that I've come a cross. Some of them hold key items for fetch quests to upgrading weapons.

The in-game map is filled with icons from information supplied by chefs and cooks in the game (they not only cook you food, but they hand out hunting quests and provide info about the immediate area about active quests, treasure, parking and pitstops, or item spawn points).

So while I'm redoing these quests, I'm also scouring the area for these spawn points to activate scripted events that I may not know of (like photo op quests to take photos of scenic views with the gang). One of the treasure locations is near an abandoned train track which I encountered earlier in the game in Chapter 1. I thought it was just a backdrop with nothing of value. I decided to follow the train track and it lead me to an abandoned mine. These function as dungeons in the game and hold the royal weapons that your main character must collect to help in his battle in reclaiming the thrown of Insomnia and bring back the crystal (because it's not a Final Fantasy game if the crystal is not in danger).

It turned out to be a high level dungeon with very low level minions (goblins that push mine carts your way for damage) and a high level samurai like boss. I beat it and recovered a royal weapon (a cross bow). This was not marked on the map so finding it by accident was a really nice experience.

Castlemark Tower

There's a photo quest that I had to redo about taking a photo of an ancient royal burial site/tomb. When I finished this quest in my lost save data, the site was ransacked with a note from the Hunting HQ people in the game saying the weapon was stolen by daemons and brought to Castlemark. I didn't know what it means so I just ignored it for now. I figured I'd run into it again later in the game when I've unlocked more features like summoning gods.

(Note: Daemons are creatures of the night which are mostly high level and more dangerous than creatures during the day. The lore of the game is that there's an unknown malady causing longer nights for the world of Eos and daemons rule the dark)

In my quest of redoing these quests, I was trying to catch some fish with the main character and realized a map location which I went through last week to hunt a monster that only appears at night. There's a circular structure in the area, so I decided to go over there with my chocobo in daylight. It turns out be an abandoned castle and was, in fact, Castlemark Tower. The game map updates it as a dungeon location, but there is no entrance to go inside. I remembered the message from that ransacked tomb about daemons. Since daemons only appear at night, I waited at a local camping ground (save points and camping in the game where it tallies all the experience points you accumulated and levels you up, including your skills). At night time, I went back to Castlemark Tower and some of the walls and floors are illuminated. The entrance is also now open and I was right that it only opens at night.

This dungeon has some seriously high level enemies, confusing layout, and moving wall blocks. The final boss is a dragon (Jabberwock). Beating it netted me a greatsword from the past king whose tomb was ransacked.

So what do all of these have in common? Despite not progressing the main story, I'm actually enjoying the side quests and random/surprise encounter in the game. Final Fantasy XV is very different from past Final Fantasy games. I was really used to the rigid linear storytelling. I was also used to knowing what would happen next with a strategy guide, but playing this game blindfolded, in a way, has been refreshing.

I'm going to continue exploring every inch of the map that I can get to, hoping for more surprise encounters like the Balouve Mines and Castlemark Tower again.

I'm done.

The Lost Odyssey of Final Fantasy XV

I just started playing Final Fantasy XV for the PS4 after holding off on it for so long. The game has been in production since 2006 and was planned as a spin-off title for Final Fantasy XIII. It shares the same mythos found in that game, but set in a completely different world. The game was retooled and became a main line title in 2012 and was finally released in 2016 after numerous delays.

The game starts with words from the developers saying this game is made for new and returning players. That's supposed to say "trust us, you guys," but I'll have to see it for myself.

You're thrown into the story of events already happening sometime in the future for a few minutes. Then it cuts back to the present with the main character and his friends heading out of the huge castle with barely anyone (non-playable characters) around, sent off by the king and his advisor with encouraging and hopeful words for their journey and the task at hand. Your car breaks down and your characters push it to the nearest shop. Cue in Florence Welch (Florence + the Machine) and her rendition of "Stand by Me" swells in the background as the camera pans and zooms out, showing the horizon of this big beautiful, yet somewhat empty world. Then the title, "Final Fantasy XV," is on screen. You reach the stop called Hammerhead and met with a plucky character with a Southern American drawl for some reason, named Cindy, who becomes the game's mechanic for your main characters. Her grandpa is a character named Cid. From here on out, you get to interact with the world and experience the game's battle system.

