Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Onoz!

Last day of summer for me. I'm a bit excited, but I know that'll end as soon as all the work starts pouring in. I'm enjoying the independence though. A lot more than I thought I would, but we'll have to see how long that lasts too.

Engineering here I fucking come!

Friday, August 19, 2011

INTERNET!!!

First off I want to thank you guys for your support in my shift of bloggery and moving away. I'm settling in pretty well now.

It's been a crazy week I'll tell you that. First thing I did was call in AT&T to try to get my internet situation sorted out. I chose the 12Mbps because the 18Mbps came with a $144 installation fee AND my activation date would be the 30th. I thought all of that was ridiculous since at home, Comcast charged nothing and service was the NEXT day! Sadly I could do nothing about it because this area is AT&T exclusive.

Well either way, I got that sorted out by persistently calling in everyday for a bump in activation, and it happened today =).

A lot of good things happened today. I got my internet activated, my monitors that I ordered from Woot! came in, my Financial Aid check came to me, but most importantly, I'M BACK!

Here's my current computer set-up that I've been dying to do for the longest time. Multiple monitors:


Messy I know, but the desk is small. I had a dual monitor set-up in mind, but my mom bought the desk and she didn't know about it lol. My laptop there is playing host to a lot of wires too. Kinda like a Frankenstein hehe.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Eh...Sorry

  Well, I gotta start off by apologizing for my absence and inactivity. This week has been hectic for me =S; It was my last week in my hometown. I spent most of the week packing and buying things for my apartment. I leave tomorrow afternoon for the school year.

  Just a lot of anxiety right now I guess. Hard to put my thoughts together. The idea of independence is a bit frightening, but then it's something I really want so I can stop relying so much on my parents. It's just a bit sudden I guess. That and parting ways with many of my friends. The latter 2 years of my high school career were the best with them and leaving is a hard aspect I guess. Even though I know it won't be forever, just that we  did everything together and then suddenly it'll stop.

  I also need to say that game reviewing probably won't be a main point of my blog anymore. Sorry to those of you that followed me for that =(. I'll post up game reviews once in a while, but I'll try to mix up my blog around a bit. I'm not sure how much leisure time my school schedule will grant me.

  Wont' have internet for maybe a week so good-bye until then!

Thanks all, and sorries.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Game Alert: SD Gundam Online

So my friend told me about this game, and I was skeptical at first. We all know there aren't any good Gundam games, let alone ONLINE (maybe a few), but after he gave me an account I was hooked.

I can't really review the game, since I'm not very high level and haven't gotten far, but I'll try to run down the game as much as possible.

I unfortunately can't comment on any story. It's entirely Korean, and I can't read Korean haha.

GAMEPLAY


The game has 2 different types of play, Mission and PvP.

In Mission, you can choose between co-op or solo. It's usually just kill X amount or defend an object etc. Nothing very time-consuming. You are rewarded EXP and Points (in-game currency) as well items once in a while.

PvP, self-explanatory. There are different modes though, like DM, TDM, Boss. I haven't really experimented much with this side honestly, because I'm such low level with low-level Gundams and I get wiped on the floor by everyone else.
There's also a tag-team kind of PvP called "Battleship". You buy battleships with in-game currency, and then you can load it up with Gundams. Higher ranking Gundams, weigh more, and reduce your capacity in the ship. You then fight your opponent and just rotate between your selected Gundams. All of these award EXP and Points.


GUNDAM CUSTOMIZATION


So this is the part we all are excited for. You know you've always wanted your own Gundam, and here you can have it. There are about 400-500 Gundams in the game, spanning across all of the Gundam series (G-Gundam, Gundam Wing, Seed, etc.) The game is surprisingly balanced while including all of these Gundams.

Gundams, are ranked from C to SS, C being the lowest and most common, while SS being the rarest obviously. There are intermediate ranks like SR or AR, but I'm not entirely sure what they are, probably just different builds. Unfortunately, you can't choose what weapons your Gundam carries; you have to use what the Gundam has. That's probably the balancing factor.

Pilots and Gundams level up alike. Pilots generally serve no purpose, except some Cash ones (IRL currency for virtual items) may give you some sort of in-combat boost. Your ranking allows you to take certain quests though, but that's about it. Gundams level up and acquire their abilities. They're all passive, but are fitted towards maximizing your Gundam's potential. You also get attribute points that you can allocate to your liking between Speed, HP, Agility, Strength, Defense, Special Attack. After leveling up a certain amount of times, you can go "Over Custom", where you level up to 7 times more. You get more attribute points, and if you ever reach EX, you can get an extra EX ability. However, every time you Over Custom one level, you risk losing all Over Custom levels you've gained so far.

