07.31.07
Hope Springs Eternal
Not much to talk about right now, save for the fact that a Mega Man Legends 3 is still in the cards. Hopefully I’ll have something a bit more substantial to say this evening or tomorrow morning.
07.30.07
Lies And Chicanery
So, yeah, there was just one last little thing I forgot to mention: Pani Poni Dash, by all respects, sounds like it would be a good anime. Combining the frenzied pace of Excel Saga and the scenario of Negima sounds, in theory, to be pure gold. It kind of… well… isn’t. Maybe I’m just not in the right mood for it, but the characterizations are just not clicking. (Oh, and the dub work is less than impressive.) I’ll have to revisit it later, once things calm down a little, but I’m not going to rush out for the next discs just yet.
Anyway. Otakon report this week, really. I’m going to concentrate on it instead of muddling my way through raising my favorite critters in Pokemon. I came dangerously close to quitting after I’d hatched several new critters only to accidentally drop the DS and have it freeze before I could save… then I probably shold have quit after I caught four different Camerupt with the same wrong ability before I actually found one with Magma Armor. I now have a box in my storage labeled “GTS Ghetto”. Oh, on the plus side, that trip for the Camerupt also yielded pretty much every other critter available in that area, including a Skarmory. I also learned that the day care is my friend for the first handful of levels.
Right, right, nobody cares about my lame pokenoobishness. Catch you folks tomorrow.
07.29.07
Site News: Links
Some quick updates on the site; some internal, some external. The two key elements are that I’ve updated the Links page slightly (you can get there from the front page) and that I’ve taken a more current photo of The Collection (which you can see through the pages over there on the right). That is all, really.
A Slice of Fried D’ohld
If there were ever any doubts as to the quality of the Simpsons film, let me be the one to allay them. It hearkens back to the halcyon days of the show, and even manages to surpass them. Let me put it this way: the movie was so good that I was deathly afraid to take a sip of my drink once the first few minutes passed, lest a gag sneak up on me and force Coke into my nose. In short, go see it. Really. It’s good.
07.28.07
Keep On Mashin’
So, today I bring you word on three four games, all of which bring the awesome sauce. Let’s start, then, with the three knowns…
Jump Ultimate Stars was a title I’d been looking forward to ever since I got to the Point of Frustration in Jump Superstars. Disregarding the WFC aspect of the game– which I’ve yet to try out– JUS is a major and welcome improvement to the original. The core gameplay– beat the snot out of your rival manga characters, and compose decks made of panels featuring said characters– is relatively unchanged, which makes sense as that was one of the better elements of JSS. The game’s been expanded with a ridiculous number of characters from an equally incredible number of series; there are some returning sets such as Hunter X Hunter, D.Gray Man, and (of course) Dragon Ball Z, but new series such as Saint Seiya also make appearances. More importantly, the unlock procedure for these characters is far less ridiculous than before; whereas JSS had you matching panels up by catchphrase/speaker (near impossible for illiterate importers such as myself), JUS uses a more traditional unlock store concept along the lines of Xenosaga’s skill trees crossed with Meteos’ currency system. Battling gets you points in certain colors, and you spend them in the store in varying amounts to unlock fighters. While it might be slightly easier to come by JSS in the stores– I believe it might still be in certain Best Buys around the country– if you’re new to the series, start with Ultimate Stars. It’s head-and-shoulders above the original.
Daigasso! Band Brothers! What a tease you have been to me; first by being a very well-received game in Japan alongside Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, and then by being eternally promised as “Jam With The Band” for US release after Elite Beat Agents hit it (relatively) big. Well, it’s more or less official now that “Jam” has been canned, and the copies of Daigasso were pretty plentiful at Mad Gear’s booth. On impulse, I picked it up on Friday and have not regretted it at all. The game is simple, along the lines of how I envisioned most portable music games should be: players follow a score by using the D-pad and buttons to match and hold notes. Come to think of it, Daigasso’s reliance on the traditional inputs might be why Nintendo was hesitant to bring it over (oh, and the licensing minefield that would need traversing for the music). It does play out much like Beatmania or Pop’n Music do when using a controller; that said, it is still quite an engaging and fun experience if you like music games. More specifically, if you like decent MIDI renditions of mostly familiar (but some obscure) J-pop and game tunes. There’s also some classical tunes and general-interest tracks; overall though most importers will probably gravitate to the game tracks, Ready Steady Go, and Smoke on the Water (which I did catch myself singing along to).