You control the main character, Noctis, prince of the kingdom of Insomnia, during onscreen battles while your friends, Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto help out. You can issue commands to your friends or execute linked attacks. You gain experience and on leveling up, gain AP which you can use to fill up your character's skill grids. These grids unlock more powers, skills, and abilities that help your character. Typical Final Fantasy flair for the most part. But that's basically it. This huge world is filled with side quests right from the start of the game. You can indefinitely hold off on main story and do as much of the side quests as you want, except for those locations that are blocked for game and story reasons.

When I did decide to continue with the main story, I was shown clips of negotiations going horribly bad for the King of Insomnia with no sound or context. The next thing, the main character wakes up in bed from where they were staying and hears the news from his friend that his kingdom has fallen. This is where you start to see the cracks and where the developers hodgepodge-ed material from FF Versus XIII to fit the story of FFXV, or whatever story they have cooked up to finish and justify the 10-year development of this project.

I'm 17 hours into the game and barely touched the main storyline. I've been doing most of the sidequests and developing my characters' levels and skills. This is why I miss the old Final Fantasy titles: Story.

I don't know if it's the limitations of the tech back then, but story/mythos was center stage on top of gameplay. The more recent FF games seem to have focused on gameplay while having trouble executing a coherent story. I saw the same thing with Kingdom Hearts 3, which underwent its own development hell. I just don't feel a connection with the characters right now. In previous games, you spent a lot of time learning about the story and the characters. You can play mini-games, but side quests were off-limits until further down the line. In FFXV, you're basically doing your own thing from the get go like Fallout 3 or Fallout 4. Maybe it's the whole "open world" strategy that has worked well with titles like Grand Theft Auto or Assassin's Creed, but it's not working out for this game when the story is incomplete to begin with. Assassin's Creed, especially, has a well-established mythology that sprinkles all that information throughout the game. Previous FF games pepper you with this information. FFXV lazily attempts to do that and right now, I just don't care about these characters.

Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy, left Square-Enix and formed his own company. He created Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360. The game is praised for its story, but people were turned off by the outdated turn-based battle system. I think that's what's missing in these more recent Squeenix JRPGs. When you play a Final Fantasy game, you're supposed to feel like you're on this epic journey... an odyssey. I'm hoping at this point where I'm at in the game picks up the pace and the story. But based on numerous anecdotes and reviews from people who've played the game and its numerous DLCs over the past few years, I'm not hold my breath.

I'm done.

Flying Across Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins (Time Lapse)

Assassin's Creed Origins is a big departure for the series with an expanded world and new gameplay mechanic that focuses on RPG elements and more action instead of the tailing and stealth missions in previous games. Fans are divided, but everyone can agree that this is a beautiful game.

Set in Ancient Egypt, you play as Bayek, the last of the Medjay from the Ptolemaic Kingdom as he searches for the people responsible for the murder of his son. His wife, Aya, works with Cleopatra to take back the Ptolemaic Kingdom and investigate the mysterious masked men from the Order of Ancients.

In this video, I'm using Senu, Bayek's eagle companion, to fly across Egypt from one point to the other. I believe this is the longest straight path of the map from the northwest to southeast.

I'm done.

Weekend at Otakon 2019

I skipped 2018, but I went to Otakon this year.

One of the downsides to cosplaying is that you don't get to take as many photos/videos, especially when you're covered all over, but it was worth.

I was able to capture enough photos/video for the weekend festivities.

Enjoy.

I'm done.

Holy Land Tour 2019 (Day 9-10)

Here are clips I took from the last days of our vacation.

