Enslaved Review

Awhile ago a developer called Ninja Theory announced brand new Dante (the emo one), so just to better measure how ruined that can be, I've played Enslaved, a game from the same developer. This game is intriguing, because it uses one of the most despicable aspect of gaming; escort mission and manages to make it engaging while preventing it to be cumbersome. Yup, the whole game is practically one giant escort mission.

Btw I do have a drawing, but the file is corrupted for some reason. I'll try to fix it and post in next time.

Enslaved is one of those underrated and unappreciated games, mostly due to the fact it was released in major competitions such as Halo: Reach, Fallout: New Vegas and Black Ops. Talk about bad timing, it does reminds me of Threads of Fate, a good game but released in 1999 along with a dozen RPGs. But don't let it distract you, Enslaved is not an epic tale of saving the universe, but the characters' chemistry and development works wonderfully.

The story is heavily influenced (read rip-off) by the Sun Go Kong tale, Journey to The West. I bet we all know about it, since it's more famous in Asia. There are some differences though, the setting is post apocalypse, mostly New York rather than China or India and the enemies take the form of mechs. The hero is Monkey, rightfully named so, a big brute powerhouse with demeanor like, what else, a monkey. At the start of the game, he was locked in a slaver's ship and by fate or coincidence, it was hijacked by Trip, a sexy tech whiz. They somehow escaped together when the ship crashed. Realizing that she wouldn't survive alone, Trip put a slave headband on Monkey when he passed out, hence the title Enslaved.

To be fair, you could do a lot worse than being enslaved by this chick

Aforementioned headband serves not only for story, but it's a neat trick for the gameplay as well. It gives you the HUD and any info Trip scanned will appear in-game. It also provides a death link between the two, if Trip dies, so is Monkey. Through almost the entire game, you will need to make sure Trip survive the journey. Monkey is well versed in combat and exploration, think of it like a platformed action game with a bit strategy game. Monkey will be able to climb, jump and traverse the ruined world, a bit similar to PoP without the wall run, and the way he moves with his sash flailing about certainly describes a more primal movement.

There is stealth element involved that can make the travel easier, but in case that doesn't work, he can also engages the enemies in combat, it is quiet simple but works. He has the usual basic light attacks that can be mixed with heavy attacks, there are also more damaging charged attack and focused attack thrown in the mix or later in the game. His staff can also deliver plasma and stun to reach annoying ranged enemies. While the combat is not as deep as other action titles such as Bayonetta or DMC, it fits and quiet thrilling.

For a bulky muscle dude, Monkey moves with good agility.

If the whole escort mission daunted you, rest assure. Trip is not the usual burden type, she is quiet useful. She can create a hologram to distract enemies, uses EMP when she is in danger and also upgrades your stats. Across the game, it's rare that Trip will be a nuisance. She does however, needs your assist in reaching more elaborate terrains, but compare to Ashley and Sheva from RE 4 & 5 respectively, she is an angel.

The visual in the game is simply marvelous to behold. Post-apocalypse world has never look so good, a far cry from the normal plain or barren environment, Enslaved world is one with lustrous plants creeping about after years of thriving without humans' interference. It has some great artistic value to better the mood, from the subtle hints of passing civilization or shimmering sunset. They are beautiful to say the least. Although there are some awkward movement when Trip climbs or other clunky enemies' animation, they clipped sometimes, but it's just minor occasional distraction.

Thumbs up for the art direction

Sound is consistent enough throughout the game. The dubbing for the main chars are good, Monkey sounds like a sort of familiar Vin Diesel but with more crude voice. Trip has soft voice and the artist delivers well on more dramatic moments, she sounds completely believable. Soundtracks are good, it has moody despair vibe to it that matches the setting, add with some playful or serenade ballad tone, it works well with the game's theme.

The main draw of the game is the story of these chars when they are traveling together, while it's a bit linear, only occasion beaten paths to collect tech orbs. Playtime should takes about ten hours give or take, it's not that long, but it's a journey worthy of your time.

This basically sums up your journey

Graph : Beautifully rendered world and fluid motion, with a little odd movement. 8.5/10

Gameplay : A mix of platform, combat and stealth. A bit simple but still fun. 8/10

Sound: Interesting vocal, moody ambient noise makes the journey believable. 8/10

Presentation : Well told story, great characters in a brilliant setting, although a bit short. 8.5/10

Overall : 8.3/10

Plastic Surgery. Create Your Own You

Do you like K-Pop? Chances are they are not original spare parts any more. When flashy looks is more important by the day, it's not a surprise to see various artists used plastic surgery. I'm not by any way judging whether it's bad or not. It's one's own flesh, who has more rights to decide what they are going to do with it other than the said person themselves.

