I'm now in the process of organizing a collaborative blog about video games. So far I think I'll have at least four people (so Ben, I need the email address of your gmail account), including me. It needs a name; does anyone have any suggestions?
If you hadn't heard, I purchased Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates not long ago. It's a really great game, and I'll probably be reviewing it for the aforementioned blog. My favorite race is the Lilty, like it was for the most part in the first game.... Now, though, they're not really the best Melee fighter; instead, they're more of a support class that can use alchemy to build more magicites, and they have a really cool charge attack where they roll around in an urn and can plow through multiple enemies. It's pretty snazzy.
I'll not say much more about it, and save it for the other blog, when it's up and running (hopefully soon).
I realize now that this may make my posts shorter, since most video-game-related stuff will be excluded. Still, I do really want to start posting every day after TFC is over.
This will probably mean more opportunities for pointless rants, too. Yay!
So on Wednesday and Thursday I was back home, which was cool. I got to see a lot of people on Wednesday night, and got to go see Jeremy more the next day, so that was really neat. I was going to get to see another friend again on Thursday, but it didn't work out, which was pretty disappointing. Oh well....
On to the actual content of the post.
I don't discuss political things here very often, but when I do, it's probably annoying rantage.
The following is rantage, and will probably annoy a lot of people. I encourage crazy liberals to read this anyway, because personally, I like reading things I disagree with. Maybe you do to?
So, anyhow. On the radio the other day, someone was saying how Barrack Obama will win the election. This has been pretty obvious. In fact, very early on, I just thought "Wow, he'll win" but the early primaries changed my opinion a bit, to thinking it was pretty open. Then after that I just went back to thinking he'd win.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because this person's reason was pretty funny. See, the word "Obamanomics" sounds better than a word derived from anyone else's name. Therefore, Obama will win the election.
Honestly, this logic isn't so bad. Think about the country we live in.
Now I'm going to say something extremely controversial, because I rather enjoy controversy.
Ready?
Democracy is a meaningless buzzword.
Seriously!
You hear people saying things like "...in the name of democracy..." and "...spread the message of democracy..." all the time. What does this mean, though? Nothing.
A huge reason for this is that, as I mention quite frequently, our country is not a democracy. It is a constitutional federated republic. There is quit a large difference, actually.
We keep throwing around words like this, and we really don't even agree with them. OK, some people might, but giving people the sort of authority you have in a democracy is a bad idea. There will always be crazy people, and our current system keeps them out of positions where they can do harm. Some would argue that it isn't working properly, but those people also say that our current president (That would be Bush, in case you're reading this in a year or two and are unable to do the math) is a crazy person.
That moves us on to our next subject.
I don't think George W. Bush is a bad president. I don't think he's an amazing president, but I'd say he's at least "pretty good." I feel the same way about Herbert Hoover, who got a ton of flak back in the day (not that I was there or anything). Just because someone is not an Abraham Lincoln during a time when the country is in need of an Abraham Lincoln (Or in Hoover's case, a Roosevelt), that does not mean they are a bad president, it just means they aren't quite good enough for the current situation.
Next subject: Why democrats are horribly wrong, and in some cases just downright sick (and I mean that in a bad way, but not that they are physically ill).
I don't know if I want to call myself a Republican, because there are certainly some bad examples of those, and I dunno if I agree with them entirely. Still, this doesn't stop me from being a Regular Baptist, but....
Anyhow. I just really hate the whole "less-government" idea all the democrats have, particularly on some issues. My example for now will be the one I have the biggest problem with: baby killing. A lot of pro-life people I know rarely even refer to it as abortion, and I'm the same. They're killing babies. I don't give it a stupid name that connotatively states they're not actually killing babies. Because... they are. It's ruthless murder of people, yes, PEOPLE, who are unable to defend themselves or their rights.
I don't want to get into an argument about whether unborn children are alive, because there actually is less of a point to that than you might think. The point is that there was going to be a child born, and it was killed. When you're talking about something like life, the removal of the potential for life isn't much different than the removal of an already-full life. Most people are more saddened by stories of people dying when they're young. For me, that makes abortion extremely nasty.
The idea that some people would want to make abortion legal makes me sick. While we're at it, why don't we make murder legal? How about lethal automatic weapons, nuclear bombs, and genocide?
Clearly, democrats are just one step closer to being anarchists.
I think I'll close there.
I also can't think of any good quotes, and since my quotes are usually humorous, and this was a rather serious post, I just won't put one.
:::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Frustration
Actually, the part about frustration is probably going to be comparatively short, but I thought I might try a one-word title for once.
So, I got to thinking, and, see, every night when I wash dishes I get incredibly frustrated by something, but I can't quite figure it out. I finally realize that it's the fact that the light above the sink is not on, so it's rather dark. I turn it on, and, wham, everything is happy.
It's odd.
It really takes a while for me to realize what's creating the problem, even though it happens every night. Weird.
Another thing that I recently realized frustrates me a lot is a lot of noise. It's not entirely volume -- though that's a big part of it -- but many noises conflicting with one another. I didn't realize this bothered me so much until we came to this small house where you can pretty much hear every sound going on in the entire house. I soon discovered that music seriously helps this by covering up everything else, so I may want to invest in some nicer headphones -- with the ones I have now on, not only can I still hear outside noises, but other people can also hear my music, which ends up bothering me more, because they're always asking, "What are you listening to?" and all that.
So, have you heard about this "Big Announcement" Nintendo is making? Apparently Reggie Fils-Aime hinted (or just flat-out said, really) that a really big game is going to be announced at this year's E3.
There are probably a ton of people thinking this is the new Zelda game or something, but I don't think it is at all. They probably hardly have any plans for any new Zelda game at all yet; they just released Phantom Hourglass, after all. I don't get how people aren't counting that, and keep saying "We want a real Zelda game." How is PH not a real Zelda game? Because it's on handheld? Because it's slightly unorthodox? Probably, it's the first one, since the handheld games tend to get ignored, for whatever reason. Ridiculously enough, some fansites I've seen don't even cover most of the handheld Zelda games.
