Yeah, Hard mode is hard.

Well, that almost took too long. Finally got past Blackdale, and even beat the Fiery Idol in my first attempt. Didn't think that would happen... I should have recorded that since it was a pretty good run. Never have I been so happy to see Rush get deadlocked by the Idol... Didn't really have to lower enemy Morale, but I did notice that it didn't take as long to kill it. Weird, since it has more HP this time around. About 10 000. I even used the same set-up from my Normal run, although with considerably more skills. As in, I can smack it around with Wield/Weapon arts right now (Third Eye, to be specific). If I had trained with the Shielding Glaive from the beginning, I think I would have a Weapon Art by now, but I wouldn't be able to use it due to lack of AP. What I don't get is how I ended up in the Healer class. While his INT hit 35 first, I really don't think that Remedies was his significant Mystic group. If anything, it should have been either Hexes or Psionics, since I was abusing those like crazy before the class change from Ranger for Morale earlier in the game. Oh well.

Well, time to start assembling my soldier army again! And try to steer certain ones towards specific classes...? It'll be hard, but I'm pretty sure that it's doable.


Oh, and good news. Bayonetta's getting a patch to allow us to install the game into the HDD. Yay. Maybe I'll go back to it now. After all, I still have Hard mode to get through.

RasuRemu!

So uh... It took pretty much the entire break and then some to get the thing assembled and running. In my main blog I also expressed my rather tame annoyance at how I had no sound. Not going to go into detail here, but it took some fiddling around before I got the right drivers I needed to get it working. As it turns out... I CAN HAVE 8-CHANNEL SOUND! THAT'S SO AWESOME *CONTINUES TO GUSH* *ahem* Problem is... I can't afford something like that, and neither do I have the room or patience to deal with the cables. I may need to look into a cooling system, or you know, close up the system already to ensure better airflow. Now to figure out what happened to DMC4's sound. Something up with the drivers I have, or are the configurations in-game a little botched?

Also, what's up with Athlum's barkeep?! Yeesh... Jealous of Rush and David's interactions? Although... I found it kinda funny (and cute) that David gave Rush a flower. Specifically, Irina's favourite. Well, I'm nearing the half-way point. Already got Emmy on the team, made 3 unions (still keep losing one or two in major fights), finishing up some side-quests before they close up. At least it's not as strict as Romancing SaGa's Event Rank system... where every fight you get into advances the story timeline. You just need to get them done before a specific story point! ... That's all I'll type for now. The fact that I've made it to that point in under a week with tons of item grinding and that little quest exploit?

Strawberry, melon, lemon, grape. Finally, Rodin answers the question about Bayo's lollipops. Well, I knew that the red ones were strawberry because Luka mentioned it to Cereza. Yellow is usually lemon (except for the odd time when it's BANANA) and purple is grape. The green could have been several different ones; melon/honeydew, lime, green apple. Yay, it's all cleared up now! Except for the story. Will probably have to play a few more times before fully getting it. And "The Gates of Hell" officially closed shop. Because of that, the downloads have been made available regardless of the number of points you have. Nabbed the screensaver and put it on the new computer. Not that it would matter since I put the system on Stand By or shut it down if I'm not using it.

Still going at Bayo

Alright, I have a bit of a "break" coming up so I'll try to get one or two more LP posts up on Sunday. HOWEVER... I'm thinking about restarting it because I'll be getting my new computer hopefully soon (within the next 2 weeks) so I don't have to contend with the crappy 320x240 resolution while editing. Still, I don't have anything that could help with recording stuff from the PS3. In fact, I'm afraid of blowing a fuse at this point. No idea how much power running both the PS3 and PC (graphics card and all) would eat up. Anyways...

Next up, getting through normal mode in under 3 hours to unlock an accessory. It's actually somewhat conflicting too. I want to get the time under 3 hours, but I also want to Platinum everything. Maybe I'll Platinum normal while speed-running through Hard? Sure, it's suicide, but it's for the Bangle of Time. I can skip the Alfheim gates since I'm not too concerned about ranking at this point in time and I'm completing them on Normal for the Platinums. I can deal with that at a later date, or just deal with it on Non-Stop Climax mode.

Also, holy crap I want to play Uncharted 2 just to look at the sparklies. No, I don't care that I happen to suck very badly at those types of games, I just want to explore what they've created in-game. And laugh at Nate's silly dialogue because it's actually kinda funny in and out of context. Much better than the narm usually present in the games I play since they're translated from Japanese. ... But I actually like some of the narm too. Hm.

I haven't even scratched the surface yet...

I'm going to have to try it out... Holding either L1 or L2 during a cutscene. Wonder what that does? Well, I tried it but I don't know exactly which cutscenes it affects. But at least I found all the pieces for the ice skates, Odette! Makes moving around so much easier~ OK, the controls do end up a little slippery for kicks, but oh well.