Time of traditional value is diminishing, it's not westerners who are concern of their looks any more. The rising on plastic surgery especially in Korean reflects consumers view of what is acceptable as pretty. There is a view which cute or pretty is what media dictated. If you don't look like the hot Korean chicks in magazines or TV, you are average. The industry demands gorgeous eye candies for a good reason: you like watching them.

If you want to look like this.. I understand

Well consider the cons of plastic surgery first : It's most likely expensive, it will hurt afterward and there could be after effects.

Now look at the pro : beauty of the flesh.

So hypothetically speaking, if it's free, will you do it? The pain will go away soon anyway and you might not have any side effects. It all comes down to the person in question whether they are secure about themselves or not. Plastic surgery itself is an improvement in medical department, the usage of it, it's an entire matter. Look at the numerous ads which advertise cute large anime-like eyes, just for a price of contact lenses.

For me those eyes seem abnormal, what is so special about large eyes anyway? There is actually an old paper about it, that anime eyes are inspired by general disposition of Easterners' squinty eyes. To compensate, they made anime version have ridiculously large eyes. If you ask me, forget the eyes, enlarge the boobs. If SNSD had boobs job, would they have more fans?

Come on now, she did it for your eyes..

It also marks the shift into more feminine look for both female and also male. To be frank, when I see some of the boy band from Korea, they look like sissy. Maybe I'm not qualified to make such statement seeing I'm not exactly the most masculine dude, but I sure as hell won't use thick make up and lipstick. The thing is they got tons of fans, especially females.

Now I have a theory, what is the most favorite thing women like to see. Please refrain from inappropriate thoughts. I think what female like to see is the reflection of herself. I don't mean in narcissistic kind of way, but normally which one post more photos and change profile picture in FB, male or female? It's all right, it's natural. Now when they see pretty boy, they associate it with beauty. The term itself is subjective, but when did the last time you see pop idol who looks muscular?

So natural beauty doesn't exist huh?

and attitude to boot..

By surgery, I don't mean specifically just in the face, but also another parts of the body. Boobs, sex change etc. We are living in real life MMORPG nowadays. And who could judge if they are wrong or not? If they are happy with it, why not? The old reply of "this is what God gave me" doesn't necessary work. When it's a private and intimate issue like one's body, we might need to look at broader range. I really don't think it's a solution, for it creates a destructive pattern and mindset, people value themselves less because they place themselves in stereotypes of what they think is beautiful.

While I don't condone it, nor do I condemned it, I certainly will not do it. I practically happy for who I am, thank you. That's it, I blabber enough.

One last thing to ponder. Ever play Mass Effect? Tali is cute, no? Her voice, her demeanor.. Ever think how she looks under the helmet? Do you even want to know..? Bioware aims for greatness here. A like-able female alien character with constant need to veil herself, can you see past the looks alone..? Never thought game could be so deep? For other devs.. TAKE NOTES!

Interesting video game character, not only without boobs job, but wearing a mask.. What an idea!

The consensus vote something like this

Fallout : New Vegas Review

After Fallout 3, I was convinced that this franchise is one of the best RPG to date. Only 2 years afterward, Bethesda released Fallout : New Vegas, what could look like an immersive open world turned out to be a bug ridden experience. It's in no way that bad, but it sure needs more unnecessary patient to enjoy.

Oh, no drawing this week, I'm trying to find info on digital drawing (photoshop) and better tools for traditional one, like better color pencils and such.

Fallout : New Vegas is actually pretty great game. The scale is vast and hundreds of places with hundreds of highly interactive NPC. It uses the same engine as Fallout 3 and quite frankly it feels outdated. Two years ago, it might looks okay and in some scenes, the environments are epic, but looking at the doll-like character expression feels awkward now. Okay maybe because my last game is FF13, so the gorgeous graph still lingers in my memory vividly, but there are numerous games that can top the graph easily.

The story opens up with a bang.. to your head, literally. You are a courier for Strip and midway you got ambushed by a checkered guy and some thugs. Then start the journey to find them with Mojave Wasteland as your setting. The world is large and can be daunting at first, it needs dozens of hours to see everything. Two main faction of New Vegas are NCR, the more nationality soldier type and Legion, practically a bunch of savage They are toe-to-toe on claiming Vegas territory and you'll find their members scatter across the wasteland.

