Member Interviews: Lava_Yuki

[Charizarzar]

Hey PSNP! Welcome back to another member interview. Our current interviewee is @Lava_Yuki!

 

Lava_Yuki

 

Stock Questions

How did you come up with your PSN name?

My first name is Lava, so that was a fairly simple choice.

 

Yuki was my nickname when I was studying in Japan as people there couldn’t really pronounce my name due to there being no “V” sound in Japanese. I choose that nickname as it was my favourite character from the very first manga I ever read when I was 12, Yuki Sohma from Fruits Basket. It was what initially got me into manga and was my first manga, as before that I only knew about anime. That started my love for manga and my favourite character was Yuki in it, which is the second part of my PSN name. My Japanese friends seem to prefer to call me Yuki-chan rather than Lava-chan including their kids. I gave them the choice of either, but all my English friends call me Lava. So that’s how my PSN name is Lava_Yuki.

 

 

What games convinced you to get your PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5?

I always had SONY consoles since the PS1 days and continued to buy them as they were released.
 

The game that made me buy the PS3 was FFXIII. I have been an FF fan since FFX’s release so it was only natural for me to get this too. My dad who was against video games was convinced when I told him that the PS3 could be used as a Blu ray player and was also region free, as my parents are movie buffs who buy tons of movies from Asia, so they allowed me and my brother to get one. In the end, they rarely got to use it for their movies
as me and my brother were always playing it.
 

For PS4, it was Tales of Berseria. I am a Tales fan since the PS3 days and couldn’t miss this entry. Plus, Velvet looked really cool and I like strong female protagonists like her and also Lightning in FFXIII.
 

For PS5, no particular game as such. In fact, none of the PS5 only titles appealed to me at all. I just simply wanted one because everyone was after one and it was the new SONY Console. I mostly used Twitter stock updates to try and get one. One day this UK store called Curry’s had a competition that if you retweet their tweet on the PS5, you would be entered into a draw to win a VIP code to buy a PS5 out of 2 winners and I won. However, I was on holiday and by the time I would get back to the UK, the deadline to buy it would pass, so that morning I called a friend who was conveniently driving home after a night shift and she picked it up for me on her way back. I was very grateful to her as I would have missed it otherwise. The PS5 game that I enjoyed most was of course Tales of Arise.

 

For the Vita, it was the FFX/X-2 HD remaster, Tales of Innocence R and Hearts R that prompted me to get it and I bought them all at once. I bought the Japanese Vita console; a baby blue and white Vita slim model. I also later got into Japanese Otome games and Visual Novels, which now make up most of what I use my vita for. Psycho Pass and Amnesia V Edition were the two games that got me into them on the recommendation of a Japanese friend who works in game design. I now just use my vita for Otome games and VN’s, while for everything else like RPGs etc. I use my PS5.

 

 

What are your top 5 game series and why?

1. Final Fantasy - I discovered this via Kingdom Hearts as Tidus and the FF7 and 8 characters were in it, with FFX being my first FF after spotting it in a rental store I frequented. I got engrossed in the story, characters and concepts, such as aeons, summoners, idea of turn battle etc. and since then I have played many of the other FF games and spin off titles on DS. The story and characters of FF games are the main things that appeal to me. Lightning is my favourite female protagonist, as I think she is very pretty and I live the strong solitary female types, similar to Velvet in Tales. Tidus is my favourite male protagonist, as he was relatable, funny and a refreshing change from the usual silent broody types. The XIII trilogy and X-2, although criticized heavily, are my other favourites for their speedy ATB battle system and in-battle job change mechanics. FF games also have amazing music and design which I love, especially all the hairstyles. My first car was a black Toyota Yaris named Noctis, as I thought he looked really cool despite my not so cool looking car. I have and read all the Japanese Ultimania Omega books from FFX to the XIII trilogy, and also other FF novella like FFX-2.5, the three FFXIII Episode books and Reminisce.
2. Tales of series - I discovered this series after finishing XIII-2 and spotted Graces F in the sales basket at a music/gaming store when looking for something new to play, and bought it because of Sophie’s long purple hair and the anime art on the cover had caught my attention. I found it extremely funny and the characters and skits were very entertaining. Graces F also has an amazing action battle system with side step which I abused, and after that I played the other Tales games which I bought in used in Book Off in Tokyo. The main thing that appeals to me about Tales is definitely the characters, their interactions and the skits more so than story. I have been to the Tales festival in Yokohama Japan a few times and hence have amassed a large amount of merchandise from the festival and also the Tales shop in Akihabara. My apartment is full of Tales (and FF) wall scrolls, posters, stationary, cushions etc. mostly Yuri related. I enjoyed the latest title Arise, however my firm favourites remain to be Vesperia and Graces F. My favourite characters are Velvet and Yuri.
3. Kingdom Hearts - I grew up with this series and played them all across the original platforms. I got KH1 as the free game when I bought my PS2 as a deal at this toy shop. I like Disney and found the story, albeit very complex, to be pretty cool as I liked the various concepts such as heartless, nobodies etc. and also the characters, particularly Rikku, Aqua, Ventus and Axel. My favourite is birth by sleep, as I liked playing as Aqua and Ventus, being able to play three different routes, plus having a break from the Sora gang was refreshing. I’m not exactly good at Kingdom Hearts in that I can manage proud mode but not critical mode or the data bosses, however I enjoy these games for their general atmosphere and interesting mix of the more serious FF and KH original elements with more light-hearted Disney elements.
4. Persona series - This series always sucks me in with the story, characters and gameplay, but the social element is by far my favourite part (social links/confidant events/dating). I found P5R to be extremely stylish and well designed, and the OST of the Persona games are awesome. I have a Persona playlist on Spotify with how much I like Persona music. I also remembered a lot of the locations in Tokyo from when I lived there, which was a pretty cool element and how they changed Shibuya 109 to 105, a shop which I often bought clothes at. I like Japanese culture and Persona games seem the closest to it, and how they deal with real-life issues experienced by young people and the constraints of society. My favourite characters are Naoto in P4G, Mitsuru in P3 and Akechi in P5R. I am very excited for P3P to be remastered to PS4/5. P4 Golden was my first Persona, which was a revisited title years later in 2021 as I actually did not like it when I first played it in 2016 and had abandoned it.
5. Harvest Moon games - I was really into these in the DS and 3DS days, as I found them relaxing and also addicting, especially as a break between trophy hunting and JRPGs. I like relationship and dating in video games (like what Persona has and the bond system in Scarlet nexus), so this was my main focus in HM rather than the actual farming bit. In fact, I often considered the game complete and stopped playing it once my character got married and had a kid! I’ve not gotten a Switch so I hadn’t played any of the newer Switch titles, however Friends of Mineral town and Pioneers of Olive Town have now been released on PS4, so I will certainly be picking up one of these and aim for the platinum as well, as I’ve not played these since the 3DS days.