To get more Gundams, you can spend Points on a Gachapon machine and get a random one out of the set (They're organized in sets of 6, usually with 4 C's, 1 B, and 1 A, you can pay premium for high ranked sets though). There is also a Custom Gachapon that has EVERY single Gundam, but chances are pretty low anyways. You could also pay with Cash to RENT them for a certain amount of time. Some quests give Gundams, but only at the lower levels to help newbies get somewhere. Finally the last way is Mix-Plans. It's basically a blueprint to create a Gundam. You'll need to acquire the Gundams required by the Mix-Plan, level it up to the required level, then you can activate the Mix-Plan. It's a LOT of work, but that sweet God Gundam at the end makes you look pretty badass. You can have 24 Gundams, but that can be extended with Cash.






So Gundam fans, go ahead and check it out if you have no qualms about the language barrier. I play on the Korean server because my friend had a Korean SSN to register for me, but from what I've read most US people play on Taiwanese servers and are in high populations there.

Cheers and Happy Gaming!

Resources to get you started if you're interested:
http://www.amecha.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=114.0
http://sdgowiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Rawr, Final Fantasy

So I recently went to an FF concert, and I'm completely mad over FF again right now. I'm going to go ahead and play all the old FF's lol. I've only played 8, 10, 10-2, 12, 13 so far and I'm missing out on a lot I know.

Anyways, after the very concert I had, I was obsessed with learning how to play the music too and the first song I learned was the most popular, overrated song To Zanarkand. I learned it fairly quickly, but it took a while to play it the way I wanted and here it is. Enjoy guys!


I also just finished Suteki Da Ne, but it's not perfect yet so when it is I'll post up a a vid.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Bayonetta

K guys, first off I want to note that I will compare this game to Devil May Cry 3 a lot. I don't know if you guys know this but the original director (I think it was director) of Devil May Cry 1 was the head of Bayonetta's development after he stopped working on the DMC series (which is the 1st one I believe). Anyways, both games do have striking similarities (I'll review DMC3 in the near future =] ).


Bayonetta is an Action/Adventure game that heavily focuses on combat. Since it's a current-gen game, that graphics are beautifully rendered and very slick at high FPSs.

STORY
You are Bayonetta, a witch that was re-awoken, but is now faced with amnesia. An informant Enzo tells her about a Jewel that she once possessed, and she sets off to find the person in hopes of finding the jewel and her lost memories. Along her journey to uncover the buried memories and truth, she faces countless demons and angels alike, trying to stop her from her goals. 

I'm really going to have to say, the story to me wasn't all that appealing. The cutscenes in the game did have their funny parts (a lot of humor, sexual innuendo and such, and cool kickass scenes) but other that that I wasn't entirely captivated by the story.

GAMEPLAY
Like I said before, this game focuses on combat a lot more. As a witch, you have a plethora of abilities and weapons at your disposal.

Abilities 

Shapeshifting

When you think of a witch, you often think of shapeshifting right? Well Bayonetta can! Throughout the game, you will be able to obtain the abilities to shapeshift into different animals with different abilities. The cat form endows you with speed and dodging. The crow enables you limited flight. And the bats are complete de-materialization.  Generally, the cat and crow are for those puzzle and platforming moments in the game (Which  is a lot of times, but they're fairly short and easy). The bat form is a combat one where it allows you to completely dodge an attack, BUT the timing has to be extremely precise, for DMC vets, think Royal Guarding.



Wicked Weave

Bayonetta is actually all nude. The latex stuff you see on her actually her hair in a clothing form. Pretty cool right? She can do a lot more with it too, including turning it into a giant pair of fists and beating the crap out of the boss or even make a giant foot kick your enemies. She can manipulate her hair into various shapes to attack. While she's weaving, you start to see less and less clothes on her. Such a tease hehe.



Witch Time

Think Bullet time in the matrix. You activate Witch Time every time you successfully dodge an opponent's attack, which is quite often. All your enemies will be slow-mo and you'll be able to run free and unleash combo hell on them. This ability is almost the core of the combat system.



Weapons/Accessories


Bayonetta literally has an arse..senal. You can have up to three Accessories and 4 weapons equipped at any given time. Her weapons range from small automatic revolvers to ice-skates and katanas. The weapons are restricted to two different sets, each containing 1 upper body and 1 lower body weapon. Some weapons are strictly upper, and some lower, but there are a few that can go both ways.





Combat


This is not like God of War or Dante's Inferno. The combat in this game is very combo orientated. Yes, you'll be mashing buttons the same, but mashing with skill will reward you with more things. During any combo, right in the middle of it, you can switch weapon sets and unleash a whole new combo. If, you've played DMC, try thinking about how people Helm Breaker and Killer Bee spam. Each weapon has a massive list of combos that you can link up and mix and match to your liking. The combat is also VERY fast-paced, and you'll find yourself at times swarmed with enemies of different sizes and abilities; it gets very intense at the harder difficulty levels.

