Welcome to Rupee Shards, my own little world for whatever I feel like writing about. (Gosh!) For those who don't know me, I'm an administrator of OtakuBoards and a theOtaku chat moderator, and I've been hanging around here since September 2001. I'm an avid gamer and anime fan so most of what you'll see here will relate to one or the other.
Nintendo WFC Friend Codes
Wii Number: 8387-7566-7057-0450
Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 1504-5385-2566 (Des)
Rock Band 2: 4667-9521-5706
Mario Kart Wii: 4124-7294-7708
Animal Crossing: Wild World: 4553-2727-4864 (Desbreko in Kakariko)
Because of Sabrina and Miss A, I started playing Animal Crossing: Wild World again. I finally got my town into perfect condition and should get the golden watering can in another eleven days. My insect collection is also nearly complete now, though I have to wait till July to catch most of the rest that I need.
I stuck my friend code up in my intro again. If anyone has the game and wifi, you're welcome to visit. Unless you mess up my perfect environment; then I'll have to kill you.
Also, here's a list of stuff I'm looking for. If you have any of it or can order it from your catalog, I'd love to buy it from you or trade if I have something you're looking for.
Exotic theme Exotic Bed Exotic Bench Exotic Lamp
Japanese set White Katana Ninja Sword
Bonsai set Plum Bonsai Quince Bonsai
House Plant set Pothos Lady Palm Rubber Tree Snake Plant
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years was released for WiiWare on Monday so I downloaded it and just got done with my first play session. I thought I'd post my first impressions as someone who knows FFIV like the back of his hand.
First off, AY (The After Years, which I don't feel like spelling out every time) is very much classic FFIV. It looks and sounds almost exactly like FFIV Advance, though the sound quality is better and more akin to the original SNES version. The character sprites are also more like FFVI's in their animations and the way the same ones are used for both overworld and battle views. Battle and menu mechanics are nearly identical, right down to being able to manually sort your spells and using equipped weapons as items in battle, except for one welcome exception: You now have many, many more item slots than in FFIV so you don't have to constantly worry about running out of space. Most of the monsters I've fought have also been straight out of FFIV, though with some stats and abilities tweaked here and there. And the difficulty level seems about the same, though it's hard to say for certain this early in the game. If you're familiar with FFIV you'll feel right at home with AY.
There are also some new features to keep things interesting. The biggest I've seen so far is the addition of four phases of the moon that change over time or whenever you stay at an inn. Depending on which phase of the moon it is the strength of different types of abilities will be affected for both your party and enemies. There are four categories, melee attacks, white magic, black magic and ranged attacks, and during a full moon, for example, black magic will become more powerful while melee attacks are weakened and the other two are unaffected. It seems like each phase raises one category, lowers another, and leaves the remaining two unaffected. You can view the current phase and its effects in the pause menu and affected commands are also color-coded during battle to show if they're strengthened or weakened. The changes in strength are very noticeable and I can see the phases playing an important role in some fights.
You can now also perform Band moves, which seem a lot like the double and triple techs from Chrono Trigger. Apparently only characters that share a bond can perform them together. (Biggs and Wedge could do one together but Ceodore couldn't perform it with them. I forgot to try one with Cecil and Rosa while I had control of them.) They also don't just hand them out as you level up, though you do learn some through story events. To learn most of them you have to experiment by selecting the Band command in battle and then Search for Bands to choose which other character(s) you want to attempt a Band with. If the Band fails, you just lost a turn, but if it works you can then select that Band move any time you want from the menu. Bands take a small amount of MP from each character involved (characters that can't use magic now have a little MP to use for Bands) and obviously require all of of them to have their ATB gauges filled.
So far the story is very intriguing. The second moon reappears right after the start of the game and then things go south fast. If you've beaten FFIV you'll know the significance of the second moon. If not, you'll probably be pretty lost. This is a sequel to FFIV, after all, and the game expects you to know what happened so I wouldn't recommend AY if you haven't already beaten FFIV. (I would instead tell you to go play FFIV because it's a great game and my favorite in the FF series.) I'm not very far into the game yet but I'm really interested in seeing where it goes.
One thing to be aware of when buying AY (for 800 Wii points) is that it's not the full game. In Japan it was released on mobile phones in monthly installments, there being thirteen chapters total. From looking at the game's official website it looks like those will be condensed to nine chapters for the WiiWare release, with the initial purchase getting you the first one. The second chapter, Rydia's Tale, is also currently available to purchase from an in-game menu for an additional 300 Wii points. 800 + 8 x 300 would be 3,200 points altogether, which is about the same price as a new DS game, though who knows whether the others chapters will all be the same price.
