Tuesday, October 26, 2004

SUPER BATTLE OPERA!

I finally got my hands on the GGXX Tougeki/Super Battle Opera matches for this year.

Both the semifinal matches were sweeps, with Matu's Millia (They started with Matu...usually different than what they normally do, which is Baiken/Bridget/Millia) cleaning up and Imo's Zappa owning house.

HOLY MOTHER FUCK.
YUKINOSE GOT PERFECTED IN THE FINALS.
I noticed Yukinose's ENTIRE team was really scared of Imo's Zappa.
All THREE of his team members incurred NEGATIVE PENALTIES against him, something I have never seen so many skilled players do in one set of matches.
Once Imo's dog was out Baiken and Bridget and Millia would go into stall poke TURTLE mode, it was weird as shit considering these guys's reputation as gods of the game.
But yeah, Zappa won by timeout twice, once against Baiken and one against Yukinose's Bridget.
And then...he perfected Yukinose, in the corner, with the SWORD.
The FUCKING SWORD, of all things.
I don't know, it seems like non pure rushdown (zone rushdown like Bridget, defensive melee like Baiken) have trouble against crazy ass Zappa.

And yeah HOLY SHIT FOR THE MILLIA.
Honestly, I had heard about the results of this match way back when, but just watching it in action...is fucking amazing.
The Millia has the throw attack complex down pat, she misses it like twice in all six matches.
Plus absolute rushdown perfection...that second to last round against Faust was a nail-biter (See semifinals team that Millia swept, THAT'S how you play Faust against Millia)
But man...Matu took the entire thing back for Troublermaker Sharon.
Absolutely fucking amazing.

MVP of the finals is definitely Matu's Millia, followed by Imo's Zappa.
They both swept for their team in the semis, and they both absolutely dismantled and destroyed so many good players it was sickening.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Q. Why is Mia psycho? A. I have on idea either.

Well a friendly gamefaqs board member sent me the third demo that was released with the Duel Savior LE.
Playing Nanasi vs Nanasi is ridiculously silly.
Lily first try I got like 560 or something, same with Kaede.
I think I have to refine Kaede a little more for one on one's or monsters that like to block, cause as it stands her combo has a lot of open ends to get hit in the middle of.
Anyway I near finished my Duel Savior faq, alls that's left is lots of extraneous menu translations and making choice numbers for really really lazy people.

Bleach 3 is out.
It seems the big hollow that killed Ichigo's mother is getting a larger villain role than he had in the manga.
Good enough I say, but I really wonder...how many episodes can they devote to Ichigo's magical journey through soul society land.

Thursday, October 21, 2004

I hate Berio, I hate Kaede, I hate Rico, I hate Nanasi, I hate them all and I ESPECIALLY HATE THAT GIRL THE MOST.

Um yeah, finished Mia's path in Duel Savior.
Mia is the most possessive vindictive powerful evil sad half sister ever.
In fact, Mia's path only serves to make Lily (the second to last girl), look like a saint.
"Is Lily so important that you'd let me die?"
Not only does Lily basically take on all the anger Mia has against you for letting her fall down, she stands in front of you and basically shields you from the arrows Mia is so happily firing.
Also, of course the final battle is you against her, but she doesn't even have the excuse of being brainwashed.
She says the quote in bold and basically goes on to say, I hate this world, I hate all these people who like and are trying to take away my brother (i.e. Lily), most of all I hate myself, I've killed so many people, so kill me or I'll kill you first.
And so you fight and kill her, and then you kill yourself in the normal ending.
Around this point my intense hatred for this girl had turned into something of pity.
Anyway the TRUE ending you let her stab you and fall down.
So she starts laughing and crying cause she thinks she killed you when you say something akin to "Shut up I'm trying to heal here."
And then you fight...a caterpillar god who's immune to almost all chains and has autoguard on all his moves.
This fight is lame.
I don't even know where this guy comes from.

But yeah, surprise surprise Imanatei helps you and lives!
Shock!

But let it be said that Toma Mia sucks.
Lily, Kaede, Rubinasu/Nanasi forever.
Seriously how can Mia be winning the character poll...fucking Japanese and their sister love.

Edit: Holy fucking shit!
Out of nowhere Lily's got 18k votes to Mia's 4k.
Maybe there are sane Japanese after all!

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Super seed mode: ON!

Wow seeding is a pain in the ass...
Anyway I spent the entirety of today trying to figure out my computer science login name.
NOT MY PASSWORD, which I've memeorized for like 4 years.
My login name.
After trying koyoung1, oyoungk0, oyoungk, oyoungk1, koyoung, koyoung0, etc etc etc, I finally tried "oyoung".
The hell!
Logins are supposed to have your first initial in them godmanit!
I also had a feeling of dejavu...of going through this stupidity before.

