I made a few remarks about this topic in the last two posts, that is, difficulty in games. I think this is probably the hardest thing for a game developer to get right. The important thing to discover is the difference between challenging and hard.
When a game is challenging, the player is kept on their toes and have to use most of their ability to win. When they mess up, there are things that are easy to see which they need to fix. For instance, in street fighter, if you keep getting punished for throwing out some move that is -23 on block, it's not too difficult to realize that unsafe moves are called that for a reason. Stop using that move in that situation. You have only yourself to blame for getting beat for doing stupid things.
On the other hand, if a game is just plain hard, things get really frustrating. It's no longer a feeling that your skill beat the game. Now you just feel that it was luck. If you're playing street fighter and all of your cross-ups (requiring your opponent to guess if they need to block right or left), or your high-low mix-ups get blocked, its hard to win and it seems futile to attempt to. That's the thing with computer opponents though. They don't need to guess. They can have the ability to know what side an attack will land on. Game developers need to make them "stupid".
Of course it's not just about the game being hard. You also need to make things challenging, but not easy. If its easy, then its not fulfilling when you win. It seems to keep up the challenge in a game, there are a few routes a developer can go.
1) Introduce new enemies: If you are further into a game and you see a new enemy, you will not be surprised if he takes different tactics to kill or needs more work.
2) Increase the number of enemies spawned: If you are going to keep seeing the same enemies and their abilities will be the same as every other time you see them, you increase the difficulty of that encounter by having more enemies that need to be killed. You don't want to swarm them, but keep things hectic enough so that they can't pick off guys one at a time either.
3) Keep enemy difficulty a constant: No matter where you are in a game, enemy type A will always be .75 of your strength and enemy B will always be 1.5 times as strong. As you get stronger, so do they. This sort of makes sense, but at the same time, you, as a character were doing all these crazy things to get stronger. You opened the blue door with the blue key and killed the evil robot to get the new gun. The enemies, on the other hand, did not. Technically you have no idea what a later game enemy was doing while you were looking for the blue key, but since enemy AI tends to be very simple and static, you assume that they have just been patrolling their area, back and forth, for the past three hours, waiting for you to give them a lead salad. Enemy B did not get a text that said "The Hero has leveled up. Better do some push-ups"
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Bioshack
Two in one day?! Crazysauce.
Just beat Bioshock. I really enjoyed it. I love the distopian art-deco look of Rapture. I'm also reading Atlas Shrugged right now, so that made an interesting combo as well.
I played the game on normal and it wasn't super difficult. Not that you should assume that normal is going to be really difficult, but on some games it is. Sure, I saved every three seconds because I don't like dying and was scared of things jumping out at me, but it was still good. The last boss was easier than I thought it would have been. Maybe I'm just that awesome.
I think it told a story very well, using audio journals left by people to tell it, rather than leaving countless books laying around that you have to read. I certainly applaud those whose job it is to write the filler books you find in RPGs, but you're playing a game... you usually don't want to have to pay attention to text.
Just beat Bioshock. I really enjoyed it. I love the distopian art-deco look of Rapture. I'm also reading Atlas Shrugged right now, so that made an interesting combo as well.
I played the game on normal and it wasn't super difficult. Not that you should assume that normal is going to be really difficult, but on some games it is. Sure, I saved every three seconds because I don't like dying and was scared of things jumping out at me, but it was still good. The last boss was easier than I thought it would have been. Maybe I'm just that awesome.
I think it told a story very well, using audio journals left by people to tell it, rather than leaving countless books laying around that you have to read. I certainly applaud those whose job it is to write the filler books you find in RPGs, but you're playing a game... you usually don't want to have to pay attention to text.
Vroom Vroom
How many posts am I behind now? Two, once I do this one?
I bought GT5 yesterday. There are so many cars. Over 1000. That's all well and good, but it would be nice if there weren't twenty Skylines and fourteen Honda Civics. I understand that those cars have a large following and such, but having a different car would be much more interesting. Sure, I'm saying this partly because I'm not a car nut and am a casual player, but I assume that if there is a player who really likes their Civic EX or SE or whatever the letters are, they are happy they can get that car, but could care less about having seventeen Skylines. Maybe I just don't understand.
I like the license system in the game, because I like almost all training modes. The only problem I have, which is not something that can be fixed in the game, is that when I don't do well, I usually don't have any idea what I'm doing wrong. It's obvious when I do something in 15 seconds and its supposed to be 10... but when the difference between bronze and silver on my time is .05 of a second, there's no "Oh duh. Just brake here instead". The other thing that gets me is when, in trying to improve my time, I am barely shaving hundredths of a second off my time, but need to get at least a tenth or two off to get the time I want. It's tough because I'm struggling to gain so little and need to do a lot more. But, one thing I have noticed in regards to this, is that sometimes I just do it. All of a sudden I've shaved off the tenths and did what I want. This is due to the fact that I can't detect tenths and hundredths of a second. So I may not perceive any difference in my performance, but the clock says I did it faster.
I bought GT5 yesterday. There are so many cars. Over 1000. That's all well and good, but it would be nice if there weren't twenty Skylines and fourteen Honda Civics. I understand that those cars have a large following and such, but having a different car would be much more interesting. Sure, I'm saying this partly because I'm not a car nut and am a casual player, but I assume that if there is a player who really likes their Civic EX or SE or whatever the letters are, they are happy they can get that car, but could care less about having seventeen Skylines. Maybe I just don't understand.
I like the license system in the game, because I like almost all training modes. The only problem I have, which is not something that can be fixed in the game, is that when I don't do well, I usually don't have any idea what I'm doing wrong. It's obvious when I do something in 15 seconds and its supposed to be 10... but when the difference between bronze and silver on my time is .05 of a second, there's no "Oh duh. Just brake here instead". The other thing that gets me is when, in trying to improve my time, I am barely shaving hundredths of a second off my time, but need to get at least a tenth or two off to get the time I want. It's tough because I'm struggling to gain so little and need to do a lot more. But, one thing I have noticed in regards to this, is that sometimes I just do it. All of a sudden I've shaved off the tenths and did what I want. This is due to the fact that I can't detect tenths and hundredths of a second. So I may not perceive any difference in my performance, but the clock says I did it faster.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
London Pride
Fuller's London Pride is pretty much what I expected the ESB to be, based on name alone. A step up from the ESB on my unofficial scale of pale ales, this beer has a larger hops scent and a definitely noticeable hops flavor at the end.
The color is a little lighter than the ESB, that is, light brown. Not dark gold, like a IPA could be. There was a sweetness to it before you got the hops. It wasn't a malty sweetness, like what you find in barleywines. It was crisper, dryer, less sticky. More like a sweetness one finds in cider, sans apple.
I remember that the old toad used to have a beer made from them called the EPA. It reminds me of the ESB. Then one day they got rid of it. Somebody told me (Dan) that the London Pride was the same thing. It wasn't. I got it and thought "This is a lot hoppier than the EPA was". I didn't say anything, but I knew he was wrong. Having the London Pride the other day reminded me of this.
As I said in my ESB post, I think that ESB is a good beginner english ale. Once you are ready to try something with more hops, I think London Pride would be appropriate. It's not overpowering, but you can't miss it.
The color is a little lighter than the ESB, that is, light brown. Not dark gold, like a IPA could be. There was a sweetness to it before you got the hops. It wasn't a malty sweetness, like what you find in barleywines. It was crisper, dryer, less sticky. More like a sweetness one finds in cider, sans apple.
I remember that the old toad used to have a beer made from them called the EPA. It reminds me of the ESB. Then one day they got rid of it. Somebody told me (Dan) that the London Pride was the same thing. It wasn't. I got it and thought "This is a lot hoppier than the EPA was". I didn't say anything, but I knew he was wrong. Having the London Pride the other day reminded me of this.
As I said in my ESB post, I think that ESB is a good beginner english ale. Once you are ready to try something with more hops, I think London Pride would be appropriate. It's not overpowering, but you can't miss it.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Original
Today is a day for Weihenstephaner Original.
I am in love with this beer. It's a Munish Helles Lager (Germany's answer to the Czech Pilsner). This is the exact thing I want when I'm looking for a thirst quenching beer. Better than Becks, Heineken (not difficult), Stella and even Pilsner Urquell (obivously not a Helles, but close enough).
The first thing I noticed about this beer is how many bubbles is had in the glass. This was easy to see because its a very clear, light yellow beer. All I can say about the scent is that it is beer. It's the exact smell that I assume most people would associate with beer.
The flavor is simple, and I think that is what makes it so good. It's not fancy or unusual. It's a lager done right. If I didn't want to make sure I had some for later, every time I buy this, I would probably drink most of them that day.
There aren't any off flavors, it comes in a brown bottle (a rariety for this style, it seems) and can be had with anything. It won't overpower your food, or leave a lingering taste.
It seems that I'm going to be giving a lot of good reviews to the beers I drink. This is because the selection here isn't great, unlike the amazing Beers of the World right down the BHTL from RIT, or even Wegmans. I will try to find some new ones to discuss, but if I can't, expect more good reviews because I'm going to buy what I like.
I can certainly do some reviews on cider and perhaps even whiskey and gin.
I am in love with this beer. It's a Munish Helles Lager (Germany's answer to the Czech Pilsner). This is the exact thing I want when I'm looking for a thirst quenching beer. Better than Becks, Heineken (not difficult), Stella and even Pilsner Urquell (obivously not a Helles, but close enough).
The first thing I noticed about this beer is how many bubbles is had in the glass. This was easy to see because its a very clear, light yellow beer. All I can say about the scent is that it is beer. It's the exact smell that I assume most people would associate with beer.
The flavor is simple, and I think that is what makes it so good. It's not fancy or unusual. It's a lager done right. If I didn't want to make sure I had some for later, every time I buy this, I would probably drink most of them that day.
There aren't any off flavors, it comes in a brown bottle (a rariety for this style, it seems) and can be had with anything. It won't overpower your food, or leave a lingering taste.
It seems that I'm going to be giving a lot of good reviews to the beers I drink. This is because the selection here isn't great, unlike the amazing Beers of the World right down the BHTL from RIT, or even Wegmans. I will try to find some new ones to discuss, but if I can't, expect more good reviews because I'm going to buy what I like.
I can certainly do some reviews on cider and perhaps even whiskey and gin.
ESB
Beer post number two.
Fullers ESB, which stands for extra special bitter.
I had trouble with this one. I couldn't find good ways to describe it. What concerned me the most is that there wasn't much hoppiness to it. Bitters are a type of pale ale, which tends to imply a flowery, hop tone to it. It's not like I expected IPA from it, but still, would have liked a bit more flavor in general.
The flavor starts off a little sweet, maybe a hint of raisin. The flavor after that dissipates, but then there is a slight bitterness. And that's all I could find to say about it.
If anybody is interested in trying a true ale, I would recommend this beer. The name sounds a bit scary, but I don't think it has any characteristics that somebody who has had a few drinks in their life couldn't handle.
Probably my favorite thing about this beer is that it comes in a 16.9oz bottle, which fits perfectly in my large pintglass, which I believe holds 18fl.oz. even though the store marketed it as 20.
Fullers ESB, which stands for extra special bitter.
I had trouble with this one. I couldn't find good ways to describe it. What concerned me the most is that there wasn't much hoppiness to it. Bitters are a type of pale ale, which tends to imply a flowery, hop tone to it. It's not like I expected IPA from it, but still, would have liked a bit more flavor in general.
The flavor starts off a little sweet, maybe a hint of raisin. The flavor after that dissipates, but then there is a slight bitterness. And that's all I could find to say about it.
If anybody is interested in trying a true ale, I would recommend this beer. The name sounds a bit scary, but I don't think it has any characteristics that somebody who has had a few drinks in their life couldn't handle.
Probably my favorite thing about this beer is that it comes in a 16.9oz bottle, which fits perfectly in my large pintglass, which I believe holds 18fl.oz. even though the store marketed it as 20.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Fat Tire
Here it is, a new category of posts. Beer!
