It's the middle of 2009 at the moment. So many years Enemy Territory is giving a fun already. For my last interview, I wanted to catch someone, who could speak about the past with passion, someone, who could make a confession about old times, someone, who is still well recognized on the scene. Thank God, I found such person. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, introducing one of the best Finnish players that scene offered - 
Xpaz!
Hello Xpaz. Could you introduce yourself at the beginning?
Hi there, I'm Tuomas "Xpaz" O., 22 year old student from Oulu, Finland.
Why nick "Xpaz"?
It's short from Xpazeman which is a SUPERKEWL modification of Spaceman. It seemed cool when I was 14 and I never really got around to change it :).
What was so special in ET that you felt in love in it?
It was a lot like RtCW I guess. I didn't like ET at first, and I went back to RtCW after around 7 months of ET. But eventually the restrictions got better and the game got a lot more enjoyable for me. The lack of a big community in RtCW also helped me make the choice to hop back to ET.
Let’s have a journey over your clan-history. Parodia has taken silver medal, losing u96d in the final in EuroCup XI. uQ-Gaming has dominated EuroCup XII. Was those times the best?
Those times were great, yes, but I wouldn't deem them as the best, at least not without competition. I loved the team, but the competition at that time wasn't that great. The season we placed 2nd it was exceptionally bad, since at one point there were only 2 teams that would play us and with whom it was reasonably even to play with (u96d and negative image), even the bronze medalist for that season, j52, refused to play us at the end of the season. The second season was a bit better with idkfa and one4one in the mix. The seasons after my army service had much more competition, since there were always like 4 teams who could beat each other on a good day or so on. Also I enjoyed going to the LANs a lot, especially CPC2 was awesome. I'd probably pick CPC2 for the "best times" closely followed by the 2nd Parodia season.
Why you guys decided not to continue?
It just became impossible with me going to the army, Drc was going after me, then it was jauhis' turn, Saintt & jafo becoming addicted to WoW, and in general most of the dudes felt ET wasn't that fun anymore. Also there wasn't really any good & nice finnish players available that could take the place of the guys who were going to army.
Surprisingly, we were able to see Miracle Fins comeback with Abnormal Monkeys for EuroCup XIV in 2007. Have you been suffering a pressure of outcome from your matches then?
Actually I think it was more like fall of 2006. When a-monkeys started, the game format was 5v5, and the change to 6v6 really fucked us in the ass since it was already pretty hard for us to get a 5man lineup at the time. But I haven't really felt the pressure of proving anything ever since the Parodia era. It has been more like "If I win, that's great, if I lose, well I already won an EuroCup " :P.
Kirwa kirwanderin kirwurit was supposed to finish EuroCup XVII at least on podium. You have been stopped in loser bracket pretty fast. Superretarderplayers were supposed to secure 1st place in CDC3. That goal wasn’t reached as well. Is it somehow comparable? What went wrong back then?
Neither of these teams were really that serious, with kirwa I just wanted to play with nice people, nothing more to add, we didn't even have a rifle most of the time it was just some games for fun. SRP was just a summercup team that ended up turning into a random lanmix, 3rd place was the absolute best that I expected from that LAN :).
When have you joined Impact Gaming and how did that process look like?
It was around Christmas 2006/January 2007 I think. I don't remember exactly how it went but I know it was something like me Mztik and tiigeri wanting to play together so we formed a lineup which consisted of me, Mztik, tiigeri, xionn, teKoa and raveneye. The lineup kept changing quite a bit but we did make it to CPC2 with mystic in for xionn and M1lk in for Mztik. Ever since then there's been many different lineups, all of which I wasn't a part of nor do I remember them all.
Can you tell me something about Parodia Magnifica project?
I was in the army most of the time when the project was on. All I know is Santabot worked like hell on it and I think we were all pretty happy with the final version even though it wasn't rated very highly by some people. The team helped Santa with the music selections and sent a variety of frags of which Santa compiled the ones he saw fit. There were a couple of other ones that I would've liked to see in it, such as a 4man nade on idle.ee by Saintt. But a man can't have it all, and as I said I'm very happy with it, gives me something to look back to in the future :).
Do you know what are parodia stars doing nowadays?
