Ninjas "R" Us

November is upon us.

2011-10-20T11:26:00.000-06:00

It is October. The leaves are changing colors, from green to orange, they wither and die. They give up on life and jump from their branches where they lie helpless until passersby trample them underfoot or the wind whooshes them away at a whim. School is well underway and students bemoan their professors and complain about how much homework they must do. And November looms large in my mind. NaNoWrimo is comes again. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it this year. I'm in a few classes that are taking a lot of my writing time. One of them is a Creative Writing class, so at least that's good. I'm still going to try. I've got a pretty cool story idea that I want to try out. It's comic bookie-ish idea. My premise is that the villains have won, super heroes are either dead or in hiding, and the badguys are slowly destroying the world. One villain realizes this can't be allowed to continue. It's his story. I think it'll be a lot of fun to write. Thinking about plot and whatnot now. Anyway...here's a poem I read this month. I write poetry now, apparently.

I am told I speak well

I follow the rules my teachers

And their teachers and theirteachers taught

I pronounce my ings and errs

I enunciate each syllable

I speak well

But I think my grandfather

His voice pleasant and slow like change

As he savored each word

Ignoring diction and the rules

Told stories filling as Sundaydinners

His speech comforting as old jeans

He spoke well

As knowledge and history trickled

From his tongue like revelation

He ain’t nevah read my books

Or my teachers

And I don’t speak like him

So did he speak well

When he sat me on his knee

And told me of the time he spent

In ‘nam his eyes far off

Unseeing and seeing too much

Did he speak well

When he shook the ghosts away

And I could feel them

Those ghosts grasping clawing

Trying to take root like weeds

When he asked if I want breakfast

Pancakes and sirp

Not syrup with two syllables

the way I say it

Did he speak well

When the words rolled together

Like pools of honey

And you could feel the rhythm

And his emotion

even when he ain’t got no diction

He spoke well

He spoke good as he was able

And because of him I stand beforeyou judged

Before I open my mouth

And surprised when I do

It saddens me because

My grandfather is not in my speech

And sometimes I wish he was

Because he spoke real good

And the stories he told me

As memorable as homer orShakespeare

And because of him

I know

Poems seem longer than they are.

Faye Valkyr

2011-02-12T10:21:00.002-07:00

The Valkyrie story that has weighed so heavily on my soul is about finished. Right now, it sucks. I'm not sure how much mythology to put in, or whether or not it's relevant to the character.

Here is an excerpt WARNING, EXTREMELY ROUGH DRAFT:

Faye strolled around the park listening to the sounds of death; the lack of children's laughter, the creak of a merry-go-round. She could hear the scattering and scratching of leaves scraping against the sidewalk, a brittle sound that always reminded her of a skeleton's laughter. She circled a swing set and sat, the seat was cold and the chains creaked with each movement. Darkness consumed the sky taking with it the sun and blanketing the world in a warm glow. Her legs stretched out before her as she climbed higher, reaching for the stars, hair fell behind her like a flag in the wind. It was easy to sense the souls of those torn unexpectedly from life if you knew what to look for. If you knew what to listen for you heard their wails like tom-cats mewling, or heard their voices mingle with the wind. Faye heard and was comforted. Coming to the park was like coming home.

"Bit old to be on a swing set, aren't you?"

Faye started and almost fell. She settled herself and looked behind her, the direction of the voice. She was not surprised to see Officer Jacobs there. She nodded to him and continued her smooth arc, forward and back. The heavens came closer and retreated. Only conscious thought kept her from putting her hand out and reaching. She smiled at her foolishness, and slowed her momentum.

"How are you, Officer Jacobs?"
He smiled and sat on the swing to Faye's left. He was not in uniform. He wore simple jeans and a t-shirt that read "Change" below a picture of Obama. He scooped up pebbles in his hand and began throwing them into the distance. After each toss he would look at Faye and smile, his white and even teeth like bones against a background of charcoal.

"Can't complain," he said. "You?"

Faye considered before answering. "Unhappy," she said. "Confused."

Officer Jacobs nodded like she'd said nothing out of the ordinary and threw another pebble.

"Why're you here, Faye?"

"Do you hear them?" she asked, "They call."

He dropped the pebbles and wiped a hand across his shirt, smearing dust across his chest. He looked out in the distance, towards the merry-go-round and past the jungle gym, he looked at the trees swaying with the wind and then back at Faye. A look crossed his face. Confusion, Faye thought, and worry.

I like Faye a lot. I've got to do some more research on Norse stuff (I have been reading a lot. I read the Nibelunglied, amongst some other Norse stuffs. I haven't come up with an ending yet because, well, it will change after I know my character a bit better. I decided to end on an unsatisfactory note while I do some more character sketching. Faye's voice still isn't clear to me.

A winner is me.

2010-12-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

I did it.

I won NaNoWriMo.

What does that mean, exactly? No glitter fell at my feet the moment I crossed 50,000 words. No trumpets blared, no small man offering me the keys to the city appeared. No angels appeared, flouting at my feet, their blinding and terrible beauty forcing mine wits to evacuate mine mind.

No, it was more simple than that. I sat at work, the day after Thanksgiving, writing away. Happy to have a day where no phone calls or students came in to interrupt. I noticed, after writing almost 5,000 words on the day, that I was a mere 20 words away from the goal. I finished two more sentences and ended up at 50,006 words. I saved my file, uploaded it to dropbox, e-mailed the document to myself, closed Pages (I did all of my writing on the iPad), and sat back. Content. I did it.

50,000 words in a month. In less than a month, actually. I had several days to spare.

I have not opened my NaNo writings since. I left several stories unfinished, but I will come back. After the writing has had time to sit, and I've had time to ruminate upon what I learned in November, I will go back to it, and I will finish. That I can finish is not a worry. I wrote 50,000 words in a month.

I finally think of myself as a writer.

I have several ideas I've started on. One is about a guy named Stranger (placeholder name; I'm waiting for a name that sings to me), chasing after another guy. Thsi story is my attemptt o write something like Stephen King's Gunslinger. Just to write something different in another style, after so much talking about myself.

The other is my Valkyrie story. I need more time with that, but it never leaves my mind.

And, as always, Darkness Falls. I'm going to go back and discover more about my characters. It's the reason I fell flat last year. But I'm going to go back and talk to all of them. Cain's voice gets stronger in my head the more I think about the story.

I a pleased with myself. I would say I can't wait for next year, but I don't need NaNo to get me to write a novel. I realize now I can do it myself.

But I'll do it again next year, anyway.

NaNoWriMo 2010

2010-11-21T21:37:00.001-07:00

As I’ve posted before, I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year. Looking at my past blogs, one would notice that I did NaNo in 2009. I began a potential novel titled “Darkness Falls.” I really liked this story, but was not up to the task of writing an entire novel on the characters. I do not know them, or the story they are to go through, well enough. My file on NaNo 2009 is about 15,000 words (if I’m rounding up).

This year I made a different approach. I decided to write memoir. My life is full of characters I know very well, and this year I’m doing awesome. As of this night, I’m just past 35,000 words. This is over 110 pages in MS Office. I believe I will finish this year. There are only two hurdles in my way. I have two separate essays in two different classes due the same day NaNo ends. At 35k, I’m going to try and get ahead a bit this week, especially of Thanksgiving weekend.

I also read aloud this weekend at this: http://www.cswritersreading.blogspot.com/

What I read is pretty much a work of fiction using those characters I know from real life. I believe that much of my writing is melancholy, devoid of humor, and far too serious. This is because much of it is just that, so with this piece I wanted to prove to myself that I could write something funny and serious, not just serious.

And with no further ado, an untitled work for whomever even reads this blog. There must be one or two people.