It still quiet good, but not as impressive as two years ago.

For a game that depends on the size of the world, Fallout New Vegas doesn't disappoint. The game offers many diversity on choosing how you approach many situation. Tons of side quests to be had and multiple ways to complete them really give player a freedom for their actions. Choose carefully whether you want to help or attack someone, or a group. Every decision contribute on how well you are received by the community, this actually add depth and realistic behavior to the tone of the game.

Gameplay remains unchanged from Fallout 3. You either use first person view or third person (not recommended) and try to bring down your enemies with the aid of VATS which let you pause the game and aim a specific limb of your targets. The stats, skills and perks also make their returns. There is quiet deep customization of your character. Each stat contributes to many skills which then decide how good you are on a particular aspect. Speech skill might influence people easily, Guns skill provides better damage when you use handgun and such, while perks are additional bonus advantage that can be selected after a couple of level up or by special means.

There is also a Hardcore mode, which I chose, that give more detailed experience albeit it makes the game harder. You have to constantly check your food, sleep and water supply. Also there is limited ways to heal limb damage, stimpak won't heal it, only doctor can. This mode is not for the faint heart. I actually faltered a few times when going to more dangerous areas, although the main story line offers relatively safe path, at least nothing that can't be handle if you gain enough experience.

While it's not this bad, I've encountered many bugs since I played this.

From the sound department, it's good. Not the usual epic OST like in many other RPG, but the ambient noise and creeping silent actually help the compelling atmosphere. If you want to hear some tunes, the radio has several tracks to listen to. They are the usual '60 something classic songs, but they are not many so expect them to be replay on some occasions. Dubbing for the game is very good, characters deliver their lines with amazing personality. This helps tremendously when the animation of some characters are a bit stiff.

Now come the bad parts. It lags, more than it should. I don't remember Fallout 3 frame rate stall as much as this. There are also plenty bugs to deal with, from the glitching hands, the hovering characters, sometimes the enemies fall into the ground straight to oblivion etc. Maybe the technical doesn't support the ambition of such large world. Then the stupidity of the AI, it's almost given that at some points in the game, you will see NPC running around in the circle, the NPC who you should protect is suddenly possessed by some Spartan ghosts and decides to run head first to a team of six foes with grenades. Needless to say, they are awful.

The scope of the game is absurdly vast

Aside from the weirdness of AI, the animation or the movement of the characters is not smooth. For some reason they feel weightless, more like a floating human rather than ones who actually have gravitational and weight effect. One time, I saw an NPC walk to a wall and didn't even know that he stuck. All these minor impractical bugs and glitches can lead to frustrating gameplay and take the immersion away. It appears any good things about this game is accompanied by at least some sort of malfunction.

Ultimately Fallout New Vegas can be daunting on the prospect of its size alone, not to mention the bugs that plagued it. For Fallout or Oblivion fans, it's certainly worth it, but other gamers might be put off by the aforementioned hindrance. It's a shame really, once you got past the swarming bugs, there is a great game to be found here. It just demands gamers to be forgiving of its shortcoming. Beautiful but flawed. 8/10

Final Fantasy 13 Review

I can't believe I haven't written this already. So let's get this over with. Final Fantasy 13 is by far one of the most linear game I've ever played. It's still good, but it takes more open mind to enjoy, since it's so different from the previous ones. My drawing first.

http://vividobscura.deviantart.com/art/Shadow-Hearts-Hilde-193039605

Bite me ~~~~

The story first, I'll try to be brief and thorough. In FF 13 universe, there are two worlds, Cocoon, the floating futuristic world and Pulse, the savage world below. In each world, there are deities called Fal'Cie who turn humans into their weapons called l'Cie to sabotage the other world. Being l'Cie pretty much means you are screwed, Each l'Cie is given a Focus, which in layman term means worst-mission-ever. The Fal'Cie are not clear about what you should do, so it's basically a stab in the dark. If you are miraculously successful, you turn into crystal. If you fail, you become a monster. Being l'Cie pretty much ruins your day.