Anyway, I'm betting it's not Zelda, or Mario, or anything like that.
The folks over at IGN think it's probably Kid Icarus 3 or Pikmin 3, both of which we "all know are coming." They're probably right, and that would be pretty neat, as I never got a chance to play either of those games (with Kid Icarus, you can't blame me so much, but I have no idea why I've never played the Pikmin games).
But one thing that would be really, really cool? Another game in the Mother series. Released over here. Now that would be really, really cool.
If you didn't know, Mother is one of Nintendo's oldest franchises (it's where the Smash Bros. characters Ness and Lucas come from), and they've still been making some games over in Japan (or at least they've done some fairly recently). All the US got was Mother 2, known as Earthbound over here. The really sad part is how we don't even have Earthbound on the Virtual Console. It's another game I've always wanted to play but still haven't.
Now, the chances of Nintendo's Big Announcement being a new Mother game are almost as low as those of it being a Zelda game. But still, one can hope, right?
All I really want it to be is something that we don't have to wait more than a year for. After Smash Bros., I don't know if I'll be able to stand something hyped so much and delayed so many times. It makes waiting for it rather annoying.
Anyway, speaking of Nintendo, I'm a bit excited about WiiWare, if only because it may entirely crush the constant flow of lame Wii games. Independent developers can now make their own Wii games and sell them for whatever price they want, and we've already gotten announcements about really cool things like Defend Your Castle (a funny little Flash game) being significantly upgraded and sold for only five dollars.
This is really cool, because hopefully nobody will be buying those lame full-priced games anymore, and developers will stop making them.
Hopefully.
If not, it's still like they're getting seriously made fun of; "Haha, look, we're an independent studio nobody's heard of, and we made a decent game and it only costs five dollars. You're a big commercial developer, yet you made a stupid game everyone knows is trash, and it costs ten times as much!"
If poor sales don't discourage them, maybe that effect will.
But, regardless, it means opportunities for independent developers. Very cool.
Hmm, I wonder if Aaron Bishop will pursue WiiWare?
...Yeah, it's never going to happen. He even said, after making Soulfu, that he was never ever making any games again.
...But he said that after Egoboo, too....
Well, I guess I'll wrap this up; I have nothing else to say right now. Maybe tomorrow's post will be longer.
:::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
So, I got to thinking, and, see, every night when I wash dishes I get incredibly frustrated by something, but I can't quite figure it out. I finally realize that it's the fact that the light above the sink is not on, so it's rather dark. I turn it on, and, wham, everything is happy.
It's odd.
It really takes a while for me to realize what's creating the problem, even though it happens every night. Weird.
Another thing that I recently realized frustrates me a lot is a lot of noise. It's not entirely volume -- though that's a big part of it -- but many noises conflicting with one another. I didn't realize this bothered me so much until we came to this small house where you can pretty much hear every sound going on in the entire house. I soon discovered that music seriously helps this by covering up everything else, so I may want to invest in some nicer headphones -- with the ones I have now on, not only can I still hear outside noises, but other people can also hear my music, which ends up bothering me more, because they're always asking, "What are you listening to?" and all that.
So, have you heard about this "Big Announcement" Nintendo is making? Apparently Reggie Fils-Aime hinted (or just flat-out said, really) that a really big game is going to be announced at this year's E3.
There are probably a ton of people thinking this is the new Zelda game or something, but I don't think it is at all. They probably hardly have any plans for any new Zelda game at all yet; they just released Phantom Hourglass, after all. I don't get how people aren't counting that, and keep saying "We want a real Zelda game." How is PH not a real Zelda game? Because it's on handheld? Because it's slightly unorthodox? Probably, it's the first one, since the handheld games tend to get ignored, for whatever reason. Ridiculously enough, some fansites I've seen don't even cover most of the handheld Zelda games.
Anyway, I'm betting it's not Zelda, or Mario, or anything like that.
The folks over at IGN think it's probably Kid Icarus 3 or Pikmin 3, both of which we "all know are coming." They're probably right, and that would be pretty neat, as I never got a chance to play either of those games (with Kid Icarus, you can't blame me so much, but I have no idea why I've never played the Pikmin games).
But one thing that would be really, really cool? Another game in the Mother series. Released over here. Now that would be really, really cool.
If you didn't know, Mother is one of Nintendo's oldest franchises (it's where the Smash Bros. characters Ness and Lucas come from), and they've still been making some games over in Japan (or at least they've done some fairly recently). All the US got was Mother 2, known as Earthbound over here. The really sad part is how we don't even have Earthbound on the Virtual Console. It's another game I've always wanted to play but still haven't.
Now, the chances of Nintendo's Big Announcement being a new Mother game are almost as low as those of it being a Zelda game. But still, one can hope, right?
All I really want it to be is something that we don't have to wait more than a year for. After Smash Bros., I don't know if I'll be able to stand something hyped so much and delayed so many times. It makes waiting for it rather annoying.
Anyway, speaking of Nintendo, I'm a bit excited about WiiWare, if only because it may entirely crush the constant flow of lame Wii games. Independent developers can now make their own Wii games and sell them for whatever price they want, and we've already gotten announcements about really cool things like Defend Your Castle (a funny little Flash game) being significantly upgraded and sold for only five dollars.
This is really cool, because hopefully nobody will be buying those lame full-priced games anymore, and developers will stop making them.
Hopefully.
If not, it's still like they're getting seriously made fun of; "Haha, look, we're an independent studio nobody's heard of, and we made a decent game and it only costs five dollars. You're a big commercial developer, yet you made a stupid game everyone knows is trash, and it costs ten times as much!"
If poor sales don't discourage them, maybe that effect will.
But, regardless, it means opportunities for independent developers. Very cool.
Hmm, I wonder if Aaron Bishop will pursue WiiWare?
