Spring Animu Impression [part 2]

Continuing my not-so early impression of Spring 2010 Anime series, from this entry.



Giant Killing
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: DEEN

comments: Sports animu! Giant Killing tells about a footbal club, East Tokyo United who's currently in terrible form, sitting down the table, with many internal crisis to add to the damage. Then comes the former club legend, Tatsumi stepping up as manager to bring the club back to their glorious days. Wow, to be honest I'm getting really excited with the show. I mean, when is the last time we had a football-themed series? Some of the stuff in the show also kinda reflects similar thing in real life - the story itself looks similar to Shaolin Soccer. ETU as a club was like Leeds, except that Leeds still haven't found a way back to the Premiership. Club crest and jersey like AC Milan. Team motivation like Arsenals (5 years without trophies LOL). Training ground like Manchester united (Island of Dreams). Training methods like Mourinho (unique approach). Die hard fans like Arsenals (some plastic, glory hunting with knee-jerk reactions). Tatsumi itself is like Barcelona's Pep Guardiola (club legend becoming coach). The animation and character art might not be appealing, but overall I'm really enjoying the show because of the very thing the show is about - football. Btw, did it read DEEN?
verdict: 4/5 (must watch)

Ichiban Ushiro Daimaou
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: Artland

comments: Transfer student in a magical academy, Sai Akuto strives to become a high priest, instead was predicted to be a "Demon King" as his future occupation, and hence sending false impression to the rest of the academy. While at that, he was having a hard time with his class president Hattori Junko, watched over by an android called Korone and a lot of underground conspiracy shit going around. So far it is an interesting series, looks promising with lots of actions and magical fight involved. With the way he dealt with the delinquent and the huge mana pool he had, it's no surprise if Sai is getting closer to a true Demon King. Anyway, sometimes the jokes are silly, but they really make me laugh, especially when it comes to Korone trying to tease Sai :3

verdict: 4.5/5 (must watch)



K-ON!!
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: Kyoto Animation

comments: Hey it's K-ON!!, do I really need to say anything anymore? Yes I probably do. Third year, and Houkago Tea Time still with their random activities after school. Recruiting new club members, practicing after school and all the random things we'd found on slice of life show. Regardless, I still enjoy watching the show as I do for the first season, though I do hope for some songs that could replicate Don't Say Lazy. The OP and ED are nice, but imo not quite up to par with season 1's songs.

verdict: 3.5/5 (watching)



Senkou no Night Raid
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: A-1 Pictures Inc.

comments: Japanese War propaganda, and Kuomintang (KMT). In the middle of these, exist a forgotten organisation called Sakurai Kikan, consisted of members with supernatural abilities (force field, telepathy, teleport, mind reading...). Back to the history book eh. With real past events as the background added with some special powers, I'm kinda intrigued to see what the series has to offer. As well as how their powers work. It seems like there's a pre-requisite for their abilities, sorta like remuneration in Darker than Black. Some ambiguity in the story but hopefully those will become clearer in future episodes. Fine graphic, and the setting kinda remind me of Canaan.
p/s: this series really give a hard time for the fansubber because of all the chinese/russian language dialogues lol

verdict: 3/5 (watching)



Working!
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: A-1 Pictures Inc.

comments: Somewhere in Hokkaido, there is a cafee with somewhat "interesting staff. A newcomer Takanashi who's totally not interested in anything "above 12" (omg); a 17 year old baby faced midget middle schooler Poplar Taneshima; the middle-aged, lazy ass manager Kyouko; katana-wield, Kyouko-obsessed floor chief Yachio; a ridiculously androphobic Mahiro who can hardly resist from punching men, and workers Satou and Souma. Welcome to Wagnaria. All I can say is, thumb up for the comedies, totally made me laugh all the way to my stomach. Takanashi dealing with his "small" fetish is one thing, then seeing him always having a grudge with Mahiro because of her violence and fear toward men is another thing (morning punch really made me laugh). Totally enjoyed the series :D
p/s: I'm loving the catchy OP song. Can't get enough of "someone" lol

verdict: 5/5 (definite watch)


That's pretty much all for Spring 2010 series for me. There are some other series that have yet to be properly subbed, but I guess I can leave those for later.


not making in the list:

Ikkitousen Xtreme Executor - One of the series I don't mind delaying. Been watching the previous 3 seasons and I do want to watch a further sequel, but then I'd better marathon this altogether at the end of the year. Time is not at my side at present.

