Dreams

Sorry about not updating, despite me saying I would, but here's something.

So I feel like dreams and nightmares are a matter that have changed for me over time. Whatever they are, memories being pushed out, your mind playing tricks with you, I don't know. But one odd complaint I always here is about nightmares.

Really? At this point, I don't really have nightmares. Even the scariest parts of my dreams don't seem to phase me as much as I'd like anymore. But when I do have something that wakes me in the middle of the night/early morning, I actually wake up with a sigh of relief. I am happy I live in a world where these bad things don't happen, and therefore I guess you could say these are more blessings in disguise more than anything.

But what about good dreams? Those are the ones that people tend to think of when they want to sleep nicely during the night. There are the ones where you can fly, where you have superpowers, where you get to ask out that one cute girl you know and she says yes, maybe share a tender kiss (I mean, that's what I hear, anyways. It's not like I have those or anything. Uuuuhhhhh, just keep reading). But I always felt like these ones are also, in a sense, a little bit depressing. As soon as you wake up, there it is, that sense of reality, that sense that whatever happened in your dream isn't real. Maybe that's fine with some people, but I hate these kinds of dreams.

It's those dreams where good things are happening in a nonsensical wasteland, and while the things around you don't matter, what you're focusing on tends to be great. I'm not talking about "wet dreams" either, it's just sometimes nice to be able to hold someone close to you until your sleepiness wears out to tell you morning has arrived. I know people do all kinds of stuff to make their minds do these kinds of things, and while that sounds nice, it just feels like I'd be battling for control for my mind to be happy.

I don't know, this was just some random hogwash that I felt like talking about. I don't know if people really read these or nots, but it feels better to get some of these things out. Maybe other people share different opinions, and I would like to hear them, but for the time being, I do find my happier dreams as sad nothings that will never happen in my life, things I will never do, and girls I will never kiss. (Er, I mean, again, that's what I hear)

Update: June, the Month of Writing

Well, I haven't updated this poor  thing in what feels like forever. So I'm going to update it now. Yes, with the beginning of June, I have decided that I will do more writing, whether that's for my own story, or just on this blog for the sake of it. I have a couple things in mind to write about, so there's plenty of stuff to discuss.

I think the biggest thing right now is just forcing myself to get a proper outline of the first part of my story done (first book?). Figuring out how to put all these people together ain't easy, but I try my best. I suppose in general Summer is a time of relaxation for me, if only because I still need to find work. Since it's June and I still haven't found jack, I might as well do something with my abundance of time. It's a shame I haven't really done too much, but seeing friends and all that is pretty nice.

I think the next thing I'm going to write about is Digimon games. Seems like a silly thing to write about, but it'll help start the creative juices, or at least just get me back in the mood of writing. Generally, I find just writing about simple things like that will be helpful. I've been spending too much of my time and money on video games (the Steam Sale got plenty of dollars out of me, even if the stuff is pretty cheap, a decent amount of money still goes into it).

I've also been home alone for the week. It's been nice, but also a little weird I suppose. I don't really have anyone hanging over at my house, but I guess I'm treating this time more as alone time than anything. I feel like everyone needs a bit of that now and then, and it'll help get it out of my system before I start trying to do all this stuff again.

I have to admit, I am feeling better though. I feel like I started off this summer all down, but now I'm a little more positive, feeling fresh, and I'm sure I'm going to be able to do more. I just need to push myself. Look forward to more updates, my 0 followers.

One Punch Man

I know I haven't updated in nearly a week now, but I do have finals, which I will be done with on Thursday. Hopefully then I'll be able to update more (here's hoping I can fix my wireless internet as well during this time, it keeps disconnecting over and over).

"I became the hero I had always dreamed of being. But how can it be that, even though I should be satisfied, I feel so empty...?"

Let's hear it for a very unappreciated manga, One Punch Man! (I will be throwing some spoilerish stuff here and there, nothing that you won't find out within the first chapters, so no worries) Starting as a webcomic by a mangaka that calls himself One, OPM is a story focused around Seitama who, you guessed it, beats everything in a single punch. Now I know what you're telling yourself: He's a walking Gary Stu (male Mary Sue, whatever), how can this be enjoyable in the slightest? Simple: Seitama might defeat everything in one hit, but there's a problem; No one is paying attention to his exploits, and he can't find anyone that would make for a "fun" fight.

