Vane Vane Panic

So hey guys, I gots games for sale. ( Here's a list. )

Other stuff:

Japanese Blazblue promo materials: Blazblue Secret Gig artbook (Very similar to the preorder artbook) and character mini-poster set, available separately or together!

If you're interested in any of this, let me know and we can negotiate a price!

Amidst all the work I'm doing, I completely misplaced the date for California Extreme 2009: THIS WEEKEND! I've been wanting to go for a while, and I swore I'd make it this year. Fortunately, I still can!

For the uninitiated: California Extreme is a huge arcade/pinball show with hundreds upon hundreds of machines on display from many different eras in gaming. There are several extremely rare games and unemulated, unreleased prototype boards that can't be seen anywhere else. Best of all, after you pay your entry fee, you can play everything there for free! (at least, I think you can? I could be wrong, a few units could be off-limits.)

So is anyone else in the Bay Area considering going? It's in Santa Clara, i.e. the SJ/South Bay area. I'm hoping I can find someone who's planning on going down that I could carpool with and simply pay for gas costs, but if I can't swing that, I'll probably just Caltrain it. Anyone?

All the crazy shit in the world just HAD to happen while my laptop was out of commission, didn't it?

So to play catch-up, here's my personal favorite fan-made MJ-related video. You might have seen this on the Twitter already, but I know a bunch of folks reading this don't necessarily check that out. It's made infinitely funnier if you understand the crazy obsession Japanese gaming/internet culture has with The Cheetahmen II.

So, uh, hey guys! Just keepin' up with a whole mess of post-E3 work around these parts. I know I've been rather quiet as of late, and that's probably going to continue for a bit longer. Sorry 'bout that.

Also, did I mention Knights in the Nightmare is awesome? Best game I've played yet this year! Kinda weird, considering I've always found the Sting-developed games to be entertaining but not particularly noteworthy. Just watch out for that super-steep learning curve, because holy crap are you going to need to learn a lot before you can dig into it. Be prepared to have NO IDEA what you are doing for 2-3 hours, at least, but once everything clicks... it's very tough to put down. Everybody go buy it and make me (and certainly nichm happy!

Well, I was gonna say something about the recent VF5R facebook mess, but the always insightful Subbers beat me to it. He probably put it better than I would have, anyway!

Of course, I'm not one to give up entirely on something I deeply love from a temporary disappointment. If you know me from back when I was doing a shitload of stuff with Fighting Vipers 2, you should know that I'm nothing if not exceptionally tenacious with my favorite games, particularly if AM2 makes them.

Besides, it's not like there isn't a lot of other awesome stuff out there! (Knights in the Nightmare is really rad, guys! It's a shooter/RPG/strategy mashup that's as weird and complex as it sounds!)

Why in the hell is there a massive downpour/thunderstorm happening in LOS ANGELES? Have I been transported into Bizarro SoCal this week or something?

Oh, right, E3. Uhhh, I still have a ton of shit to write up about the show - one of my bosses had to cancel his attendance due to unforeseen circumstances, so I wound up taking over a lot of things he originally had planned, which has been keeping me exceptionally busy throughout. I'll at least say this: BAYONETTA IS FUCKING AWESOME and you should buy it later this year! Also, Alan Wake is rad. FYI.

The KoFXII event was today, and it was great! Lots of awesome people there and some very good play. Highlight: seeing fishie_flop_oog publically shame Shane Bettenhausen by taking down his Athena in front of a massive crowd.

Some swag:



Two figures! Too bad the flash makes it look like Leona has no eyes. The Mai is one of Kotobukiya's earlier PVCs, which shows in the waxy skin texture and fairly flat coloring, but it still looks pretty nice. Not sure who made the Leona, but there were Terry and Athena figures being given to contest winners there, as well.

Also debuted at the event: The KoF movie trailer. From watching it, I can say... well, it looks like DoA all over again, only with fewer boobies. Not that we expected anything more, really.

Not pictured: Fatal Fury hat and Terry Bogard T-shirt (XL size :( :( :( ). Also will soon be getting at E3 proper: review code!

Guys, the game's director is on my LinkedIn. I messaged him asking if he was coming to E3. He said "not this time." I think that's a pretty good indication of what to expect regarding announcements at E3. (And no, I don't think it's the goddamned Swine Flu that's keeping him away.)

It sucks, I know. But I've been through this before. From the same developer, even. Just keep your fan-passion alive, it will pay off immensely in the end.

If you're wondering what game I'm referring to... well, think for a minute about my subjects of disproportionate affection and it won't be too tough to deduce.

How to get me irritated:

- Make a game with great music.
- Never release an official full soundtrack for the game.