The characters are ensembled in cliche fashion, six strangers meet accidentally . But what separates FF 13 from the rest is they don't mingle very well at start. This is not "Squall meets Rinoa and saves the world" type although it somehow leads to the same epic conclusion. FF 13 presentation is superbly done. Each character has different emotional baggage and motive. The simple minded but stubborn Snow simply doesn't mix well with more realistic stern Lightning, maybe she tends to be.. aggressive, so the party is separated most of the time.

not exactly this brutal but close..
kudos for the artist http://banished-shadow.deviantart.com/

This is where the much controversial story comes into play. Instead on focusing on one single journey, FF 13 switches back and forth between chars plus their flashbacks, hence took players' freedom greatly. From storytelling's stand point, it's great since it tells different aspects from different perspectives. No, I'm not saying this because my writing uses the same style, which by the way kinda relieving to see at least FF used it too, makes me warm and fuzzy inside... ehmm, so continue on. To be fair, I think it just barely escapes cliche, the dialogue and the writing has some lost-in-translation problem. It probably suits better in Japanese.

But from the gaming's point, it's suffocatingly linear. So much so, the 2/3 of the game is just a straight march with occasional beaten paths to collect treasures. This is probably my most linear game since Breath of Fire 5 on Ps2, even that has small hubs serving as towns, FF13 has none. Removing all ancient NPC interactions and towns, even if the story goes into town, it's still a one line path. This feels so much like a missed opportunity since the world is so entrancing, you will want to explore it. I know the need to push the story, but it really doesn't hurt to open the world a bit.

This map puts linearity into a new perspective

Even the chars progression is linear. It uses Crystarium, almost the exact Sphere Grid from FFX. If you are not familiar with it, it's a huge web-like stats and skills paths that let you customize your chars as you see fit, but FF 13 has almost no freedom in it, every stat paths is practically a must, thus making each char almost stuck to their pre-assign roles. This not necessarily a bad thing, because it actually provides players with more deep gameplay. One char has three different roles, the other three are opened later, but not as good as their original specialties. Roles are pretty much simple, commando for attacking, synergist for buff and so on.

The battle is intriguing. First of all, every character is assigned hitherto roles. Each role can only do actions specified to them, i.e a commando has high attack power, but can't heal. If you want to heal, you have to change that char's role into medic, this is called "paradigm shift". You can assign paradigms for your party to benefit any given aspect, but you can only control one char in battle, the other two are controlled by AI. Don't worry the AI is good, probably the best I've seen so far. There is a limit on how may paradigm you can select, six, so you want to prepare for all situation and switch between attacking, buff etc when the situation arise.

Crystarium is something like this..

Think of it like, bringing six different parties, but the characters remain the same, only their roles are different in a battle and then continuously switch between them. Seems complicated and took the micro management away from players at first, but I can attest that this is the most fluid battle of FF so far, It's almost real time how they move and fight. I approve!

Here's paradigm set.. Man, they have the best menu ever

It's safe to say that FF has been known for dishing out probably the most beautiful graph on any generation of consoles, this gen is no different. The world of Cocoon is fully realized down to the details. Form the wardrobe of the passerby, the hovering signs, the view from rainy port, the silver forest, the chocobo theme park and I can go on all day. Which is ironic because those places are so linear, you CAN'T visit them again. Then when the CG kicks in.. Oh Mai Gawd, my eyes melted.

Combining this with a beautiful orchestra and you got one hell of presentation. I know the lack of Uematsu might put some people off, but I think it's okay. The soundtracks are great, one of my favorite so far. There are more than a dozen tracks that blew my mind and they have different feel from more melodramatic approach Uematsu used, but you can tell instantly that this is FF theme. The orchestra instrumental, superb union of piano and violin, the jazz vibe and amazing vocal contribute to one of the best OST 2010 had to offered. It only loses to Nier. and Nier is fricking awesome.

Here's how to do a cutscene right.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFkhGlliiQM

Press the damn link please. If fb had provided me with vid editor, I'd have edited it for your convenient .

Final Fantasy 13 is different. I can understand why most gamers complain about it. It tries to be interactive movie, but it focuses more on the movie part. They need to realize that this is a game, not everyone has the patient to trudge through hallways of dungeons. I like books and movies, yet I do feel it's too linear sometimes. It's not without flaws, there is a bit frame drop when in ch11, despite the great graph, the fingers look blocky and the most annoying is the difference in lip-sync with no Jap dub to chose from.