I'm very pleased with the game so far and unless they price gouge us with the additional chapters I can't imagine I'll have any complaints. Since FFIV is my favorite in the series, I'm happy they left the core game mechanics the same and just added new features on top of them.
Yes, I'm jumping on the bandwagon for this post. But it's amazing how much anime-related stuff I've done today, yet none of it was simply watching anime.
First up was creating the SRT version of the script from the ASS script for Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ep2, which is the last thing I do before release. (Since you want the SRT script based off of the latest version of the ASS script and that gets tweaked throughout the quality checking.) Easy enough, since Aegisub has a handy-dandy line selection tool that makes picking the dialogue and lyrics lines out from among the typesetting lines simple. Then it was just a matter of exporting them in SRT format and doing a quick check through the episode to tweak some stuff.
So, finally, the episode has been released! A big thanks to Dagger for translating every little bit of text in it. And I can't believe I actually typeset all of it... On the plus side, ep3 looks like it will be substantially easier to typeset since two of the three chapters in it only have minimal amounts of on-screen text. Well, minimal for Zetsubou Sensei, but it will probably seem like a walk in the park compared to ep2.
After that I played Rock Band 2 with my brother for a while, which is the only thing I've done so far today that was not anime-related. Unless you count eating a delicious hot pepperoni and mozzarella sandwich. But even then, I was muxing together an h.264/AAC encode of GSZS ep3 while I ate... Anyway, RB2.
My brother seems to have gotten fed up with trying to play drums on hard so lately he's been playing expert guitar instead. Which is fine by me, since that means I get to play drums instead – I always thought I'd enjoy drumming, since I have good rhythm, and I was right since I'm enjoying it more than the guitar parts. Guitar is still fun, of course, but drumming just feels awesome when I'm banging away and thumping the bass pedal and nailing every beat. I've been getting noticeably better (especially in getting through more complicated fills without breaking multiplier) and can play nearly every song on hard now, but there's still a long way to go before I master expert difficulty.
Next up was preparing stuff for the Anime Club. In case you missed it, well, you missed it; voting for next two anime we'll be watching, that is. We ended up with a three-way tie between Escaflowne, Ichigo Mashimaro, and Kanon and I rolled a die to determine which two would be picked. And I know they were the two I voted for, but I swear it was chance that Ichigo Mashimaro and Kanon ended up winning the rolls. It still feels a bit wrong, though, since those were the two I most wanted to watch while, on the other hand, I'm not a fan of Escaflowne so I was kind of hoping it wouldn't get picked. Please don't hate me, Miss A.
To go along with Kanon being chosen, I decided to download Exiled-Destiny's DVD rips of it to replace my old a.f.k. TV fansubs. I'm still debating over whether to watch it subbed or dubbed during Anime Club. I've watched it subbed before, obviously, but have not heard the dub at all. The main thing I'm wondering about is whether or not Ayu's "Uguu~" is preserved in the dub... What do you peoples think?
Finally, I retimed the Shugo Chara ep74 script to my re-encoded raw (transport streams where?), which ended up taking both more and less time than usual. More because there were a ton of cross-fades between scenes in this episode while subs were being displayed, so to make it look nice I had to time a bunch of fade effects on the subs to match up with the scene transitions. There was also a bit of typesetting to do – there usually isn't any of importance in Shugo Chara – which was sort of a slap in the face after finishing GSZS ep2. But less time overall because I was doing this late at night/early in the morning and thus was not in chat, thereby increasing my efficiency by, like, 50%.
And guess what! I still have a few episodes to write about for my next week in anime screen shots post. It never ends.
Well now, I never thought I'd care enough to make this fight happen with no damage but here it is. Since all the previous strategies I'd come up with required a large amount of luck to pull off no damage with, I never cared to spend the time replaying it over and over again until I got a perfect fight. (Also, I just don't like this battle; I was willing to spend over six hours on Ridley because it was a fun fight and entirely skill-based but this one is rather boring.) Some recent comments on my other two Phantoon videos, though, got me thinking about different strategies for the fight. Thus, after a few hours of pondering, testing, and practice, I ended up with this video.
The main difference between this video and my previous one is how I deal with Phantoon instantly appearing after being invisible. There's no way to predict where Phantoon will appear, which means no way to avoid it if it happens to appear on top of you. This was the big sticking point that kept me from pulling off no damage before.