...Yeah, it's never going to happen. He even said, after making Soulfu, that he was never ever making any games again.
...But he said that after Egoboo, too....
Well, I guess I'll wrap this up; I have nothing else to say right now. Maybe tomorrow's post will be longer.
"I can't think of any funny quotes, and I'm too lazy to find one."
--Me
:::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
Monday, March 17, 2008
Smash Bros.... again. Of course.
I'm still not back to posting regularly yet. It's pretty horrible, I know. I just need to get back into some kind of routine.... It seems the opinion that I should continue posting every day was unanimous. Yes, all two of you were in agreement.
Oh, and now that I've brought that up: Whoever voted, let me know (just comment here, even if you're Seth [ XD ]), and if you haven't voted yet, please do, even if you hardly come here. You can still have an opinion, right?
Anyhow, SSBB is still awesome.
For starters, you know how I said there were something like a hundred songs in the game? Well, I said that because at the time it seemed like a really big number (it is a really big number). In reality, though, there are over three hundred songs. Some of them are originals ripped right from the games they came from (particularly the ones from more recent games), but a huge amount is either rearranged or totally new and exclusive to Brawl.
We just got a message saying we got two hundred songs, I believe. Of course, you start with a lot of those, so it's not that we unlocked that many.
We've now officially unlocked all of the characters now. Oddly, Jigglypuff used to be the easiest character to unlock, but she was the last one we got this time. She seems just as cool, but her special moves seem to be a bit underpowered, or "nerfed" (I have no idea where the expression came from, perhaps Nerf darts and footballs and whatnot, which are soft and foamy?), now. Still, she's a really fun character. You have to focus on stealth, and it's best if you're playing with people who don't realize her power. They don't pay attention, then you come right next to them and... fall asleep? Seriously, though, those of you familiar with the series will know that this brings an almost-certain KO to anybody with a decent amount of damage (on average around 60%, but it varies by character weight).
Well, you may be wondering what my favorite characters are. Well, I've played a bit with Ganondorf, Luigi, and Mr. Game and Watch, which were some of my favorites from Melee, and they play pretty much the same, but seem to be adjusted to be even nicer -- particularly Mr. Game and Watch, who now has a working parachute (triggered by his up-special) and a new standard-air attack ( a fish bowl that splashes stuff out). Anyway, once I found out they were still cool, I went on to playing with new characters, and I have four that I really like to play as. I'll give a brief description of them and why I like them, and put them in order of preference.
After the novelty wears off, I may go back to using my old standbys more often, but I don't know. It's hard to choose, because all thirty-five characters are really, really fun and cool. There are no bad, dumb, or "cheap" characters. I figure I'll eventually get to the point where I find myself sticking my token on the "random" space more than anything else.
Well, on to the list:
Lucario
I would have liked Lucario, even if he was... a Jigglypuff clone. Not that I don't like Jigglypuff. It's just that it wouldn't make any sense, is all. Of course, Lucario is not a Jigglypuff clone. In fact, no matter what you hear about him being a Mewtwo clone, he is absolutely not a clone of any other character in this game or any previous ones; he's unique.
Lucario is a medium-speed character with fairly powerful attacks. His physical attacks are powered by his Aura (for the purposes of simplification, it's "blue and purple glowing stuff"), which lets the range of the attack extend beyond the reach of his limbs. He's pretty strong, and here's the best part: the damage and knockback of his attacks increases depending on how much damage you've taken. The most noticeable result of this is that his standard special move, Aura sphere (a ball of energy that charges up and damages people even when you're still holding it; pretty much just like Mewtwo's in Melee) increases in size considerably when you've taken a lot of damage. It's also more powerful, just like everything else.
As for his other special moves: His up-special is Extremespeed, which causes Lucario to pause for a short amount of time -- allowing you to direct it with the joystick -- and then fire off very quickly. It's a useful recovery move, as you can also direct it mid-flight (though that takes some amount of reflex, as he moves very quickly) and move in nice arcs. His side-special is Force Palm, which basically just stops you and fires a little burst of blue energy in the direction you're facing. If you're right up close to the foe, it focuses the attack near you and can be pretty powerful. His down-special is Double Team. It's a lot like the Counter move Marth and Ike have; if someone attacks you right after you execute the attack, Lucario will dash towards them and smash right trough them. It can be lethal if they're at high enough damage levels, but if nobody attacks, you're left wide open to be hit, because the move takes a bit of time to finish.
Lucario's Final Smash is Aura Blast (or something along those lines), in which Lucario flies into the background, screams something about the power of Aura, and proceeds to pretty much annihilate anyone and everyone you want to. He fires a beam straight downward, but you can move it left and right quite a bit. Still, on larger stages, it's possible to hide in corners and avoid the beam entirely. If it hits, it sucks them in and damages them a lot, and when the beam finishes, it blasts everyone inside it away.
So anyhow, Lucario is a really interesting character, and I've been doing really well with him.
Toon Link
There's not as much to say about this one. Toon Link is a lot like plain-ol' Link, but weaker, faster, and with more jumping power. He also looks really spiffy and his bombs have cool 2D-effect explosions like in Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. I'm just going to assume you're familiar with Link's moveset, so I can just use this section to compare the two characters. You're probably not, but if you don't have much interest in Smash Bros., you're probably not very interested in this post, either, so... yeah. : ) (Don't worry, I jump around with different topics a lot, so there will be more interesting posts for you in the future.)
Most of Toon Link's sword attacks are essentially the same as Link's, but some things are a bit different, like his up-smash and his air attacks. His down-air is pretty lethal; if the target is in the air, they go straight down, and if they're on the ground, they fly away pretty far. It's a lot like Link's down-air in the first game, which if I recall correctly was a very deadly move (it's been a while). I haven't played all that much as Link in Brawl, but I think I can safely say that Toon Link's aerial attacks are better than Link's. It may be just a proportionate difference in that his other attacks are not as strong. His special attacks are more or less the same but slightly weaker; his arrow, I think, flies straighter but does less damage, his bombs seem to be the same, but cooler-looking and weaker, and his boomerang is a lot larger, but it doesn't have the new tornado effect that was added to Link's in Brawl. Toon Link's spin attack does that nice little sucking thing Young Link's did in Melee, wherein when it hits someone, they're sort of trapped and get tossed around in the sword's spin.