For ones who already accustom to free semi open world RPG of next gen (Fallout, DA and ME), the linearity might be a problem, but give it time, FF 13 will impressive you. I can't say that this is better than ME2 because ME2 can blend story, gameplay and players' decision into one seamless collection. FF13 is lacking on it. That being said, it's still a great game. 9/10

PS:

Here's a bonus clip for Eidolon fans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYDcdglxlHk&feature=related

Another one for Transformer fans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjDKlZCVB1U&feature=related

The last one for Tron/former fans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx-LTk1hQQs&feature=related

An anomaly called Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy is probably the sole franchise that even non-gamers are familiar with, it's been a household name for more than a decade. But let's face it, it's weird, the first and foremost is its name : FINAL Fantasy. After 14 iterations and dozens of spin-offs, I fail to see what is so final about it. Liar! So I've been playing XIII for a while now and been meaning to give a review but I haven't finish it, so to review now will be like copas from what I've read about it, don't want to plagiarize a simple note, instead you get a rambling. Yay

Again my drawing first http://vividobscura.deviantart.com/#/d35tah8

Who says I never draw a dude?!... Wha?? It IS a dude.. Moving on..

Okay, I don't mean to be cheesy or melodramatic here, especially coming off as emotional fanboy, but everyone who ever played FF can attest to its greatness. Whether it was its superior graphic, the atmosphere when trudging a detailed town or dungeon, the orchestral music, the gripping story or the compilation of the aforementioned, FF is more of an experience or memory rather than just a game, no less than your favorite book or movie. This is why it's one of the most beloved franchise, non gamers simply can't understand that.

Well honestly I played IX first than VII and VIII. Yeah, I actually didn't believe, and quite frankly detested FF back then. It was ten years ago and I was naive, judging it before I even try it. I believe it was when I was on a field trip in junior high that I first saw FFIX opening being played in a game shop. It's like "O.0 What the hell is this thing?! Must buy!"

Bahamut vs Alexander remains the best from PS1 era

It's actually the gameplay that made Final Fantasy survived its impending, albeit avoidable doom. There was no significant difference between its and other classic RPGs, but it's undisputed that the graph that made FF well known and loved by millions. Square always has a knack for creating FMV that was gorgeous and breathtaking, despite the shortcoming in the in-game graphic, but no more. FF13 marks the first FF when the in-game is almost as beautiful as the FMV, truly a sight to behold. When the actual FMV starts, damn it's phenomenal. It's one of the best I've ever seen, only ME2, RDR and Asin Crd2 that are equally impressive, even then it's hard not to claim that FF XIII has the best graph, it's almost undeniable.

On the sound department, it's different from the previous ones, another take as you will, as the all mighty Nobuo Uematsu didn't compose it. But fear not, it has different vibe, but it does not actually mean it's bad. It, however, reminds me when FF used alternative soundtracks like FFX-2 OST which quirky and J-pop. I like X-2 and while XIII doesn't playful tone, but so far so good. Here's one of my fave so far, you'll notice there is actually vocal mid-way which is rare for FF. Imagine this playing in the background as the characters strolls across the valley, sun is barely visible on the horizon just slightly revealing its shine reflected in large body of water below, then stops and pans the camera to view the vastness of it all. Took my breath away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2CVzn-ymr8

I wanted to write about the gameplay and so story, but I only have a dozen hours or so, let's leave it for next time. What I can do is tell you how much better the protagonist, Lightning than the previous ones, and in the process bash the character that shamelessly graced FF as so-called hero and failed miserably. Well to call Lightning the main protagonist will be a bit misleading since FF XIII is a story of multiple characters whose fate entwined together, the other characters are as important as Lightning and show many different aspect sof the story. Not your usual "Cloud saved the world!!!... with some other dudes..." I approve!!

FF VII - Failed expressionless soldier - Cloud

Many said that Lightning is a female version of Cloud, I disagree. Lightning can whoops Cloud's ass any day of the week. Cloud is bland and plain boring. I know soldier are supposed to hide their feelings, but he is just lacking personality, and the whole "brother, I love/hate you" thing with Sephiroth only gives his weakness more. Anyone remember the scene where he dressed as female to infiltrate a thug's mansion.. Awkward... He failed to save Aerith, tricked by Sephiroth, and Tifa has to saved his ass. All he did was gaze into the horizon like emo bitch. The only things that he offered is nasty case of too much hair wax and big-ass sword that inspired the internet to make "compensating for xxx" joke. Way to go, jerk.

FF VIII - You don't deserve Rinoa - Squall

At first Squall is kinda cool, strong silent type, but as I played, and now in hindsight, I realized he was just a silent type of asswipe. I mean, does anyone remember any of his lines other than "whatever..." Come on, he is like mute or a retard! You don't have to be sensitive poet, but at least show something human-like once in awhile. I don't get why he has so many fans, even from guys :cough: I can make statue with more lively attitude than that. And what's with the scar, try scaring your face and I guarantee you won't score a babe like Rinoa. Squall is Justin Beiber, let that sink in for a while.

