tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46261976206662996242024-02-18T18:30:31.389-08:00JoekerStraightFlushUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-88078046742060846232016-06-21T15:59:00.002-07:002016-06-22T06:25:59.978-07:00The Outcast of Digimon - Digimon Frontier Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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April 7th, 2002. A week after what many consider to be the best Digimon series, "Digimon Tamers", came to end. As per tradition up to this point, a new Digimon series would take it's place in what seemed like an endless cycle of Digimon.<br />
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Something strange happened with the fourth TV Anime season of Digimon, "Digimon Frontier". Many fans raised their eyebrows to the entire concept of the series. It was a (<a href="http://joekerstraightflush.blogspot.com/2016/06/digimon-franchise-of-many-faces.html" target="_blank">arguably</a>) radically different change from what we'd experienced up to this point; and fans weren't sure whether this was a welcome change or not.<br />
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<img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqNX8RhTLQKFHXeeNTBWxdytexlq9LGi84TmnYwIXljj02aIPXCLyWOqOGTr1Gf3PbkLa6YgznuKVHghUlSa_117i7soBJ2-F9IZmLvJhR3D1QDox4cQu_XMHwiZPkqapmE0bXncHUjMI/s400/Digimonfrontier_poster.jpg" width="285" /></div>
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Frontier is generally the most polarizing Digimon series when it comes to opinions on it, perhaps only rivaled by the notorious "Digimon Adventure 02". Many hate the series, yet many love it and claim this hate is unfair and unwarranted. Is there any truth to this, is the large fan backlash to Frontier something that it doesn't deserve? Is the series itself something that is worth the time of the many Digimon fans that devoted their time to the franchise? Is it just plain bad? Well, as someone who has come fresh off of a rewatch, let's take a look. Beware as spoilers for the series will follow!</div>
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<a name='more'></a>Digimon Frontier isn't conceptually different from the other series; It focuses a group of children as they journey into the Digimon World, meeting many Digimon among the way, defeating bad guys and saving the world. The differences comes in the execution and is the main thing fans seem to be divided on with Digimon Frontier (And also probably the reason it gets the most backlash.). In this series there are no partner Digimon - The Chosen Children of this series instead undergo "Spirit Evolution" and Evolve into Digimon themselves. Whether this is a good or bad thing or not is something I'll get into a bit later.<br />
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Let's talk about the series plot. Here is a brief summary of the lore behind the series and a brief overview of the plot from Wikimon:</div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">"In ancient times, the Digital World was wracked by a major conflict
between human-type and beast-type Digimon. Lucemon appeared and brought
the war to an end, leading to a period of peace. Lucemon, however became
corrupted by power, resulting in him becoming a tyrannical dictator. To
combat this, Warrior Ten were able to defeat Lucemon and imprisoned him
in the "Dark Area" deep within the center of the Digital World. After
this they were separated into two spirits each, likely due to the
injuries they sustained during the battle.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">The Digital World was in danger of perishing. A world governed by the
3 Great Angel Digimon. But one of them, Cherubimon, revolted. The
balance of the Digital World was destroyed, and it began to
disintegrate. The 10 legendary warriors, who in ancient times had saved
the Digital World in exchange for their own lives, no longer existed. In
this most dangerous time, the spirits of the legendary warriors are
presenting a new power to the inhabitants of a different world...the
Real World. A group of human children enter the Digital World and
themselves become Digimon, embarking on a journey of battle and
adventure."</span></i></div>
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It's not the most exciting thing in the world, but it's also not really boring either. It's a fairly standard plot. There are a couple of things I'd like to talk about from what you've just read though.</div>
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The first is this - <i><span style="font-size: small;">"The
balance of the Digital World was destroyed, and it began to
disintegrate."</span></i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Digital World as it appears during the Opening Credits.</td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">This series has a very interesting Digital World. As you can see in the picture above, the world itself is full of holes. This is something that continues to grow throughout the series and actually creates some real tension and a sense of danger, especially during the series later act. Visually, as the Chosen Children travel through this world it appears no different to any other Digital World, it has the same typical areas you'd expect, aside from the occasional hole in the world. But there is another interesting point to the Digital World in Frontier, Trailmon. The Digital World of Frontier is covered in railroad tracks and Digimon known as "Trailmon" are used for transportation. The Digital World also has an established hierarchy with the Three Great Angels standing on top - It's an interesting and unique take on the Digital World and is definitely one of Frontier's strong points. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">With something good comes something bad. After telling you about what I thought was one of the better parts of Frontier, I must now tell you something I am not a fan of - The cast and the problems surrounding them. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The primary 5 "Chosen Children"</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Starting off with the most glaring issue, the one that usually makes or breaks this series for most people; No partner Digimon. That's right. As mentioned earlier the Chosen Children of this series Evolve into Digimon themselves using "Legendary Spirits". Now whether or not this is up your ally is your opinion and I won't fault you for that, but it does have both it's upsides and downsides.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Let's start with a downside. Digimon Partners had been an integral part of Digimon up until now, with Digimon often representing something that reflected their Tamer. Their relationships were symbolic and spurred on a Tamers character growth and development. The Digimon would grow by "Evolving" and doing the fighting and the Human would grow by developing as a character. Without a Partner, this relationship, an integral one for a Tamer, is gone. At the same time, often the Digimon partners would end up rather undeveloped themselves, mostly acting as tools for their Human Tamers development instead. Yet the Digimon still received a lot of focus themselves, leaving things feeling rather half-baked for them, they took up screentime for their own development but never really changed. Without Partners, Frontier could do away with this problem, surely this is the upside of lacking Partner Digimon, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Well you're right. That would be an upside and something I went into Frontier expecting. Without Partner Digimon, the relationships between the Chosen Children themselves would be more interesting, as they only had each other to spur on their growth. They could end up being an extremely well developed cast with great character arcs without having any need to focus on other things to take away from it. The problem is, this doesn't happen. For a large majority of the series, the cast remains static and nonchanging aside from very rare moments, such as growing out of the usual Protagonist and Rival quips. Infact; during the latter parts of the series the focus is shifted from the entire group to just the main 2 characters. By the end of the series, most of the characters SEEM to have grown. They had problems at the beginning and they overcame them - But the journey was unsatisfying. Some would claim their growth is "subtle", but having characters shoved to the side then having them miracously different by the end is just frustrating.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">As the series continues the focus is taken away from a majority of the cast and focused on the main two as mentioned above. This is not only detrimental to character development, but also.. just being in general. The rest of the cast effectively become cheerleaders to Takuya and Koji, who do all the fighting for them. It was a similar scenario in Digimon Adventure - Only two characters gained the ability to Evolve into their strongest forms, yet in that series, the rest of the cast was never entirely useless. It makes me wonder - WHY does the rest of the cast even exist?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">To make matters worse a 6th additional cast member is introduced - In a rather interesting way. A former enemy turned villain with a plot twist, Koichi is the estranged brother of Koji. This sets up an interesting dynamic between the two and could have gone on to create tension between the cast themselves. Needless to say, it doesn't. It leads to the two being awkward around each other for a stretch of episodes, Koichi never doing anything and the two being a-okay with each other after a while. I can't feel anything here because it FEELS like nothing ever happens in a meaningful way. Koichi does have an interesting subplot later on, but it is so rushed during the last couple of episodes it lacks any real impact. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The characters evolving into Digimon is to me of little consequence - it would have been a welcome change for Frontier if the cast had been properly utilized and developed, but they weren't, which make matters worse. I think I've said what I needed too for this section without going into too much detail (We'd be here forever if I did), so lets move on to something else, the story and it's structuring. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DEEPEST. LORE.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We come in with the background lore established. What should we do now? We know Cherubimon is evil and we know he has to be stopped - How do we do that? The answer is to spend the first half of the series doing MoTW shenanigans! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">MoTW plots are hardly anything new to Digimon and is often a tool used during the early parts of the series when the characters are new to the Digital World and their Digimon are beginning to evolve. The problem with Frontier is that it's MoTW's are literally the same 4 Digimon, repeated each week. There are bits of plot sprinkled throughout and lots of set up for the Digital World and characters, so it's integral viewing, but it does get a bit repetitive watching the team take Grottemon down for the 6th time. The plot itself is actually rather interesting when it does happen though, between the mysterious Digimon, Duskmon who opposes the team and the overarching Great Angels plot, it does manage to come together to be enjoyable with a satisfying Takuya and Koji filled climax with Cherubimon - A satisfying ending. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But that isn't the end. After defeating Cherubimon a new villain appears - Or doesn't appear, the new villains remains dormant for the next 10 or so episodes, his cronies, the Royal Knights Dynasmon and LordKnightmon do his bidding. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Royal Knights - LordKnightmon and Dynasmon</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Royal Knight arc itself is something I have a hard time deciding on whether I like or not. The Royal Knights goal is to absorb the rest of the Digital World for their master and in doing so continue to eat away at more and more of the Digital World. As characters themselves, they are a lot of fun too and are an interesting duo. The problem is they are strong. Like, real strong. So strong for the entire arc Takuya and Koji do nothing but lose to them.That's right, it's a 10 or so episode stretch of the main characters failing and losing. The arc itself does have some interesting points, showing the characters resolve and how they can have an important relationship with both Digimon and the Digital World without having partners in accepting they themselves are part Digimon, along bringing some character development for the rest of the cast. But the arc is so painstakingly boring due to the repetitive nature of the fights that it's almost unbearable to watch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The final villain, I will not spoil. But he appears for about 3 episodes (He beats Adventure and 02's final villains in that regards, at least!) and loses just as quickly. There isn't a lot to say; his motivations are obvious, he's boring and very cliche. On a high note however, he is voiced by Ryusei Nakao.</span></div>
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On to something I really like about this series - The music.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digimon Frontier - Best Hits Parade</td></tr>
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Digimon Frontier follows the standard of having both a good BGM and great vocal songs. It's opening theme, "FIRE!!" is performed by Wada Koji. While not as memorable as songs like "Butter-Fly" or "The Biggest Dreamer" it is still a very energetic performance. The series has two ending themes - "Innocent ~Mujaki na mama de~" also by Wada Koji and "an Endless Tale", a duet between Wada Koji and Ai Maeda.<br />
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While "Innocent ~Mujaki na mama de~" is a great song, "an Endless Tale" may just be one of my favorite Digimon songs. It is an absolutely beautiful serenade between two established Digimon singers that suits both the series and the franchise in general extremely well. Also were two Evolution themes, "With the Will", again by Wada Koji and "The last element" by Ayumi Miyazaki. These are in my personal series some of the best Evolution themes in the entire franchise and are part of what helped me get through this series on a rewatch.<br />
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On a more sullen note is the series animation. I feel like it is probably the weakest out of what we'd seen so far, with many times characters seemingly staying completely still during battle. Everything generally looks on model and the environments look great however, it's only during battles things seem to falter.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Chosen Children and their spirits.</td></tr>
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Bringing this to a close as it's gone on for quite a while now are my final thoughts on Frontier. Going back to earlier I said - " Is there any truth to this, is the large fan backlash to Frontier something that it doesn't deserve?". I do indeed think this is the case, Digimon Frontier DOES indeed get a lot of unwarranted backlash simply due to being different. There are many reasons to criticize Frontier, but most of those who seem to criticize it so harshly simply never watched enough to be able to properly criticize it.<br />
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On the other hand, do I think Frontier is a good series? As much as it saddens me, I don't particularly think it is. The best I can call this series is "mediocre". It's an incredibly boring, somewhat uninspired journey. There are some great moments throughout, but these are far and few between. This was to be expected, being the 4th Digimon TV anime in just as many years after all, it's only natural the franchise was starting to run out of steam.<br />
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To finish up let me state again - Digimon Frontier is definitely a series is different. But it's not bad for being different, it's bad for just some of the reasons I touched upon on this article. Digimon Frontier is however far from being the worst Digimon series though and I think if you are a Digimon fan it still deserves a watch for some interesting ideas and concepts.<br />
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Coincidentally, the Digimon series started to slow down after Digimon Frontier. In fact, I'm not sure if this is a coincidence as I've never seen any real data for it, but after Digimon Frontier Digimon stopped having yearly anime (The next series, Digimon Savers would not air until 2006, a full 3 years after Frontier). If you made it this far, thank you for reading. If you like Digimon Frontier and disagree with my points in this article, then that is great. I'm glad there are people out there who were able to find more enjoyment in the series then I was. Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys later.<br />
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<span id="goog_1940162025"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-7505275338195975332016-06-13T09:40:00.003-07:002016-10-02T12:18:13.798-07:00History of Digimon - The Franchise of many Faces<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With the recent announcement of the newest entry in the Digimon franchise, "Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters", comes the same complaints many fans of the Digimon series make each time a new entry in the franchise is announced. "This isn't Digimon!". "Why must they hit the reboot button every series?". "Why do they keep reinventing the wheel! Digimon was perfectly good as it was" - Of course, these are just a couple examples, and naturally, there are many valid complaints to make about much of the franchise and there are obviously many factors influenced by opinion and personal taste. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters, the newest entry in the Digimon Franchise.</td></tr>
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There are some complaints however that always strike me as peculiar. Specifically, the complaints that fall in line with the examples I gave above. Digimon is a franchise that is at it's core, about Evolution and Growth, changing, if you will. Even just a brief look at the history of Digimon will make this clear and I hope to give you that look in this article. Here, I hope to show you why claiming something "isn't Digimon" because of your own personal notions of what Digimon is may not be a valid criticism of the franchise, by showing you just how vast and different the Digimon franchise is.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Before I go on I'd like to make something clear. If parts of the Digimon franchise does not appeal to you, that is obviously fine. If it's not to your tastes and doesn't pique you're interest, there's nothing wrong with that; that's completely normal. It's only when you start to claim "This isn't Digimon!" because it doesn't appeal to you the same way other parts of the franchise does it becomes a problem. But enough of that, let's go ahead and get started looking at just some of the many faces of what "Digimon" is, starting with the beginning of the franchise itself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digital Monster Ver. 1, released June 26, 1997 .</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Funnily enough this is actually a rather common question I've noticed in the general Digimon fandom. "Where did Digimon start?" The answer seems obvious to many - The Digimon Adventure TV anime. But this is not the case. Digimon started as a line of Virtual Pet toys, abbreviated as "V-Pets". At the time "Tamagotchi" wasn't doing great with the male audience, so "Digital Monster" was created to be a boys version of that, instead of the cute, small pets that were Tamagotchi you would be raising small, cute monsters.<br />
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The original series of V-Pets, Digital Monsters, were released throughout 1997-1998 in Japan, predating what is known to most as the "Original" Digimon, the anime. The V-Pets had you raising Digital Monsters, later known as "Digimon" for short, by feeding them, training them and battling with them. The V-Pet simulated life for that Digimon - It would start as an egg, called a "DigiEgg", then proceed through it's stages of life - Baby, Baby II, Child, Adult and Perfect. Unlike in the English dub of Digimon, the stages of Digimon Evolution instead refer to a stage of life up until Adult, to show that the Digimon is indeed growing up. "Perfect" is a form not many Digimon would live to achieve - Considered at the time to be the highest possible form of Evolution.<br />