KissxSis - I'm fine with the OVA, but when it comes to the TV series, somehow I feel like the series kinda turn me off after trying 2 episodes. Not going to bother watching the rest of the season.

Mayoi Neko Overrun: Again, I try to watch the first 2 episodes but I just couldn't get myself to watch anymore than this. I guess I'm no longer fond with typical harem romance with generic characters all around. So yeah, dropped.

A First Step into FFXIII

Cocoon - a utopia in the sky. It's inhabitants believed their world a paradise. Under the Sanctum's rule, Cocoon had a long known peace and prosperity. Mankind was blessed by its protectors, the benevolent fal'Cie, and believed that tranquil days would continue forever.
Their tranquility was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal'Cie. The moment that fal'Cie from Pulse - the feared and detested lowerworld- awoke from its slumber, peace on Cocoon come to an end. Fal'Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants. They become i'Cie--chosen of the fal'Cie.
Those branded with the mark of a l'Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fate harsher than death itself...

After about 3 weeks or so, I was finally able to start playing Final Fantasy XIII. I could have played it right away after the game arrived early this month, but Resonance of Fate took priority over this game, and given that I've pretty much finished Resonance of Fate, I can spend the coming weeks focusing on FFXIII. So far I'm only roughly 5 hours into the game (counting the many times I afk idling because my mates call on dota), so there's definitely a lot more for me to comment about the game. My impression so far-

Well, FFXIII isn't "that" bad as I heard people are saying. Across some boards and words of mouth, I got the opinion that the story is too linear with little sidequests offered (cough *FFX*cough*). 5 Hours into the game (until past Alfa Behemoth boss), yes I do agree with that sentiment. Linear, way too linear. It's a straight path to the end of each chapters with little no no field exploration. But, looking at the bigger picture, there are other aspect of the game that I do enjoy.

The graphic for example. I guess I really don't have to say anything about the graphic, since we're talking about Square Enix and Final Fantasy. Simply beautiful and spectacular. The environment really gives me the "fantasy" feeling I had when playing previous FF (minus FF12, that was crap), although it was mixed with modern machineries.

What else - gameplay. I've grown less and less fond with turn based rpg, but I find FFXIII's active time, turn-based combat system rather nice. As the game goes on, the gameplay grew into me and the likes of paradigm Shift made it interesting. Some people might say that the game "play" itself because we can simply Auto Battle to go through most of the random battles, but then is it really a bad thing? I personally think it speeds up the battle greatly (akin to Enchant's Arm speed battle), since we didn't have to put the command ourself, just set them with Paradigm Shift. I guess it's all about personal opinion. Some prefer to work with their hands. I also do, but in FFXIII's case, I don't mind the way the combat system is presented, at least for now.

Then, the story. Well, hours and what I've done so far are chasing some "big guys" who's causing curse, then the characters themselves fell to the curse which grant them special powers. And with that, they become the enemies of some part of their world, and the rest is just as what you might have heard from others - run, run and look for clues for Focus etc. Little sidequest (in fact so far there's none. I like the stories so far, but one thing that I'm kinda tired with is the fact that in my 5 hours of play, nearly 75% are cutscenes and the rest are simple field explorations/battles. Too many cutscenes! And another thing is, too many new jargon were thrown at us in the beginning (fal'Cie; l'Cie, Pulse, Purge blablablabla) that it took awhile for us to figure out what the hell are they actually are. Nevertheless, I do love the random dialogue occurring between the characters every now and then.

Other things to add: seems like characters leveling in FFXIII resembled that of FFX's Sphere Grid growth, albeit FFXIII use different way of gaining experience. The Paradigm Shift definitely made the battle more interesting, giving characters various roles (Leader, Attacker, Healer, Tank etc - not the actual name ofc) to suit with the needs of battle. And based on the game manual, it seems like there'll be a few more features to be available soon.