Well, I finished the game. Just farming around for materials to create more items for the higher difficulties. It's more of a "just in case" measure for the time being. Didn't finish on Normal because of those golden Glory and Grace angels. So... I just switched over to Easy Auto to blast right through it so I can take on the various chapters at my own pace. There are a lot more asshole-ish type enemies in this game than I thought. Kinship, Grace&Glory, Glorious&Gracious, and several others. The very last fight was kinda funny. It involves going into space... Much like the first part against Mundus. Sooooo.... It was a technicolour battlefield from out of nowhere! Not that I mind though.

It also seems that there are other weapons to discover. I still don't have the rocket launcher tonfas, the whip, GUN NUNCHUNKS, light saber, Ebony&Ivory, laser guns, and maybe something else I'm missing. Uh... yeah. Should really get moving on unlocking them and the costumes. Want to run around in a kimono~ ... Wonder what else is there to unlock.

Also, let the fan idiocy begin. Already comparing who would be better in a fight: Dante or Bayonetta. Thing is, if we don't go by the game mechanics binding them (for game balance issues, obviously), then it would probably be an even fight. But why would they want to kill/fight each other in the first place? Personally, I think that Dante could take the fight. Sure, Bayo's pretty strong herself, but she also lacks instantly healing from near-fatal attacks and gaining some amping from a transformed state. Chances are, she can't survive being skewered as many times as Dante while just shrugging it off like an annoyance. Oh, and he survived a headshot, at close range, by a handgun? Both have time-related abilities (Witch Time and Quicksilver/Time Bangle), which makes slowing down or freezing time a moot point. The 2 guns vs. 4 guns argument doesn't work that well considering how quickly both can fire their respective firearms. Although... I believe Kamiya said that Bayo would win, but that's probably because he doesn't want to say anything bad about his newest game. Or because he's not sure about how powerful Dante is now. Afterall, he doesn't change his appearance according to the Devil Arm he has equipped anymore. So... who knows. DMC1!Dante does have the possibility of losing though. Then again, it seems like the comparisons might have died down a bit now. They're going to start right back up in January, I bet.


On another note: 3D DOT GAME HEROES IS OUT IN JAPAN AND THEY HAVE A TEMPLATE SHARING THING! Well, more like you can share the Character Edit data. Looks like its region-locked, considering that the it's based off the save data and carrying the BLJM code. Come on already! Tell us who has it for the North American release! And I can already imagine players screaming "RICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!" because of the Metal Wolf Chaos reference.

What? THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CAN BE CREATED FOR THE GAME BECAUSE HE'S THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. OK, that made no sense whatsoever, but that game not being localized also doesn't make much sense. Too bad you can't just blow stuff up in a spectacular fashion just for the hell of it in 3DDGH. And some people got their mitts on a certain disc that contains limited edition character files, one named "green hat." Wonder who that could be...

*insert extreme annoyance*

So... I've clocked about 4 hours of Bayonetta already. It was apparent within the first few minutes of play that this game was not seriously optimized for the PS3's architecture. WHAT THE HELL WAS SEGA THINKING?! Not saying that it's completely unplayable, but it's just a disappointment knowing that it's not up to par with the 360 version. It's a good game, but could be MUCH better. Like... I was hoping for an HD install to cut down on load times because of the Blu-Ray's lower peak read speed. Did we get one? Nope. Loading times like that are completely unacceptable. Not even Tales of the Abyss was that bad, and it was ripped pretty badly for the load times. The Ryu Ga Gotoku team would have been PERFECT for this if they weren't so busy working on the 5th game, which I can't blame them for and damn if I'm not intrigued by the series now. BUT NO, THEY JUST HAD TO HAND IT OFF TO A THIRD-RATE TEAM (or so I heard).

This also reflects quite badly on Platinum. Pretty sure that they're not very proud of the port, and they should have taken the reins earlier to ensure quality or at least demanded that a better team to take charge. Or better yet... delay the game to polish it up. A LOT. Going between the 360 and PS3 is not a simply matter of conversion. I have no idea how to program, and even I understand this concept. The PS3's CPU is a complete monster compared to typical processors. One main core with 6 split mini-cores, while the 360's is a triple-core system IIRC. There's no need to even get technical with this. Just looking at that already presents a HUGE number of complications. Now, if they had something like Capcom's MT Framework, which they used for Lost Plant, biohazard 5 and Devil May Cry 4, it would have been easier to go back and forth AND have the flexibility to optimize for each system. And even maybe even port it to the PC for fanatics. That being said...

...