Ten minutes after meeting my father, John Stephen Jones declared that “the boy would cause no end of trouble for me and mine.” He uttered the prophecy while sitting in his favorite chair, a worn and comfortable coffee colored thing. The chair groaned like a prisoner of war forced to undergo another familiar torture. The cushions bulged, threatening to spew their yellow cushioning all over the floor, held in only by clever stitching performed by my grandmother, intent to keep the prisoner viable for torture as long as possible. John Stephen Jones looked at the man that would be my father, beginning at his eyes, where, he said, you found a man’s worth. Michael Ferguson’s pale, watery eyes, blinked rapidly at my grandfather, flitting here and there, landing on my grandfather as a bird does a likely spot to eat, unsure of whether of their own well-being. John Stephen Jones harrumphed, raising a hand oak-like in its strength and color, dismissing his daughter’s young man from his presence. John said his piece, his family could take it into account or not, it didn’t matter to him.

Michael Ferguson looked to my mother. My mother stared at my grandmother, pointedly ignoring the looks of both men in the room. My grandmother acted as if the book she read, Roots which she read at least once a year, occupied the entirety of her attention. Lisa did not miss the curl of her lips, the way her shoulders seemed to tremble under some unseen weight. Lisa did not fail to note that her mother, Judy Jones, seemed to be shaking her head at Roots, disagreeing with the words of Alex Haley as she never had before. Michael floundered, finding no help in his girlfriend’s presence and no comfort in Judy’s apathetic smile. He opened his mouth and closed his mouth, and opened it again. He looked at Lisa again, his hands clenching in a silent plea. Lisa continued to frown at her mother, unconsciously rubbing a hand over her stomach.

“Sir, um, Mr. Jones” Michael said.

“What?” John said.

“I’m pregnant,” Lisa said.

Roots fell to the floor, its hollow thud swallowed by the bellow of my first grandfather. Standing over six feet tall and weighing over three hundred pounds, Michael never expected John to have the ability to move with the fluidity of flowing water. The strength to crush Michael’s neck, the young man had surmised from John’s size and did not appear at all surprised to find the older man’s hands currently gripping his throat. Michael’s hands found their way to my first grandfather’s, but his own hands were but weeds to the man’s oak, and almost as annoying. The look in my grandfather’s eyes, so my grandmother says, stole the mobility of every person in the room. Michael James Ferguson, convinced he was soon to die, could only choke out sounds. He believed he said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” What he actually did was cough, slivers of spittle trailing down the sides of his mouth, pooling at the skin between my grandfather’s hands and Michael’s neck. Lisa, for the first time in her 16 years on God’s green Earth, was shocked into silence. One hand found its way to her mouth where it stayed positioned as if she smelled something foul, the other on the burgeoning swell of her belly. My grandmother moaned, “John, stop.” Repeatedly.

And my first grandfather did stop. He released Michael’s neck, holding his hands above his head and looking down at the young man in disgust. The look he spared my mother was coated in disappointment. Lisa had the grace to look down at her feet, ashamed.

“Sixteen years old,” was all he said. And left. The sound of his car starting came through the door.

My grandmother shook her head, tsk’ing. She picked her book up off the ground, looked at her daughter and my father, and tsk’ed again. She placed the book on a coffee table before she went into the kitchen, began running some water, occasionally looking back at the two kids who did not move. She grabbed a tea kettle from the cupboard, filled it up with water, put it on the stove where she let it warm until its whistle sounded. She poured three cups, adding a shot of liquor to each before putting the mint tea bags into the cups. She put them each on a tray, with three spoons for stirring, and gave them to her daughter, her daughter’s boyfriend, and took one for herself.

Warts and all. Revising is for later.

2010-11-08T09:17:00.001-07:00

I'm doing NaNo this year. I will have a more indepth blog later when I have time, but I have been doing very well. I missed this weekend due to moving, but I was ahead by a day so I'm not so far behind. Looking to make up lost ground tonight and tomorrow.

Reading Sandman

2010-10-01T08:52:00.000-06:00

I started reading Neil Gaiman's "Sandman." As a huge Neil Gaiman fan, it is simply a pleasure to finally be reading what man consider to be the author's best work. I've only read 10 issues, so I can't say if that grand statement is true, but so far it has been very good. There are two stories of note that stick with me.

The first is a stand-alone issue wherein Dream's sister, Death, visits him. They wander throughout the world, Death taking those whose time has come. Death does not discriminate. Young and old are her targets. The story startled me when I thought about it. Death takes people with such nonchalance. There is no hatred or warmth, no smiles or frowns. Death has a duty to perform and she will do so.

There is comfort in this, I suppose, knowing that the final judgment in one's life will be devoid of bias. However, the story takes a disturbing turn when Death approaches a newborn child. She lifts the child's soul from its body and the child, sadly, I think, says,

"Is that all I get?"

To which Death responds, "I'm afraid so."

This single panel inspired me to attempt writing a story about Death. About this scene, actually. It will be fanfiction (Death is even female in my story), but I need to try. Gaiman is what I wish to write. His stories all take place in a world where myths are real. I have always wanted to write fantasy, but the idea of writing in the fantasy genre doesn't appeal to me as much as it once did. I still get ideas, and will one day finish a fantasy novel I have started titled Darkness Falls, but my strengths as a writer rests in other areas.

I'm writing a short piece to read aloud later this month. I'll post it here when I'm done.

Brothers: What I Read Aloud

2010-09-22T00:41:00.001-06:00

Brothers

My father beat my brothers often for their mistakes. He’d grab whatever was handy Sometimes it was the strap, others, depending on the severity of the offense, he would grab whatever handy. Hangers. Switches. Cans. Beer bottles. After their punishment he would have them explain what they did to deserve their treatment. The offending brother would kneel in front of our father who always sat in the same chair, whittling at a malformed chunk of wood making of it some forest animal. Our father’s hands remained in a constant state of motion. We before his throne in supplication, plebes explaining why the crops failed. Why our taxes were late. I rarely received a beating, but I always had to sit and listen. “Why’d you do it?” Our father asked. His eyes roving over the chunk of wood. He held it before him as if divining the shape it would become.

Bryan didn’t answer. I sat on his left and Jake sat on his right. Bryan would say later their father’s words a bowling ball and we the anxious pins.

“I don’t know.”

Our father spared us a glance then, taking his eyes away from his whittling for a moment to express with his eyes how absolutely useless he thought we were. Jake and I looked at each other and for a moment I thought he would speak. Something we never did was come up with reasons for each other. Doing so would encourage another beating.

“Well,” our father said, releasing his gaze, “if you’re too stupid to know why you did something, just tell me what it is you did.”

“I broke Michelle’s pen so that when she shook it to see if it worked, ink would spill all over her dress.”

“Why?” Our father would ask. His eyes roving over the chunk of wood. He held it before him as if divining the shape it would become.
“She made fun of my ears,” he muttered.

“And when you’re grown, you going to run around playing pranks on anybody makes fun of you?”

“No, dad.”

Our father nodded, knife gone to work and shavings of the wood joining the fallen trees around his chair. Mother used to yell at him for that. She’d hover around him with a vacuum. Father would laugh and tell her not to worry, he’d clean up. Mom’s gone, and she took our father’s laughter with her.

Father let us ruminate on our failing for moments. The knife scraping against father’s creation the only sound between the four of us. When he felt we’d learned our lesson, father would wave us off. We would rise as one and walk to Jake’s room. The eldest had his own room. Jake’s room remained perpetually clean. Trash had no place in his room, disorder an unwelcome guest quickly and efficiently dispatched. When we entered, Jake threw himself on his bed. Brad sat in a chair. I shut the door and leaned against it.

“Fuck him,” Jake spat. Only recently had he begun swearing.