Day 9:
This day was spent walking down the valley and the ancient road to the ancient city of Petra, a city of the Nabataean Kingdom inhabited by the Arabs in ancient times. It's a 3 km hike down. Along the way we saw ancient carvings on the sandstone rock walls and statues, eroded through time and restored for tourism. For those who don't want to walk down or up the entrance, they have horse carriages. We walked all the way down. We finally reached The Treasury (Al-Khazneh). It's believed to be the mausoleum of the Nabataean King Aretas IV in the 1st century AD. Further inside are other tombs, the Monastery (Ad Deir), and a massive Roman theatre, positioned so as to bring the greatest number of tombs within view.

The Treasury (Al-Khazneh) in the ancient city of Petra

A panoramic view of the tombs surrounding the mountains in the ancient city of Petra

After Petra was a 5+ hour drive on the King's Highway to Amman, Jordan.

Day 10:

A view of the intact Oval Plaza in the Roman Ruins of Jerash

We started the day at the Roman Ruins of Jerash. Called the Pompeii of the East, Jerash's archeological site house one of the most preserved Roman ruins in the world. Still intact is Hadrian's Arch, built in 129 AD to honor the visiting of Emperor Hadrian. From the entrance is the hippodrome. Further in the back is the South Theater, Temple of Artemis and of Zeus, the Oval Plaza, a large Nymphaeum fed by an aqueduct, the Tetrapylon of Jerash, and many more Roman architectures preserved and restored.

The long colonnaded street (The Cardo)

Our last stops where Ajloun Castle in Ajloun and Our Lady of the Mount Church in Anjara, which houses the cave where Mary, Jesus, and his disciples stopped and rested as they traveled between Jerusalem and Galilee.

Ajloun Castle

We went back to our hotel for an early dinner and rested for a bit before we headed to the airport for an early morning flight at 1:00AM.

I'm done.

Holy Land Tour 2019 (Day 7-8)

Here are clips I took from day 7 and 8 of our vacation.

Day 7:
Our last day in Israel, we took this optional excursion to Masada Fortress and the Dead Sea. First stop is the Masada National Park in the Southern District. We took the cable car up the plateau where Masada Fortress is located. We didn't explore as much because it was really hot, but we got see a lot.

View at the top of Masada Fortress

Included in our excursion is Qumran National Park, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Teen shepherds were trying to find their goat and threw rocks in a cave when they heard something shatter. When they went inside, they found these jars which held what is now known as the Dead Sea scrolls.

Qumran cave where they found first Dead Sea Scrolls

Lastly, we went to Biankini Dead Sea Resort. I didn't record too many videos. Just pictures.

Jordan river at Bethany (Al-Maghtas, Jordan)

Day 8:
After the border security check crossing Jordan from Israel, we went to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, what is widely recognized as the actual location where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. It was extremely hot and dry. Our guide even said this is not normal weather.

View from Mount Nebo, where Moses was granted view of the Promised Land before he died

After lunch, we went to Mount Nebo, where Moses was shown the Promised Land before he died. It's believed to be Moses' burial site, but the exact location is unknown. Shortly was a visit to St. George's Mosaic Map Church. The mosaic map is an ancient map still used by historians and the government to this day to settle disputes and land matters of where the borders of the entire region.

View of Petra at night from Petra Guest House

Then we went back to our bus to drive 3 hours towards Petra, Jordan on the King's Highway. We arrived at night.

To be continued...

Holy Land Tour 2019 (Day 5-6)

Here are clips I took from day 5 and 6 of our vacation.

Day 5:
It's the most relaxing day in our trip and the last day in Nazareth. Our tour director was really nice. She rearranged our itinerary to fit the time of day, traffic, and whether there are a lot of tourists in our destination. Because of that, we were able to go to places outside our itinerary. After buying ice cream for all of us, we went to Jericho and saw the Mt. of Temptation. There were kids giving camel rides to tourists for a fee. Brief stop to see the mountain, buy dried dates from the local shop and then headed out. We also saw the oldest Sycamore tree, believed to be Zacchaeus's tree.