"Completed":
One incomplete Duel Savior faq, I'm proud of myself, well not really, but hey I've got CONTRIBUTER status on gamefaqs now.

Anyway time to work on that sql baloney.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Getting quite hectic out there

Current sides as they stand:
Ichigo, renegade shinigami REBEL
Yoruichi, renegade shinigami REBEL
1st captain, Ganryuu ESTABLISHMENT
2nd captain, Soifon ESTABLISHMENT
3rd captain, Gin FOR HIMSELF (He's still an evil fucker, it's been confirmed in one of the chapters I'm missing when he talks to Rukia.)
4th captain, Unohana ESTABLISHMENT
5th captain, Aizen DEAD
6th captain, Byakuya ESTABLISHMENT (Worth mentioning cause this is the only division where the vice and the captain are on opposite sides)
6th captain vice, Renji REBEL
7th captain, Komamura ESTABLISHMENT
8th captain, Shunsui REBEL
9th captain, Tousen ESTABLISHMENT
10th captain, Hitsugaya REBEL
11th captain, Kenpachi REBEL
12th captain, Mayuri INCAPACITATED ESTABLISHMENT
13th captain, Ukitake REBEL

So you basically have a 7 on 6, cause Mayuri, Aizen, and Gin are liquid, dead, and selfish as hell.
Renji's a vice though so it is closer to 6 on 6 in terms of captain power.
Pretty even!
I was thinking our heroes were a little undermanned after losing Ishida (who was definitely captain power).

INSERT SMASH BROTHERS ANNOUNCER BELLOWING FAILUREE!

FUCK
IP midterm. FUCK didn't check point distribution till I had no time left!
Then again that FORTY POINT QUESTION I had no idea how to do ANYWAY!
FUCK FUCK FUCK.

UM I WAS LIED TO

Raws indeed, liar ALLAN!
Shinigami Scanlations chapter 153 is a REAL SCANLATION.
They're just going ridiculously out of order is all.
Anyway updates...up to 153 from what I can gather.

The 4th division's Vice is named Isane (female), she might be related to Kiyone (Ukitake's female third seat)
Abarai lost to Byakuya, but good old healer boy makes him alive again.
Abarai probably managed to get Rukia away when Ichigo and Kikuchi start going at it.
Ichigo probably mastered Bankai, cause he's really heavily bandaged and fighting Rukia's brother.
Ukitake (and his two 3rd seats) and Shinsui and Nanao (Shinsui's vice) have DEFECTED.
(These are the 13th and the 8th division CAPTAINS, if you need a refresher it's Rukia's commander and drunken samurai.)
Hitsugaya and Matsumoto have DEFECTED.
Soifon is fighting Yoruichi. (Soifon is 2nd division commander chick.)
Kenpachi has DEFEATED Tousen, is FIGHTING Komamura, whose basket has fallen off.
Yachiru has left the main group to CLEAR OUT the stronger enemies and make a path to the tower.
Yumichika is FIGHTING Hisagi Syuuhei (9th vice)
Ikkaku is FIGHTING Iha Tetsugiemon (7th vice)

Righteous!

Tick off two more Duel Savior endings, this time Nanasi's and Lily's.
After the depressing crap that is Rico's ending, Nanasi's was...surprisingly happy.
I really liked it.
Little miss undead isn't really undead after all.
I really enjoyed the challenge of fighting all four stooges at once. (Lobelia, Imanetei, Mudou, and Shezar)
Plus Nanasi gets a sword in the last two final battles and a "I'll beat the crap out of you" voice.
A pity though that she doesn't count as Nanasi but Rubinasu in the final two battles, so no you can't use her in those two battles on your second playthrough.
I'm not sure when they started subtley altering how she looked but Rubinasu is noticeably different by the time you hit the ending than the DESU NOOO girl we started out with.
If anything she's more mature and a hell of a lot sexier. (Cute -> Sexy)
From what my feeble Japanese can gather you're the "red king" or so of the current age, while Nanasi/Rubinasu was the "red king" of 1000 years ago.
You're fighting against the servants of the white king I believe.

Lily's was a surprising change.
It is also LONG AS HELL.
All female wizards have a Lina complex, and this one was no different.
But seriously Lily's story is why she's tied with Nanasi as my second favorite characters.
Lily has a HUGE inferiority complex because her mother (the school head) was an avatar that kicked major ass. (She's not a native)
What she doesn't know is her mother was walking around 1000 years ago as an avatar along with Rubinasu and I think maybe ?Lobelia? and one more person.
Some serious story revelation here, plus the bad guys start coming out in force, they even get their battleship.
Plus some of the hardest battles since Nanasi's scenario.
You fight Shezar (not toned down), Mudou (not toned down, and you're alone), Myurieru (This fight is touching, cause Lily's crying and screaming her head off. Myurieru is Lily's mother and somehow it seems like you're supposed to die to let the world have a better chance at surviving), Lobelia (NOT toned down, 1 on 1), and Downy (He's added a fucking sword to his arsenal along with Onslaught's eye laser super move from MVC to his whorish magic now. I sort of shudder to think what he gets in Mia's episode...8 arms and a AHVB?)
Still, a touching ending, Lily's really cute when saving you from Lobelia.