 

What are your top 5 games and why?

1. Persona 5 Royal - My favourite game of all time. Similar to what I mentioned in the previous question, this game was extremely stylish and well designed, where I felt like every minute detail was done to perfection from the way the menu opened to the character expressions in the dialogue boxes. I really enjoyed all the social stuff in the game like the confidant events and the relationship and dating parts. Also, although the palaces were very long, they were fun to do as I liked the battle system and making strong Personas. The characters and story in P5R were top class in my opinion; I liked how each of them had their own issues and problems and seeing how they overcame them in their confidant events. I also liked the humour in the game and the unrealistic things you can do in it, like what happens when you date everyone at once or picking someone different for Valentines and White day and getting away with it. It was like an escape from reality. The only thing that I wasn’t a huge fan off was the length; around 140+ hours for an average playthrough which is three times more than most JRPGs. Although it gives good value for money with so much content, it was too long to even consider a second playthrough after the platinum, which took me 184 hours for just one completionist playthrough.

2. FFX-2 - This was the very first FF I completed as a kid. Although FFX was my first FF, I only played until Mi’hen highroad before my brother took it and played all the way up to the dark aeons. Understandably he didn’t touch the FFX-2 as it was “too girly” for him, so I played on my own instead and loved it. As a 12-year-old kid, I liked the pop music and concerts and also the way the main character was female. Being female myself, female main characters were extremely rare back then, especially playable ones other than Lara Croft so the chance to play as a girl was a big thing back then for me until Pokemon and Harvest Moon finally allowed you to play as a girl. In terms of gameplay, I was always a fan of the good old FF Job system and ATB battles so I liked this aspect a lot, especially the way dresspheres could be changed easily mid-battle using the garment grids. I had 11 or 12 playthroughs on the PS2 version and got 100% with trial, error and no internet back then. It’s the game that I consider myself pretty much an expert in now.

3. FFX - as described previously, the story and characters were the big draws for me more so than anything else. I also liked the emotion in the game, the relationship between Tidus and Jecht and how it was written, and being my first FF, it got me into FF and hence remains a game close to my heart. I have a similar relationship with my dad as Tidus does with Jecht, so I related to Tidus that way. He remains one of my favourite FF protagonists and FFX remains one of my favourites in the series. I also liked the south east Asia-like setting which was a nice change from the usual medieval or futuristic settings, especially Besaid Island. I found that all the characters had something interesting about them and were connected to each other in ways that were not obvious to the player. Spira was a beautifully created universe.

4. Tales of Vesperia - This was my first Tales platinum and also the first JRPG I played in Japanese years ago, and I remember learning a lot of new words and kanji from it at the time. I liked Yuri as a dark hero, which I much prefer to the usual hero justice boy type Tales protagonists. The volume the game had with two extra dungeons, mini games and lots of in game costumes as opposed to all being DLC were great, and I liked the OST. Having 9 playable characters was also pretty cool, more than other Tales except Xillia 2 which was the same. The poker game and the snowboarding game were pretty fun mini games, it was a very satisfying and enjoyable platinum as well. Yuri’s Japanese voice actor Toriumi Kousuke is my favourite voice actor.

