CardGames.io

One day, I decided on a whim that I wanted to play Yahtzee for the first time in years. Being the millennial that I am, of course I started off looking for an online version. That’s how I stumbled upon CardGames.io. Not only is that in itself ironic, but I didn’t remember Yahtzee being a multiplayer game (I’ve always been a withdrawn individual), so nowadays it’s far from my go-to on the website/app. Instead, I prefer to choose from a select few of the exceptionally many forms of Solitaire available.

Golf and Tri Peaks are easily the quickest ones; one game in either format takes me about one minute. It’s typically what I do during restroom breaks at work, unless I feel the need to rest my eyes. Both are driven by the same concept: to select a card, pair it with a number adjacent to it (e.g., 2 or 4 to 3) whenever possible, and flip a card if not. The difference is that Golf involves seven stacks of five face-up cards, while Tri Peaks involves three adjacent three-card-tall triangular formations of face-down cards (hence the name) beneath a line of ten face-up cards. (Each face-down card reveals itself when there is no face-up card atop it.) If in doubt, one can view the rules by scrolling down on PC or selecting the menu option on mobile.

If I have more time to spare, such as when I’m eating or when the time is not much less than I would typically spend playing a video game, that’s when I branch out to some of the other forms. Plain ol’ Solitaire, certainly among them, needs no introduction. I have won exactly one game of Spider Solitaire and am always reluctant to go back because of how much one little flip can throw everything out of whack. Pyramid is a format that I used to really like because I thought it was fresh at the time, but now not so much; it’s just making pairs that add up to 13 (or instantly removing a King because it’s already 13) in order to clear a seven-card-tall triangular formation of face-up cards. Scorpion, Addiction, and Canfield are the main other three formats that I like to play, although it usually takes me tens of minutes to get a win in the former. Note that the website keeps track of world records, so I like to keep Undo button usage to a minimum, specifically because each use of the button costs one move.* Kings in the Corners is a key exception to this rule; I am not above using the Undo button when I experience an odds-defying outcome at a point where I know for a fact that I can revert it. Yukon and Crescent are formats that maybe I don’t play enough, although the latter takes roughly 10 minutes per game. I’ve also played Freecell, and while I at least prefer it over Spider, I’d call it a sort of middle ground between that and Crescent. Then there’s Clock Solitaire, an entirely RNG-driven format that really only serves as an exercise for telling analog time.

*As much of a stickler as I am in this practice, I rarely ever get world record nowadays, let alone without a tie. Among the few times I have and gotten a screenshot, only one remains at the time of writing: a 98-move game of Addiction Solitaire #2735 on May 14, 2022. (Hint: I did this without using any shuffles.)

[Nice comma splice, BTW.]

(The other two UWRs with screenshots: 130-move Solitaire #9320 on April 14, 2021 (WR is now 116); 112-move Crescent #19721 on May 24, 2021 (WR is now 110) I skipped the 113; I am a hecking legend)

Side note: When playing Canfield, sometimes I get tempted to put an Ace atop a King on the “Tableau” as it’s called. The one way I remember otherwise is by making a mnemonic of an OC name common to both versions of Cinq du Soleil: Aka, the resident “Don’t think, feel” character of each story. She is the protagonist most likely to do anything idiotic, and that makes me remember that putting an Ace atop a King on the Tableau is idiotic. (Also brings to mind the Japanese term “baka,” meaning “idiot.”)

In summary, here is my Solitaire tier list. (Soli-tier list, if you will.)
A: Solitaire, Canfield, Golf, Tri Peaks, Addiction
B: Scorpion, Yukon, Crescent, Kings in the Corners
C: Pyramid, Freecell, Spider, Clock

Given that Solitaire is obviously not the only kind of card game in existence, it goes without saying that CardGames.io has plenty of multiplayer varieties in store. The ones I’ve played IRL are Crazy Eights, Cribbage, and Go Fish. I may have tried Hearts on MS-DOS a few times, but I could never make sense of it. In addition to those four, the website has Euchre, Gin Rummy, Idiot, Lockup, Manni, Oh Hell!, Pinochle, standard Rummy, Spades, Spit, Switch, Thirteen, War, and Whist.

Going back to the irony of how CardGames.io is a place for more than just card games, Yahtzee is not alone on that front. Better yet, the website/app has a fair few single-player, non-card games. I recommend the twelve Mahjong formats (Turtle, Pyramid, Monster, Stairs, Castle, Daniel, Ellen, Spider, Citadel, Tunnels, Lost City, and Well) and the three-difficulty Minesweeper (10-mine 8×8 [15.625% mines], 40-mine 16×16 [also 15.625%], and 99-mine 31×16 [~20% mines]), where on the latter front my experience with Conceptis Fill-a-Pix has worked wonders in helping me complete at least one round of every difficulty just recently. The site also has randomly generated Sudoku with 28/81 squares filled, but obviously Conceptis is my number-one source of Sudoku. Other available non-card games include Backgammon, Checkers, Chess, Farkle, Reversi, Sea Battle (Battleships), and Triangles.

I don’t know how long the website has been around, but the time I started using it was…maybe late 2020? Prior to the debut of Crescent Solitaire (and, by extension, Canfield), that’s for sure. The iOS app has been around for at least two years, if the version history is to be believed. At any rate, considering how randomly I found out about the website compared to how much I’ve gotten out of it (and the iOS app) as of late, I’ve been feeling inclined for a while to put in a good word for it, so…here we are. Putting aside the app (which, I will say, is not as ad-ridden as one might expect), I usually do one of two things with the website: using my PC mouse with one hand and eating with the other, or if I’m watching TV in a place where PC access is inconvenient if not impossible, putting my Chromebook in tablet mode to use the touch screen. Either way, it’s my go-to form of multitasking nowadays, and I’m tempted to say it’s not unlike reading manga or a light novel as a way to help put my brain to sleep.