Now, the main tip I've seen for avoiding Phantoon's instant appearances is to keep moving. This advice is worthless, however, because without being able to predict where Phantoon will appear it's just as likely you'll run into Phantoon appearing in front of you as you are to avoid Phantoon appearing where you moved from. I'm not sure why people think this is a good idea because I've tried it and the number of hits and dodges were pretty much the same as standing motionless.
A tip that actually makes sense, on the other hand, is to minimize the area where you can be hit by making yourself smaller – you can do this by rolling into a ball. Assuming Phantoon's appearance location is completely random, taking up one third the space while morphed into a ball would result in getting hit a third as often. I tested this idea and found that it works very well; while morphed into a ball, only very, very rarely did Phantoon appear low enough in the room to hit me.
So, having found a viable strategy, I gained the motivation to sit and practice enough to pull off a no damage fight. There was still some luck involved, since there are still situations where Phantoon can trap you with too many flames to avoid, but little enough to be tolerable.
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Phantoon beaten without taking damage. Played in real time on Snes9x v1.43+.
Phantoon is the hardest boss in the game to avoid damage on due to the amount of luck required to avoid some of its attacks. The strategy shown in this video minimizes your chances of getting trapped by unavoidable hits but it's still not entirely consistent.
Phantoon's normal attack pattern is fairly simple: It will drop flames for a bit while visible, then open its eye -- during which time it's vulnerable to attack -- while sending out a ring of flames around itself. After that, Phantoon will be invisible while dropping flames until it appears with its eye open, along with a line of flames that will drop from the ceiling. Phantoon will continue appearing with lines of flames until it's damaged, at which point its attacks will reset to the start of the pattern.
Now, the first thing you need to know is that the flames Phantoon drops from its closed eye won't hurt you until they've touched the ground or a wall. And the second thing you need to know is that you can use the Charge Beam to pass through all its flames unharmed. Simply charge up a beam shot and spin jump through them. This will save you from vast amounts of damage.
It's also important to know how Phantoon will react to certain attacks. If you hit it with a super missile it will cause Phantoon to appear at the top of the room and send eight waves of flames down at you, but these are easy to avoid by using the Charge Beam. If you hit Phantoon with a charged Ice/Wave/Spazer Beam shot, it will immediately disappear. If you hit Phantoon with a charged beam shot with only one or two of the other beams equipped, or with a missile, Phantoon will fly around the room for a bit, during which time it will be vulnerable to attack but will also damage you if it runs into you. Afterwards, Phantoon will always restart its attacks from the beginning of the pattern.
What I feared yesterday has come to pass. I woke up this morning with a sore throat that somehow manages to feel both dry and like there's gunk from my sinuses running down it at the same time. Joy. I'm not sure if I actually have a fever, but if I do it's at least not a bad one. I've been a slight bit dizzy at times but that could just be the sinus congestion throwing my balance off. My sense of taste is also a bit off.
Anyway, rhythm: I has it. I moved up to medium drums in Rock Band 2 yesterday after playing a few songs on easy and figuring out what the heck I was doing. Lots of five stars so far, with the occasional four creeping in. (WTF is with Tangled up in Blue by Bob Dylan? The actual beats in it are simple to play but there's not a steady pattern anywhere to be found in that song.) Sometimes it takes me a bit to pick up the beat, but once I figure it out I can usually stick to it consistently. Like, 600+ note streak on a song without having played it on drums before, consistently. I figure I'll finish out most of the tour on medium to refine the muscle memory and get better at fill transitions—I still accidentally hit the edges of the drums instead of the pads sometimes lol—then move up to hard. I may just end up enjoying drums more than guitar.
If anyone wants to take a look, I made a profile on rockband.com. Not much there yet but it's got a picture of my character. Yes, I made him look like Link. I was browsing through the various clothes and happened to notice this particular combo. I dunno if I'll keep him that way but for now I find it amusing. It's just too bad that there's no pointy hat to go with the rest of the outfit.
Jester is my brother's character. I have serious doubts about his taste in headgear.
My 21st birthday went well, better than I thought it would. I kind of expected to have to crash at my friend's place for a day or something to avoid my brothers trying to get me drunk. The two oldest returned home to the Bay Area before that, though, so nothing ended up happening. In fact, the whole thing was rather uneventful other than having some friends over Friday night to play RB2. But that's fine by me since I don't like making a huge deal out of my birthday.
Work on Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ep2 is slow but continuing. I'm currently waiting for more sign translations from Dagger so go poke her if you're impatient. :p
And speaking of anime, the new winter season shows have started. Shin put up another thread on OB for talking about them and I listed the ones I'm interested in. I haven't seen much of them yet but once I do I'll probably post more thoughts in there.
