K Dash

04.30.2010

Update for the character section of the KOF XIII announces K'. Nothing much has changed in his appearance except for the fact that he is now wearing his shades while fighting.

He is named K Dash (or sometimes referred to as K Prime). He was first seen as the new protagonist for the NEST arc of the series. He had been infused with Kyo's DNA that's where he got his flame powers while Krizalid in turn was cloned from his DNA. Maxima has been his partner in all his missions. Kula was introduced in '00 as the Anti-K, the one designed to assassinate the NEST traitor, wielding ice as an opposite force to his flame. After the destruction of NEST in '01, K' and Kula reconciled and became allies. They fought together against Magaki in XI.

My wishlist is to put Kula Diamond and Whip in his team, but it's probable they'd only pick one of them and then throw in Maxima. But who cares, K's team is getting a new look. I just love it!

New SSF4 Alt Costumes

Still done by KAiWAi, these are not official alt costumes. These are fanmade and look much better than those designed by Capcom itself. hahah

T. Hawk as The Eagle, or is it Tizoc?

Gouki wearing torn gi ala Ryu's alt Costume from SFIV.

Adon wearing a Casual Jaguar costume.

Hakan as OMG Rockman. The red one looks like Ultraman?!

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Source: KAiWAi Alt Costumes

Hwa Jai

From the staff blog of the KOF XIII site, it mentioned the last loke test held at Shinjuku. It also mentioned the two additional character announced Takuma and Vice, and a hidden Muay Thai character. They featured a silhouette of him and it looks so much like Hwa Jai from Fatal Fury.

Hwa Jai is a Muay Thai fighter from Thailand, having mastered his own "Dragon Kick". He was supposedly under a severe alcohol addiction which led him to lose to Joe Higashi. He was hired by Geese Howard to face off against Joe once more in what is called King of Fighters '92.* After losing once again, he returned to the jungles of Thailand. He later became friends with Joe as sparring partner.

If Hwa Jai would be the one to complete Kim Kaphwan and Raiden's team, then they would be the second Fatal Fury team in XIII. I just hope they put in characters from Garou instead. Hoooowellll....

Update:

If you click on Team Kim on the Team Selections at the Characters section, you'll see Hwa Jai's profile is already up. I dunno why Kim always gets teamed up with evil characters. Look at Chang and Choi. But they have reformed since then. Now Hwa and Raiden.

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*Fatal Fury 1 was subtitled King of Fighters back in 1992

Vice and Takuma

KOF XIII Update
04.22.2010

The Japanese site has updated the character list to include Vice and Takuma. I have to say "told you so" but actually it's really that predictable. Vice is using her stance from '96, same way that Mature is. Takuma looks fatter and is using a new idle stance. He looks really scary.

Anyways, the site update also featured the NEO MAX and MAX Cancellation mode. I didn't get what the Neo max mode is for but it looks like you get free gauge for DMs. It costs you one stock to enter into this mode. Then you can Max cancel into an SDM for three power gauges and the entire neo max bar. I didn't like the rainbow spark animation used, Dream Cancelling was so much better. But its good to see Ash using Iori's purple flames, though the animation looks lame.



I really don't check the System section, but today I'm not that lazy. KOF XIII also features the EX system, which powers up some (or maybe all?) of the characters' special moves. The clip features Athena throwing an EX Psycho Ball. She delays for some frames while she is covered in blue aura, then releases the projectile which hits three times. It's good that KOF is finally able to use this, but Vampire series and SF3 had been using this decades ago.



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Source: Dengeki > Loke Test - Vice & Takuma

Marvel vs Capcom 3

Fate of Two Worlds
04.20.2010


When I was not expecting any sequel from the Marvel crossover franchise, here come Fate of the Two Worlds. Due to insistent public demand, and overflowing revenues from the rerelease of MVC2 over at PS3 and the XBOX360, another project came out from the giants in comics and arcade.

The game is made by the same team who did Tatsunoko vs Capcom. We see that the graphics from the trailer to be kinda like SF4 which is 3D-ish and all paint-brushy. 

The official Japanese site have the trailer for the game.