I thought with the name GUNblade it could shoot.. you know some shit...
And yeah of course you need to waste years to master it because someone decided to change the handle into gun's
dumbshit

FF IX - Thieving monkey boy - Zidane

He started off okay, trying to kidnapped a princess, ends up falling in love with her and realize thief and princess won't work. He is also a clone and his brother is an androgynous whose clothes reveal in some nasty place and he tries to kill him. Zidane doesn't get it easy, but he has more personality than the rest, quiet frankly his character development is given more thought and consideration. The worst thing about him is.. well, he is part monkey. I know Square was trying to find the fantasy vibe, but still... He is half monkey..

FF X - Annoying Clueless Jock - Tidus

Tidus is so happy and childish. The whole thing about him feels wrong, how come he is accepted as Yuna's guardian just by being stranded ashore. He's not realistic and comes off pretentious, always encouraging Yuna to finish her pilgrimage, little did he know that that means killing her. Although to his credit he sticks with her to the end. And turn out he is just a dream of a vanished ancient people. OMG lazy story telling, it's hard to find an coherent ending and we'll just say "he is a dream. now he's gotta go, bye".

Looks legit to me

FF X-2 - Britney Spears me - Yuna

Oh what is with Yuna? After preparing to give her own life away to save the world, also responsible for one of the most memorable CG, the sending in Kilika, she shed the summoner outfit and turn into a pop-star.. I mean what?? At some point, Square decided to turn X-2 into a macabre of Charlie's Angels rip-off with out-of-this world fashion show starring Yuna and her angst for Tidus the whole way to the game. I know maybe a girl want to have fun after all that thousand of monster killing and it's nice to see Square released a true sequel of FF. It's good, it's one of my first game in PS2, the CG is impressive and 1000 words is still my favorite OST, but I doubt that the choice in story and Yuna's transformation were good ideas.

FF XII - Not even the main char - Vaan

The others in this list might have some, many, flaws but they are all admittedly memorable. Whether it's because their weapons, ultimate moves, good moments in story, we all remember those tens, maybe hundreds of hours playing as them and rightfully so. But Vaan is in another league of suckiness, years from playing it, people will have hard time of remembering her... his name, mainly because he is just Ashe's servant. FF XII is not about him at all, all focus goes to Ashe, he is not even Ashe's love interest. All I remember of him is just "I wanna be a sky pirate. yay" What is this One Piece or something?

No, I take that back, comparing him to Luffy will be disrespectful toward Oda-Sensei. In stark contrast, XII has massive open world, but sparse events and XIII has linear world, but tons of events. In XIII, you feel like you are tagging along as the chars go on their journeys, but Vaan is REALLY just tagging along. In those sparse events, Vaan is literally just standing on background, even if sometimes he is included in the conversation, he always say something stupid and ruin the mood. In fact Balthier claims that he is the main hero. Who can argue? He is much more interesting and charming than Vaan, he even has a Viera, sexy bunny chick in his side, that's already an epic win in my book.

Sometimes Vaan isn't even in the background

FF XIII - Please marry me - Lightning

Lightning starts off as stern type soldier hell bent on destroying... something. I thought "oh not this type again". Along the way her char develops immensely, she is able to be compassionate, remorseful and willing to accept others. She softens up a bit, but still has the determination and composure. By far the best protagonist I have pleasure to play as (no pun intended). She also reacts naturally and realistically making her more relate-able, but she has three major strong points.

First, her gunblade actually shoots some shit and can be folded, I want one,

Second, her acid tongue. I know this is a Teen rated game, but the things she said are sharp and straight to the recipients' hearts.

Third, combining with her acid tongue is her pimp hand. Yeah, she likes to bitchslap people.

Exhibit A:

Snow: (says to Serah) Don't worry babe. Your hero is here.

Lightning: (Bitchslaps!!) Does she looks protected to you??

Exhibit B:

Fang: I'm sorry.

Lighting: (stares and... Bitchslaps!!) Nothing changes...

Fang: Say that to my jaw...

Pure gold. She's so awesome, do you know what appears when you type "Lightning" on Google image search?

Lightning-saammaaa
Note to whoever made gunblade: congrats for making it shoot stuff

Damn, this was long, certainly killed some time on my work.