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What relevance does this have to what I'm saying, you might ask. Many people consider "Digimon Adventure" to be the definitive standard of what "Digimon" is, but as you can see here, it in itself is a very different take on the Virtual Pets, it is not a series about monster raising, but is instead about a group of Chosen Childern who go on an adventure to save the world. It also changes the concept of "Evolution" being a Digimon naturally progressing through life, instead turning it into a temporary power up that the Chosen Children's Partner Digimon could use to fight other Digimon. Quite different, wouldn't you say? But I can hear you now. "Well Adventure was the first series, so it's okay to be different!" - Well it was the first anime series, that's true. It wasn't however the first "series" in general.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"C'mon Digimon" - A one shot Digimon manga</td></tr>
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Still during the Summer of 1997, "C'mon Digimon: The Capering Monster BUN" was ran as a oneshot in Akamaru Jump. This entry into the franchise is very different from what most would come to know as "Digimon" but at the same time is the most similar to what Digimon originally was as V-Pets.<br />
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C'mon Digimon was a manga about the V-Pet's themselves, with the characters pitting their Digimon against each other in battles. The main monster of the series, "BUN", was unlike any Digimon before and since. The story, however short, focused on raising your Monster to fight it against others. There are no grand Adventures, no temporary Evolution power ups (Although there is something similar, with the main antagonists being able to change shape based on the Data it uses), no saving the world. It's a short story about a kid and his Monster partner, overcoming his issues and rivals and growing (Or say, "Evolving") as a person himself in the process. In Monster design, story and setting this is a completely different take on Digimon to what most are used too, yet it was the very first "take" on Digimon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Greymon" as it appears in "C'mon Digimon"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Greymon" as it appears in the Virtual Pets</td></tr>
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So 1997 came to a close. Aside from V-Pet releases, Digimon remained rather quiet throughout 1998. Or so it seemed at least as come November, the first full length Digimon "series" would finally begin. No, it's not time for the "Digimon Adventure" anime just yet. Before that was the manga series "Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01".</div>
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You might see a familiar face in the image above. That's right, Yagami Taichi did not debut in the "Digimon Adventure" anime, but in the manga series, "Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01". Much like you'd expect from the title, V-Tamer shifted the series into a more "Adventure" oriented series, with Taichi being sent to the Digital World to go on an Adventure with his partner, Zeromaru the V-Dramon, to save the world from the evil "Demon". Unlike the later entries into the series however, this entry did not utilize the temporary form of Evolution that becomes prominent, with Zeromaru growing and getting stronger through battling and permanently evolving. It also keeps some of the V-Pet's elements, incorporating them into the "Digivice" of the series, such as feeding your Digimon and cleaning their poops. It's a step away from what Digimon started as, but still manages to keep it's identity.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jogress Evolution's first appearance in a Digimon series proper</td></tr>
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It's also notable as the first series to use "Jogress" Evolution, which
is portrayed in this series as a temporary form of Evolution achieved by
fusing two Digimon together. However, Jogress itself first appeared in
the Pendulum V-Pet series, released in October 1998, with Jogress first debuting
in V-Tamer on January 21, 2000. Jogress first onscreen appearance was in the film "Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!" it goes unnamed in this movie and is not prominently used in the Digimon anime proper until Digimon Adventure 02's 26th episode, airing on October 1, 2000. One of the reasons I bring this up is because I see many complaints about "Fusion" in modern Digimon, citing as a "Gimmick", despite the fact the concept of two Digimon combining together predates the anime series itself and to an extent, the V-Pets, if one considers Deathmon's different "forms" (Powering itslef up by taking on the form of another Digimon's Data it has absorbed, i.e Deathmon + MetalGreymon = Death MetalGreymon).<br />
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Up to this point, Digimon had already in a sense reinvented itself and we're only 2 years into Digimon's lifespan. Next up we move on to what most people consider to be the "first" entry in Digimon, "Digimon Adv"- Wait, my bad. Moving onto January of 1999, the third year into Digimon's lifespan, we would see the game most people consider "The original Digimon game" released, Digimon World for the Sony Playstation.<br />
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Digimon World is a Digimon game that was similar to the V-Pets. It was a monster raising game that had you, a young boy transported to the File Island area of the Digital World, in order to raise a Digimon to save the Digital World. It's gameplay very closely mimics the V-Pet's, having you raise your Digimon up, it eventually dying, and then you starting again, all while you help to populate a village and progress through the games story. Digimon games would continue to reinvent themeslves after this, with the next entries in the "World" series differing greatly, much to people's chagrin. However, World itself wasn't the first Digimon game to be released on home consoles.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxob6xi71_GOvvEWwpGt7yqU345Llx94imjM3nuaYCIP_fxPAAuLEhfHZRAtqg6SNNKYwOcj9HHY4Vg6ZJ0SUkycvI8OP5kSzpDyZqgvm-V-bKiKKsQsCVrIO6ojL4IVL_RsmXjx13Jc/s1600/Digimon_Version_S.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxob6xi71_GOvvEWwpGt7yqU345Llx94imjM3nuaYCIP_fxPAAuLEhfHZRAtqg6SNNKYwOcj9HHY4Vg6ZJ0SUkycvI8OP5kSzpDyZqgvm-V-bKiKKsQsCVrIO6ojL4IVL_RsmXjx13Jc/s1600/Digimon_Version_S.jpg" /></a></div>
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"Digital Monster Ver. S" was released on September 23rd of 1998 for the Sega Saturn. It was a much more true experience to the V-Pet - Literally. This gameplay of this game is just that, a simulation of the V-Pets on your console. You would do the same things and interact with your Digimon as you always would with the V-Pet's. "Ver. S" almost seems like an additional release in the original Digital Monster Virtual Pet lineup. It's also noticeable for being the first entry in the franchise to feature File Island, a prominent location in many Digimon stories, predating it's appearance in even V-Tamer. There was something of a story and plot to this game, but it is very bare bones and not told as dynamically as in "Digimon World". </div>
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As I mentioned earlier, the Digimon games that followed these two were very different; World 2 was a Dungeon Crawler and World 3 was a JRPG. These are entirely different styles of gameplay featured in the same series; as if it were, let's say, "reinventing" itself, something many Digimon fans complain about Digimon doing now. </div>
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Finally, let's move on to what many often consider to be the "Original" Digimon, Digimon Adventure. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Digimon Adventure" - March 6, 1999</td></tr>
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"I don't recall Taichi and Hikari being THAT young in Adventure. Was Agumon always that big?" - Let me go ahead and answer that for you. Before the anime series many know and love, came a short film titled "Digimon Adventure". This film took place before the events of the anime series and chronicled Taichi and Hikari's first encounter with a Digital Monster. This film had a very different look and atmosphere to it then the series that would follow it, likely due to the influence of Mamoru Hosoda unique directing style. Despite being a direct prequel to the series that would air the very next day, aside from it's characters it has very little similarity to the series itself. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Digimon Adventure" - March 7th, 1999.</td></tr>
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The very next day would mark the beginning of an era - The first full Digimon anime series began, Digimon Adventure. Digimon Adventure, despite being seen as the "first" to many, changes things qutie a bit, introducing a bright, vibrant world and art style- A style not seen in Digimon before, with all of the human characters, the Chosen Children, having their own partner Digimon that would generally stay in it's Child form, only to temporary Evolve into a higher level when needed for battle. Despite the lead up to "Digimon Adventure" in this article, there isn't a lot to say about this many don't already know that I haven't already said in this article. It's very different from "C'mon Digimon", the first entry in the series. Despite sharing some similarities, there are glaring differences between it and "Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01" and is even different in tone, atmosphere and art style to it's direct prequel, "Digimon Adventure (Movie)". As you can see, up to this point, Digimon has already gone through a number of changes.</div>
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From here onwards, Digimon would continue to change - The Wonderswan games that follow the journey's of Ryo that bridge the gap between "Digimon Adventure" and it's sequel anime, "Digimon Adventure 02" play as Tactical RPG's and the World series games introduced after this are completely different styles of games. "Digimon Adventure 02" itself changed up the format, introducing an entirely new cast, along with a new style of Evolution, "Armor Evolution". However, as a direct sequel to the anime, it remains mostly the same. Digimon wouldn't have another big change until...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHM6IvseJ-mODxvhDp79BVi20WGJNSO8ZF3igXN0cu8rjLQbrqyUZJimNxItdZUckn1ZKsmtBh-0SpVG08o4aeqQSNH69Qt2S3roM263UT4xWJZoJKT7LeILo8BVwt0mgHjwMnrPkKjo/s1600/Digimontamers_poster2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHM6IvseJ-mODxvhDp79BVi20WGJNSO8ZF3igXN0cu8rjLQbrqyUZJimNxItdZUckn1ZKsmtBh-0SpVG08o4aeqQSNH69Qt2S3roM263UT4xWJZoJKT7LeILo8BVwt0mgHjwMnrPkKjo/s400/Digimontamers_poster2.jpg" width="303" /></a></div>
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April 1st, 2001, bought with it the third entry in the Digimon anime series, "Digimon Tamers". Only three series in and things began to drastically change; while Adventure and Adventure 02 were quite similar, Tamers is an entirely new beast. Tamers was and still is considered by some to be something of a "reboot". It takes place in an entirely different world to the first, featuring an entirely new cast (Aside from one, "special" case). In this series the Digimon Card game, Hyper Colosseum, exists and those who have a Digimon partner are known as a "Tamer" rather then a "Chosen Child". It's also the first entry to show a Human becoming a Digimon themselves, using "Matrix Evolution", causing the Tamer to Evolve together with their Digimon, along with featuring the use of using the Hyper Colosseum cards to "Card Slash" and augment their Digimon's strength. Tamers is often known as a more "mature" take on Digimon, as it covers themes that were unheard of previously. It is set in a rather sullen world, atmospherically for the Human World and visibly so for it's very barren, dying Digital World. It also shows a very different origin story to both the Digimon and Digital World itself.<br />
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A short prequel story, "Digimon Tamers 1984" details the creation of "Digimon" in the Tamers universe. It in itself is however, again, something entirely different to Tamers. It reads much more like a short thriller story then anything else. Although it chronicles the creation of "Digimon", it is very different to any other piece in the Digimon franchise. </div>
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This article is starting to get a tad too long; so let's start bringing it to a close. The last anime I want to go into some detail for is 2002's "Digimon Frontier". It is perhaps seen as the most controversial entry into the series for two major reasons. It is again a "reboot" and the Human characters, again "Chosen Children" do not have partner Digimon of their own, instead evolving into Digimon themselves.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Digimon Frontier" and "Digital Monster X Evolution" - The entries without "Partners"</td></tr>
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As someone who recently came off rewatching "Digimon Frontier", I won't go into it's problems here - But it strikes me strange that, despite the many glaring issues the series has, these issues themselves are bought up. Humans evolving into Digimon was briefly touched upon in Digimon Tamers with Matrix Evolution. Many consider there not being a "Partner dynamic" to be one of the main reasons why this series "Isn't Digimon", but following after it, the film titled "Digital Monster X-Evolution" is often praised, despite it not only being a very different take on Digimon to what we've had before it, but also featuring no human characters, thus no "Partner dynamic". I personally think these complaints towards Frontier are worded wrong, as we've seen entries in the series that work well despite a lack of Partners. Instead, the issues lie with how Frontier handles it's characters and their characterization, making the lack of partners SEEM like a big issue, whereas in a film such as X-Evolution, it is not.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: "Digimon Savers" Right: "Digimon Xros Wars"</td></tr>
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From here the series would go on to change even more - "Digimon Savers" bought on the first anime series without a "Goggle head", a main character who wears goggles along with a new art style and "Digimon Xros Wars" would bring on an entirely new take on Digimon yet again, featuring very little human Partners, but many Digimon, giving the Digimon characterization and growth the humans would usually have, along with introducing a mecanic known as "DigiXros", the act of Digimon fusing together to create a more powerful Digimon; a mechanic that was criticized for taking away from traditional Digimon "Evolution", despite Digimon fusing long since predated what most consider to be "traditional" Evolution and what is often considered "traditional" Evolution not in fact being, traditional Digimon Evolution.</div>
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Moving away form the anime for a few moments, I'd like to briefly touch on the games again. A new series of Digimon games, "Digimon Story" would launch in Japan around the time of Digimon Savers (In the west, these games would be a part of the World series, with Digimon Story" being known as "Digimon World DS".) and were traditional JRPG monster collecting games. There was not much noticeable about the first few entries into this franchise, but the newest entry, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, is worth touching upon.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from "Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth"</td></tr>
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Despite being an entry in the generally kids friendly series of games, "Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth" was a step in a completely different direction. It drastically lowered the amount of available Digimon, taking away the focus of Monster Collecting for it's story and characters. It's art style is similar to that of "Digimon World Re:Digitize", which is a far cry from what the standard art style is in Digimon. The story focuses on more mature themes and the game itself is aimed towards an older audience. Yet strangely enough, this is not considered to be "Not Digimon", despite how very different it is from what came before it.</div>
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To close things off with, lets return to the anime for a moment. A sequel to Digimon Adventure, "Digimon Adventure tri" launched as a series of movies recently. From this poster alone, it should be apparent just how different it is to the original "Digimon Adventure" despite following it as a sequel. Although this might not be a drastic "Reinvention" of the series like "Xros Wars" or "Universe: Appli Monsters" are toted to be, I think it's still a different enough product to warrant special mention, as it's another entry in the franchise aimed at a more mature audience and deals more with the problems the Chosen Children are facing while growing up, rather then anything the original "Digimon Adventure" tried to tackle.</div>
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The conclusion I hope you to come to with this post is rather simple. Digimon is different. It's a franchise that is always changing and evolving, it never stays in one place for too long. One minute it's about kids battling with Monsters they've raised, the next it's about an Adventure in an foreign world. It can be a story about people who turn into Digimon, or Digimon trying to survive on their own. It can be for children or it can be for adults. There is no one single definition to what Digimon "is", as I hope this article has pointed out to you. The new series "Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters" is a very different take on Digimon, yet Digimon has survived on reinventing itself, and will likely continue to do so even after "Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters".</div>
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If you've read this article to the end, thank you very much. It is a long, boring read, I'm sure. But I hope this very brief summary has helped you to understand a little about just how much Digimon has constantly changed and reinvented itself. </div>
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One thing I can say for sure is that Digimon is a franchise that I personally love, in all of it's forms and will always continue to love, no matter what it tries to do in the future. Even if it's drastically different, even if I don't particularly like it, at it's core, I will always love Digimon for everything it is...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzlaxlZCfMHALGhSplPzgAbN_PHFI1t39Dm5nzAAFZzy04Nn79iFg3HHO9X6zwiEimZcTV99059KAgvD3p7QjTyi6PHKq5Xa6QreJh0yqukVmle5XZjwH2PWGF0dgUp7-uGYJ1nPh_h28/s1600/collectorsjintrix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzlaxlZCfMHALGhSplPzgAbN_PHFI1t39Dm5nzAAFZzy04Nn79iFg3HHO9X6zwiEimZcTV99059KAgvD3p7QjTyi6PHKq5Xa6QreJh0yqukVmle5XZjwH2PWGF0dgUp7-uGYJ1nPh_h28/s400/collectorsjintrix.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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..Even when it went through that weird oversexed phase. Until next time, See you guys later.</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-85940298168337882632016-02-09T09:44:00.001-08:002016-02-09T09:45:36.851-08:00Early Thoughts - Aikatsu! My No.1 Stage!Released November 26th, 2015 is the fourth entry into the series of Aikatsu! 3DS games. After only just releasing getting my copy and spending a little time with it, I thought I'd go ahead and let you all know my early thoughts on the game.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are you all ready for some Idol Activities?</td></tr>
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Let me start off with a word of warning for all of those looking to import the game.<br />
<a name='more'></a>You'll need to be very careful unless you have a Japanese Region 3DS. Unless you have some pretty heavy hacks on your own 3DS (Which we do not condone, mind you!) you won't be able to play it even if you can bypass the region free, due to the game requiring Kana input for your name. So again Aikatsu fans, take caution. Now with that out of the way, lets get on to what I think of the game so far.<br />