Last night I had a Fat Tire from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire has become my goto beer. It's only available in the west, so it has achieved somewhat of a cult status in the east. I'm not saying that it doesn't deserve it. It is one of the most lovely, drinkable beers I have ever had.
It's an American Amber Ale, which I poured into a mug style glass. It had the color of real maple syrup, Grade A, which is not as dark as most people think. Perhaps a bit lighter, but the hue is spot on. The lacy head dissipated quickly, but any that sticks around clings to the edges of the glass.
The smell is pretty sweet. It reminded me of Chimay, or another strong Belgian dark ale. The smell does is not indicative of the taste though. It has a low bitterness and some malty flavor, but it's not really sweet and sticky either. I think this quality is what makes it something that you could drink a lot of. Really hoppy or really malty beers numb the taste buds. This is mild enough to not do that, but still have a good flavor that one can appreciate. Though it has a ABV of 5.2%, so it would not be appropriate to call it a session beer.
The only problem was that I was impatient and did not let it chill long enough. It was probably twenty degrees too warm. It didn't taste bad like some beers do when they aren't freezing, but the warmth didn't add anything to it.
The brothers on beeradvocate.com say in their reviews of this beer that it is biscuity. I'm not sure what that means and I am curious. What sort of biscuit do they mean? The kind you put sausage gravy on? Something a bit drier? And then does that describe some wheat flavors it might have?
I love beer. And coffee. I can't pick one over the other.
Last night I had a Fat Tire from New Belgium Brewery. Fat Tire has become my goto beer. It's only available in the west, so it has achieved somewhat of a cult status in the east. I'm not saying that it doesn't deserve it. It is one of the most lovely, drinkable beers I have ever had.
It's an American Amber Ale, which I poured into a mug style glass. It had the color of real maple syrup, Grade A, which is not as dark as most people think. Perhaps a bit lighter, but the hue is spot on. The lacy head dissipated quickly, but any that sticks around clings to the edges of the glass.
The smell is pretty sweet. It reminded me of Chimay, or another strong Belgian dark ale. The smell does is not indicative of the taste though. It has a low bitterness and some malty flavor, but it's not really sweet and sticky either. I think this quality is what makes it something that you could drink a lot of. Really hoppy or really malty beers numb the taste buds. This is mild enough to not do that, but still have a good flavor that one can appreciate. Though it has a ABV of 5.2%, so it would not be appropriate to call it a session beer.
The only problem was that I was impatient and did not let it chill long enough. It was probably twenty degrees too warm. It didn't taste bad like some beers do when they aren't freezing, but the warmth didn't add anything to it.
The brothers on beeradvocate.com say in their reviews of this beer that it is biscuity. I'm not sure what that means and I am curious. What sort of biscuit do they mean? The kind you put sausage gravy on? Something a bit drier? And then does that describe some wheat flavors it might have?
I love beer. And coffee. I can't pick one over the other.
Delays
The game gods giveth and the game gods taketh away. They gave us the time vortex that is the Guild Wars 2 calculator, but it appears in order for that glory to be shone upon us, we must have delays.
The only two games that I was waiting for in the near future have been delayed. The PC version of Fable 3 is delayed. The version for the 360 is still on time. I don't expect the delays to be long, but then again, who knows.
The other game, is no surpise, Gran Turismo 5. Most recently scheduled for a release date of November 5, it has now been pushed back to "Holidays 2010". This does not ensure a release date before 2011. The holidays also include January, because Japan is funny like that.
What will I do in the mean time? Besides play guild wars? I will write about street fighter again. It will be boring and not make much sense to casual readers, but that's okay. I would like to make these posts on another blog, but I can't think of a witty name for it. My other thought would be to post on iplaywinner.com. They are offering a blog to registered users, but as far as I can tell, it appears this means just being an author on the blog, rather than having a personal section. While this sounds good, since posts are moderated beforehand, if a post of mine is not accepted, then it would be unreadable by all. So, because of this, I think I would rather make something else on blogger, when a suitable name is found. Any ideas would be appreciated.
The only two games that I was waiting for in the near future have been delayed. The PC version of Fable 3 is delayed. The version for the 360 is still on time. I don't expect the delays to be long, but then again, who knows.
The other game, is no surpise, Gran Turismo 5. Most recently scheduled for a release date of November 5, it has now been pushed back to "Holidays 2010". This does not ensure a release date before 2011. The holidays also include January, because Japan is funny like that.
What will I do in the mean time? Besides play guild wars? I will write about street fighter again. It will be boring and not make much sense to casual readers, but that's okay. I would like to make these posts on another blog, but I can't think of a witty name for it. My other thought would be to post on iplaywinner.com. They are offering a blog to registered users, but as far as I can tell, it appears this means just being an author on the blog, rather than having a personal section. While this sounds good, since posts are moderated beforehand, if a post of mine is not accepted, then it would be unreadable by all. So, because of this, I think I would rather make something else on blogger, when a suitable name is found. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The Death of Me
Meh. Late posts, will still have two due come tomorrow. Guild Wars talk again.
I like Penny-Arcade. It is funny. And there are a few comics that describes how I feel right now perfectly.
The Ungift, Part One
The Ungift, Part Two
ArenaNet has released the Guild Wars 2 Hall of Monuments calculator. What is that, you ask? It is a website where you can type your character's name in, and it will tell you how many points you have achieved through your hall of monuments. These points unlock special items you can get in guild wars 2. Being the pack-rat that I am, I am now doing many things to try to get more points.
You can see my current progress (as of this post, I don't know if the URL updates), here.
Whyyyyyy do they do this to me? Guild Wars does not have a monthly fee. There is nothing they are gaining from this. Those jerks... giving people new content while they wait. How rude.
I like Penny-Arcade. It is funny. And there are a few comics that describes how I feel right now perfectly.
The Ungift, Part One
The Ungift, Part Two
ArenaNet has released the Guild Wars 2 Hall of Monuments calculator. What is that, you ask? It is a website where you can type your character's name in, and it will tell you how many points you have achieved through your hall of monuments. These points unlock special items you can get in guild wars 2. Being the pack-rat that I am, I am now doing many things to try to get more points.
You can see my current progress (as of this post, I don't know if the URL updates), here.
Whyyyyyy do they do this to me? Guild Wars does not have a monthly fee. There is nothing they are gaining from this. Those jerks... giving people new content while they wait. How rude.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
CV
Late post due to Civ5 being released. Currently, I'm enjoying it a lot more than civ4. Things seem to be a bit slower and less hectic. It may be a property of the difficulty I'm playing on, but I seem to be doing pretty well. I'm on Warlord difficulty, which is one less than Prince, the normal difficulty. Whenever I played civ4 on warlord though, I had problems. So we shall see what happens after this game and I start one on Prince.
I'm playing as the Japanese, who have an amazing ability which allows their units to fight like they are at full strength, even if they are wounded. I've taken advantage of that in order to remove the Americans and the Ottomans. They were in my way. More so the Americans than the Ottomans, but they were weak and there was no reason to give them a chance to make my job harder.
After getting rid of them though, and a couple other civs removing the Indians and the Romans, I may be the weakest now. I'm not sure. I'm going to use the time I have to tech up and get a good army composition. I don't plan on attacking the Germans or the Native Americans, nor the Chinese, but just in case.
I've been watching a lot of starcraft videos casted by H-to-the-usky Husky and one he did last night mentioned how important macro is. In SC, macro is mostly all the things you need to do with your base. Proper mining, expansion, unit and building creation. One thing is that you need to use your minerals. You don't win starcraft by having the most money at the end. You win by being alive. If you didn't spend as much as you could, then you wasted a lot, not only in what you didn't spend, but also whatever you spent on any workers who did nothing but mine.
I need to bring the mentality into my civ5 game. One change made between 4 and 5 is that when you get a resource, like iron or horses, you only get a set number of them. So if you have one mine that gives you 2 iron, you can only have two units that require iron at one time. There was no such limitation in civ4. Back to the point though. I can see how many unused iron and horses I have. They aren't being used and won't help me in the end if they just sit there. I have them and I should use them. If I run out, I can destroy a unit. I'm not sure how much longer I will be needing horseback units, but if I don't make anything, then those pastures were just wasted worker time.... not that I don't have 5 workers sitting around doing nothing every turn because I don't know what to do with them. Hey look at that! Another SC lesson I need to bring to my civ5 game.
I'm playing as the Japanese, who have an amazing ability which allows their units to fight like they are at full strength, even if they are wounded. I've taken advantage of that in order to remove the Americans and the Ottomans. They were in my way. More so the Americans than the Ottomans, but they were weak and there was no reason to give them a chance to make my job harder.
After getting rid of them though, and a couple other civs removing the Indians and the Romans, I may be the weakest now. I'm not sure. I'm going to use the time I have to tech up and get a good army composition. I don't plan on attacking the Germans or the Native Americans, nor the Chinese, but just in case.
I've been watching a lot of starcraft videos casted by H-to-the-usky Husky and one he did last night mentioned how important macro is. In SC, macro is mostly all the things you need to do with your base. Proper mining, expansion, unit and building creation. One thing is that you need to use your minerals. You don't win starcraft by having the most money at the end. You win by being alive. If you didn't spend as much as you could, then you wasted a lot, not only in what you didn't spend, but also whatever you spent on any workers who did nothing but mine.
I need to bring the mentality into my civ5 game. One change made between 4 and 5 is that when you get a resource, like iron or horses, you only get a set number of them. So if you have one mine that gives you 2 iron, you can only have two units that require iron at one time. There was no such limitation in civ4. Back to the point though. I can see how many unused iron and horses I have. They aren't being used and won't help me in the end if they just sit there. I have them and I should use them. If I run out, I can destroy a unit. I'm not sure how much longer I will be needing horseback units, but if I don't make anything, then those pastures were just wasted worker time.... not that I don't have 5 workers sitting around doing nothing every turn because I don't know what to do with them. Hey look at that! Another SC lesson I need to bring to my civ5 game.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Off The Wagon
I started playing guild wars again. A coworker wanted to give it another try, so I decided to play along with him. Made a new character, an elementalist. She's okay. I've done all the things in prophecies so many times that I usually want to go play my mesmer, so I've been doing that fairly often as well.
I was vanquishing an area earlier today and discovered that its still really exciting when a gold item drops for you. It's just so cool. Now I just need to duplicate the feeling of getting a green drop. There's a staff I sort of want. I have one that shares some attributes, but why not try for the other one?
I was planning on making this post called "Cody-pendent" and have it chock full of links to all the best information on Cody (my new street fighter semi-main). But that would have been boring.
I was vanquishing an area earlier today and discovered that its still really exciting when a gold item drops for you. It's just so cool. Now I just need to duplicate the feeling of getting a green drop. There's a staff I sort of want. I have one that shares some attributes, but why not try for the other one?
I was planning on making this post called "Cody-pendent" and have it chock full of links to all the best information on Cody (my new street fighter semi-main). But that would have been boring.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Schfourteen-teen
I've been playing the Final Fantasy 14 Open Beta somewhat. I won't be paying for a subscription for this game. For how big of a name it is, it seems really unpolished. Twenty days for an open beta is not enough time for a game in this state. Getting client updates is a challenge in patience. They like to stick at 94.6%.
There is no direction on what you're supposed to do. When I started the game, at my first fight there was a message printed (eventually) to the screen indicating that I should go into battle mode. That's it. It didn't say how. It's 'F', by the way (though using a skill does it as well). After that, I get to the city and start doing the quest I'm on. Standard quest fare, except for the bit where you are supposed to talk to these children and perform an emote. What emote you say? Ask the internet. Somehow, when a child tells you that you are supposed to greet your dance partner to show respect and joy, the correct response is not the "Joy" emote, nor is it "Bow", nor "Greet". It's "Surprise". Of course. That's logical. If you didn't look it up, the only way to finish that portion of the quest is to perform every emote you have for six different NPCs.