5. Persona 4 Golden - My first persona game which I really enjoyed and spent 150 hours on. The social links and characters are my favourite thing about Persona games in general, and the P4G title has an amazing OST. This was one of the few solid must-play titles on the Vita, and I was lucky to get it 80% off in a PSN sale years ago in 2016 but didn’t actually play it until 2021, because I forgot I had it until I decided to go through the backlog. Yu is my favourite Persona protagonist.

 

Which unreleased game(s) are you looking forward to the most and why?

Hogwarts Legacy - I love Harry Potter and RPG’s, so both of these in one game is like a dream to me. I have high expectations of this game and I am a proud Slytherin so that will certainly be my house in this game. I am curious to see how this game turns out, as it looks very different to the old Harry Potter games that were released on PS1, 2 and 3 being an open world RPG, so I’m itching to play this. I do hope the platinum is a reasonable one as well.

 

Do you have any other hobbies outside of gaming?
Fitness, reading, drawing, skincare and makeup. I also like watching medical dramas and going out to independent coffee houses for coffee on my days off. I’m good at drawing and had more time for it before I graduated as it’s hard to get any time for it now, but here is a picture I drew.

 

 

Top 5 TV shows, Movies, and/or anime, why, and would you recommend them to people?

1. For anime, Psycho-Pass. I played the game as well and liked the psychological theme in it, and also the more mature vibes compared to a lot of other anime I watched. The game is pretty good for anyone interested and also an easy enough platinum for fellow trophy hunters out there. Here’s a quick opening of the anime, I highly recommend it especially if you are into crime. 
2. Fruits Basket - recently remade to show the whole series, it may feel a bit dated but it was my favourite anime growing up as it is quite emotional and tear-jerking at times. The manga is also really good and perhaps much better than the anime, but I still enjoyed seeing the characters come to life. One thing that struck me about the series is that almost all the characters are from broken or abusive families, or are dysfunctional in some way. I remember I got into the Chinese zodiac from this and made the little ornaments that the main character Tohru makes in the first book out of clay and paint. I recommend the sub rather than the dub.
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3. Movie - Harry Potter movies, I must confess that I love HP and have done since I was a child, I grew up with this series and could watch these moves over and over. I’m a pure Slytherin by the way, and Malfoy is my favourite character.

4. TV Shows - The Resident and Chicago Med - These two are my favourite medical dramas, they are more serious and medical compared to dramas like House MD and Scrubs, and although the emergencies can be exaggerated at times, I find them more realistic and emotional. I prefer serious to comedy in general, and these two are great to watch. I also find it interesting to see how starkly different healthcare is in the USA compared to the UK.

 

Top 5 favorite music bands/group/artists/composers/OST?

1. OST for the Persona series including the dancing games. My favourite tracks are Heartbeat Heartbreak, I’ll Face Myself battle version, Your Affection, Signs of Love, Pursuing your True Self, Dance, Never More, Take over, Last Surprise, Price, The Whims of Fate, Rivers in the Desert and Will power. Shouji Meguro is an awesome composer.
2. Linkin Park - I was a punk kid who wore spiky collars and black all the time, and LP was my go-to band. I still really like their music, especially the song Numb, which describes how I felt growing up as my parents put a lot of pressure on me to be perfect and go to medical school, while all the other kids got to play and do what they wanted. I sometimes still listen to this song, along with some of my other favourite tracks like Somewhere I Belong, Castle of Glass, Burn It All Down, Place for my Head and In the End.
3. Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy, perfection. I particularly like the tracks in FFX, especially the battle themes, To Zanarkand, A Fleeting Dream, Suteki Da Ne, Besaid Island’s BGM.

4. Yoko Shimomura - Another amazing composer of the Kingdom Hearts games and FFXV. In KH, I liked the battle music, Destiny Island, Traverse Town and Twilight town BGM’s, and also Dearly Beloved and Hollow Bastion, and the battle songs in FFXV: Galdin Quay.

5. Justin Bieber - a guilty pleasure, I like a lot of his songs and find them catchy. Among this list it’s certainly out of place, but I do like the songs Hold on and STAY.

Other special mentions are Takeharu Ishimoto who worked on The World Ends With You and FFVII, type 0, Dissidia and a few of the KH games, and the composers of FFX-2 which is another one of my favourite OST’s by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi.

 

Your favourite platinum and why?

Tales of Vesperia - I really liked this game and found this platinum to be both challenging and fun to do. It also needed you to do literally everything in the game, so I felt that I got the most out of the game. It was also my first platinum and not an easy one at that. I didn’t really understand the significance of trophies at the time and wasn’t a trophy hunter as such, but this was the game that really got me into trophies. As I played the PS3 version back in 2014 I used a physical Japanese guidebook I got in Book Off and @AppleKratue’s trophy guide on Playstation Trophies to get the platinum, as there was nothing else at that time for the PS3 game really. It was an overall satisfying yet time consuming platinum.

