[link]


Well, preferably NOT my ass, that spot is sensitive. Teehee tongue-in-cheek joke.

No but this past month has been absolute hell as far as things that have been going on: drama with Tidewater Community College, trying to go to school again and instead just focusing on getting a job *still unemployed*, and another tough spot that's hit me recently that's pissing me off: nobody has bothered to pick up my project White Melody as far as artists go.

Needless to say my spirits in getting that thing done are dwindling too as it hasn't even started and I have yet to finish the Nekocon 9 Doujinshi which has been far too overdue for its own good. I have been going on the one site I know where I can get pure, truthful opinions be they harsh or not; 4chan.

That's right, I played myself into one of the internet's poisons for opinions. I've given people a plot synopsis (rough ones) and so far my story is shit quality, or actually "weeaboo" status which is never a good thing. You know how blacks hate being called "nigger", and chinese/oriental people hate the term "chinks"? "Weeaboo" is the same thing for those who like anime/manga, an extreme term used in a derogatory notion to an otaku, or when referring to one. Basically my story's plot has been called the absolute worst quality, completely forgetting that most hentai stories do not make sense to begin with and I am trying to give a story, this hurts.


Are you people interested in reading a chapter-by-chapter/ regular description / just flat out reading the story itself? I would like to get some more opinions that may not offend me and I know you guys, harsh as some of you can be, aren't prone to just calling something "shit" because it involves anime. Just to tickle your tastebuds, I will actually inform everyone here reading what exactly the erotic version of Nekocon 9: The Doujinshi (Which is White Melody) entails starting now:

Haru (myself) is in the middle of watching the end of the results of the Cosplay Contest along with the other members of his group, Makoto (Megan/Winry), Moyashi(Tiffany/Edward), and Aya (Amanda/Sailor Pluto). He can't seem to concentrate though as he's just nervous about winning/not winning. That, and the two girls, Aya and Makoto, keep stealing his attention for just a bit by being themselves. Needless to say, he's got a growing attraction to both, but he sees himself honestly interested in Makoto more.

Cut to later where they are all celebrating their victory; being the Best Novice Cosplay Group of the convention. Amongst themselves they speak of happy things and make plans to meet up later at the Convention's Rave; even amidst sketchy details of what will be happening there.

The first ones to arrive *out of 3 since Moyashi stays behind to keep watch over the hotel room, since every con goer needs a hotel room* find that they are in for more than just a simple dance, as everyone going has become entranced....a little more than usual. Of course this is just youthful angst and sexual frustration at its boiling point but it seems there are orgies happening OPENLY on the dance floor/in the dance room.

Once Haru comes along, multiple problems/interests/situations arise and he must figure out how to handle everything...as well as to make this end to his convention going weekend worthwhile.




There.

Does that sound retarded as a few have already told me, or were they just being close-minded? Anyways, all feedback is appreciated, I want input.