Overall, I had a pretty good impression toward FFXIII as far as the early games are concerned. In the very beginning, I'm not overly excited to play the game because of the bad thing people said about the game, but in the end of the day, what matters is your own satisfaction. Pretty much like how The Last Remnant was poorly received, yet I find the game quite fabulous despite not liking the game in the beginning.

By the way, anyone think the name "Lightining", 'Snow", and "Hope" are lame?


ps: The environments during this early game kinda remind me to Gears of War 2. If you know what I mean.

The EPIC Comeback

Although I'm getting pretty busy with honours lab work commencing this week (really tiresome work @.@), that didn't really kept me out from dota, at least for one or two games per day. Nevertheless I don't usually talk about my own replay, but yesterday we had a terrific game. As usual, me and my buddies are playing inhouses on Garena (we no longer play Garena pubs because they're retards), and in this particular game, we played a 6v6 map with these lineup:

The Sentinel

rayupp
ar688
bleach_birth
icetrophy
hashbowl
NoobNotFunny1

The Scourge

[D]arksLayeR
SanzeniN
hoRny_hoTTy
v3nDretta_
ANTUjamban
trancer_fila

map: dota allstars 6.67c_6v6
mode: -apspso
version: 1.24D
link (dunno if working)

*I tag the wrong hero on hashbowl. He's playing Lanaya, not Witch Doctor*

Looking at the heroes line up, there really is no excuse for scourge NOT to win. And they (we) do indeed win, but we did it in a very hard way.

To introduce, Sentinel had what I'd compliment as pro, Icetrophy and NoobnotFunny, with bleach_birth and hashbowl can be dangerous at times if they are at their day. The pros at scourges are Edi (Vendretta), Saie (DarkSlayer) and me (SanzeniN) (Hot was very good too). To sum up the game, we at scourge had a horrible, absolutely horrible early game. Started with a lame first blood which could have been easily avoided if I fissure block properly (but I failed to stun cancel my fissure because of spiking). Then sentinel literally walk over us, led by Noob's Dark Seer, not giving us a chance to gain much farm.

But at mid-game, we manage to reverse the situation with a bit with more teamwork kills and Ursa's roshan, but one crucial mistake at mid base cost us our mid rax, when OD astral prisoned Weaver while SK and me was about to blink-ult (and knowing me, it's hard for me to cancel blink because of the spike). We end up getting killed and lose our mid rax, making it even harder to push. But brilliant display from SK and Ursa, along with great teamwork from WD, ES, OD and Cent enable us to bounce back and made an epic comeback and win the game.
Overall probably not the greatest game for a pub-level IH, but the tense really got to me for this game because I myself couldn't believe how we are badly lose in the early game. From going down 5-30 to winning 70-50 in kills is quite something.

p/s: Don't pay attention to me in this replay because my performance was really sub-par in this game. Apparently my connection is not quite compatible with the host (bleach_birth) and I often end up having spike every one and then, which is obvious from some of the embarassingly missed blink fissure and enchant totem -.-;


TL;DR -
-60 minutes game
-a total of more than 130 kills
-sentinel heavily owned scourge early game
-scourge lose mid rax after one crucial mistake mid game
-MVP: SK and Ursa

take home message: losing one rax doesn't mean you'd lose the game.

Seikon no Qwaser OP2 Single - Baptize [Yousei Teikoku]

Title: Baptize
Artist: Yousei Teikoku
Street Release: 21th April 2010

Tracklist:

01 - Baptize
02 - call my name
03 - Baptize (instrumental)
04 - call my name (instrumental)

Download: [MU]/[HF]


extra: Yousei Teikoku - Baptize PV [HF]

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Awesome songs. Another singles from Yousei Teikoku I've been looking forward too. Compared to the likes of Gekkou no Chigiri and those in Gothic Lolita Doctrine, I'm loving both songs in this single and the previous one (Queen's Blade One) better. And again, they somewhat remind me of her song shen she was in Denkare. Not to mention the currently aired animu is getting "interesting" :3 The PV was rather typical of her, it has pretty much similar styles with many of her previous music videos.

