KOF13 Website Update

The King of Fighters XIII japanese website has been updated. Last update: 03/29/2010 includes story, characters, system and event here. The site's official blog is in here.

Right now it includes the character list of all of the 25 announced characters. A big plus is the animated dot graphics for each character's idle stance. King was un-Muay Thai-ed, giving up her stance to Joe Highashi.

It also lists some of the moves of the characters. Some gained new movesets, like Elisabeth and Mature, as they should be. You can't just rely on normal attacks to kill your opponents... err, wait a minute... you could actually like I did that back in 2002.

Who might the other 6 characters and the boss be? Can't wait for the next update.

The Three Murals

During the final chapters of God of War II, right after crushing Atropos and Lakhesis, Kratos will have access to the Inner Sanctum of the Temple of the Fates. Within one of the rooms are three murals mounted on the wall.

The first one reads: "The all consuming struggle between the Titans and the Olympians rages on." This is a direct reference to the First War when the Olympians overthrew the mighty Titans. This could also mean the upcoming battle featured on God of War III. If you will remember by the end of GoW2 Kratos saved the Titans by going back in time using the power of the Sisters of Fate.

The second one reads: "A lone soul surveys the wake of carnage that surrounds him." It is commonly interpreted as something happening in the future when Kratos had fallen every single God of Olympus. But if you look back from the first GoW, the scene where he slays the innocents within the Temple of Athena including his family, this is the exact emotion the mural depicts.

The last one is the most cryptic. It reads: "Three Travelers heading to an unknown destiny." The most popular interpretation for this is that the three travelers are the three kings slash wise men slash magi. A star is seen in front and above the three figures which resembles the Star of Bethlehem. Therefore, many would assume that destiny would be a newborn Jesus. Many would further assume that this would happen sometime in the future timeline of God of War. Since Kratos had been slaying the Greek Gods, it would seem that he is setting the stage for Monotheism, or to be specific a set-up for the Judeo-Christian God.

That would be so wrong in many ways. First of all, it is very unlikely that the developers would insert something totally unrelated to the mythology slash belief system slash religion dominant within the main plot. Second, Kratos is not setting up monotheism. He is just taking his revenge on Zeus and his brothers for the betrayal done to him. And lastly, there is no concrete evidence that the three travelers are the the three wise men. It is neither coincidental because the developers had planted this to spark controversy. The allusion played could be contributed by many subjects.

The three travelers could be any group of three persons. Many would presume it be the brothers Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. Or it could be the Sisters of Fate Atropos, Clotho and Lakhesis. Or it could be Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Or Piper, Phoebe and Paige. Or the Angels. The possibilities are endless.

The destination of the three travelers are left unknown. The three wisemen were presumed to have come from the East as mentioned by the Gospel of Matthew but they knew where their destination is by following the Star of Bethlehem. In the Chinese novel Xi You Ji, there were also travelers going to the West, although they were in a group of five and I doubt God of War would have any Buddhist implications.

The star is assumed to be the Star of Bethlehem. It might have been Sirius of the constellation Canis Major, the brightest star in the night sky.

If anything, the insertion of the final mural would purely be an Easter egg laid wide in the open for fans to hypothesize on any link whatsoever. There is none.


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Sources:
Snapshots from God of War II on PS3 by AdamSpencer87 at Youtube.

KOF XIII First Glimpse

Cast Roll Call
March 25, 2010


The King of Fighters XIII was officially announced yesterday March 25, 2010 at Akihabara and it was really nice to see the series the way it should be. XII was a failed attempt to update the series. It was unfinished when it was released. The remedy they had with the console version was to add Elisabeth and Mature, with almost no movesets then. Judging from the early vids submitted, we can see the game is faster.

So now we have here an updated version of XII. It's looks basically the same thing. But in addition we get back the original Women's team: Mai Shiranui, King, and Yuri Sakazaki. Mai is wearing her ninja garb from the Real Bout series except that it's backless. While King is wearing her traditional long sleeves from the first Art of Fighting (AoF2 outfit was used in '98-'99) basically the same thing without the vest or coat on top. Yuri is still wearing the same outfit, except that I can't see her ponytail. OMG I hope she didn't cut her hair short.