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Lets start off with the main mode. I'm honestly not sure what it's called, but lets just go with "story mode" for now. Even though there isn't really a story. It's structured almost like a board game, but plays nothing like one. You control a cute little aphorism cut-out of the idol you choose at the beginning of the game and traverse the game board, each step along the way has a different icon and each icon symbolizes the type of Activity you'll be doing (Things from songs to dramas, which are basically the same thing anyway..). You can move freely and wherever you want, you don't even need to move just one space a time (There is a limit to how far you can go in one move, though). But finishing different Activities will net you different rewards. On top of that there are other Idols on the board too, and occasionally they'll come out and you can have a showdown with them, if you want you unlock them for play. To top it off there are 4 "boards" in all, one for each type of Idol with the idols of that type on it to unlock.<br />
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What do I think of it all? It's fun. It's nothing special or in-depth, there are no penalties for missing or skipping anything, or even really when you lose since you can immediately replay an Activity, but given this is a game for a younger audience I don't think it's much of a problem. There is a bit of a repetitive factor though from doing the same songs over and over, but if you enjoy the music like I do it shouldn't be too much of a problem.<br />
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The Rhythm game itself is basically just a straight up port of the Arcade Game from what I can tell. It plays well, a bit repetitive again because of the song selection being so small, but it's not really a deal breaker. I was expecting to go in with it being super easy but came out surprised with the higher difficulties; They can be challenging, but nothing you're not used too if you play Rhythm games. The game looks great of course, the models look good and the motions are all carried out well, making it satisfying to watch them perform.<br />
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Lets talk about the song selection for a second. It's not small per se, but with such a wide variety of songs in the series it does seem very limited. There are a total of 16 songs in the game, featuring newer songs such as "START DASH SENSATION" and classics like "Diamond Happy", making the lineup, while a bit limited, quite enjoyable. I should mention now although there are only 16 songs in the game there are a total of 30 DLC songs and 4 Fan favorite bonus songs available with the limited edition (Including Calender Girl, thank god.).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9khAYftG8MoYk_IVzcUgWoWG6p8UxnRMTi7JYnwUJaZIWYGpz6cShaFSyy8nnmEBEXw2h08p8UU6458hQ2pAkmCFVVg86LqUqAD2Gx4B15HNTjoAuHY8cBLfRT8IykQzdXnynowQ9t0c/s1600/scr_22_TOP_LEFT.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9khAYftG8MoYk_IVzcUgWoWG6p8UxnRMTi7JYnwUJaZIWYGpz6cShaFSyy8nnmEBEXw2h08p8UU6458hQ2pAkmCFVVg86LqUqAD2Gx4B15HNTjoAuHY8cBLfRT8IykQzdXnynowQ9t0c/s320/scr_22_TOP_LEFT.png" width="320" /></a><br />
I don't think there's a lot left to talk about, there's a karaoke mode I haven't tried yet, there seem to be a wide variety of Aikatsu cards available in the game (As well as being able to scan the QR codes on your own). All in all the game has been a lot of fun for now, but I can see how it might get repetitive in the future and become a chore when it comes to unlocking the extra idols down the track. But all in all, it's an enjoyable game full of "Aikatsu" and is something I can easily recommend at this point to any other fans. I'd go ahead and do a full review once I'm finished but I am not sure there'll be much more to say about it.<br />
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Next up will hopefully be another import, so until then, I'll see you guys later!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-20832651750706289512015-08-30T07:40:00.003-07:002015-08-30T07:40:55.779-07:00Early Thoughts - Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black HeartHello again everyone! Joeker here again, this time debuting what I hope to become something of a new series on this blog. It was supposed to happen a lot earlier then this but due to life I've had to put it off until now; but this time we'll actually be getting it! In this series I'd like to give my thoughts on Games I play, series I watch, etc, while it's still early on. For example, I've put about 20 hours into this game and bring you my thoughts based on them. It's not a full review, since I simply haven't had the time for that sort of thing, so I hope this series will help to make up for that a bit! First up is: Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart.<br />
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This game was released earlier this year and unlike the other Neptune games isn't a typical JRPG, but instead an SRPG, featuring Noire, Neptune's <strike>love interest</strike> close friend.<br />
<a name='more'></a>The plot of the game seems simple enough: Noire has finally come close to taking over Gamarket, yet is tricked by a "mysterious lady" (Neptune fans will already know who this is), which leads to the Goddesses powers being taken from them and Noire's military generals all leaving her, cue you, the protagonist, complete with your own self insert for Noire to love, become Noire's secretary in order to help her win back her generals, solve the mystery of what is happening in Gamarket <span style="font-weight: normal;">and reconquering the world. And this brings me to one of my first problems.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevbc0AL3VyoCXlfxBTphBSyC_1bLSSxXyutH-R8JC0ijx37A_C96P1mVuGBq4uuNrs5jZSErO2-EvstTfbr32n5FOeyWEqNSCCmb0V2_DRTdZIQQ48llHkd6h7a_mQFAvsgFX3wLsVL0/s1600/2015-07-28-060058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevbc0AL3VyoCXlfxBTphBSyC_1bLSSxXyutH-R8JC0ijx37A_C96P1mVuGBq4uuNrs5jZSErO2-EvstTfbr32n5FOeyWEqNSCCmb0V2_DRTdZIQQ48llHkd6h7a_mQFAvsgFX3wLsVL0/s400/2015-07-28-060058.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's not the story; you don't play a Nep game expecting a particularly good story and the same goes for a Noire game. It's the self insert. Now in a game like PP, an Idol Simulator, it makes at least some sense to have a self insert character as you are playing as the Idol's manager. Here I think it's just stupid and unnecessary and is just a way so you can self insert with Noire as your "waifu" or something. It's silly. To make up for it however, as an SRPG the game has many characters, many more then then your regular Nep game. Each of Noire's generals seem to be playable and all of them are based off of video game characters/series.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkyuRpST58-YUPRzXCH6onFapigYSIOB6ooS2nyEC324LGJSzRmuTqnyj7MaONB0Fz90No8sciXqW9ZvUAdXKtYYjp46RN-UlAIQbZh_h3lbKtRyEGUdVjzd_WlJ8PiqTAMZ3z9NudmZo/s1600/2015-07-31-003127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkyuRpST58-YUPRzXCH6onFapigYSIOB6ooS2nyEC324LGJSzRmuTqnyj7MaONB0Fz90No8sciXqW9ZvUAdXKtYYjp46RN-UlAIQbZh_h3lbKtRyEGUdVjzd_WlJ8PiqTAMZ3z9NudmZo/s400/2015-07-31-003127.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just where have I seen this fighting China-Girl before?</td></tr>
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The game is very similar to a Nep game, the main differences are obviously the game-play, being SRPG and a new mode called "Sim Noire". Sim Noire has you helping Noire answer questions asked by her citizens, earning you bonus scenes and allowing you up to furnish and upgrade Noire's room. So far it's fun, but the answers are all either too obvious or too vague in my experiences so far.<br />
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Onto the gameplay itself; it's very simple, yet fun. It's what you'd expect. I like how the maps are decently sized for a game like this (It's no Fire Emblem or Disgaea, mind you.) but it is made up for with having obstacles or other effects on the stages. For example, in the one pictures above you need to use the train-thing to get from one side to the other, but it can only transport 3 characters a time, which can vary up gameplay nicely.<br />
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Then there's this game's take on Lily Ranks, the Lily System. When you have characters positioned next to eachother before executing a special attack, it'll cause them to kiss each other on the cheek to reduce SP cost, increase your Lily Gauge (used for HDD or Ultimate attacks) and increases the power of the attack. It was cute at first but it's gotten annoying quickly, having to sit through the kissing animations every time. I'm still not sure if there is a way to skip it.<br />
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Otherwise, there isn't much to say about the game so far. It's as you'd expect loaded with fanservice, the "lesbian" undertones are sort of undermined by having a self insert for the girls to lust over and the gameplay is simple, yet not so simple you'll get bored of it quickly. Overall I've had a fun 20 hours so far and hope to continue on with the game sometime, if I do I might do a full review and go into proper detail, but for now, I'll see you guys later. <br />
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<br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-79885144624099259302015-07-24T12:34:00.004-07:002016-06-21T13:14:41.489-07:00Aikatsu! The Movie - A Celebration of all things Aikatsu!Announced on the 27th of February, 2014, during episode 71 of Aikatsu!, after much success with the franchise they finally announced the series would be getting a feature length film; Aikatsu! The Movie. It's no secret; I'm a massive Aikatsu fan. If you'd ask me if I could only watch one series for the rest of my life, it'd probably be this. I was excited to hear a movie was coming out and the anticipation over the last year to watch it has been overwhelming. The time has finally come and I'd now like to share my thoughts on the movie with you guys.<br />
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Aikatsu! The Movie was originally released in theaters on the 13th of December, 2014 but was only released on DVD/Blu-Ray in June. The movie has quickly cemented itself as one of my favorite movies, but not just because it's Aikatsu. Because it's a good movie. Why is it a good movie? The answer is easy. Because it's Aikatsu. Beware of <i><b>Spoilers </b></i>ahead!<br />
<a name='more'></a>What I mean by that is this movie is Aikatsu in the purest form. It doesn't try to be or do something else because it's a movie, it's just one long episode of Aikatsu. But it's special for two reasons. It's a monumental moment in the world of Aikatsu, something the entire series up to this point has been leading up too along with doubling as a sendoff for Ichigo's Generation, solidifying the fact that even if they are still around, after this movie we really are in the Akari Generation from now on.<br />
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So the story of this movie is as simple as ever; that's part of the charm. It's Aikatsu, it's a laid back, cute show about Idols doing Idol Activities. Ichigo is going to have a Special Live, The Great Starmiya Ichigo Festival. It's as simple as that. This movie's plot summary could be summed up as "Ichigo has a concert". Of course more happens then that, but it's hard to properly summarize it. It's really that simple. The greatness of this movie comes in during those events; in order to make this event a success, all of Ichigo's friends come together to help her prepare for it. Everyone comes together in order to make this live a success. During this time Ichigo is told Mizuki, the current top idol and the reason Ichigo became an idol in the first place is going to quit. In the meantime, all of the other Aikatsus are running around helping out with tasks for the live.</div>
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Ichigo, along with Aoi and Ran head off to meet a songwriter that was recommended by Naoto. After a stunning performance that really showed off the movie's CGI (As well as not using the Aikatsu! System for the first time!) </div>
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This woman usually writes love songs, so it's a bit weird she was the one who was recommended to write Ichigo's new song to perform at the live. She at first doesn't want too, she writes songs based off of her own experiences, but eventually decides to help after seeing the girls perform. Eventually a song is written, but Ichigo feels it's missing something. Kanon, our song writer realizes that what Ichigo really wants isn't just to express her feelings to her fans but to a specific individual, Mizuki, and begins rewriting the song as a love song. Akari learns Mizuki won't be at the event and decides to do her best to bring her and without much else happening, the event finally starts. </div>
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Did I mention the live is happening at the same place Ichigo first watched Mizuki. That's some symbolic stuff right there. Ichigo's new dress isn't ready and everyone comes together once again to buy time. This is another part that I love. Everyone contributes. Akari is out finding Mizuki, the DreAca girls show up after an absence in order to perform and star in a special live action Naughty Detective/Swallowtail stage show, with girls risking their wellbeings and putting themselves in the way of danger for Ichigo's sake. This is an important part of Aikatsu and always has been, everyone is friends. This movie really solidifies that, although they are rivals and are always competing against each other, they care about each other more then they do anything else and this really comes together during these scenes. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even Soleil perform again!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh don't you worry, it did Ichigo!</td></tr>
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Finally, Ichigo's new dress is here, it's time for her to perform. And this is it. Ichigo gives a speech here, and it's... kinda beautiful. It sums up all of her beliefs and goals, it expresses her love for Mizuki, her love for her fans and friends. This speech alone is one of the best parts of the movie, and while being as wonderful as it is manages to stay completely "Ichigo" in the way it's expressed. If you didn't tear up during it, I don't know what to say. With that said, Ichigo's new song starts and...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">;___;</td></tr>
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There it is. Ichigo's new song, Etude of Radiance. If you didn't tear up before, you probably will here. This song is beautiful. The lyrics, almost every one perfectly match Ichigo's feelings towards Mizuki, the one who started her on the path of being an Idol, The Senpai she looked up to, the rival she wanted to surpass. The song is performed by Ichigo's singing voice, Waka from Star Anis, brilliantly as always. Knowing the entire series has lead up to this point, to this song, knowing where Ichigo started from, knowing her reasons, her goals, it all comes together at this one point in a massive explosion of emotions, which is portrayed in Ichigo's Idol Aura, which grows much larger then it ever has during this performance. This song is one of the best to be sung in Aikatsu, because unlike a lot of the others, this song carries a heavy weight.</div>
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The crowd want an encore, I want an encore, everyone does. Orihime and Ringo, the former tops of the Idol world, tell Mizuki that Ichigo is waiting for her. Mizuki heads to the stage inviting Akari with her, who while is doubtful, is reassured by Ringo and Orihime, realizing who Ringo really is there before heading off, meeting with Tsubasa and getting a dress of her own on the way. The two make their way to the stage to Ichigo's surprise and the three begin singing "Let's Aikatsu!". This bit is important. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKS8BWIvr6cghBzDnRXccY4mHa6Wn3hyphenhyphenjlOgxW7fZS8ea1ul65I7I0nmuCqv-m6xFR7fddPGkQg_IpOs4L4u7y2mS5EblS_L46h0I8o-5Ifa4b2CRFamMN_S6YuVMyL0urZbOCovP-nl8/s1600/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.17.16_%255B2015.07.24_05.40.21%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKS8BWIvr6cghBzDnRXccY4mHa6Wn3hyphenhyphenjlOgxW7fZS8ea1ul65I7I0nmuCqv-m6xFR7fddPGkQg_IpOs4L4u7y2mS5EblS_L46h0I8o-5Ifa4b2CRFamMN_S6YuVMyL0urZbOCovP-nl8/s400/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.17.16_%255B2015.07.24_05.40.21%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Past, the Present and the Future.</td></tr>
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Their performance means more then just them singing on stage together. They represent the current state of the Idol world within the series. After this performance, Mizuki, the one Ichigo was chasing after all this time is performing with her, not the other way around. Akari, the one who loves Ichigo and became an Idol thanks to her, is performing with her on the very same stage that Ichigo first saw Mizuki. On this stage stands the Past, The Present and the Future. Mizuki represents the past, being the former Top Idol, the one who inspired Ichigo and set the series events in motion. Ichigo, the present, being the current Top Idol and serving as an inspiration for girls all over. And lastly, Akari, the future. The girl who was inspired by Ichigo, who is steadily growing, and could one day become a Top Idol just like her. </div>
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You notice when I said Ichigo is the current Top Idol? Even after her performance with Seira as 2Wings, despite suprassing WM they weren't able to beat Mizuki on the Idol Ranking chart. After this performance, it happens. Ichigo becomes the worlds Top Idol. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XJXf5NgwUBiks0hqODXj4QOqhiRPJcjZFSTjhtR9VNTLJGvJHErNPz5GifYEZY6l7QO2gUcSstGWuBfxdODKQOhWhPEmi0f8oXQX-5brbooWTOIsTA-313BYUOEHuawW9Yrgh00WtuI/s1600/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.18.22_%255B2015.07.24_05.41.51%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XJXf5NgwUBiks0hqODXj4QOqhiRPJcjZFSTjhtR9VNTLJGvJHErNPz5GifYEZY6l7QO2gUcSstGWuBfxdODKQOhWhPEmi0f8oXQX-5brbooWTOIsTA-313BYUOEHuawW9Yrgh00WtuI/s400/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.18.22_%255B2015.07.24_05.41.51%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is the moment it's all been leading up too. Ichigo becomes the worlds Top Idol. The one who was observing the "Moon" from the ground all that time ago has finally climbed up into the sky, not only standing next to it, but above it. The following part is rather emotional, with Ichigo's father claiming it's very likely their family will create two Legendary Idols and Ringo says she has no doubt about it. After this, Mizuki says that she has been inspired by Ichigo to continue being an idol. The girl who inspired Ichigo to be an idol is now being inspired by her to keep pushing on. At the same time, she says she accepts Ichigo's Love Song.</div>
