Now Playing: Breath of Fire V

As I said before, I am pretty much backlogged when it comes to games. I had just started Breath of Fire V Dragon's Quarter which was released seven years ago. It marked the death of Capcom's dragon franchise.

The game is straightforward and levelling up isn't that much a pain in the ass. I've been resetting the game like three or four times now and it's good that you get to retain your inventory and skills.

Now I stopped playing it again and gone back to wiki surfing. I searched for some articles in Breath of Fire and it led me tothis photo:

Ryu from 4, 2, 1, 3, and 5. Then Nina from 5, 3,1, 2 and 4.

The history of BoF. In my book, the coolest Ryu for me would be from BoF3. The coolest Nina from BoF4. Coolest dragon system would be from BoF3. Coolest ensemble from BoF2. Coolest rival is a tie between BoF3's Teepo and BoF4's Fou-lu.

Speaking of Fou-lu, Saiki (and/or Ash Crimson) looks kinda like him. Watchathink? Both were powerful royalties from the past.

Fou-lu on the left and Saiki on the right.

Anyways, I gotta return to finishing BoFV. Next time, I'll write a review slash trip-down-memory-lane for the other BoFs.

Review: Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin

Today I just finished Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS. It took me a long time to finish this game not because it was hard, actually it was a bit hard but that's nothing to grinding all the way to the top, but because I found it a bit boring compared to Dawn of Sorrow and the next in line Order of Ecclesia.

The game stars the first on screen duo on the vampire series, Jonathan Morris, an heir to the family loyal to the Belmont Clan and this era's Vampire Slayer wielder although he does not know how to unleash its power yet, and his friend and companion Charlotte Aulin, descendant of the Belnades clan of sorceresses.

The castle involves a lot of portraits, and you can jump inside these paintings, mainly because the villain is a painter who can cast dimensions inside his paintings, or something like that. You travel across a series of maps, around ten I think. And you know that in the end you'll have to face Dracula. He's never absent in any Castlevania game, I think. This time, since the game is all about duos, you fight him with Death in tag.

Some goodies I found in this game:

1. Jonathan can morph into an owl instead of the usual bat. (Well, the black one for Alucard and the white one for Soma and they have the reason why they can turn into those.)
2. When you cast 'Greatest Five' duo attack, the game would flash five Belmonts (Richter, Leon, Trevor, Juste and Simon) doing whip slashes. Leon Belmont was redrawn in 2-D. Sometimes they would show their original in-game sprite. Look at poor Simon!
3. Finishing the game unlocks two modes: Richter and Sisters mode. During Richter (misspelled Richiter) mode you play as him in his Rondo of Blood sprite including the eight-year-old-or-something girl Maria Renard also in her Rondo sprite. They could have redrawn them to the Dracula X remake for the PSP. The Sisters mode lets you play as the twins Loretta and Stella Lecarde. The always float and the only way to make them attack is to click on the touch screen. Lame.
4. Jonathan's super jump makes him do a shoryuken type of uppercut. Charlotte's double jump makes her summon a broom, which is a nod to her being a witch.
5. The map are is a thousand percent, equivalent to ten full maps, many are just mirrors of the original maps. Still, Symphony of the Night's odd-numbered-percentage map completion is still larger.

Anyways, we'll be seeing more of Jonathan and Charlotte in the upcoming game Harmony of Despair, where they'll be joining forces with Alucard, Soma and Shanoa. Poor Nathan Graves, never seen again after the moon eclipsed on him.

Rating: 2.5~3 out of 5. Low replay value.

Next stop: Glyph master Shanoa.

Coming Soon: Golden Sun DS: Dark Dawn

What is this?! After half a decade Camelot is releasing a sequel to Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age titled Dark Dawn. I haven't started searching details on this game. The only thing I know is that it will be coming out November 29th in the US.

The lead character looks a lot like Isaac. Maybe I should start playing Golden Sun again. If you haven't yet, you should. Tis the best RPG in the good old Gameboy Advance. I'm looking forward to a whole new set of puzzles.

Trailer:

Video Games | Golden Sun: Dark Dawn | E3 2010: Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Coming Soon: Tactics Ogre

Square-Enix will be remaking (or was it porting?) Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together to the PSP. I'm so excited. This is my first love before Final Fantasy Tactics came (retitled War of the Lions on the PSP). Little information can be scavenged around the net and the official site offered some only in Japanese. Poor me.