That's where Witch Time comes in. You'll be masterful at dodging, be able to pick and focus on which enemy you want to take down first thanks to your heightened abilities. It certainly doesn't make the game a cakewalk though, just possible hehehe. Also, there are some enemies where Witch Time is a necessity to even deal damage (mainly bosses).

Enemies


The game features a wide variety of enemies to fight. They'll range from all sizes and shapes to different abilities and weaknesses. You'll have your tiny minions that'll be a commonplace to fight, but then you'll also have your large behemoth's that'll take a few blows to kill or even the agile ones that will require precise timing and counters to take down. It's all in the game.





Bosses...almost every single one of them in this game are MASSIVE. I can't really think of a comparison right now, except maybe Master Hand in SSB, but if you were fighting both hands and the bodies those hands were attached to. They're usually multi-stage...you have to take down body part by body part and then you'll kill them. That's just how big they are.





Yea, 'nuff said.

OVERVIEW
Well like always, this is a very small review of the game. I'm only trying to attempt to get you to play it, not know everything about it. That's for you to find out when you get it.

Cheers,
Happy gaming guys!

Friday, July 15, 2011

An Anime Review

I can't really think of any games right now so I decided to do some animes. BTW SPOILERS!!

Fullmetal Alchemist - 52 Episodes
5 years ago I saw the first FMA. It was good, but the story seemed so lackluster in the end, it was all a mish-mash to me. The finale wasn't satisfying either. I hated it so much T__T, but I still decided to download it and keep it.


Probably my favorite scene, which was in the end where Ed does his...sorrowed transmutation.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - 64 Episodes
Now, Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood was released in 2009 which followed the original manga storyline. This was way more badass. I saw the whole series on a binge while I was in Austin. The characters had more depth, the storyline was fantastic, and the end was extremely satisfying. It instantly captivated me and now I revere it as the best anime I've seen.

Favorite scene where Ed's arm is finally and inevitably returned and he proceeds to beat the shit out of the main antagonist.


Gundam Wing - 49 Episodes
Gundam Wing was awesome. Giant mechs beating the shits out of each other is every geek's wet dream. The story was fantastic with many twists and turns while the cast of characters were in-depth and varied enough to make compelling story. Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz was a nice finisher to tie up the series too, unlike the other anime-related movies.

Favorite scene from the movie, when Hiro uses Wing Zero Custom to blow the shit out of the impregnable fortress. 100% accuracy Twin Buster Cannon ftw?

Death Note -  37 Episodes
Easily one of the best animes. Mystery/Thriller. Everytime I watch this it makes me feel like a dumbass because the characters are so smart. Although you know who did what and such, there is no clear protagonist/antagonist. I believe it was more of a well-iterated social commentary, but nonetheless perfectly written with ingenious logic.

Eh, can't really say there are favorite scenes since I enjoyed the anime on a more platonic level rather than appearance.

Hellsing - 13 Episodes
Probably the worst piece of shits ever. It started off fine, as it followed the manga, but like the original FMA, it deviated towards its own storyline since it was ahead of the manga. The ending was dumb, and everything inbetween made the otaku nerd inside me cry. The best thing was probably the characters. I liked the idea of an all-powerful character. Although every fight he's in is completely one-sided it was ok to watch.

The man's man, Alucard (Dracula backwards if you didn't notice). He's a complete badass that'll never die and works for the Protestant church to hunt vampires (ironically).


Hellsing OVA - Ongoing
Now, like how FMA got a make-over, this shit did too, and I got to say I'm pleased. This anime is so gory that it makes me jizz blood. Every scene is bloodier than a girl on a her period, and the way they draw body parts being ripped, shot, eaten, and mutilated is done so well. The story is ok, but I watch it mainly for the gore factor.
As I said, this anime was very aesthetically pleasing, and so there are so many favorite scenes.

 How many anime's have badass chicks that wield AA cannons on their back x)?
WARNING: VERY GORY PICS. NOT FOR WEAK-HEARTED


 





All this was from 1 fight. Dyke pisses off vampire chick...and things got hairy, best fight evuur.

Alucard was here
 
 Right down the middle like a hot knife through butter.

Headshot.

This is a real vampire. Not that pussy Edward.
 
 His face fell off.
 
Impaled via Rifle
There's still more Hellsing to come and I hope it gets bloodier.
I don't know what anime I'll tackle next. There's just so many good ones and wahtever I watch I HAVE to download to have, so it does take a bit of effort to start watching. I'll probably start with Flame of Recca now since I have most of it downloaded. Tsubasa Chronicles, Chrono Crusade, Code Geass, Bleach, and the rest of that long ass Naruto are all on my list, so I guess I got the rest of summer planned out eh =D?