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Loaded Month 6 (Monthly Musing, Sep 2021)

On one hand, it’s been only two months since my last Loaded Month. On the other hand, I genuinely can’t think of a specific topic that I’m not saving for a later date. Therefore, I’ll just make this a simple progress report.

• I finished up Tales of Zestiria about halfway through the month, and I’m almost done with the X (the anime), which may or may not be the final push in inspiring a review of Berseria and Zestiria.
• Cinq du Soleil: Nouveau, my latest creative writing WIP, is about 2/3 through 1-3 out of 1-7. Hopefully I can finish strong by the end of the year?
• Last month, I mentioned wanting to do an All Badges speedrun of Phoenotopia: Awakening sooner than later. In retrospect, considering the Phoeno-versary to which I originally wanted to commemorate the run has already passed, I’m thinking there’s no rush. Maybe I can save it until the anniversary of the PABCAB trailer? Maybe some time later? Preferably no later than the anniversary of PABCABX.
• On a whim, I started reading Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance (the light novel), fixing to give that series the same treatment as Juuou Mujin no Fafnir. Currently, I’m up to Volume 9/20, Chapter 4/7, i.e. not even halfway done. I somehow don’t remember when I started, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s about a month’s worth of progress.

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Loaded Month 5 (Monthly Musing, July 2021)

Last Monthly Musing, I devised too broad a subject and gave myself too little time to construct a full-fledged musing on the subject. I’m inclined to think that this is nothing new, and Loaded Months were made for times like these when the final week of the month is at hand and specific topics elude me, but for some reason this incident has left a particularly bitter taste. …Oh well, all I can think to do is shake it off and keep up my usual slow and steady approach to blogging.

That said, I figured that perhaps I should add headers to Loaded Month posts like this, making for less redundancy and easier organization for myself and whatever audience I may have.

Smash Ultimate: Fighter Pass 2 prediction

MinMin, Sephiroth, Steve/Alex/Zombie/Enderman, Pyra+Mythra, Kazuya.

What do these five fighters have in common? They’re all humanoid.

In the first Fighter Pass, Banjo and Kazooie were collectively the only non-human fighter (whereas Joker, Hero, Terry, and Byleth* are as human as can be), so I’m expecting DLC fighter 2-6 to also be non-human.

*…Well, I’m not so sure about Byleth.

Therefore, as unfamiliar as I am with Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, I envision that they are the most likely candidates to fill the very last slot. Another likely possibility is a Pokémon from one of the unrepresented generations: 3, 5, or 8. (I’m thinking maybe Absol, Excadrill, or Falinks respectively.)

My heart of hearts wanted a Neptunia character like Blanc or IF, but I prefer to be realistic, keeping my expectations low to minimize disappointment.

Tales games on Steam

Perhaps my little talk about voice acting made it evident, even though I haven’t stated it outright, that I have some sort of interest in the Tales series. As is typical of a Nintendo kid, I started with Symphonia on the GameCube and its sequel on the Wii, and then this and that led to Vesperia on the Xbox 360 and the 3DS port of Abyss. Of those four, I would say Vesperia > Symphonia > Abyss > Symphonia 2. They’re all decent in their own right, but Abyss shows its age in its simplicity, while Symphonia 2 has the plotline of an amateur fanfiction.

With that in mind, I got Berseria and Zestiria during Steam sales, and when I completed the Steam release of Phoenotopia: Awakening and Adventure Mode of Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, I jumped to Berseria. (This also partly stemmed from watching the animated adaptation of Abyss.)

Berseria: Main story finished

This became my new favorite Tales game, although I can’t exactly pinpoint why. It’s a revenge story, similar to the Blue Lions route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, centered around a female protagonist whom I want to call an improved Ratatosk. It also features Benjamin Diskin as a voice actor, like Puyo Puyo Tetris and FE3H. But most importantly, there’s just something about the fluidity of the gameplay that proves its worth as the currently most recent entry in the series.

That said, I do have my fair share of gripes about it. One: The Phoenix side quest deserves to be post-game. That stinking normin is Level 100, while the final boss is only Level 65. So I ground to about Level 80 to complete the side quest, and the final boss was a pushover.

Two: What’s with the plains area music and its “endings” followed by awkward silences preceding each loop? Despite the recency of the game, such a rookie composition mistake somehow exists in its otherwise decent soundtrack. (I mean, if nothing else, the Innominat dungeon music is hype.)

Three: Some of the sub-chats have erroneous subtitles. Below are a few examples.

• 38: That Exorcist…
  • “How do you think Videl would have taken this?” subtitled “How do you think for those who have taken this?”
  • “One of you can surely squeeze out a prayer or two, yeah?” subtitled “One of you can surely squeeze out private too, yeah∙∙∙” (This is suggestive in context, as Magilou is addressing Laphicet, Eizen, and Bienfu.)
• 42: Laphicet Feels Something Wrong – “At least… that’s what she projects.” subtitled “At least… that’s a cheap project.”
• 44: Believe in Her – “That’s just who she is.” subtitled “That’s so true she is.”

This is my conclusion after having played for almost 77 hours.

Zestiria: Taking my first steps

I was concerned when I found out that Zestiria was released before Berseria, but then shortly afterwards I learned that Berseria is a prequel, justifying the order upon which I decided. However, Zestiria predates the polish that was added to Berseria, namely in graphics and intuitiveness of controls. Not to say that it’s without its own benefits, primarily with Edna contesting Rita Mordio as my favorite Tales character.