Seitama's description for himself. Unlike other Mary Sues, Seitama doesn't treat his power with anything special.
He's honestly a very down to earth person. This only makes his godlike power that much funnier.

 We find that our hero has gotten his powers when one day, he walked home and encountered a large crab man who wants to murder a kid for a childish prank. Seitama ends up saving him, and decides to throw away his normal life in order to become a Superhero. He trains for 3 years, and becomes powerful enough to fight beasts that even the strongest heroes of the world are incapable of facing. How did he get this way you ask?

Yep. A very basic workout routine (well, aside from maybe all those push ups and miles he has to run). Seitama did this workout for a few years, which resulted in him losing his hair. This gives us another bit of information: Seitama doesn't actually know the real reason on how or why he got his powers (and neither have the readers at this current moment)

The entire manga could be summed up in this image: Seitama one shotting some beast, being extremely apathetic and bored, while saving lives.

Along the way, Seitama meets a cyborg by the name of Genos. Genos is shocked to see how strong Seitama really is, asking if he can train under him as an apprentice, and even tells his backstory and how he wants revenge on his family's killer(which we don't see any scenes of, just the talking, making fun of every anime that does this, and how it would really look if someone was just sitting there blabbing their mouth off). While Genos has some issues with Seitama at first, he comes to accept him not only as a master who shows himself to have true hero qualities, but also a friend. He himself is one of the few people that realize that Saitama is the strongest hero out of any he meets, including the top people of a Hero group.

Genos himself is much more, well, attractive than Seitama. Kind of the usual hotblooded protagonist at first, but develops more as an apprentice, and, like Seitama, is one of the few heroes that is there to help others.

Speaking of which, the two of them join a Hero Organization so that Seitama and Genos can start proving to the world as heroes. They both do very well with the physical test (Seitama breaking records with his), but while Genos aces his test and gets S Rank, Seitama fails and insteads gets C Rank, having to prove himself as he goes up the ladder(which obviously isn't too hard, aside from the people that think he's kill stealing from other heroes).

"Been there, done that."

I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyways; this manga is funny as hell. Just the way it makes fun of general shonen manga and how we're represented with a powerful but lazy hero. Quoted from an anon, "There's conflict when Saitama is not around. When he finally arrives to save the day all the tension and drama evaporate in an intentionally hilarious way." It's not a matter of IF Seitama can beat his opponents. It's whether or not he gets lost on the way.

Each of these parts is a different drawn scene. Someone simply put them together. This should give you a good idea on the art.

One Punch Man is a severely underrated manga. While the webcomic itself is crudely drawn (One himself isn't the best artist, but there are many scenes that are actually pretty good despite his art style), Yusuke Murata of Eyeshield 21 fame is redrawing the entire series, with plenty of spectacular art, some scenes being just breathtaking. Combined with the action and the humor, along with ridiculous and fun villains, One Punch Man is a manga that distances itself from any other by not only making fun of them and itself, but playing around the whole way through. My one complaint? I wish it updated faster.

Badassery never looked so apathetic.

Games I will never fully 100%

So this idea came to me when I was in the shower. I already have another idea (Pokemon vs. Digimon), but I feel like this is a better one to talk about at 4:30 in the morning.

Now when it comes to games, I find myself doing my best to 100% them as best as I can, although even I know my limits. There are certain games that demand forcing yourself on the most menial of tasks that there is no real reason to do a full completion of it (especially if it only rewards you an item that says good job).

(If you are looking for a guy that 100% games, look at Jirard of the Completionist on youtube, who does just that. Seriously, check him out, he's a rad dude that loves games. I don't enjoy every single one of his reviews, but he's still a pleasure to simply listen to.)

I have done these with certain games: Kingdom Hearts comes to mind, having gotten every weapon, item, doing random tasks (like the Rare Truffles that you must hit in the air 100 times in a row), killed every enemy, secret boss, trinity, treasure chest, etc. But it comes to my attention around that point: Why should I bother doing this? What am I getting out of it?