 

Your least favourite platinum and why?

Beyond Two Souls - This was a free plus game that I thought would be an easy platinum, which it was. But it was 30 hours of extreme boredom. I had to play on two controllers for the trophy for playing the entire game on two player mode which was a pain for me playing it by myself, plus there was no scene skip so it was extremely repetitive for trophies and really boring in terms of story. I expected more as I enjoyed games like Detroit Become Human and the Life is Strange games, but this was a yawn. At least it was an easy platinum and did not take too long, but none of the characters appealed to me and the main character Jodie didn’t strike me as an interesting character in the slightest. The weird thing is that this is my rarest platinum on the PS App at 0.7%, and 4th on PSNP, topping a lot of my much harder and longer JRPG platinums, probably due to being a plus game. Clearly many people abandoned it. Apologies to anyone who is a fan of this game. 
 

Have you ever been tempted to switch over to the Xbox/Nintendo/PC gaming ecosystems?
No, the lack of trophies on Nintendo consoles doesn’t give me enough motivation to spend time or money on it, as my gaming time is limited with work so I want to make the most of it for trophies. I used to play Nintendo in the Gameboy and NDS days as a kid and teenager just for the Pokémon games, but I lost interest in Pokémon after ORAS and hence never got a Switch as none of the other Nintendo exclusives appealed to me. Also, as the Harvest moon games which I also like are now on PS4, I don’t see the point in getting a Switch when I have a PS5 and Vita. I plan on buying the new Pioneers of Olive town, so there is no reason for me to get a Switch.   

 

As for Xbox and PC, I would have to start from scratch with the achievements which I am not keen on doing, having put years into my PSN account already. For PC, I use a MacBook Pro which isn’t the best for PC gaming, and I was always a console person anyway. Neither have exclusives that warrant me investing in them. Also with PC, I would need a VPN to get Japanese Steam games which I don’t have. 
 

If you could have one game from any gaming generation be remade or re-released, which one would it be and why?

This is tough as most of my favourites have already been remade, and I would have answered Persona 3, however that has recently been announced on PS4. So, I would pick one of the older Tales games like Tales of the Abyss, as the 3DS version was ok at best but this deserves a console remake with trophies. I would love to be able to platinum this game on a home console, as it was one of the best Tales games in my opinion, especially for the story. I wish the Tales series in general would jump on the remake/remaster bandwagon like every other gaming company and bring back some of its older pre-PS3 titles to modern consoles.

 

How far are you willing to go for a platinum?

I tend to go for games up to a 6-7/10 difficulty and less than 150 hours to platinum. I avoid games with online or multiplayer trophies as I don’t want that pressure and I prefer playing solo. However, I make exceptions with longer games if they are not too hard, my longest platinum being Persona 5 Royal at 184 hours but it was easy and fun. My hardest rated plats are a 6/10, which includes FFX-2, although I found it easier than FFX which is a 5/10, so ratings are often a mystery to me. As for whether I would consider asking friends to help, I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with that, or even helping a friend with a trophy in exchange for them helping you with one. I remember my friend offered to help me with the lightning dodging trophy in FFX as she was so good at it and said it was super easy, which was to my horror as I was terrible at it. I know some people disagree about asking others for help, but I just see it as helping each other out.

 

If you could give Sony direct feedback on business decisions in the last year, and the latest console generation, what would you tell them?

To do something about the PS5 stock levels. Also, I do wish the Vita didn’t “die” or at least was replaced with a new generation handheld Sony model, as I like handheld consoles for both traveling as well as picking up on trophy hunting rather than having to wait to come home. I also wish they still at least continued to have Vita discount sales on PSN as well. Business-wise I know this may not sell well due to how popular the Switch is, but I did like trophy hunting on the go.

 

What is your favourite thing about PSNP?

The community forums and the trophy guides. I enjoy discussing gaming related stuff with other fellow trophy hunters and gamers, because there are very few gamers around me and out of the ones that are, no one around me cares about trophies, including my brother who doesn’t even know what a platinum trophy is. This is fine, although I do like sharing my hobby of not just gaming but also trophies with fellow gamers in the PSNP community. “Off Topic” is my favourite section of the forums. The trophy guides are also super helpful, especially the 100% walkthrough ones.

 

What is your least favourite thing about PSNP?
The Trophy Advisor, my recommendations are my super old PS3 games which I never intend to play. I would like to be able to have some input into what games show up on this, such as being able to exclude PS3 titles, or only include games played after a specific start date, recent titles last played within the past year, etc.
 

Is there anyone in the PSNP Community you would like to give a shout-out to, and if so, why?

@AppleKratue

 

Their Tales series guides were a great help to me and they were super helpful in answering my questions directly on my journey with the Tales of Zestiria platinum, which I had come back to after 6 years and hence had to relearn everything. I also used AppleKratue’s PS3 Vesperia and Hearts R guides which were super helpful as they were based on the Japanese versions which I have. Thank you for all your help @AppleKratue!