Something I noticed is MIA starts showing insane signs of jealousy and breaking down. Poor girl sort of wants to go home, but you're staying for now so she's staying with you. But when she realizes she's lost you to Lily she flips. I sort of wonder how her path is going to play out, but I'm really wary cause it's the godamn Japanese "imouto" love scenario. That alone makes me sort of queasy.

It might be just me, but the game sort of biases you toward the later characters. It feels like each time you choose a different character more and more about the main storyline is revealed or extended, and you start spending a longer time with the later characters. They'll need to do a DAMN good job to bias me toward Mia though.

What time is it Mister Fox?
I think I'm one of the few people who unconsciously jetlags himself.
This sunday I slept at 12pm, woke up at 8pm, went to sleep again and woke up at 3am, and now it's 6am.
What the hell, is this normal?
I think I need pills or something, cause I seriously just can't control how I sleep anymore.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Woot updates

Commander of 7th: Komamura Sajin(Basket head, owes Commander of 1st)
Commander of 2nd: Soi Phon(Chick, ponytail, no right or wrong, just with us or against us) / Oomaeda Maresendai (Vice, eats a lot, interesting character)
Commander of 1st: Genryuusai (Old guy) / Unknown (Vice, white hair white mustache...freaky ass looking o.O)
Tousen (Dreads cool pacifist guy is BLIND)

Kenpachi (DEFECTED) is proposing a four on one fight with Tousen/Komamura(Man why them) and both their vices.
Geez louise...don't die there crazy man.

WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER READ MAHOU SENSEI NEGIMA
(I'm going for largest percentage to scare away per reason here.)
1. It's by Ken Akamatsu, the guy who did Love Hina.
2. Instead of 5-6 girls, you have THIRTY ONE. (Count em folks!)
3. They are all MIDDLE SCHOOL.
4. If you're screaming jailbait, you're right...cept it's reversed! THE LEADING GUY/BOY IS TEN.
If you can somehow stomach these four reasons...then god have mercy on you (Cause he sure as hell has no mercy on me...yes I'm hooked so shut up bastards.)

Friday, October 15, 2004

Surrounding Clutch

More thoughts on Bleach's Ichimaru.
I honestly think he is either:
1. A secret ally.
2. Doing some wacky fucked up manipulation shit.
Cause first off even if he rewrote Aizen's will he STILL LAID OUT THE ENTIRE PLAN IN FULL FOR ANYONE TO READ.
Meaning Shiro was basically GIVEN a fucking rundown on what the evil plan was.
And Hinamori, and Matsumoto.
That alone makes me think Ichi's not really quite all the way behind this evil plan, even though he does show plenty of evil spots and tendencies, because he is TOO FUCKING SMART.
If you could rewrite a will laying bare your master plan, would you INCLUDE THE MASTER PLAN ALONG WITH IT and just change the name of the conspirator?
DERRR NO!
Also, Ichimaru NEVER attacks first.
In fact, it's the sole fact that he NEVER STOPS SMILING that provokes first Hinamori, then Shiro to go apeshit on his ass.
He always draws in defense, it's just too weird.
The biggest thing also is he let Ichigo live when they first met.

TOO MANY FUCKING NAMES!
Anyway, per ALLAN's (Edit: SORRY) request, since we're both getting confused, a big old list of Shinigami ranks members, distinguishing traits, miscellaneous information, etc.:

1st Division Captain/Vice/Members: Old man, name unknown, the leader / Vice is unknown also

2nd Division Captain/Vice/Members: Girl with pony tail, name unknown / Vice is unknown also

3rd Division Captain/Vice/Members: Ichimaru Gin (Captain, Nikoniko Evil, FOUGHT with Shiro, Ichigo, Aizen?, YIELDED! to Matsumoto) / Iziru Kira(Vice, Really shaken after fighting Hinamori, most likely in medical ward after witnessing/experiencing Shiro's Ice Dragon, FOUGHT with Hinamori)

4th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Unohana Retsu (Captain, one of two female captains, kind, motherly)/ Unkown (Vice) /Yamada Hanatarou (7th seat, really nice guy, the healer Ichigo and Ganjyu kidnapped, sortta sickly looking, DEFECTED)

5th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Aizen Sousuke (Captain, Glasses, good guy, DEFEATED/MURDERED by ?) / Hinamori Momo (Vice, Waif, currently unconscious due to going apeshit on Shiro. Her first name is Momo? Figures she's a waif XD, she's anti-Rukia execution but her current situation makes it hard to count her as true DEFECTED, DEFEATED by Shiro)