I want to lay out some ground rules here: If I say I've 100% a game, I might just be talking about doing every single thing on different playthroughs. This includes something like Paper Mario:TTYD (getting tattle logs, cooking recipes, etc.). These games are either menial in their tasks, or just downright extremely hard to do. So here we go.

1. Final Fantasy IX

This is one of the first games I thought of(and one of my favorite Playstation ones!), and damn, is it a doozy!

I don't even know where to begin. I have done every single boss in the game and done the full mognet chain, but there is a bigger problem afoot; the cards and Excalibur II.

This is a VERY hard item to get. To do it: Beat the game within 12 hours. Do not exceed the time. This sounds like a long time, but this is much less time than you think; FF9 is a very long, very huge game whose battle system is, if I'm honest, slower than I would like it to be, especially compared to other games in the series. To do this, one must ignore a ton of items, pray for luck in getting certain other ones, ignore practically all the sidequests and extra bits of dialogue, then once on the final disc, you must simply know to squat down at picture related to get your item. This is an essential item to speedrunners of the game (I feel bad for them already, knowing that they have to deal with all of this, sitting there for several hours as well), but one rarely seen by others. The only other way to get this is to wait a really long time for the clock to reset, thus tricking the system into believing you still have time left. Otherwise, there is no where else in the game you can get it.

The other is the card collection game. There are 100 types of cards. You can only hold 100 cards at a time. You will find yourself having stacks of the same monster, and certain cards can only be gotten by dueling against certain people (or for sidequests, doing several jumps in the row for the tedious jumprope game). I didn't even care for this part of the game to begin with (it's only important to do once) but it's still something just so mind boggingly annoying that I doubt I'll ever have the patience to figure it out.

2. Sonic Adventure II Battle

I already touched upon the fact that this game isn't as good as I thought it was several years back. But why is this one on the list? Easy: Getting every single Emblem, and full A-ranks.

Don't mind the Chao Garden stuff, but here's just an example of these lists.

Let's break it down: There are 6 different characters. Minus the unlockable zone for getting all the emblems, there are 31 stages, each having 5 missions (155 emblems in total). You must get an A-rank in EVERY SINGLE ONE to get an extra emblem for each character (6 more, 161). Then there are Chao emblems, as seen from above (9 more, 170). Then there is Racing, Boss Rush, and I believe one other mode, that add in 10. In total, there are 180 emblems to collect, and the only thing it does is unlock a 3D Green Hill Zone and more items for your Chao. That's it.  Given the time of A ranking everything alone, it's much too annoying to do this. I can't really stomach the game like I used to with motion sickness effecting me worse and worse, but it's still an ordeal that even younger me can't deal with.

It would be better to spend your time playing Sonic 3 and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles
and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles and Knuckles...

3. Digimon World

Another Playstation game, but this time, it's for one mere problem: Getting all the medals.

 

 

Sorry for the awful Aspect Ratio

So here's the deal: I have gotten most of the medals. This includes: Beating all the Grades, Fishing 100 fish, recruiting every single Digimon, getting all the cards, getting perimeters to full, Ending for finishing the game, playing 300 days (in another file), and maxed my bits. What have I not done? All the Version Cups, all the Type Cups, Mastering all techniques (legitimately), getting every single Digimon at least once (the most I've done is a little over half the chart, it's way harder than you might imagine without forcing myself to use evolution items), and win Greymon's tournaments 100 times (something I've probably done throughout all my playthroughs, but never in one go).

Oh, and of course, Penguinmon/Metalmamemon and their stupid curling.

This area alone is burned into the minds of the many who attempted this feat.
(perhaps minus the Giromon partner)

4. Any Pokemon Game's Pokedex

This should be pretty simple: Getting all the Pokemon for a respectful version's Pokedex. Aside from X/Y that reward you with a Shiny Stone that boosts your chances on seeing rare Pokemon, there really is no incentive on getting this. You just get a Certificate. Really, that's it.

I guess it's better than nothing. But come on, can't you give like a Mew or something
for that stupid amount of effort?

That's all for now. I think I'll do more of this at a later time. But for now, I really ought to be going to bed.