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Aoi and Ran, with the rest greet Ichigo backstage. Aoi is tearing up, she is the one who introduced Ichigo to the world of idols by bringing her to that Mizuki concert at this very same place all that time ago, she's been with her best friend since their very first step as Idols. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8kJ2VEOuJ6jDX7LyTWymcg-3Nl1Voh6pcjCUT5g7TfM7lM48XK3695EZ4uXb8BUNGEasbA0M6rO76NlwZp5rSSQzJ1vLUwxAHhQmaoiXvZALjLLNsCEmJ0YApbXUapwrjtx3-7nKwuo/s1600/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.18.29_%255B2015.07.24_05.42.19%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8kJ2VEOuJ6jDX7LyTWymcg-3Nl1Voh6pcjCUT5g7TfM7lM48XK3695EZ4uXb8BUNGEasbA0M6rO76NlwZp5rSSQzJ1vLUwxAHhQmaoiXvZALjLLNsCEmJ0YApbXUapwrjtx3-7nKwuo/s400/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.18.29_%255B2015.07.24_05.42.19%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Aoi's catchphrase here becomes something special. No pun intended. Her regular "This is something special!" is directed at Ichigo, the girl she's been with since the beginning, the girl she knew had this latent talent within her. It becomes something heartwarming. Ichigo runs over to her friends and hugs them, before Mizuki and Akari enter the group congratulate Ichigo and the Starmiya Festival's successful. During this, Ichigo gives Akari the Crystal Mic she used during the performance, saying she'll be waiting for her at the top. Akari says she'll definitely reach her, the one who inspired her to become an idol, who is now recognizing her as someone who could even surpass her one day, thus setting the wheels of fate in motion once again.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIewHgbAB5Hq_LbzbgDDWqMLZeVbnUwliwD4Hx5KGL_VtPv3lvnMlG8zrGn_fkLdPPdzZ7hEHHfGkr-9TxzGb-iVuas4rvOH6-qulecwOhAQ9OqD71jYoYjHRYiQYt-Fy1zB4l2JD4-E/s1600/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.23.27_%255B2015.07.24_05.47.29%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIewHgbAB5Hq_LbzbgDDWqMLZeVbnUwliwD4Hx5KGL_VtPv3lvnMlG8zrGn_fkLdPPdzZ7hEHHfGkr-9TxzGb-iVuas4rvOH6-qulecwOhAQ9OqD71jYoYjHRYiQYt-Fy1zB4l2JD4-E/s400/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.23.27_%255B2015.07.24_05.47.29%255D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWSd0EjLwQeDezsezy1XtKC3c5txTAe27fw1uVyT2Dfdm1f87Vcw5VlfLCz9q4LnXVxkAdFxI6C10JqJtpwfp-XITQbp4fEXE54fsJY9OF_YBV9w1ChM3WtgGVCbDsdDjTNI2NiMwGSY/s1600/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.24.40_%255B2015.07.24_05.48.53%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRWSd0EjLwQeDezsezy1XtKC3c5txTAe27fw1uVyT2Dfdm1f87Vcw5VlfLCz9q4LnXVxkAdFxI6C10JqJtpwfp-XITQbp4fEXE54fsJY9OF_YBV9w1ChM3WtgGVCbDsdDjTNI2NiMwGSY/s320/%255BMezashite%255D+Aikatsu%2521+The+Movie+%255BBD+720p+AAC%255D+%255B8DE1DD87%255D.mkv_snapshot_01.24.40_%255B2015.07.24_05.48.53%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a>The girls form a circle to cheer and the movie comes to a close, with a cute pixel-styled ending with a Medley of all of the Aikatsu endings up this point (Save Good Morning my Dream, the first ending of Akari Generation) showing us that this is it. See, the series never focused on Mizuki as the main character, she was always the one Ichigo wanted to reach, wanted to surpass, the top Idol.. The position Ichigo has now taken. I think this ending goes to show Ichigo has now taken that place by using all of the songs that had served as ending themes during Ichigo's time. She's no longer the main character, she's the goal for our main character, Akari, to reach. </div>
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Our little epilogue then shows Akari and her best friends, Sumire and Hinaki saying that tomorrow is yet another brand new day of Aikatsu and that they would do their best, ending the movie with one final"Aikatsu!".</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too bad the other two were basically nonexistent in the rest of the movie.</td></tr>
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And that's it. The movies done. I went on way more then I had planned too about it, but I really wanted to express what I thought this movie conveyed and why it was a special moment for Aikatsu. The movie was great, it was a fun watch. If you're an Aikatsu fan, there is no doubt you won't fall in love with this movie. If you're not, then why are you even reading this? It's an integral part of the story, so you probably won't enjoy it properly without knowing the history behind it. </div>
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On to the other parts of the movie... (lol) It's well animated, Aikatsu is a long running kids series, so while it has a nice artstyle and generally looks nice, it doesn't always look it's best and has lots of "QUALITY" moments. As a movie, this does away with that and brings the artstyle out to it's fullest. And as I mentioned before, the CGI looked stunning. The music is great, it has the same comfy Aikatsu! BGM as always and the songs performed in the movie all sound great, being mostly songs that have been used before (Shining Line, Original Star, Friend, etc). Almost every character shows up, with some exceptions, and almost all characters feel like they contribute something to the movie. </div>
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It's thanks to this that Aikatsu! The Movie is likely going to remain a favorite of mine for a long time to come. And I hope the Aikatsu! series continues for just as long. Thank you if you read this entire thing; it was boring and nonsensical as always, I'm sure, but I felt like this movie is something I really wanted to dive into with you guys, I think it deserves it. I'll miss Ichigo and friends and am glad they'll continue showing up, but after this movie I'm finally ready to let her go at the same time and start rooting for Akari to one day surpass her and become the worlds new Top Idol. But we've still got almost a hundred episodes until we can even think about that!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-71555645601790626412015-07-18T07:20:00.001-07:002015-07-18T07:20:15.847-07:00Kamen Rider Battride War - ReviewThis is late. This game came out a couple years ago now, right? Surely you'd think I'd be reviewing Battride War 2. Well, I haven't actually played that yet. But I have played this and thought perhaps I should give my thoughts on in the same way I did the Climax Heroes games. So, let's get into it shall we?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEireDJNKNKHGf3u3Qs2fjyCJxbS_WVi2LdTGozy_Kl-czt2ZWI7tXD_JS83HjnECzevGiDyW0wbrsTz570vEjdvzrK-bijKT3dI0gLhJ7IR2U2YnBjFPDxYCRQz45XcAkUm0tQ3zMxra7c/s1600/kamenrider01_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEireDJNKNKHGf3u3Qs2fjyCJxbS_WVi2LdTGozy_Kl-czt2ZWI7tXD_JS83HjnECzevGiDyW0wbrsTz570vEjdvzrK-bijKT3dI0gLhJ7IR2U2YnBjFPDxYCRQz45XcAkUm0tQ3zMxra7c/s400/kamenrider01_thumb.jpg" width="317" /> </a></div>
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Kamen Rider Battride War was released for the PS3 on May 23rd, 2013 during the run of Kamen Rider Wizard. Ergo, it's obviously going to be a Wizard centric game...<br />
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<a name='more'></a>It's no secret that Wizard is my least favorite Kamen Rider series of recent times. It had some good things, but mostly bad things. I won't go into that in this review obviously and I'll keep my Wizard bias out of this. The main problem this game suffers from is that it is just like Wizard. Very "Meh".<br />
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The game follows a simple plot; Riders have lost their memories and need to reclaim them to beat the bigbad. Along the way'll fight various monsters and other Riders. I don't want to go too much into this because 1. My memories on it are a bit fuzzy and 2. It's very simple and isn't particularly important. It's what you'd expect from this sort of game. The story is probably better then what you'd find in the Climax Heroes or All Rider Generation games at the very least. But lets get into what you're here for. The gameplay. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's right folks, it's a musou clone.</td></tr>
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After spending years perfecting your fighting game formula after a very rocky first few attempts and creating very fun beat em ups that could easily be expanded on, what do you do? Obviously make a Musou clone! For those of you who don't know, Musou is the Japanese name of the "Warriors" Franchise. The Warriors Franchise includes games such as Dynasty, Samurai, Gundam and even Zelda these days. These games are most well known for the their gameplay, which is a very basic, mindless hack and slash. I say mindless because the enemy AI is truly horrendous in these games and enemies come at you in swarms. Your job? To hack and slash your way through these massive armies by mashing a few buttons.<br />
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The thing is, the Musou games are fun. Mindless, but fun. Mostly thanks to perfecting the gameplay over the years to make it enjoyable. Clones barely ever have this (Need we point at you, Super Sentai Battle Cross?). In a miracle, Battride War actually comes out as a decent clone. There isn't much to say for the gameplay other then you're given a mission to complete and must slash through hordes of mooks to get there. You have your basic attacks, special attacks and of course form changes. <br />
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The form changes are what definitely make the gameplay fun. Playing as Kamen Rider W and going through hordes of enemies with your Rider Kick, to instantly switch into HeatMetal form, to go into LunaTrigger is just plain fun. It varies up the gameplay as your attacks will change with each form, meaning your character will always feel fresh. Although the number of Riders playable may be a bit iffy almost all of their forms make an appearance (Even forms such as Accel Booster, Kabuto Masked or Den-O Liner) meaning it feels like you have a lot more options when choosing when to play. A bit more disappointing if you're a secondary Rider fan, with very little being playable. The only secondary Riders that are playable are the Post-Decade secondaries; Accel, Birth, Meteor and Beast. With the rest only appearing as supporting characters in the game.<br />
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The gameplay does have its downsides though, most notably how repetitive it can get thanks to their being very little stage and mission variety, with most missions coming down to "Break the red hourglasses now beat a guy". This gets old quick. Another problem is the bike controls, which are very stiff and just feel "weird". It's hard to explain. But its your fastest way of getting around and you'll need to use it. But you'll be crashing a lot. Despite the problems however it is a fun Musou clone, definitely not one of the worst and on the better end of the spectrum for sure.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look! Our favorite Undead!</td></tr>
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So now you might be wondering just why I've posted a picture of Random Japanese man. Well I'm using him as an example. This is Ryoji Morimoto, the actor who played Kamen Rider Chalice/Joker Undead in Kamen Rider Blade. He along with many other past actors returned to voice their respective roles again in this game.<br />
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One word. Fanservice. That's what this game does right. If you like Kamen Rider, you'll like this game. It is still of it. From little details like the way Kuuga uses his Rising Forms, To Medals flying out of enemies for OOO, etc, this game is full of what we love. Both Riders and Villains alike are played by their original actors (Of course, there are exceptions.) and the game feels like you're truly playing as that Rider. The attention to detail and the way you'll be beating through all of these mooks to get to the bigger monster is just the same as in the series. Again, if you like Kamen Rider you'll like this game.<br />
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So what next? Music. It doesn't matter. You'll never hear the BGM's aside from the menus because the game has a Custom Soundtrack feature, meaning you can use all of your COSMIC MINDS and ELEMENTS. The sounds all sound as they should, the form changes and belts sound good and the voice actors all do a great job, even the stand-ins for the guys who don't reprize their roles sound rather on point. <br />
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One of the main problems is that the game is short; It won't take you long to beat. The replay value is there in getting higher scores and ranks of course and it has a few extra game modes, such as Survival Mode, Or Resetting you to level 1 for certain missions, as well as collecting all of the trophies that give your Rider stat boosts or other effects will give you some extra re playability, but not a whole lot. The trophies are very easy to get as well save for one ridiculous biking one.<br />
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So what's the verdict. Do you buy it or not? Well no obviously. Battride War 2 is out and although I've yet to play it I imagine it improves on this game completely. Is it a fun game though? Yes. And hell, if you're stingy like me and don't want to shill out the dollars for the second game, maybe you can pick this up if it's cheap enough. If you like Kamen Rider and own a PS3 you'll appreciate this game. Or should I say the Battride War series, which unfortunately is only two games. <br />
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Maybe one day I'll be back with a review for the second game, but for now this is the last Kamen Rider game I've played. Perhaps I'll try that new iOS game out sometime and let you guys know what thats like. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-52118534502330906462015-07-17T13:01:00.000-07:002015-07-17T13:22:31.887-07:00Rants and Rambles - Video Game Localizations & ImportingHey guys, Joeker here. It's been a long while since there's been any attention given to this blog. My attention, when I'm not "busy" has been going one of two places. A. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/cardcaptortsukasa" target="_blank">My youtube channel </a>and B. Video Games. Video games are what spurred me to want to write this article, specifically the game I've been playing recently and am playing at the time of writing this article, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, despite common belief I can own a game that exists only in Japan.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I want you guys to understand its late at night and this post is mostly just going to consist of my very biased opinions on this matter along with some (a lot) of rants. If that's what you're interested in, read on. If not, I warned you. Hell, I'm not even sure if this will get published!<br />
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<a name='more'></a>So here's the thing. Video games, specifically JRPG's come out in Japan. Then sometimes they get localized and bought into the western/english speaking world. As gamers, we all know this. And honestly, despite how many games we do get it really is only a small fraction. This has been noticeable in a couple of Bandai Namco games/series, two of which I'm very interested and involved in. That being the Tales of series and the Digimon series.<br />
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The Tales of series problem has eventually been resolved by fan bitching and people showing with their wallets they wanted these games. Thanks to this we've had a very good stream of releases since Graces f. Digimon on the other hand remained barran, the last game to be localized I believe being Digimon World Championship in 08 or 09. Fans have since been demanding the games be localized, begging and pleasing; but lets be real. There simply hasn't been a market for Digimon in the west for a long time. Recently however, with Xros Wars dub and the western made game, Digimon All-Stars Rumble, fans began to have a glimmer of hope the newer games in the series, specifically Cyber Sleuth would be seeing a release here. And good news; it is. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How am I ever to understand what to do with all of these strange words!?</td></tr>
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Back in the day, before Tales games started getting localized again, I was anti-importation on my games. If my game wasn't in english, there's no way I would play it. How could I? It's some crazy game in some foreign language I can't speak, let alone read. I can't remember exactly when that all changed, but the me today is very much okay with playing and paying for Japanese games. <br />
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Somewhere along the lines I've realized that games are most importantly, an interactive medium. Even in a case like Cyber Sleuth that is a primarily story focused game. Games are about playing. That's what comes first and foremost. This is why I've in the past imported games like Kamen Rider Battride War or Gundam Extreme vs. Fullboost. These are games I can just play without understanding much of, they are fun. JRPG's are a different beast. Or at least that's what most people will say. I think differently. The story is important, but it's not the end all be all, even in a game like this.<br />
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Let me be honest, I can understand Japanese. No, not perfectly. Far from it. But basic Japanese. Easy stuff. Somewhere along the lines of watching anime I, without realizing became able to more or less understand Japanese by ear, not a whole lot, like maybe 40%. 60% if it's a kids show like Kamen Rider or Digimon (lol). This doesn't mean I can understand it (I don't think I could translate it properly, for example.) or speak it, but I can process it and I know what it means. I'm so confident in this I've in recent times started watching anime without subtitles (Mostly kid stuff, PriPara, Jewelpet, etc) and this is what helped me decide to buy Cyber Sleuth. The mechanics are simple and most of the story is spoken. It can't be too hard, right?<br />
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I was right. It isn't. But this also isn't the point, as I know most people are clueless about Japanese. (That made my entire last paragraph moot really). But the thing is when it comes to these games there are EXTENSIVE networks of support online these days. From story translations, subtitled playthroughs on youtube you can follow along with, guides, forums, imageboards; the lot. To the point it basically makes it, you know, english. If you can't work out whats happening in the story? Ask someone on a forum. If you can't work out what to do? Follow a guide. It makes playing a game like this so easy, even to someone who can't read Japanese, that it makes the idea of these huge petitions and fan outcry seem a little ridiculous to me.<br />
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Now this isn't always the case I know. People hate playing with guides or reading script translations, and hey the game IS getting localized thanks to all this. But this is where my main point comes in. (Yes, I just wrote THAT much and I still haven't gotten to what this article is about. See why I don't post much now?). Sometimes, if you want something that badly, you just have to do it. Sometimes, complaining won't help. And you'll just miss out completely. This has happened a lot of course, it's a miracle this game is being localized at all. And I'm grateful for it. And I'll buy it again. But what if it hadn't been? What if it had met the same fate as so many other games? If I hadn't bought it then? I'd miss out. On an experience that has been amazing so far. I had 37 hours in the game only on chapter 7 out of 20. It annoys me when people say "I'll never be able to play this!" because it doesn't have an English release. There are exceptions of course, such as region locking, but otherwise, you CAN play it. You just aren't willing too. It's an effort, sure. But if you're not willing to put in that effort, then maybe you don't really deserve to play it? I don't know. This entire article has been stupid. It hasn't even made much sense. I just think if you REALLY want something; you want to play that game that badly, then you should do it.<br />
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Okay, so my entire point is moot here. You pay money and play through the game without properly understanding it only for it to get localized a year or so later. "Thanks Joeker!" you're saying. But something else served as an inspiration for this article, the announcement of the new game Digimon World: Next Order. Only hours after this game was announced people were back on Bamco demanding localization news, saying it's all they need to play this game, etc, etc. Just like they were with Cyber Sleuth. In other words, right after it's confirmed we're getting Cyber Sleuth everyone has already jumped on the next target. When does it end? It doesn't. It never will. It's a cycle that will keep repeating and it won't always work out the way it has this time, just like it has many times before. People demanded Cyber Sleuth, they are now getting it and are now demanding the next game. After that, whether we get Next Order or not people will go on to demand the next. Of course with Cyber Sleuth getting an English release the chances of it happening are slightly higher; if it sells well we might get more in the future. And that's great. But despite my Digi-Focus in this article I want to make clear that I'm not just talking about one game or series, but many. The many games that aren't, haven't or never will be released for us to play in the west. If you want to play it, play it. Don't let things like that stop you. If you do, then don't complain about it, you're the one who isn't playing it. It's great to support what you love and try to help it along, but at the same time robbing yourself of what could be a great experience isn't worth it.<br />