“Fuck him,” Brad parroted, though he said it quietly and glanced at the door as he did.

“Why’d you break a girl’s pen?” I asked.

“They glared at me and I placed my hand on the doorknob, ready to run before they shared their beatings with me.

Brad winced, rubbing his bottom, and instead of attacking said, “She made fun of my ears.”

“You do have big ears,” Jake said.

“Yeah, but she don’t need to point it out.”

“You like her, don’t you.

“She’s going to have to buy a new dress,” I said. “Stupid way to get a girl to like you.”

“Shutup, Ian,” my brother’s said. “You’re just like dad.”

“Am not,” I protested, but they had moved on. Huddling together like co conspirators, they spoke of things I had no interest in. Jake asked if Michelle had tits, and talked of other girls at school and making out. They both went to middle school. I was a baby in 6^th grade. Once, I tried to join in, but my brothers stopped talking and stared at me until I slinked away. They were growing up, leaving me behind, leaving alone with my father.

My father remained in his chair. The only difference the piece of wood had been changed into a cat. He no longer cleaned up the shavings on the floor and a week’s worth formed a dusty moat around his feet. When he left, I tasked myself with keeping the house tidy.

“How was school, son?” he asked without looking up.

“Good. Hey, dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you teach me to whittle?”

He smiled, a sad smile, but he didn’t take his eyes from his carving. For moments he was silent. His movements were more deliberate now. He caressed the cat with his knife, small slivers of wood falling. After each shedding he would move the cat around, inspect each angle, before deciding where to trim again.

“Dad?”

“No, son. I couldn’t teach. Patience ain’t one of my many virtues. Go play with your brothers.”

“They don’t play with me anymore. Could you—“

“Then go play outside.”

“Okay, dad.”

Instead of going outside, I went to Jake’s room. My brothers were coming out, Bryan with a football in his hand. They both grinned. They always did after talking about girl’s tits. When Jake saw me his smile disappeared. Bryan shouldered past me, but Jake stopped.

“What do you want?”

“To play?”

“You can come watch,” my brother said. “You’re too small to play with us. “

I opened my mouth to argue, but stopped. Arguments with Jake only ended in two ways: me hurting and then me crying. Instead, I fell in step behind him. Outside of our door stood several of Jake and Bryan’s friends. News of a football game spread throughout our block like chicken pox. How the news spread seemed a mystery to me. There was no phone in Jake’s room, no conceivable way to communicate with the kids on the block, but spread on our lawn was ten other kids waiting to play. The largest of them came forward. He was a freshman in high school and everybody thought that made him king. We called him Bull. He said it was because he was as big as one, but I always thought it had more to do with his intelligence. He looked down at me from his post-pubescent height and frowned.

“You bringing him?”

Bryan and Jake nodded.

“Okay,” Bull said. “We could use a cheerleader.”

Everybody laughed. Even Bryan and Jake.

I read this aloud this past Friday. I think I’ll start posting some of my writings on my blog. I like the story, which is one of a youngest sibling who wants to be accepted by his family. There are lots of problems with this story right now. Mostly with tense and the intro. But I like it. I enjoyed writing this piece, melancholy though it is.

Just testing

2010-09-20T08:18:00.001-06:00

Here is a picture of batman. I like the batman. Do you?

New Direction

2010-09-03T11:41:00.002-06:00

It's funny reading my old blog posts. I always say I'll try to update more. Invariably, I mention video games. It's been almost an entire year, again, since I've updated. I'm writing more now than I ever have. I recently had a story published in the Pikes Peak Community College creative mag, The Almagre, and I'm surprised at the response. Grown ass men have approached me, weepy eyed, lamenting my childhood upbringing and complimenting me on my attitude.

I'm not gaming much anymore, and though I still have an interest in games, I'm thinking my blog will turn its focus toward a more literary bent. I'm now more concerned with the creative process of writing than I am becoming a journalist. I'm hoping writing about writing will help me overcome some of the hurdles I have with writing fiction. This is a blog, and I guess I should start treating it as such. There have been some hurdles in my life I should probably get off my chest. One such, not being able to attend CU Boulder until next Fall.

Anyway, I'm at work. I should be working, but it's a pretty dull Friday. I'm looking forward to getting a haircut, getting dinner, and sleeping in tomorrow morning.

Also, I got an iPad. It's pretty damn awesome. I've purchased several eBooks: Knife of Dreams, All the Pretty Horses, M is for Magic, Wizards and Glass, The Way of Kings, along with numerous classics available on public domain. I'm not sure I like eBooks yet, but their convenience cannot be denied.

5,000 words

2009-11-05T15:36:00.002-07:00

This is the longest piece I've written yet, and I'm behind a day or so. I'm trying to make it up now, but I don't think I'll be able to just yet. Hopefully I'll have some free time this weekend to devote to the story.

I'm enjoying the process. I don't think my story is very good right now, but it's moving. Forward. Which is a farsight better than any other fantasy I've tried to write. On revising I'll have to work on description as I'm glossing over a lot of that right now, and characterization. The characters are quite clear in my mind, but I'm having trouble writing them. I think it'll become easier as I get further into my story. And it IS a story. I've got a pretty clear idea of where I'm heading.

Yay for NaNo.

Darkness Falls

2009-10-21T09:27:00.003-06:00

It seems that I start every blog post with, "Wow, it's been so long'

Anyway, so I've decided to participate in NanoWrimo's National Novel Writing Month (Take the first two letters of each word...clever, right?)

My novel, and it seems so grand to say that, will be titled Darkness Falls. It's story I started about a year ago and has remained in the back of my mind since I put it down. I've started plotting it out so that the writing goes a bit easier when I do start. I'm pretty excited. The goal is to write 70,000 words in the month of November. The math says that is 2333.33333 words/day.

Edit no Jutsu: It's actually 50k words so that's 1666.6666 words/day

In other news, I recently finished a series called The First Law by Joe Abercrombie. It was amazing and has given me hope that fantasy is not all insipid cliche driven drivel. That's a good thing, I suppose, as Darkness Falls is fantasy as well.

I also read a story called "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly (may have spelled that wrong). It was every fairy tale you loved growing up twisted and warped for adults and thrown together in a single story. Loved it.

Here is the link to my Nano page: click me

I'll be updating here with my word count.

Wish me luck!

Dear Computer Class:

2008-11-20T19:37:00.002-07:00

To my computer class,

I thought I would like you at first, fond as I am of computers. Surely it would be joyous to learn more about you and, in so doing, bond until we were close partners not soon to be parted. We started with small talk, as new couples are wont to do. You began by telling me how to copy folders and relabel files. I thought you attractive, and so I stuck around thinking that there would be more to you. But your inane ramblings were just that with no deeper meaning attached to them. I was fooled because I allowed myself to be fooled. But that was just the beginning.

You moved on to Word Processing, and I thought, "Something we have in common!" But again, you offered nothing new. So enamored was I of this line of thinking, I stuck around. We were in the midst of that new relationship feeling where everything you do is cute. But cute was beginning to wear thin and I began to see the ugly hag that was beneath the makeup. You did not look like that last night before we went to sleep. What happened? But now you have your tentacles, long raggedy things ending in claws, stuck into me and I find I cannot escape.

What began as curiosity has turned into a nightmare. I wish to escape but find that I cannot. This has got to end, Computer Class. I am no longer attracted to you. We have nothing in common. I knew from the start that we had nothing in common, but I was fooled into complacency by your high resolution monitor and access to the internet. But even these things leave me bored and I fall asleep while in your embrace.

So this is my letter to you, Computer Class. We are through. No longer will I listen to you drone on and on about how to create databases, spreadsheets, and saving files. I refuse to listen to you tell me how to import a word document into a powerpoint document. This is the last time I will speak to you, Computer Class. I ask you to remember the good times. Remember? That one good time? No?