Well anyways, since the beginning of August I've had quite enough time to dive into BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger; the successor to the Guilty Gear fighting game franchise. Man. Was I in for a bigger game than I thought. Let's just break down a few of my favorites/hates/confusions when dealing with this game, eh? It'll help me remember what I found out, and keep in mind I still have not 100% this game but have played every character's story at least once, and have completed the True Ending.


~~~Loved~~~

- Combat in this game is unlike anything else I've experienced. Even coming out of Guilty Gear X2 #Reload as a decent player and still even being "new" at that, this game plays, in a way, just like it but different altogether. Guilty Gear's combat dealt with 4 main command buttons, being (P)punch, (K)kick, (S)slash, and (HS)high slash. BlazBlue replaces the attack pattern with A,B,C, and D. A meaning Weak, B is Medium, C, is Heavy/Hard, and D is Drive.

The Drive button is the main force behind this game into making every single character play differently. One fighter may have a drive that allows him to regenerate health with every D-influenced hit, while another drive command allows another to mark the fighter allowing him to constantly attack the opponent even from a distance. Pretty badass, no?

Where Guilty Gear shined in being the only game where a fight can end in ONE HIT DEATHS, BlazBlue continues that.........only a lot more restrained. People who play GG enough may scoff and say BlazBlue is the "casualized" or "beginner" version of Guilty Gear when one takes into account there are no one-hit kills to perform right at the start of a match. I like to think of this as a more reasonable, strategic approach rather than to rush down your opponent from the start and kill them off before the match has really started. The game calls these finishing moves "Astral Heats", and sans a few characters when you buy the game (Ragna, Nu/v13 are an example) you must unlock the Astral Heat for each character by completing Arcade mode with those who have no Astral Heats to begin with. To perform an Astral Heat, the following conditions must be met:

1) Opponent must have <20% Health.
2) Must be the final match (whereas a victory on either fighter means victory)
3) The one performing the Astral Heat must have maxed (100%) "Heat"/ energy.

If the Astral Heat's initial blow hits, bam you got that mofo in your grasp and victory's yours! Hell, performing one for the first time nails you an achievement: what a way to feel better about learning more on the game huh?

- Combat friendliness. This game also features something new for those wanting to get into BlazBlue but find some of the controls to be a little....overwhelming. When I mention moves from now on in this journal, take a look at your numbers on your keyboard: the ones on the right side (for those with desktop PCs). Every direction inputted will refer to a number, plus a letter meaning the type of attack. Therefore if you think about Ryu's Hadouken from Street Fighter, the input would be 236P. Easy, huh?

Okay, got that confusing shit out of the way.

BlazBlue and Guilty Gear are two fighting games that I know that have some of the most complicated input directions for many moves. Hell, one special for a character in BlazBlue, named Tager, has an input of 720C (87412369874123698C) and you MUST input that while he's standing on the ground and input that Strong/Heavy/Hard (the "C" attack) for that super move to go through. Well that's a little daunting, so Arc System Works made performing special moves and regular moves a little easier; just tap the right analog stick in a direction and *bam* you're performing a move and already look like a pro! How about that?

When you fight online, all conveniences of using the right analog stick as a shortcut to perform moves is disabled. I assume it's to make every fight legitimate and equal so that nobody just spams the right stick to get an easy/cheap win.

Of course any win with Jin Kisaragi is a cheap win but oh well I'm not bitching. Right now at least.




- Balanced. 12 Fighters may NOT sound like a lot for a brand new game series, or any fighter, but when you consider the many "great" fighting games that have a lot of characters but little room for balance and variety *cough Marvel vs Capcom 2*cough* you're getting a lot for every buck you paid. As I said before when mentioning the Drive command on making each character different, everybody has strengths and weaknesses. NOBODY plays the same. Nobody. Nu/v13, the game's default boss character, has immense attack power from mid-range-to-long-range swords being summoned at her command....but she has the health bar of a gnat. Getting inside a noob Nu player's range and hitting them a few times can nail their health bar down quickly. Ragna the Bloodedge, the game's protagonist, has great range and a rush-down feel for his fighting. His "super" form, Blood Kain (which normally lasts about 15 seconds or so) adds 2x the attack power, but at the cost of some of his lifebar. Then there's someone like Taokaka; a cat girl (I'm not even kidding) who's very quick. She literally leaps around the entire screen and while she's faster than anyone, her attacks only work best in rapid succession. Otherwise all you manage to do is mess up your opponent's attack patterns here and there.


Needless to say, everybody is balanced. But dammit if I didn't hate Jin Kisaragi (another main character) and his god damn ice abilities. He's this game's "Sub Zero" with his own slew of freezing moves. There's just something that bugs me when the opponent has a free hit upon free hit. To me that shouldn't be mistakened for talented gameplay; just a copout. Then again the same can be said by ANYONE who plays the game who's ever fought a very good Hakumen fighter..or anyone else for that matter.

Anyways, I'm getting off topic.



- Story. Holy fucking SHIT you would think I wouldn't even bother mentioning this. After all, other than Mortal Kombat, what OTHER fighting game has not only an interesting story, but a believable one? Street Fighter, maybe, but we all know it's revolved around the same cliche plot every single time. King of Fighters? Fuck that. Tekken? Nobody plays Tekken, we're skipping that. Guilty Gear? Hell yes.

BlazBlue? Definitely another hell yes.

Point is, BlazBlue has a great story that basically dwindles down to a grand catastrophe that ultimately helps result in humanity's advancements. A demon called the "Black Beast" emerges to rage destruction amongst the Earth. With it, powers unknown to man make it nearly impossible to fight it. However 6 warriors who come to be known as the "Six Heroes" rise up against it and fight it; ultimately putting it to rest and sending it off. However as the Black Beast disperses from our world it leaves with it large traces of its 'energy' and life force, as one could put it. Humanity uses these traces to help it advance in technology and even form a new type of government, called the Novis Orbis Librarium.

However this form of 'government' is as reliable and pure as the Rocky Horror Picture Show fan group, Fishnet Inc. Joking, but you get the picture. Because of this, someone rising up against it decides to take matters into his own hands and starts knocking off members of the NOL, bringing with him a high bounty.

His name is echoed throughout the world as "Ragna the Bloodedge".

That's just the tip of the iceberg, and the truth behind the entire story isn't what you'd think. I literally shouted "MIND FUCK!!" when the True Ending was explained to me by some friends who had played the story before me.



Before I go on, Story Mode is as enjoyable as you'd expect; coming off looking like a PS2 RPG when played out most of the time. Each character has a "true" ending to their many branching paths, while most of them are either "bad" or "joke" endings. For instance, a joke ending of Taokaka is that she becomes an apprentice of Bang Shishigami (voice by Tony Oliver) and becomes a cat-girl-ninja. haha.


Then there's the surprise in the game nobody expects called "Teach Me, Ms.Litchi!" which is, to say bluntly, a chibi slideshow of the characters in the game explaining the story of the game. Fiction within fiction. It's worth watching every single time you watch these 'episodes'....these clips even managed to nearly sneak in the name of a very loved Guilty Gear character, calling him "weak". I laughed buckets.