Jumping over to the Xbox, now, I’d noticed that Psychonauts was in the bargain bin, and naturally that meant I could finally give it a shot. Not that I wouldn’t have paid $50 for it if I had had an Xbox when it was released, or if I had actually seen a demo of it prior to this point. It plays itself out as a pretty straightforward 3-D platformer along the lines of Spyro or Mario, but the whacked-out characters and settings are truly the hand of Schaefer at play. I ran through the first level (“Basic Braining”) and was thoroughly amused; more than that, I was sufficiently challenged as to remain interested. That almost doesn’t happen too much these days. The dialogue and voice acting were far and away the best I’ve heard in a long time, even outstripping Disgaea. Still, the game has its flaws; ‘figments’, one of the many shinies that must be collected, are hard to see as they’re two-dimensional, translucent, and cast no shadow. Raz (the player character) has almost no psychic abilities at the start of the game save for a double-jump and a punching attack; the player needs to reach ‘Rank 10′ before a new ability is unlocked (which could take a while). Finally, some of the characters are just plain irritating for no reason. Nice to look at, yes (when they’re supposed to be), but they just irk me. I don’t know why. Overall, Psychonauts is a decent game well worth the budget price these days, though if there had been a demo available I probably would have snagged it back at $40 or $30.
Finally, I am aware of the very strong DS homebrew scene because of one title in particular: Cave Story. Yes, the DS port is coming along nicely; I picked up one of Datel’s dual-use products, the Games ‘n Music, specifically for the homebrew options it allowed me. First, the device: it works, kind of. It’s probably better to forego the card’s built-in firmware and put DSOrganize on it as the default shell. I haven’t tried its music or video capabilities, and the games pre-loaded onto the thing are nice demos but nothing to really scream about. As for Cave Story DS itself, the developer has made some very good strides; music and most visuals are running perfectly, and enemies are plentiful. It’s still in the alpha stage, though, so stuff like weapons and dialogue are still not quite there (all right, not there at all). I’ll be keeping an eye on it and playing with it as time goes on.
So, that’s the big game dump from Otakon and beyond. I don’t know if I’ll be getting the Otakon report finished this weekend or not– I hope to, but, but, Simpsons movie. We shall see. Catch you folks later.
07.27.07
Delayed Sarcasm
So, yeah. I lied; going to have to wait until tomorrow before I can write about Daigasso and JUS simply because I’ve been too busy to play them sufficiently. I’m charging the DS tonight due to overuse over Otakon, and I’ll have some notes on both titles– including a bonus look at Psychonauts for the Xbox– tomorrow. For reals. Sorry for the delay, but trust me, it should be worth it.
Besides, you all knew I couldn’t be consistent enough to have huge swaths of text four days in a row. That’s just plain silly.
07.26.07
If I Could Save Smiles In A Bottle
So, let’s continue the Cavalcade of Pseudoreviews, shall we?
Bottle Fairy, completely unrelated to the stock female character that Rick is thinking of, is a short series along the lines of Risky Safety in terms of length. Episodes are short at fifteen minutes each and there’s only thirteen, corresponding to the months of the year plus a bonus finale. I’m only about halfway through, but what I can say right now is that it’s phenomenally cute. The premise is teaching aspects of Japanese culture, and with that in mind it’s aimed at small children. Still, it doesn’t get overly schmaltzy or moralistic, and the four main characters are at once well-defined and side-splittingly unpredictable. It also has the benefit of some very strong writing and scenario planning in general, with a huge amount of the gags being more or less universally accessible. One episode in particular has the single greatest beaver-related pun in existence while at the same time being completely and totally innocent. It’s cute, harmless fun that is probably a little overpriced ($25 each for two discs, where you only get about three hours’ show out of it total), but quite recommended if you happen to see it on a con schedule.