The trailer showed the tarot cards from Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. The game looks almost the same except that character portraits are redrawn and additional battle information are added on the bottom of the screen. I also missed the Forbidden Sisters Olivian, Selye, Shelly and Sisteena. And Deneb as well. Oh and there's this new punkass girl wearing mail, she looks kinda bitchy. hahah

____________________

Source:
タクティクスオウガ 運命の輪 | SQUARE ENIX

Dots and Sketches

August 26 when the official blog of KOFXIII posted new contents. It featured tournament sponsor Rose Bernstein's sketches in an alternate red and an elegant blue gown.

 We also have Botan's sketches. She should be killed for what she did to that fox.

You can see also see how they applied dot graphics on those that did not make it to the game: Chang Koehan. The other three: Malin, Momoko and Oswald are all in higher quality sprites than their previous incarnation in XI.

And we see the Harukeshi (called Those from the Past in English and alternately Those from His Distant Land) without their ceremonial garbs.

Black Rock Shooter

Black Rock Shooter by ~ryuheihuke via Deviantart.
No copyright infringement intended.

Dudz: Black Rock shooter, Doko ni ite no? Kikoemasu ka?

Jeremy: Iie! Nani daw? (hindi, ano daw?)

Dudz: Sabi ko: 'Black rock shooter, nasaan ka ngayon? Naririnig mo ba ako?'

Jeremy: Shiranai ang hinahanashi ko. (Wit ni akez knowings galore ang iniisplukara kez)

Dudz: Hinahanashi? Bangag! hahaha

Jeremy: Cheh. That is called Japalog. Tunog jolog why not?!

Dudz: Sabi mo, di mo alam ang sinasabi mo.

Jeremy: Tuh-maaaa! Di ko alam ang word na 'tama' sa Japanese. I'm not paying attention to detail. Di ako maka-Yoko Yamashita.

Dudz: Sa DA!

Jeremy: Department of Agriculture? choz

Dudz: No. Kelan pa naging DA ang DAR?! Baliw! Deviant art.

Jeremy: Ayyy

Dudz: Black rock shooter...

Jeremy: Ano ba yan?

Dudz: hahah. MTV turned Anime dahil sumobra sa kasikatan sa Japan.

Jeremy: Weeeeeeeeehhh?! Ganun lang sa kanila kadali gumawa ng anime?!

Dudz: At friend ko sa DA ang gumawa ng character. Character design lang sya

Jeremy: Ayyy ikaw na!

Dudz: Then may isang lyricist na gumawa ng song inspired by the character. Aayun, bumuo sila ng banda consisting of character illustrators. Kasi yung mga MTV nila, voice synthesizer ang kumakanta, hindi tunay na tao.
Jeremy: Ahhh parang gLee lang pala?! Choz!

Dudz: Glee is gay!

Jeremy: glee = you = gay! Bwisett ka! hahah






Jeremy: Omg I lurve the black girl with the blue streak or waterga.

Dudz: Sya si Black Rock Shooter. Mganda yung upcoming anime nya. Kita mo na? Hindi lang si Rock shooter ang may Flame Eye, marami sila.

Jeremy: Pati si Cyclops at si Sauron?!

Dudz: Bangag!


Ayy ivisit nyo daw ito at antabayanan kung hindi magagalit si Dudung. Kaloka pati ako dinamay sa plugging nito eh wala naman akong malay dito pramis! Ike-ike-ike! Aja! Yuunou mo yan onesan! Nani daw?!

Saiki

Saiki. I thought he's just another White Ash clone created when Ash stole Iori's treasure, the flames of the Yasakani clan turned purple upon the corruption of the Orochi blood. So it appears he is the ancestor of Ash and leader of Those From the Past. He is capable of possessing others as well as absorbing their powers.

Saiki as he transformed into this steroid-freak nude beast which looks like a cross between Mukai and Magaki. Is that black flames coming out his body or is he Ink-elemental? hahah

Pokemon Black and White

I haven't paid much attention to the whole Pokemon franchise since DS days. It's true that the last one I played was Emerald. Then came Diamond and Pearl (not the fake Keitai Denju Telefang fan translation), then Platinum, then Heart Gold and Soul Silver. The next one will be Black and White.

And there's plenty of news surfacing around the net. I'm still following Serebii.net's updates cause I don't know the official site of Pokemon. Well now I know and I got these fantastic arts for the starters and the legendaries.

 Meet the heroes

Visit Isshu

I dunno why the hell the large city on the 

south would build a bridge to a forest.

Tsutaaja, Pokabu, Mijumaru

Starters. Grass, fire and water. I don't if there's a secondary trait.

And Mijumaru's gotta be the ugliest water starter?!