Raveneye is studying and playing poker online, jauhis is working/studying something related to computers :D, mystic is working, Saintt and jafo were playing WoW last I heard of them (must be like 2 years ago I last did), and last I heard of Drc he was studying computer engineering or something. I'm only really in touch with jauhis and mystic these days.
Is there any player you would like to play in one team but you didn’t have an occasion?
Not really, all the guys who are _nice_ AND skilled that I wanted to play with ever I got to pretty much... So maybe I'd pick mAus or butchji just to see how do they act among a team and what sort of role do they carry on comms et cetera. Hmmm I think I didn't play with perfo ever in a team though... So maybe I would actually pick him since he's nice and a great player.
You haven’t been active for a while. Nowadays, we can see you taking another adventure in SummerCup. What convinced you to participate in it?
Just extra spare time during the summer and the nice and skilled guys in the team... Although they tricked me to join :(. Also being able to communicate in ones mother tongue is always nice.
Any chances we will see Xpaz playing in next EuroCup?
It's possible, but 5 days a week praccing is definitely a thing from the past. It's also doubtful I'd join another team for EC, so it's either f7 or nothing. Will have to see how it turns out with the team.
What are your plans towards gaming?
I will definitely keep on playing something for a lot of years to come, be it the next installation of the final fantasy series, cpma, ET, guitar hero or something else. So not really all that planned, as long as I find gaming interesting I will keep playing.
Some time ago Clanbase decided to make some major changes in game config. Class promotions were removed, later mortar, few weeks ago mg. What’s better- keeping ET like it was created or trying to give such modifications?
It's definitely good for the game if it's made more balanced. ET is an old game already but there are still some things that haven't really been tried out ever to rig the balance of the game. I'm mainly talking about the medic-bias that's going on, it'd be interesting to see something like 125 max health for medics and the like.
If you could compare 2005 and 2009- what has changed and what stayed similar?
I can't really think of anything that has stayed similar, everyone has way better aim and brains, there are a lot more new talents and cheaters rising, people seem to becoming worse online kiddos as time goes on and so on.
What is the most epic situation in ET for you?
Beating dignitas in CPC2 loserbracket final. I totally didn't see it coming and the way we won frostbite to get to a decider was too epic, I think they set like 3:30 and we managed to beat it. Radar was the decider, we set a 6:30 time or so and held it... It was just amazing to realize the victory and just stand up, scream and highfive your teammates =D.
What do you do in your real-life?
I study economics in the Oulu university of applied sciences, starting my 3rd year this fall. For the summer I'm working at my moms bookstore and letting her have a vacation as well, but during studies I don't work. Other than ET, I try to jog and lollerskate to keep myself in shape. Also I play guitar hero quite a bit and I've gotten pretty decent at that, while trying to also learn to play a real guitar.
What’s the last book you’ve read and what is it about?
I just finished Resurrection by Leo Tolstoi, it's about this Russian officer who goes through a change of his personal values when he meets a jailed woman he has done wrong to in his youth and thinks he's responsible for the chain of events. Something like that. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be though honestly :(.
What kind of alcohol you enjoy the most and on which occasion you prefer drinking it?
Beer in the sauna, no contest =).
Any holidays plans?
I'll probably visit Helsinki in August or September to meet up with mystic, gaso and possibly jauhis if he's in town. Other than that, I'll just try to meet the people I want and do the stuff that I like. So not too many plans :).
Related:
Parodia Magnifica - stream
Parodia Magnifica - crossfire movies section
Parodia Magnifica torrent
Xpaz' crossfire profile
Xpaz' clanbase profile
Old Xpaz' config
Dignitas vs Impact
Interview brought to you by #homer.pl
Xpaz!Hello Xpaz. Could you introduce yourself at the beginning?
Hi there, I'm Tuomas "Xpaz" O., 22 year old student from Oulu, Finland.
Why nick "Xpaz"?
It's short from Xpazeman which is a SUPERKEWL modification of Spaceman. It seemed cool when I was 14 and I never really got around to change it :).
What was so special in ET that you felt in love in it?
It was a lot like RtCW I guess. I didn't like ET at first, and I went back to RtCW after around 7 months of ET. But eventually the restrictions got better and the game got a lot more enjoyable for me. The lack of a big community in RtCW also helped me make the choice to hop back to ET.