Eventually you finish that quest and you can get a few simple ones and then...? Grind. I guess. That's fun. There is also the option to pick up a trade, or be a miner or something. I haven't tried a crafting profession yet, but I've tried mining. It's weird. You find an ore deposit and then a vertical slider shows up, asking you where you want to aim on the rock face. There's nothing that tells you what this means or how it affects things. I've put it in different places and haven't found any difference. Either way, then you swing at the rock and either hit harder or softer, depending on the messages you get. It's not bad, I just wish I knew what the slider did.
More complaints: poison. It's way too powerful. There doesn't appear to be any antidotes, so if you don't kill your enemy when you still have two hundred or so life and don't put your weapon away instantly after your battle is over, you will probably die.
The client crashes every so often and there are some words in dialog that haven't been translated to English.
The only part of all of this that I don't like is that my super-cute half-cat girl, Perin, will be gone forever. I need me some guild wars 2 and some mesmer love.
There is no direction on what you're supposed to do. When I started the game, at my first fight there was a message printed (eventually) to the screen indicating that I should go into battle mode. That's it. It didn't say how. It's 'F', by the way (though using a skill does it as well). After that, I get to the city and start doing the quest I'm on. Standard quest fare, except for the bit where you are supposed to talk to these children and perform an emote. What emote you say? Ask the internet. Somehow, when a child tells you that you are supposed to greet your dance partner to show respect and joy, the correct response is not the "Joy" emote, nor is it "Bow", nor "Greet". It's "Surprise". Of course. That's logical. If you didn't look it up, the only way to finish that portion of the quest is to perform every emote you have for six different NPCs.
Eventually you finish that quest and you can get a few simple ones and then...? Grind. I guess. That's fun. There is also the option to pick up a trade, or be a miner or something. I haven't tried a crafting profession yet, but I've tried mining. It's weird. You find an ore deposit and then a vertical slider shows up, asking you where you want to aim on the rock face. There's nothing that tells you what this means or how it affects things. I've put it in different places and haven't found any difference. Either way, then you swing at the rock and either hit harder or softer, depending on the messages you get. It's not bad, I just wish I knew what the slider did.
More complaints: poison. It's way too powerful. There doesn't appear to be any antidotes, so if you don't kill your enemy when you still have two hundred or so life and don't put your weapon away instantly after your battle is over, you will probably die.
The client crashes every so often and there are some words in dialog that haven't been translated to English.
The only part of all of this that I don't like is that my super-cute half-cat girl, Perin, will be gone forever. I need me some guild wars 2 and some mesmer love.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Bayonetta
I hate it. The difficulty is inconsistent, the lack of mid-level saves is retarded and while you're supposed to have all these different combos, you just mash randomly and different things come out. I don't understand why there is no good way to regain your health. Sure, you can use an item if you have it, but they aren't particularly common. Regaining some health between fights would make things a lot more palatable. If you die, you get your health back and you can starts at a check point, but a death breaks morale. Why should you be punished in a fight for not being perfect in the previous one? You won, and fights are a lot more exciting if you were one hit away from dying and you pulled it out.
I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it. NHL11, FIFA11 and Civ5 all come out this month, not to mention Fable 3 in October and GT5 in November. It's something that is taking up some time, but I'm not interested in putting that much time into something I find really tedious.
I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it. NHL11, FIFA11 and Civ5 all come out this month, not to mention Fable 3 in October and GT5 in November. It's something that is taking up some time, but I'm not interested in putting that much time into something I find really tedious.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Zelda Reference
I think playing the blazblue challenges has helped my execution a little bit. The best part of them is that the combos start off pretty long and aren't particularly simple. That way there is no point where you can do all these easy things and then be stuck on the harder things. Your only choice is the harder stuff.
Another good part is that you can view the combo being performed. I've found this to be most helpful. I was working on a combo for Ragna and I could do a QCB+B with the QCB+D follow-up just fine, but could never get the next input, B, to hit the dummy. After watching the combo done by the computer a few times, I realized that their dummy was being launched higher by the QCB+D than mine was. This would then allow enough frames for recovery to then be able to do the standing B. Once I realized this, I watched it a few more times to see what I was doing differently than was needed and saw that I needed to not do the QCB+B, QCB+D right away, but to wait just a fraction of a second longer before doing the QCB+D. This wait is hard for me to learn and it took a few tries, but then I started getting it more regularly. Soon after, I did the combo.
Doing that combo helped me in doing a combo with Cammy in SF4 as well. I've known that her BnB combo is cr.LK, cr.LP, cr.LK > QCF+HK. I knew that it was not a cancel between the lp and the lk, but a 2 frame link. Having to learn to wait a little with Ragna helped me figure out the link with Cammy a bit better. Links are tough. The margin for error on them is very small.
Unrelated: I want to code at home. I like doing nothing more though. Oh well.
Another good part is that you can view the combo being performed. I've found this to be most helpful. I was working on a combo for Ragna and I could do a QCB+B with the QCB+D follow-up just fine, but could never get the next input, B, to hit the dummy. After watching the combo done by the computer a few times, I realized that their dummy was being launched higher by the QCB+D than mine was. This would then allow enough frames for recovery to then be able to do the standing B. Once I realized this, I watched it a few more times to see what I was doing differently than was needed and saw that I needed to not do the QCB+B, QCB+D right away, but to wait just a fraction of a second longer before doing the QCB+D. This wait is hard for me to learn and it took a few tries, but then I started getting it more regularly. Soon after, I did the combo.
Doing that combo helped me in doing a combo with Cammy in SF4 as well. I've known that her BnB combo is cr.LK, cr.LP, cr.LK > QCF+HK. I knew that it was not a cancel between the lp and the lk, but a 2 frame link. Having to learn to wait a little with Ragna helped me figure out the link with Cammy a bit better. Links are tough. The margin for error on them is very small.
Unrelated: I want to code at home. I like doing nothing more though. Oh well.
Friday, August 20, 2010
The End of Civilization
I'm not sure if I like Civ4 as much as I thought I did. I find it hard to get enjoyment from a game where for no reason what so ever, I suddenly have six other nations declaring war on me. That's great. And of course they all have the perfect set of treaties and roads that they can move their armies to me in no time at all.
It's a lose-lose. I need to expand for resources and such, but I'm always started in a place where I'm surrounded by other civilizations... so if I try to get rid of them, I can take down one easily enough, but then the other magically can create enough defenses to hold me off forever. It doesn't matter if my units are twice as strong and I have twice as many. Their city defenses seem to count more than mine do. Of course, by starting this war, I've offended every other nation on the planet, who now want to kill me.
It's not like I can try for the non-aggressive route either. I'll get boxed in and then some stupid aggressive leader will declare war on me for no reason. Hooray! That's fun!
It's a lose-lose. I need to expand for resources and such, but I'm always started in a place where I'm surrounded by other civilizations... so if I try to get rid of them, I can take down one easily enough, but then the other magically can create enough defenses to hold me off forever. It doesn't matter if my units are twice as strong and I have twice as many. Their city defenses seem to count more than mine do. Of course, by starting this war, I've offended every other nation on the planet, who now want to kill me.
It's not like I can try for the non-aggressive route either. I'll get boxed in and then some stupid aggressive leader will declare war on me for no reason. Hooray! That's fun!
Friday, August 13, 2010
BBCS
I'm not sure why this has taken me so long to make this post, but here it is.
The new version of Blazblue is pretty good. The tutorials they have put in are pretty good. They explain the characters strengths pretty well and go over some fighting game terms and BB specific mechanics that a new player may not know.
The challenges are also great. I'm always a big fan of a good training mode. I like being able to see what a combo looks like and being told if I'm doing something correctly or not. Sometimes when I'm looking up combos online and I give them a shot, I'm not sure if I'm doing them in the correct way.
Even with the challenges, I'm still very bad at BB. We all know about my issues with execution and Blazblue requires tighter execution than Street Fighter. I think. I can't back that up.
The new version of Blazblue is pretty good. The tutorials they have put in are pretty good. They explain the characters strengths pretty well and go over some fighting game terms and BB specific mechanics that a new player may not know.
The challenges are also great. I'm always a big fan of a good training mode. I like being able to see what a combo looks like and being told if I'm doing something correctly or not. Sometimes when I'm looking up combos online and I give them a shot, I'm not sure if I'm doing them in the correct way.
Even with the challenges, I'm still very bad at BB. We all know about my issues with execution and Blazblue requires tighter execution than Street Fighter. I think. I can't back that up.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Purchases
I bought Starcraft 2 and the fixed version of Blazblue. Starcraft is great. I'm liking it how I liked the first one when it came out so many years ago. I'm certainly as bad as ever, but if you combine enough troops of different types, you can overcome. Like all games I play, I won't be playing multiplayer, but that's for pretty much the same reason why I don't play street fighter online... I am not good enough and confident enough in my abilities to be okay with my performance, regardless if I win or lose.
I know that if I practiced my execution enough with Cammy that I would not have any excuse for sucking. After that point, every loss is another lesson to examine for new tactics and weaknesses. Currently, if I'm getting angry because I can't pull of a simple combo, I'm not going to be open to the other weaknesses in my game. I won't be thinking if it is a good or bad time for that combo if I'm struggling to get it out.
I think I will post about the new blazblue next week because I haven't put much time into it and I'll need a topic.
Last post I mentioned Capcom x Namco. That is incorrect. It is Street Fighter x Tekken. Only characters from those series will show up. Which is good, because nobody cares about Soul Calibur.
I know that if I practiced my execution enough with Cammy that I would not have any excuse for sucking. After that point, every loss is another lesson to examine for new tactics and weaknesses. Currently, if I'm getting angry because I can't pull of a simple combo, I'm not going to be open to the other weaknesses in my game. I won't be thinking if it is a good or bad time for that combo if I'm struggling to get it out.
I think I will post about the new blazblue next week because I haven't put much time into it and I'll need a topic.
Last post I mentioned Capcom x Namco. That is incorrect. It is Street Fighter x Tekken. Only characters from those series will show up. Which is good, because nobody cares about Soul Calibur.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Oblivious
I've been playing Oblivion a lot recently. I'm really liking it because there's a lot of exploration I can do, many quests and other standard RPG elements.
I've been going with a ranger-esque character, strong with a blade and a bow. I'm supposed to be using light armor, but I'm currently using heavy armor. It doesn't matter too much, but I would like to find a better style of light armor other than leather. I know there are better ones, but I have yet to locate them. So for now, I wear steel.
I've been trying to practice street fighter a bit more in hopes of getting into the local scene. It probably won't happen because I'm not dedicated enough, but at least I've gotten better at a combo I couldn't do a few days ago. So now I can do the simple cannon strike FADC cannon strike combo. I hope to soon be able to combine it with a j.HP, c.MP, then the FADC combo. We shall see.
I've been going with a ranger-esque character, strong with a blade and a bow. I'm supposed to be using light armor, but I'm currently using heavy armor. It doesn't matter too much, but I would like to find a better style of light armor other than leather. I know there are better ones, but I have yet to locate them. So for now, I wear steel.
I've been trying to practice street fighter a bit more in hopes of getting into the local scene. It probably won't happen because I'm not dedicated enough, but at least I've gotten better at a combo I couldn't do a few days ago. So now I can do the simple cannon strike FADC cannon strike combo. I hope to soon be able to combine it with a j.HP, c.MP, then the FADC combo. We shall see.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Buzz
Bought a new computer. Spent most of my time home today downloading games from Steam.
Quad core 3.4ghz AMD processor
8GB RAM
Radeon 7570
24" monitor
I guess those are the key details. And most of my parts glow blue, but this was unintended.
Hooray games!
While this rumor isn't as awesome as the college hockey in NHL 11 rumor, but they are saying that the big announcement coming from Capcom at San Diego Comic Con is a Capcom x Namco set of games. A set, because there will be a game based on the Street Fighter 4 engine with both companies characters, and then a game based on Namco's Tekken 6 engine. Could be awesome if its true and if they don't suck.
Quad core 3.4ghz AMD processor
8GB RAM
Radeon 7570
24" monitor
I guess those are the key details. And most of my parts glow blue, but this was unintended.