I cannot contain my hype for the Steam Deck

Speaking of Steam games, reservations for the upcoming new handheld console dropped halfway through the month, and I pounced as quickly as I could with a mobile phone and all the traffic from other reservations. I reserved the most high-end model, considering about half my Steam library takes up at least 170 GB. Turns out I won’t be getting mine until early next year, but I’m still ultra-excited for it.

I’ve never bothered getting a laptop beyond the clunking MacBook Pro from 2012; I was considering it one of these Black Fridays, and I was on the brink of reserving an OLED Switch, but then this happened. Now, why would I purchase a high-end laptop and a new Switch, when I can get a combination of the two? I would love to be able to grind out games like Megadimension Neptunia VII (which made me consider replaying it on the Switch), Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 (which I got on Steam despite having the first one on the Switch), and Tales of Berseria while on the go.

The World Ends with You, and Square Enix has not ended

I was introduced to the original DS game the year it came out, as I recall, and it was nothing short of revolutionary. It featured a multitasking battle system, whereby the touch screen controlled Neku (the protagonist) and the D-pad/buttons operated his partner, along with an exquisitely inspirational plotline.

“Give up on yourself, and you give up on the world.”

Joshua

It has been about fourteen years since the game was first released, with mostly only remakes to show for it. Last anime season, Spring 2021, held an animated adaptation with bits and pieces omitted from the plot, plus some low-quality CG. It was…an adequate refresher, I suppose. And I’m glad Sanae Hanekoma got the voice he did.

Then, earlier this week, a sequel subtitled NEO arrived to the Switch. I played through the first three in-game days, and I have to say: It has the nostalgic charm expected of a long-awaited sequel, but the cast seems tailored towards a younger audience, and there’s just no console like the DS for this series’ gameplay.

VouichecWeegee MAL in Detail

I probably should have started this years ago, but since I don’t have the confidence or competence to write proper reviews (despite the name of this blog), I’m making a spreadsheet of anime and characters sorted in descending order of how I rank them overall. Each anime will have a rating, a summary, and some thoughts, while each character will have an origin and voice actor instead of a rating. In other words, a more detailed (and streamlined) MyAnimeList, hence the name. Have some previews.

My intention is to make a big step towards making sense of my preferences through simple expression that cannot fill orthodox review character limits. It’ll be a long-term goal, but maybe I’ll publicize it faster than the next thing I’m about to cover.

Cinq du Soleil: Nouveau status update

Planning ever continues, but progress is rather slow. I have a 10-page Prologue, and I’ve written more than another 10 pages on only one of the five protagonists. Accordingly, I drew inspiration from the Mondaiji light novel by splitting the chapters into parts, like how volumes are split into chapters. In terms of the first chapter, this would allow me to dedicate one part to building the environment, one part to each protagonist, and a seventh part to the titular troupe formed by the protagonists. So at least I have that going for me, but man, writer’s block plagues me here too. (I’ll start publicizing the work when I finish Chapter 1.)

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Voices (Monthly Musing, June 2021)

This topic is a bit impromptu because I’ve spent most of the month writing Cinq du Soleil: Nouveau and hacking away at my video game backlog (primarily Tales of Berseria and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle), although it does hold significance in my long-term goal of making sense of my preferences. Voices can make or break a character, sometimes even affecting the overall quality of a medium.

I’ll start with some characters on the “break” side: Noire (EN) before 4GO, Peashy as a whole, Flora Klemm (JP), Go’s Pokédex (JP), and Kamoana (EN). Some of them (namely Peashy, Flora, and Kamoana) are young, thereby at least having some excuse for their grating voices, and I’m not about to like Noire regardless of her voice, but…whose bright idea was it to give the most talkative Pokédex the most annoying voice? (Team Rocket’s Pokédex, by contrast, is the best of its kind despite understandably not being used much.)

I guess I should clarify that I tend to play video games with English voices and watch anime with Japanese voices. Each side has its ups and downs, and the latter preference is based on the newest and particularly obscure series, so the former preference is simply my mother tongue.

Now for the “make” side. I can’t remember exactly how I started taking an interest in voice actors, but perhaps it was some combination of abridged series, Brawl Taunts, and Kevin Chamberlin who used to be in the cast of Stupid Mario Brothers. (Y’know, the live action parody series with Star Wars elements.) Regardless, the kinds of voices that I tend to prefer are relatable, goofy, wild, or somewhere in between. Examples in some of the first few anime series I actively pursued (which I watched with English voices at the time) are Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh, Konata Izumi from Lucky Star, and Ritsu Tainaka from K-On.

The real fun behind voice actors is that they form bridges between pairs of characters ranging from separated at birth to polar opposites. For instance, it’s plain to see the resemblance between Ratatosk from Tales of Symphonia 2 and Lelouch from Code Geass, both voiced in English by Johnny Yong Bosch, whereas Jon St. John of Duke Nukem fame took on a whole different personality as Big the Cat. This goes to show that voice actors can be identified by their specialty and diversity.

Matt Chapman of Homestar Runner fame is the epitome of voice diversity. The airheaded titular character, the pragmatic Bubs, the eccentric Coach Z, the gluttonous King of Town, the mysterious Homsar, the contrasting Brothers Strong, the adorable Cheat, and more are all voiced by him alone.

But how about something more in line with the other examples I’ve brought up? Possibly my current favorite English voice actor, Benjamin Diskin, I first noticed as the voice of the headstrong Caspar from Fire Emblem: Three Houses and the reserved Sig from the Puyo Puyo series. Further research also pointed me to the vain Lorenz and the chill Lemres respectively from the same two series. On the flip side, there’s Rokurou Rangetsu from Tales of Berseria, who is recognizably cut from the same cloth as Lemres. (Well, unless it comes to fighting.)

That brings me to the specialty aspect, for which I’ll bounce to the Japanese side with Marina Inoue. She tends to voice mature women like Yozora Mikazuki from Haganai, Kili Surtr Muspelheim from Unlimited Fafnir, and Sonia from Pokémon. (Kana Minami from Minami-ke is a notable exception, namely the airheaded troublemaker type.)