Women's Team: Mai Shiranui, King, and Yuri Sakazaki

It was also announced this will mark the end of the Ash Saga. Interesting enough, Ash is seen as a solo entry. In opposition is Elisabeth's team with Duo Lon and Shen Woo. I hope they give Elisabeth proper movesets, maybe some light-elemental attacks. Shouldn't Ash's flame be purple by now? What happens when you add green and purple?! Let's go to the thinking chair!

Solo entry Ash Crimson and Anti-Ash: Elisabeth Branctorche, Duo Lon & Shen Woo

Mature has once again teamed up with Iori. But I thought Iori killed her at '96 or did I just dream that? If Iori's team's ending in '96 is non-canon then they might come up with an alibi/explanation why the hell Mature would team up again with Iori. There's a blank spot after Mature, presumably for Vice wearing  a headswap costume from Mature.

Iori Yagami and Mature with Arthas' edit of Vice

The rest of the XII cast returns as parts of their previous teams. Do note that the teams do not have official names yet. There's a complete blank spot for a whole team. I know many would wish for K's team, maybe with Kula and Whip?! Hahah that would pushing my luck.

Team Esaka returns again. As the last surviving member of The Sacred Team, Kyo should settle his revenge against Ash. Or he could get his power drained before the final act with Ash as an all-powerful deity. Or maybe not.

Esaka Team: Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido and Goro Daimon

 

I haven't seen enough changes for Fatal Fury team. If the story would have progressed from XI, then why would Terry be wearing his old uniform?

 

 

Fatal Fury Team: Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard and Joe Higashi

Psycho Soldier team is still stuck in pre-'94 mode, where Athena is still fat, Kensou is in his green Psycho Soldier costume and powerless as hell, and Chin in his bum/drunken-style costume.

Psycho Soldier Team: Athena Asamiya, Sie Kensou and Chin Gentsai

I like it that they're retaining Leona's new costume. But what the eff are they still pumping Ralf and Clark with steroid? Ok fine, since we can't do anything about them toning down, maybe we can expect SNKP to give them back their movesets.

 

Ikari Team: Leona Heidern, Ralf Jones and Clark Steel

Ryo and Robert is missing one more member, Takuma maybe? It would have been cooler if Ryo would don his Mr. Karate outfit while Robert his NBC purple outfit.

Art of Fighting Team: Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia

Kim and Raiden's team is missing one member. The only link between them I can think of is Fatal Fury Special. Looking at the cast of FFS, possible entries would be Jubei, Cheng, Duck King, Tungfu Rue and Axel Hawk. Billy Kane, Lawrence, Geese and Krauser would have to be on an Anti-Fatal Fury Team.

Edit Team: Kim Kaphwan and Raiden

If you want to read about gameplay mechanics and whatnots, look elsewhere. There's a goldmine of information about those circulating around.

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Sources: 
Photos of KOFXIII from Dengeki
Vice by arthascf

Character Focus - Lili

"My battles... are for my father."
—Lili

Name	Emilie Rochefort (エミリ・ロシュフォール)
Origin	Monaco
Fighting Style	Monegasque Street Fighting
Date of Birth	November 3
Blood Type	A
Height	5'9" (175 cm)
Weight	123 lbs
Occupation	High school student
Hobby	Street fighting
Likes	Fashion, her father, Sebastian
Dislikes	Mishima Zaibatsu, Jin Kazama, and Asuka Kazama

Lili or Emilie Rochefort is a fighter from the Tekken series. She was introduced to the Ironfist Tournament as a newcomer via Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection along with Dragunov. She was immediately pitched in as a rival to Asuka Kazama, seeing both of them as high school student fighters.

What really attracted me to Lili is her graceful moves. She might not be the fastest hitter but she can still recover quite easily and barrage you with some of her pokes. She doesn't have too many attacks that surprise opponents from high and low, so she comes off as predictable at times.

Lili's default costume is a white long-sleeved dress with ruffles paired with white boots with red lining and red gloves. Her alternate costume is a grayish sleeveless corset top and denim pants with elaborate flowery prints on the side. Another costume was added for Tekken 6 BR which was a white gown with a long train over her face resembling a wedding gown, or some would argue similar to Emma Frost's costume.

