Pahrak Model ZX

The grass is always greener...

My, such hostility! No wonder Tesara was volunteered for Roxtus's protection before the game even began...

WHAZZAAAAAAAAAAP

Good luck to all! I look forward to welcoming you into the protection of Roxtus.

You should probably see a doctor if you have heartburn.

Oh, is that so? It's a good thing Roxtus has already extended a hand to them, then. I do hope they accept our generosity.

When the lore introduction said Tesara was on the brink of civil war that wasn't how I expected it to turn out.

On one hand I don't think that's necessary. On the other, the Skrall would still win all their Arena Matches even with that handicap.

Onaku...why did you put us there?

I really enjoyed seeing the response to The Legend Continues. It was like this big outpouring of love for Generation 2, and since it seems like a lot of talk about G2 (ever since it started) is very negative, it was a delightful change of pace. Just fans taking the ideas Lego has given us and playing with them, and complimenting each other on their ideas and effort. It was great. So that sparked the idea behind Toa of Fire. It’s not long at all, clocking in at around 1400 words, and the setup is intentionally a little odd. But hopefully I was able to get my point across. G2 certainly has its faults—I won’t deny that. But it is Bionicle. And it is loved.

Tahu, Master of Fire, walked slowly down the darkened streets of Lego City, eyes fixed on the studded baseboard beneath his feet. He was vaguely aware of others walking past him—they didn’t disturb him, but he heard their whispers, and they did nothing to improve his mood. He soon stopped in his tracks and looked up. A large building stood just across the street, its neon sign flashing the name “CANCELLATION COVE”. …I guess I can’t put it off any longer. Crossing, Tahu entered the establishment and glanced around. Characters from all sorts of themes filled the tables, some laughing, some shouting, and some fixing a sullen gaze on whatever beverage they held. On the far side of the bar he spotted the person he was looking for. Taking a deep breath, he rounded the counter and prepared for the worst. Tahu, Master of Fire, reached out to tap him on the shoulder. “Hello, brother.” Tahu, Toa Mata of Fire, turned in his seat. “…Brother?” For a moment, they stared at each other. Then, Tahu Mata clapped one hand onto Master Tahu’s arm, smiled, and said, “Where have you been? They said you and the others moved here months ago—I was starting to get the feeling you were avoiding me!” Master Tahu blinked. “Hey, Furno!” Tahu Mata said, elbowing the person next to him. “Look at this: my brother’s finally turned up! Brother, you’ve heard of Furno, right?” The Hero waved. “Pleasure to finally meet ya! Sorry to hear about the cancellation—I’ve been there.” “Um, thank you,” Master Tahu mumbled. “Hey, isn’t Torch here?” Tahu Mata asked. Furno rubbed his chin. “Mmm, I thought I saw him come in, but I didn’t see his face so—“ “Check the pool table, he’s probably there.” As Furno got to his feet, Tahu Mata turned back to Master Tahu and said, “You have to meet this guy, Torch! I don’t know what Lego was thinking when they designed him, but…are you alright?” Master Tahu just stood there, desperately grasping for an answer. “…I…you…aren’t you disappointed?” Tahu Mata cocked his head. “Huh? Of course not. He might look weird, but Torch is a great guy, trust me. I’m happy to be related to him.” “No, I mean disappointed in me!” “…What?” Master Tahu shook his head. “Bionicle G2 was cancelled. It was cut short after just two years. I…I failed.” Tahu Mata stared at him for a moment. Then, with a smile, he said, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, brother.” A wave of confusion pushed through Master Tahu, but before he could say anything more, Furno returned with someone new in tow. Judging by his black and red color scheme he could guess this was Torch, and it was easy to see what his brother had meant. The character had a massively exaggerated hunchback design—his arms were at a reasonable height, but his head sat at about the level of his legs. Master Tahu’s confusion only grew. “Torch, there you are!” Tahu Mata said. “This is my brother. Say hello!” Torch stepped forward, and Master Tahu had to look almost straight down just to make eye contact. “Oh, so you’re Tahu Jr? Your brother’s told me a lot about you. I’m Torch, the Fire Slizer.” He offered a handshake, but Tahu Mata caught his arm and pulled it back. “Hey, other hand!” The hand offered had jets of flame for fingers. Realizing his mistake, Torch switched for his other, less hazardous hand, and said, “Sorry about that. I always forget.” “How do you forget that your hand is constantly on fire?” Furno asked as he sat back down. Torch simply rolled his eyes as he shook hands with Master Tahu. Tahu Mata motioned for them both to sit, and they complied, though Torch’s head