Hooray games!
While this rumor isn't as awesome as the college hockey in NHL 11 rumor, but they are saying that the big announcement coming from Capcom at San Diego Comic Con is a Capcom x Namco set of games. A set, because there will be a game based on the Street Fighter 4 engine with both companies characters, and then a game based on Namco's Tekken 6 engine. Could be awesome if its true and if they don't suck.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Evo 2010
Evo was pretty good. I was sad to see Sanford Kelly lose (and in such a stupid way), but it was really cool to see a Zangief and Adon get to the top 8.
There was an interesting comment being made about being mentally guard broken, that is, playing like crap because your opponent got into your head. Fighting games isn't just about execution and combos, nor are they about the mind games you play with ambiguous crossups and high-low mixups. If you can really get into your opponents head and get them to doubt themselves, you've basically won. This is not the only situation though. There was a time where when the the guy who eventually came in second for Tekken 6 was really outplaying his opponent, so much so that he started doing flashy, unsafe things. He got punished for those moves and rightfully so. Even the commentators were talking about how he should not have been doing that and deserved to be put on the ropes.
I'm bringing this up because I wonder if I were ever to get to a tournament situation, would I be able to stand up to the pressure? Sometimes I find myself getting upset over stupid in game things. I can't let those things affect my game. Also, I pretty much refuse to play strangers online because I hate losing and can't imagine them doing anything but gloating and mocking me when they win. They probably don't care that much.
You can see quite a few evo videos here.
http://www.youtube.com/user/evo2kvids#g/u
There was an interesting comment being made about being mentally guard broken, that is, playing like crap because your opponent got into your head. Fighting games isn't just about execution and combos, nor are they about the mind games you play with ambiguous crossups and high-low mixups. If you can really get into your opponents head and get them to doubt themselves, you've basically won. This is not the only situation though. There was a time where when the the guy who eventually came in second for Tekken 6 was really outplaying his opponent, so much so that he started doing flashy, unsafe things. He got punished for those moves and rightfully so. Even the commentators were talking about how he should not have been doing that and deserved to be put on the ropes.
I'm bringing this up because I wonder if I were ever to get to a tournament situation, would I be able to stand up to the pressure? Sometimes I find myself getting upset over stupid in game things. I can't let those things affect my game. Also, I pretty much refuse to play strangers online because I hate losing and can't imagine them doing anything but gloating and mocking me when they win. They probably don't care that much.
You can see quite a few evo videos here.
http://www.youtube.com/user/evo2kvids#g/u
Saturday, July 10, 2010
1+1 = 1
I've mentioned that I have very poor execution when it comes to fighting games. For some reason I pick characters that need really good execution, like Cammy and Ibuki. I also think C. Viper is cool. Oh well. It gives me something to work at.
I'm watching evo this weekend, the largest fighting game tournament in the US (and maybe the world). It's cool to see some really high level play. I'm also making split pea soup.
I'm declaring that this, plus that other really short post I made a few weeks ago count as one post, so now I am caught up.
I'm watching evo this weekend, the largest fighting game tournament in the US (and maybe the world). It's cool to see some really high level play. I'm also making split pea soup.
I'm declaring that this, plus that other really short post I made a few weeks ago count as one post, so now I am caught up.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Vegas Baby
Went to Las Vegas over the holiday weekend. Went to the 2+2 (a poker forum I don't read) meetup at the Aria. It was pretty fun, because the environment was very relaxed. There were a lot of cash games going with varieties of poker that you would never find at the poker room of the casino on a normal day. Anyway, a funny thing happened while I was playing in a 1/2 no limit cash game on Sunday.
So, there were two guys who had a side bet that Shawn would cause Jon to lose all of his chips in one orbit of the button or less. Jon accepted the bet, based on that if he folded every hand, he would win an easy $100. At one point, everybody gets their cards and after some pre-flop betting, it ends up with only Shawn and Jon in the hand. The flop comes 10-5-5. A little more back and forth and they both end up all in. Jon shows his pocket tens. People at the table go "Ooo!". Shawn flips over a 5. Then the other 5. People go, "Oooohhhhh!". It looks like Shawn's four of a kind will beat the full house. The turn comes. Nothing for either player. The dealer burns the next card so that he can show the river. He gets rid of the burn card and there's the other 10! Face up in the deck. It's a boxed card, it's supposed to be ignored. Jon's chance has flown out the window. The table goes nuts.
Shortly afterwords, we find out that the deck was stacked by one of the organizers. Shawn, the dealer and the organizer were in on the joke. It's was pretty funny (no, Shawn did not collect on his bet or his pot). After things calmed down a little, the other people at the table started chatting and we found out that everybody had 7-2 or 8-3 in order to make sure nobody else played the hand. Though I think one person placed a bet pre-flop, even with the terrible hand he was dealt.
So, there were two guys who had a side bet that Shawn would cause Jon to lose all of his chips in one orbit of the button or less. Jon accepted the bet, based on that if he folded every hand, he would win an easy $100. At one point, everybody gets their cards and after some pre-flop betting, it ends up with only Shawn and Jon in the hand. The flop comes 10-5-5. A little more back and forth and they both end up all in. Jon shows his pocket tens. People at the table go "Ooo!". Shawn flips over a 5. Then the other 5. People go, "Oooohhhhh!". It looks like Shawn's four of a kind will beat the full house. The turn comes. Nothing for either player. The dealer burns the next card so that he can show the river. He gets rid of the burn card and there's the other 10! Face up in the deck. It's a boxed card, it's supposed to be ignored. Jon's chance has flown out the window. The table goes nuts.
Shortly afterwords, we find out that the deck was stacked by one of the organizers. Shawn, the dealer and the organizer were in on the joke. It's was pretty funny (no, Shawn did not collect on his bet or his pot). After things calmed down a little, the other people at the table started chatting and we found out that everybody had 7-2 or 8-3 in order to make sure nobody else played the hand. Though I think one person placed a bet pre-flop, even with the terrible hand he was dealt.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Delicious Soup
I'm not sure why, but I really enjoy playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's a roguelike, and that means one mistake, or bad luck will end your game for you. I usually play as a mountain dwarf warrior because it is said to be the easiest to finish the game with. They are pretty consistent throughout. I like Orc Priest and Troll Monk, but they have some problems the deeper you get in the dungeon. I would really like to play around with other classes sometime, but whenever I do try something new, I usually don't get deeper than the third level. Maybe it just works out that way.
I tend to play the tiled version because I always get confused by the ASCII one. The only problem with the tiled version is that I cannot play that on the server. It's not a huge loss, not being able to play on the server, but sometimes I like to do it.
The thing I dislike the most are when the ghosts of your old, dead characters show up. When you find them early in the game, you usually aren't powerful enough to kill them. So you die. Or at least I do. Maybe I'm supposed to run away. Though, if I really didn't want to fight them, I can cheat and delete the morgue files. Of course if I did that, I could also save scrub my games. That is, where I save when I think something bad might happen, copy the save files to another location, and then reload them when I die.
I tend to play the tiled version because I always get confused by the ASCII one. The only problem with the tiled version is that I cannot play that on the server. It's not a huge loss, not being able to play on the server, but sometimes I like to do it.
The thing I dislike the most are when the ghosts of your old, dead characters show up. When you find them early in the game, you usually aren't powerful enough to kill them. So you die. Or at least I do. Maybe I'm supposed to run away. Though, if I really didn't want to fight them, I can cheat and delete the morgue files. Of course if I did that, I could also save scrub my games. That is, where I save when I think something bad might happen, copy the save files to another location, and then reload them when I die.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Would You Like To Play A Game?
I really want to buy a new computer. I don't like spending money though. So, while I have more than enough money to buy one, it takes me forever to actually commit to the purchase. I have computer games that are adding up, so I should do it soon.
Currently in my list to play on my mythical new machine is Civ4 (my laptop can handle this, but how hot it gets bothers me, so I avoid it), Half Life 2: Episode Two (again, same as Civ4, but heat and it looks like junk). Also, I purchased Oblivion today on steam for $8.50, which was a deal I could not pass up. I've been wanting to play that since it came out, but never had the chance. After doing a quick look at my steam library, it appears I also have Far Cry. I don't know where that came from. Spooky.
Of course once this computer comes out, I will have access to many more games. Some I already have in mind and am waiting for, others I will pick up on a whim through steam or something. It will be nice to be able to play some games that I cannot get on my Playstation, because when Microsoft says something is an XBox Exclusive, what they really mean is XBox and PC.
It's no surprise that I am waiting for Guild Wars 2. It's going to be awesome. Also, I'm looking forward to Diablo 3 and even though I will be terrible at it, Starcraft 2.
Currently in my list to play on my mythical new machine is Civ4 (my laptop can handle this, but how hot it gets bothers me, so I avoid it), Half Life 2: Episode Two (again, same as Civ4, but heat and it looks like junk). Also, I purchased Oblivion today on steam for $8.50, which was a deal I could not pass up. I've been wanting to play that since it came out, but never had the chance. After doing a quick look at my steam library, it appears I also have Far Cry. I don't know where that came from. Spooky.
Of course once this computer comes out, I will have access to many more games. Some I already have in mind and am waiting for, others I will pick up on a whim through steam or something. It will be nice to be able to play some games that I cannot get on my Playstation, because when Microsoft says something is an XBox Exclusive, what they really mean is XBox and PC.
It's no surprise that I am waiting for Guild Wars 2. It's going to be awesome. Also, I'm looking forward to Diablo 3 and even though I will be terrible at it, Starcraft 2.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Classic Games
I plugged my NES into the tv today. For games made when 1080p wasn't even thought of, it looks just like it should (not that the game isn't running in 480 or anything). I don't have a light gun, but since they will not work with modern televisions, I'm not too upset.
I really want to beat Super Mario Bros the entire way through without using any warp tubes. Going underground for coins is okay, but no level skips. I played a little bit the other day before I went out and got to leve 3-4 without any trouble, so maybe I can do it. I can't say I ever spent any significant amount of time in levels 5+, so I don't quite know what I will find.
I have a few more NES games that I would like to play and beat as well. I'm a little sad that my copy of TMNT has some display issues. I might have another copy of it in New York, but I'm not sure. It wouldn't have made any sense to leave it there when I made the effort to go get the power cable.
There's a new Mortal Kombat coming out. It looks like it may have some of the classic attributes MK3 had, but since everything after that has been crap, things aren't looking too good. I may hold off on buying it when it comes out.
I really want to beat Super Mario Bros the entire way through without using any warp tubes. Going underground for coins is okay, but no level skips. I played a little bit the other day before I went out and got to leve 3-4 without any trouble, so maybe I can do it. I can't say I ever spent any significant amount of time in levels 5+, so I don't quite know what I will find.
I have a few more NES games that I would like to play and beat as well. I'm a little sad that my copy of TMNT has some display issues. I might have another copy of it in New York, but I'm not sure. It wouldn't have made any sense to leave it there when I made the effort to go get the power cable.
There's a new Mortal Kombat coming out. It looks like it may have some of the classic attributes MK3 had, but since everything after that has been crap, things aren't looking too good. I may hold off on buying it when it comes out.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Twilight Imperium
I don't know if my last post counted or not, so here's another. I played Twilight Imperium today for roughly eight hours. It's a giant German-style board game. Originally, the rules were used for a Dune board game, but rights move around and blah blah blah people made a new, better game using the original rules as a starting point.
Anyway, so every game, the board, which makes up the galaxy, is set up differently. The pieces that make up the board are distributed and placed by the players. There are a bunch of different races with different abilities. Then you go through phases which involve moving and building and fighting.
I don't know. There is so much to this game. The fact that it took eight hours speaks to that. I thought it was pretty good, even though I got beat up on because I was the new guy.
Anyway, so every game, the board, which makes up the galaxy, is set up differently. The pieces that make up the board are distributed and placed by the players. There are a bunch of different races with different abilities. Then you go through phases which involve moving and building and fighting.