They announced six playable characters:

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Source: Destructoid > Marvel vs Capcom 3 Fate of Two Worlds

SSF4 Alternate Costumes

As made by Nicolas Decerf aka KAiWAi posted on WEarePES.com, here are the concept alternate costumes for the upcoming Super Street Fighter IV. This fanart emulates the stylings from official artworks complete with brush effects.

Ryu wearing casual clothes based on his anime appearance in SF II V. 

Jeans and chucks, seems like Terry Bogards' minus the vest and cap.

Ken cosplaying as Apollo Justice from Phoenix Wright series.

Also similar with Roy from Project Justice.

Chun-Li wearing her SF Zero series costume.

For sentimental purposes only. hahah

Guile cosplaying as Captain Commando.

It looks weird on Guile.

Lumberjack Zangief.

 Reminds me of Bunyan from Breath of Fire series.

 Bison in training gear.

Balrog as Geki from SF1 with Amaterasu wolf god's mask.

I'd like to see Balrog in matador costume like Lawrence Blood from Fatal Fury.

Sagat without his eyepatch wearing a freefight costume based of UFC.

Cammy in her SF Zero incarnation, Shadaloo Doll uniform.

I was expecting this uniform from the first installment.

Rose cosplaying as Pullum from SF EX.

Another similar costume would be Rouge's from Power Stone.

Guy cosplaying as Strider Hiryu.

Dan cosplaying Robert Garcia from the Art of Fighting 

and King of Fighters series.

Sakura cosplaying as Maki from Final Fight series.

Could've tried Karin's or Athena's costume.

Cody in his Final Fight Streetwise costume.

Dudley feeling retro wearing an old school type of boxing gear.

Ibuki's casual training uniform.

Or Sporty Spice?!

Makoto posing as a wanderer with torn garments.

Fanboys request female Abel's unused design.

Abel wearing a soccer uniform.

Viper as a secretary?! 

Looks more like Poison from Final Fight.

El Fuerte in Lucha Libre costume complete 

with championship belt and culinary symbols.

Santa Rufus. 

He doesn't look jolly to me.

Gouken wearing traditional shotokan karate gi.

Is this based on the SF 3 hoax?!

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Source: Streetfighter Thread > Alternate Costume - KAiWai

Vashj'ir

The site for the upcoming expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has been updated to include a new area, Vashj'ir. It is a new highlevel underwater zone. I'm just wondering how any player can raid this area without Unending Breath ability.

I'm also excited to see a Naga kingdom slash dungeon or something. It is supposed to be the ruin of the great city Vashj'ir. Judging on the early snapshots, we see naga inspired architecture. One of  the images shows a purple banner presumed to be of Azshara's accursed Highborne Nightelf followers.

Since Lady Vashj was already introduced in the second expansion, will she take part in this particular area? Would the beloved Great Queen Azshara grace us with her presence? Only tides can tell. [WTF that doesn't even mean a thing.]

Spoony Bard Post

Artwork for FF4 DS

Final Fantasy IV GBA

April 10, 2010

Today I've just finished playing FF4 for the GBA version. I've been retro about some of these games so I can relive the emotions. Choz! But this game has got to be the boring-est Final Fantasy ever. I mean the fight system just sucks. I know this was the first time the series put in the active time bar, but for them to not include memory setting in-battle is unforgiveable. Well, you could actually get the hang of it, but it certainly erased any chance for power-levelling via rapidfire. Actually, I'm just mad because I can't fastforward through my fights because the setting is always on 'Fight!'

Anyways, I don't think I'm writing a separate review on this game anymore. I'll just say it here: IT SUCKED! It's just bad that Cecil is one of the coolest heroes on the series* and this game doesn't give him justice. Wait, I just remembered Cecil and Rosa are on that underrated game Secret of Evermore running a store.

Anyways, I liked the Four Elemental Fiends concept borrowed from the original game of the series. The four named Scarmiliogne, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, and Rubicante are four devils said to inhabit Inferno in Dante's Divine Comedy, although they were named differently in the original SNES translation.