6th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Kuchiki Byakuya (Captain, Rukia's brother, Itachi clone, heartless, ?strongest? of all captains, Ichigo's target to beat the shit out of, DEFEATED Ichigo, Ganjyu) / Abarai Renji (Vice, Flaming red spiky hair, crazy ass forehead tattoos, friend of Rukia, Chainsword, DEFEATED by Ichigo, DEFECTED)

7th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Unknown Komamura (Captain, Hasn't spoken yet, wears a basket on his head XD, friend of Tousen so can't be that bad) / Iha Tetsugiemon (Vice, Shows up once, glasses, mustache) / Jidanbou (Guardian of the west gate, DEFEATED by Ichigo) / Kamaitachi Jiroubou (Uses a sword that splits into shurikens, gatekeeper's younger brother, 4th seat, DEFEATED by Ishida)

8th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Shunsui Kyouraku (Captain, Drunken Samurai, DEFEATS Chad) / Nanao Ise (Vice, Meganekko) / Tatsuhusa Enjyouji (Third seat, DEFEATED by Chad)

9th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Tousen Kaname (Captain, Black dude, dreads, goggles, too fucking cool for words, ?!PACIFIST!?, DEFEATS Ishida (not too hard since Ishida is like dead tired, Tousen actually cries when he takes him down) / Hisagi Syuuhei (Vice, Ninja looking, asian spiky hair, black line across face)

10th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Hitsugaya Toushirou (Captain, aka Shiro-chan, very bad ass kid, Hinamori's friend, had to fight a crazed by emotion Hinamori and fought against Gin because he smiled, I really like this kid actually, very possible DEFECTION (anti execution and in a position to act), FOUGHT Gin, DEFEATED Hinamori) / Matsumoto Rankiku (Vice, Mature older woman under a commander younger than her. Knows Gin from earlier, it seems he sort of cares for her or vice versa, very possible DEFECTION (anti Rukia execution and in a position to act), DEFENDED Hinamori against Gin) / Takezoe Koukichirou (7th seat, messenger dude)

11th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Giraki Kenpachi Ziraki (Captain, Big, crazy spikes hair, only captain who doesn't need Ban-Kai cause he never found his sword's name, wears an energy sucking eyepatch, several times he is referred to as 'Giraki', which just confuses the shit out of me (nick name is Kenpachi), DEAFETED by Ichigo, DEFECTED) / Kurushishi (Kusajishi? shit they dont help with their multiple translations) Yachiru (Vice, Little blond haired girl, happyscary waif =D, DEFECTED) / Ikkaku Madarame (Bald, first guy Ichigo fights when penetrating barrier, Captain of Squad 3, uses a chain polearm. 3rd seat, DEFEATED by Ichigo, DEFECTED) / Ayasegawa Yumichika (Pretty boy, DEFEATED by Ganjyu, of all people, 5th seat, DEFECTED) / Aramaki Makizou (11th seat, figures out Ishida and Inoue's disguises, Makimaki nickname given by Yachiru, DEFECTED)

12th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Kurotsuchi Mayuri (Captain, 2nd President of the Research Institute of Technology, wears a mask, FUCKING PSCYHO MAD SCIENTIST WHO WANTS TO EXPERIMENT ON EVERYTHING, sadist who blows up his own students, the only captain who I say truly deserves fucking death, he has no right to live, DEFEATED by Ishida (But lives by turning himself into liquid and running to heal) / Kurotsuchi Nemu (Vice, created by Mayuri, helplessly devoted to him, a nice girl all around but gets treated like dirt and stabbed and stepped on and all sorts of things, I really hate Mayuri because of what he does to her, SAVES Ishida from Mayuri's poison(because he missed Mayuri's head (not on purpose mind you))

13th Division Captain/Vice/Members: Ukitake Zyuushirou (Captain, long white hair, sickly, nice as hell) / Kuchiki Rukia (Vice, if you don't know who she is stop reading Bleach) / Kotsubaki Sentarou (3rd seat 1, hopelessly devoted to Ukitake male)/ Kotetsu Kiyone (3rd seat 2, hopeless devoted to Ukitake female, they're a funny pair) / Shiba Kaien (Shiba Ganjyu's brother, former Vice, KILLED by Rukia, black-haired Ichigo?)