As I have formerly blogged, the resemblance between Yozora and Kili played no small part in my adoration for the latter character and, in turn, how I feel about Unlimited Fafnir as a whole. The same applies to Mega Drive (the SeHa Girl) and Saya Sasamiya (both voiced by Shiori Izawa) regarding Gakusen Toshi Asterisk. Yet, in these two cases and many others, it’s not easy to connect the dots without research. Below are a few exceptions:

• Ratatosk sounding like Lelouch (as mentioned before)
• Rokurou sounding like Lemres
• (JP henceforth) Shiroyasha (Mondaiji) and Beatrice (Re:Zero) sounding like Kuroko Shirai (To Aru), voiced by Satomi Arai
• Kiriha (Tsugumomo) sounding like Satania (Gabriel Dropout), voiced by Naomi Ohzora
• Tamaki Kotatsu (Fire Force) sounding like Futaba Sakura (Persona 5), voiced by Aoi Yuuki
• In turn, Kumoko (So I’m a Spider, So What?) and Azusa (slime witch) sounding like Tamaki Kotatsu
• Marii Buratei (Joshiraku) sounding like Natsumi Koshigaya (Non Non Biyori), voiced by Ayane Sakura
• Retto Enjou (HxEros) sounding like Arata Kasuga (Trinity Seven), voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka
• Jade Curtiss (Tales of the Abyss) sounding like Roswaal Mathers (Re:Zero), voiced by Takehito Koyasu
• Sanae Hanekoma (The World Ends with You) and the narrator of Cells at Work: Black sounding like Joker (Fire Force), voiced by Kenjirou Tsuda

And now I’ve hit another moment of being close to midnight and not knowing how to wrap things up. Re:Zero and Fire Force are anime that I find have good voicework as a whole. No time to explain or clarify, so I’ll just put that out there.

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Loaded Month 4 (Monthly Musing, Feb 2021)

Last month, I said that I would finish collecting all badges in the Steam version of Phoenotopia: Awakening and maybe record a Zero Trial run of the game, but guess what? Just as the wind blows, I find myself once again dithering among hobbies.

On one hand, I’ve taken up writing Steam guides for Phoenotopia: Awakening, doing all I can to lighten the workload of Pimez (who is renowned as the number one Phoenotopia fan, yet thinks of me the same way). Unfortunately, the process has been riddled with writer’s block, so it took me a week or so just to make a guide on the controls and upwards of one month for a walkthrough of the main story, which I merely intended to make an improved version of a walkthrough that I had already written last year.

On the other hand, which I would call my primary source of writer’s block, I decided to get Xenoblade Chronicles 2 early this month (a week prior to the Nintendo Direct, might I add) and immersed myself in Bravely Default II the day it came out. (Between the two, I also tried out the Project Triangle Strategy demo (which I like to call Octopath Tactics); looking forward to further development, and Hughette is just my type of character (succinctly Shamir on a griffon).) In regards to the former video game, as much as I enjoyed my experience with Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition last year, I was reluctant to bother with the sequel—partly in favor of my backlog (namely Phoenotopia and Neptunia), and partly because I judged from what little I knew that the story would involve a formulaic harem. This judgement was naturally defied; Rex is not as meek as I expected, Pyra more interesting, and the cast certainly more diverse. (I find Mythra the most attractive, but Tora is my favorite character. In Xenoblade 1, I (generically) like Shulk.) Also, the game mechanics are fresh compared to those of standard RPG sequels (e.g. Bravely Second, Neptunia 2/3), and it doesn’t immediately tie itself to the previous installment. As for Bravely Default II, it’s everything I hoped for, particularly after experiencing the Final Demo (in which I (painstakingly) managed to defeat Anihal within the time allotted). I’m only up to Chapter 1 at the time of writing, but feel free to have a gander at my WIP Job Compendium, perchance to get an idea how far I’ve progressed. Obviously, it will be difficult to balance these two RPG sequels, but…challenge accepted.

At least I managed to normalize my sleep schedule, primarily by letting go of late-night game shows (as I’ve exhausted them at this point) in favor of the new episodes that Game Show Network has to offer in the afternoon. (Specifically: Master Minds, Get A Clue, Chain Reaction, and People Puzzler on weekdays.) I think remembering to have three square meals a day also contributed to getting my head straight.

(By the way, if this seems a little rushed, that’s because it is. I did mention having writer’s block in constructing Steam guides, and it plagued me here too.)

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

“In the Works” (Monthly Musing, November 2020)

(This is technically a Loaded Month, but I’d rather not name it as such because my last Loaded Month was literally two months ago.)
I don’t think I’ve talked about it on this blog, but my YouTube channel (EchecCritiqueMisc) has a video walkthrough playlist called PHST, which I created as a 100% speedrun tutorial of the original Phoenotopia. In that vein, a fan of mine (never thought I’d say that) suggested to me that I should make an Awakening counterpart of it, so I put out a trailer last month.

This trailer shows off the possibility of winning the second Katash fight under Zero Trial conditions (and the end sequence too, as a bonus), thereby getting the Dark Wings badge at the same time as Zero Trial (and Victory by proxy). It truly is harder than it looks, even without mentioning the battles that precede it, but it has potential to save at least fifteen minutes in the All Badges category of the game. Speaking of which, the new series will be called PABCAB, meaning “Phoenotopia: Awakening – Briskly Collecting All Badges.” The use of the term “briskly” instead of “speedrun” denotes that I intend to record the walkthrough before I start running the category—contrary to PHST, a product of experience with the category it entails. Now, the takeaway is this: When I said PABCAB was going to be “a long time in the works,” I wasn’t kidding. In fact, because of how hard it has been to find recording opportunities, especially with a family ordeal that happened at the tail end of the month, I…unfortunately have made minimal progress.