I don't know. There is so much to this game. The fact that it took eight hours speaks to that. I thought it was pretty good, even though I got beat up on because I was the new guy.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
HOLY SWEET BABY JESUS
http://kotaku.com/5548672/ncaa-hockey-might-join-eas-nhl-title
If the above happens, I will be beyond happy. I would probably explode waiting for it.
R-I-T! R-I-T!
If the above happens, I will be beyond happy. I would probably explode waiting for it.
R-I-T! R-I-T!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Busters
Not enough gaming has been going to make a good post, so instead I am telling a story about the adventure I went on this weekend.
the pillows. They rocked out so hard. These guys are almost fifty and still have so much energy. It was pretty great. They came on after three openers of other Japanese bands who had never played in the US before. They were Pop Chocolat, Monofuko and Noodles. Both Pop Chocolat and Noodles were made up of all females. I think Pop Chocolat had some good songs, but Monofuko had all the energy. Noodles didn't do it for me. It was cool to see these bands, but it was a little too long of a wait for the pillows to come on.
The only complaint I had about the pillows is sort of strange. I didn't like that 90% of their songs were from flcl. Yes, I like those songs and they are the ones I know best, but they are at least 10 years old. the pillows have been together for 20 years now. I don't think they should have limited themselves to only those songs just because 99.99% of the people there found out about them due to the anime. They are artists... they don't need to play something because it is popular. I'm not saying they should avoided those songs, but some more non flcl songs definitely should have been thrown into the mix.
One last thing that annoyed me, though this happens at all concerts: People shouting song requests. They have a set list. They aren't going to listen to you. You don't go see the Berlin Philharmonic and shout "BEETHOVEN'S 9TH!", do you?
the pillows. They rocked out so hard. These guys are almost fifty and still have so much energy. It was pretty great. They came on after three openers of other Japanese bands who had never played in the US before. They were Pop Chocolat, Monofuko and Noodles. Both Pop Chocolat and Noodles were made up of all females. I think Pop Chocolat had some good songs, but Monofuko had all the energy. Noodles didn't do it for me. It was cool to see these bands, but it was a little too long of a wait for the pillows to come on.
The only complaint I had about the pillows is sort of strange. I didn't like that 90% of their songs were from flcl. Yes, I like those songs and they are the ones I know best, but they are at least 10 years old. the pillows have been together for 20 years now. I don't think they should have limited themselves to only those songs just because 99.99% of the people there found out about them due to the anime. They are artists... they don't need to play something because it is popular. I'm not saying they should avoided those songs, but some more non flcl songs definitely should have been thrown into the mix.
One last thing that annoyed me, though this happens at all concerts: People shouting song requests. They have a set list. They aren't going to listen to you. You don't go see the Berlin Philharmonic and shout "BEETHOVEN'S 9TH!", do you?
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Robots
Somebody awesome told me to write about robots. It also looks like I have found a way to talk about games as well.
Somewhere in my massive list of purchases I would like to make in the near to distant future is an item that says "mindstorms of the lego variety". While I don't know how to build a robot, I think I could certainly make something with mindstorms. I wouldn't need to build the moving parts and figure out how they are controlled. I would just need to put the parts together correctly and then write the proper code for the controller that it comes with. I believe that there are ways to write to the controller using C rather than the simplified language it normally uses.
The robot I want to make would be semi capable of playing Street Fighter. That is, I want it to be able to input moves using my arcade stick. A PS3 controller is also possible, but the arcade stick is quite a bit larger, so it would be simpler to get the correct clearances and such for the various parts. Regardless, I would want this robot to accept inputs in the form of 214P and it would then move the control stick in a quarter circle forward and then press a punch button. Pressing the buttons shouldn't be too difficult. If I gave it six fingers, and simple down-up motion of it would suffice. Giving the other "hand" 360 motion might be slightly trickier, especially making it smooth enough and quick enough to do a move correctly.
Since I don't have mindstorms nor have I ever used it, I do not know how difficult it would be to create the robot and give it the proper degrees of motion. If I could do it though, the next grand part of it would be the ability to react to on screen actions. I'm pretty sure mindstorms has a webcam, but computer vision is not trivial, the webcam is at 30 fps, street fighter is at 60fps and nyquist.
Maybe someday.
Somewhere in my massive list of purchases I would like to make in the near to distant future is an item that says "mindstorms of the lego variety". While I don't know how to build a robot, I think I could certainly make something with mindstorms. I wouldn't need to build the moving parts and figure out how they are controlled. I would just need to put the parts together correctly and then write the proper code for the controller that it comes with. I believe that there are ways to write to the controller using C rather than the simplified language it normally uses.
The robot I want to make would be semi capable of playing Street Fighter. That is, I want it to be able to input moves using my arcade stick. A PS3 controller is also possible, but the arcade stick is quite a bit larger, so it would be simpler to get the correct clearances and such for the various parts. Regardless, I would want this robot to accept inputs in the form of 214P and it would then move the control stick in a quarter circle forward and then press a punch button. Pressing the buttons shouldn't be too difficult. If I gave it six fingers, and simple down-up motion of it would suffice. Giving the other "hand" 360 motion might be slightly trickier, especially making it smooth enough and quick enough to do a move correctly.
Since I don't have mindstorms nor have I ever used it, I do not know how difficult it would be to create the robot and give it the proper degrees of motion. If I could do it though, the next grand part of it would be the ability to react to on screen actions. I'm pretty sure mindstorms has a webcam, but computer vision is not trivial, the webcam is at 30 fps, street fighter is at 60fps and nyquist.
Maybe someday.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Falling Behind
I'm two posts behind. Things are getting harder and harder to post about. I'm not playing many video games these days, and when I do, they are the same old game. Obviously I am not making the posts I originally thought I would, the ones about my quest to not suck at street fighter, but since I'm not playing, I'm not getting better, nobody likes the my posts about really heavy street fighter talk. Pretend I whined some more here.
Anyway, I mentioned a video game I wanted to make in another post.
It's going to be an RPG set in a steam punk world. But of course there is also magic. In the game, you control a character, whose name I haven't figured out yet. She becomes an orphan in the beginning of the game and moves to the city. There, she encounters the four factions that the story revolves around. There is the techno-mages, the government, the robokin and the sky pirates. The sky pirates and the government are directly opposed to each other, where the techno-mages and the robokin don't get along. The relationships between any group and another who isn't their direct enemy is less well defined. They don't trust each other, but work together when needed.
The interesting part of this game is that events are time sensitive. The player can do whatever they want to, but don't expect to go off into the woods for days on end and expect the state of the city to be the same as you left it. The four factions will being fighting against each other and all that, so things change. This system would require a massive amount of content to pull off, but would be pretty awesome in the end.
Anyway, I mentioned a video game I wanted to make in another post.
It's going to be an RPG set in a steam punk world. But of course there is also magic. In the game, you control a character, whose name I haven't figured out yet. She becomes an orphan in the beginning of the game and moves to the city. There, she encounters the four factions that the story revolves around. There is the techno-mages, the government, the robokin and the sky pirates. The sky pirates and the government are directly opposed to each other, where the techno-mages and the robokin don't get along. The relationships between any group and another who isn't their direct enemy is less well defined. They don't trust each other, but work together when needed.
The interesting part of this game is that events are time sensitive. The player can do whatever they want to, but don't expect to go off into the woods for days on end and expect the state of the city to be the same as you left it. The four factions will being fighting against each other and all that, so things change. This system would require a massive amount of content to pull off, but would be pretty awesome in the end.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Pointless Short Post
Street Fighter. I need to practice. I should probably do what I said I would do in my post about execution because I can never get the moves I want to come out.
I also want to make my own RPG. It would be massive and cool. I have some ideas. Maybe I will pretend to work on it one day.
I also want to make my own RPG. It would be massive and cool. I have some ideas. Maybe I will pretend to work on it one day.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Super First Impressions
I picked up Super Street Fighter 4 last night and while I didn't have much time to play and have yet to turn it on tonight, I am very pleased with it. The additional characters are cool and while I don't know much about the rebalancing of the characters, from what I have read online, it seems to be pretty good. While I will keep playing Cammy, I think I might give Juri and Ibuki a try as well. I still need to pick a charge character to learn. It's most likely going to be Honda.
One of the new characters, Hakan, is a Turkish oil wrestler. It's kind of upsetting. He pours oil on himself and slides around and squeezes you and all sorts of unpleasant things. He is also red. I don't know why he is red.
I am glad that they made unlocking costume colors and taunts so easy this time. All you need to do is go to versus mode, pick your character, choose the newest color and taunt that you have, start the battle. Then, hit start, go to change your character and a new color or taunt will be unlocked.
On another note, I beat Final Fantasy 13. I enjoyed it. I had about 60 hours logged at the end.
One of the new characters, Hakan, is a Turkish oil wrestler. It's kind of upsetting. He pours oil on himself and slides around and squeezes you and all sorts of unpleasant things. He is also red. I don't know why he is red.
I am glad that they made unlocking costume colors and taunts so easy this time. All you need to do is go to versus mode, pick your character, choose the newest color and taunt that you have, start the battle. Then, hit start, go to change your character and a new color or taunt will be unlocked.
On another note, I beat Final Fantasy 13. I enjoyed it. I had about 60 hours logged at the end.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Lost Civilization
As predicted, my civilization is not going to well. I haven't had the money problems like a predicted because I have nothing to spend the money on. Simply, I am not growing. I have three cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod) and they are tiny. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. Perhaps I need to accept some short periods of losing money to grow my civilization into areas that I can exploit. If this is the case, I need to do it fast. I'm being boxed in and even though I am building as many military units as I can, I am pretty sure I am completely out ranked.
That doesn't sound too bad though, building up my army, no matter how weak the units are, right? Yeah... not so much. The reason all I am making is army guys is that I have nothing else to make for my cities. My tech is so low, I've made all the buildings that I have access to. And I have no need for more workers because I chose some stupid locations for my cities and there isn't anything for them to do.
If I do end up losing, I will start again, but probably on a lower difficulty.
That doesn't sound too bad though, building up my army, no matter how weak the units are, right? Yeah... not so much. The reason all I am making is army guys is that I have nothing else to make for my cities. My tech is so low, I've made all the buildings that I have access to. And I have no need for more workers because I chose some stupid locations for my cities and there isn't anything for them to do.
If I do end up losing, I will start again, but probably on a lower difficulty.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Pick 'em
Faithful reader(s), I am thinking of starting a new game of Civilization 4 to waste time on randomly and I want you to choose the empire I will play the game as. I have all of the expansions installed, so there are many to choose from. Once you have chosen, I will pick the map to use and dive in.
Expect reports of famine and me to hemorrhage money. I am not very good at this game. I think my problems include spreading out too quickly and letting my cities get too big too fast. Especially in the early game, when the buildings that can be used to keep your citizens happy are not available, it's probably not a good thing to have high growth (which makes citizens unhappy).
So... let me know. You can find the full list of empires and their leaders that I can choose here.
Expect reports of famine and me to hemorrhage money. I am not very good at this game. I think my problems include spreading out too quickly and letting my cities get too big too fast. Especially in the early game, when the buildings that can be used to keep your citizens happy are not available, it's probably not a good thing to have high growth (which makes citizens unhappy).
So... let me know. You can find the full list of empires and their leaders that I can choose here.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Playing Games Makes Me Worse At Them
It seems that after putting 30+ hours into FF13 and still not being close to being done, my skills in other games have really fallen off. I've been letting the stupidest goals in on NHL10 and the moves I listed in my previous post have only been so-so.
I've found that practice mode might not be the best place for practicing my execution. I have a lot more trouble pulling moves off under pressure from an attacking opponent than one that is standing. Even if I turn on CPU control for the dummy in training mode, the lack of wins/losses and a real outcome makes me unable to feel the same pressure.
What I think I might need to do is use arcade mode on a semi difficult difficulty to practice my moves. If I'm going to practice doing the same move over and over, I won't win, but I can practice it in a game situation. The only main problem is that I will not be able to consistently practice Supers and Ultras because of the need for meter to charge. I will try to figure everything out when I have less interest in the FF.