Oh, and of course, these images were used from Google Image Search. If you see any that are yours, feel free to tell me to take them down, and I will.

Update

Shauntel told me to write this. So I did. Because she's awesome and stuff. I don't really have a means of plugging her since I don't know where all her blog stuff is, but there you go. IN YOUR FACE.

Super Excited for Super Smash Bros. 4

Yay, a post. I'm currently not too busy right now, so being able to enjoy some free time is very nice. And what better way to waste time than to write in this blog?

Super Smash Bros., a series that I've enjoyed since the first game and have ever since been one to make sure I buy these games day 1. I remember waiting in front of a Circuit City (this was before they shut down), sitting there with my gift card in hand, excited for Brawl. Or the time I bought a Gamecube with my own money and spent many a night with Melee. Or even the times of the N64 when Smash meant huddling around a smaller TV. Still, there's never been a better game to whip out with guests around.

I guess it would help if I told people that I myself use to be heavily into the meta game when Melee was out, looking at combo videos and horribly written guides anywhere for an extra tidbit of information. Yes, these were days I spent months trying to master characters, including lower tier Mewtwo and Pichu, both of which are still low (but with Pichu, at least it was/is still fun wrecking someone's face in with Pichu). Mewtwo was the bigger main though, and I would test my skills against a friend's Marth, depending on teleport mindgames and watching Taj's Mewtwo videos for guidance. Needless to say, I was never as good as him, nor will I ever, but I still enjoyed it immensely.

Competitive Melee. Definitely cool stuff to watch if you haven't done so before.

Flash forward to now, Super Smash Bros. 4. I couldn't help but smile at the Direct given to us, full of ruses from Sakurai, big reveals, very smooth gameplay, fanservice (by that I mean little details like Wireframe Little Mac, although I guess ZSS fits the more believed definition), a Kirby's Air Ride-like mode on the 3DS, For Fun/For Glory, and more.

In fact, speaking of For Fun and For Glory, let's talk about them. This is a spectacular idea. It separates two mediums, people that casually play the game that enjoy playing it for what it is, or people that play it more competitively that will have a wide variety of Final Destination-esque maps to random from. I'll be trying out both, but the very thought that this bonus of variety is here is something I can get behind. If I could complain about one thing, I would've liked the addition of having Battlefield type maps in there as well.

Something that does bother me is people asking "Where is Captain Falcon? Ness? Jiggypuff?" While I don't deny that there is possibility of dropping characters, these seem ridiculous, not to mention one specific thing: For Melee, many of the characters that could be unlocked were revealed every week, the game giving us only the unlockables at first. Even with Brawl, locked character updates only came out closer to the release of the game. So your answer? Just be patient. At least for Captain Falcon, we've been able to glimpse at an F-zero stage, not to mention Samurai Goroh is still an assist trophy. Not to mention, he's practically a staple in the series, almost more of a Smash character than F-zero. One more note on the unlockable characters: I really, REALLY hope that they aren't as easy to unlock as Brawl was (play Subspace, receive characters). Getting new characters felt rewarding in Melee, let's see that again.

Another thing that I've really been looking at is the limited gameplay we've seen. So far, the speed seems to be in between Brawl and Melee. This is good, because it seems to be eliminating the floatiness of Brawl, but also isn't too fast for the more casual audience (I would prefer myself for it to be at Melee's speed, though I won't deny that not everybody that plays Smash is hardcore). Plus, they are eliminating tripping. Well, random tripping anyways (Diddy Kong's bananas still trip his opponents, but otherwise you won't randomly start running, only to fall flat on your face).

Seperation of characters and making them unique is also a very welcome change. Having Samus and Shiek be their own unique characters rather than having to change back and forth, also giving them access to decent down b moves, makes them feel more whole, and allows for more options. Just the same, Metroid and his gf Samus and ZSS separating allow them to have a more unique feel. While I'm not a big of Charizard, as a Pokemon or a character, the fact that he's not tied down to the Pokemon Trainer gimick and is therefore more unique because of it is a welcome change.