PS: This note is for fun, if you read it this far and your fave chars got bashed. It's just a joke. I know they are fond memories, but they are still fictional chars. Remember the title itself has "Fantasy" on it.

Heehee. Ciao - Vanille

Beelzebub review

A few months ago, I found new manga Psyren and then it was over too soon. Well, after a few week not reading anything, I found another one, Beelzebub. Actually, "found" is a bit overstating it, it happens to listed no.2 at manga fox next to Psyren. It's good, funny and a fresh air from your usual heavily dramatic ones.

My drawing first http://vividobscura.deviantart.com/

I want your opinion on something simple:

Is this better? Of course it's colored version

Or this one better? This is with no saturation version

From this image.. kinda..

The first thing you need to know about Beelzebub is this is not some devil manga, well it is, but it doesn't take itself seriously, rather it makes fun of many manga cliches and still has some novelties about it. Think of it like School Rumble + Tenjou Tenge + Gintama and you are halfway there. It's a mix of bordering on nonsensical and completely absurd.

The story is a delinquent, Oga, found a baby on the side of the river who turns out to be the child of demon king. The baby needs strong bad-ass caretaker to become an appropriate demon. He then forced to be the child's caretaker until he grow up and destroy human kind. A wet nurse, big boobs Saber (Fate Stay Night) rip-off, Hilda, stays to help Oga raise the child. That's the gist of it, I already said it'd be silly.

See, nothing serious here..

And so Oga's odyssey to become stronger begins as typical shonen manga and he faces many less serious opponents. The good thing about it is, even though is has overused format, it doesn't bore you. in fact it delivers many witty, sometimes over-the-top scenes and dialogues which many other mangas afraid to even include in their manga. One time, a new character appears and spends three pages for his entrance and Oga blabbers, "That was a waste of three pages!" There are many references to pop culture that keeps it fresh.

On the other hand, the art is serviceable but never come across as well defined or artistic apart in some, admittedly quiet rare moments. It serves the tone for the manga correctly, it will be awkward to see this type of fighting manga has pretty art like Vampire Knight, but it left something to be desire, I don't want it to be Bleach, but some of the arts are a bit lacking especially for the male part. I'll show you.

This is how the males are drawn...

This is how the females are drawn..

See the differences? No??

How about now?

There is something on how the mangaka drew the girls' eyes that is intriguing. it is still simple, not the same level of Air Gear or such, yet quiet beautiful. Sadly aside from those two main female characters, the others are not that important, it has several other chicks but on this focused-on-fighting manga, testosterone fueled dudes are arguably more important. The story is there, but it is just a reason to get on with another battle. A bit of romance, even bromance and silly demon master are welcomed but you know it's not the manga strong suit.

There are even times when the story take dive into demon world, the baby becomes ultraman or into a volley ball match abruptly, with just minor explanation.

never seen reactions this lebay since someone died eating bread in Yakitate

Volley Ball it is then...

There is even a mock up court scene after Oga lost. It's a nice change of pace from the usual emo state the heroes gone through. Naruto cried to his mama, Ichigo cried to his papa, but Oga takes a different approach.

So that's how they litigate on Japan.. hmmm.. Lastly, kudos to the mangaka for Kunieda Aoi, a slender girl char whose boobs are just in the right human proportion. She is the usual stern girl on outside, soft on inside type, friend/rival of the big boobs. It's amazing how he created a much needed (almost) normal plausible girl character amidst all this absurdities.

How come I never meet a girl who openly wear only bandage to cover her breasts when I went to school?? There is something wrong here!!! It's a crime!!

For making me lol, fresh ideas and new take on shonen manga, it deserves 8.5.

On more important note, it seems that Santa has granted my wish, it's the only explanation for me having to wait til almost Christmas for it. And no it's not a girl who openly wears only bandage to cover her breasts, although I wouldn't mind that. That's long. I'm out.

Record of Agarest War review

"What the hell is that?" you might ask when looking at the title. It's a strategy game that bring out the best of X360, so taxing is this game's engine, my X360 struggles its hardest to just load the game to the next event... Okay it's a lie. it's PS1 style S-JRPG like FF Tactic and not as good. Wow I bet you can't wait for the mind blowing review.

My drawing first

http://vividobscura.deviantart.com/art/Serenity-Request-189326550?q&qo

It's okay I guess. At least I understand the basic now.

So it's been 6-7 months since I started to draw, let say it's one semester already. Since I just finished my free sketches thing, I'm thinking of coloring. I need some help, NO! Please don't runaway! It's very simple tiny bitty thing. I need a few stocks. Well stock is basically anything that can be used for inspiration, reference, source material for drawing. I won't copy it, I just need something for guideline, for more realist drawing.