Rogue/Random? Shinigami:
Kurosaki Ichigo (Again if you don't know him stop reading Bleach)
Shyunshin Yoruichi (Ex-Commander of Special Operatives, Ex-General of Keigun Brigade First Division, Likes to walk around as a black cat, HOT AS HELL)
Urahara Kisuke (Ex-Captain of 12th division, Ex-President and founder of Research Institute of Technology, SANDAL HAT MAN!, utterly crazy but in a good way, actually when you REALLY think about this...Urahara sort of shares some of the tendencies of the current 12th division captain Mayuri, cause some of the shit he does to Ichigo is downright insane)

Rogue non-Shinigami:
Shiba Ganjyu (Stop reading!)
Sado Yasutora (Aka Chad, stop reading!)
Ishida Uryuu (Stop reading!)
Orihime Inoue (Stop reading!)
Tsumugi Ururu (Bazooka oh-so-cute girl! Urahara posse)
Hanakari Jinta (Crazy spiked bat swinging brat! Urahara posse)
Tsukabishi Tesai (Muscleman with glasses! Urahara posse)

Thursday, October 14, 2004

What kind of rescue attempt is this?

Tick off another Duel Savior ending, this time Rico's, which involves the LEVELING of the town (instead of the mere gigantic laser cannon fired at it), the death of the princess, the death of your supposed arch-rival person, and fighting your traitor teacher at the end.
Yeah...so much doom and gloom seriously?
The guy who died in the first two paths didn't die in this one, but instead the princess who gets ABUSED in every single path actually died because you tried to save her early! (You usually meet her final chapter to save her, for some reason Rico's patch you go straight in like 3 chapters before the end.)
Plus when you get back to town it's a fucking wasteland and your traitor teacher kills off Rico's counterpart/enemy?
And you never see anyone else like again either. (Berio's final fight scenario you could fight with anyone on your team (didn't even have to use her), Kaede you had to fight with at the end, but Rico's...you let your entire team run away except Rico, you never see any of the others again (cept your sister), AND you fight the final boss completely fucking alone.)
Yeah I don't like her storyline, because it's depressing.

Bleach is...well it's become ONE gigantic story arc, that of saving Lukia.
Is there going to be a followup?
Cause I want more Rukia x Ichigo interaction, but Ichigo's pretty much near god level power right now so I think once he beats her brother that's the end of it.
BUT SERIOUSLY, whether the mangaka realizes it or not, the splitting up of the team AND forcing Rukia into a prisoner position really sortta weakens the friend dynamic it had.
Hopefully the rebel army of Shinigamis (Some they've beaten, some realizing something the fuck is going wrong here) will lead to an interesting new team dynamic, red hair chain sword has already joined proper. (The rest all broke out of jail haha).

Things to predict for the end:
Hollow Ichigo, most likely NEEDED to take out Rukia's brother, who is a fucking scary bastard.
And then Rukia will have to deal with a hollow version of the person she loves again.
Seriously, the white form he fought inside his mind when he needed his soul sword was definitely hollow ichigo from the time Urahara Kisuke/sandal-hat guy XD (I actually had to look his fucking real name up! Ichigo's right, so many of these guy's names are too hard to remember!) cut his soul chain off and it started eating itself.
Plus, when he speaks to Zangetsu (His soul sword, again had to look up the fucking name...geez louise I knew it started with a 'z' at least)..."He's strong, Zangetsu-san. Train him well, because one day that power will become mine."
And Zangetsu doesn't disagree or deny or even argue though to this weird hollow/white version of Ichigo...he's actually the one who summoned him to test Ichigo out.
Also since he is Ichigo's soul sword...he shares some things "I hate rain, too. When you are sad, the rain comes down..."
So I think it's going to be a symbiotic thing, because Ichigo's old hollow mask (He came back as a shinigami...but with hollow armor on him, including a freaky mask) has saved him twice EVEN THOUGH he threw it away the second time.

Speaking of that mask...it's under the care of Yoruichi now...the black cat chixor.
She's hot XD.
I was wondering how long a frikkin talking black cat was going to stay well...in cat form, although I thought it'd be a guy or something (honestly).
She better not die, but you never know =/.
Seriously if there's one thing this guy's good at it's drawing SO MANY STYLES of characters.
Yoruichi's...arabian? looking of some sort, the Ikuchi are Sasuke level looking Japanese cold guy type, frikkin crazy chain-sword has the looks of the star of his own show, the crazy captain who doesn't even need his godamn soul cutter looks like a mob boss, sandal-hat alternates between utterly stupid looking and really cool looking (All pictures sans hats and sandals he looks really cool!), Ichimaru has that freaky ass niko niko face that all good badguys (and some good guys) have, Shiro looks like one of those freaky young but uber powerful sidekicks (like the Tenmari guy in Samurai Deeper Kyo), the females range from Orohime (I like her but she...seems to have such a small part) to Yoruichi to Hinamori (waif. but powerful. but still...innocent, she goes crazy >_<), to Matsumoto to well...Rukia (XD wow I guess she sortta qualifies in waif category with Hinamori).

That Ichimaru is mixed bag though, he's obviously cruel, except for some reason he listens to Matsumoto when she tells him to sheathe and he also helped her when they were both little.