Me either.

Die.

Meanderings redux.

2008-10-26T20:53:00.004-06:00

When school began in August, my history teacher told the class of a paper that would be due in October. To a student, anything more than two weeks may as well be a lifetime away. So, like a dummy, I didn't worry about it. I thought about it occasionally, but never actually began working on the damn thing. And so, imagine my chagrin when the paper is not only due, but due in 4 days and I have not even begun to do research.

I think, "It's the weekend. Plenty of time on Saturday and Sunday to do the research and write the paper." So on Saturday I go to the library, I check out some books (on homer and greek education, which my paper will eventually be about). I act like I'm reading them. And for the entire weekend I do nothing. I then continue to do nothing on the paper until Wednesday, the day before the paper is due. I then write about 4 pages (out of 12). I've been beating myself up over it ever since. Stupid papers.

My creative writing class progresses. By which I mean, of course, I'm progressing. My teacher thinks that I have talent, and I'm beginning to think so as well. I have filled up one entire journal and that gives me enough stuff to write about for six and a half lifetimes. Being nigh immortal, that is not enough, so I have purchased a second journal and will begin to write ideas in that.

I find that I not only enjoy writing fiction, I love it. I'm frustrated that I'm not good enough to write the ideas that I come up with...yet. I have read several authors that felt this way, though, so at least I'm not alone. I turned in my THIRD short story (of which only two were actually stories) for critique to my class, but only one person has read it yet. They have until thursday before I release the hounds. In the meanwhile my teacher is giving me extracurricular reading assignments. Right now I'm reading an amazing book by David Guterson called "Snow Falling on Cedars."

Not too much gaming going on. I bought Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, but that and Soul Calibur four are the the only games I've played since school started. I tried Infinite Undiscovery. It was horrible. Castlevania is not. It's good, I'm enjoying it. Perhaps I will post something pertaining to it in the near future. Knowing myself, the odds are against this. I have problems blogging for some reason. It's ironic. Something about the writer's friends never getting a letter.

I did get a "job" blogging for the front page of SRK (that's http://www.shoryuken.com for those not in the know). I've posted a few news updates but I find myself at a loss for other things to post. I should probably talk to somebody about it. Perhaps I will. Regardless, I was pretty happy when Mr. Wizard (the admin for SRK) asked me if I wanted to do it. Go me.

I have finished critiquing my classmates and find myself wanting to get back to Snow Falling on Cedars.
G'day

Meanderings

2008-08-28T14:02:00.002-06:00

It has been entirely too long since I updated this, so bare with me as I ramble.

School has occupied a great deal of my time. Over the summer I took two classes: Masterpieces of Literature and Astronomy.

My astronomy class was a great waste of time. My literature class the exact opposite. I read The Iliad and The Odyssey in like...3 weeks. It was ridiculous, but I loved every line. Akhilleus (I no longer say Achilles, Romanized spelling be damned) has become one of my favorite literary heroes.

Anywho, this semester has started and I'm going to have much more free time. I plan on writing a lot more, reading a lot more, and hopefully keeping up with this blog a lot more. So far, I've been getting a lot of writing done. Not so much the other two, so here's an improvisational new year's resolution. Or something.

So what have I been playing/ have played since I last posted?

Well it's been so long!

Metal Gear Solid 4.

I played and beat this the first weekend it was available. Like a true dork, I took days off of work in order to accomplish this. I don't regret it. Having gotten over the post MGS4 high, I'm able to look back on the game objectively. I loved every minute of it, but it did have its flaws. I realize now that I would have loved some of the old school MGS1 or 2 sneaking. And that's what I think the major problem is. The game gave you fits of gameplay, like a buffet without a main course. Acts 1 and 2 were brilliant. Sneaking on the battlefield was so very well implemented. Act 3, on a replay, is the weakest act. Even if you know exactly where to go, you have to wait for the spy who walks at the speed of a crawling baby in order to reach your destination. The first time through this was so unique and different that I thought it must be amazing. Playing it again, however, I found it annoying. Aside from the on rails section at the end, this is my least favorite act. The scene at the end almost makes up for it, though.

Anyway, I'll probably have to sit down and write an actual review for this game. Suffice it to say I love it and it stands high on my list of favorite games ever.

I bought and played about 10 or 11 chapters of Ninja Gaiden 2. I was a huge fan of the first, so I was greatly anticipating this game. It mostly delivers. There are several technical issues that are very strange considering the developer. Itagaki and Co. usually deliver only the most polished of games. Rarely are there any glitches, bugs, or framerate drops in their titles. So imagine my surprise when, in the first level, I notice the framerate drops noticeably. I thought perhaps it was a fluke; too many enemies on screen, or things going on in the background perhaps. No, it was not a fluke. The framerate drops horribly and often throughout the entire game. One moment was so bad, I don't know how it passed certification. It felt as if the game was chugging along at 10fps.

I could probably tolerate the framerate if the game were fun. And it is, but not as much as the first. Team Ninja has amped the difficulty up. Instead of hard but fair, the game is hard and cheap. I am not one of the candy ass suckas who bitch that NG1 was too difficult. I have finished that game on every difficulty at least once, massochist that I am. NG2, though, is NOT fair. Difficulty in this comes from offscreen enemies pegging you with projectiles while you fight in close quarters. The further in the game I got, the more enemies appeared shooting or throwing stuff at me. The camera does not lend itself to dodging shurikens coming at you from off screen, and so I found my combos getting interrupted not by enemies I was fighting, but the ninjas who were hidden in a crevice the camera refused to acknowledge. It is extremely frustrating and instead of feeling satisfied when I clear an area, there was only anger. And sadness. But mostly anger.

I stopped at chapter 10 or 11 because of this. I'm sure I'll go back eventually, but right now there's too much other stuff to play. Like Disgaea 3 or Infinite Undiscovery. I'm pretty much Tri-Ace's bitch.

Soul Calibur 4 came out and I've been playing this A LOT. It is a great fighter, aside from a few glaring flaws.

I've been focusing on Setsuka, Hilde, and Taki for the most part. Setsuka is probably my favorite character in the game. I just love using her. She's got ludicrous amounts of style.

Anyway, I'll try to keep up a bit more with this.

This has been a Skillzilla Rambling

Went to A-town.

2008-03-26T15:15:00.001-06:00

The Scene at A-town mall was electric. And hot. Mostly hot. There were newcomers, one grandfather (Hi, CJ!), and vets all gathered together for a tournament that could only be described as awwsome. I was walking around the arcade, getting a feel for the environment when I stumbled (literally, I'm clumsy) upon this conversation. Three people arguing about the upcoming Super Turbo matches.

Dude #1: You must be out yo goddamn mind! CJ Kyles is the greatest Soupra Turboer that ever lived. He was better than Skillzilla, he was better than MaceAho, and that new dude, what's his name, Smiles, looks like a bulldog, he was better than him too.

Dude #2: What about Halfro the Kid?

Dude #1: Oh there they go. There they go, every time I start talkin 'bout Soupra Turbraing, a white man got to pull Halfro the Kid out their ass. That's their one, that's their one. Halfro the Kid. Let me tell you something once and for all. Halfro the Kid was good, but compared to CJ Kyles, Halfro the Kid ain't shit."

Dude #3: He beat CJ Kyles' ass.

Dude #2: That's right, he did beat CJ Kyles' ass.

Dude #1: CJ Kyles was seventy five years old when they fought.

Dude #2: I don't know how old he was, but he got his ass whooped.