I’ve spoken before about Ichigo Mashimaro (which is probably more recognizable as the translation “Strawberry Marshmallow”, which consequently is really kind of confusing) in its animated form, but the manga is certainly a different beast. The author (going by the nom de plume Barasui) hadn’t nailed down the character designs in the first few chapters, so several characters appear identical at first blush (Chika and Miu primarily) while others are completely unrecognizable (Nobue– why does she have blonde hair?). This isn’t helped by an on-model introduction preceding the first chapter. Forgiving that, though, the series is a bit similar to its later animated counterpart with regards to its pacing. Which is the polite way of saying it’s bloody slow. I can certainly understand that slice-of-life series like IM and Lucky Star are naturally going to be a bit more leisurely than, say, Azumanga Daioh or any other animated series, but there has to be some concessions made to keeping some folks’ attentions… and I’m fairly certain I don’t have ADD or anyth That said, I find myself going back to the series and watching through it because Barasui is a remarkably good artist. I mean, a VERY good artist. When he has the ability to stay on-model, he’s fantastic; paintings and color illustrations, doubly so. The writing… not so much, I think. I’m still going to read through it– it’s certainly easier to take in manga-delivered doses than sitting down for an hour or two (at least until I rip it and watch on the iPod)– but it’s decidedly lower-priority.
I keep putting off discussion of Daigasso and Jump Ultimate Stars, but no longer– tomorrow, gamers shall rejoice in import goodness.
EDIT: Note to self, snag Dynasty Warriors: Gundam demo tonight.
07.25.07
Black Cats, Bleached Souls
How about we talk a bit about teh magna books? I know I promised bits on Jump Ultimate Stars and Daigasso Band Bros.; those will just have to wait. Last night I went through some of my less interactive acquisitions from the con, prime among them volumes one each of Black Cat and Bleach. (Also picked up on Sunday, though in this case, on the way home after parting with Rick. Sue me, there was a sale when I went to pick up Harry Potter 7… which I have also finished but need a LOT more time to talk about).
Let’s start with Black Cat. It presents itself as “Noir as played by Trigun’s cast”, with Train Hartnet standing in nicely for the Vash role of capricious, chivalrous mercenary and Sven mirroring Wolfwood’s turn as the bitter, moneygrubbing worldly-wise partner. Stock characters in anime and manga by now, but as of Volume 1 the series differentiates itself by making sure nobody is inviolate. Sven’s been beaten up a couple of times, and (taking into account the required “first volume must be awesome, we need readers” factor) Train isn’t a complete and total Mary Sue (yet). Rinslet Walker is an interesting case, as I’ve no idea what to make of her; Eve (who, it should be noted, is a complete and total badass in Jump Ultimate Stars) is currently the Rei-alike mysterious naive waif, so right now any interest I have in her is based solely on JUS. I’m likely to keep going with this.
Bleach is itself a decent title, too. I went into it all bitter and cynical and look at me now, I’m convinced that there’s something interesting there. The hype factor is part of it– I had no interest in bankai, Soul Society, or shinigami in general prior to the reading– but more than that, the situation just didn’t seem to grab me. After having leekspin shoved down my throat for a year and a half now, though, and having seen the relative lack of Bleach cosplayers this year, I figured I’d give it a look. (All right, so yeah, it was mostly the sale.) I’m not disappointed; the title’s well-written and so far hasn’t introduced anything overtly ridiculous. I’m no big fan of the art style– seems a little too rough for my tastes– but the writing is there. Part of me, incidentally, is curious as to how much of the English in the linework was there in the original and how much was added in localization. Regardless, this one is on my list to continue as well.
Tomorrow, I’ll either keep going with notes on Bottle Fairy and/or the Ichigo Mashimaro manga, or the two DS titles in question: Jump Ultimate Stars and Daigasso Band Brothers.