I've found that practice mode might not be the best place for practicing my execution. I have a lot more trouble pulling moves off under pressure from an attacking opponent than one that is standing. Even if I turn on CPU control for the dummy in training mode, the lack of wins/losses and a real outcome makes me unable to feel the same pressure.
What I think I might need to do is use arcade mode on a semi difficult difficulty to practice my moves. If I'm going to practice doing the same move over and over, I won't win, but I can practice it in a game situation. The only main problem is that I will not be able to consistently practice Supers and Ultras because of the need for meter to charge. I will try to figure everything out when I have less interest in the FF.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Execution
I'm still working my way through FF13, so I don't quite know when I will get to the things in this post.
Execution of moves is very important in fighting games and my execution skills are sub-par. The only thing to fix this is practice. And more practice. And then some after that.
What I plan on doing is first try to do every move 10 times in a row. Then 25, and then 50. I don't expect this to happen quickly. I might time myself to see how long it takes. I need to practice quarter circles in both directions, half circles in both directions, dragon punches, horizontal charges, vertical charges, TKCS, that weird down-back to up-forward motion for hooligan, 360, the double QCFs, the super motion for charge, whatever you want to call the motion for Guile's super, 720s.
Did you make it through that boring list? I hope so. Regardless, I feel that if I can get good at pulling of single moves, I can then work on putting them together. It's hard to work on the timing when you can't guarantee that you'll be able to input the next move correctly, regardless of time constraints. After I get the general moves down, I will probably work on the challenges that SF4 has built in. The combos in it aren't true combos for the most part and such, but having the game give me feed back on the moves and if I am successful is nice. I certainly want to work on real combos though. All those 2-frame links, all those super juggles. We shall see.
Execution of moves is very important in fighting games and my execution skills are sub-par. The only thing to fix this is practice. And more practice. And then some after that.
What I plan on doing is first try to do every move 10 times in a row. Then 25, and then 50. I don't expect this to happen quickly. I might time myself to see how long it takes. I need to practice quarter circles in both directions, half circles in both directions, dragon punches, horizontal charges, vertical charges, TKCS, that weird down-back to up-forward motion for hooligan, 360, the double QCFs, the super motion for charge, whatever you want to call the motion for Guile's super, 720s.
Did you make it through that boring list? I hope so. Regardless, I feel that if I can get good at pulling of single moves, I can then work on putting them together. It's hard to work on the timing when you can't guarantee that you'll be able to input the next move correctly, regardless of time constraints. After I get the general moves down, I will probably work on the challenges that SF4 has built in. The combos in it aren't true combos for the most part and such, but having the game give me feed back on the moves and if I am successful is nice. I certainly want to work on real combos though. All those 2-frame links, all those super juggles. We shall see.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
God of War
Another late post. I was too busy playing and beating God of War 3. I played it on normal mode and ended up missing a lot of the items, so I might give it another run, or perhaps try hard mode.
For the most part, I was very happy with this game. The God of War folks have found a pattern that works extremely well and they do it correctly. I tried the Dante's Inferno demo and it was missing something. Don't know what though. That's neither here nor there though.
I liked what they did to the magic system in GoW3. No longer do you have to upgrade your magic and your weapons separately. Now, there is a single spell for each weapon and as you upgrade the weapon, the spell gets stronger. The Cestus is definitely my favorite. When you punch somebody with it, it really feels meaty. I would like to get better with the whip though. It has some ridiculous combo potential.
Even on my crappy television, the graphics were really good. Textures and landscapes were great. I can't wait for my new TV to arrive so I can see my games in the way they were meant to be seen.
For the most part, I was very happy with this game. The God of War folks have found a pattern that works extremely well and they do it correctly. I tried the Dante's Inferno demo and it was missing something. Don't know what though. That's neither here nor there though.
I liked what they did to the magic system in GoW3. No longer do you have to upgrade your magic and your weapons separately. Now, there is a single spell for each weapon and as you upgrade the weapon, the spell gets stronger. The Cestus is definitely my favorite. When you punch somebody with it, it really feels meaty. I would like to get better with the whip though. It has some ridiculous combo potential.
Even on my crappy television, the graphics were really good. Textures and landscapes were great. I can't wait for my new TV to arrive so I can see my games in the way they were meant to be seen.
Monday, March 15, 2010
sqrt(CLXIX)
No post on big Russian wrestlers. Why not? Because I didn't do it. I claim you cannot blame me, due to my purchase of Final Fantasy XIII.
My blogging compatriot over at Everything Except Chickens has pretty much summed up most of my impressions of FF13. The major differences are that I have never played a modern main series Final Fantasy game, where modern is equal to FF7 and beyond. Main series is things that are not tactics and such.
My impressions, as a FF newbie? It's pretty and my demand for more information regarding the story is what keeps me going, but I understand that it is not right. Even to me, the "We will choose your actions and what everybody else in your party does" mechanic is kind of meh. I like having more control. Also, the lack of places to explore is so non-RPG that it's annoying. I understand that this one is different in the fact that it is all about the story. The battles are pretty much just to give you something to do. You can still do that without turning it into something that has no branches.
I'm not displeased with my purchase and I will keep playing it, but this formula should not be stuck to for any sequels or next installments of the series. Come Wednesday though, FF will have to compete with God of War III for my play time. Fighting games will get no love, sadly.
Also, some humor
My blogging compatriot over at Everything Except Chickens has pretty much summed up most of my impressions of FF13. The major differences are that I have never played a modern main series Final Fantasy game, where modern is equal to FF7 and beyond. Main series is things that are not tactics and such.
My impressions, as a FF newbie? It's pretty and my demand for more information regarding the story is what keeps me going, but I understand that it is not right. Even to me, the "We will choose your actions and what everybody else in your party does" mechanic is kind of meh. I like having more control. Also, the lack of places to explore is so non-RPG that it's annoying. I understand that this one is different in the fact that it is all about the story. The battles are pretty much just to give you something to do. You can still do that without turning it into something that has no branches.
I'm not displeased with my purchase and I will keep playing it, but this formula should not be stuck to for any sequels or next installments of the series. Come Wednesday though, FF will have to compete with God of War III for my play time. Fighting games will get no love, sadly.
Also, some humor
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Russian Wrestling Is Always Number One
This week seemed to be big on discussion of grapplers on a couple of websites. Sonice Hurricane has a good article on learning Zangief because he helps you learn when and how to take advantage of grabs. There is also an article on SRK called Grappler Footsies. The content of the article doesn't just apply to Zangief, but it has Grappler in the title and uses his moves an example, so I'm including it here.
I think learning Zangief would be a good thing for me to do. The most I have used him it to mash Lariet to get through the time attack and survival challenges. The AI has problems dealing with it as an attack. I've found this to be the case with Blanka's electricity as well, but Lariet ignores fireballs and hits harder, so I use it. I've only spent a little bit actually practicing Zangief. His 720 degree super/ultra is definitely the hardest for me to get right. I don't have too much of a problem doing the motion, but you can't do the move just while standing around. If you try to, you will end up jumping and that doesn't work. The only reason that you can do a 360 degree motion without jumping is because you really only need 270 degrees and the move comes out before you actually jump. So how do you get the 720 to work? You have to buffer most of the move while Zangief is stuck in another animation. Jumping, ultra freeze, EX, all give you time to get the motion out. Also, like the 360, you really don't need a full 720. I believe you only need 540.
As with all the characters, there is some great information on Zangief that I will be looking at over the next few days, mainly these three posts on the forums at SRK.
I think learning Zangief would be a good thing for me to do. The most I have used him it to mash Lariet to get through the time attack and survival challenges. The AI has problems dealing with it as an attack. I've found this to be the case with Blanka's electricity as well, but Lariet ignores fireballs and hits harder, so I use it. I've only spent a little bit actually practicing Zangief. His 720 degree super/ultra is definitely the hardest for me to get right. I don't have too much of a problem doing the motion, but you can't do the move just while standing around. If you try to, you will end up jumping and that doesn't work. The only reason that you can do a 360 degree motion without jumping is because you really only need 270 degrees and the move comes out before you actually jump. So how do you get the 720 to work? You have to buffer most of the move while Zangief is stuck in another animation. Jumping, ultra freeze, EX, all give you time to get the motion out. Also, like the 360, you really don't need a full 720. I believe you only need 540.
As with all the characters, there is some great information on Zangief that I will be looking at over the next few days, mainly these three posts on the forums at SRK.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Hockey Peter No 2
I've started to try playing a skater in NHL 10 in Be A Pro mode. I made a center, who is supposed to be a play maker. What I think this results in is that the game expects me to make a lot of assists. Goals are good as well, of course.
Once again, I played in the prospects game to see where I get drafted. I ended the game with two goals (maybe an assist as well). This resulted in me getting drafted first. Woo! I got drafted by the Colorado Avalanche. I find this interested, because before I made my goalie, I tried BAP mode as a skater and also got drafted by the Avs. But that time it was 8th or so and I absolutely sucked in the prospects game.
I find playing a skater to be a lot harder than playing goalie. With a goalie, you have a very small area to play in, a very straight forward task and you play the entire game. With a skater, you have to do a lot more... Pass, shoot, defend, all over the ice. I never know where I should be and usually end up in the wrong place. I don't know where the right place is, but I can figure out the wrong place. There is also the problem with lines. As a forward, you have two other men on your line. I have control on when I go on and off the ice and I never know when I'm supposed to get back on. My fatigue gauge can be fine, but I don't want to force a bad change, either giving up an odd man rush or ruining a good offensive attack. I will have to work on these things.
Once again, I played in the prospects game to see where I get drafted. I ended the game with two goals (maybe an assist as well). This resulted in me getting drafted first. Woo! I got drafted by the Colorado Avalanche. I find this interested, because before I made my goalie, I tried BAP mode as a skater and also got drafted by the Avs. But that time it was 8th or so and I absolutely sucked in the prospects game.
I find playing a skater to be a lot harder than playing goalie. With a goalie, you have a very small area to play in, a very straight forward task and you play the entire game. With a skater, you have to do a lot more... Pass, shoot, defend, all over the ice. I never know where I should be and usually end up in the wrong place. I don't know where the right place is, but I can figure out the wrong place. There is also the problem with lines. As a forward, you have two other men on your line. I have control on when I go on and off the ice and I never know when I'm supposed to get back on. My fatigue gauge can be fine, but I don't want to force a bad change, either giving up an odd man rush or ruining a good offensive attack. I will have to work on these things.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
flOw
Late post, but I did not game much in the past week. Too much olympic hockey and curling.
On the 14th, flOw was released for free on PSN. It's hard to pass up on a free game that's fun like flOw is. It has simple gameplay, but sometimes that is all you need when you do it well, which this game does. It's also the first game that I have played that takes advantage of the six axis controllers motion sensing abilities. It's no wiimote, but I have no huge complaints about it.
flOw is based on a flash game that you can find here.
On the 14th, flOw was released for free on PSN. It's hard to pass up on a free game that's fun like flOw is. It has simple gameplay, but sometimes that is all you need when you do it well, which this game does. It's also the first game that I have played that takes advantage of the six axis controllers motion sensing abilities. It's no wiimote, but I have no huge complaints about it.
flOw is based on a flash game that you can find here.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Guilty Pleasures
I hate MUDs (multi user dungeons - think Zork, but with more people), but I can't stop trying to play them over and over. I always go in, planning on becoming a guild leader or somebody who is important in city politics, but what usually ends up happening is that I stand around a lot and sometimes explore a bit to make maps.
That's what keeps drawing me back. I love to make maps of the world. All it ends up being is a bunch of squares connected by lines from the sides or the corners. I'm not sure what I like so much, but it's definitely my favorite part of things.
My least favorite part has to be combat. It usually comes down to who ever has the better scripts to react to every single possible situation. Being a programmer, you would think that I would be able to come up with something great, but it takes a bit of time and effort and also requires one to find every possible message the game might send at you in so that you can code a reaction to it. I'm currently trying to build a decent set of "reflexes" (the word you use in game in order to stay in character), using the tintin++ MUD client. The scripting language has most features I think I need, but I can't figure out how to do a few things that I would like. If I need to, I could use it to call a script in a language I know better, like PHP.