Dude #1: CJ Kyles had come out of retirement to fight Halfro the Kid and he was seventy six years old. CJ Kyles is always lying about his age. He lie about his age all the time. One time Alex Valle came in here and sat in this chair. I said Alex 'you hang out with CJ Kyles, just between me and you, how old is CJ Kyles? You know what Alex told me, he said 'hey, CJ Kyles is 137 years old.' 137 years old!

Dude #2: Oh Man you ain't never meet no Alex Valle.

Coming to A-town saw an excellent turnout, with Street Fighter 3: Third Strike (or 3s), boasting the most entrants at a surprising 28. In fact, 3s was most certainly the most interesting tournament. An out of stater we called Ghetto had a very nice Ken (and was a cool dude as well) Carlos (no nickname) defeated several of the states better players with a Dudley that was...unorthodox...to say the least. Smilez fought his way back from the Loser's bracket after a defeat at the might gloves to face Carlos in the grand finals where the Dudley player had no answer for Smilez' Ken. Smilez managed to win 6 straight matches and win the pot.

Perhaps the most “hyphy” moment of the tourney was the money match between Halfro and CJK. It was a first to 10 for 10 bucks (and bragging rights). Halfro managed to pull ahead a few games in the middle of the contest, but CJ's Gief was able to close the gap. In the end, Halfro ended up switching to Ryu and eked out the win in a down to the wire last match. The final tally was 10-9, Half.

In Guilty Gear: Accent core, several GG players showed some new skills. Tage*Proto won the tournament using Ky Kiske, beating out King Lowtier the top spot in the tournament. Halfro, GG player-come-lately, uppered his way to 3rd place.

It was a great tournament, and a special thanks from us at the EFL to those that managed to come out. The tournament was a lot of fun and to touch on all the tournaments and fun moments would take more typing than I'm willing to do. We've been uploading all of the vids we have capped, and you can find links.

AREEEEEEES!!

2008-03-06T13:07:00.005-07:00

I played God of War: Chains of Olympus (title is so dope) for a couple of hours yesterday.

My verdict? Stunned is one word.

You know how sometimes you're playing a game that you thought was amazing when you first picked it up. Eventually, you get over the graphics unless you happen to pause to go get a drink, sit down and look at the screen and think to yourself, "This game is pretty." You then begin to play without really paying any attention to the graphics. This is especially true for a series. You expect Final Fantasy to look good, so it's no surprise when it does.

That's why, when I actually paused to pay attention to what was going in in GoW:CoO, I was so impressed. I'm playing a ps2 game on my psp. Seriously. I took for granted that I was playing this game on my psp because everything was represented almost as well as its ps2 counterpart. The music, the control, the feel of Cotton...err, Kratos...everything feels like it does on the ps2. Every little thing that makes GoW what it is is represented faitfully on the psp's beautiful screen. It's crazy, is what it is.

My one gripe is the QTE sequences that involve the analog nub. It's pretty difficult to get the same range of motion you get on a dual shock analog stick with the nub. I've gotten used to it, but not until I'd failed at some crucial times.

Speaking of QTEs, and this is coming from somebody that loves NG and owns DMC4, I don't get what all the bitching is about. It involves you in the sequences.

I'll take DMC4 for an example. Nero uses his devil arm to grab an opponent and dish out a devastating series of attacks. For the most part, you just watch and enjoy the dopeness. NG2 seems to have a similar feature with an opponent that has lost a limb. You press X (or Y or whatever) and Hayabusa destroys his opponent with a combo you watch for a second or two (or three or four).

In GoW, you're actually involved in these awesome sequences. There's the chance that you'll miss the timing of a button press, that you won't do it perfectly every time. That might not be the case (they're pretty easy to hit), but the chance is still there simply because of the fact that you have to interact with the scene. There's a sense of urgency involved because, if you miss, the enemy will be able to counter and you've missed a chance for precious health.

So, yeah...don't get the hate.

Anyway, it's great. I'll post more once I have beaten it. Apparently it's only like 5 hours or something like that. I said I'd do that with Lost Odyssey, but MS has seen fit to send me consoles that break...I'll get to that when I'm done with it.

If it ain't broke...

2008-02-14T09:44:00.004-07:00

Let me get a few things off of my chest:

1. I hate, hate, hate, hate random battles with the passion of a thousand suns that consume my soul. They scream laziness. It seems as if the developer thinks, "Our battle system isn't very fun, so the only way to get people into battles is if they can't avoid it." I've got news for you, I like battles in rpgs. I will usually get into them in order to learn new skills! I hate how lazy it is. I hate being interrupted in my exploration by some stupid swirling screen and new enemies. Every random battle I get into is like somebody taking their fingernails across the chalk board while imitating Gilbert Gottfried.

Hate.

2. Kaim's run is ridiculously hilarious. I guess he forgot what a full stride was when he lost his memory because he runs like my baby niece. And when you sprint, he's the Flash and everybody else are just normal people moving at normal speed. Looks really silly.

3. 1000 years stuff is really good. Unfortunately, it's a book. I read faster than all the stupid text flourishes in the world. I don't want to have one short story at a time presented to me. I don't want to have to find things that flesh out Kaim's character. This shit should be given to me. This is an actual book in Japan that, I think, should have been given out with a Collector's Edition in other territories. I've got nothing against having the stories in the game, but I like reading books wherever I please. Not when I come across another chapter in the game. As it stands, I'm going to be skipping them because they disrupt the game (for me).

4. The packaging is the cheapest thing I have ever seen in my life. Three discs come STACKED on top of eachother with one in a paper sleeve not unlike (i.e. EXACTLY like) the packages of paper sleeves you can buy at your local office max for like a penny. I was pretty upset when I opened my game.

Okay, that's the bad (for me; your mileage will undoubtedly vary). And maybe it's because I went into this game with such low expectations, but after about 4 hours...I'm really impressed.

First off, the English voice acting is top tier. It is some of the best I've heard in a videogame. It's so good (I can't believe I'm saying this), that I have, for the first time ever, been playing with English voices instead of Japanese. The Japanese voice acting really throws me off; I don't think several of the character's voices match their personalities (Seth, Jansen). That might be because prior to buying the game, I watched the first couple of hours in vids all in English. I dunno, but whatever the case, it's good. And at least you have the option of playing with either one.

Nobuo Uematsu (of Final Fantasy Fame) has really got me with this soundtrack. I haven't heard a single tune I haven't liked. The Main Theme is classic. I'm instantly reminded of Terra's theme from Final Fantasy 6 (one of my favorite game tracks ever). It's worth listening to even if you don't like the game. Makes me miss him in Final Fantasy :(.

The graphics are amazing. When the opening CG transitions into battle, I was hardpressed to tell the difference between ingame and cg. I enjoy the way "magic" looks in this world they've created. It's used to power mundane things like lamps and "magic taxis." The effects really make it look otherworldly as you're walking through this technologically advanced town. You can tell it doesn't belong there. It's subtle, but really stands out for me.

Seth, Kaim, and Jansen are great characters so far. Their dynamics and voicework are a joy to listen to. Jansen in particular has some great lines. I'm eager to see more.

I'll get more into the battle system when I have more than 4 hours into the game. As it stands, it's a great evolution of the normal turnbased fare. The timing rings add a nice touch and keep me paying attention to battles.

So, basically, even though I hate random battles (fiery passion, soul, etc), the game is GOOD. And in the end, looking over a few warts is worth it for the overall experience that is a good game.

Definitely can't wait to play more.

Thanks, Gamersyde, for the pics :D.

Light Sabers

2008-01-22T14:22:00.001-07:00

Look at him. I wish it was a new Masters of Teras Kasi. Unfortunately, it isn't. That's Yoda. And he's in Soul Calibur 4. You see, Namco has decided that the brand isn't strong enough to sell on its own. No, no. Namco has to go whore out the name to make itself more popular. That's fine by me, actually. This means there will be a lot more people to own up online. That's a good thing.