 

Community Questions

Did you learn Japanese from a young age, or after you became an adult? If it's the latter, any advice for someone trying to learn another language as an adult?  I'm trying to get better at Spanish, and depending on how our retirement shakes out it might be a good idea for me to learn Portuguese. Unfortunately I can't immerse myself in a culture that speaks those languages, so that option's off the table for now...

I started when I was 17, as my parents would not let me do anything that distracted me from school and getting into medical school, so I was only allowed to start after I finished high school. I did want to start younger as I got interested from anime, Yu-Gi-Oh to be precise when I saw one of the characters is GX eating Ebi Tempura with chopsticks and the series stopped being dubbed so I watched the rest subbed and got interested in Japanese and Japan. 

 

What I did first was I had a weekly Japanese teacher teach me the basics initially for a year before going on my first language exchange. Throughout med school I continued to have a weekly lesson, did a lot of self-study from books and online. and went on language exchanges for 3 of the summer holidays and by the time I was in final year (6 long years), I passed JLPT N1 and did my medical elective in Tokyo. 

 

Outside of immersion and language exchange for what can be done at home in an English-speaking country and what I did: 

1. For reading/writing it was mostly textbooks that I had bought for the JLPT, kanji workbooks aimed at Japanese school kids and various vocab books. I also used a few kanji and dictionary apps. For European languages as there is no Kanji this part would be easier, so language learning textbooks in vocab, grammar etc. are a good start. I also used the dual language short stories as a beginner where a page was written in Japanese and then in English to learn new vocab and kanji. Online language learning sites, reading blogs in the language you are learning and watching YouTubers are what I found helpful. I now watch a lot of Japanese gaming channels and read game reviews. Integrating active learning via media and looking up words you don’t know is useful for remembering things, so giving a go at Spanish media online would be good. 
2. For listening, I used dramas, some anime, games with voice acting, the news, podcasts and YouTube with Japanese subs, where I paused and looked up words I did not understand, saving them onto the JP dictionary app in my phone. I also started gaming in Japanese using the Japanese versions of games as then the voice and text were in Japanese so I could correspond spoken works to the written work/kanji, and I use to look up words I did not know. It was hard at the start but it’s more effective than having something like English text and Japanese voice or vice versa, as you tend to focus on your native language and not really pay attention to the foreign language. For European languages, many localised games allow you to select European languages for both voice and text, I recommend trying that depending on your level.  
3. Active learning is key, compared to passive learning and also doing something daily with the language, even if it’s just listening to a podcast or reading a short blog, even if it’s just 10 minutes because if you don’t use the language you forget. 
4. As I got better I needed to look up stuff less and less, and now I never need to. I started out with super easy kids games (mostly Nintendo ones like Harvest Moon and Pokemon), before moving on to harder games like VNs and JRPGs, the age ratings can be a good guide to the language difficulty level. I think linking a hobby like gaming, tv shows or reading is a great way to assist in language learning and break up the boredom of traditional study. 
5. For speaking, although I did it mostly from living in Japan and language exchange, at home there was a weekly Japan-English language exchange meetup where I got speaking practice and made some good friends. I think finding such groups for Spanish wouldn’t be too hard. Since Covid, the app Meetup has online ones via Zoom if there’s no face to face ones locally. I found these language exchange meetups to be super useful to practice speaking and also make friends from the country of the language you are learning.

 

You probably have first-hand experience with patients who prefer Google search results over the opinion of their own doctors and won't listen to them in this new trend of self-diagnosis. How harmful do you think the internet has become to the medical profession?
This can be dangerous in that Google gives you what you want to find, people latch onto the worst possible diagnosis or what they want to find, which leads to them doing more searches for that and hence more of the same results when they google the symptoms again, which causes increased anxiety, doctor shopping when told something different and can delay diagnosis and treatment if they don’t listen to medical advice. Almost everyone googles these days, but in my experience a lot of patients do listen to their doctor rather than Google and just want reassurance and clarification on what they read on Google, and over the years I have heard some pretty weird and daft things. The internet is full of a lot of rubbish when it comes to health-related things and many people believe it, however there are trustworthy sites that I usually redirect patients to if they come in with some random or dodgy site. 
 

I see that you're a Persona fan; what would you say your favourite game from the series is soundtrack-wise? & is there a specific track that you enjoy the most?

Persona 5 Royal is my favourite game in the series, I was very impressed with how stylish it was, all the little designs and motions from just opening the menu to the character cut ins, and also the story and the social aspect of the game sucked me in. The dating bit was fun too, as it’s not very common in games, especially JRPGs.

 

As for track and OST, Persona 4 Golden. Heartbeat Heartbreak, Signs of Love and Your Affection are my favourite tracks. I also like a lot of the remixed tracks in P4 Dancing all night and some of the extra songs added, like Dance and the Specialist Remix. The dancing games are really fun and I recommend them if you like Persona, they are easy as well even for me who otherwise had never touched a rhythm game before. 

Seeing as how you've lived in 3 different countries (if I'm not misreading what you've said), which was your favourite to live in? 