Toon Link's Final Smash is the Triforce Slash, and, as far as I can tell, is exactly like Link's. It may have a subtle difference, though, a bit like the differences between the Landmasters (I always laugh at Landmasters, but it's a long story, and I think I may have covered it earlier; regardless, you'll hear about it pretty soon here, though not today.) of Falco, Fox, and Wolf (By the way, Wolf is actually one of the most different of all "clones"), or the difference between the Light Arrows of Sheik and Zelda forms.
In general, Toon Link is a lighter, faster, and weaker version of Link. It makes them sound similar, but they really are considerably different, and I much prefer Toon Link, as Link is just too slow for me now (I think he's been slowed down for this game).
Sonic
Sonic is really, really, really fast. You'd think he'd get a lot of SDs (Self-destructs), but if you have good reflexes, you can stay alive with him for a very long time. As Sakurai hinted in an interview, the third-party characters (Sonic and Snake) play differently than the Nintendo ones. They still fit in really well, but they just seem... different. It's a bit hard to explain until you've played. Basically, Snake is a non-direct character that uses weapons for a great majority of his attacks -- not just his special moves. Sonic, on the other hand, is just... really, really fast. And he moves really fluidly; he's a great combo-using character.
Sonic's standard special move is a homing attack, like he uses in Sonic Adventure and its sequel. You press the button and he floats up in the air, spins around, then zeroes in on nearby characters. He flies into them and bounces back a little; it can be chained pretty well (with itself I mean; you can do it several times in a row quite effectively). His side-special is a charged attack; you hold it down and you spin around, and when you release the button, he hops in the air a bit and dashes to the side. The longer you charge it for, the longer it lasts, and you can change directions as much as you want. It's a lot like Yoshi's Egg Roll attack. Sonic's down-special is similar to his side-special, but you have to tap the special move button rapidly to charge it. You also fall to the ground before using it, so it's useless for recovery, unlike the side-special. I believe when using the down-special, characters are knocked away more than they are from the side-special, but I'm not entirely sure; it's been a bit since I've played as Sonic (I've been playing a lot as Toon Link, since we unlocked him quite recently).
His up-special is a spring, which launches you into the air. It's a great recovery move, and the spring damages people slightly as it spins around in the air. If you use it on the ground instead, the spring stays on the ground and other people can use it, too.
For his Final Smash, Sonic becomes Super Sonic, flying around the screen and harming anyone he touches. You are no longer affected by gravity and are completely invincible for the duration of the attack.
The thing I like most about Sonic is how surprisingly nostalgic it is to play as him. You'd think he'd be based more off his more recent (and not as good) 3D games, but it's a lot like playing an old Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog game. I really love his sounds (particularly the one for the spring), and his down-special reminds me a lot of Sonic 2.
Wario
Wario is a really quirky character, but I find it pretty fun to play as him, though I haven't been using him as much as the other three I've already listed.
His standard special move is a bite. He can eat almost any item, including his own motorcycle, and if he eats a character, he'll chew them up for a while (which damages them) and spit them out. His side-special is his motorcycle. You take it out and can drive around; it turns slowly but can otherwise move very quickly and damage anything it runs into. Eventually you'll fall off, and the motorcycle can be picked up and thrown around like any other heavy item (like a barrel, for example). This applies to anyone, not just Wario, so other people can use his motorcycle as a weapon against him. Eventually it will break into pieces, which can also be thrown around. You can use your motorcycle again once it's gone, but you can't have more than one out at a time.
Wario just jumps and spins around for his up-special. It's a decent recovery move and does some damage, but there's nothing particularly different about it. The down-special doesn't really do much unless you haven't used it for quite a while (Wario will start to flash), in which case it will make a large explosion, which is quite dangerous and makes Wario fly upwards.
I was pretty surprised with how much I liked using Wario. I really like the way he moves, which is reminiscent of the Gameboy Wario Land games. It's particularly funny when he gets hit, and flies back shaking with a goofy expression. He's undoubtedly a weird character, but for the most part, that just makes him more interesting to play as.
Still, I played him less and less as we got more characters. Now I pretty much just use Lucario or Toon Link, occasionally switching to Sonic, and sometimes using Wario. Again, though, I'll probably use a larger variety of characters as time goes on.
Now that we've unlocked all the characters, I'll try to post how we got them, while it's still fresh in my mind (though I don't know if I'll remember everything). This isn't really so you can know how to unlock them, since there's several ways to get each one, and you could find out all the methods on the Internet pretty easily.
This is mainly just in case you were curious as to how we got them.
(This isn't really the order we got them in, because I don't quite remember, but I figure it's fairly close)
-To get Ness we played five matches (which, obviously, was very easy to do).
-For Marth we played ten matches (also very simple).
-Seth got Captain Falcon by beating Classic Mode in under twelve minutes (it was actually the first time anyone played that mode).
-I unlocked Ganondorf by beating Classic Mode on Hard with Link.
-I think we got Luigi by playing 22 matches, but it may have been by someone beating Classic Mode without using continue, which is another method of unlocking him.
-For Falco, I believe, we did fifty matches.
-Seth and I got Lucario by beating all five levels of Target Test (which you can do with two people now). This is actually slightly harder than you'd think, as you have to beat Classic Mode on higher difficultly settings to get more levels of Target Test.
-I still don't know what we did to get Sonic. It was after a versus match, but you're supposed to need 300 matches to get him that way, and we were only at around seventy. It may have been from total KOs or combined play time.