Who knows how this entire thing will end (Ok I predict Ichigo vs Rukia's brother, Ichigo wins by somehow going HOLLOW during it or he just wins on his own merits, and then Rukia has to somehow bring him back. All the shinigami's in jail (most have escaped) will rebel or form their own faction allied to Ichigo's. Ichimaru WILL probably get his hands on the soul weapon anyway. And uh no idea how it will end.)

Oh yeah, I'm worried about Ishida (Quincy). He lost all his powers, couldn't take the most fucking twisted captain out either, cause he turned himself into fucking liquid to run away and heal.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

But the chance of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 coming up in the lottery is...

Just the same as any other group of numbers.
Prob stats midterm today/tomorrow, but I'm pretty awake due to the abusive sleep schedule I've been on lately.

Anyway, new things...I've cooled off on Duel Savior a bit (I have like three more paths to do) because I got my Xarcade joystick in the mail.
For those of you who don't know, the xarcade is an EXPENSIVE but compatible with EVERYTHING (And i mean everything...with the right adapters) LIFETIME warranty joystick.
Yeah, that means you don't have to buy another as long as you live...unless for someone else.
So I was all giddy and plugged it in, and after some mass configuring was able to play reloaded on my pc with a joystick.

Holy shit I suck. I havent touched a stick in ages cause lack of arcades anywhere and I dislike one mvc2 (one sorry ass mvc2 machine in local mall at home which I think has even been replaced), so it was a rude awakening trying to use this beast.
For starters, I failed Millia's launch super jump chase like 8 out of 10 times.
I could not super jump.
It was saddening.
But hell that's what practice is for right?

Also, for some reason the manga/anime Bleach is making me excited.
I actually have a volume I bought in Japan because I had SPARE FUCKING YEN AGAIN and regrettably I left it at home.
I had no idea what the story was, in fact I never even considered it until I saw the first episode.
Now that the manga's licensed, I'm kicking myself for not picking up on this series earlier.
But yeah...well there's always ways to get what I want online.
It's typical shounen fare, but for some reason Rukia/Lukia's character I really really like.
Maybe it's the fact that they took a rather weird uncute character design and well...made her cute somehow.
Seriously I thought she was a guy at first because well...it's sortta hard to tell when she has that black shinigami robe and sword on.
But for some reason the romantic in me is fucking screaming whenever she interacts with Ichigo (Main guy, general badass), just cause they go so well together, even though well she's lived 10 times as long as him and is a God of Death.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

What the fuck is with the Japanese and Avril Lavigne?

I mean seriously, I haven't heard much of her music (It seems Kenny has developed a deep seething hatred of it..."She has the honor of rhyming the word "boy" with...the word "boy!") but her albums were all over the place in Japan, and I guess Taiwan though (She was there when I went to Taiwan this summer. Her concert Asian thing was on TV.)

But now that she's showing up as music for my combo videos I can not accept.
Although...they were choreographed well.
But I had the "honor" of listening to skater boy in full (on one of the combo videos) and my god its lyrics are so silly that I find the song hilarious.

Still though I wonder why she has such a large fanbase/appeal over there.

Saturday, October 09, 2004

Thursday, October 07, 2004

I'm a fucking idiot.

Heh, when will I learn to fucking get my priorities straight.
Two week database homework > everything else.
Of course, the entire week before today was, stats homework on monday, midterm on tuesday, IP homework on wednesday.
Anyway, I'm using up the only late you're given in this class (you're given one, then no more and no credit if you fuck up again.)
THe irony is...

THIS SHIT INTERESTS ME.
I don't know, it's been fucking eons since I've been interested in a computer science class.
And of course right away I fuck it up.
Sigh, I'm going to have to turn in a 400 level project to hopefully counteract using up that late (i.e. maybe extra credit? who knows)

Honestly, I've already fucking thought up of a final project idea.
A fighting character database!
How fucking cool is that?
Hell I could make it solely a JAPANESE DOUJIN FIGHTING character database!
I was already thinking up diagrams...

AND yet I've already used my only grace extension on the first homework.

Sigh...
Priorities...

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Nanasi DESU NO!!!

Ok after finishing today's bloody Ancient Chinese history midterm/test (very time constrained, 12 paragraphs = 4 minutes per paragraph = no time to think) I can find a little time to talk about the Duel Savior Demo.

In short, this thing rocks.
It's a wacky hybrid of sidescroller/beatemup/fighting game, using the numpad (shame on you Giga can't you change to godamn arrow keys already) and the standard 'z' 'x' 'c' key interface you see a lot in Japanese games.

You have two air dashes (forward forward/back back) and two normal jumps (up up).
None of the dashes count as a jump, so it's not like if you jump twice you can't dash twice, (unlike ggxx).