became obscured by the counter. “Look at this: the oldest Fire constraction character and the newest, side-by-side,” Tahu Mata said. “We’ve come far since the age of Slizers. Throwbots? Whatever it was.” Torch grunted. “Sonny, if it wasn’t for us, I guarantee you wouldn’t be swinging that fancy fire sword around.” “Lighten up, old-timer,” Furno said. “You know we all have the utmost respect for you. Tell us again how your planet soldiered on after being only half destroyed by a meteor.” Holding up a finger, Tahu Mata corrected, “It was three-sevenths destroyed, actually! And precisely along the Sector borders, too. It was a very detail-oriented meteor.” “Can you believe this?” Torch asked, tapping the back of his hand against Master Tahu. “Ugh…well, I will admit you look good, kid. That’s that CCBS thing, right? And I see they gave you a backpack to fix that gaping hole Furno had.” Furno shrugged. “Eh, that’s not something I can deny.” Master Tahu looked between the three of them in succession, totally bewildered. They waited for him to say something, but soon the silence grew awkward, so Tahu Mata gently set a hand on his shoulder. “Brother,” he said. “…I don’t understand,” Master Tahu said, closing his eyes. “You must be disappointed—you have to be. How could you not? I was supposed to follow in your footsteps, and I failed miserably. Why are you acting like nothing’s wrong?” “Because nothing is wrong, and I’m not disappointed.” Master Tahu glared up at his brother. “But everyone’s disappointed in me! I didn’t have the depth that you did. I didn’t provide as much content as you did. I didn’t flesh out my world, or even give names to huge swaths of my cast—I was supposed to renew your legacy and inspire the imagination of a new generation, and I failed! I…I’m not fit to be called your brother.” The silence returned, feeling denser than before. Nobody even moved as they allowed Master Tahu’s words to settle over them. Torch was the one to finally break it: “Poppycock.” Leaning a little, Tahu Mata said, “Language. Thank you, I’ll handle this.” He turned back to Master Tahu. “He’s right, though, that’s ridiculous. Your name is Tahu. You’re the Toa of Fire. Of course you’re my brother! That’s not dependent on how long your theme lasts, or how much content you packed into that time.” Master Tahu just slumped against the counter. “…I’m sorry, brother. You are being far too hard on yourself, and a big part of it is my fault.” “You always did cast quite the shadow,” Furno agreed. “Not many of us can compare to the monolith that was Bionicle G1, and I’m not just talking about the sun-obscuring mound you get when you stack all your varied media in one pile.” “That’s right,” Tahu Mata said. “Slizers only lasted two years, and its content was even sparser. Most people don’t even remember the other ones, like RoboRiders. And, while we all swore to try, we still can’t forget…” The four of them glanced over their shoulders at a table in the far corner of the room. A human boy with a blue shirt and a mechanical arm sat there, going on about something while a frog man holding a staff nodded politely. They all quickly looked away. Tahu Mata set a hand on his brother’s back. “You’re taking the cancellation hard—I’m sure you aren’t really interested in feeling better right now. But we’re here for you. And when you are ready, we’ll still be here. Right guys?” Furno raised his glass. “Sure, I got nowhere to be! And I hate to see a fellow hero so down in the dumps.” “I’m here for you too, youngster,” Torch said. “Cancelled themes stick together!” Silently, Master Tahu looked from one to the other. He still felt a terrible, overwhelming sense of failure. Yet, for the first time since the cancellation, he wondered if one day he might no longer feel that way. “Why don’t we play some darts?” Tahu Mata suggested. “I think the Alpha Team has claimed that for the night,” Torch said. When Furno craned his neck, Torch added, “No, not your Alpha Team.” Tahu Mata hummed. “Oh, actually, you haven’t ordered yet, have you brother? Get whatever you want—my treat.” He slid a menu over to Master Tahu, who glanced over it half-heartedly. The Master of Fire remained silent for a while, but then, quietly, he said, “Thank you…brother.” Tahu Mata nodded. “My pleasure.”

But of course. As stated in the introduction, our goal is to bring all of Bara Magna together.

Your village is already considering an offer from Roxtus, is it not? We would be delighted to lend you our assistance.

Well this is a conundrum. I could either make a "swell" pun, or say Swellow itself is Hoennian Pidgey. *sits down to think*

If you were to pick any one Pokemon to receive a new regional variant (Alolan or otherwise), which one would it be?

*casually plugs my own work* I did that entry a few months back, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Though my shoehorning Slizers into it is easily the least likely thing included.