The UK was the easiest for me to live in, in terms of getting a stable job as a doctor and also being an Irish citizen, there was no red tape or visa required. The multicultural aspect and diversity made fitting in as someone of Asian ethnicity easy so I feel most at home here. 

 

Japan was fun to live in, but also difficult in many ways due to the differences in culture and being a foreigner there as it’s not diverse like the UK, and also mountains of rules you have to obey in society, so it felt somewhat constricting compared to the greater degree of freedom in the West. Although Japan is a nice place to visit, I think it requires a great degree of resilience to live and work there as a foreigner with all the hurdles that come with simply fitting in, and even things like renting are more difficult if you are foreign as some landlords just won’t rent to you. I never had to worry about stuff like that in the UK, or things like because I am a foreigner I can or can’t do certain things/go to certain places.

 

As for Ireland, although it was where I was born and where my parents still live, it was the country I liked least because I grew up in very racist times, the 90s and early 2000s. I was not only of Asian ethnicity but also not Catholic, so me and my family were on the receiving end of a butt load of discrimination. It became more diverse by the time I went to university, but due to years of negative childhood experiences I don’t think I could ever go back there. I also do not like the rural life as I am a big city person at heart. I think nowadays it’s meant to be a decent place to live, but I hear Dublin rivals London in terms of how expensive it is to live there. It is a nice place to visit, especially if you like scenery and pubs. 

 

Do you think you'll ever go back to Japan again, be it either for a visit or to live there?

I would definitely go to visit and see all my friends there but not to live. The reason I would not live there is due to having to take a Japanese medical licencing exam, the difficulty of practicing as a foreign doctor there due to the exam being only in Japanese (medical exams in English are hard enough!), and Japanese patients mostly seem to prefer to see a Japanese doctor. I have settled pretty well in the UK in terms of my job and things, so uprooting and moving so far away from my parents and brother who are my only family in addition to giving up my career would be out of the question for me. Also, as I mentioned above, the hurdles of working as a foreigner and all the societal rules put me off living there permanently, especially having gotten used to the multicultural city that I live in. However, Japan is great as a tourist though and I would happily go there for that, especially being into gaming, anime and Japanese food. 

 

I think like in every country, being a tourist vs. living and working in a country are very different.  
 

I see you're getting close to your 75th platinum. Any plans to get a specific platinum for that milestone?

I haven’t thought about it yet as I generally don’t plan my milestones, it would depend on what new games are out by the time I get there and what is in my backlog.

 

What is your favourite Tales game?

Vesperia for sure, Yuri is my favourite character in the whole series. I liked this game mostly for the cast but also the huge amount of extra content compared to the other games like 2 post game dungeons, various mini games, being able to play as a non-human character, and also having 9 characters to customise a party. Here is my drawing of Yuri.

 

 

Working as a doctor, how do you find time to game?

It’s very difficult. On weekdays I tend to get an hour or two before bed, but the majority of my gaming is on my days off or when I’m off on holidays.

 

How had your COVID experience been?

As a doctor I was working on the Covid wards for 6 months, and worked through the pandemic. It was just Covid patients everywhere and hardly anything else. It was lonely as I couldn’t see my parents for over a year since they live in Ireland while I was in the UK, and there was a constant fear of getting Covid as this was before the vaccine came out and everyone was in a panic. I also saw a lot of deaths at work every day which made it a very depressing environment compared to before when most patients got better and went home. I spent a lot of the time signing death certificates, completing cremation forms and breaking bad news to families. Work and life are now pretty much back to normal which is great. The only thing different is that telephone and telemedicine are big things now. 
 

Ever played Surgeon Simulator?

I rented it once and had my dad play it as he is a surgeon, unfortunately we both weren’t great at it.

 

Do you get your Japanese games digitally, or do you go crazy when you visit? Book Off or Amazon.co.jp?

I get the majority of my games via PSN sales, and the rest from Amazon Japan. Before Covid when I used to travel to Japan, I would stock up on used games in Japan at Book Off, but I haven’t been there since after Covid. For the Vita, as PSN Sales no longer happen, I get them used off Amazon JP. If I go to Japan again, I will certainly stock up a bucket load of used games in Book Off. I used to always go there in Japan and it was one of my favourite shops. I prioritise price, so I compare PSN sale prices with used physicals on Amazon JP and see what it cheaper overall, including delivery. I don’t care whether the game is digital or physical as I am ok with either.

 

I used to use sites like Play Asia, Solaris Japan and CD Japan but the customs charges and cost of games are very high, like rip off level. As the pound is strong to Yen, I found that buying in Yen from Amazon JP, the PSN store or stocking up when I visit Japan are the cheapest ways. For anyone wanting to play Japanese games, I recommend used copies on Amazon JP or creating a Japanese PSN account and buying in the sales. 
 

I buy PSN cards on Play Asia. I had bad experiences with other sites like Seagm selling me a used PSN card and I had to contact Sony Japan to prove to them it was used before they believed me, it was ridiculous. Play Asia never gave me issues although they are more expensive.