Reshiram and Zekurom

Legendaries?! Dragon types, 

Are they Psychic and Dark types as well?!

A wild Pokemon has appeared

I lurve the black girlish one Gochiruzeru.

That reminds me, I should start playing DPP series. Should I start with Platinum immediately?

____________________

Sources: 

1. Serebii

2. Pokemon Series Official

Saiki

I'm just posting a pic of the supposed boss from KOF13. He's Saiki (or Psyche or White Ash) which was cloned from Ash after Ash absorbed Iori's purple flames in XI. I'm not sure if he's an entirely separate persona. I saw a pic of him once with Orochi emblem on his chest.

The rest of the post are just reupload of the other characters which  forgot to post before.

Athena in her updated white default costume. 

Nothing has changed from her design from XII.

I wish they'd assembled a Taekwondo team for Kim (Jhun and Maylee?!)

and a Muay Thai team for Hwa Jai. (Joe and King?!)

Team Yagami

Iori Team
06.24.2010

I'm getting a bit busy that I haven't seen this update. Presenting KOF '96 team from the 2k2 roster. I don't know how the hell they got the team reassembled. But he slashed them both?! After the final match in '96, Iori went into a riot of the blood state and slashed both Vice and Mature. The duo has been seen only in dream matches and crossover games.


Iori Yagami - 



Iori slashes the from below to an upward arc before turning his back. The screen turns red and only shadows are seen, almost similar to his riot of blood mode.


Mature - Awaking Blood




Mature poses holding her head up. The screen turns block and a red eye is seen. Sauron anyone? A reddish snakelike wave punishes the enemy.



Vice - Awaking Blood




Vice turns her back then pulls her top down. The eye appears and a snakelike wave streams past the enemy.

You can also dress you team into Iori's default palette from '95.

KOF13 Posters

Team NEST

  K' Team
07.05.2010

So I wasn't paying attention to the updates from KOFXIII's official blog because I have some chorva to attend to. And voila what do we have here, K's team profile. As usual I don't know what the hell the staff are talking about because it's all in Nihongo. But I struggled, really. I could read some of those kana but that's it. All the rest are thank you babelfish.

Anyways, we all now that they're continuing with the set-up from KOFXI's team where Kula enters as a replacement for Whip. Whip was last seen in XI's Team Ikari but now she's booted out from that team as well. Whip's not being given love. Hugs Whip, I miss your pa-sweet dominatrix-esque style.




K' - Hyper Chain Drive

Well, the move starts out with a normal Chain Drive DM, the difference is that he wears the shades before hitting his enemies. It ends with K' bursting into a pillar of flame. Not very creative I must say. It reminds me of Kazuki's Rage move from SamSho IV. Even Nameless' HSDM from KOF2k2UM looks better.





Maxima - Maxima Laser

Looks like a beefed up Maxima Beam from 2k2, that one recycled sparks from Andy Bogard's DM. This one uses a Kamehame-ha type beam. The XI version shows Maxima using robotic gun. This one shows nothing, the laser just comes out of his chest, and it's still covered?!?




Kula - Neo Freeze Execution

Starts out like a normal Freeze Execution with Foxy doing the first stab. Diana rushes from the other side saying "Chou no youni mai" which means 'fly like a butterfly.' She then teleports leaving a butterfly emblem behind her. Foxy reappears and does another stab saying "Hachi no youni satsu" whch means 'sting like a bee' then teleports the same way leaving a bee emblem. Then Kula reappears midscreen performing a final Freeze Execution dealing 12-hits.


If Whip was in this game, maybe they could give her a NEOMax ala-Omega Red's Omega Destroyer. Or maybe not, too flashy.

Team Ryuko

 
Art of Fighting Team
07.01.2010

The official blog site updated to show Ryo's Team including their NEOMaxes.



Ryo Sakazaki

Same animation as his Tenchi Haoh Ken, except that he does it slowmo and after he delivers the blow you see a burst of energy at the enemy's back. Kinda reminds me of the ice chopping ki minigame in Art of Fighting.







Robert Garcia

Robert jumps overhead then kicks the enemy on the face and rides them to the edge of the screen before doing a backflip, similar to Leona's transformation move in KOF 2002 UM.






Takuma Sakazaki

Takuma punches the enemy under then chin, Ryu-Shin-Shoryuken-style, then does a lower chop Gouki-Kongou-Kokuretsuzan-style. Who'd thought that it's not only Yuri ripping Shotokan moves. It must run in the family.