EDIT: I added a little tip about wi-fi access codes after this post, but time-shifted it so that this would remain the top post. I did this because I have a reputation to maintain as writing a completely and totally pointless and useless blog, and having that stay on the top of the page would be damning to my slacker cred.
Quick Tip: Wi-Fi Access Codes
OK, so the other day, I had accidentally left my wallet at home and didn’t notice until it was too late to retrieve it (running semi-late for work). I did have my laptop with me, however, and on the way home I got the idea that I might want to order a pizza using online ordering. Of course, I didn’t know where there was a free hotspot on the way home, and more than that, I had an access code for a free hour of wi-fi at McDonald’s conveniently in my wallet. So I ended up waiting an hour after I got home for my pie, when I could have been enjoying it a lot faster.
Granted, a minor annoyance, but it did spur me to think of a way to avoid that in the future, in case there were more serious instances when I would need access. Rather than relying on the slip of paper in my not-always-with-my-laptop pocket, I decided to go ahead and put all of the codes into a spreadsheet and stash that in the documents folder (as well as keeping a copy on my thumb drive for when I’m not using my machine but still need access).
If you decide to do that, here’s the information you should keep on the sheet: The provider of the access as well as the locations for which it’s valid (for example, a code ‘in town’ may not work ‘out of town’), the code itself, how much time the code provides, the date you got it, the date it expires, and the date you used it. You could use a text file, too, but I like being able to sort stuff.
You may also want to check out ilovefreewifi, which is pretty much exactly what the name suggests it is.
07.24.07
It’s Still Japanese To Me
So, at the con, I managed to pick up two import PS2 titles I’d been looking forward to for a while– Air and Super Robot Taisen Alpha 3. SRT, oddly enough, is the easier of the two to play; I have the additional experience of knowing more or less what the commands are and how to do what needs to be done from the OG series, so I’m not completely lost. I have to admit, of course, that being on the PS2 seriously increases the game’s enjoyability; the explosions are much more dramatic and the music is just far and away better. Not that SRT really had that much more to improve on, as the GBA titles are solid to begin with (but, as I’ve said, I’m biased), but being on rotatable battlefields really helps. Think of it like FFT with giant robots. Yeah, you can imagine how much I’m digging it.
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s AIR (capitalized as such on the case… I’d rather just leave it as Air but in this case I’m emphasizing it, see?). Now I am capable of reading only a few key bits of kana, specifically some game-centric snippets like “button”, “save”, “load”. Every once in a while I’ll get a flash of inspiration and be able to read a character’s name– witness a moment in SRT when, after such an epiphany, I shouted “Amuro! That’s the Gundam guy!!” (Maybe given that particular context, I should call them “Newtype Flashes“? …sorry, yeah, that one was awful.) Kanji are more or less completely inscrutable to me as of yet. Knowing this, I still fired up Air and went through to a little ways into the Dream scenario, just long enough to see the opening movie– which is quite fascinating in and of itself. Now, granted, overall I had almost no idea what was going on. Only by virtue of having seen the series was I able to “get” what was transpiring as Yukito stepped off the train. Having done that, and gotten my feet ever-so-slightly wet, I put the game away for the time being until such time as I can actually read some of what’s there. (Incidentally, I had examined the manuals for SRT and one of the DS titles I’d picked up and found that they had furigana above most of the kanji… I had hoped that this would be the case in the games themselves, but I suppose my luck had to run out sooner or later.) I don’t count it as a waste of money– I had wanted the title anyway, and now I have a solid reason to want to learn Japanese.
…to play a girly game. Shut it, Misuzu is still cute. (Though I really had sort of wished that Mad Gear had had Kanon instead… bah, I’ll talk more about MG in the con report.)
ANYWAY. The con report is coming along nicely– day one of four is written, and I’ve been recalling more and more bits to add on. Also, the good news from last week (get the bottle ready, Pez) has continued, and with any luck I will be able to do the big anticlimactic reveal soon (assuming I don’t blow it). Catch you tomorrow, probably with some thoughts on the DS titles I snagged.