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So this article was dumb, I don't know if I'll write anything again soon but maybe you'll see more of my silly thoughts and rambles and rants put into words here. It'll be what, our 5th anniversary next year right? Maybe I should post more. Maybe I will. Who knows. again, check out my youtube channel CardCaptorTsukasa, it's where I'm active the most. If you read this, thank you. I appreciate it. It wasn't a good, well written, piece. It wasn't intelligent nor did I try to convey a particularly good point or have any good points on buying games in languages you don't understand, or any real opinions, facts, or anything on Localizations and Importation of video games, especially the downsides like the costs. But I wanted to write something and I couldn't get this off my mind after the Next Order announcement and the reactions I saw to that. It's just the mindless ramblings of myself at 5AM. The next one will be more professional maybe!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-79386970329783358262014-03-18T20:26:00.002-07:002014-03-18T20:26:37.208-07:00Denji Sentai Megaranger - ReviewHello everyone! Joeker here again after over a year of absence. Unfortunately TheDokta and myself had gotten somewhat worn out from life issues. (School, work, etc) and had gotten to the point where all that was being posted were update posts and hardly any actual content, so we decided it may be better to take a break. <br />
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It's 2014. JoekerStraightFlush turns 3 this year and I have decided to come back and try to update it a often as possible. The most frequent early reviews posted here was of Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and Precure, so to celebrate turning 3 I am going to go ahead and do a review of one of each now that we're back. Starting with a Super Sentai series I watched recently, Denji Sentai Megaranger.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Airing back in 1997, Denji Sentai Megaranger was the 21st Super Sentai series. The series starts out as any Super Sentai would; There's an evil group and a group of people gain the ability to transform to fight them and protect earth. This time with a slight twist, although not the first Denji Sentai Megaranger has a High School setting, with the core 5 being High School students. This dynamic is really well done and the characters feel like real high school students should, there is nothing superficial or fake about their characters, they all feel as they should; teenagers who suddenly have to save the world.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Core 5 Megaranger</td></tr>
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Who do they have to protect the world from you ask? A group called Nezirezia, coming from a dimension called.. Nezirezia. Their plans are of course to take over earth, it runs a little deeper then that but I'd rather not spoil much if possible. The show sets up it's MoTW format from the first episode, this isn't unusual, it's a Sentai series afterall so you may be wondering why I am bothering to mention it, but the series really does do a good job with it. I hardly felt there were any moments where the series bored with me it's MoTW episodes which is something I find happening to me a lot in Sentai.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The core villains of the series</td></tr>
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Megaranger did something I very much appreciate in Tokusatsu series, the core 3 villains felt very close to each other, more like a family then anything. Each of them cared about each other and that made the series feel that bit more solid. The villains designs themselves are interesting and the extra villains that are added as the series continues will not deter the experience these three bring, instead adding to it by bringing in a unique dynamic that wasn't apparent before.<br />
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The MoTW designs are also interesting, some of them felt a bit boring but that happens; they weren't particularly bad but not always exciting to look at. The designs of the villains overall range from downright spooky to badass.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girel's design legit spooks me.</td></tr>
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Continuing with the design aspect, another thing this series shines with are it's mecha. Megaranger excelled with it's robot design, with Galaxy Mega and Delta Winger being perhaps some of the most fine looking robots in the franchise. The mecha fights are as they should be, sweet and short for the most part. There are instances where they can be longer but normally aren't too long, just long enough to for you to appreciate them but not so long you'll get bored. The Megaranger suit design themselves are very simple but have enough detail to make you think a good amount of thought was put into it, they look pretty nice.<br />
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Another thing that stood out is the soundtrack, it's very 90's. Not that that's a bad thing, just that it can be a bit weird for people not used to it. The soundtrack is good though, with really good Opening and Ending themes along with great Mecha themes. The series effects are also the best of the 90's Sentai if you ask me, and have aged very well compared to others. Of course this can still feel jarring for those not used to it, but it is certainly bearable. <br />
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There are just a few more things I want to mention, as this review is getting a bit lengthy. Spoilers will follow from this point.<br />
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The story of the series is simple like I have said but very fun to watch, watching a group of regular High School students become full fledged defenders of the earth is a very interesting journey and it all feels real. The group argue, some fall in love, they get depressed, but most of all they remain friends throughout, which is one of the most important messages Megaranger brings.<br />
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Another thing to note is the Sixth Ranger, MegaSilver and a group of villains later in the series, Neziranger. MegaSilver is a fun character they don't really go in depth with him as they do with the rest of the team but this was a different era and Sixth Rangers were treated differently back then, either way he becomes an invaluable group members and just watching the team begin to accept him and think of him as a trusted comrade is great to watch. The Neziranger are a group of 5 villains that appear late in the series and are so far the only "real" Sentai team that are villains. There have been other villains that call themselves similar but the Neziranger really stand out, both design and personality wise. I won't spoil too much, but watching their dilemma was very satisfying.<br />
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Denji Sentai Megaranger was a very solid experience overall. It handled everything it tried to do well and because of that was one of the most pleasant experiences I've had watching Super Sentai. I couldn't recommend the series more, check it out if you're a fan of Super Sentai.<br />
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*Please note: My reviews are actually pretty bad and not really like a review at all, more like my thoughts on a series..well I guess that's still like a review? I don't like sectioning things off into "Story" "Music" "Characters" and giving them separate ratings or even a rating for the series overall. Sorry if that's what you were expecting!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-48648270467001463932013-01-14T05:19:00.000-08:002013-01-14T05:28:25.173-08:00Mighty Switch Force ReviewHEY GUYS! TheDokta here. After a somewhat uneventful 2012 I hope to post more often here in the new year. To start of the year I thought a good review for a game I finished just recently. Mighty Switch Force being the third game in the Mighty series by WayForward(A seriously awesome game company check out their stuff) the other two being from DSiware. Its a puzzle platformer game with some mild shooting. Now to start my first review of 2013!<br />
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<i>Lets get wet ladies ;D</i></div>
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<b>Gameplay</b></h4>
The gameplay in Mighty Switch Force, or MSF for short involves switching platforms to progress through the level and find 5 escapees. While the story for MSF is almost non existent we get that the main protagonist Patricia Wagon is a space police officer and on route to wherever 5 captives escape and weird green stuff creates various meanies to prevent Patricia from collecting them. There are 3 different types of platforms, solid platforms that switch normally, platforms that switch unless stood on and platforms that require an explosion to get through. These provide some variety in the platforming you will be doing in the levels. Which brings me to one of the shortfalls of this game. It's well short, 16 levels plus 5 bonus levels once you finish (unless you are playing the Hyper Driver edition but more on that later) The gameplay is simple enough to get that hang of after that first level and remains throughout. All in all I would give the gameplay a Great out of 10.<br />
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<i>Die evil being!</i></div>
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Graphics</h4>
The graphics in MSF are great for a downloadable title. Great animations and hit detection make the game fun to play. MSF is reminiscent of classic games with bit-sprites and mixes it with animated backgrounds all in layered 3D which is something I say breathes life into classic 2D platformers. HOWEVER later last year there was a version for the Wii U (which I also bought I love this game that much) With redrawn HD sprites and redesigned "Hyper Edition" levels which gave more content for players. I will have to say I do prefer the bit sprites more than the HD sprites for the Wii U edition. But that said for each version I give the graphics an awesome out of 10.<br />
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Soundtrack</h4>
Ah yes MSF's soundtrack, let's just say if you are opposed to awesome techno tunes and catchy beats then MSF is NOT for you. This game features the musical stylings of Wayforward composer Jake Kaufman and he does a great job of keeping the rhythm of the games puzzle platforming action. There were moments where the music kept me focused on the puzzle at hand. I should also note that Patricia herself does talk on the occasion where you need to switch or pick up a Floppy Disk Heart as well as at the start of the level. With quotes such as "Lets switch it up!" and "Yummy" it's an inclusion that gives the game more immersion. Overall I give the soundtrack a YUMMY out of 10.<br />
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Final Thoughts<i></i></h4>
Whether you prefer portable 3D platforming of HD surround sound puzzling, Mighty Switch Force accommodates both with style. You can pick up MSF on the 3DS eShop for $9.00 (AUD) or $5.99 (USD) and is Currently not available on the Australian Wii U eShop but can be purchased on the European eShop for <span class="st"> €</span>6.00 (EUR) or $6.99 (USD) If you have the spare money it is definitely worth it if you are a fan of classic platfomers like Megaman. Challenging puzzles and fluid platforming combined with beat-tastic music makes for a genuine, albeit rather short gaming experience. I give Mighty Switch Force a 8.5 out of 10.</div>
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TheDoktahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00415879942755578329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-9788409237189103002013-01-13T05:42:00.002-08:002013-01-13T05:42:39.739-08:00Summer of Video Games - Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2It's currently summer where I live. I recently thought "What better way to spend summer then to play video games?". So that's what I've done.<br />
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I wanted to start this last month, "Summer of Video Games", but unfortunately things got hectic because of the Christmas season and things have run late into January, but I already have a few articles ready to be written for it thanks to that. I'm planning on making this simply me discussing and kinda reviewing the games I play (Whether I've finished them or have given up). And to start off with, a game I've wanted to talk about for quite a while, Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2. I won't be going into too much detail though, this isn't a full review.<br />
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<span id="goog_1994589608"></span><span id="goog_1994589609"></span>Neptunia is a very interesting franchise, from the moment I bought mk2 I was asked at the counter "Is this game a hentai or something?".<br />
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<span id="goog_1994589608"></span><span id="goog_1994589609"></span>This game was first released in Japan during 2011 and then the rest of the world in 2012, to the surprise of many. The first Neptunia game was very poorly received; and for good reasons. Because of this it was surprising to see it's sequel getting localized, or heck even made.<br />
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This game improved on almost everything that held the first game back. They completely reinvented the first games battle system, keeping it the same at the core but turning it into a more free-roaming turn based system. The graphics looked sharper and a bit less gloomy then the first game, the "Visual Novel" sections of the game were improved, among many other things.<br />
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This game follows Nepgear and friends who are trying to save their sisters, who have been captured by some big evil group and you know how this kind of thing goes. The game is full of fanservice nonstop, as expected of a Compile Heart game, which has led this game to get some negative criticism, which I think is unfair due to the target demographic of the game. If the game isn't for you, then it isn't for you.<br />
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One of the most fun things about the game is the transformations the main characters can undergo; they give a power boost and overall give you something different to look at, making battle fun. The dungeons are all pretty and nice to look at it as well.<br />
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But of course, the best thing about this game, much like the first game is the dialogue. So many video game references and other great one-liners pop out of this game. I also should have mentioned this earlier, but all of the main cast are based off of either Video Game consoles or companies. Many great references to historic or comedic moments in gaming history are made as well as one liners that will give you a chuckle, such as <i>"I thought we were winners! 'Cuz winners don't do drugs!" - Neptune</i><br />
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The game runs for about 24ish hours with the normal ending and around about 30 for the true ending. Although not as much so as Disgaea, this game will require some grinding, as many of the lategame bosses have attacks that can easily 1HKO everyone.<br />
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There isn't really much to talk about with this game, though. Other then: "The characters are fun", "It's not as sexist as most reviewers make it out to be", "The video game references are great" and "It makes me look forward to Neptunia Victory". Yes, that's right. There is a 3rd game in the franchise, showing just how well it's doing. Neptunia Victory also looks like a major improvement over mk2.<br />
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Another thing I didn't really talk about are references to Japanese media that isn't really made as apparent in the localization, such as the character Nisa.<br />
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Nisa, while being an obvious reference is also quite clearly a reference to Kamen Rider, constaly talking about being a Heroine of Justice, as well as her scar and iconic pose. There are quite a few references to Kamen Rider in the games so far; and I'll touch upon that some more if I do a review of the first game, including Neptune's "From start to finish, I'm at a climax!" line.<br />
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Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 is a good game, especially in comparison to the first game in the series. It's a fun dungeon crawler that is innovative in both battle style and story telling and I think it's most certainly worth a try if A. You're a gamer B. You like JRPG's or C. You're straight.<br />
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Summer of Video Games will continue soon with "Mugen Souls". And Ugh, I'm dreading having to write about it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-21735081624934230432013-01-12T04:36:00.003-08:002013-01-12T04:38:44.001-08:00Joeker's Top 5 Tales of GamesAhaha, I was supposed to do this on the first of this month, woops.<br />
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After a not-so-eventful year last year here at JoekerStraightFlush, I decided it was time to step things up a notch; but it appeared with all the video games I've been playing lately I've been a bit too distracted. Well, whatever.<br />
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To Kick off the new year, I'm starting it off with my favorite Video Game series, the 'Tales of' series. I haven't been able to play a whole lot of Tales of games so far, but here I'll be counting down my Top 5 favorites. (Please note! I haven't played all of these games through to completion.)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">5. <i>Tales of The Abyss </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">To be more specific, the 3DS port of it, seeing as we never got the PS2 version in PAL regions. Tales of the Abyss is a good game, but it never really stood out to me as much as it might have if I had played it when it was first released, the characters were fun but some of them were a little dull -coughNataliacough- and some were just plain unlikeable -coughAnisecough-. I do think the game's story was interesting, albeit a little too reliant on made up terminology. The battle system is one of the best parts about this game, although even that can be a little irky to get the most use out of it. It's a good game, and I'm really enjoying it. Just not as much as I have other Tales of games.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">4. Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3</span></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Radiant Mythology series is a prime example of a series that learns from it's mistakes and improves on it in the next installment; and RM3 so far is the epitome of that. It improves on all of the issues of the first two while adding even more. The battle system has improved from the last two, making everything seem a lot more smooth and less awkward, you don't have to grind every character in the game and the character roster is pretty damn big too. The story is subpar, as you'd expect a crossover game to be, but it's not horrible and boring like SOME crossovers -coughanytoeicrossoverevercough-. This game is a lot of fun and has a plethora of characters and classes you can use, it's really just an enjoyable experience. </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">3. Tales of Symphonia</span></span></i> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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In my opinion, Tales of Symphonia is a masterpiece in every regard. The story telling, gameplay, characters and graphics are all top notch, especially for it's time. However, that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's faults. However as the first step into the 3D realm, it gave the Tales of series the push it needed to survive the 3D gaming area, and is also what put the Tales of series on the map in the western world. There's really not much to say about it; it's just a great game.<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">2. Tales of Phantasia</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Specifically the Playstation port. </span>Phantasia was the first game in the Tales of franchise, and I don't know how the Super famicom version was (I do however, know the horrors of the GBA version..) But the Playstation version was a very good game. The gameplay felt natural on the Playstation controller, the story for it's time was rather dark and the characters were all quirky, loveable and were easy to identify with. The battle system was one of the best parts about it of course, and in my opinion helped to put (If not one of the sole reasons) realtime JRPG's on the map.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">1. Tales of Vesperia</span></span></div>