-We (mostly this was Andy and Seth) played fifteen matches on Shadow Moses Island to get Snake (so, obviously, we could have gotten him pretty quickly, but didn't).
-We played 160 matches to unlock R.O.B.
-I had Mr. Game and Watch join my team in the Subspace Emissary (adventure mode), which consequently unlocked him for regular play.
-For Toon Link, I beat the Subspace Emissary, then John completed Classic Mode with Link.
-Seth got Wolf by beating the Boss Battle mode (which is unlocked after you beat the Subspace Emissary) with Fox. This wasn't too hard, though, as he just set it to Easy.
-I unlocked Jigglypuff by beating the Subspace Emissary, then playing Event Match #20.
...So as you can see, we unlocked them in many different ways. I don't think there are all that many people who will unlock (or have unlocked already) all of the characters using the same methods, unless they just do the same thing a lot, like playing a ton of Brawls in a row (if you play 450 you can unlock everyone) or exploring every inch of the Subspace Emissary to get every character. I guess this wouldn't be as uncommon if it was just one person playing the game, though.
Yes, it only took about a week to get every character, but realize that there are a lot of people playing the game, so it's a lot easier for us.
This post ended up getting rather long (or at least of a decent length), so I'm just going to stop here.
Hopefully I'll get a post in tomorrow.
And hopefully Wednesday too.
And Thursday.
...We'll see....
::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
Oh, and now that I've brought that up: Whoever voted, let me know (just comment here, even if you're Seth [ XD ]), and if you haven't voted yet, please do, even if you hardly come here. You can still have an opinion, right?
Anyhow, SSBB is still awesome.
For starters, you know how I said there were something like a hundred songs in the game? Well, I said that because at the time it seemed like a really big number (it is a really big number). In reality, though, there are over three hundred songs. Some of them are originals ripped right from the games they came from (particularly the ones from more recent games), but a huge amount is either rearranged or totally new and exclusive to Brawl.
We just got a message saying we got two hundred songs, I believe. Of course, you start with a lot of those, so it's not that we unlocked that many.
We've now officially unlocked all of the characters now. Oddly, Jigglypuff used to be the easiest character to unlock, but she was the last one we got this time. She seems just as cool, but her special moves seem to be a bit underpowered, or "nerfed" (I have no idea where the expression came from, perhaps Nerf darts and footballs and whatnot, which are soft and foamy?), now. Still, she's a really fun character. You have to focus on stealth, and it's best if you're playing with people who don't realize her power. They don't pay attention, then you come right next to them and... fall asleep? Seriously, though, those of you familiar with the series will know that this brings an almost-certain KO to anybody with a decent amount of damage (on average around 60%, but it varies by character weight).
Well, you may be wondering what my favorite characters are. Well, I've played a bit with Ganondorf, Luigi, and Mr. Game and Watch, which were some of my favorites from Melee, and they play pretty much the same, but seem to be adjusted to be even nicer -- particularly Mr. Game and Watch, who now has a working parachute (triggered by his up-special) and a new standard-air attack ( a fish bowl that splashes stuff out). Anyway, once I found out they were still cool, I went on to playing with new characters, and I have four that I really like to play as. I'll give a brief description of them and why I like them, and put them in order of preference.
After the novelty wears off, I may go back to using my old standbys more often, but I don't know. It's hard to choose, because all thirty-five characters are really, really fun and cool. There are no bad, dumb, or "cheap" characters. I figure I'll eventually get to the point where I find myself sticking my token on the "random" space more than anything else.
Well, on to the list:
Lucario
I would have liked Lucario, even if he was... a Jigglypuff clone. Not that I don't like Jigglypuff. It's just that it wouldn't make any sense, is all. Of course, Lucario is not a Jigglypuff clone. In fact, no matter what you hear about him being a Mewtwo clone, he is absolutely not a clone of any other character in this game or any previous ones; he's unique.
Lucario is a medium-speed character with fairly powerful attacks. His physical attacks are powered by his Aura (for the purposes of simplification, it's "blue and purple glowing stuff"), which lets the range of the attack extend beyond the reach of his limbs. He's pretty strong, and here's the best part: the damage and knockback of his attacks increases depending on how much damage you've taken. The most noticeable result of this is that his standard special move, Aura sphere (a ball of energy that charges up and damages people even when you're still holding it; pretty much just like Mewtwo's in Melee) increases in size considerably when you've taken a lot of damage. It's also more powerful, just like everything else.
As for his other special moves: His up-special is Extremespeed, which causes Lucario to pause for a short amount of time -- allowing you to direct it with the joystick -- and then fire off very quickly. It's a useful recovery move, as you can also direct it mid-flight (though that takes some amount of reflex, as he moves very quickly) and move in nice arcs. His side-special is Force Palm, which basically just stops you and fires a little burst of blue energy in the direction you're facing. If you're right up close to the foe, it focuses the attack near you and can be pretty powerful. His down-special is Double Team. It's a lot like the Counter move Marth and Ike have; if someone attacks you right after you execute the attack, Lucario will dash towards them and smash right trough them. It can be lethal if they're at high enough damage levels, but if nobody attacks, you're left wide open to be hit, because the move takes a bit of time to finish.
Lucario's Final Smash is Aura Blast (or something along those lines), in which Lucario flies into the background, screams something about the power of Aura, and proceeds to pretty much annihilate anyone and everyone you want to. He fires a beam straight downward, but you can move it left and right quite a bit. Still, on larger stages, it's possible to hide in corners and avoid the beam entirely. If it hits, it sucks them in and damages them a lot, and when the beam finishes, it blasts everyone inside it away.
So anyhow, Lucario is a really interesting character, and I've been doing really well with him.
Toon Link
There's not as much to say about this one. Toon Link is a lot like plain-ol' Link, but weaker, faster, and with more jumping power. He also looks really spiffy and his bombs have cool 2D-effect explosions like in Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. I'm just going to assume you're familiar with Link's moveset, so I can just use this section to compare the two characters. You're probably not, but if you don't have much interest in Smash Bros., you're probably not very interested in this post, either, so... yeah. : ) (Don't worry, I jump around with different topics a lot, so there will be more interesting posts for you in the future.)