Soul Calibur 4 was playable at CES, but there was a surprising lack of new footage there. If one was of a mind to, one could go here to check out the new trailer. IGN also has a short gameplay clip up.

These show nothing new if you've played any Soul Calibur before. In fact, the producer said that only 50% of the animations were in this build, and none of the new gameplay systems. That's also good, as it looked like a very pretty Soul Calibur 1 in these vids.

It's got a summer release, so that might mean no EVO for SC4. Still looks awesome, though. Won't be long before the world witnesses domination hitherto unbelieved possible by the trifecta of Ninjas, Whores (with umbrellas), and Valkyries.

Yoda screen courtesty of 1up.com.

Street Fighter 4

2008-01-22T13:38:00.001-07:00

Geez, it's been too long. My bad.

It's been around 10 years since Capcom initially released Street Fighter 3 in arcades. Since then fans have been wondering, "When will we get to see SF4?" It seemed that Capcom was content to let the series fade into nothing more than memories and fond nostalgia. Sure, we got CvS2 and...Capcom Fighting "Evolution." But for fans of the series, these offshoots didn't satisfy the needs that Street Fighter gameplay has at its core. What is that, you might ask? It's like the feeling you get when you eat a warm marshmallow. Or the warm fuzzies you receive when your new girlfriend kisses you on the cheek.

It can not be defined, it just is. Accept this. (By the by, this is the reason why it's so hard to pinpoint why so many fans don't consider SF3 a "true" SF. That is an argument for another blog.)

So the SF brand would dwindle away into obscurity leaving fans looking at other, smaller companies creating 2D fighters left and right. King of Fighters, Guilty Gear, Arcana Hearts, Melty Blood...hell, even Rumble Fish. These games all served as body blows to the Capcom faithfuls. If smaller, less successful companies could continue to churn out (subjectively) high quality 2D fighters, then why couldn't Capcom with their considerably larger budgets.

And then, after years of rumors and letdowns, it happened. Street Fighter 4 is a reality and the future of the (capcom) fighting game community rest on its shoulders. And if the internet is to be believed (my opinion: it never should be. Believed, that is) then it is buckling under the weight. Most message boards will be the homes of such posts as: "Hahahaha, more like SFEX4, amirite!" Or, "WHY NOT 2D!!!"

I couldn't care less about all of that; my opinion is the game looks awesome and, imagine this, the thing that will make or break the game, and any future games on this engine, is the gameplay.

It doesn't matter that Ryu's physique makes him look like a stunt double for The Master of Greyskull. It doesn't matter that Ken's hair is straight from the 80's. No, all that matters is that I saw a crossup. I saw Ken flip into a fireball that forced him to block. I see AN ACTUAL DUCKING FORWARD animation.

If one takes off the fanboy goggles that have undoubtedly been fogged up with the rage of the sprites not being 2D, they might recognize that it looks like Street Fighter. Not Street Fighter EX. I don't know that I've ever seen a crossup in that game.

So then, the gameplay looks okay, right? Well, looks okay. I haven't played it and odds are anybody bitching about it hasn't either. I won't pretend to be clairvoyant; there is still a lot that could go wrong. We'll have to wait and see. But people are now upset that it takes place before 3, which probably means new fans favorite characters won't be present (in this SF4, anyway). It also means that we'll get to see plenty of familiar faces. What's funny is that these are the same complaints that plagued SF3 upon its release. "Only Ken and Ryu? WHAT? I AM OUTRAGED!"

What's this prove? You can't please everybody. Especially the internet.

So, here we have SF4. If it's good (hopeful) and does well in the sales department, what does this mean? A resurgence in fighting games? This could mean a revival of several of Capcom's old franchises. Street Fighter 4 producer Yoshinori Ono has already stated he has interest in making a Vampire Savior game (Darkstalkers) using this engine. Perhaps Rival Schools? Imagine a crossover game with all of these characters? If Street Fighter 4 performs well, it could very well mean we'll see all of this come to fruition. Maybe, just maybe, it means that other game developers will take note. Maybe we'll see more clones!

Who knows?

At the very least, given Capcom's track record, this means that we'll get to see Street Fighter 4: Super Third Turbo Edition.

Screens taken from Famitsu.

Street Fighter 4!!!! (!!!!!!) !!!!)!(!)

2007-10-17T09:50:00.001-06:00

After years and years (and years and years) of Capcom teasing us. Making its fans feel like an abused wife who has somehow done something wrong (Why didn't you buy the FIFTH re-re-re-re-release of Street Fighter Alpha???), they've come out and done something beyond nice. Street Fighter 4 is a reality. While this news makes me extremely happy, I can't help but think there is some catch. No platforms have been announced. Who is developing it? What systems? IS IT 2D????? The last question perhaps the most important.

I've become jaded as far as Capcom and fighting games go...I WANT to be optimistic, but I can't help but think that there's something rotten in this apple.

New Capcom Fighter?

2007-10-12T14:50:00.000-06:00

"Brian Dunn, also of Capcom, later extended the tease, writing "We have our Gamer's Day event in London next Wednesday (10/17), but there will be announcements and things starting to come up on Monday (10/15) and continuing all week." Dunn also added, somewhat conspicuously, to the comments thread "everyone at Capcom knows all the fans are extremely anxious for a NEW SF game, believe me. That's about all I can say about that..."

Hmmmm??? I love the emphasis on "new."

[12:10] Skilletor: or the huge announcement that was them publishing GTA in japan
[12:11] MrWizard: trust me
[12:11] MrWizard: its a huge announcement this time
[12:11] MrWizard: not some poll to vote for achievements lol
[12:11] Skilletor: that's fine, but i've been saying I WANT SF4 for years with cockteases like this from capcom

Hmmmm???

As much as I would love to believe this, and I would love it as much as I will my first born child, I will not believe anything Street Fighter and Fighting game related until screens are released. As I said, this has been ongoing for years now without capcom giving the fans what they want. I'm expecting Street Fighter: Chun Li's shower adventure to go along with the stupid movie that's coming out sometime in the future.

The King is dead. Long live the King.

2007-10-07T10:03:00.000-06:00

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first.

Yes, FFT does have slowdown. It happens on just about every special attack in the game.
Yes, FFT does have some wonky sound effects. Only on special attacks, though.

The slowdown is particularly annoying on spells or attacks that hit multiple characters. I hear that the slim gets rid of this problem but have not had official confirmation.

Okay then. That's the bad stuff, on to the good.

Everything else.

10 years later FFT is STILL the pinnacle of SRPG gameplay. It is ridiculous how well this game has aged. I'm a huge fan of SRPGs and have played a lot of them in the 10 years since FFT saw its initial release. FFT plays the best. Still.

I don't know if it's the active movement in the game that gets rid of the Your Phase/Enemy phase, making battles more dynamic and exciting.

I don't know if it's the job system with some of the most customizable characters ever in an rpg. FFT on psp also adds the Dark Knight and Onion Knight into the mix, although I haven't been able to unlock them yet.

Or it could be the amazing soundtrack, which still has some of the most amazing music ever in a video game.

Maybe it's the new translation which, only 10 hours in, already has severable memorable moments:

Agrias: You would have us slaughter them? That would play into Lord Goltanna's hands. All we need do is rout them.

Gaffgarion: I find dead men rout more easily.

I haven't played the original in several years, but I remember being very confused. I eventually stopped paying attention to the story and just played it for the gameplay. Not so anymore, the new translation is not only a hell of a lot better, but you can actually comprehend it. The tension between the nobles and common is palpable. The scene with Algath (was algus) and Delita after Tietra, Delita's sister, gets kidnapped also stands out.