Team Mai

Women's Team
06.18.2010

The official blog featured the Women's Team to showcase their new NeoMax.



Mai Shiranui - Kunoichi no Mai

Mai performs a Musasabi no Mai to jump to the wall then lunges forward. Upon contact, she attacks the opponent in angles forming the kanji for Onna (Jp woman) then teleports in front. She poses with her hand outstretched, fan in hand, before making the kanji at her back explode, Sentai style!





King - Venom Shot

King jumps a bit then does an angled Venom shot which explodes below. She can also do this in midair, I think.






Yuri Sakazaki - Haoh Raiouhken

Yuri jumps higher up, then charges a bit before release a larger, more powerful Raiouhken which splashes upon hitting the ground.

Team Ikari

Team Leona Staff Blog
06.10.10

Official blog for KOF XIII has been updated to showcase Team Ikari and their NeoMAXes.



Leona's NeoMAX is called Leona Blade, sorta looks like a beefed up Rebel Spark DM with bigger flame splashes. The difference is that her hair changes color to red, hinting a blood riot awakening.



Ralf's NM is called Jet Vulcan Punch. He does rapid punches, kinda reminds me of Krizalid's DM and Real Bout Rick Strowd's P. Power. I've seen another reference this move to Luffy's rapid punches from One Piece.



Clark's NM is called Ultra Clark Buster. Or was it crackbuster? Anyways, he just throws the enemy up then smashes them on the ground. Samurai Shodown Hanzo's grapple technique looks cooler than this. It also borrows inspiration from Tizoc's  supers.

Honda and Seth

KAiWAi posted new alt costume for SSF4. I'm still waiting on Vega/M.Bison's alt costume. What's taking it long? hahah

Honda in Hawaiian costume?! Aloha!

A Seth in Gill's loincloth (in pyro and cryo skin discoloration as well.)

____________________

Source: Capcom Unity

Farewell to a Legend

That was title of the petition for the Elite Mark Yiazmat. Indeed it was a legend. It took me 10 hours and 8 rounds to finish off this monster. And I'm on Level 96. It could have been shorter if I had known he can regenerate its lifebar if you let him recast all its buffs. (Make sure when you see him casting Faith to immediately debuff him with Dispel.)

Anyways, Yiazmat has 50 million HPs at Level 73, which is equivalent to 50 full screen boss bars. You can escape the Coliseum at Ridorana Cataract anytime to save your accomplishment just make sure he hasn't casted any buffs. It took me long enough but it really paid off having to use Shellga everytime to avoid being instantly killed by Death Strike. I put Shellga as my second priority gambit for Vaan. Once you're Shelled, you can have at least one party member by the stairs to avoid being crushed by his Rake which hits as much as 12 times around 2k-3k damage each. He absorbs Holy so you can't attack him with Excalibur, but who says you can't Telekinetically attack him?

If his HP falls below half, damage will be capped at 6999. Once he reaches below a fourth of his life, around 12 bars left, he casts Growing Pains to double his level effectively diminishing any level gaps you had before it. And did I mention he's immune to stat-lowering skills except Expose? Make use of that as well. After a short time, maybe 2 if you are that good (unlike me who leaves the game running to discover my party leader is dead and the game is paused), you'll see him vanishing in green light. Get your reward from Montblanc afterwards.

WTF 30,000 gil?! I can earn that in 1 hour. Screw you moogles! Good thing they threw in that Godslayer badge. Next step: Wyrmhero Blade! (Where shall I use this? The strongest enemy has already transmigrated.)

Trivia: Yiazmat is named after one of the series director Yasumi Matsumoto. He lost lots of the Squenix finances so they gave him the boot. They named the strongest beast in memoriam.

My checklist:
FFX-2 - Trema - farewell (thanks for the Iron Duke)
FFX - Nemesis - missed (I'm not good at the monster arena)
FFIX - Ozma - farewell (must. absorb. darkness.)
FFVIII - Omega Weapon - farewell (via Holy War boo!)
FFVII - Ruby Weapon - missed (where the hell in this gerdamn desert is it?!)
FFVI -  I can't remember any tough bosses here. (Vanish+Doom boo more!)
FFV - Omega - farewell (Dancer+Redshoes+Thundaga sword)
FFIV - Plague Horror - farewell - (WTF Mega-Doom)

Team Psycho

Psycho Soldier team is featured in the developer's blog of KOFXIII. We get to see at last their NEO Max.