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There are people who say 360 version of Vesperia is incomplete; and while to some degree I do agree with that, I still think it is an amazing game on it's own. Each one of the characters in this game are extremely loveable, the story jerked a couple tears out of me, the battle system was wonderful and the graphics just look beautiful. There's not a whole lot to say about this game. It's my favorite Tales of game and I think it's really an amazing game.<br />
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Honorable mentions go to Tales of Graces f and Tales of The World Narikiri Dungeon 3. <br />
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I'm hoping to make this year a little more active here at JoekerStraightFlush, but at this point I honestly can't promise anything. All I can do is say look forward to the next post, which you can keep up with by liking our facebook page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JoekerStraightFlush" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/JoekerStraightFlush</a><br />
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That's all for now yo.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-9953962281860377812012-12-01T20:30:00.005-08:002012-12-01T20:31:11.812-08:00Kamen Rider Super Climax Heroes - Review It's been a while since I promised the last game review; A review I totally forgot to do. Making up for that, I will be reviewing the new Kamen Rider game, Super Climax Heroes earlier then I usually would this year. Specifically, the PSP version.<br />
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Following the trend that has started since Kamen Rider Decade's "Kamen Rider Climax Heroes" game for PS2, 2012 has bought the release of a new Climax Heroes game, Super Climax Heroes, for both the PSP and the Nintendo Wii.<br />
<a name='more'></a>In my review of <a href="http://joekerstraightflush.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/kamen-rider-climax-heroes-fourze-review.html" target="_blank">Kamen Rider Climax Heroes Fourze</a>, I went on to tell everyone how I was <u>very</u> disappointed by the game, as it was only a clone of Climax Heroes OOO but with a few more characters and a new mission mode tacked on. It wasn't a very good game. But this year's Climax Heroes is completely different, dare I say, Super.<br />
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Super Climax Heroes completely changed the battle system; while it's still the same at the very core of things, battle now uses a free-run system, instead of being on a 2D plane like the preview Climax Heroes games, this game allows you to run around the battle field freely. This was a very welcome change, as it not only makes battles feel a bit longer, but also slightly more challenging. It also introduces "Rider Arts", special techniques each Rider can use in battle, along with a (albeit, very shitty.) flight system.<br />
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The Free-Run system has causes something many have dreaded; A change in controls. Although the control scheme is now different, I feel as though it's actually much better then the previous controls. Everything flows much easier. The only issue this has presented is charging your Rider Gauge, however with the ability to combo much easier now with the Rider-Cancel being the R button (For PSP) you won't normally find this to be an issue. Another new mechanic introduced is something like a Barrier-Burst technique. This allows you to, at the expense of some of your Guard Gauge, create a burst of energy that will knock your opponent away if you get stuck in a combo. All of these changes make game play a lot more tactical; You'll need to think more then you did before and plan out your combos before you try to execute them.<br />
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Another welcome change is the character roster. I thought that Climax Heroes Fourze was quite shallow in that regard. However Super Climax Heroes adds many more characters. Each character is well done; there are no useless new characters like in Climax Heroes Fourze. Each character plays differently and well and overall none of them feel like they were just tacked on at the last minute. (Well, except for Wizard Hurricane Dragon; but that WAS tacked on at the last minute.)</div>
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On another note, quite a few of the original actors reprise their roles and provided voices for the game. This was very welcome; making the game have much better game feel then it previously did. This game also has a secret character in Kamen Rider Fourze Meteor Fusion States. All in all this game did amazing things for the character roster, along with completing the rider lineup for some series, which include Blade, Kabuto and W. (Excluding movie riders save Eternal and Skull.)</div>
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Now for the new story mode, Super Hero Mode:</div>
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Super Hero mode is somewhat like a mix between OOO Ragnarok mode and Fourze's Heroes mode. There are a bunch of locations, and at each of these locations are various missions, ranging in difficulty for you to take. These missions have very simple objectives; Beat the enemy or Beat the enemy within the time limit. Super Heroes mode lasts much longer then Heroes mode in Fourze, taking me about 3-4 hours to complete. Along with taking longer it is also much more challenging. The missions start out easy as you'd expect but as you progress will actually get harder and becoming challenging even to those who have played the previous games. This new challenge was a great addition and made the game feel fulfilling to play. There is no order in which the missions need to be done, allowing for some freedom.</div>
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But don't worry; This is a kids game. With the increased difficulty they also introduced a Level up system that is used in Super Heroes mode. When you finish a mission you will be awarded RP, which I assume stands for "Rider Points". This RP can then be exchanged to increase your characters stats; Health, Attack, Defense and Special/Finisher. There are also skills that can be purchased for each character that will have varying effects; Such as increasing your rider gauge over time at the cost of Defense. This somewhat nullified the new challenge presented, But I still think it didn't make it too easy. </div>
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Another change is the lack of pictures to be unlocked in the gallery mode. Now we have special figures which can be unlocked while progressing through Super Heroes Mode.</div>
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These figures come with a small description of the character, there is a figure for every rider playable in the game; Along with a few form upgrades and some that only appear during a finisher. There are also special figures that can be unlocked, which brings me to my next point; the password system.<br />
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The password system is very simplistic, you enter 6 Riders and if the password is correct you'll unlock new missions, which give special figures. These missions are not too impressive; They aren't challenging at all like I had hoped and are easily finished. </div>
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The custom soundtrack feature in this game allows a song to be set for each form, rather then just each rider. This is nice, however I think it may be going a little overboard with it. I wonder what they'll do for it in next years game.</div>
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Overall, this game still suffers many of the problems the previous Climax Heroes games have had; It's very short and somewhat easy. It does improve on these, with the game being longer then the previous games along with being more challenging. The free-run system, new controls and mechanics make the game lose a lot of repetitiveness from the previous games, however after a while like anything, will get stale. If you're a Kamen Rider fan, this game is for you. If not I would say to skip out on it, as there are much better fighting games to play. It's a good attempt at fixing the problems with the game, but still has a lot of flaws.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-87859915242161423602012-10-02T07:25:00.000-07:002012-10-02T07:25:17.234-07:00Lack of updatesYou know guys, I legitimately feel bad for the lack of updates here. I really wanted to make this blog successful, but it reached a point where it just stopped moving. Even if I actively posted, it wasn't making any progress. So honestly, after a while I just couldn't be bothered.<br />
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So, I don't even know. I'll do a game review. Tomorrow. What game is it? ITS GONNA BE A SURPRISE BUT SINCE I ONLY REALLY PLAY JRPGS WELL I DO PLAY OTHER GENRES TOO BUT MY GAME LIBRARY MOSTLY CONSISTS OF JRPG'S IT'LL PROBABLY BE ONE OF THEM. SO YOU KNOW NOW YOU CAN EXPECT IT AND ENJOY IT. AND YOU PROBABLY WON'T EVEN SEE THIS POST BECAUSE IT WON'T HAVE GOOD ADVERTISING THEN YOU'LL SEE THE GAME REVIEW THEN MAYBE LOOK AT OTHER POSTS THEN SEE THIS POST AND BE LIKE "I ALREADY KNOW ABOUT IT I READ THE REVIEW KAY" AND YEAH. ITS GONNA BE GOOD.<br />
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I really don't know how active I'll be, but I'll try at least. I'm always trying to come up with ideas for new content, I'm just no good at that kinda stuff.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-25995815387136244472012-06-18T04:06:00.000-07:002012-06-18T04:13:32.964-07:00Katawa Shoujo ReviewHey guys TheDokta here yes I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted any content here and I apologize as Year 12 is pretty full on.<br />
Katawa Shoujo. <br />
I feel at times this was more than a game, more than a visual novel. It was an experience, one that cant really be understood unless you play. An experience I am certain anyone who has played will never forget.<br />
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The story of Katawa Shoujo begins with our main character Hisao Nakai, awaiting his his friend in a snow covered forest. Suddenly when faced with crippling heart pain he is rushed to hospital where he learns he has arrythmia, an incurable disease that requires constant medical attention. Transferring from his regular school to a speciality school for people with disabilities or needing access to medical help on a regular basis he is forced to make new friends. <br />
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From here the game takes a chose-your-own-path style of as you sometimes will be given options and based on said options the game will take down a different paths. You will be given the opportunity to learn about the lives of certain girls within the school. The narrative for this game is really well written to ensure basic plot points do not clash. <br />
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The art style in this game is that of anime sprites with realistic backgrounds to really strengthen the feel of the game. There were a few moments where I forgot I was playing and felt I was just reading because the animations stopped or weren't doing anything.<br />
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Music was one of the things that caught my attention. The themes given to the characters work perfectly, representing their quirkiness or seriousness. The background music for the locations is also great but some additions I felt were a tad lacking. Overall the music worked great and really enhanced the feeling you will get from this game. <br />
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My personal experiences with this game (Having only completed 3 of the possible routes) I cant judge rightly which outcome works best for the game. So far however my favorite route and one I feel really brings emotions is Hanako's route. Her story is sad and she is distant from classmates as she feels they will judge her. Having been bullied frequently she finds it difficult to trust those around her confiding in Lilly who is blind. Slowly however you will gain her trust and fall in love with her. This route made me (a manly man) almost cry at certain times and I felt was fitting for the games premise. <br />
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In short Katawa Shoujo is an amazing game that will certain strike emotions in anyone who plays any of the routes. You feel for the characters and their stories. If you haven't played it OR heard of it I cannot recommend this game enough. I must warn however the game does feature some imagery that is not suitable for people underage or who dislike eroge. <br />
I give a rating of WOAHMAHGAWSHGOANDPLAYITNOW!TheDoktahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00415879942755578329noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-22897934930177437852012-06-18T03:08:00.001-07:002012-07-23T03:18:09.518-07:00Guilty Crown - Anime-Planet Anime ReviewYo guys! As usual, Joeker here. I've just finished a review for the anime series Guilty Crown over at <a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/" target="_blank">http://www.Anime-Planet.com</a>. I hope you guys will give it a read, it's only short!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute Wheelchair girls piloting Mecha's are always okay.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.anime-planet.com/users/Tsukasa112/reviews/8423" target="_blank">You can read the review by clicking here http://www.anime-planet.com/users/Tsukasa112/reviews/8423 </a>! Hope you guys enjoy it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-49591385129511783982012-06-17T00:55:00.000-07:002012-06-17T00:55:05.004-07:00Anime Rant - Kampfer and C³Hey guys, Joeker here. This is an article I've wanted to do for a while now, but haven't been sure on a good way to tackle it. Well since we've been very starved of content for months now, I thought I'd give it a try anyway.<br />
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Basically, today I want to talk about two anime that seem extremely promising at first, Kampfer and C³ - CubexCursedxCurious. Spoilers ahead.<br />
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So, getting straight to the point. From both of these images, you can see these are Harem anime. If you haven't seen Kampfer, then the girl with the blue hair, Senou Natsuru is a male who can turn into a girl. Harem anime generally are pretty "Eh". They are usually rather mediocre. Both of these anime are based off Light Novels, which aren't known to make the best anime adaptations either. Regardless, lets get on with this.</div>
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As both were Harem anime, I had rather..Well, Mid-Ranged expectations for them. Until I watched the first episode of Kampfer was fairly action packed, showcasing Gunslinging and Magic action. While the first episode of C³ was entertaining enough, then followed up by some very good fight scenes in the next couple episodes.</div>
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First, I'd like to talk about Kampfer; Since it was much more disappointing to me. Kampfer's first couple episodes showcase some great fights, and are really enjoyable. This became what I had expected to see from the rest of the series. But...it did not deliver. From the third episode on, the fighting became more and more scarce and the series began to concentrate more on the Harem aspect. This would be fine IF the characters were actually interesting, but none of the characters in this series stand out as well made characters. It just becomes a series filled with nothing but over the top Ecchi.</div>
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I don't have many screencaps for Kampfer, so please bare with me there. Now let me tell you about the plot. There are these girls, and they can become Kampfers. Kampfers have one of two colored bracelets, Blue or Red. Basically, the Blue have to fight the Red. I can't remember why. I'm not even sure if its explained. But thats the basic plot. Oh wait, the basic plot? Nevermind that, it's the ONLY plot we get for more then half of the series. Sure, its a 12 episode series, but ditching your story, your driving force for your series after 2 episodes and leaving it until the series is almost over is unacceptable.</div>
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So, as we get to the last few episodes the series villain is revealed and a bunch of other stupid crazy stuff happens that I won't bother going into. They fight against the villain and win. Sorta. I mean, they don't kill them or completely defeat them, but they win that fight. The Villain escapes and thats it for the series</div>
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Well, thats what I'd thought. The first episode of the OVA was indeed what I had hoped. Them fighting against the villain again. They win again, yay. But just like before, its not a total defeat and the threat still looms. The second OVA is...Just..more Ecchi bullshit. These OVA's didn't conclude the series at all. The Light Novels were already finished, so why couldn't they give the series a PROPER ending? Is the anime fandom in such a bad position that we'd rather just see mindless Ecchi then something with an actual plot or substance to it? Really? We're at the point where the directors would decide "Okay, instead of finishing this up with an epic fight and having a proper conclusion, lets instead just give them boobs." If you want to get into making manga or anime, watch this series as a "What not to do when you create a series".</div>
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Next up is C³. This one, I actually enjoyed. Its problems are nowhere near as bad as Kampfer, throughout the series it maintains a nice balance between its plot and its ecchi and delivers us actual substance. This one I thought was going to be mostly Ecchi, actually kept up with some pretty cool action scenes in the series, making it a fun ride. But the ending is rushed as anything. </div>
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For example. This character, who's name I cannot remember for the life of me is the same character in the first image of C³ posted in this article, she's the character with glasses and brown hair. During the last couple of episodes, she gains this new appearance and a much more aggressive personality for a few moments. With absolutely no explanation on it. And its never seen again. Okay, so uh. Here's my question. Why? Why employ a concept so late in the series if its never going to be heard of again or at least explained. Or questioned. OR ANYTHING. </div>
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They fight against the villain, just like Kampfer they don't completely defeat her, more Villains are revealed. The end. To me, C³ seemed more like it was setting up for a second series. The first series was to introduce the characters, concepts, etc while the second series would handle the plot. But, alas we have not yet received one. C³ could actually be a pretty good series if it were about 24 episodes, but because it has to be so rushed and cut short it couldn't be.</div>
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So, this article is a bit. Well, eh. I didn't want to write about these things, but at the same time I wanted to tell people about my problems with these series. I'm not sure if I'll regularly post rants here, but I do have a lot of things I do want to rant about out. </div>
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I really hope we can bring you more content soon guys, again sorry for the lack of it.</div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-46283085768674835182012-06-08T06:17:00.002-07:002012-06-08T06:17:59.830-07:00Update! New Content and My Apoligies!Hey there guys, Joeker here! Wow, its been a long time since I made a post here and I'm really sorry. I even missed our one year anniversary. I really wanted to do something special for that, but I've had absolutely no time for anything. Our resident Docter, TheDokta has been pretty busy himself, so I'm really sorry neither of us have been able to do anything here for a while. But thats about to change. While i'm currently pretty starved of things to review for the blog and what not, I do have some new content for you guys. Take a look below the break to check it out! <br />