It's probably all of these things, along with the animated cutscenes which are as great as the rest of the game, that combine to make FFT such a great game. It has its flaws, but the rest of the game is so good that I simply don't care. The entirety of the game more than makes up for a little bit of slowdown. Would I like it if the slowdown was gone? Yes, of course. But it's there and I can't change that, so no use bitching. I hardly notice it anymore in any case.

There aren't very many games that I can go back to so many years after where the gameplay is just as good as it was the day I touched it without the power of nostalgia lending a hand. Super Metroid, Castlevania: SotN, to name a couple. I'll just add FFT into that elite list of classics.

SRPGs own your soul.

2007-10-02T10:24:00.001-06:00

Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions comes out next week. For the uninitiated, shame on you. This is, perhaps, the best Strategy RPG ever created. Definitely in the top two. The new psp port comes packed to the gills (!!!) with new job classes (Dark Knight and Onion Knight), new cutscenes with voices exclusive to English Localization, and, most importantly, a new translation. That's right, lines like "Surrender now or die in obscurity" are no more. Instead the game reads much like a George RR Martin book (go read, now.) Complete with calling people "ser".

In the interim, I've been playing Crisis Core and Jeanne D' Arc. I got to Nibleheim in Crisis Core, which was just all types of awesome. Although Tifa's skirt is a lot lower than I ever remember seeing it. At about 20 hours, I've completed 31% of the missions. I probably won't try to get all of them as I don't want to turn around and do it again when I play it in English. Sephiroth still wins you and seeing Cloud as a little noob SOLDIER is hilarious.

Jeanne D' Arc is a really solid title from developers level 5. It takes the historic figure in Ms. D' Arc and turns it into a fantasy SRPG. I'm not familiar with the actual history and honestly couldn't care less how accurate this game is to it. The gameplay is great. Unlike a lot of other SRPGS, and maybe it's just me here, the game really emphasizes movement and order thanks to too systems inherent to the game: The "Burning Strike" and some guard thing that I forget the name of at the moment, haha.

The Burning Strike (Screens from IGN and also, apparently, retranslated in the final version).

This little burning thing appears behind the enemy when you attack them. A person standing in the aura will receive a major attack bonus on his or her next strike. Planning out your attacks and the order in which you have your characters go becomes a little bit more important because of this. Maybe your little thief, Colet, could use the exp. boost from killing this enemy (being so damn weak and all), so have Jeanne attack, making the enemy turn around and have Colet sneak up inside the circle for the attack boost from behind. It's a very little thing, but it adds a lot to the overall gameplay.

UNIFIED GUARD! Ha, I just remembered, just now. This happens when you have your characters grouped together. It gives everybody a defense boost, which is really useful for keeping weaker characters alive.

And, as with most level 5 games, there is a really deep skill creating system. Your characters, instead of having set classes, get to equip Skill Stones. These include magic, special attacks, and stat augments. Later in the game you'll acquire the ability to combine these stones to create even more awesomer skills (complete with a cameo from the Frog that did much the same thing in Rogue Galaxy). It's fun to combine skills only to see that you won't be able to use the damn thing for 10 more levels.

And now to continue waiting for FFT. 8 days.

Yay for English class.

2007-09-24T09:37:00.000-06:00

I have an idiotic English instructor.

On the first day of class she showed up 45 minutes late. She had no materials with her. She said that she would email the syllabus and first assignment to us. Three days later I still had no email.

On the second class we had a writing assignment that I turned into her. I handed it to her, she took the paper from me.

The next week she told me that I didn't give her anything. After reminding her that I had in fact done exactly this, she admitted that she might have, just possibly, put it in a folder with another class.

Huzzah.

On this same day, we had peer editing for an essay due that day. I am not sure why exactly we have an essay due on the same day that we are supposed to edit it in class. I am not the brains of this operation. But this is how it is done. 3 hours of peer editing. One student told me that my opinion isn't clear in my essay. Another told me that my critical analysis of MLK's "Letter From Birmingham Jail" was too much like a critical analysis. They meant it as a bad thing; I ignored them all and took the essay home and changed some things that I had noticed. I emailed the teacher the essay at 5:31pm that Saturday.

The next week the teacher had not graded it. She also had not recorded my grade for the in class writing assignment.

This week I got both back. A 100 on my essay, a 98 on my in class writing. Apparently I can write. But I'm still going to have 3 hour classes of other students telling me things contrary to this. Now this is fine since we have to. But I don't think any of us students should be going over another's paper, especially not with an intent to correct something. Giving me an opinion on a topic sentence or something would be fine. My thesis isn't clear. Hey, thanks. But what a waste of 3 hours of my life to have somebody tell me that I should have "I" in my essay much more and that my analysis is too much of an analysis.

I love school.

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

2007-09-17T20:29:00.000-06:00

I have to preface this by saying that I'm a /huge/ fan of Final Fantasy VII. This seems to affect other people's views on another's opinion for some reason. Now, I am not an FFVII "fanboy", but I do love the game. I loved it when it was released, I love it just as much now. I can, however, realize that the game has aged and not well. It is not the be-all-end-all of rpgs. But I think it IS a great game. One that I adore.

So that out of the way, on to FFVII:CC. It starts out with a scene that anybody who has played FFVII should be familiar with: A train rushing towards its destination, a man in blue clothing aboard. The direction of the game continues the over the top action that Advent Children began. Zack jumps off of a helicopter, lands lightly on his feet, and makes short work of some grunts that are shooting at him. When the train stops and Zack gets off, it sets up the major differences between Zack and Cloud. Where Cloud couldn't be bothered to say anything more than "I don't care." for the first 20 hours, Zack is talking on the phone when some enemies run up to him. He continues talking even when the soldiers show that they want to fight. He reluctantly hangs up his phone and pulls out his sword and you get your first glimpse of the combat of Crisis Core.

You get to move around in realtime with the D-pad or the Nub. Circle is attack, Square is dodge, Triangle is guard. You have 5 different slots for actions: Attack, 3 materia slots, and Item. You can not mash attack all willy-nilly. Actions seem to be timed, although it isn't very extreme: half a second at most between attacks. Magic has a little bit of charge, leaving you open to be hit by opponents. This WILL interrupt your casting, which I think is a nice touch for strategy. And enemies will move! Blizzard creates the typical block of ice that drops down on your opponent. The only problem is that it drops down on your opponent...and they move. In contrast, Fire and Thunder track the opponent. Maybe Blizzard will be better when I level it up. What I'm surprised by is how much skill that you can put into the battle. Enemies shoot a Fire spell, and if you're paying attention in between attacks you can easily dodge it. Fighting two big, slow, lumbering brutes I managed to defeat them with minimal damage due to smart attack management, guarding and well-timed rolls. I loves it.

The subsystem of this game is called "Digital Mind Wave" or DMW for short. This is the slot machine thing that's been seen in screenshots. It will randomly stop and give you a "Modulation Phase". If you get favorable faces lined up, three Sephiroths say, then Zack will unleash a special attack similar to limit breaks from FF7. Zack's skills make Cloud's omnislash look like a low level ability...and I've only got 4 hours. It's a weird system, though. It's completely random and seems to control everything from leveling to HP boosts. Not sure what I think of this yet.

The game is mission based. So far there isn't any type of world map. You can talk to people to progress the story or access optional missions. They show the assumed difficulty of the mission beforehand so you know what you're getting into. Since you can only access them from save points there's little risk to them except for the time you spend if you die. They net you items or materia, some of the summons are optional missions.

I'm shocked at how good this game seems to be so far. It looks amazing, topping MGS for the best looking portable game ever. The CG is advent children quality, the voices sound awesome. The music, most of it so far, is remixed FF7 tracks. Given the change in direction the kind of rock alternative really fits it. I love the new boss music.