 

What brought you to this gaming site and what do you enjoy most about it and gaming in general?

I stumbled upon it when googling trophy guides. I used to use Playstation Trophies but I liked the idea of being able to sync your trophies and account to keep track of everything with PSN profiles, and also the active forums and community. The completion percentage was a new thing for me as well, and I’ve finally surpassed 90%. 

 

For what I enjoy most about gaming, it’s the stories, lore and characters in games that draw me in, and that’s why I like JRPGs, drama adventure games like Detroit and LiS and VN’s/Otome games where the focus is on story and/or characters. I tend to get bored of games that lack story and just focus on gameplay, so games like Mario aren’t of interest to me. I tend to play video games more than reading or TV, as I feel like I’m achieving something (i.e. working on trophies).  
You say you live by yourself, have you ever felt lonely? Do you have a pet?

Yes sometimes, I am naturally introverted so it doesn’t affect me a huge deal, but my friends, workplace and online communities like PSNP, Twitter ad Reddit all help. I’m close to my mum and have some good friends and colleagues. 
 

Another thing which may sound insane to some people is that I have an Alexa in each room, it wakes me up in the morning with “Good Morning Lava” and welcomes me home as well. Although it’s just an AI, another voice helps feel less lonely when living alone. I’m pretty fascinated by the use of AI. I would love to have a pet but my apartment charges extra rent to keep a pet, which is priced per pet per month. I also would not be able to take care of it being at work so much of the day. I’m just about keeping my plant alive with how often I forget to water it, so now Alexa reminds me. I think I would be hopeless with a pet, as the last time I had a dog as a kid, I left everything other than walking it for my mum to take care of.

 

Why haven't you played any PS4 Crash games?

I have to admit it’s because the trophies are very difficult, so to not ruin my completion percentage I played the trilogy on my side account or my brother's account as he doesn’t care about trophies. Hence, they aren’t visible on my profile.

 

Favourite Crash game?

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, it was my very first video game ever on PS1 when I was 10 and remained my favourite, especially for the Coco levels where you ride the tiger.

 

What's your preferred way of keeping fit?

I usually go outside for long walks or to the gym. I have home weights as well. I use an Apple Watch to keep track. I tend to do small things during the day as well outside working out, like using the stairs, and also at work I get up to call patients from the waiting room rather than pressing the computer AI call bell. I like exercise in general, so it’s easy for me to do. I also do home workouts using weights in my apartment every morning. 
 

What’s your favourite cuisine to eat, or what's your favourite meal to make?

Favourite to eat out is defiantly Korean food, a nice Bulgogi/Korean BBQ is my favourite to order, with a bucket load of Kimchi. Kimchi Pancakes are also a firm favourite. As for making food, I’m not great at cooking so I tend to choose easy quick stuff, my favourite to make are omelettes as I love eggs, and they are super quick and easy to make.

 

 

 

Do you believe in ghosts?

No, I’m very much a realist and scientific. I don’t believe in anything that cannot be scientifically proven.

 

I see you're a Life is Strange fan. Bae or Bay?

Bae. I liked Chloe, she was such a cool character. I liked Before the Storm as well and getting to see her side of the story. I also liked the links in True Colours with Chloe. Arcadia Bay can be repaired but human life can’t be, especially as it was Max’s best friend so that was another reason for my choice. I know that some people didn’t like Chloe and hence would probably choose Bay, she was a blue haired delinquent after all. But I found her daring and bold nature and punk fashion and hair to be pretty cool. 
 

What's the hardest (and/or) most rewarding thing about being a doctor?

The hardest thing is knowing that your actions have other people’s lives on your shoulders, and making a mistake can cause harm or death (as well as getting sued). I find this more difficult to deal with when seeing children where the stakes are higher because they are children and usually accompanied by worried parents, so I’m always particularly cautious when seeing children.

 

The most rewarding thing is seeing patients get better and also being told thank you. I work in general practice (or family medicine in the US) so I tend to see the same patients and their families with different problems over the years and hence I get to know them better and hopefully gain their trust. It feels nice to be depended on as a family doctor. Another thing is the satisfaction gained from helping someone improve their health. Unfortunately respect for doctors varies hugely in different countries (e.g. usually more respected in Asia compared to the West), but I find that once you get to know your patients it becomes easier and more satisfying. I see it as a high risk but high reward type of profession, where when if things wrong it can be a disaster but if things go well it is very rewarding. Resilience and thick skin are key to surviving in the job.
 

Which country would you most like to visit?

Probably South Korea for the great food and shopping. I also like Korean skincare and could see myself coming back with another suitcase of stuff, as well as eating Bulgogi and Kimchi every day. I would also like to see more of Japan and the USA. I’ve visited some of the main tourist stuff and the various Disneyland’s, but would like to explore other areas, such as Kyushu, Hokkaido and Okinawa in Japan, and San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle in the USA. 
 