Let’s have a journey over your clan-history. Parodia has taken silver medal, losing u96d in the final in EuroCup XI. uQ-Gaming has dominated EuroCup XII. Was those times the best?
Those times were great, yes, but I wouldn't deem them as the best, at least not without competition. I loved the team, but the competition at that time wasn't that great. The season we placed 2nd it was exceptionally bad, since at one point there were only 2 teams that would play us and with whom it was reasonably even to play with (u96d and negative image), even the bronze medalist for that season, j52, refused to play us at the end of the season. The second season was a bit better with idkfa and one4one in the mix. The seasons after my army service had much more competition, since there were always like 4 teams who could beat each other on a good day or so on. Also I enjoyed going to the LANs a lot, especially CPC2 was awesome. I'd probably pick CPC2 for the "best times" closely followed by the 2nd Parodia season.
Why you guys decided not to continue?
It just became impossible with me going to the army, Drc was going after me, then it was jauhis' turn, Saintt & jafo becoming addicted to WoW, and in general most of the dudes felt ET wasn't that fun anymore. Also there wasn't really any good & nice finnish players available that could take the place of the guys who were going to army.
Surprisingly, we were able to see Miracle Fins comeback with Abnormal Monkeys for EuroCup XIV in 2007. Have you been suffering a pressure of outcome from your matches then?
Actually I think it was more like fall of 2006. When a-monkeys started, the game format was 5v5, and the change to 6v6 really fucked us in the ass since it was already pretty hard for us to get a 5man lineup at the time. But I haven't really felt the pressure of proving anything ever since the Parodia era. It has been more like "If I win, that's great, if I lose, well I already won an EuroCup " :P.
Kirwa kirwanderin kirwurit was supposed to finish EuroCup XVII at least on podium. You have been stopped in loser bracket pretty fast. Superretarderplayers were supposed to secure 1st place in CDC3. That goal wasn’t reached as well. Is it somehow comparable? What went wrong back then?
Neither of these teams were really that serious, with kirwa I just wanted to play with nice people, nothing more to add, we didn't even have a rifle most of the time it was just some games for fun. SRP was just a summercup team that ended up turning into a random lanmix, 3rd place was the absolute best that I expected from that LAN :).
When have you joined Impact Gaming and how did that process look like?
It was around Christmas 2006/January 2007 I think. I don't remember exactly how it went but I know it was something like me Mztik and tiigeri wanting to play together so we formed a lineup which consisted of me, Mztik, tiigeri, xionn, teKoa and raveneye. The lineup kept changing quite a bit but we did make it to CPC2 with mystic in for xionn and M1lk in for Mztik. Ever since then there's been many different lineups, all of which I wasn't a part of nor do I remember them all.
Can you tell me something about Parodia Magnifica project?
I was in the army most of the time when the project was on. All I know is Santabot worked like hell on it and I think we were all pretty happy with the final version even though it wasn't rated very highly by some people. The team helped Santa with the music selections and sent a variety of frags of which Santa compiled the ones he saw fit. There were a couple of other ones that I would've liked to see in it, such as a 4man nade on idle.ee by Saintt. But a man can't have it all, and as I said I'm very happy with it, gives me something to look back to in the future :).
Do you know what are parodia stars doing nowadays?
Raveneye is studying and playing poker online, jauhis is working/studying something related to computers :D, mystic is working, Saintt and jafo were playing WoW last I heard of them (must be like 2 years ago I last did), and last I heard of Drc he was studying computer engineering or something. I'm only really in touch with jauhis and mystic these days.
Is there any player you would like to play in one team but you didn’t have an occasion?
Not really, all the guys who are _nice_ AND skilled that I wanted to play with ever I got to pretty much... So maybe I'd pick mAus or butchji just to see how do they act among a team and what sort of role do they carry on comms et cetera. Hmmm I think I didn't play with perfo ever in a team though... So maybe I would actually pick him since he's nice and a great player.
You haven’t been active for a while. Nowadays, we can see you taking another adventure in SummerCup. What convinced you to participate in it?
Just extra spare time during the summer and the nice and skilled guys in the team... Although they tricked me to join :(. Also being able to communicate in ones mother tongue is always nice.
Any chances we will see Xpaz playing in next EuroCup?