The thing that made me glee the most is definitely Smash Run. I was skeptical at first, but it looks like a genuinely fun mode that is a spiritual successor of Kirby's Air Ride that will allow for unique matches, and the fact that it ends with either a random stage or a trial (such as seeing who can climb up a tower the fastest) is really cool. There is definitely more to do here than just fight around, but by no means does the combat suffer for it.

Another welcome addition was noticing some minor tweaks that they have made. For example, back when Megaman was announced, people complained how soulless he looked. Now, his attacks show him with some more expressions (he keeps the standard face for a few in true NES Megaman fashion), and has even shown off a smile in screenshots. There's also other gameplay changes such as moves having different properties, like Pikachu's Thunder spiking opponents, or Link's dair spiking. Even stuff like Kirby being able to charge and move with his hammer, Pit having a new moveset and a really awesome new Final Smash, and others really allow this game to stand out.

One thing that I really wish we could've heard more of is the custom movesets option. This is really awesome, and it shows that with different properties on the moves, that the typical standard movesets are switched around, meaning that you won't have to play the same thing over and over. While it may or may not be in the competitive scene (For Glory is standard mode), this seems like a good change.

Another bonus is trophies. It looks like they're still here, and it'll be nice seeing what all trophies will be in this one. I know it's not really a huge thing, but it's still a nice touch.

Oh yeah, I should talk about new characters. Villager and Megaman were great characters to bring onto the table, and while I don't think Snake's reveal will be topped in a LONG time, Megaman's reveal was still glorious. Wii Fit Trainer seemed "eh", but then moved to a more enjoyable character the more I saw her(now also a him). Rosalina and Luma? Yes please, a very unique mechanic and a very welcome change, despite complaints that her spot was more deserved to others (this will always happen with new Smashes, there is no way around complaints). Little Mac looks extremely hype, with super armor and invincibility frames with a crippling weakness to air, but still extremely powerful on the ground. Another gimmicky character compared to our usual shpeal, but you know what they say, THE MORE THE MERRIER.

Greninja gets his own little section because he's new. Honestly? I'm actually happy for him. I know most of us want Mewtwo (who knows? He could still show up as a secret character alongside Jigglypuff, who is always an unlockable), but he looked fun as well. Faster like the other characters, with Substitutes and all. His trailer made him look fun, but I would like to see more of him later. I feel like I'll judge characters more so as we learn about that (I might even want to make a write up of every character and how they feel/have changed)

But yes, the question remains what we'll see coming up. I'm already planning on buying, and after watching the direct, I only wanted the game even more. I'm debating on whether to even get a Wii U or not for that version, so it's a huge toss up on what will happen. Regardless, my 3DS is going to be seeing a ton of use when Summer rolls around and we get our first taste.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusader Anime Out!

I know I said that I wouldn't be posting anything in a little while, but I'm taking a small break from homework, so I might as well write something down.

Jojo's Part 3 is currently coming out as an anime. The series has had some OVAs before, but never have they really followed the series too well. There has always been things being left out, and a more serious tone from the usual over the top feel that Jojo's Bizarre Adventure gives us. But seeing as how the anime has followed Part 1 and 2 extremely well (so much so that only a few details weren't brought up), many have been excited to see their take on Part 3.

I can't say I was a Jojo's fan before the anime, but I will say this; the first two parts of the anime inspired me to go out and look up the manga, in where I read through Part 3 pretty easily, only having a small break in the middle. Part 4 is one that I'm still having problems with finding (with only a certain number of chapters translated that aren't Duwang), but I am still excited to read about Josuke when I get to it.

If you don't know what Duwang is, feel free to gaze at this beauty. Everytime, it gets me a feeling so complicated.

If you haven't seen Jojo's yet, why haven't you? Crunchyroll has even put it onto their website if you need to watch the whole series. Part 1 is rather lackluster, but Part 2 is where it starts picking up. Luckily for everyone, Part 3, the series where Jojo's really starts making a name for itself, is coming out now, and you would be a fool not to be a part of it. Also, I'm going to flat out say this: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a series where each new part shown is revolved around a new character that everyone refers to as Jojo. From the Joestar family line, a whole family comes to fight a bunch of no gooders.

What are you waiting for? Go watch this great anime now. Part 1 and 2 before this if you haven't already. Regardless, you won't regret being part of this Bizarre Adventure.