Most of Toon Link's sword attacks are essentially the same as Link's, but some things are a bit different, like his up-smash and his air attacks. His down-air is pretty lethal; if the target is in the air, they go straight down, and if they're on the ground, they fly away pretty far. It's a lot like Link's down-air in the first game, which if I recall correctly was a very deadly move (it's been a while). I haven't played all that much as Link in Brawl, but I think I can safely say that Toon Link's aerial attacks are better than Link's. It may be just a proportionate difference in that his other attacks are not as strong. His special attacks are more or less the same but slightly weaker; his arrow, I think, flies straighter but does less damage, his bombs seem to be the same, but cooler-looking and weaker, and his boomerang is a lot larger, but it doesn't have the new tornado effect that was added to Link's in Brawl. Toon Link's spin attack does that nice little sucking thing Young Link's did in Melee, wherein when it hits someone, they're sort of trapped and get tossed around in the sword's spin.
Toon Link's Final Smash is the Triforce Slash, and, as far as I can tell, is exactly like Link's. It may have a subtle difference, though, a bit like the differences between the Landmasters (I always laugh at Landmasters, but it's a long story, and I think I may have covered it earlier; regardless, you'll hear about it pretty soon here, though not today.) of Falco, Fox, and Wolf (By the way, Wolf is actually one of the most different of all "clones"), or the difference between the Light Arrows of Sheik and Zelda forms.
In general, Toon Link is a lighter, faster, and weaker version of Link. It makes them sound similar, but they really are considerably different, and I much prefer Toon Link, as Link is just too slow for me now (I think he's been slowed down for this game).
Sonic
Sonic is really, really, really fast. You'd think he'd get a lot of SDs (Self-destructs), but if you have good reflexes, you can stay alive with him for a very long time. As Sakurai hinted in an interview, the third-party characters (Sonic and Snake) play differently than the Nintendo ones. They still fit in really well, but they just seem... different. It's a bit hard to explain until you've played. Basically, Snake is a non-direct character that uses weapons for a great majority of his attacks -- not just his special moves. Sonic, on the other hand, is just... really, really fast. And he moves really fluidly; he's a great combo-using character.
Sonic's standard special move is a homing attack, like he uses in Sonic Adventure and its sequel. You press the button and he floats up in the air, spins around, then zeroes in on nearby characters. He flies into them and bounces back a little; it can be chained pretty well (with itself I mean; you can do it several times in a row quite effectively). His side-special is a charged attack; you hold it down and you spin around, and when you release the button, he hops in the air a bit and dashes to the side. The longer you charge it for, the longer it lasts, and you can change directions as much as you want. It's a lot like Yoshi's Egg Roll attack. Sonic's down-special is similar to his side-special, but you have to tap the special move button rapidly to charge it. You also fall to the ground before using it, so it's useless for recovery, unlike the side-special. I believe when using the down-special, characters are knocked away more than they are from the side-special, but I'm not entirely sure; it's been a bit since I've played as Sonic (I've been playing a lot as Toon Link, since we unlocked him quite recently).
His up-special is a spring, which launches you into the air. It's a great recovery move, and the spring damages people slightly as it spins around in the air. If you use it on the ground instead, the spring stays on the ground and other people can use it, too.
For his Final Smash, Sonic becomes Super Sonic, flying around the screen and harming anyone he touches. You are no longer affected by gravity and are completely invincible for the duration of the attack.
The thing I like most about Sonic is how surprisingly nostalgic it is to play as him. You'd think he'd be based more off his more recent (and not as good) 3D games, but it's a lot like playing an old Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog game. I really love his sounds (particularly the one for the spring), and his down-special reminds me a lot of Sonic 2.
Wario
Wario is a really quirky character, but I find it pretty fun to play as him, though I haven't been using him as much as the other three I've already listed.
His standard special move is a bite. He can eat almost any item, including his own motorcycle, and if he eats a character, he'll chew them up for a while (which damages them) and spit them out. His side-special is his motorcycle. You take it out and can drive around; it turns slowly but can otherwise move very quickly and damage anything it runs into. Eventually you'll fall off, and the motorcycle can be picked up and thrown around like any other heavy item (like a barrel, for example). This applies to anyone, not just Wario, so other people can use his motorcycle as a weapon against him. Eventually it will break into pieces, which can also be thrown around. You can use your motorcycle again once it's gone, but you can't have more than one out at a time.
Wario just jumps and spins around for his up-special. It's a decent recovery move and does some damage, but there's nothing particularly different about it. The down-special doesn't really do much unless you haven't used it for quite a while (Wario will start to flash), in which case it will make a large explosion, which is quite dangerous and makes Wario fly upwards.
I was pretty surprised with how much I liked using Wario. I really like the way he moves, which is reminiscent of the Gameboy Wario Land games. It's particularly funny when he gets hit, and flies back shaking with a goofy expression. He's undoubtedly a weird character, but for the most part, that just makes him more interesting to play as.
Still, I played him less and less as we got more characters. Now I pretty much just use Lucario or Toon Link, occasionally switching to Sonic, and sometimes using Wario. Again, though, I'll probably use a larger variety of characters as time goes on.
Now that we've unlocked all the characters, I'll try to post how we got them, while it's still fresh in my mind (though I don't know if I'll remember everything). This isn't really so you can know how to unlock them, since there's several ways to get each one, and you could find out all the methods on the Internet pretty easily.
This is mainly just in case you were curious as to how we got them.
(This isn't really the order we got them in, because I don't quite remember, but I figure it's fairly close)
-To get Ness we played five matches (which, obviously, was very easy to do).
-For Marth we played ten matches (also very simple).
-Seth got Captain Falcon by beating Classic Mode in under twelve minutes (it was actually the first time anyone played that mode).