The Neverending Fate [part 2]

Finished Resonance of Fate, finally :D Beating almost everything this game to offer, on normal mode of course (hard and unknown not available on first playthrough). The Arena, every sidequests, and the typical Tri-Ace bonus dungeon, Neverland (aka the likes of Seraphic Gate, Cave of Seven Stars etc). At first my aim was to get perfect 1000/1000 for the game, but seeing that it require me to play the game for a 2nd time (albeit we can speedrun easily in a few hours), and battling the whole 500 Arena battles for 2 Achievements, I decided to leave these two for now, and revisit the game once I'm done with others. Overall although Resonance of Fate give a lot of Valkyrie Profile Silmeria's vibe, in actual both games are vastly different in the way the story is presented, and many other gameplay aspects. For this entry, I'd like to give my opinion on two things:

The bonus dungeon, Neverland

This bonus dungeon is f*cking ridiculous. Seriously. Probably the hardest among all bonus dungeon that Tri-Ace has included in their past games. You go at level 100+ and you'll get raped easily, even at your very first random encounter. Go again at level 150+ and you might have decent chance to complete the dungeon, providing you have the right setup. The monsters here are ridiculously stronk, and even worse that most of their attacks can easily went over 2k-5k each. Just as the difficulty of the main game is, Neverland difficulty was quite steep. Without the right setup, it was hell. With proper setup, it was a walk in the park - damage reduction accessories (preferably 30%), level 90+ MG level (for Full Scratch AND Stun rate), and against some, Armor-Piercing rounds (trade from Arena). With this setup, the bosses at the Gate of Heaven are virtually jokes. Stun, stun and stun.



Storyline
Uh..okay, so...what was the story about again...? It seems to me that Tri-Ace intentionally made the plot this way - leaving so many ambiguity and confusion about the story, leaving the player's on their own to interpret what actually happened. Plotholes, depending one's point of view. All in all, the way they present the story is unique, but at the same time, kinda leave discontention among many players. I would say that even I myself are not quite sure about what's the main story is trying to convey. From the moment human's life are bound to the quartz, Leanne's experiment as the 20th sample, Zephyr and Vashyron's past (the massacre, in particular), Sullivan and the demon-like loli (I only know her name is Rebecca after going into Neverland), Rowan's plot, the thing that Zephyr and Vashyron hide from Leanne, and most importantly, the "Miracles", which what I thought was what happened when the ending scroll (Rebecca smashing a quartz, people defeated returned to life etc). After a bit of digging, I found this posted on gamefaqs, which somehow answered some of my lingering questions. Recommended reading material for those who find the story confusing!

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=959317&topic=54076899

In the end of the day, the title Resonance of Fate is quite relevant to what's happening in the game. Unique presentation, albeit I'm hoping for some sort of sequel or other type of media (manga/light novel or something) to thoroughly explains the in-depth stories currently void in the game.

Next stop: the ever-overhyped Final Fantasy XIII

p/s: Resonance of Fate: the review coming...next week.

RD's replay of the month - April

Events: U9 Cup
Maps/version: Dota-allstars 6.66b, version 1.24b
GameMode: -ap
Length: 58:35 minutes

replay download: [gosugamers/replay.net]

rating: 9.9/10

Talk about perfection. This replay offers everything you could have imagine in a balanced, well played game - action packed, the awareness, indivisual skills, teamwork and battle execution, everything were almost perfectly played by both team. On sentinel (Days), a dagger Nerubian Assassin is simply too much for scourge to handle while in late game, they have hard dps in Drow Ranger and Shadow Fiend, backed by Drow, Vengeful Spirit and Nevermore's damage and negative armor aura to outmuscle scourge's carry. In scourge (CH), they have YahpetS, arguably one of the current best carry in the world using Templar Assassin, and dgc playing Crystal Maiden, both of which played almost flawlessly. A really good lesson for those who want to know how to play a true support CM, landing ulti in the right place and time.

Too bad Lanaya and CM's amazing performance couldn't save them from being obliterated by sentinel's late game carry prowess. Plus Days pick a perfect hero to counter Lanaya, Dark Seer. In a way, maybe I could say that Vincent's Eearthshaker is one with the least rating in this game, because he delayed his dagger until around 40+ minute, which could change the outcome of the game if he get it sooner.