THIS GAME IS AWESOME!
Yeah, could be (well, should be) a lot better because of technical issues plaguing it, but for what it is, it's a really well made game. Thoroughly amused by the Ookami, Viewtiful Joe, Mad World, biohazard, and Devil May Cry references I've caught so far. There may be quite a few I've missed because of visual cues or I haven't played the game that's being referenced before. But I'm only up to the 4th chapter, so I'm not that far into it. Actually, I'm kinda stuck. Mostly because I REALLY suck at this game and my pride is just refusing to let me go to a lower difficulty level. And mostly because I don't want to spend 20 hours on Easy Automatic learning how to play the game. But hey, at least I'm getting better at using Witch Time! I just need to learn how to use everything else now! ... Yeah, I suck at this. It's like learning how to play a completely different game from DMC. Yes, some experience would be helpful, but it's quite literally a completely different beast to tame. If it ran a little faster, maybe I wouldn't be having this much trouble...?

Dante turned into a historian/journalist/paranormal investigator! Actually, that's incidentally what Kamiya wanted him to be in the first place: a paranormal investigator. Also laughed at Bayo insulting the black and white guns, calling them toys. Ebony&Ivory are also black and white, but are specially made for Dante. One for quick drawing and fire, the other for accuracy. "Antonio Redgrave" was the name of the guy who left a bunch of notes all over Vigrid. "Tony" is a nickname for someone named "Antonio." Incidentally, I know someone who's named Antonio but goes by Tony. So... Tony Redgrave, AKA Dante, is in the game. The name is also on Dante's guns, but it was never really elaborated upon, other than the now retconned to non-canon novel. Bayo also shouts "HENSHIN A-GO-GO BABY!" during a rather amusing sequence. Enemy surfing on lava! Also insults a flying enemy... with "Flock-off, featherface!" Gee, I wonder who said that... Right! Dante to Gryphon! There's also the 20 year thing... Dante lost his remaining family 20 years before DMC1 started. Bayo was woken up 20 years before her game starts. Bayo falling to the ground produces butterflies. Ammy (Amaterasu) moving sprouts flowers. Both are girls~

I think that's enough gushing for now. I wouldn't be too surprised if both Bayonetta and Devil May Cry took place in the same universe, just that events are happening at different time periods, or just on different continents. Of course, this is just wild mass guessing on my part. This IS Kamiya after all.

:3

So... Bayonetta will be here in about 2 days. Maybe. All I know is that it'll be here soon-ish. Yay for breaking street dates (even though it's illegal) and early shipments from Japan. And to think that people have already finished the game and are moving on to unlocking costumes. I only really like the kimono one so far...

OK... Time to finish up that paper!

Dying isn't that fun, but it's fun to OHKO!

OK, I'm annoyed. PS3 Bayonetta's screens looked really washed out on the net... but when I was playing the demo just now on the HDTV, everything looked comparable to the 360 version. Except for the massive screen tearing and a few framerate issues. But even then, the framerate problem didn't really pop up unless I was using a Climax Attack, Bayo blowing a kiss, or during the cutscenes (what). It's due to the settings from the PS3 that you can easily adjust, like activating the full colour range amongst other things.

Anyways... More death! None of the ones so far today were spectactularly bad in any way. Just running back and forth gathering souls and repairing equipment for now. And farming some of the grasses because I kinda stupidly used a whole bunch of them yesterday. OK, I lied. I did die in one stupid way: falling off a high platform. High enough to kill me in one shot. Twice. The second time was by accident though. And found out how to OHKO. Not very good at doing the attack, but it also nets you a few extra souls which is good for repairing and upgrading.

EDIT: Yay, someone uploaded a demo rip for Bayo's music! Boo because it looks like the boss music against Jeanne is exclusive to the PS3. I really like that track...

EDITx2: OK, someone managed to get a (fairly) clean rip of the boss music! Has something of a Spanish feel to it... Pretty heavy on an instrument I can't seem to ID and lots of piano (with some guitar mirroring it).

SaGa 2 finished!

Well, at least my first playthrough. The final boss took a grand total of 20 minutes to take down, something that I haven't done since MinSaGa. It was also harder because I used the Destiny Thread system... But I've never fought against Arsenal in the original before, so I don't know what the phases are like. All I know is that only my Human and Esper survived, and that's only because they had maxed stats and some protection against statuses. Holy hell, did everything hit hard. I don't even know what those Cancellers do, but I left them alone when I noticed that my team was taking in a little less damage. With the Excalibur in hand (which has inifinte uses), I just kept smacking Arsenal. I guess I know what I'm doing for the next while: Buffing up MANA stats like crazy because I'm pretty sure that the lasers use Mana in the damage calculations (hit little Meka insanely hard), and going through the Nasty Dungeon because damn it, I need a stronger monster. No god-tiered monster for me since the highest level monsters refused to drop any of their meat. It's apparently a 100% drop rate in the original, so...