____________________________________________________________________

Thank you to all who participated in asking questions in this interview! See you soon for the next one.

Spoiler

@ZitMeatloaf @Nebnit @ObsiEez @TalesofGaming @visighost @The_Kopite @zizimonster @KenjiCBZ

 

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Charizarzar

[ObsiEez]

Awesome interview @Lava_Yuki! I see we have a lot of similar favorites in terms of games & game series. Love me those older Harvest Moon titles. I'd kill for a Magical Melody port/remaster on PS4/5 as it's my favorite title in the series. As for the Persona OSTs, my personal favorite would have to be Persona 5 Strikers. I'm a big Rock/Metal fan & the OST for that game just itches all the right spots.

Also I see you're a big fan of the Tales of series. I tired to get into it but just couldn't. Tales of Symphonia was kicking my ass & I dropped it pretty quickly (though this was back in 2016 where I dropped games more easily) & then tried Tales of Zestiria back in 2017 which I dropped around the half-way point of the game because it started to get really boring. Would you recommend going back to Zestiria (I don't own Symphonia anymore so can't go back to that one) or trying to start with a different Tales of game to get into the series and then go back to Zestiria since according to a lot of Tales of fans, it's the worst of the series. Or do you think after those experiences I still wouldn't be a fan of the series?

[Lava_Yuki]

12 hours ago, ObsiEez said:

Awesome interview @Lava_Yuki! I see we have a lot of similar favorites in terms of games & game series. Love me those older Harvest Moon titles. I'd kill for a Magical Melody port/remaster on PS4/5 as it's my favorite title in the series. As for the Persona OSTs, my personal favorite would have to be Persona 5 Strikers. I'm a big Rock/Metal fan & the OST for that game just itches all the right spots.

Also I see you're a big fan of the Tales of series. I tired to get into it but just couldn't. Tales of Symphonia was kicking my ass & I dropped it pretty quickly (though this was back in 2016 where I dropped games more easily) & then tried Tales of Zestiria back in 2017 which I dropped around the half-way point of the game because it started to get really boring. Would you recommend going back to Zestiria (I don't own Symphonia anymore so can't go back to that one) or trying to start with a different Tales of game to get into the series and then go back to Zestiria since according to a lot of Tales of fans, it's the worst of the series. Or do you think after those experiences I still wouldn't be a fan of the series?

Thank you! Glad to hear you enjoyed reading my interview! Yeah the P5 Strikers had an awesome OST as well, I liked the way they made the battle music more rock. 

I'd recommend trying a different Tales game, as Symphonia and Zestiria are the two with so many faults, steeper learning curve and just a lot of frustrating things. Even I had given up on the platinum for Symphonia, and with Zestiria I had come back to it after 7 years! So these wouldn't be games I'd recommend if you never played Tales before unless you are a real fan of the series and want to play them all, or want to collect Tales platinums. These titles even put me off, I just pushed through because they were Tales but it was after having played all the others.  

On PS4/5 I recommend Vesperia which is my favourite, Arise which is the easiest to play as it's modern and plays really well, and Berseria for story and also has a fun battle system. If you still have a PS3, then Graces F, Xillia 1 and 2 are great games all with great battle systems and characters. 

[ObsiEez]

6 hours ago, Lava_Yuki said:

Thank you! Glad to hear you enjoyed reading my interview! Yeah the P5 Strikers had an awesome OST as well, I liked the way they made the battle music more rock. 

I'd recommend trying a different Tales game, as Symphonia and Zestiria are the two with so many faults, steeper learning curve and just a lot of frustrating things. Even I had given up on the platinum for Symphonia, and with Zestiria I had come back to it after 7 years! So these wouldn't be games I'd recommend if you never played Tales before unless you are a real fan of the series and want to play them all, or want to collect Tales platinums. These titles even put me off, I just pushed through because they were Tales but it was after having played all the others.  

On PS4/5 I recommend Vesperia which is my favourite, Arise which is the easiest to play as it's modern and plays really well, and Berseria for story and also has a fun battle system. If you still have a PS3, then Graces F, Xillia 1 and 2 are great games all with great battle systems and characters. 

Dang seems I started with the worst possible ones lol. I'll try Vesperia or Berseria since I can get those cheaper than Arise at the moment. I do have both a PS3 & PS Vita still that I use every now & again. I have them on a wishlist but with the sales gone now, they've been put pretty much near the bottom of the buy list lol

[visighost]

Great read! Thanks for answering my questions! I also am a bookoff/amazon.jp kind of guy. Amazon have better stock and price, but individual shipping adds up. And since I get my manga from bookoff… How I wish they started shipping internationally!

[AppleKratue]

Great interview, ユキちゃん! BookOff is an amazing store chain, I love going there when in Japan. You never know which gems you may find, but you can be sure that you will mostly buy something. ? Whenever you go back to Japan (and they allow tourists again), definitely visit other areas! You can experience a different side of Japan compared to the big cities, especially Okinawa. There's even an own BookOff

Thanks for the shoutout, great work on all the Tales plats!