Therefore, I’m back to playing other video games, and I managed last week to complete Neptunia Shooter after 12.5 hours overall.

My inexperience with the genre and commitment to Phoenotopia: Awakening inhibited me, but now I’ve moved on (300k and damageless be darned) to Super Neptunia RPG to finish catching up with the series, so it is now likely that I will publish a finalizing review next month.
On another note, I got Kid Icarus: Uprising as a side purchase with a GameCube-style Switch controller. Not only does the game feature anime-style dialogues that have always had me enticed, but it also plays like Star Fox Assault, and I like it that way.
I also recently downloaded Pix-O-Mania, a Conceptis app that presents irregular Block-a-Pix puzzles in a level-based freemium format like Pokémon Shuffle, right down to the twists like stroke limits, time trials, concealed numbers, bombs, and darkness. And I gotta say: as much as I fancy myself a puzzle pro, 8-28 took me ages to three-star.

Changing gears, I’d like to talk about the anime of this season. Ever since catching up with Fire Force, I’ve further broadened my horizons by dabbling into some of the other series. (Call it a withdrawal of sorts, the likes of which compelled me to watch Shield Hero right after Bofuri.) The following are listed in the order I got into them, which also happens to be ascending order of appeal.

• Assault Lily: Bouquet – I think of this as Madoka Magica meets Unlimited Fafnir, although it has yet to introduce an antagonist on the caliber of Kili. That said, I find Moyu to be a charming character and Miriam to have notable voice work.
• Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear – The synopsis mentioned a girl making a gimmicky decision to become overpowered in a virtual game, so of course my mind went to Bofuri (which I get that I’ve been mentioning ad nauseam, but I just can’t help myself). In this case, the protagonist (Yuna) is more mature, willingly gets herself trapped in the game world and watches over the children thereof (instead of testing her mettle in competitive events). Thus, it doesn’t lend nearly as much to the action as to the “cute girls doing cute things” aspect.
• Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Maoujou de Oyasumi) – Syalis in this show is similar to Yuna, becoming a menace to her environment in order to enjoy simple pleasures in life. Yet, Syalis is imprisoned in a demon castle, rather than trapped in a game world, and has but one pleasure: sleeping through the great many days that her hero will take to rescue her. In an unusually literal manner of speaking, she dauntlessly goes through hell to satisfy her needs as a sleeper, which vary every time she wakes up. It’s just comical how she defies the expectation of being a damsel in distress with her antics that baffle the demons every time. That said, she’s so cute when she sleeps, perchance an icon in rethinking the value of sleep.

All in all, this anime season is a solid one, albeit not as much so as Winter 2020. Not only are the series not quite up to par (on which note I’d like to add that Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken is what I would call “surprisingly good” like Ping Pong the Animation), but the weekly episode timings are not as fluid, what with Assault Lily: Bouquet, Pokémon ’19, DanMachi 3, and Fire Force 2 all falling on the same day. (Winter 2020, by comparison, had me watching no more than two episodes per day of the week.)

And one more thing: Although I have moved from the residence where I’m used to having a personal TV on which I can watch game shows while doing computer work, I’m now at a residence with another such TV. (Since the one time I reviewed game shows, I’ve solidified my opinion on Snap Decision, Match Game, Master Minds, Winsanity, and Divided. The former two never really stuck with me, but the latter three are entertaining. To put Match Game in an analogy, given that America Says is boneless Family Feud, Match Game is none Family Feud with left beef.) However, it’s a small CRT with no HDMI port, so I can’t route my capture card into it if I want to record Nintendo Switch footage; instead, I have to relocate the HDMI from one of my desktop monitors to the capture card, another one of the multitude of inconveniences hindering the production of PABCAB. (Funny how I came around full circle in this conclusion.)

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Loaded Month 3 (Monthly Musing, Sep 2020)

It goes without saying that this month has mostly been…getting accustomed to Phoenotopia: Awakening for the Nintendo Switch. On that front, I have taken another week off work—primarily on account of an address change—and am doing my darn best to get a recorded any% speedrun of the game. (The farthest I’ve gotten is the D block of E.D.E.N.) Unfortunately, I have been beaten to the punch (multiple times over, might I add) by an English Discord user and Twitch streamer named pylocatabasis (alias Pylo). He’s invested enough in any% that he’s been setting new records almost every day over the past few days. Me, I just don’t have as much time on my hands as I used to.

It’s crazy to think: Back in the Flash days of yore, I was the entire speedrunning community from late 2015 until early 2018, then Daawsomeone attempted any% No Major Glitches, Escapologist laid down some strats, Arumin joined the scene, and earlier this year miopasid (Whiskpl on speedrun.com) debuted and eventually became the current WR holder with an astounding 48:54 RTA. And on the Awakening side of things, the added exposure promoted the growth of the Discord, which in turn promoted the rise of a bigger community in less than a month. With Pimez being the information guru, MilesCPW and Ethan being glitch hunters (with miopasid supporting), and Pylo being the figurehead of the speedrunning scene, I feel like I’m not much more than the leaderboard manager. (Even then, my moderators usually verify runs before they come to my attention.) Speaking of which, even though I have yet to present a run of my own, I did manage to create the leaderboard myself, once I realized that I could add the game as part of the Phoenotopia series (which I submitted and had approved thanks to the December 2016 demo).
Voilà: https://www.speedrun.com/phoenotopia_awakening

At the time of writing, the main categories are as follows:

• Any% (no restrictions)
• Low% (no Heart Rubies, Energy Gems, or Moonstones)
• All Badges (what it says on the tin)

I’ve also come up with some miscellaneous categories:

• Zero Trial (like low%, but Moonstones are allowed)
• Light Wings (based on the badge of the same name)
• All GEO Dungeons (including the two with the Antique Pins)

(And, of course, the use of Accessibility Options works as a subcategory, as No Major Glitches is to the Flash game.)