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<a name='more'></a>So, firstly I want to change the blog's theme. At the moment we have a Yellowey Amulet Dia theme, so far we've had Amulet Spade and also Amulet Heart, so next I'd like to do Amulet Clover. But due to the release of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 being so soon, I am thinking of using a Pokemon theme for a short while. I'll start working on that soon hopefully and see how that goes.<br />
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Secondly, is our new content! From now on, I'll be uploading Pokemon Online battles to our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/JoekerStraightFlush" target="_blank">Youtube channel, which you can find here</a>. These battles won't be anything pro or exciting and it'll probably mostly be my wins. I'm also not into competitive gaming so much, so I will be making a lot of mistakes and what not, but either way it is some content. I'll also have to work on a new background for our youtube channel, so look out for that. You can check out the first of our uploads here:<br />
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This is our first one, our second one uses the Pokemon Online replay website for a better viewing experience. Also, please don't mind the song used. It's "Dress me up" by Olivia Lufkin, I just wanted to use a song that wouldn't be taken down for copyright and was kinda in a rush.<br />
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I'm not sure how often I'll upload videos, but do subscribe to the channel to check them out. Until next time guys, see ya!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-45762154140143404542012-03-18T08:48:00.000-07:002012-03-18T08:48:35.824-07:00Kamen Rider Climax Heroes Fourze - ReviewI'm finally getting around to doing it. But hey, I doubt anyone will like it because my thoughts for this game are mostly negative and this will be a very short review. So, you know. Lets get started.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24HjIidVQpIcWTVQTwLgSsm1m3B_5rfPlztd-6WKJmlTNaZHHaxP0xuiMO1ND9hsCNweotV12IcoLfy4cNgjziHqsAwYRx0x1WPrBB6vN5mcK16KJAM2o11-UaX4YyZneXzUazV2EIjo/s1600/pic_0029.bmp" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24HjIidVQpIcWTVQTwLgSsm1m3B_5rfPlztd-6WKJmlTNaZHHaxP0xuiMO1ND9hsCNweotV12IcoLfy4cNgjziHqsAwYRx0x1WPrBB6vN5mcK16KJAM2o11-UaX4YyZneXzUazV2EIjo/s400/pic_0029.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>Here is my main gripe with the game. Above, is the character select screen. It doesn't start out full, but it will fill up very quickly.<br />
<a name='more'></a>"Why is it filling up quickly a problem!?" You might ask? Well, the fun of this game, at least for a non-Japanese speaker who can't understand whatever wacky story they come up with is mostly two things. A. Whatever little playability the story offers: In this case its unlocking characters, and B. Rider dreammatches. This game for me fails short in both of these areas, and I'll tell you why now.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2etDzlrbAn_vBFK_zu1K84ymsHNEv65fDF9Pf0Oj5kzwM3ORXymEkn9Id6Jw654-4Jv8Wc5wTRu7iDZZW4Jwlsf-H1d5jGCEVO66HEle6yU9mILtWQLaClGmcFKUz2KxIHupBX5yCxm8/s1600/pic_0081.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2etDzlrbAn_vBFK_zu1K84ymsHNEv65fDF9Pf0Oj5kzwM3ORXymEkn9Id6Jw654-4Jv8Wc5wTRu7iDZZW4Jwlsf-H1d5jGCEVO66HEle6yU9mILtWQLaClGmcFKUz2KxIHupBX5yCxm8/s400/pic_0081.bmp" width="400" /></a></div>Unlocking all characters; no, scratch that, 100%'ing the game takes under 2 hours to do. Under.Two.Hours. This is extremely little playtime for ANY fighting game to have, let alone a modern fighter. Climax Heroes OOO at least took me a day to do so, because of the way it handled its story mode.<br />
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Ragnarok mode from Climax Heroes OOO had many different routes you could take to reach a boss stage; Similar to games like...Um, I actually can't think of any right now, honestly. But that gave it variety; If you wanted to get all of the bonuses and unlockables from a stage, you'd have to actually replay the stage. CHF's mission mode got rid of this completely; A lot of riders in CHF also suffered having 2-3 missions to play. To me, Mission mode was a huge disappointment coming straight from CHOOO.<br />
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The second thing that was a major disappointment for me in this game is that its basically, "Kamen Rider Climax Heroes OOO+" No, nevermind that, if it were that it would actually probably be a better game. All it is is CHOOO with this new Mission Mode, which as I said earlier greatly shortens the time it takes to unlock all of the riders and such, A few new characters (Most of the new characters are just Showa riders too, I love Showa as much as the next guy, but Heisei riders are more fun to play as because there is more too them then punching and kicking.), 2 new stages and a Tag-Team mode. Other then that it is exactly the same as Climax Heroes OOO, which is a problem to me, since I was playing CHOOO up until the day CHF was released.<br />
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The only thing that was worthwhile to me in this game is the Tag-Team battles, it allows you to pair up Riders and well, fight other Riders. I liked this because it at least allowed me to have a few more "Dream Matches" then the ones I already had fun with in CHOOO.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwUAyJZHgDvty_uXrl54XXB1kjNRmS4etqTiuHKrEBZMblaMxleA_yhKIimwb_AbI1eFfOz3Ckq9uWKkooEe3CZWfPjcHeopGv1n9Uyyhfh4kuXS3KLmiwoBPyiOxOPvqBNvfYXgCoyrc/s1600/pic_0079.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwUAyJZHgDvty_uXrl54XXB1kjNRmS4etqTiuHKrEBZMblaMxleA_yhKIimwb_AbI1eFfOz3Ckq9uWKkooEe3CZWfPjcHeopGv1n9Uyyhfh4kuXS3KLmiwoBPyiOxOPvqBNvfYXgCoyrc/s400/pic_0079.bmp" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have wanted to see this for so long.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Among other good features in this game, I'll praise the Custom soundtrack, which now allows you to customize each riders own soundtrack, not just the series in general. It also adds finishers to Riders who didn't have them in CHOOO which was a nice addition. I've already talked about the gameplay and everything else in my Climax Heroes OOO review, since this gameplay is almost exactly the same, I won't bother going over it again.<br />
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This is turning into more of a rant then a review, but whatever. One of the major things this game upset me with (Another major thing, lol) is not playing to the strengths of the Showa riders. I think it would have been much better to include Stronger and Super-1 as Riders in this game just because they are characters who better suit this game due to the fact Stronger can enter his Charge Up form and Super-1 can change his hands around.<br />
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Please don't get me wrong, this game isn't a BAD game, it's just a disappointing game. If you actually purchased Climax Heroes OOO (And got the awesome OOO Ganbaride card with it like I did) then I would not recommend you buy this game. If you however, obtained a copy of CHOOO without paying or have not played it at all, I would recommend this game for sure, as if you're a Kamen Rider fan and haven't played CHOOO, this game is guaranteed to give you at least a few hours of fun.<br />
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Overall, its a decent fighting game, but its just too similar to CHOOO for me to have been able to fully enjoy it. Its at least worth playing to unlock all of the characters.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKONICOVbjvgDpcuDf22CehWFtKIoIStVtzv6KvxcmjAcLrrzOQShDzxNhI3iZpo6sEoz_JdeeT-xKZPpEzNJhfI3PQTaeiRi8Eckypj6nFUawV0ypJ98WR2cnp7BBGtqk6WJKPAqOdE/s1600/pic_0025.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiKONICOVbjvgDpcuDf22CehWFtKIoIStVtzv6KvxcmjAcLrrzOQShDzxNhI3iZpo6sEoz_JdeeT-xKZPpEzNJhfI3PQTaeiRi8Eckypj6nFUawV0ypJ98WR2cnp7BBGtqk6WJKPAqOdE/s400/pic_0025.bmp" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is actually the best thing I did in the game.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>EXTRA BONUS RANT SECTION:<br />
Oh, I see you found the Extra Bonus Rant Section, or the EBRS for short. This is actually just a rant I have about the game that impacts the game itself so little it it wasn't worth including in the actual review. Basically, what this is about is the secret character. Purple Eyes TaToBa. I actually hated this secret character. Purpled-Eyed TaToBa is cool, don't get me wrong. But in the last game we got W CycloneAccel Xtreme. Something we only saw a few second "Dream" of in the actual W series, so I was hoping we'd get something like that in this game too (I was actually hoping for OOO Love combo..). But as I said, thats just something that impacts the game so little its not worth being in the actual review.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-20194807808058280832012-02-28T06:27:00.002-08:002012-03-02T00:21:14.482-08:00Candy Boy and Why You Should Watch itI honestly never thought I'd make a post like this. I've been enjoying the wonderful world of anime for a very long time now, and I'm far past the point where every anime I watch becomes my favorite. But recently I experienced something very similar to what I did when I was younger, that is an anime series called "Candy Boy".<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwf9ZdqpuV_kyMwkxAeTea9Q4BcoKT5WzQM0A7cwnP_40NIqQSeZGjXcmlaXd2u156dqWuTmtWAxAijJBmZRxJkAhvY3owH6Kzods9z46DDDTj7_xrrgD9az78_3xkUcYoOM92jPZR7N8/s1600/539267.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwf9ZdqpuV_kyMwkxAeTea9Q4BcoKT5WzQM0A7cwnP_40NIqQSeZGjXcmlaXd2u156dqWuTmtWAxAijJBmZRxJkAhvY3owH6Kzods9z46DDDTj7_xrrgD9az78_3xkUcYoOM92jPZR7N8/s400/539267.jpg" width="302" /></a></div>As you can see in this image here, it is indeed a Yuri/Shoujo-Ai series, but even if you have some sort of hate for the genre, I really do ask you put that hate aside for the time being and read this post.<br />
<a name='more'></a>So, basically, all I knew about this anime was this: It was about Twin sisters in love with eachother. As I downloaded it, I was (for some reason) expecting some sort of hardcore Ecchi series along the lines of Aki Sora or KissxSis. But instead, I was got a beautiful, Slice of Life, Romance anime.<br />
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Unlike most Yuri anime of recent times that are made to appeal purely to teenage boys, using over the top sexual themes or ecchi, Candy Boy did nothing of the sort. Everything in the series was done in a very subtle way, the fact they are in a relationship is only said a couple of times throughout the series.<br />
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This series has a small cast of main characters, 4 to be precise. Scratch that, not 4 main characters, just 4 characters. That may not seem like much, but this is a very short series. It was first a ONA (For those who don't know, this means "Original Net Animation") That spanned for 8 minutes, followed by a 7 episode Web series, each episode varying from 12-20 minutes long. After this it was given to Extra episodes on the DVD releases. This makes Candy Boy a very short series, meaning if you are very busy with other things it can be easily watched. I'm rather glad myself it was a short series (Don't take this the wrong way, I want more Candy Boy. Much, much more.) as unlike other anime series in general, it does not include a lot of unneeded filler, unnecessary flashbacks, things like that. Each episode has a special meaning to it and I can almost guarantee each episode will touch your heart.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSbSOR6kNGwPUkBq8fp40uTKiLLulS3Xm5I910ztEImQtMwuIdkB7D3m0Xb4e05DJ5t_xFMQBYj4o2ubQMytTYdxEHc69gR7BJ_I_2jMXZj8v4R7fATatDgB77OHcAcKPEF9-i808-A4/s1600/348538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJSbSOR6kNGwPUkBq8fp40uTKiLLulS3Xm5I910ztEImQtMwuIdkB7D3m0Xb4e05DJ5t_xFMQBYj4o2ubQMytTYdxEHc69gR7BJ_I_2jMXZj8v4R7fATatDgB77OHcAcKPEF9-i808-A4/s400/348538.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3 of the 4 main characters of this series.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>While the series is only 10 episodes all up, it spans over quite a long time and deals with the issues of Kanade and Yukino's relationship along with Sakuya, a girl with a crush on one of the fore mentioned girls.<br />
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Everything in this series is done subtly, although it is obvious the girls are in love with eachother, their entire relationship is handled in a very subtle and well thought way, at the beginning I even questioned whether they were actually together or not. It does have Drama in it, but it does not go over the top and just as with the relationship, does it in a subtle way that hardly makes it feel like drama, but at the same time will tug on your heart strings to some extent.<br />
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Candy Boy also has 2 manga adaptations, one is kind of like a side story to the main series? I read somewhere it takes place after the main series, but it really doesn't seem like it reading it. The other is a spinoff that I've yet to read just yet.<br />
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Candy Boy is the first series in a long time that has made me feel this way, usually when I finish an anime I'll think "Oh, well that was pretty decent I suppose", click out of the folder its in and never really go back. Candy Boy gave me a sense of surrealism, it made my heart feel empty after I'd finished it, I just wanted more! I felt the need to let everyone know about this series for some reason, so here I am.<br />
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Closing, all I can say is that I really think everyone should give this series a try. While the genre's may not be fit for everyone's tastes, with the way the series handles everything I really don't think that matters. It's short enough to not be a hassle to watch either. In closing, all I can say is Candy Boy is a very good series, and I can only hope that one day we will get another series for it.<br />
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Oh hey, here are some helpful links:<br />
Anime download: <a href="http://bakabt.me/150030-candy-boy-frostii.html" target="_blank">http://bakabt.me/150030-candy-boy-frostii.html</a><br />
Manga download: <a href="http://bakabt.me/161722-candy-boy.html" target="_blank">http://bakabt.me/161722-candy-boy.html</a><br />
Web series theme music: <a href="http://www.bakabt.com/152344-candy-boy-theme-song-singles-flac.html" target="_blank">http://www.bakabt.com/152344-candy-boy-theme-song-singles-flac.html</a><br />
ONA Theme song: <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?2cmjymyhjkh" target="_blank">http://www.mediafire.com/?2cmjymyhjkh</a><br />
Candy Boy anime stream: <a href="http://anilinkz.com/series/candy-boy" target="_blank">http://anilinkz.com/series/candy-boy</a><br />
Candy Boy manga stream: <a href="http://www.mangafox.com/manga/candy_boy/" target="_blank">http://www.mangafox.com/manga/candy_boy/</a><br />
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With all these fancy links here, you've really got no excuse not to watch it! So go ahead, what are you waiting for? <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVk8HUi-C5VabEDTWZrHhTMmabmrFAoxzrUu_lEvnEoRCkbf7xH00Ul5YtcYh6m0W5pomXVsKQcXcBIjzXdYCBZPAE5PNm0Kibegj6kb51veDqPOpWJ6DfZdG-1lY312z4bQCnxIfegVU/s1600/52991.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVk8HUi-C5VabEDTWZrHhTMmabmrFAoxzrUu_lEvnEoRCkbf7xH00Ul5YtcYh6m0W5pomXVsKQcXcBIjzXdYCBZPAE5PNm0Kibegj6kb51veDqPOpWJ6DfZdG-1lY312z4bQCnxIfegVU/s400/52991.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, Kanade is adorable.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-70323139151056856622012-02-26T02:57:00.001-08:002012-02-26T03:28:26.198-08:00Pokemon Black And White 2 SpeculationsToday on Pokemon Smash, Junichi Masuda (the director of GameFreak) announced two new Pokemon games! Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2, which are supposed to be sequels to Pokemon Black and White. From what I've seen in the community, reactions are mixed. Some people seem excited, some disappointed. Since we only have very little news for these games so far, I'm making this post just to share a bit of my Speculation for the games, so sit back and enjoy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn934vtWU1lhMR9qVkHIESEIgrIBHzZWe-2HYhAgc5MRuBSFfEa_dNcNLxJhdXkmbKVVZOvjUhA5XTsGotTgr6L1roesZWaamDkqb-yGZazeHeF5hHDh0Pswrn9fOR2tfBhXYWoNEbl6Q/s1600/1330251367691.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn934vtWU1lhMR9qVkHIESEIgrIBHzZWe-2HYhAgc5MRuBSFfEa_dNcNLxJhdXkmbKVVZOvjUhA5XTsGotTgr6L1roesZWaamDkqb-yGZazeHeF5hHDh0Pswrn9fOR2tfBhXYWoNEbl6Q/s400/1330251367691.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>In this image above we have two, what Masuda has told us to be new Pokemon (or forms for Kyurem.)! They will be the legendaries for this game, Black Kyurem and White Kyurem; I'm not sure if these are the final names, but thats what I've seen said for now. Other then this, the names and that they are "Sequels" are the only things we know about the games so far. So, lets begin our speculation, shall we?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
To start off with, I'm disappointed with the people who are disappointed with this announcement. There seem to be a few major reasons why they are, those reasons being:<br />
<ul><li>They are not Pokemon Grey/Gray Version</li>
<li>They are no Ruby/Sapphire remakes</li>
<li>It's a sequel so it will have to have some sort of different plot</li>
</ul>Now...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenmEd_dqkhV-IqlftXvVAA-Bvzq_j1D6c-rjdfkBeoIAqhrjqAF9HY7M56ixiUAxbE6hYuHx5dbbw0FyAEFUFhUZz8SdG5ssYHB6vm8CiyriKz05BLFgwDvoyishnJ3GV_GFd0f0o2_A/s1600/1330235357573.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhenmEd_dqkhV-IqlftXvVAA-Bvzq_j1D6c-rjdfkBeoIAqhrjqAF9HY7M56ixiUAxbE6hYuHx5dbbw0FyAEFUFhUZz8SdG5ssYHB6vm8CiyriKz05BLFgwDvoyishnJ3GV_GFd0f0o2_A/s400/1330235357573.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I'll start with the R/S remakes. Since HeartGold and SoulSilver versions were released after Platinum, isn't it natural to assume the R/S remakes were going to come after Grey/Gray? I also imagine with the R/S remakes they would want to leave them for after Grey/Gray to make them on the 3DS; So they can experiment with what they might want to do for Gen VI. Isn't that the natural assumption to make?<br />
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The next two issues come hand in hand: Grey/Gray and this games plot. This is where my speculation begins too.<br />
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People are upset we are getting Sequels instead of a third version game. They are also worried as I mentioned above about what they will do with the plot? Why? Keep in mind this is only my speculations, but wouldn't it make sense if:<br />
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These are Grey/Gray. Thats right. These are sequels, but they are also a third version. Well, thats pretty much what they are anyway, but let me explain why. The plot won't be something different or over the top, it will be something like, You're a new trainer starting in the Unova region sometime after the events of B/W. During your adventure, you run into the reformed Team Plasma who have some sort of devious plans that involve the legendary Pokemon Kyurem, and you raise your Pokemon, defeat gyms, find Team Plasma, defeat them, catch the legendary then go beat the Elite Four.<br />
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Why would anyone think it would be anything different to that because it's labeled a "Sequel"? Remember, it's still a Pokemon Game, a Main Series Pokemon game for that matter, thats what they've always been and I don't see why they would be any different now. If this game does take place sometime after B/W as sequels, then they will probably have new areas and characters just like other third versions do. Doesn't it just seem like rather then being some complicated games that will follow after B/W's story, they are just a third version split into two games?<br />
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Well, this is just what I think. I wanted to Speculate about a lot of other things in the game in this post, but it ended up kind of dragging on. I'll probably make another post sometime (Probably the next time we get some news for this game) about my actual Speculations, not just about it being a Third version split up into two.<br />