-I unlocked Ganondorf by beating Classic Mode on Hard with Link.
-I think we got Luigi by playing 22 matches, but it may have been by someone beating Classic Mode without using continue, which is another method of unlocking him.
-For Falco, I believe, we did fifty matches.
-Seth and I got Lucario by beating all five levels of Target Test (which you can do with two people now). This is actually slightly harder than you'd think, as you have to beat Classic Mode on higher difficultly settings to get more levels of Target Test.
-I still don't know what we did to get Sonic. It was after a versus match, but you're supposed to need 300 matches to get him that way, and we were only at around seventy. It may have been from total KOs or combined play time.
-We (mostly this was Andy and Seth) played fifteen matches on Shadow Moses Island to get Snake (so, obviously, we could have gotten him pretty quickly, but didn't).
-We played 160 matches to unlock R.O.B.
-I had Mr. Game and Watch join my team in the Subspace Emissary (adventure mode), which consequently unlocked him for regular play.
-For Toon Link, I beat the Subspace Emissary, then John completed Classic Mode with Link.
-Seth got Wolf by beating the Boss Battle mode (which is unlocked after you beat the Subspace Emissary) with Fox. This wasn't too hard, though, as he just set it to Easy.
-I unlocked Jigglypuff by beating the Subspace Emissary, then playing Event Match #20.
...So as you can see, we unlocked them in many different ways. I don't think there are all that many people who will unlock (or have unlocked already) all of the characters using the same methods, unless they just do the same thing a lot, like playing a ton of Brawls in a row (if you play 450 you can unlock everyone) or exploring every inch of the Subspace Emissary to get every character. I guess this wouldn't be as uncommon if it was just one person playing the game, though.
Yes, it only took about a week to get every character, but realize that there are a lot of people playing the game, so it's a lot easier for us.
This post ended up getting rather long (or at least of a decent length), so I'm just going to stop here.
Hopefully I'll get a post in tomorrow.
And hopefully Wednesday too.
And Thursday.
...We'll see....
"You must recover!"
--Oft-repeated Masahiro Sakurai quote, from the Smash Bros. Dojo
::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Why I have not posted in a long time
Firstly, this is my fortieth post. Woohoo!
Moving on; why haven't I posted in a while? Well, bottom line is, I'm lazy.
A big reason should be that I'm working on my writing thing for TFC, I guess. But I haven't been completely busy with that; I probably should be working on it more, but now that I think about it it really isn't a whole lot of work.
Anyway, huge reason for the last couple days: Smash Bros.
Obviously.
Yeah, I know, I said last couple days; we only got it yesterday. I didn't really want to go to all the hassle of buying it on launch day, and having to wait in lines at midnight or something, so I suggested we get it on the eleventh, since that was the release date for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (for DS), and I could get that too.
Unfortunately, it didn't work that way.
So we go to Target to buy SSBB, and hopefully FFCC:RoF too. We discover that the store does not have a large selection of games, and actually has several of the same game on different racks, to sort of make it look like they have more or something. I dunno. They had pretty much no new DS games, and even some of the instant classics (Tetris? NSMB?) that every store should still carry weren't there. So obviously they had no Ring of Fates. They did, however, have three rows of Smash Bros. Seth, Molly, John, Nate, and I all pitched in money to get the game (so naturally it hardly cost anyone anything). I asked about RoF, and the lady there claimed they already had it (most stores do get games early, especially big ones) but weren't allowed to sell it until next week. What?! Who lied to them? Cruel. Maybe they just misunderstood. I don't know. I then went into Wal-Mart (which was right by Target; this often happens and I have to wonder whether they have a lot of competition going on) to check if they didn't have it either. A much more ignorant (or "uninformed," if that sounds too insulting to you) employee said something along the lines of: "... What game now? ... If it's not on the shelf... we don't have it. Yeah, we don't have it; it's not there."
That was not helpful, did not answer my question, and was also an untrue generalization (specifically, the "if-it's-not-on-the-shelf-we-don't-have-it" part).
Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the game sometime this week.
Anyway, that was pretty disappointing, since at that point I was looking forward to that game even more than I was to Brawl. Pretty much the only reason for this was that I don't have to wait my turn to play the game... =D
So moving on. I'm sure one question is plaguing your mind: "Is the game really that cool?"
NO DUH!
I was surprised in that it plays just like its predecessor, Melee (you can even play with Gamecube controllers, which is the only thing I've tried so far). This is really a good thing, since it didn't require getting used to many new things.
That said, if you want to massively simplify the entire thing into one sentence: It's SSBM with tons of extra stuff.
Again, though, this is not a bad thing. It is a very, very good thing. Because when I say tons, I mean TONS. We don't have many characters, stages, or music "CDs", but we do have a decent (though smallish) chunk unlocked, and have been enjoying it a lot.
As for what we actually have, well.... We've unlocked maybe five to ten CDs (which give you new background music, all of which is spectacular), out of a hundred or so, I believe. We've unlocked only one stage that I can think of, Luigi's Mansion. So there are quite a few more to do; I'm not sure of the exact number. The characters we've unlocked so far are Ness, Marth, Luigi, Falco Lombardi, Captain Falcon, Lucario, and Ganondorf. That leaves seven more (Solid Snake, ROB, Mr. Game and Watch, Sonic, Jigglypuff, Toon Link, and Wolf O'Donnell), so we're halfway there. Some of the characters are pretty hard to unlock, though.
I want to play online, but don't have any friends to play with yet, so those of you with the game, be sure to comment with your friend codes (which, remember, are separate from your actual Wii number)
Anyhow, enough with that subject. Cool news.
Are you ready for this?
I found an MMO...
That I like...
A lot.
Whoah?
The reason I like it is because it's so different. It's called Mabinogi: Fantasy Life (link), and it's made by Nexon (which also has made other games, like Maple Story for example).