Oh and don't forget, it's 1.24b

There are a few others good games played in the elite league in the past few weeks (eg IHE's Ducky vs Kuroky and U9's EHOME vs Days).

Spring Animu Impression [part 1]

The tradition continued, as usual. For Spring 2010 anime, currently I am not planning to watch many series because of my study (and games too), but some of the shows I've watched so far are worth putting in my weekly watching list.

Angel Beats
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: PA Works

comments: The story took place in the afterlife when people are prepared to forgo their link to the living, with the main protagonist Otonashi meet with SSS leader Yuri (uh...Haruhi?) and gradually joined their hunt to defy what they call as Gods - the Angel or they'll disappear from that world. I don't know how to make of this. But I like the thrills and actions involved so far. The world after death, Shinda Sekai Sensen and modern weapon vs supernatural powers. Neat animation (coming from True Tears and Canaan, that's to be expected) and the plot was intriguing, coupled with some light humors to enlighten the moods. The stage performance in ep1 was deceiving.
rating: 3/5 (will continue watching...maybe)

Arakawa Under the Bridge
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: SHAFT

comments: The first ever thing that come to my mind when I watch the first episode - Itoshiki Nozomu. Nuff said. A man who never want to be indebted to anyone, Ichinomiya Kou (duh what a tough principle of life). A "Venusian" girl, Nino who seem to lack emotion. A kappa and a bunch of masked weirdos. Everything under the bridge. Features bits by bits of roughly 2-5 minutes worth of chapters, compiled into each episode. Weird show, but typical of SHAFT, I guess. Imo the animation was sub-par if we consider Shaft's works in the past, but overall the show kept me entertained as much as Zetsubou sensei do.

"Repay the debt when you were one" Oh shi-
rating: 3/5 (watching)



B gata H Kei
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: Hal Film Maker

comments: B type eroticism. A story of a perverted girl, Yamada who has nothing but sex on her mind and aims for 100 fuck buddies, with a plain guy named Kosuda as her first (and never succeed) target. Yukari Tamura as Yamada really made me laugh pretty hard with all her perverted plan, and always end up screwing things up, being a totally inexperienced chick despite her popularity in school. Oh and not to mention the wealth of seiyuus involved - Mamiko Noto, Yui Horie, Yukari Tamura, Hanazawa Kana, Yu Kobayashi. The show that I definitely enjoyed this season :3

p/s: cherry-kun
rating: 5/5 (must watch)



Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: DEEN

comments: Wait, did it read DEEN? So far the animation is some of the best among Spring series I've watched. Can't comment much about the story, but the plot was quite deep and interesting for my taste. What I can gather from 2 episodes is that Yukimura Chizuru along with the neo Shinsengumi are on the search for her father, with lots of other kind of rebels to be dealt along the line. Gotta love the tense of battle and adventures set up in the feudal period. Yup, stuff that I like.

rating: 4/5 (must watch)



Kaichou wa Maid-sama
MAL/Official Site
Studio production: JC Staff

comments: a very strict student council, Misaki who works in maid cafe to help her family, only one day to be exposed by one of the most popular guy from her school, Usui. Although I generally don't prefer shoujo, this show gives the same vibes as Kimi ni Todoke in that they are fun to watch, at least compared to many other series of the same genre. JC Staff did another good job for this one, I'm loving the banter happening between Misaki and Usui, seeing how he enjoys teasing her every once in awhile while the two of them gradually getting closer. And again, lots of nice seiyuus involved. Definitely one of the Spring show that I like.

rating: 4.5/5 (t-up)

part 2 coming in...a few days maybe :3

Yuyuko Saigyouji = Krobelus

Someone over the PD showed this video, which I find totally badass. Mostly because Yuyuko model and theme synergise perfectly with the original Krobelus model. Yes, I'm talking about her flying butterflies that replace Exorcism's ghost, and Carrion Swarm. I would love if IceFrog would actually replace Krobelus model with her, even just for 1 april fool version. Some might say that it's not so "warcraftish", but hey, DotA already has Lina Inverse, Zerg, King Leoric, Rikimaru, Buriza do Kyanon, Kimahri, Sange & Yasha :3
There's another model replacement of Nevermore with Greendam Girl, but her theme doesn't really fit with Shadow Fiend's darkish nature.