In my casual(-ish) playthrough, I want to research what exactly affects the percentage counter in the end credits (whether or not Pimez already knows), that way maybe the definition of low% will change and potentially a 100% category will come to fruition. (Admittedly, though, 100% has always been an ambiguous category in the Phoenotopia series, what with the existence of medals/badges. Reminder that unlocking the Mystery Bento in the Flash game is the most arbitrary percentage-based requirement of all time.)

In other speedrunning news, about a month ago (as in, not this particular month, but close enough), a streamer named CyanCloud suddenly got into running Chompy (inspiring three other runners) and eventually set a new world record of 5:06.96 (whereas my PB from way back when is 5:09.73). That said, I don’t intend to take back this WR any time soon, as I have more meaningful pursuits in mind. (Y’know, Phoenotopia and whatnot.)

Speedrunning aside, I do remember saying that I would have my next Neptunia post out by October, but that was before the PHO-A release was announced so suddenly. Now, I’m thinking the ETA on that front is early 2021 at best. Sure doesn’t help that Neptunia Shooter is a more difficult game than I expected. After nearly four hours of game time, I’ve beaten Noire a few times, but I have yet to get past Parsec 4. And even after that game, I still have Super Neptunia RPG to get started on.

Lastly, I’m not inclined to divulge any details, but I recently came up with a new idea for a story to write. I’ll drop two hints, though: audacity and outfits.

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Loaded Month 2 (Monthly Musing, March 2020)

Honestly, this month is the epitome of a loaded month, what with CoViD-19 being on the forefront of the world’s collective mind and the last few episodes of Bofuri (with an immediate season 2 confirmation, no less!) filling me with unhealthy(?) excitement. Regarding the former point, I may be experiencing minor symptoms (namely, my lungs have been feeling stifled as of late—like, even when I’m under the impression that they’ve always been less effective than they should), which has led me to panic multiple times over, but I know now that panicking only does worse for the lungs, so I’m simply trying to maintain a positive mentality while enduring it. Of course, I never forget to wash my hands or avoid sneezing/coughing into them (and I can practice “social distancing” without even trying), because that’s all I can do in this time of uncertainty.

It sure doesn’t help that I already had a separate concern before the outbreak started getting personal. My PC, which I assembled about three years ago, has an issue whereby the power button doesn’t wake it from sleep mode—rather, I have to flip the switch in the back after pressing the button. Recently, this issue escalated to where the power button can’t even freaking turn on the PC when it’s shut off. Wonder when I’ll have to address this issue (and how): perchance some time after I make my next change of address? (I have a laptop as backup, but it’s at least four years older, macOS-operated, and worn down enough to have required multiple repairs.)

On the bright side, I have now essentially emptied my video game backlog, leaving nothing but grinding in Hyperdevotion Noire and Bravely Second (the latter of which I’m on and off about, and the former of which is on hold for at least a month). Yes, Bravely Second: End Layer. I had the first game, Bravely Default, on a year-long rental five and a half years ago, and I enjoyed it chiefly due to its music and partly due to normal elements (gameplay, story, and such) that I considered surprisingly good because I kept my expectations low. Bravely Second was released shortly after its predecessor, but I never bothered getting into it until Bravely Default II was announced during The Game Awards 2019 (i.e. December last year). I put 92 hours into completing Bravely Second and have thus far spent 20 hours settling post-game matters. It has a different composer (supercell rather than Revo), so its new music is just not the same, but at least most of the good ol’ music is recycled (and I’ll admit to particularly liking the shop theme and the Ba’al theme). Aside from that, it’s mostly a reskin of the first game but with subtle (but welcome) changes to the mechanics, environment, and story (including a dose of French dialog and some unexpected instances of breaking the fourth wall).

Speaking of Bravely Default II, the demo came out just recently, and I fully completed it in just under 6 hours of game time. It looks promising for sure; the main quartet has a similar feel to that of the first Bravely Default, yet the characters seem original otherwise, especially with the added presence of accents. Apart from the continued use of series-defining aspects (such as crystals, asterisks, jobs, and Brave/Default), it seems a whole lot more fresh than Bravely Second, and I suspect that Octopath Traveler was a step in that direction—what with the picturesque scenery, the turn order changes, the one-liners during battle, Brave and Default no longer being mutually exclusive, the updated pause menu, and the particle effects of disappearing monsters. (However, I hope that the uncontrollable slowness of the NPC text is only temporary.) I’m glad Revo is back for another round of composition, and their work is sounding pleasant so far, particularly with the random encounter and victory tracks having the same intro as those of the first game. On that note, I find the lack of pause menu music strange, considering the first two games had pause menu music (and that of the first game was surprisingly catchy). About overworld themes: The daytime half of the Bravely Default overworld theme is comparable to that of Neptunia Re;Birth 2: loud and proud, too much so for its purpose. I like how supercell, on the other hand, made the Bravely Second overworld theme only dynamic on the transitions between day and night. See, I prefer subtlety in overworld themes, and that of the demo is the epitome of subtle: a unified theme for day and night, muffled in the latter case. As for battle themes…call me nostalgic, but it’ll take a lot to top That Person’s Name Is. One last thing: My party for the final battle of the demo was Black/White Mage Seth, White/Black Mage Gloria, Monk/Thief Adelle, and Vanguard/Freelancer Elvis. Poison helps.