That's what keeps drawing me back. I love to make maps of the world. All it ends up being is a bunch of squares connected by lines from the sides or the corners. I'm not sure what I like so much, but it's definitely my favorite part of things.
My least favorite part has to be combat. It usually comes down to who ever has the better scripts to react to every single possible situation. Being a programmer, you would think that I would be able to come up with something great, but it takes a bit of time and effort and also requires one to find every possible message the game might send at you in so that you can code a reaction to it. I'm currently trying to build a decent set of "reflexes" (the word you use in game in order to stay in character), using the tintin++ MUD client. The scripting language has most features I think I need, but I can't figure out how to do a few things that I would like. If I need to, I could use it to call a script in a language I know better, like PHP.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Why I Don't Like You - Part 1
As the title implies, this is the first of a series of posts. These posts will be a short discussion on what aspect of a Street Fighter 4 character that I dislike the most. Most will be the things that they do that I have trouble beating, but some may be what I don't like about them when I am playing them. There are some characters who I am not quite sure what to say about them, so these posts won't have any specific ordering or regular schedule.
Seth - Yoga Teleport and Tanden Engine
The thing I hate the most about the teleports is how he uses three or four of them in a row. It's like a ridiculous cross-up on me. Since the teleport moves can put you full screen away, half screen away, right in front or right behind, its a crap shoot on where he will be next. I should probably stop trying to do ultra's when he is doing that, because while technically I have a 50-50 chance on guessing which direction the ultra motion needs to be in, I've missed many times more than probability says I will. Also, there is the chance he will teleport again right as I finish the move and I will whiff completely.
For the other move, Tanden Engine (the one where he turns black and sucks you towards him), I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Unless I am blocking all the time, it ends up being a free hit on me. Once he gets me with it, I can't block or attack right out of it, so when Seth wants a SPD, he gets one. A interesting note about the move from eventhubs: "You want to use this move when your opponent does something stupid and is on the ground. " Story of my life.
Blanka - Electric Thunder
This move catches me every time. Not only in combos (of course. It's a combo. You have no choice but to be hit by it), but I am very good at throwing out pokes and other moves and getting tagged by it. I should be able to figure out how to avoid it. He doesn't move when it happens.
El Fuerte - Habanero Dash (pretend I have a tilde on the n)
The key to his mix-up game. Running back and forth, body slamming, stopping, sliding. It confuses me and I don't know how to beat it. I get dizzy and I think I get intimidated by his running speed. Since attacks come from the move, I'm looking for something, but I have to guess. Like the problems with Seth, guessing is not my strong suit.
Seth - Yoga Teleport and Tanden Engine
The thing I hate the most about the teleports is how he uses three or four of them in a row. It's like a ridiculous cross-up on me. Since the teleport moves can put you full screen away, half screen away, right in front or right behind, its a crap shoot on where he will be next. I should probably stop trying to do ultra's when he is doing that, because while technically I have a 50-50 chance on guessing which direction the ultra motion needs to be in, I've missed many times more than probability says I will. Also, there is the chance he will teleport again right as I finish the move and I will whiff completely.
For the other move, Tanden Engine (the one where he turns black and sucks you towards him), I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Unless I am blocking all the time, it ends up being a free hit on me. Once he gets me with it, I can't block or attack right out of it, so when Seth wants a SPD, he gets one. A interesting note about the move from eventhubs: "You want to use this move when your opponent does something stupid and is on the ground. " Story of my life.
Blanka - Electric Thunder
This move catches me every time. Not only in combos (of course. It's a combo. You have no choice but to be hit by it), but I am very good at throwing out pokes and other moves and getting tagged by it. I should be able to figure out how to avoid it. He doesn't move when it happens.
El Fuerte - Habanero Dash (pretend I have a tilde on the n)
The key to his mix-up game. Running back and forth, body slamming, stopping, sliding. It confuses me and I don't know how to beat it. I get dizzy and I think I get intimidated by his running speed. Since attacks come from the move, I'm looking for something, but I have to guess. Like the problems with Seth, guessing is not my strong suit.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Diff'rent Games
This week was one of a variety of games.
Game 1: Marvel vs Capcom 2 - Since I don't own a Wii and therefore cannot play Tatsunoko vs Capcom, which looks awesome, I purchased MvC2 from the Playstation Store. I've messed around with it a little, but it's a bit overwhelming. There's 56 characters, I need to pick 3 and pick an assist for each of them. I'm not sure how I should go about picking a team I like. There's lists of the best teams out there, such as Magneto-Storm-Sentinel, but there are other teams that are used, and since I will never be playing at a high level, playing high level teams that require great execution isn't really needed. I've found a few sites that I want to read. Team XBox looks like it has some good info. Of course there are things to read on eventhubs and srk. Expect posts on triangle jumping and other crazy things you do in MvC2. Edit: I've removed the link to the article on screwattack. It's impossible to read and is absolutely useless. I should have looked at it more before hand.
Game 2: Mega Man 9 - If you are not aware, there are a couple of series under the Megaman name. Mega Man appended by a number are games in the original series. Other series use the X prefix and random words. The last pure Mega Man game released was 8, in 1996 (technically, there was Mega Man and Bass, but that was Japan only). Mega Man 9 was released in 2008 and its quite the throwback. 8-bit graphics, 8-bit music aaaaaaaaand as hard as always. I've never played any other Mega Man games, but I know that they are ridiculously hard. The game has not let me down in that regard. I've beaten one level so far (Galaxy Man), and am currently attempting to make it through Jewel Man's level because he is weak to the Black Hole Bomb I received from Galaxy Man. Even though I'm not very good (like you didn't see that coming), what I really like about Mega Man is that the enemies move generally move in a pattern and show up in the same places every time. So while I may die to somebody, next time I will be ready for them and be able to figure out how to get past them.
Game 3: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project - I've recently acquired a working NES and a few games. TMNT 1, 2 and 3 were included in the haul. 2 and 3 are very different from the first game in that they are a pretty standard beat-em-up, like Streets of Rage or the Simpsons Arcade Game. I had a friend over and we fired up Turtles 3. I don't think my friend cared too much (though she did enjoy hitting my turtle and killing me), but for me it was some great nostalgia. I hadn't played the game before, but just having both of us sitting 2 feet from the television, sitting cross legged was how I remember things were when all I had was a NES.
Edit: I just did a quick look at the Wikipedia article about the game and found out that if I had chosen 2 Player mode B, rather than 2 Player mode A, my friend would not have been able to kill me. Oh well.
Game Noticeably Absent: Street Fighter 4 - I still like this game and I'm still trying to learn it, but I didn't play much this week. I think I have said this before, but I don't know the best way to learn and not pick up bad habits in the process, not to mention break the ones I already have. Also, I'm not so sure on how to write the posts that I want to regarding SF4. I found a blog that does a lot of what I would like to do: The Tao of Street Fighter. I like his posts, but I certainly do not want to copy it. Hopefully I can figure it out. Otherwise the next 46 blog posts are going to be tricky.
Game 1: Marvel vs Capcom 2 - Since I don't own a Wii and therefore cannot play Tatsunoko vs Capcom, which looks awesome, I purchased MvC2 from the Playstation Store. I've messed around with it a little, but it's a bit overwhelming. There's 56 characters, I need to pick 3 and pick an assist for each of them. I'm not sure how I should go about picking a team I like. There's lists of the best teams out there, such as Magneto-Storm-Sentinel, but there are other teams that are used, and since I will never be playing at a high level, playing high level teams that require great execution isn't really needed. I've found a few sites that I want to read. Team XBox looks like it has some good info. Of course there are things to read on eventhubs and srk. Expect posts on triangle jumping and other crazy things you do in MvC2. Edit: I've removed the link to the article on screwattack. It's impossible to read and is absolutely useless. I should have looked at it more before hand.
Game 2: Mega Man 9 - If you are not aware, there are a couple of series under the Megaman name. Mega Man appended by a number are games in the original series. Other series use the X prefix and random words. The last pure Mega Man game released was 8, in 1996 (technically, there was Mega Man and Bass, but that was Japan only). Mega Man 9 was released in 2008 and its quite the throwback. 8-bit graphics, 8-bit music aaaaaaaaand as hard as always. I've never played any other Mega Man games, but I know that they are ridiculously hard. The game has not let me down in that regard. I've beaten one level so far (Galaxy Man), and am currently attempting to make it through Jewel Man's level because he is weak to the Black Hole Bomb I received from Galaxy Man. Even though I'm not very good (like you didn't see that coming), what I really like about Mega Man is that the enemies move generally move in a pattern and show up in the same places every time. So while I may die to somebody, next time I will be ready for them and be able to figure out how to get past them.
Game 3: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project - I've recently acquired a working NES and a few games. TMNT 1, 2 and 3 were included in the haul. 2 and 3 are very different from the first game in that they are a pretty standard beat-em-up, like Streets of Rage or the Simpsons Arcade Game. I had a friend over and we fired up Turtles 3. I don't think my friend cared too much (though she did enjoy hitting my turtle and killing me), but for me it was some great nostalgia. I hadn't played the game before, but just having both of us sitting 2 feet from the television, sitting cross legged was how I remember things were when all I had was a NES.
Edit: I just did a quick look at the Wikipedia article about the game and found out that if I had chosen 2 Player mode B, rather than 2 Player mode A, my friend would not have been able to kill me. Oh well.
Game Noticeably Absent: Street Fighter 4 - I still like this game and I'm still trying to learn it, but I didn't play much this week. I think I have said this before, but I don't know the best way to learn and not pick up bad habits in the process, not to mention break the ones I already have. Also, I'm not so sure on how to write the posts that I want to regarding SF4. I found a blog that does a lot of what I would like to do: The Tao of Street Fighter. I like his posts, but I certainly do not want to copy it. Hopefully I can figure it out. Otherwise the next 46 blog posts are going to be tricky.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
This Isn't About Street Fighter
Hockey is the best sport ever. Unlike basketball, scoring once makes a huge difference. It's not a given than a rush down the ice will end in a goal. Unlike football, it's 60 minutes of action, not 12 spread out over 60. It's physical and fast.
Of all the games Playstation 3 games I own, NHL 10 is the only non-fighting game that gets any regular play. I started playing it on season mode, following the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks. I like the Penguins and the Canucks and I picked the Senators on a whim. I've played all the games for those three teams until January '10, but recently I haven't touched season mode.
The mode that has won out is Be A Pro (BAP) mode. I've created a goalie with my name, and he uses a butterfly style to protect the net. BAP mode lets you either play your created player in a prospects game, or immediately start on whatever professional team you want. I like a bit more realism so I decided to do the prospect game so that I would be drafted. I think I was chosen 12th overall by the Buffalo Sabres.
What's great about the latest incarnation of EA's NHL series is that you can play the AHL teams. Under BAP mode, if you aren't good enough (or if you don't start with the prospects game), you will be sent down to your chosen teams AHL team. I have yet to experience that. I would really like to play for the Syracuse Crunch, but that would require playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets (who I couldn't care less about). If this was 2007, then it wouldn't be a huge problem to be sent down for the Sabres because then I would be playing for Rochester. If I get sent down, I'm going to the Portland Pirates.
In my first season with the Sabres, we were fourth in the eastern conference and we got all the way to the eastern conference finals where we lost to the Penguins. Maybe my second season will end better.
People ask me if its boring sitting around for half the game as the goalie while the puck is at the other end, being played with by the AI, but I have no problem with it. When the puck is in your zone, there's enough excitement. What I find most interesting about playing as the goalie is that if you lose, its basically your fault. The only time that I feel that the computer is being unfair is when I lose in a shutout. I have no control over the skaters, so it's basically the computer deciding that I'm not allowed to win. My other biggest problem is when the computer decides to pull me from the net. A lot of the time, its will 10 seconds left. By the time I get to the net, its 8. It's stupid when my team has the puck in the offensive zone for 30 seconds and I haven't been pulled.