For pro, stock consist of complex photos of models in detailed outfits, but I don't need that. If you got tagged in some online shop ads, saw some cosplay photos, or any kind of photo of models that got good lightning and shade, please send it my way. I mean it only take a wriggle of your thumb and less than a minute of your time, just send me the link, you don't even need to save the image. Any help will be much appreciated.

It should look like this. Visible trait of face and hair with good background.

Here comes the review. I'm writing for the sake of just writing here. Record of Agarest War is as niche as it gets. Practically anyone who don't have any experience or interest on tactical game, JRPG or anime will be alienated. For ones who has the aforementioned interests, it is much bearable, not exactly good but you'll live.

I'm only playing this because it's dubbed in Japanese, since my indovision got replaced by the lesser fastmedia, my Japanese channels are gone. It's a good way to learn the language though. And for what it's worth, the hand drawn arts are good, despite the overly anime looks which is not really my taste, and slightly sensual innuendo blatantly advertised on the arts. Hey it's a form of marketing, don't ridicule it.

Like I said, innuendo.. Kudos for not planting breast implant on this one. The others.. err...

The most striking feature about this game is its graph. Aside for the anime arts, others aspects just looks flat. It still uses the same sprite that PS1 used. I'm not too concern of the graph, I know artistic style can pushes the game far like Persona which used last gen graph but still managed to look edgy, or the use of cel shade like PoP 2008 or Okami, but this is just absurd. For a game that loses to FF Tactic that released 15 years ago is such a demerit award.

This is as old school as it can get, old world map, cliche and overuse background of castle, town etc. In fact most of the backgrounds or terrains are lazily rehearsed over many supposedly different areas. Of course this samey area also provide the same enemies to fight. It's exhausting to see such small variety in vast world map, as if the game coerce you to drag on the game.

This is the actual gameplay. The dragon is very rare, I usually ended up with imp, goblin and many more unoriginal enemies.

But it doesn't matter if the graph suck, because first and foremost, the gameplay is obviously the priority of any game. Sadly it's serviceable but not outstanding in any way. This is pure tactical RPG, with adequate customization, but it feels like patience on grinding is more crucial than skill. It also doesn't has the height difference on combat, so every fight occurs in uninspiring bland and flat background. The main draw is linking system, when a character position him/herself in specific ways, they can perform multiple combos regardless of their speed and position, so a powerhouse can unleash massive damage even when it's not his turn or if he is faraway but is linked properly.

The battle uses AP for each action, so there is limited attack for each char, more powerful moves take more AP and faster chars replenish AP faster. There is incentive to finish the battle quickly in form of bonus to EXP, EP (to enhance items), PP (to enhance stat) and so forth, but if you wait long enough for your AP to build up for more powerful attacks to Overkill the enemies, they are more likely to drop valuable items that can be used to create better equipments. The loot and level up system are familiar, buy and sell items, upgrade or create new items, combine skills. It's actually pretty deep, but nothing you haven't seen before.

This woman wants your soul, and the soul of your son, grandson until five generations to serve her..
Guess how the main char respond...

I read the review a few years ago. I said that it spans for five generation. Each generation has a collection of harem, in the end you can mate with one of the girls and the son of the mating will be the hero of the next generation with stats and items still intact. Rinse and repeat five times. It's a bit hentai dating sim, but it's still Teen rated, so the mating just a side perk.

The voice over only available on Japanese which is a good thing, I fear the accent and translation would make a messed up English iteration of the game. The OST is quiet okay, but to hear it over and over again in the same environment is agonizing. I wish it had more library of music.

One thing that is awkward, I accidentally created a high tier item called Misty Guard (don't know if it's common or not, but I guess it's rare) and it made my main char an instant bad-ass, boost up defense, resist and avoid, add stat and four other skills. I sent him alone to absorb damage, he got raped by enemies linked attacks, but survived 3 consecutive battles without healing with just a scratch. It just a matter of how fast I can win now, not whether I can win or not.

I lol'ed. Might as well made this eh.

I just played it about 10 hours, but it is already feel stall. I even haven't complete first generation yet. I feel this game is shamelessly prolong its gameplay rather build more exciting traits. Oh well, rate 6.5/10. I wouldn't have played it if not for the Japanese audio and great arts. Wow, this is really long and killing my time. I'm out.