Still haven't bothered with killing Odin in the original. Need to raise defenses, but I don't know a good leveling spot for that. May need to backtrack all the way back to Edo (one savestate there!) and just beat up stuff there. All you need to do is just use the corresponding equipment once in battle for it to register a chance of stat level up. Enemy stats approach ridiculous levels during end-game.

And the Bayonetta demo has been released. And it was awesome. I didn't care about the graphical issues, even though they were incredibly glaring (HUGE amount of tearing, didn't see too many framerate issues), because it was just fun! Anyways, some of my gameplay. Obviously, I suck at the game, but going in with DMC experience and after checking out Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (word salad title much?), it was easier than expected. Had a little trouble against Jeanne because of camera angles and the dark environment, but that may have been because of the recorder's settings. If the NA version of the game's graphics end up as clean as the 360's version, I may have to get that as well. It would make recording anything a lot nicer due to the quality. And I think I know why I can't seem to pull off Torture Attacks that often. The gauge under the life bar needs to be completely full.




EDIT: OK, so I've heard that this build is from around E3? What's up with that? If it's true... then why didn't Sega release a demo that's more indicative of final product? It's just an insult to those looking forward to the game. Also faulting Platinum here because it somewhat reeks of laziness for not taking control of the PS3 version. I'm not buying a 360 to play a more complete version of this.

Still not getting anywhere.

So after grinding a hell of a lot in SaGa2DS, I finally beat Odin (and those crows, Huugin and Muugin). Then I lose all my MAGI to Apollo (or is it Apollyon, a fallen angel?!), get Dad back, and realize that he's still a hell of a lot stronger than everyone in the party. HE HAS STATS IN THE 80s AND 700HP. WHAT THE HELL GUYS. I'M BARELY BREAKING 600 HERE. Actually, I'm more upset that I don't have the Masamue MAGI anymore. It was a cool looking weapon that can raise your STR if you used it. Onward to the Final Dungeon! Appropriate name, no?

Still haven't advanced too much further in the original. Got to Edo, but that was it. I pretty much lost my patience when it came to hunting down some meats for my Sprite to evolve in Venus' world while raising stats. It's the RNG that's really pissing me off right now. Looking for Thunders, then Hermits is a bit of a pain right now. I think I'll concentrate on getting the meats from Edo and evolving from what's there. Everyone's still vastly underpowered. Don't even know how I made it out of the dragon races... Not to mention that dying and resting at an inn doesn't get rid of status effects, so Kyle and Miri are still blind after an hour of play. Yay for practically everything but spells missing! And no Watcher meat either... If I see any of those stupid swords, I'm running. I might need to map out what I want to evolve my monster into. The DS version takes out most of the guesswork once you've filled out the Meat Dictionary, but you might need to fiddle around with paths for Special Mutations and Inheritance. Which is how I had a Red Bone with Cure when it normally wouldn't have it as part of its moveset.

Also, people are dumb.While poking at Twilightsucks.com's forums, I noticed that someone said that Twilight has invaded KH through weapon names. When I saw the names they were referring to, it was pretty obvious that they didn't do their research. Seriously, the names for the ones in question were the same in the Japanese version, and I just checked them against the wiki. The other weapons, when translated, were either accurate from the Japanese, or were phrased in a less Engrish-y way. There's also an underlying theme to the names. Saix's weapons ultimately refer to the moon. Roxas/Shion (since they share a weapon) refer to all sorts of things but most importantly, the concept of light and dark. Larxene... well, it specifically references a classic piece of music (whether or not it was intentional, I wouldn't know), as well as following the naming scheme of keeping everything FRENCH. And Riku's weapon, Way to the Dawn? Its name is significant to his character. He's pretty much coming out of the darkness, walking towards the light, hence "way to the dawn." Dawn is also the time when the sun is rising, driving away the dark night and ushering in the morning light. Are they really that blind?! AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE TWILIGHT, so it's not like I can defend it in the first place. (Never read the books, don't intend to, and just generally don't get the hype)

EDIT: Maybe I should put down the names...Roxas/Shion: Total Eclipse. Saix: New Moon, Twilight. Riku: Way to the Dawn. Larxene: Clair de Lune. TCG: Break of Dawn. The last one is actually kinda generic, so I'm not sure what the fuss is about. It also fits into the KH theme of light and dark. So... yeah, I don't see it. /edit

On a brighter note, I think I'm going to go ahead with pre-ordering Bayonetta once the funds finish transferring, and getting info on the pre-order bonus. I'd like to have "Rodin's Selection," considering how I missed out on Dante's Selection about 8 years ago. How typical of Kamiya~ And hope that my mom doesn't open the package once it arrives. It'd be interesting to see her reaction though...