'z' is your good old weak attack, chainable into itself (but pushes the monster away so unless your point blank to a large monster you're max of these usually is 4-5, possible in air).
Forward 'z' is a kick, again possible in air, however usually I do it by mistake coming out of a dash so I forget to combo after it.
Can not chain into itself, but I think can chain into 'x' moves in both the ground and air.
Down 'z' is a wacky staff pole maneouver which I believe mini-launches (hard to follow up mini launch with actual air to air combo moves)
Cancels I think into down 'x' but not the neutral 'x's, at least not normally.
Air down 'z' is a jump in multihitting hammer, very good for continuing chains after an aircombo (after beating the crap out of enemy, forego the usual combo finisher and instead just continue with a hammer to OTG)

'x' is your good old strong attack, chainable into itself 3 times, 3 time launches.
Air neutral 'x' is a spear that multi hits in the air, I think you can combo from after it without cancels but I'm not too sure (via your second jump maybe?)
Forward 'x' is a charged punch, VERY GOOD for covering distance/getting away/whatever.
Air forward 'x' has even less delay for its forward punch, is even better at running away, pretty good jump in too.
(Runaway strat is double jump, diagonally away from monster you want to run from, double air dash, then jam forward 'x's. You will traverse the screen in no time.)
Down 'x' is an axe launcher.
I usually just do this after down 'z', it launches monsters after the minilauncher of down'z'.
Air down 'x' is a dive bomb...literally.
Your character takes out a bomb and dives with it for multi-hits.
USUALLY used as a combo ender, but against the headless rabbit chick I USE IT A LOT just to cancel her weirdo autoguard(one hit or so?) combo counter self.

'c' is guard.
Forward 'c' is roll, back 'c' is backhop/step, 'c' at last second cancels your guard frames significantly.
Up 'c' is weirdo move called highjump, I think THIS is the jump you want for air combo chasing, instead of just the regular jump.
I always mess up the timing on this, cause it's the frikkin guard key and I never expect it.

'z' and 'x' together are supers.
Neutral zx is a flashier version of the neutral x times 3 launcher combo, way more hits, I'm not exactly sure if you can chase the launches at the end of the flashy finisher but probably.
Forward zx is a punch super, think the forward x.
One hit, bounces off wall (if you're good you can continue comboing, if you're me you can't), QUITE a bit of damage if it connects.
Down zx is an axe super...very weird hit properties on this one, it raises earth? stones up to hit your enemy in a deceptively large area, however I rarely land this directly (I use it on Nanasi to keep her away or catch her in the blast radius).
I am VERY unsure if this launcher is followable, she seems to fly too high then fall too fast.
Air neutral zx is a super version of the spear, hits more, I think definitely comboable normally (no cancels) after the last hit.
Air forward zx is the air version of the punch super, use like air forward 'x' or to combo finish, GOOD DAMAGE.
Air down zx is a bomb super, multiple bombs all over the place, they cover you while you cough from the dust.

Cancels:
You can cancel any normal it seems into ANOTHER normal for one red diamond (You generally start off with 3 diamonds, unfull)
You can cancel any normal into a super for 2 red diamonds, it costs 3 red diamons if the normal is generally uncancellable (Think combo enders like the dive bomb.)

Simple huh?
The demo would lead you to believe that...except screenshots of those wacky Japanese.
500+hit combos, the highest scores 3rd 2nd 1st being around 5.5k for 3rd and 2nd and 55k for 1st.
Yes not a typo, 55k.
He overloaded the digits!
WTF.
I can't even fathom how that works, and I even asked a random english guy living in Japan who had been to the playtest and saw a 400+ combo in action.
I don't think he knew either XD.

Atama, atama ga?

Tweaks here and there, I noticed my previous posts just seemed to get in the way, links and two new sections (blogs and fyaf moved up to more prominent positions.)
Basically FYAF is going to be the sum of all those random stupid links I spam to you people on my buddy list: this includes: brennan jazzy noob lilyes tanzy yilei rinara zed lah and god knows who else.
I'll probably rotate it when it hits a max backlog of about four-six. (I like even numbers.)

Also started adding some blogs, starting with the first two that came to my mind.
Heh, feeble attempts to wave some social tendrils. (Link me back Lawrence if you care to.)

Anyway I would do a more indepth post about my first FYAF, that being the Duel Savior demo, but it's 5:20am and I'm studying hardcore ancient Chinese history.

Monday, October 04, 2004

FATARU AROU!

Well, I beat Chitose's section of Galaxy Angel: Eternal Lovers. (One of those weird Japanese relationship/tactical?/space sim? games, where your relationship affects how your units fight? Nothing dirty though, GA's pretty clean.)
What can I say...my roommate HATES the yamato nadesico (traditional Japanese woman)image, and with good reason, cause geez christ some STUPID shit happens in Chitose's arc.
Still I found her sweet enough to play through with, although I seem to be missing a scene.