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Either way, I am very excited about Black and White 2 and can't wait to see what they will bring.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-87829425037288788052012-02-06T23:43:00.000-08:002012-02-06T23:43:52.220-08:00Smile Precure - Episode 1 ReviewYo guys, Joeker here! Rare, right? Two reviews within the course of one month? Well, as I said I plan to increase productivity here. So, lets kick it off with the first episode of Smile Precure! I may be slightly biased towards Heartcatch. There might also be spoilers. Well, without further adue, lets get started!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXPZwINzQsYsBiiIzV2JeAnaBguDJW5sror7V9gfbs9FKQ-cvJ40D6SjMfa5RbLCbWQbsql_9NiTQTKAdldRrxYXHIQ-GSjMshwjPhLTHo5QKPVRP6UVPnoshYHQDBxI3-q27lxC6M6c/s1600/snapshot20120207173815.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXPZwINzQsYsBiiIzV2JeAnaBguDJW5sror7V9gfbs9FKQ-cvJ40D6SjMfa5RbLCbWQbsql_9NiTQTKAdldRrxYXHIQ-GSjMshwjPhLTHo5QKPVRP6UVPnoshYHQDBxI3-q27lxC6M6c/s400/snapshot20120207173815.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
This was a fairly strong first episode for Precure. It was much better then Suite's first episode. It introduces each of our heroines early on.<br />
<a name='more'></a>The main character, Miyuki Hoshizora, who is transferring to a new school (SUP TSUBOMI?) On the way she meets a fairy and yeah, the story begins. Miyuki loves picture books and fairy tales, setting the theme for this series.<br />
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I personally like the theme and I wonder why Precure didn't do it sooner. Fairy Tales seems like the perfect thing for a Magical Girl series.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'M NOT FURRY I SWEAR" - This guy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>From what I can tell, the villians of this series are trying to bring the world to a "Bad End" in other words, a bad or ruined future, I assume. This is pretty cool, if you ask me. Then again I Just like hearing "Bad End". It sounds pretty cool. The monsters seem to be called "Akanbe" or something...which I think sounds cooler then Negatone or Deser...whatever they were called in Heartcatch. The villians goal seems to be collecting "Bad Energy" to revive something...I think.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enemy designs are still lacking a bit..</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Miyuki and Candy, the fairy mascot of this series..Wait, speaking of Candy. That is one thing that has disappointed me greatly. I miss Post Suite. Where each Cure had their own mascot. Now they all have just one. I think thats annoying and hope if we do get a 6th Cure she'll have her own fairy. So anyway, using the "Smile Tact" Miyuki becomes Cure Happy. The Cure of Happiness.<br />
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The first fight of the series wasss...not as good as Heartcatch's. However, it was still entertaining. Just like the past Precures, Happy doesn't know what to do and it's just well, entertaining to watch. I also must say that this is kind of what I have been looking for in an anime. Albiet, I was looking for a Shounen, but an anime where the main character gets a power like this and decides to help because it seems Interesting or Fun.<br />
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So, the first episode. It was good. Very Precure-esque, but thats to be expected of Precure. It started out much stronger then Suite and I think we'll be in for a good series...because, well..The writer of the series is<br />
Shoji Yonemura, known for his work as the head writer of Kamen Rider Kabuto. We are in for a good Precure this year, guys!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good CGI in Anime? Dafuq.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I also just want to comment on the Opening and Ending really quickly. The Opening song was good and I'll post it below, however the ending; the song was mediocre but the CGI was great! I am not a fan of CGI in anime and Precure's CGI has never looked that great to me. But the CGI in this ending was done really well and didn't seem out of place like in other Precure series. I'm not sure when I'll do my next Smile Precure review, most likely when all 5 Cures are introduced. Until then, be sure to enjoy Smile Precure, everyone!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lt589WlQRv8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-85251753956080767422012-02-06T22:08:00.000-08:002012-02-06T22:08:51.240-08:00Pokemon ReBurst Chapter 1-2 ReviewPokemon ReBurst, also known as "Pocket Monsters ReBurst" is a manga series that started...erm...in 2011. Sometime. In the Weekly Shounen Sunday. It is about a boy named Ryouga who is a 'Burst Warrior' along with his friends, fighting an evil organization called "Great Gavel" along with trying to find something called the "Arcades". No, he's not a trainer. That's right. He's a "Burst Warrior" What's that, you ask? Well, It's a Human who can become a Human-Pokemon hybrid. Crazy, right? Ridiculous? No, actually. It's not at all. I'll explain more about it a bit further on. Oh Yeah guys. Warning, Spoilers ahead.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The series also advertises itself as being more "serious" then other Pokemon media. I assume by that they mean the anime. It is indeed more serious, only based on what is scanlated so far. I'll explain why as I go on.</div><a name='more'></a>I was originally going to wait until chapter 6 was scanlated, so that I could review the whole first volume. But I have no idea how long that might take and I really wanted to get a review out due to my lack of innactivity, so I decided I would review the chapters in pairs instead of volumes.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The first chapter involves Ryouga undergoing a test in order to deem whether or not he is fit to be a Burst Warrior, during which he meets what appears to be the heroine of this series Miruto.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, he is that cliche'd..</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, aside from his cliche'd "Nothing is impossible!" glance on life, he is a pretty cool character from the first chapter online. His physical abilities are shown to be much more then any Pokemon Trainer I know (I mean, come on, he lifts a rock that big.) Eventually he passes this test and sets out for his journey to find the "Arcades". </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In a nearby town however he runs into trouble; The Great Gavel organization, the villianous group for this series. They have plans; big plans. They are kidnapping Pokemon, nothing unusual for a villianous group in Pokemon. Among the Pokemon they stole was a little girls Lillipup, which Ryouga of course, wants to rescue. As these things go he gets into a fight with the people there, and then. Well, that's when shit starts to get serious.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4994/21170656.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4994/21170656.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Ryouga takes out what everyone thought was a Pokeball, but surprise! It was a "Burst Heart" a crystal with a Pokemon sealed inside it. Ryouga's just happens to be Zekrom, which he uses "Burst" to fuse with Zekrom, becoming a Burst Warrior.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The first chapter ends here. It was...pretty good. A good start to the series. It really had the Shounen feel to it, with the protaginist first using their powers as a cliff hanger and immedietly made me want to read the second chapter. Luckily for me, it was already scanlated. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unlike in the anime series, he instantly goes from one place to another. Like, I'm sure it took him a while to get from his home villiage to whatever town he ended up in, but unlike the anime we didn't have to spend 20 episodes that seemed like filler waiting for it. It was much more worthwhile and made it all a much more enjoyable experience. My main problems so far is the cliche of this series. It's to be expected from a popular franchise like Pokemon though, so it is only a small complaint, and hey. All Shounen series have this. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">All in all, chapter one was good. Definetly a good start to this series.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now, I'd like to take a moment here to look at a gripping issue with this series for me. This may sound silly, but that issue is..Well, the 4th season of Digimon, Digimon Frontier. I am truly worried people will think "Oh, remember when they tried that with Digimon? Yeah, that was a terrible season." I really think this is the wrong reaction to have, as people becoming both Digimon Hybrids and Pokemon Hybrids is a good idea, this idea was just wrongly excecuted in Frontier. Pokemon ReBurst so far has done a much better job then all of Frontier did. So I ask that all of you do give it a chance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, right away lets get started with Chapter 2. Chapter 2 starts off right where Chapter 1 ends up, Ryogua has defeeated the enemy...Which reminds me. There is something I left out earlier. Remember how this series proclaims to be more "serious" then other Pokemon series? Well, here's something that certainly is: This guy from Great Gavel that Ryouga is fighting, well he is using the Power of Pokemon to fight. Not as a trainer, no. He is using a device that aborbs a Pokemon's life energy and lets him use it as his own power, until the Pokemon die. Thats pretty crazy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzAPj4i4nJLaXP4am2FK6L5_OHG1BraM9eTFynQ8O7syMONiphUibTRqmu_DUj9Js3THi3ky1puRO1GxRm9kuw3rY7HjKLIbbyItGKSU7Coml_Q0z2QvIO10e3WPH0w79cJLG12XezuQ/s1600/untitled.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzAPj4i4nJLaXP4am2FK6L5_OHG1BraM9eTFynQ8O7syMONiphUibTRqmu_DUj9Js3THi3ky1puRO1GxRm9kuw3rY7HjKLIbbyItGKSU7Coml_Q0z2QvIO10e3WPH0w79cJLG12XezuQ/s320/untitled.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In this chapter, Ryouga explains how Burst works, I'd explain it myself, but as you can see from the picture above, it's pretty straightforward. Since all the action happened in the first chapter, the second chapter was rather boring in comparison. There really isn't much to say about it because not a whole lot happened other then Ryouga giving a brief explination on Burst. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Overall these two chapters are pretty good for the start of a Pokemon manga and I look forward to seeing how it progresses. U-prod is currently scanlating this manga if you are interested in it, but as I said before I do not know when they will have more released. But definitly do give this manga a try. The first 2 chapters are pretty decent but it does really pick up in the next few, which I'll be going over sometime during the next week. Until then, Look forward to my Smile Precure Episode 1 Review!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Actually, if anyone knows where I can find raws for it, just let me know, kay?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-31860974028871555992012-02-02T05:32:00.000-08:002012-02-02T05:36:32.821-08:00My first look at Tales of the Abyss 3DS<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Hey, guys. I’m Chris. I’m a friend of Joeker. I like a lot of stuff, I don’t like a lot of stuff, blah blah blah, let’s get to it!</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">So recently, a friend of mine at school was like, ‘Dude, you should totally try this game.’</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">So he gives it to me and I thought it was exceptional. So, today after school I rushed to JB-HI FI and hoped it was there. I could only hope that there was at least one left ‘cause I heard It was hard to come by. Lucky for me I came across it. So here’s my thoughts on it so far.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The game starts off with you being in your room. I kept 3D off at that point. Now, this may be weird, but I do not like playing my 3DS games in 3D often, but when I turned 3D on It was alright. It didn’t hurt as much as the other games did. I, personally don’t think it looks too good in 3D. It just didn’t feel right for me. On top of that, I’ve taken a break from the game just now to talk about it because my eyes hurt from it and I usually like spending many hours at a time playing games like this one. But don’t get me wrong guys, I really think the designs of Kimlasca (Where the main character lives) and Kimlasca Kingdom and the rest of the game so far are great. <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Not long after, a character called Tear joins your party. I found the characters likeable very quickly. I mean, I believe they did a great job when they had first created these characters. I also especially like that when Luke tells Tear to ‘Shut up’, she does. She doesn’t even get angry or complain. Makes me laugh even though I feel a tad bit sorry for her. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Just a bit. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">No, not really. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">But she seems pretty cool to me right now.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">‘Stfu. Nobody asked you.' - Luke</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">‘I suppose you’re right.’ - Tear I'm just going to hold you like this and whisper.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">So, after she joins your party after the effect of what is called a ‘hyper-resonance’ (When two fonists use their powers together), they venture to go back to Luke’s home town because it took them to God-knows-where forest. So they run into a shifty dude who lets you in on a free ride on a magical pumpkin carriage. (I forgot what It's called). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Instead they wind up in a place called ‘Engave’, which is a place full of food loving people who accuse Luke of theft. Why is this? Apparently, the little aristocrat ate an apple before paying, thinking that It would be already payed for because of his PRINCESS inheritance. This made him look suspicious because someone/something had been stealing the village peoples food stock. That scene made me laugh. Being brought up to a point where I don't know how to buy stuff at a store might not be so bad.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Apples are f*cking delicious btw, so I understand how the </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">retailer got angry him for just taking an apple just eating it and not paying straight away.)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsjB006QFTxH1UaMhyphenhyphenXDHpGNqs6V9nHh-KyXlS9jUYdIcwbHDCkvxxhzNnV94pnlkId1pVBnWghb0gRR6HFUAgIqVA93cgy7V5fnyJpUGWGP2_RiRk4XMGtDLZDb4aFEMfu0BsPAAYVI/s1600/Screen+shot+2001-01-03+at+10.31.15+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsjB006QFTxH1UaMhyphenhyphenXDHpGNqs6V9nHh-KyXlS9jUYdIcwbHDCkvxxhzNnV94pnlkId1pVBnWghb0gRR6HFUAgIqVA93cgy7V5fnyJpUGWGP2_RiRk4XMGtDLZDb4aFEMfu0BsPAAYVI/s320/Screen+shot+2001-01-03+at+10.31.15+PM.png" width="320" /></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"> You need to f*cking pay, man.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Being in battles isn’t too difficult to handle, though playing hard mode, you just really got to pay attention when fighting enemies. It was a pretty straightforward concept: Hit-hit-hit, keep distance, hit and try not to get hit! That was how I stayed alive. I think there are other difficulties, but I'd probably never change it to one of those if I unlocked them. It is hard enough for me as it is! The music really kept me into battle, training never felt so good. Dunno how hard it could get in the future though. I hope I don't die quick. I'm looking forward to seeing more end-battle quotes from characters. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The voices are decent but I especially like Tear's voice when she sings a hymn to heal you, It’s damn cute. Even though I don’t quite understand it.. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">I’m looking forward to continue playing this game. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the game so far.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">PS: I think I need glasses.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">PSS: Ion is girly.</span></span></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-70567283323338132442012-02-01T18:47:00.000-08:002012-02-01T18:47:48.039-08:00Seriously, I'm sorry guys.Yo guys, Joeker here again. I just want to apoligize to everyone for the extreme lack of inactivity here. Anything I say will just sound like an excuse, but please do take a moment to hear me out. You see guys, My laptop broke a while ago, so I haven't been able to write the stuff I was planning to do for the blog since, well, it's getting fixed and I don't have any of the material I was going to use. TheDokta has started his last year of high school, so he will be very busy. Until I get my laptop back, the lack of activity will probably continue, so I'm very sorry for that everyone! As soon as I get my laptop back however, I'll be sure to get that review of Climax Heroes Fourze up.<br />
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Also, I'd just like to say "Thank you" to all of our supporters. We're not a popular blog or anything, but we still get around 2000 views a month! Thats a month when we don't do actually do anything! So really, thank you guys. I never thought I'd see anything I create see any success at all, let alone this. You are all great, and I promise you all we'll have some new content up soon!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4626197620666299624.post-64677911848851635722011-12-01T02:48:00.000-08:002011-12-01T02:48:01.642-08:00JoekerStraightFlush - December UpdateYo guys, Joeker here. After a month of absence TheDokta and myself have returned to the blog! After reaching one of our goals for the blog we thought we would both take a short break, in order to do...well, real life things. We have since returned and have many things planned for the blog's future! So, let's jump right in and take a look at a few of the things that we'll be doing around here.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_avqjIBelLCHcg0j9NuLUQoQ1NyD1yZl9qdZ_KDf3GXrpzVg6W375bOXWNV_MDYidS0NvDQ82lgDbfjcLFRbcA2rqKqOf5_u3hag1Wg07QsF9b-Psio6u5hhZKNHYfTONptW0lcMzRio/s1600/Zel25Pro3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_avqjIBelLCHcg0j9NuLUQoQ1NyD1yZl9qdZ_KDf3GXrpzVg6W375bOXWNV_MDYidS0NvDQ82lgDbfjcLFRbcA2rqKqOf5_u3hag1Wg07QsF9b-Psio6u5hhZKNHYfTONptW0lcMzRio/s400/Zel25Pro3.jpg" width="396" /><a name='more'></a></a></div>To start out with, we are finally ready to unveil a project we have had in the making for many months now.<br />
TheDokta and Myself will both be creating Let's Plays for the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/JoekerStraightFlush" target="_blank">our youtube channel!</a> After many months of preparing we have finally decided on a good formula for the Let's Play's along with many other things. We can't say too much just yet, but we will be unveiling all in time. I will let you in on one thing though, so as to not let you down. One of the games that will possibly be being Let's Played will belong to the Tales Of series.<br />
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There are also many new reviews to come: TheDokta intends to do a full review of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Tales of the Abyss 3D! He has other plans he has yet to disclose to me yet as well, so look forward to hearing about them!<br />
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I also have a few reviews planned myself. Among some of them are Digimon Adventure, 02 and Tamers! Along with a possible review of the manga Dororon Enbi-Chan, from way back in 2001 There are various other things I have planned that I won't go into detail with; You'll just have to wait and see! I will say one thing though; Expect some gameplay videos from Kamen Rider Climax Heroes Fourze!<br />
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You'll also notice a new banner at the bottom of the blog; This is a link to Girls Disease, also known as Shoujo Byou's page. This is to encourage you all to go buy their music, some of which I shall be posting here! So please go and check them out everyone!<br />
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That's all for now, again I apologize for our absence. We hope to get things back on schedule now.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0