The sountrack is good though. Most memorable would be Theme of Love which they added vocals for the DS release. The other one is Dance of the Calcobrena which somehow reminds me of Succession of Witches from FFVIII**.



The sequel Final Fantasy IV: The After looks promising, though I'm not sure why it was titled that way. It's like the programmers were like:

Programmer 1: Hey let's make a new game! 
Programmer 2: Not another sequel for FF7 or FFX?! 
Programmer 1: No, no. Let's do something after FF4.
Programmer 2: Yes, where everyone's older and stuff. Let's call it IV-2!
Programmer 1: Done that. How about Final Fantasy IV After Crisis?
Programmer 2: Done that as well, but I like the 'After'
Programmer 1: Final Fantasy IV: The After?!
Programmer 2: After what?
Programmer 1: Dunno. You're the one who thought about it.
Programmer 2: Who cares. ZOMG it's time to harvest my pineapples...

That Ceodore dude looks as cool as his dad. And Palom and Porom have evolved from snotty brats. This game is a cross between the main title and Chrono Trigger so yeah I think that's way better. Just add in memory setting in-battle and it'll be perfect.

But going back, they thought Edward would save this game?! That spoony bard?! Grrr... I'm on Team Tellah yah know! I'll Meteor to death this game... just as soon as I charge up to 99 MP.


Overall Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 stars. I'm feeling kind today.

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*Physically and mentally: his transformation from dark to light as he conquers his internal demons.
**I know 4 came before 8 but I played 8 before 4.

Trema

Snapshot from gaiares on Youtube.

Nostalgia makes the heart feeble. It is the heart’s nemesis. Only one who renounces everything possesses the strength to transcend anything.

~Trema

At long last I was able to kill off that Trema under Bevelle's Via Infinito. It didn't even take me 30 minutes with him. Maybe if it did, my team would have died another batch. Angra Mainyu took me like 2 hours to kill.

Trema just looks like an old geezer, with torn robes. Somehow, he reminds me of Master Maechen, although I did like Maechen's speaking pattern, I hated how Trema speaks. Pyreflies can be seen trailing from behind him at one point. He uses his bare fist to inflict fast attacks.

Still, Trema could line up as one of Final Fantasy's long list of extreme bosses.

Background:

Trema is an Unsent lurking at the basement of Via Infinito's 100th level. He fights you after you defeat Paragon, which he finishes off with a flurry of palm strikes.

He is said to be the founder of New Yevon. He also started sphere hunting among Spira's youth. Fearing that the youth had no foes to slash their swords with but only shadows, he devised a plan of erasing Spira's past by destroying spheres hunted below Bevelle. In there his power grew.

Strategy: 

Well, there's tons of strategies out there on the web. I did stick with the Catnip/Gunner combo. I even forget to equip Defensive Bracers. A must have is the Valiant Lustre and walking around the garment grid. Good thing sphere changing doesn't take ATB charges. I found it useful to cast Light and Lunar Curtains which absorbs much of the damage received. You can also cast Chocobo Wings though it doesn't make much of a difference. Never forget to use Target MP or Soul Spring to prevent him from casting Ultima, he can still cast Meteor and Demi though. Just keep your Dark Knights' HP levels up using X-Potions and you're good as safe. He'll fall down easily in just a while.

Female Witchdoctor is In

According to the latest update of the D3 website, female is now a selectable gender for the witch doctor, as expected since she's the last to be announced.

I'm been trying to find out what do you call a female doctor. In Spanish, they are referred to as doctora (or dra in initials). Also, witches are generally regarded as female in popular belief, while warlocks are male. So, should we just call them as witches? Or are we allowed to address them as witchdoctresses? Is there even a term doctress? hahah. Whatever the case, I'm calling them that.

Anyways, the witchdoctress looks kinda creepy. They are wearing tribal outfits consisting of animal skins, leathers and feathers. They have face paints (or tattoo, I really can't tell) that resemble a skull. The above concept art shows the doctress wearing a large mask same as their male counterpart. They remind me of Mudman from World Heroes games. Wikia research points me that he resembles a New Guinean headhunter.