Hi Res KOF

As I said before, the new installment of KOF will be launched on 25th of March. I've been googling around for some news and I happen to go over one image showcasing the alleged cast of KOFXIII. It seems like a scan from Famitsu but then again everything might be fake.

The scan looks legit but we can't really say. We see some characters retain their normal stances. Ash is back to his 2003/XI stance. Kim isn't using his "Dong Hwan" stance but rather his original "Jae Hoon" stance. Ralf and Clark back to their steroid free selves. Leona back to her original costume, although her XII costume is cool. Anyways, that was inspired from her MI alternate costume. Ryo has longer sleeves kinda Takuma-ish more like his Mr. Karate incarnation. Athena is slimmer again, she's wearing the same uniform from her intro sequence from 94 which is actually just XII minus the fat plus the socks. Iori still uses his XII costume but with a new stance. And Elisabeth on a different stance from her XI and XII incarnations.

At the bottom of the page we see three new characters. A woman, who kinda reminds me of Xiaoyu's stance from Tekken 6, a huge guy who come off like Duke-ish from MI, and a small weird girl who reminds me of Ninon Beart from MI.

Anyways, googling brought me to a Youtube vid and voila, I see some graphics there of KOF characters redrawn with higher resolution. Judge for yourself, cause this just makes the scan look too doubtful.




Whoever did this is a genius. I hope you get employed by SNK to remake their classic games. I'm wishing Samurai Shodown and The Last Blade. Who knows you might get a cease and desist order the same one that buried Chrono Resurrection. Who cares! Hats off to you!

KOFXIII

I'm excited because SNK Playmore will be releasing a preview of the latest installment in the KOF series which is King of Fighters XIII on March 26, 2010 at around 6pm. Maybe they realized their errors from KOFXII and this is their public apology. Maybe we can have Mai back *crosses fingers.* But seriously, KOFXII was one sorry game. SFIV is so much better, and that coming from a fan of KOF series Well I'm a fan of both but KOF for me is better, before SFIV and KOFXII. 

Remembering what they did to the characters: FAThena, Steroid Clark and Ralf, nerfed Kensou, and they even took out Elisabeths moves. WTF?! Seriously?! Well, they made some others way cooler like Leona and Iori. And what's up with the story, oh I'm sorry, there's none. I hope they fix why the hell everyone's gone retro while Iori and Ash has gone forward in their timeline. 

And please bring Mai back. And did I mention Mai?

Gouki and Gouken

CapCom just released an update for the site a couple of days ago and featured Gouki and Gouken's character profile. Included, as usual, are their Ultra Move sets. I'm pretending to read the japanese site cause it tends to update more often and earlier than the English version, though I know basic Kana only. I'm such a fail. Choz!



Gouki's 2nd Ultra is a Tatsumaki Zenku Kyaku type move. He kicks the enemy upwards then spins around, with all the wind effects and everything. Spell lameness to the highest level. They could have thought of a better move. Maybe that 'I can chop the Ayers Rock' move should have been a much, much better choice. They've lost their muchness I'm afraid.



Gouken's 2nd Ultra is Denjin Hadouken. They're just ripping Ryu's Super moves from SF3. Anyways, he's the master so why not give him that. But remember, he throws Hadoukens with just one palm, so maybe this is REALLY a powered-up Hadouken with two hands after all. As they say, 'two hands are better than one.' Or is it heads?

By the way, Ryu's version of Shinshoryuken for SSF4 looks like an ordinary shoryuken. His SF3 version was, again, given to Gouken. The difference is he turns around after doing the shoryuken move. You should've already known that.

Faram Svagatam!

Rewind

Photo by hive mind at Flickr.

So I just realized I need to redo this whole blog thingy and turn it into an English language because, apparently, one written in Tagalog is not globally competitive. Choz! Really, it's not! I have low guest level no one stumbles unto this blog searching for Tagalog terms in gaming.

Anyways, I don't need to rewrite the whole thing. I'll just leave the prior posts be. The next ones would be in spokening dollars so yah know. I need to concentrate writing about my passion, and it's about gaming duh!

So wish me luck (am I wishing myself luck?) I know I can do it!

Bhadra!