Bottom line: In spite of (or maybe because of) the pandemic, my backlog is looking cleaner, and I don’t expect to be watching much Spring 2020 anime (only Hachinan and Tsugu Tsugumomo alongside Railgun T and Pokémon ’19), so I might get back into grinding for a Most Dangerous Arsenal run of Phoenotopia, attempt to get by my writer’s block halfway through chapter 15 of Cinq du Soleil, and/or make EoF charts for the fun of it.

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Remembering Pokémon Sun and Moon (Monthly Musing, Nov 2019)

On the first week of the month, the animated adaptation of Pokémon Sun and Moon saw its 146th and final episode, bringing the generation to a close and making way for the next. Therefore, there is no month like the current to recapitulate my pertinent posts and to offer up some final thoughts.

Poké Monday

• Mimikyu (11/28/16) – Unique setup sweeper/stopper with typing to match
• Fearow (12/19/16) – Drill Running and U-turning bird
• Feraligatr (1/16/17) – Water-type Sheer Force user with Dragon Dance
• Abomasnow (2/13/17) – Hail setter fallen from grace thanks to a certain winter fox
• Chingling (3/13/17) – Some kind of Trick Room setter in Little Cup
• Rapidash (4/10/17) – The one Z-Will-o-Wisp user (alternatively, a recoil-reliant offensive Fire-type that can heal itself)
• Mudsdale (5/8/17) – New Ground-type physical tank
• Archeops (6/5/17) – Airborne powerhouse held back by one of the worst Abilities in the game
• Voltorb (7/3/17) – Rain lead, otherwise budget Elekid
• Starmie (7/31/17) – Speedy but versatile Rapid Spin user
• Pachirisu (8/28/17) – Hero to Trainers who use their favorite Pokémon in battle
• Shroomish (9/25/17) – Grass-type staller with unconventional coverage in Drain Punch
• Pelipper (10/30/17) – The new Rain setter in town
• Pyroar (11/27/17) – Special attacker with unique typing but lacking in Ability usefulness
• Regigigas (1/1/18) – BST titan severely held back by another of the worst Abilities in the game
• Clauncher (1/29/18) – All-around Water-type pivot in Little Cup
• Bronzong (2/26/18) – Levitating Steel-type Trick Room or Stealth Rock setter newly weak to buffed Knock Off
• Bunnelby (3/26/18) – Huge Power user in Little Cup with Swords Dance, priority, and enough coverage to get by
• Azumarill (4/23/18) – Huge Power Aqua Jet and/or Belly Drum user with extra Fairy typing
• Tepig (5/21/18) – Fire-type physical attacker of sorts in Little Cup
• Shiftry (6/18/18) – Part Dark Chlorophyll and/or Defog user with near-equal physical and special prowess
• Charmeleon (7/16/18) – Lower-tier Z-Sunny Day attacker
• Yanma (8/13/18) – Yanmega Lite but with Compound Eyes instead of Tinted Lens
• Dodrio (9/10/18) – Lower-tier menace of a Flying-type attacker with new coverage in Jump Kick
• Dwebble (10/8/18) – Hazard setter and/or Shell Smash user reliant on Sturdy and Berry Juice
• Ducklett (11/5/18) – Water/Flying attacker or Defogger; a middle ground between Mantyke and the recently banned Wingull
• Sentret (12/3/18) – Typical Normal-type in Little Cup with a colorful movepool but lacking in the stats to use it
• Koffing (12/31/18) – Child of an infamous 1.5-weakness tank
• Aron (1/14/19) – Notorious Head Smash user with Sturdeavor or Rock Head at its disposal
• Drapion (2/11/19) – The second-best of three Poison/Dark Pokémon
• Guzzlord (3/11/19) – Mixed attacker with superfluously high HP
• Throh (4/15/19) – Outclassed Fighting-type tank
• Piplup (5/13/19) – Water-type dual-purpose hazard setter and remover in Little Cup
• Rhyhorn and Type: Null (6/10/19)
  • Rhyhorn – Non-Sturdy Stealth Rock setter in Little Cup
  • Type: Null – The newest Eviolite wall
• Vikavolt (7/15/19) – Special tank/pivot
• Teddiursa (8/12/19) – Quick Feet user blessed in coverage
• Gorebyss and Hitmonlee (9/16/19)
  • Gorebyss – One of a handful of Shell Smash users, let alone with access to Baton Pass
  • Hitmonlee – Destructive Fighting-type with the choice to boost its power or speed
• Prinplup (10/14/19) – Water-type dual-purpose hazard setter and remover in lower tiers
• Tyranitar and Nidoqueen (11/11/19)
  • Tyranitar – Number one sand setter with a long history
  • Nidoqueen – Bulky-ish Sheer Force attacker

Other Posts

• Pokémon Sun – My entry into the series, and probably the last time I’ll talk so much about a Pokémon game
• Pokémon Ultra Moon – Less talk, more complaints (not to say that I prefer the first installment)
• Brain Food #2 – A dumb idea I had once: a mega crossover fanfiction starring Lana
• Pokémon Sun and Moon: the Animation – Speaking of Lana, she doesn’t get any better than in this medium

Final Thoughts

The Animation

My first post about the animation was prior to episode 120, so I wish to finalize my thoughts on the matter. And yes, just like before, they heavily involve Lana. What can I say? Perhaps my obsession with her is unhealthy.

Lana did lose brutally in the Pokémon League quarterfinals—her Primarina having suffered a merciless beating at the hands(?) of Guzma’s Golisopod and herself having been dismissed as “small fry” by Guzma—but she kept her cool through it all, whereas Mallow and Lillie got angry in her stead. The gist of her belief was this: “He didn’t break any rules. He was simply too strong.” And while my heart of hearts would have liked her to place higher (and face Ash in the League, or at least at some point), I can at least be content that she was the only girl to make top 8. (i.e. objectively best girl)

On another note, it’s no secret that Lana has a playful side, yet somehow she’s only ever made two puns in the entire series—both as a spectator of Ash’s League battles, and neither appreciated by her classmates. Personally, I love puns, especially when they’re made with such an adorable expression.