~~~Hated~~~

- Dealing with Score Attack. Of course, this is only me at the moment but if you're thinking "Hmm, Score Attack.....like Trial mode, right?" oho hohoho you're in for one rude correction. Score Attack is the 'short' version of Arcade mode, fighting for the highest score with the game's difficulty automatically and permanently switched to the highest setting. That's right. That means every single fighter now IS a threat to you.

If you're good enough you may even come across the ultimate boss upon ultimate bosses in the BlazBlue video game, which is Unlimited Ragna. Unlimited Ragna is basically Ragna in his Blood Kain form......only he has NO limits to how long it lasts (it starts right at the beginning) and every single Drive command AND SPECIAL MOVE does 2x the damage. You can literally get KO'd just by receiving one special attack from him.

Oh, and you only get one try for the entire thing. Get all the way to the end and die? Gotta start over from the first fight. However....here's a tip. Grab a second 360/PS3 controller. When it looks like you're about to lose, hit the start button on the 2nd controller. It'll go to the "HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER" screen like you would see if you were at the arcade...and you basically just saved your ass from losing. You can take a break, fight a dummy, and try again.

Score Attack is not for the faint of heart.......or those prone to wanting to throw controllers through windows, like myself. This mode is HARD.



~~~WTF~~~

- Not going to spoil it, but because I got to the True Ending, and discovered the TRUE happening behind everything in BlazBlue (including actually figuring out what that thing Ragna possesses is) I am utterly blown away...and yet still confused at how anything and everything in BlazBlue can even happen.

Or rather, how much of it is true. This is coming from someone who played through every Silent Hill game, for god's sake. A fighting game? Giving me headaches? Man, to think such a day would come!


- Every single Jin player. God damn I hate you all.

- Is it so wrong to think Taokaka is very hot? Even if she has the IQ of 50?



So far, I am still playing BlazBlue and training myself to complete it and get even better. I main Ragna, and second Noel, Tager, and Taokaka. Right now I give it a 10/10.

I'll be reviewing Burnout Paradise some other time.

Later!

- H.M.

~~~~
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!" - Kamina Giha