It's possible, but 5 days a week praccing is definitely a thing from the past. It's also doubtful I'd join another team for EC, so it's either f7 or nothing. Will have to see how it turns out with the team.
What are your plans towards gaming?
I will definitely keep on playing something for a lot of years to come, be it the next installation of the final fantasy series, cpma, ET, guitar hero or something else. So not really all that planned, as long as I find gaming interesting I will keep playing.
Some time ago Clanbase decided to make some major changes in game config. Class promotions were removed, later mortar, few weeks ago mg. What’s better- keeping ET like it was created or trying to give such modifications?
It's definitely good for the game if it's made more balanced. ET is an old game already but there are still some things that haven't really been tried out ever to rig the balance of the game. I'm mainly talking about the medic-bias that's going on, it'd be interesting to see something like 125 max health for medics and the like.
If you could compare 2005 and 2009- what has changed and what stayed similar?
I can't really think of anything that has stayed similar, everyone has way better aim and brains, there are a lot more new talents and cheaters rising, people seem to becoming worse online kiddos as time goes on and so on.
What is the most epic situation in ET for you?
Beating dignitas in CPC2 loserbracket final. I totally didn't see it coming and the way we won frostbite to get to a decider was too epic, I think they set like 3:30 and we managed to beat it. Radar was the decider, we set a 6:30 time or so and held it... It was just amazing to realize the victory and just stand up, scream and highfive your teammates =D.
What do you do in your real-life?
I study economics in the Oulu university of applied sciences, starting my 3rd year this fall. For the summer I'm working at my moms bookstore and letting her have a vacation as well, but during studies I don't work. Other than ET, I try to jog and lollerskate to keep myself in shape. Also I play guitar hero quite a bit and I've gotten pretty decent at that, while trying to also learn to play a real guitar.
What’s the last book you’ve read and what is it about?
I just finished Resurrection by Leo Tolstoi, it's about this Russian officer who goes through a change of his personal values when he meets a jailed woman he has done wrong to in his youth and thinks he's responsible for the chain of events. Something like that. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be though honestly :(.
What kind of alcohol you enjoy the most and on which occasion you prefer drinking it?
Beer in the sauna, no contest =).
Any holidays plans?
I'll probably visit Helsinki in August or September to meet up with mystic, gaso and possibly jauhis if he's in town. Other than that, I'll just try to meet the people I want and do the stuff that I like. So not too many plans :).
8ball with Homer:
- a) North b) South c) East d) West
a) North! (I also live in the northern part of Finland :P)
- a) Denmark b) Finland c) Norway d) Sweden
doh,b) Finland
.
- a) tc_base b) railgun c) oasis d) fueldump
a) tc_base (all suck but this was good in RtCW)
- a) 2005 b) 2006 c) 2007 d)2008
Very hard to pick one... a) 2005!
- a) dog b) cat c) rabbit d) hamster
Definitely a a) dog person, although I'm taking care of my sisters cat at the moment.
- a) sea b) lake c) mountain d) river
d) River, my family has a cabin next to one :).
- a) books b) crosswords c) newspapers d) cards
d) Cards if it's playing cards. Otherwise newspapers.
- a) comedy b) thriller c) tales d) adventure
b) Thriller
Related:
Parodia Magnifica - stream
Parodia Magnifica - crossfire movies section
Parodia Magnifica torrent
Xpaz' crossfire profile
Xpaz' clanbase profile
Old Xpaz' config
Dignitas vs Impact
Interview brought to you by #homer.pl
lollerskater! :>
Xpaz`: the way I owned domi there was unreal
nice interview! :>
demoralizing :S
I thought Oulu is almost in the middle -.-
Damn I must be a true Laplander then.
I can't really think of anything that has stayed similar, everyone has way better aim and brains, there are a lot more new talents and cheaters rising, people seem to becoming worse online kiddos as time goes on and so on.
just totally agree!
nice to see some players like u still around
Also Oulu > *
btw, I'm reading a Tolstoi novel atm as well !
Made me smile in a good way, was like: "that must be a moment to remember!"
It was awesome because of me!
MM TAKES OVER
The frag on radar versus some belgian guys is still the best frag ever used in a movie :O.
Xpaz`: the way I owned domi there was unreal
:D
OFC NOT
hi btw : )
fine i-view!
great job, Homer