First is Athena's Psychic Medley-ish Neo Max. Instead of standing in place while changing through her different incarnations, we see Athena teleporting while attacking the opponent from '94 to XI, then finishes up with her floating midscreen while summoning six Fully armored Athena bearing different weapons: rod, hammer, ball and chain, bow (although you can't attack without an arrow... nevermind), mace, and a flaming sword. Then the six transforms into psychic energy form smashing the ground ala Crystal Shatter.

You can also reflect Ash's Thermidor while retaining its properties to multihit and cause green-flame-burn.



Kensou's Neo Max looks kinda like Xiangfei's 100 hit DM. I wish they had infused him with more Dragon Power, but that power, I think, has long been abandoned since the fall of the NEST cartel.

Chin's Neo Max looks like his HSDM from '02. The only difference is that instead of just one flame which you can control where to detonate it, now he spreads the fire around his body before throwing them as projectiles.

The official blog features Team Kyokugen's story, but it's in Nihongo so that means wakarenai for me. hahah

KOFXIII New Trailer

Posted on the official site 05.20.2010.

The blog site featured Team Terry. It shows everyone's NEO Max. Terry's looks like a Power Geyser shower or something like that. Joe's looks like his SDM back in 2003 although now they made it look like hurricane's are coming out his knuckles while delivering the punch. Andy's looks boring. He just dashes at the enemy then the screen fades black then returns showing the enemy falling down face first.

Kula Diamond

KOFXIII
05.13.2010

Kula Diamond was at last revealed to be joining Team K' for XIII. You might remember her joining K's team after the fall of NEST in 2001. Since then she became friends with K'. She and Whip are close friends as well. They were last spotted together in XI during a ceremony attended by Team Ikari.

I was rooting for her to be included in this game. Between her and Whip, I'd pick Kula. But Whip is a tough character as well, she's fast and might land hard combos if you get confused with all her high-low play.

I'm planning to use Kula with Yuri and either Athena or Mai for my girls' team. For the guys, maybe I'd go for Ash, Kensou and... hmm... no one else. hahah. Ok I go for female characters, judge me! But seriously, the women this year are all tough. We have Vice, Mature and Elisabeth. Too bad we can't place Vanessa in the game because she had no significance to the main story. She's just a striker for the NEST saga.

Echo Isles

Troll Origins
04.28.10

After years in exile, the Darkspear trolls are preparing to invade the Echo Isles and reclaim the land once bestowed to them by Thrall. Led by Vol'jin, a wise and highly regarded Darkspear, the tribe's bravest warriors will set out from Orgrimmar and Sen'jin Village, seeking to bring about Zalazane's fall and begin the process of rebuilding their homes and villages on the Echo Isles.

With the release of Cataclysm as a new expansion on World of Warcraft, The Darkspear Troll race will be given a little focus this time as they introduce a new starting area for our wee Troll newbies. As you know, Trolls starts their adventure along with new Orcs in Durotar. But now, new trolls will be making their first steps at Echo Isles. New quests will be available starting level 5.

This will be the time that the Darkspear Trolls usher a new age with Vol'jin as their leader.

Maxima

K' Team Update
05.10.10

 Maxima was announced to be in K' Team. It was quite clear that Maxima is definitely backing up K'. They've been partners since '99 why leave K' now. The short command list featured the return of his regular moves, adding only an aerial version of the M4 Vapor Cannon. I hope they make him do a straight version for button A and a diagonal going downward for version C.

The question is who will complete the team? Episode 1 of the Ash Saga in 2003 featured Whip as the third player. Episode 2 in XI featured Kula Diamond. So who will it be, Whip or Kula? Or a whole new character? I doubt. But put Diana in and they'll definitely get my vote.

Also, the KOFXIII blog featured this vid of Elisabeth owning Mai.



You can still juggle from Coup de Veine, except now you can do two consecutive then juggle as you like. The blog continues about return of Duo Lon to 2003 style, maybe about his juggle using Sutemi Juryuu?!

Juri, Lee and Luffy

04.30.2010

KAiWAi made some of the requests for the alt costumes of SSF4 characters. Juri looks like a typical Taek Won Do fighter. Though Chae Lim from KOF MI had also worn a dobok, hers doesn't show much of her breast and the fact that they're long sleeved. And Fei Long looking good in a traditional Chinese martial arts changshan. Dhalsim's is the funniest cosplaying as Luffy. Anyways, KAi had inserted the explanations along with the finished product.

Juri wearing a dobok and cosplaying as Q. Bee.

Fei Long in a martial arts master costume.

Dhalsim cosplaying as Luffy. Funneh!

____________________
Source: KAiWAi > SSF4 Alt Costumes

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!