If I have any complaints, it's that the camera isn't always the best. But I've yet to play a 3d fighter where the camera isn't a minor complaint.

Yuffie wins you.

RIP: Robert Jordan

2007-09-17T10:24:00.000-06:00

Not the update I'd had in mind :(. Robert Jordan, Author of The Wheel of Time, passed away. The breadth of his imagination was incredible. It is saddening that he did not live to complete the work which spanned over 18 years of his life.

He inspired me to want to write, to create something with as much vision as he has had for Rand al' Thor. He was an extraordinarily talented being.

My Super Puzzle Fighter Review

2007-08-29T21:12:00.000-06:00

I dove in and bought Puzzle Fighter on XBL for 800 points. It's as good as it has ever been. Played it for about an hour online and had no hiccups or lag at all. It was just like the guy was right next to me. It has the same online setup as Street Fighter Hyper Fighting does, so you can create a room with up to 4 people and watch as your friends duke it out until your turn comes up.

After some firsthand experience with the new drop patterns...it feels much the same to me. I am not claiming to be some Puzzle Fighter god, however, so that is probably why. A few characters had a notable difference: I couldn't lay out break gems the same way as I always had. Chun Li definitely dropped a lot more gems than I ever remember her doing in previous versions. So the changes are definitely there, I'm just not good enough to notice the many nuances that the developers have implemented.

The two new (to some people) modes are not all that, though.

Y Mode

Y mode plays much like Columns did back in the day. The point here is to build stacks of 3 or more like colored gems. Unlike in the normal or Z modes (in a minute, I'm going alphabetically), once you have the requisite stacks they will break automatically. The problem here is that Puzzle Fighter's system was not built around gems breaking automatically. Many characters have drop patterns that will instantly result in many, many, many gems being shattered once the timer counts to zero. Meaning with little to no work on the opponent's end, the gems you drop will be sent right back to your side in short order. I managed to defeat a friend several times by simply waiting out the attacks he dropped on my side.

Unique to this mode is a type of "Super" meter. As you break gems the super meter fills up. Once it does you can press the Right Bumper (or Right Trigger, I'm playing on 360) to summon yourself a diamond. The diamond comes down a certain color, it will turn every gem of a certain color to the color of the diamond. So if you get a blue diamond, place it on a yellow, it will then turn every yellow on y our board into a blue gem. It's pretty cool and saved my ass more than once.

Z mode

This mode is reminiscent of Tetris Attack. Instead of gems falling like Chocolate Rain, they rise from the ground one row at a time. Your job is to rotate the gems two at a time in order to form the squares of power that you normally would with gems from above. Any attacks you send cause your opponent's screen to lift suddenly. It's a much slower paced game, but it works much better in this system than Y mode does. The goal in this mode is pretty much the same as X (default, normal) mode, it's just going about getting it done differently.

There are some things suspiciously missing. I seem to remember a challenge mode in the PSX version of this game that allowed you to unlock colors and things. The game features a remixed soundtrack that I'm not particularly fond of. When playing online you have to hold the left or right trigger in order to talk. I'm sure there's a reason behind this, but it was annoying to me. For 10 bucks there's plenty that you do get and online play is where it is at. This is one of the best puzzle games ever, so if you have a console that can play it (and it's been released on EVERYTHING, even gba), go grab it. Single or multi, this game is tons of fun.

What is a ninja?

2007-08-29T09:36:00.000-06:00

Gametrailers has recently "honored" us with their top 10 ninjas. In order to properly express exactly how inept, inaccurate, and incredibly stupid this list is I would have to the latin origins of the word fallacy and explain how it has evolved throughout time to get to what Gametrailers has shown us. After that "Gametrailers" would then be used to describe deception.

Their top 10:

10. Jago. Seriously? Jago? The dude looks like he just bought a bandito kit from Toys "R" Us and got challenged to a street fight. I wouldn't even know this dude was a ninja if somebody hadn't told me. Suffice it to say, I was shocked and appalled that people continued to function under this misconception. Not only is he NOT a ninja, he doesn't even do anything REMOTELY ninja-esque. Protip: Ninjas in fighters can never be shoto clones.

9. Thomas from Kung Fu. What? It says in the title "Kung Fu". How is that ninja? What part of Thomas' outfit, martial arts style and game title says "Ninja"? I'm seriously confused at how this dude was even put into consideration. It's just a bold faced Gametrailers.

8. Joe Musashi from Shinobi. This wouldn't be so bad if the two newer ninjas (Hotsuma and Hibana) from the newer shinobi games didn't make Joe (don't even get me started on how that IS NOT A NAME FOR A NINJA) look like Thomas from Kung Fu. I won't be too upset though, since he is pretty cool. Not ninja, but ninjaesque. And Gametrailers, Joe IS in Shinobi on ps2. Your weak ass gaming skills were not sufficiently adequate to unlock him.

7. Goemon from Goemon. If you look and sound like you should be in pokemon, you aren't a ninja.

6. I-ninja from I-ninja. At this point, I'm just tired of this tomfoolery. It should be obvious that these people shouldn't be allowed to make a top 10 list of the top 10 numbers from 1-10.

5. Sub-zero from MK. Let's ignore the fact that he looks like the Shredder (who was not a ninja), let's ignore the fact that EVERY SINGLE MK "ninja" was played by some hispanic dude named Carlos Pesini. What we can not ignore is the fact that he is whack, and rule #1 of being a ninja is: You can't be whack.

4. Strider Hiryu from random capcom games. I have no issues with this listing.

3. TMNT A case could certainly be made for the turtles, I won't here. I will just say that top 10 material, no matter the argument, they are not.

2. Gray Fox from MGS1 - I have no issues with this listing.

1. Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden/DoA - I have no issues with this listing.

I will compose my own list of the top 10 ninjas when I have the proper time, consideration and respect such an endeavor deserves. This list, however, is a travesty and should not be taken seriously by anybody that can spell ninja.

If you want to see this bogus listings, click this.

FF7 Crisis Core

2007-08-27T14:26:00.000-06:00

Do want.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo Remix (Test)

2007-08-27T12:25:00.000-06:00

This week will see the release of (deep breath) Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix on the PSN and XBLA services. What I've heard of this (re-re-re) rerelase has me pretty excited. It sounds like the developers have put a lot of thought into rebalancing the game which should make it a lot more fun online. Previously, for competitive play, the only characters that could be played with any hope of winning were Donovan and Ken because of their strange and overpowered drop patterns. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore, but until we plebians get the game there is no knowing for sure. Color me optimistic. Whatever the case, for casual play there isn't a better Street Fighter puzzle game on the market and with the addition of online play and lobbies for up to 4 players, I foresee many hours spent dropping gems on my friends.

The Graphics have received an upgrade as well. More accurately the gems themselves and the backgrounds. The gems seem to be 3d and feature an awesome new animation when asploding them. The backgrounds have all been redrawn to fit fancy-shmancy HD televisions and they look super crisp from screenshots. There is at least one new background as well, which looks like Udon created it just for fanservice as several chibi Street Fighter characters can be seen involved in various recreational activities. Unfortunately the characters themselves have received no such treatment and as a result look blurry sitting next to these new and shiny gems and backgrounds. It's nothing that affects gameplay, but it is jarring at first and takes away from the overall presentation of the game.

The game comes out August 29th on XBLA for 800 points (10 bucks) and August 30th on PSN for 10 bucks (10 bucks). The staggered releasing is because of the respective networks own release schedule: XBLA games are released Wednesdays, PSN games Thursday.

Visit the official Capcom blog for this game here: http://blogs.capcomusa.com/blogs/digital.php