Our next stop was in Palestine, so we crossed the Israel-Palestine border wall to get to Bethlehem. The Church of Nativity is built on the cave where Joseph and Mary stayed and where Jesus was born. Our main goal is to see the grotto of the nativity where Jesus was born, marked by a 14-point star and the manger across from it. Usually, there would be a long line here with all the tourists, but we got lucky and only waited about 30 minutes in line. After that, we headed to our hotel in Jerusalem.

Day 6:

This was a full day. We went to the observation point at Mt. of Olives to see the Old City of Jerusalem. Afterwards, we went inside the Old City starting with the Muslim Quarter to see Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount. We walked the streets towards the Jewish Quarter for the Wailing Wall (the Western Wall). Walked the streets again towards the Christian Quarter to walk the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) where Jesus carried the cross to Calvary (Golgotha) for the Crucifixion.

We started at the 1st Station of the Cross in Via Dolorosa all the way to the 8th station of the cross. The 9th Station is inside a church and they don't allow tourists inside. The last 5 stations are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was our next destination after lunch. Saw the rock on Calvary encased in glass, the Stone of the Anointing, the tomb of Jesus, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and the prison of Jesus inside. Heading to our bus, we saw the Tower of David.

We went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before he was arrested. Went inside the Church of Gethsemane as well. Our last stop for the day is at Mt. Zion to see the Last Supper Room and King David's Tomb.

To be continued...

Holy Land Tour 2019 (Day 3-4)

I joined my parents and aunt and uncle for vacation to Israel and Jordan on a Holy Land Tour package this past May. It was an uplifting experience, one I could never forget.

Here are clips I took from day 3 and 4 of our vacation.

Day 3:
Still in Nazareth. First thing after breakfast, we went to St. Joseph's Church. It's built over the carpentry workshop of Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary. The cave quarters below the church are were the holy family lived and stayed at. We attended mass in the church above after (it's a Sunday).

Heading down the mountain from Nazareth, our next stop was Beit She'an National Park. This archeological site is home to one of the oldest cities in Israel, dating back to the late Neolithic/early Chalcolithic periods (6,000-5,000 BCE). Occupation and settlements continued through the Bronze Age (Egyptian period), Iron Age (time of the Philistines and King David and Solomon), Hellenistic and Roman periods, Byzantine, Early Muslim, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, British Mandate, and today. The excavation site contained mostly remnants of Roman period architecture, but archeologists also unearthed evidence of Greek architecture replaced or covered up with Roman architecture. A 7-year-old boy once found a 3,400-year-old figurine on a hiking trip after accidentally kicking it on the ground.

After lunch, we stopped by Cana Wedding Church (the site of Jesus' first miracle turning water into wine) and saw the stone wine jars from the excavation site under. My parents, aunt and uncle, and other married couple in our tour group scheduled to renew their wedding vows the next day.

Day 4:
This was the most taxing day of the our trip so far, going through several locations around the Sea of Galilee. We went back to Cana Wedding Church for the vow renewal early morning. Took pictures of my parents and aunt and uncle.

Next stop was the Church of the Multiplication (of loaves and fish) at Tabgha. The church rests on the site of two earlier churches from the Byzantine period. In the church are mosaics (old and new).

Next was Yigal Allon Center (The "Jesus boat" Museum), where most of the tour group went on a boat ride in the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias). I went down the pier and just took pictures and videos. Inside the center is the Museum of Man, which was open to the public. for lunch, we went to St. Peter's Restaurant where they served St. Peter's fish (Tilapia).

After lunch, we went to Magdala, the hometown of Mary Magdalene. The dig site contains an ancient synagogue previously unknown. Towards the back of Magdala is Duc in Altum church, a church dedicated to the women who followed and worshipped Jesus and women around the world from different times.

Next is Capernaum, the town of Jesus. We visited St. Peter's Church and ruins of an ancient synagogue. Following this was our stop at Mount of Beatitudes (Jesus' sermon on the mount).

Finally, we went to Yardenit Baptismal site on the Jordan River. This was our last location for the day. Some on our tour group got baptised by an Acolyte member from our group. I didn't get baptized, but I just waded in the river.

To be continued...