The battles were ridiculously easy UNTIL a certain point.
Then they become "pretty" easy.
Up until a certain point, I had subscribed to a "Get as many points as you can and crush everything, regardless of objectives" method of play.
Nothing too hard, even when Galaxy Angel 7 showed up.
Ironically, it was Unit 7's "advanced" AI that let me exploit it.
Traditional AI in GA went something like this: MOVE STRAIGHT TOWARD ELSIONE, IGNORE GIRLS ON HIGH COMPLETELY TAKING ME APART.
Understandedly, GA7 gave me my first REAL scare, as it is FAST (maybe as fast as Sharpshooter or Happy Trigger), and powerful as all hell.
The thing is, it's AI actually RUNS AWAY when low on life.
Meaning it'd fly straight for my mothership (You lose it, game over), I'd recall all my angels (the six girls/ships I control using crazy tech)to beat the UTTER CRAP out of it, and it'd run away.
So I could still crush all the other units on the map while harassing it.
After that, there were still no problems, in fact in later missions you get Allies, meaning the only obstacle to killing everything is well, having THEM kill something weak, like a fighter.
Admittedly, later it IS rather hard trying to play for score, as some of the missions become rather time constrained and your allies are blasting more things than they should.
But still really easy.

That all changes in the last battle.
I personally think if they set it up like this in the last half of the game I'd have enjoyed it more.
Basically, you have allies, but even then, THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL YOU CAN KILL EVERYTHING in 15 minutes.
Hell forget killing everything in 15 minutes, forget killing HALF in 15 minutes.
What you basically have in this mission is a Galaxy Angel 7, cept with 1000 times the hitpoints, twice to three times as powerful, AND SINGLEMINDED.
The mission objective is to kill him.
No, it's not really number GA007 (Vine's already died in your care), and it is slightly slower, but my god.
First off, the avenues of escape (two asteroid formations) have fighters (paper planes) and A HEAVY BATTLESHIP AND HEAVY CRUISER each behind them.
Meaning, if you decide to run Elcione up or left (which is the first instinct because...described later), your Angels have to somehow punch through this pair of ridiculously high hp ships.
Add this to the fact that the BOSS goes straight for you.
He spends like 1 second if he hits an ally, vaporizes him, and continues.
There is no running from him, he never runs away.
What ended up happening the first two or so times I lost and numerous restarts was this: I'd try to get Elcione to one of the asteroid formations so I could play merry go round with the Boss.
My angels would fly ahead, destroy most of the paper planes, TAKE A WHILE on the heavy battleship and heavy cruiser, and by that time, Boss man would have caught up to me AND new reinforcements would have appeared where I was running around, namely ANOTHER HEAVY CRUISER in each escape zone.
So I'd get pincered, Elcione would die, and the end.
There was another thing to note, while I was concentrating on survival, the MAIN mission objective was to KILL this thing in 15 minutes.
The thing was a godamn tank.
Forte's super barely scratched it, Milfeuille's did a respectable amount if she was CONTINUALLY LOCKED, Ranpha's didn't do that much, MINT'S was unpredictable, and Chitose's was respectable damage.
Anything else did piddlings.
So in fact the crush here was twofold.
EFFING SURVIVE and DEAL ENOUGH DAMAGE.
Considering the large amounts of OTHER shit flying about to help you fail the first objective, I'd sometimes completely forget the second one.

So to finally beat the mission, I had to change my playing style.
Instead of making a break for the asteroid fields...I just took a gamble and had Elcoine run into the WAYYY back of the starting corner of the map.
It would take a while before the mass of Heavy ships and mister boss man would get there (if they got anywhere near it though I'd have no way to run and be dead in like 30 seconds).
Then, I ran the angels UP THE MIDDLE and went for as MANY weakling fighters/attackers/noncapital ships as I could.
These things are paper thin, and die within 30-one minute at most.
Basically after clearing out all the fighters in the middle (I left the capital ships so the angels were taking periodic damage from them, but no time to really concentrate on them) I had them all focus on the boss.
And fired every bloody super within the span of two minutes.
Some twice (thanks Ranpha/Chitose).
I won with about five minutes left, but my mothership had amazingly suffered no damage, cause it was wayyyyy down in the corner.
THIS is the only battle in the GAME where the mission objectives are dire and important enough to warrant completely forgoing anything else.

Also of note is my grasp on the story is ridiculously tenuous at best. Honestly my Japanese picked up a lot more than I think it would but I guessed half the time. (How is Vine from Val Fasc AND Eden? How exactly did Chitose forget her feelings for you? etc etc etc.)

The omake is awesome. You unlock of course battle mode (replay all battles of one girl's scenario) and you can replay them normally or IN FIRST PERSON/COCKPIT VIEW. Meaning I can control Chitose myself, fire her weapons, super, fly around, etc. That alone rocks, in fact I'm sort of annoyed that the main game didn't allow this option.

Still though, I'm going to have to take a break from trying to find that missing CG and playing through with a different girl. I spent a lot of time on this game surprisingly and well, all the major projects I have assigned are due soon.