One thing I need to stop doing is quitting a game halfway through if I don't like how it's going. I've only done it three or four times so far (out of 40ish games), but still, it is cheating and its me being a sore loser.
The title of this post isn't entirely true. In my previous post, I made a comment on how to do a cannon strike that is barely off the ground. I was wrong in my idea of buffering the jump during the back dash. What you do is perform the quarter circle back first, then jump forward and kick. That is all.
Of all the games Playstation 3 games I own, NHL 10 is the only non-fighting game that gets any regular play. I started playing it on season mode, following the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks. I like the Penguins and the Canucks and I picked the Senators on a whim. I've played all the games for those three teams until January '10, but recently I haven't touched season mode.
The mode that has won out is Be A Pro (BAP) mode. I've created a goalie with my name, and he uses a butterfly style to protect the net. BAP mode lets you either play your created player in a prospects game, or immediately start on whatever professional team you want. I like a bit more realism so I decided to do the prospect game so that I would be drafted. I think I was chosen 12th overall by the Buffalo Sabres.
What's great about the latest incarnation of EA's NHL series is that you can play the AHL teams. Under BAP mode, if you aren't good enough (or if you don't start with the prospects game), you will be sent down to your chosen teams AHL team. I have yet to experience that. I would really like to play for the Syracuse Crunch, but that would require playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets (who I couldn't care less about). If this was 2007, then it wouldn't be a huge problem to be sent down for the Sabres because then I would be playing for Rochester. If I get sent down, I'm going to the Portland Pirates.
In my first season with the Sabres, we were fourth in the eastern conference and we got all the way to the eastern conference finals where we lost to the Penguins. Maybe my second season will end better.
People ask me if its boring sitting around for half the game as the goalie while the puck is at the other end, being played with by the AI, but I have no problem with it. When the puck is in your zone, there's enough excitement. What I find most interesting about playing as the goalie is that if you lose, its basically your fault. The only time that I feel that the computer is being unfair is when I lose in a shutout. I have no control over the skaters, so it's basically the computer deciding that I'm not allowed to win. My other biggest problem is when the computer decides to pull me from the net. A lot of the time, its will 10 seconds left. By the time I get to the net, its 8. It's stupid when my team has the puck in the offensive zone for 30 seconds and I haven't been pulled.
One thing I need to stop doing is quitting a game halfway through if I don't like how it's going. I've only done it three or four times so far (out of 40ish games), but still, it is cheating and its me being a sore loser.
The title of this post isn't entirely true. In my previous post, I made a comment on how to do a cannon strike that is barely off the ground. I was wrong in my idea of buffering the jump during the back dash. What you do is perform the quarter circle back first, then jump forward and kick. That is all.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Indestructible
The week started out strong in my attempts to learn. The end of it, not so much. Also, Indestructible is a terrible song and I want it out of my head.
I still jump in too much and am still really bad at 236s. It's frustrating. I'm not quite sure what the best way to stop sucking is. Practice obviously, but what's the best regime? More practice on execution I suppose. Trying to break the bad habits.
I think when I play, I am jumping in less, but still do at stupid times. I was playing, got hit with an ultra and then immediately after I regain control, I jump in. Of course I got dragon punched out of the air. It wasn't even that I was thinking of trying to do a combo. My hand immediately pushes up-forward. For a good article on when to jump in (hint: have a plan), Chapter 5 of the Street Fighter Footsies Handbook on sonichurricane.com is worth the read. All those articles are great. Start at the beginning if you are confused on what footsies are.
As I said last week, I was going to look at my inputs and I found some interesting problems. While practicing my super motion (236236) I had a lot of 236233 and 2362366. The second one seems to cause spiral arrow come out (a singular 236K). I also practiced that motion. While it would still come out, I did not like that I had a lot of 236K9. I was going too far on my motions. I wonder if some of my problems with jumping a lot is due to that. I want to walk and instead my hand goes past 6. I made a point about move shortcuts as well last week. I examined inputs and found that my DP input was never a pure 623. There was always a lot more thrown in there. I was curious about this and put Blazblue, another 2D fighting game, into my PS3. I did the same DP motion I had been doing and it registered it as 623. It makes me wonder on if Street Fighter is being overly sensitive or if Blazblue doesn't care as much.
Goals for next week: More 236 and super motion practice. More walking around. Cannon Strikes. I watched some videos of Sanford Kelly playing as Cammy. It seems that when he jumps, he usually does a Cannon Spike. This makes sense I believe. It launches you towards the ground, lessening the time you are in the air. Cannon Spike requires you to be jumping forward to do the move, but if you use the EX version, you can also be jumping straight up or backwards. From the videos I watched, it looks like that you can also do it after a backdash. I need to examine this. I'm probably wrong. Santhrax is probably just so fast that he is pulling off 9214K at inhuman speeds. Though I wonder if perhaps he is buffering the jump during the backdash?
I still jump in too much and am still really bad at 236s. It's frustrating. I'm not quite sure what the best way to stop sucking is. Practice obviously, but what's the best regime? More practice on execution I suppose. Trying to break the bad habits.
I think when I play, I am jumping in less, but still do at stupid times. I was playing, got hit with an ultra and then immediately after I regain control, I jump in. Of course I got dragon punched out of the air. It wasn't even that I was thinking of trying to do a combo. My hand immediately pushes up-forward. For a good article on when to jump in (hint: have a plan), Chapter 5 of the Street Fighter Footsies Handbook on sonichurricane.com is worth the read. All those articles are great. Start at the beginning if you are confused on what footsies are.
As I said last week, I was going to look at my inputs and I found some interesting problems. While practicing my super motion (236236) I had a lot of 236233 and 2362366. The second one seems to cause spiral arrow come out (a singular 236K). I also practiced that motion. While it would still come out, I did not like that I had a lot of 236K9. I was going too far on my motions. I wonder if some of my problems with jumping a lot is due to that. I want to walk and instead my hand goes past 6. I made a point about move shortcuts as well last week. I examined inputs and found that my DP input was never a pure 623. There was always a lot more thrown in there. I was curious about this and put Blazblue, another 2D fighting game, into my PS3. I did the same DP motion I had been doing and it registered it as 623. It makes me wonder on if Street Fighter is being overly sensitive or if Blazblue doesn't care as much.
Goals for next week: More 236 and super motion practice. More walking around. Cannon Strikes. I watched some videos of Sanford Kelly playing as Cammy. It seems that when he jumps, he usually does a Cannon Spike. This makes sense I believe. It launches you towards the ground, lessening the time you are in the air. Cannon Spike requires you to be jumping forward to do the move, but if you use the EX version, you can also be jumping straight up or backwards. From the videos I watched, it looks like that you can also do it after a backdash. I need to examine this. I'm probably wrong. Santhrax is probably just so fast that he is pulling off 9214K at inhuman speeds. Though I wonder if perhaps he is buffering the jump during the backdash?
Sunday, January 10, 2010
A Weekend with Cammy
Note: Throughout this and other posts, I will be using numbers to indicate how a move is pulled off. If you are confused, consult your num pad. All numbers will be from the first player position.
I'm not very good at Street Fighter 4. I know I'm doing things wrong, but have no idea how to fix it. I'm trying to get better though. I've decided to make Cammy my main for no real reason. After I pick her up to an extent, I want to learn a charge character, either Dictator or Honda.
I've found that after a few tries, I can get through the normal level challenges pretty easily. It took me a while to realize that to cancel a punch into a Cannon Spike (623K) I needed to do a forward punch, then the down, down-forward, kick. I don't know if its possible to punch, and then do forward, down, down-forward, kick and still get the moves to cancel. I don't think so. My next biggest failure is probably the Quick Spin Knuckle (62314P) juggle with ultra. I think a lot of the time my 236's are too early. I need to figure out when I should start the motion. More importantly though, I need to stop sucking at 236s. I can do 214s just fine (works when I'm on the right side of the screen), but I have real issues with 236236.
I guess that's the largest problem. My execution is terrible. I wish you could turn off the motion shortcuts that SF4 has. If I mess up a motion, I either don't want the move to come out because I was sloppy, or I don't want a different move out. There are times where I know that certain moves should not be used. Cannon spike against a crouched opponent? Probably not going to work. I need to work on this. I think this next week will be spent in practice mode, doing moves over and over, looking at what inputs I'm doing. I'll do this versus a standing opponent, but then against a CPU controlled dummy. It seems that I can never get any special moves out when I'm actually fighting. Also, no jumping. I need to get out of that habit. It's terrible and I only do it because I want to get closer faster. I'm playing Cammy. She's one of the fastest in the game. She's not Zangeif. I could be able to use dashes and walking to get where I want.
I'm not very good at Street Fighter 4. I know I'm doing things wrong, but have no idea how to fix it. I'm trying to get better though. I've decided to make Cammy my main for no real reason. After I pick her up to an extent, I want to learn a charge character, either Dictator or Honda.
I've found that after a few tries, I can get through the normal level challenges pretty easily. It took me a while to realize that to cancel a punch into a Cannon Spike (623K) I needed to do a forward punch, then the down, down-forward, kick. I don't know if its possible to punch, and then do forward, down, down-forward, kick and still get the moves to cancel. I don't think so. My next biggest failure is probably the Quick Spin Knuckle (62314P) juggle with ultra. I think a lot of the time my 236's are too early. I need to figure out when I should start the motion. More importantly though, I need to stop sucking at 236s. I can do 214s just fine (works when I'm on the right side of the screen), but I have real issues with 236236.
I guess that's the largest problem. My execution is terrible. I wish you could turn off the motion shortcuts that SF4 has. If I mess up a motion, I either don't want the move to come out because I was sloppy, or I don't want a different move out. There are times where I know that certain moves should not be used. Cannon spike against a crouched opponent? Probably not going to work. I need to work on this. I think this next week will be spent in practice mode, doing moves over and over, looking at what inputs I'm doing. I'll do this versus a standing opponent, but then against a CPU controlled dummy. It seems that I can never get any special moves out when I'm actually fighting. Also, no jumping. I need to get out of that habit. It's terrible and I only do it because I want to get closer faster. I'm playing Cammy. She's one of the fastest in the game. She's not Zangeif. I could be able to use dashes and walking to get where I want.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
52
In case you weren't sent here by a great post by The Blaggernaut over at Everything Except Chickens here's the deal: I have been taken up a quest, sometimes called a New Year's Resolution. Every week I will write a post here and maybe mirror it someplace else. Not only will I write a post, but I will also comment on Everything Except Chickens. I think it's a great idea. Now you all must be wondering what I shall write about. For a few days after this idea was decided upon, I was too. I figured it out though, because I am pretty smart.
It turns out that I'm pretty bad at video games even though I play them a fair amount. After sitting in the dark all day, I usually come home and play games. Once I leave work, I'm done, so I don't feel guilty about playing them. I have fun, even though I am bad, so it works out.
What sort of games am I the worst at? Fighting and strategy. What are my favorite types? Fighting and strategy. I don't play those genres exclusively, but a fair amount. This blog will be a chronicle of what games I'm playing and how I am progressing in them. Since there will be a lot of discussion about fighting games, I will also write about how I'm practicing, my mains and things like that. Since I am not in my desert abode and that is the location of my Playstation 3, I am unable to make a post of much substance tonight.
It turns out that I'm pretty bad at video games even though I play them a fair amount. After sitting in the dark all day, I usually come home and play games. Once I leave work, I'm done, so I don't feel guilty about playing them. I have fun, even though I am bad, so it works out.
What sort of games am I the worst at? Fighting and strategy. What are my favorite types? Fighting and strategy. I don't play those genres exclusively, but a fair amount. This blog will be a chronicle of what games I'm playing and how I am progressing in them. Since there will be a lot of discussion about fighting games, I will also write about how I'm practicing, my mains and things like that. Since I am not in my desert abode and that is the location of my Playstation 3, I am unable to make a post of much substance tonight.
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