How to make this even more aggravating:
- Find a full rip of music from the game.
- Find that link to said rip is hidden behind registration on a forum.
- Register for forum only to find out that the server for the download is constantly full.
- Download from Megaupload at sluggish speeds. Wait two hours.
- Listen to soundtrack only to discover that whoever ripped it did a phenomenally shitty job, with skips, missing instruments and percussion lines, and not even bothering to see if any of the tracks LOOP PROPERLY

Thanks for further ruining my evening, jerks.

So hey, if anyone wants to do a music rip of Super Robot Taisen OG Saga that isn't absolutely terrible, please let me know!

Henry Hatsworth continues to go well. I've managed to reach the very difficult levels now - one thing I like about having platformers on portable consoles is that when you find yourself getting frustrated from constant re-trying of a difficult area, it's easier to just put them to sleep and set them aside for something else, then go back and start right back from where you left off once you've managed to refresh yourself a bit. In-between the tough parts of Hatsworth, I've been dabbling in Crimson Gem Saga on the PSP, which releases this week.

It's kinda of weird how I could sense the CGS was a Korean-made game the moment I saw the in-game sprites and artwork - there's just something about Korean game graphic design that's strangely easy to recognize, though if you asked me exactly what it is I wouldn't be able to tell you. In this case, there's something about the multitude of character sprites (CGS is entirely 2D, I should note) that just screams "made in Korea."

But it should be noted that said spritework is exceptionally nicely done. It's nowhere near as technically impressive as, say, Odin Sphere, but there's clearly been a great deal of effort expended in putting life and vivacity into even the trivial NPCs. You'll step into the tavern and see several NPCs, each doing their own strange and unique little actions, and that might be the only place you'll ever see those particular sprites and animations used. And there's lots of things like that throughout. That's the sort of affection put into a game by its designers that really wins me over.

The rest of the game, so far, is a pretty standard turn-based RPG, with gameplay styled after a lot of classic 16- and 32-bit titles. But even though it isn't doing anything new or particularly noteworthy, it's still got a lot of innate charm going for it - and I think that charm's going to be more than enough to compel me to see it all the way through.

So yes, thus far: Crimson Gem Saga is good stuff, though if the thought of going back to circa-1997 turn-based RPG gameplay bothers you, you might be best off giving it a pass.

E3's in less than a week now, and I'm honestly not knowing what to expect. It's supposed to be a return to the BIG E3s of years past, with gargantuan floorplans and tons of booth spectacles and stuff, but I think it'll probably take a few more years of ramping back up to get back to the levels of the previous events.

I also feel simultaneously ready and capable but nervous and not knowing what to expect. How the hell does THAT work? :\

Meanwhile... am I the only person surprised that Chrono Trigger DS sold over twice as much in Japan what it did in the States? I always thought it was a stronger property here. Guess I was wrong!

Poll #1402152 In honor of one of this week's biggest releases
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Is Glass Joe moe?

Finished up SRT OG Saga! Don't want to spoil anything, but the final boss does something that both terrified me and made me laugh hysterically. The ending isn't really as satisfying as it should be - there's plenty of plot holes, but it's not really a big deal, the story in this isn't really made to be taken as anything beyond a silly, adventurous romp. At least there's a good indication that Reiji and Xiaomu will be making another game appearance, and that's something I can certainly get behind!

I've thus moved on to Henry Hatsworth, which is as good as I had heard from my colleagues. Lots of charm with plenty of solid gameplay (both platform and puzzle) to match. It's been fairly challenging so far (I'm currently starting up World 3), but I'm told it gets pretty balls-tough by the end. Sounds good to me!

My biggest complaint so far, though, is that boss battles are much, much too drawn out. All the bosses have this ridiculously huge life meter that depletes by a mere pixel with every hit. For comparison, if you've ever fought the final boss of Dynamite Headdy using the "safe" (mini-Headdy) method... well, think of that experience, only for like, every boss in the game. It's pretty ridiculous, and it makes losing a boss fight more frustrating than it should be.

Also got the Devil Summoner 2 + Raiho boxset as well, though I'm kinda RPGed out at the moment. I think Raiden Fighters Aces will command more of my time on the TV-console side of things for the time being.

In non-gaming life news... damn, international airfares this summer are pretty cheap, aren't they? I think Summer Comiket looks quite likely, at this point. Time to get in touch with folks...

Yeah, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga got better after a few hours. Now that I've got a party of more than 4 people and all the elements of the combat system have been introduced, it's become a lot more fun. There story is pretty silly, which I enjoy, and the dialogue is a lot of fun (though exceptionally top-heavy on the boob jokes - SEE WHAT I DID THERE GUYS) I kinda wonder how people who didn't play Namco x Capcom (i.e. most English-speaking players) will feel about Reiji and Xiaomu, though - there are several references to the previous game that will probably leave folks mystified. (Also, I was kinda hoping they wouldn't drag Saya back in for another game, but I suppose the pair needs their own rival in interest of plot fairness.)