…Okay, on to more general talk. After all these generations, Ash has finally become an official League Champion and even got extra credit by defeating Kukui and Tapu Koko. (I wonder what Kukui’s last Pokémon would have been otherwise. Maybe Palossand?) Mimikyu saw its own reflection, leading it to abandon its one-track hatred. Burnet got impregnated. It’s possible that the new animated series, Pokémon 2019, will revisit Alola. (Also, if said series comes out with an episode centered around Manaphy, it’s possible that Lana will be involved.)

The Manga

I have found opportunities to read the first five volumes. It is an interesting story, starring the penny-pinching delivery boy Sun and the sensible pharmacologist Moon. It presents Kiawe and Mallow as characters who can relate to Sun and Moon respectively, whereas Lana is a more unique sort—by which I mean she’s normally meek but becomes dead serious in battle. Granted, Moon changes personality in the same sort of way when she’s deep in thought. Speaking of Moon, she’s a charming character in her own right, surprisingly being skilled at archery and finding Poison-types to be cute. That’s all I have to comment, except that Kahili golfing with Poké Balls atop a Skarmory has to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

Afterword

The seventh generation of Pokémon was full of surprises: a change to the whole eight-Gym structure, Alolan forms, Z-Moves, a great cast of characters (especially Lana), a fair share of interesting Pokémon (like Bewear and Mimikyu), surprisingly good music, and—most importantly—the removal of HMs from the series.

However, at this point, I think of modern Pokémon games as experimental steps toward the future (or, to play devil’s advocate, the promise of a future that they abuse to make dough), hence Pokémon X and Y (their first release on the 3DS) ended up being forgettable, while the newest generation is deemed by some to be inexcusable for a triple-A game. In the case of Pokémon Sun and Moon, there was too much hand-holding, the new mechanics were too Kanto-centric, and they discarded the Triple and Rotation Battles that previously lasted from Black/White onward. (Less importantly, they introduced physically oriented Fairy-types bereft of physical Fairy STAB: freaking Koko and Bulu; what a tease.)

In terms of animated series, I actually enjoyed Sun and Moon more than X and Y—and not just because of Lana, but because the full cast of characters and the diversity of the Alola region made everything seem more fun and exciting than I remember how it was in the Kalos region. Thus, another surprise from the seventh generation: seeming to take a drop in visual quality, while instead improving overall.
(Note: I am unfamiliar with any part of the manga except the seventh generation (and vaguely the fifth), so I have no say on that front.)

In the end, even amidst the ebb and flow of the Pokémon series, I will not soon forget this particular generation. Its contributions in Pokémon, mechanics, and characters have at least outweighed those of its predecessor. In particular, Lana has become my new favorite Pokémon Trainer of all time.

 

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)

Loaded Month (Monthly Musing, August 2019)

Hey, look. It’s the end of the month, and I have nothing specific in mind to write about. In the past, I’ve used many different names for moments like this—Thought Dump, Potpourri, At a standstill—but with my posting schedule being finalized at this point, I’ll also finalize the name that I use for posts like this: Loaded Month.

First and foremost, I have been quite enjoying the latest Fire Emblem game: Three Houses. I was enticed by how high-end the graphics were compared to those of the 3DS installments, so I went and bought the game at my earliest convenience. Needless to say, it has not disappointed, keeping me in for 100 hours of play with the Golden Deer, at which point I’m surprised to have not yet completed the game. (At the time of writing, I’m at Chapter 22.) I chose the Golden Deer in particular because, of the three potential deuteragonists, Claude appealed most to me by the uniqueness of his mindset and personality. (He makes me think of Raven from Tales of Vesperia.) I also came to like Raphael the simple-minded, Lysithea the prodigy, and Marianne the meek. Everyone of the Golden Deer is an oddball, and that’s what I like about them. I did manage to recruit students from other houses before the time skip, but only Caspar and (surprisingly to me) Dorothea of the Black Eagles. (I would have liked Bernadetta, Mercedes, Felix, and/or Sylvain, but you can’t win ’em all.) At any rate, Three Houses is a sort of series addition like Breath of the Wild that throws in a plethora of new mechanics to keep it fresh while maintaining the selling points of the series.

Besides that, I have in mind a Pokémon ROM hack concept that may or may not come to fruition. I call it Elemontalism, and the gist of it is integrating concepts of Cinq du Soleil as replacement mechanics. Notably, in a similar vein to Pokémon Picross, the types are translated to elements:

• Normal ==> Matter (new addition, not explicitly in CdS)
• Fire (unchanged)
• Ice ==> Water (otherwise unchanged)
• Flying ==> Wind
• Bug, Rock, Ground ==> Earth
• Steel ==> Metal
• Fighting, Dragon ==> Fauna
• Grass ==> Flora
• Electric ==> Energy
• Psychic, Ghost, Fairy ==> Spirit
• Poison, Dark ==> Nether

More intricately, a good portion of the moves are replaced with more in-line counterparts with slightly altered base power and accuracy according to the elements involved. At this point, I plan to establish the movepools of the 649 Pokémon spanning across generations 1-5, along with 3 later-gen Pokémon (Sylveon, Meltan, Melmetal) and 20 Fakemon included for balancing purposes. My progress? Slow but sure.

I’ve also been getting into the Neptunia spin-offs. I completed a good portion of Neptunia U and am pretty far into the main story of Hyperdevotion Noire, although the latter is on hold until after FE3H. That’s about it, aside from very gradual progress on the various stories that I’ve brought up now and again.

À la prochaine! (Until next time!)