Awesome stuff : D

It's mid-April!

A hectic 2 weeks has it been. Literature review and research proposal finally well completed and need to be submitted tomorrow, then today I also have graduation ceremony for my degree, although I didn't actually attend because, well, can't be bothered to go. Too much hassle, I'd rather went to the campus and do the final proofreading of the stuff I need to submit so that I'll be free tomorrow. My body is aching to start the project, it's been almost a month since I last start doing anything in the lab. Looking forward to plasmid cloning and recombination :D

On a side note, since I'll be mostly free during the weekend, I'll definitely going to finish the remaining 3 chapters of Resonance of Fate with my uber-Godly Leanne XD

Haruhi Movie - The Pime Taradox

I would never thought that the sub for Haruhi movie (Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi) would be out this early. The video quality was totally bad though (cam record, duh). Despite that the video is easily watchable (clean sound and visual with no interference from the audience, which was a good thing), but definitely not worth for archive. That being said, I totally enjoy the movie even with this crappy quality. Approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes, I thought KyoAni did extremely good job in adapting the novel into this movie. The slow-mo suspense when Tsuruya appears, Nagato's shyness, to the events that unfolds to the end, everything seems freshly recalled back to my mind (even that final word that Kyon spoke). The use of Bouken Desho2 as OP made things even more memorable. Overall, thumb up for the movie, totally awesome!

One thing that intrigues me is the way Haruhi pronounced "Mohammad" when she talks about festive celebration (I freaking rewind it more than 10 times!). At least my ear perceive that she didn't pronounce it correctly; while later Kyon pronounced it right.

Really can't wait the dvd sub version, which god-knows (pun intended) when will be released (I'm still waiting for Vesperia First Strike, which was aired way back in last Autumn).

Now gimme Snow Mountain episodes, or Intrigues of Haruhi movie to complement this :3

Katanagatari 01 'Zettou Kanna' Audio CD

Title: Katanagatari 01 'Zettou Kanna' Audio CD
Artist: Yousei Teikoku
Release date: 7/4/2010

tracklist/download:

01 [妖精帝国] 誰そ彼の月華 / Yousei Teikoku - Tasogare no Getsuka (MF)
02 [刀語キャスト] あとがたり 「絶刀・鉋」編 (MU)
03 [田村ゆかり] 第零話 「虚刀・鑢 ／第一章」 (MU)

download [MP3] - [Mirrorcreator]

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I would have thought that the ED will be released as part of Katanagatari's ED collection, never expect it would come together with the Audio CD. Since the files are huge (Flac, for the audiophiles), I decided to upload it separately, from the full version of the ED1 (Yousei Teikoku \o/), the drama audio and scans. Credit to Rinne for the release. mp3 version added.

The Neverending Fate [part 1]

So tell me...how does a gun with this much custom parts fare in real life? I guess there's not even a sheath that can fit this thing in :3

Well putting that aside, my progress in Resonance of Fate was rather slow as of late. At first I set my aim to finish 2 chapters per day (total chapters in the game = 16 chapters), but as the game progress, the mission became increasingly difficult and took longer time to finish, in term of gringing hexes, battling arena, and leveling all weapons properly. On Sunday alone, I spent the whole 4-5 hours+ of my dedicated gaming time just to go through chapter 5. Nevertheless Chapter 5 boss, Yeti really made me LOL. Motolov, motolov and motolov. Not even Tri-attacks are needed, the boss is incredibly weak against fire.

And then now I'm stuck at chapter 6 boss...