The one thing that throws me off are sudden difficulty spikes, but I really don't find them to be a detriment. Considering the difficulty level of NxC was firmly situated at "slightly more challenging than sleeping", I'm actually glad that the game at least makes me reconsider a bit before trying to blow my way through a dungeon - especially since dungeons tend to contain multiple boss fights.

One big complaint about SRTOGS, though: Good god, I feel ashamed to play this game in public sometimes. Seriously, have you seen some of the special attack animations? I had the KOS-MOS one going while sitting next to a fidgety 8-year-old and his mom. Yeaaaaaaaaah.

Good night, sweet Duke. Let us never forget your legacy.

You know, I really don't know about Super Robot Taisen OG Saga. I pretty famously loved both Namco x Capcom and the two localized SRT titles Atlus previously brought out here (2 much more than 1), but this one... I dunno, I'm not feeling it yet. I love the art and character designs, exaggerated heaving bosoms and all (Aschen in particular pushes my happy buttons), but they way they've translated in-game is... mixed, at best. The big, detailed sprites look great in combat (though I was hoping for a but more animation out of them, honestly), and the character portraits are nice... but good god, do those overworld graphics look atrocious. It's like I stepped into a timewarp and wound up playing a Super Famicom RPG back in 1993. Hell, Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden looks better, and that game's a parody of 16-bit RPGs. (Albeit a really damn good parody - it's well worth playing if you haven't checked it out!)

The story's a bit messy as well- SRT always loves throwing lots and lots of intimidating-sounding terminology and names at you from the get-go, and this one's no different. And combat... hmmm. Clearly, it's based off the Namco x Capcom combo system, but since your attacks are in a set order, you don't have quite as much freedom in creating juggles and attacks. Timing for things like special attack-guage increasing cancels seems a smidge iffy, too. Admittedly, though, I've only just started (about 2 1/2 hours in so far). If it all irons out by endgame - which is quite likely - it could wind up being really, really good. I'm probably going to stick it out to the end, unless I get something like 24 hours in and find that nothing's really changed at all...

At the same time as I'm complaining, I must compliment Atlus for knowing exactly the audience this game is going to be selling to. Unlike their other DS games, they didn't even bother to re-dub the voice clips in English, leaving them all in the original Japanese. Some people might mistakenly decry this as laziness, but when it comes right down to it, the people who are actually going to be buying this title are the sort of otaku faithful that will throw a fit if there's no dual-audio option in a game. So really, why bother doing a dub if your target audience doesn't even want it? Smart move, if you ask me.

Unrelated to anime boobage, but still game-y: Who else has been following the crazy-ass saga of the Splatterhouse update? If there's one thing anyone will tell you, it's that having a project see so many dramatic shifts in staff and development, espeically towards the tail end of the cycle, is a really bad sign. Personally, having had the misfortune to review some of Bottle Rocket's previous stuff... let's just say I really don't have high hopes for this one!

Avalon Code really isn't getting enough love from reviewers, if you ask me. It's a damn fine game in many ways - it's technically impressive given hardware limitations, it features solid action/RPG combat (with a neat extra combo system), and it's got an original "element manipulation" system that lets you alter things like weapons and enemies as you see fit. It's far from flawless - the dialogue and characters can be cheesy at times, and the limited "inventory space" when you go to work on re-creating weapons and items with various elements is quite aggravating at times. And let's not dwell on what you need to do if you want to get all the "points" available on each map. (Remember pixel-hunting in old-school adventure games? IT'S BACK, BABY!)

At the same time, though, it's got a lot of unusual and intriguing ideas that are so fun and charming! Even when they don't entirely work quite like they should, you can't help but appreciate them. Thus, I must say that this one is highly recommended!

... so yes, please don't let Avalon Code get lost in the vast forest of forgotten DS RPGs, guys, it's really good :(

Meanwhile, I'm reminded that we still haven't heard about the fate of 7th Dragon in the West. This is making me very sad. Maaaaaybe we might hear something at E3? Hopefully?

My computer's recently developed an extremely irritating habit of entering sleep mode of its own volition. This would be annoying enough as is, but it's also got a habit of, after resuming, going right back to sleep without any prompting at all.

Yeah, it's a bit of a productivity impediment, to say the least!

Just wondering, has anyone else had similar issues or suggestions as to what the cause might be? I'm honestly completely stumped on this one.

And to think, I wanted to do a post about how it's cool to hate on JRPGs these days even though many of the arguments against the entire genre (not enough freedom, same old gameplay structures, etc.) can be countered with very specific examples. Welp, so much for that :|

Whoa wait WHAT??!!

Is this some planned, massive shooting game genre comeback or something? If so, I fully approve!

It reminds me, though... I still need to get and figure out a way to run X360 Deathsmiles :(