It's quite different, and, like PlaneShift (a game I've mentioned a few times before), does not pressure you into being the best or strongest player. You don't even have to focus on combat if you don't want to; you can basically do whatever you want.
There are a lot of neat features in it, like a system that allows you to compose your own music and play it on instruments (The only ones I've encountered are the lute, ukulele, and mandolin, but I know there are many more). Another interesting thing is that you actually have to take care of your character. If you fall in battle, you don't actually die, but your character can die (permanently) of old age. If you eat a lot, you become fat, and if you don't eat enough, you become thin. I'm not sure yet, but I think poor health can shorten your lifespan. Of course, there are actually some advantages to being weighty, like the fact that you won't get knocked back as far when you take damage. One would think there are many disadvantages, but I'm not sure what they are yet (my character is pretty fit right now).
I've been playing since last Thursday (so almost a week), and I'm doing quite well. I've already earned a nifty title for my character (Makli "the bear slayer with bare hands"), and have some nice equipment and good skills too.
I'll probably say more about it later, but for now I'm going to cut this short to play some Brawl. XD
:::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
Moving on; why haven't I posted in a while? Well, bottom line is, I'm lazy.
A big reason should be that I'm working on my writing thing for TFC, I guess. But I haven't been completely busy with that; I probably should be working on it more, but now that I think about it it really isn't a whole lot of work.
Anyway, huge reason for the last couple days: Smash Bros.
Obviously.
Yeah, I know, I said last couple days; we only got it yesterday. I didn't really want to go to all the hassle of buying it on launch day, and having to wait in lines at midnight or something, so I suggested we get it on the eleventh, since that was the release date for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (for DS), and I could get that too.
Unfortunately, it didn't work that way.
So we go to Target to buy SSBB, and hopefully FFCC:RoF too. We discover that the store does not have a large selection of games, and actually has several of the same game on different racks, to sort of make it look like they have more or something. I dunno. They had pretty much no new DS games, and even some of the instant classics (Tetris? NSMB?) that every store should still carry weren't there. So obviously they had no Ring of Fates. They did, however, have three rows of Smash Bros. Seth, Molly, John, Nate, and I all pitched in money to get the game (so naturally it hardly cost anyone anything). I asked about RoF, and the lady there claimed they already had it (most stores do get games early, especially big ones) but weren't allowed to sell it until next week. What?! Who lied to them? Cruel. Maybe they just misunderstood. I don't know. I then went into Wal-Mart (which was right by Target; this often happens and I have to wonder whether they have a lot of competition going on) to check if they didn't have it either. A much more ignorant (or "uninformed," if that sounds too insulting to you) employee said something along the lines of: "... What game now? ... If it's not on the shelf... we don't have it. Yeah, we don't have it; it's not there."
That was not helpful, did not answer my question, and was also an untrue generalization (specifically, the "if-it's-not-on-the-shelf-we-don't-have-it" part).
Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the game sometime this week.
Anyway, that was pretty disappointing, since at that point I was looking forward to that game even more than I was to Brawl. Pretty much the only reason for this was that I don't have to wait my turn to play the game... =D
So moving on. I'm sure one question is plaguing your mind: "Is the game really that cool?"
NO DUH!
I was surprised in that it plays just like its predecessor, Melee (you can even play with Gamecube controllers, which is the only thing I've tried so far). This is really a good thing, since it didn't require getting used to many new things.
That said, if you want to massively simplify the entire thing into one sentence: It's SSBM with tons of extra stuff.
Again, though, this is not a bad thing. It is a very, very good thing. Because when I say tons, I mean TONS. We don't have many characters, stages, or music "CDs", but we do have a decent (though smallish) chunk unlocked, and have been enjoying it a lot.
As for what we actually have, well.... We've unlocked maybe five to ten CDs (which give you new background music, all of which is spectacular), out of a hundred or so, I believe. We've unlocked only one stage that I can think of, Luigi's Mansion. So there are quite a few more to do; I'm not sure of the exact number. The characters we've unlocked so far are Ness, Marth, Luigi, Falco Lombardi, Captain Falcon, Lucario, and Ganondorf. That leaves seven more (Solid Snake, ROB, Mr. Game and Watch, Sonic, Jigglypuff, Toon Link, and Wolf O'Donnell), so we're halfway there. Some of the characters are pretty hard to unlock, though.
I want to play online, but don't have any friends to play with yet, so those of you with the game, be sure to comment with your friend codes (which, remember, are separate from your actual Wii number)
Anyhow, enough with that subject. Cool news.
Are you ready for this?
I found an MMO...
That I like...
A lot.
Whoah?
The reason I like it is because it's so different. It's called Mabinogi: Fantasy Life (link), and it's made by Nexon (which also has made other games, like Maple Story for example).
It's quite different, and, like PlaneShift (a game I've mentioned a few times before), does not pressure you into being the best or strongest player. You don't even have to focus on combat if you don't want to; you can basically do whatever you want.
There are a lot of neat features in it, like a system that allows you to compose your own music and play it on instruments (The only ones I've encountered are the lute, ukulele, and mandolin, but I know there are many more). Another interesting thing is that you actually have to take care of your character. If you fall in battle, you don't actually die, but your character can die (permanently) of old age. If you eat a lot, you become fat, and if you don't eat enough, you become thin. I'm not sure yet, but I think poor health can shorten your lifespan. Of course, there are actually some advantages to being weighty, like the fact that you won't get knocked back as far when you take damage. One would think there are many disadvantages, but I'm not sure what they are yet (my character is pretty fit right now).
I've been playing since last Thursday (so almost a week), and I'm doing quite well. I've already earned a nifty title for my character (Makli "the bear slayer with bare hands"), and have some nice equipment and good skills too.
I'll probably say more about it later, but for now I'm going to cut this short to play some Brawl. XD
"I'm allergic to raisins! ...and oatmeal. ......and cookies."
--Pip (of fredthemonkey dot com), when offered an oatmeal raisin cookie
:::Source= Paul M-unit 19.91 MKII
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