The boss looks rather easy on this fight, but not in my case as apparently my characters and weapons setup are not efficient, yet. Omega's charging time was ridiculously short compared to mine, which I guess is because he synthesised those sniper scoope thingy (adds +75 Charge time for 25,000 Rubies). Guess I'll took some time tomorrow night to return to Ebel City and get the right stuff -.-

So, going 3 more chapters from the my last post about RoF, how do my view about the game changes? To put it briefly (as far as my impression up to Chapter 6)

Graphic: 20/10 (awe-inspiring zomgwtfbbq graphic)

Gameplay: 9/10 (fun and refresing gameplay, albeit can be repetitive. but what rpg doesn't?)

Battle Difficulty: ^&%&$%^&&@##$ HARD. Seriously. The battle aren't so forgiving that small mistake can easily result in Critical Condition, and even worse, Game Over. If you stuck in a tough battle, you can't simply go and sit at the corner, spending 3 hours to grind levels. Proper strategy really is needed against equally strong enemies.

Story: 1.5/10 (wtf is the story about, again? All I know is that the earth surface is not safe anymore for living organism, Leanne is sorta a test subject and she longed to see the whole world (but she also try to commit suicide), and some guy with a mute loli had some unknown plan. The story just doesn't make sense. So vague, it feels like this game is better off released as a sequel to something.)

Others:
Weapon customisation: 9/10 (fun, although I wish there are more spaces for all those parts lol)
Costumes: 99/10 (totally awesome! Can't wait to get more costumes once I got to chapter 7 and rack up my money with those B Scope trick :3)
Sidequests: 5/10 (Lack varieties. All you did are mostly exterminating monsters, deliveries and sometimes, clearing Hexes path...)

p/s: Zephyr sometimes looks like some emo boy lol

The Resonating Fate

Just giving my quick impression on Tri-Ace's new rpg, Resonance of Fate (Japanese title - End of Eternity). To be honest, the game sorta arrived at my home at the wrong time, because I had my Literature Review and Research proposal to be submitted in mid April. But since it's already here, there's no way I could resist from NOT touching the game XD

In the first place, I didn't put much hope into the game because I had so much disappointment from the uber expectation I had with Tri-Ace's previous installment, Star Ocean 4. So I treat the release of this game lightly, and only bought it a few days before March ended. Then I started playing...and my impression: HOLY SHIT. I am totally awestruck by the game. Words probably aren't enough to describe how impressed I am with Resonance of Fate, almost everything about this game so far overwhelmed me. The graphic was simply stunning, beautiful, put whatever word you can here. Remember the beauty of Valkyrie Profile 2 Silmeria? Tri-Ace adopt similar visual style again, but even better with this game. I am left speechless the first time I got to control my character and went to explore the town. The scenery is just...unbelievably stunning!

I'm currently at the start of Chapter 3. The story seems weak so far with little development (still can't figure out what's the importance of stuff they done in Chapter 1 and 2 tbh), but then I can't say much about the plot without finishing the game. So I'd comment on some of the game's feature and combat system. I see some stuff from Radiata Stories brought here, the day and night feature if you remember. But it doesn't seem to be that important, apart from which NPC and quest are available.

The gameplay? Well, how should I describe it. The battle system are fun but can be hard, simple as that. Or should I say, the learning curve for beginner is steep that you really need to take some time practicing over the tutorial before you are ready to go to battle. But even then there's no guarantee that you'll survive each battle unscratched. There's always unexpected thign that can easily cause Game Over. Simply put, it's as hard as VP2 gameplay looks like, but can be much easier once the player mastered the mechanics. So how do the battle works? Well, too complicated for me to explain. The most similar system I could think of is Eternal Sonata. Think of it as a mixture between real time and turn based, with each player takes turn to damage enemies (via shooting/knife/grenades etc), and can moving around the battle based on coordinated path. Difficult to explain, a video might be good to demonstrate that.


Although this video is missing some important stuff like Smackdown and a better Tri-Attack visual. But the basics are there. Moving in linear path, shooting with so many acrobatic manouvers, collecting Resonance point for Tri-Attack, up or down the enemies, broke their parts (hm..sounds familiar?)... And Hero's gauge. I freaking hate this shit, sometimes we can easily screw up getting Condition Critical D :

But overall, I had a tear of joy playing the game :D

ps: oh and I absolutely love the costume selections. Leanne ♥♥♥

*images courtesy of Gamespot*