Tag yourself I'm Tahu

Rock Tribe

So, when I finished Shooting Star Sonia 2, I said I had a few other projects I wanted to get off the ground in the near future. I’ve now officially given up on both of them. Just to pad my blog with content, here’s an overview of what could have been but probably won’t. -The bigger one was an attempt at a new Comedy, “Synica and the Jade Mask”. A villager from the Region of Stone finds a Jade Mask that won’t let go of her face and amplifies her already negative personality (she’s jaded!), so she has to go on a journey to figure out how to break its hold. Along the way she would have encountered villagers wearing other such Masks of Emotion and come to learn of/face off against their creator, and would have been accompanied by Asuno, the armadillo-like Creature of Exposition! It wasn’t all for laughs—I was trying the approach of “write a story, and then also make it funny” since I don’t perform well with “toss in as many jokes as I can think of”. So I was actually going to try to come up with a mix of obvious puns and no fourth wall and general humor versus an actual plot and character development and maybe some thoughts on emotional/mental health. I know, right? Totally out of my league! Ah well, kicking it around in my head helped kill some time at work. -The other one was OTC—a small Kingdom Hearts story adapting Final Fantasy V as a world in KH3D. It was just an excuse to get Sora and Riku to interact with the Warriors of Light and fight Gilgamesh and Exdeath, and I thought using the separated worlds from FFV as the different sides of the Realm of Sleep world would work well. Plus since it’s a dream, I could bring Galuf in and stab readers in the heart. And, well…Sora interacted with Bartz and Lenna pretty well, but I was really struggling with getting him to talk to Faris and having Riku engage Galuf and Krile. I dunno, I guess this has a better chance of coming together than the above comedy, but it’s seeming 99% unlikely right now. I might be better off trying a simpler idea, like an oneshot where Sora bumps into a few of them in a specific world. Faris would fit into Port Royal really well… It feels like I’ve been dropping a lot of story ideas over the past few years. Of course, I’ve always had a problem with finishing ideas, and even what I do get out has execution issues more often than not, but…ugh. No, I should try to end on a positive note, so I’m gonna remind myself of what I have accomplished since ending SSS2. -Glimpse of Horizons. The broader idea is going nowhere fast, but I really enjoyed writing this trial version, and I definitely want to use the powers I gave the protagonist in the future even if the rest of it doesn’t work out. It was nice to realize there is a plausible way to revisit one of the oldest concepts I’ve worked with, so that definitely makes this worth it. -Mafia XXIX: Hotel of Okoto. I mean…the Chorus System, the only unique thing about this game, was an absolute flop, and I could only come up with short scenes, but still. Hosting a Mafia game with a theme that had plenty of jokes built in gave me some breathing room and I think it was fun overall. -Second Star. I worry that I’m beginning to get burnt out on Bionicle stories, but The Legend Continues really lit a fire in me. Coming up with G2 Inika and how to present them was an awesome time, and it’s nice to know that I still have some passion left for this series tucked away somewhere. But, you know…I invested brainpower into naming all their weapons, and in the end I couldn’t find a good way to slip them in without it feeling obtrusive! I know I don’t have the focus/time/motivation to do a full story, but…well, does anyone want to collaborate? Huh. Looking it over, that’s an accomplishment per month! Not so bad after all. Plus, I have something else that just needs a little revision and should be up in a matter of days… Anyway, I’ve started on Shooting Star Sonia 3, though I’m not particularly far into it. I’ve also pinned down most of the ideas I’ll need for Wall of History, I just need to write up the history I’ll be handing out each round. With luck, I might actually be looking productive in late 2017!

Everyone knows I love (J)RPGs, so it should come as no surprise that when I heard about an RPG you can stick Miis in and watch their Tomadachi Life-esque interactions, I was intrigued. Now that the demo is available on the eShop, I picked it up and played through it, and figured I’d do a post about it because why not. The gist, for those of you unaware, is that you are a traveler in a fantasy world inhabited by Miis. A Dark Lord has begun stealing people’s faces and sticking them on monsters, so you must form a party, fight these monsters, and rescue everyone’s faces. One of the main draws is that everyone here is a Mii. Whenever you are introduced to a new player character, or other key characters such as the Dark Lord, you are asked to cast a Mii in that role, and can do so either by importing one from the 3DS Mii Maker, using data from Tomodachi Life, looking through a list of Miis people have shared online, or just creating a new one right then and there. In a town, the NPCs are all automatically cast using a random selection of shared Miis, but you can change any Mii in the game from the menu. For the player characters you are also asked to choose a personality type, as well as a Job. (I didn’t realize it had a Job System going in, this made me so happy you don’t even know.) Here’s who I ended up using: -Pahrak, the laid-back Warrior -Kairi, the kind Chef -Ruka, the cautious Mage -Riku, the cool Thief -And for the Dark Lord, I skimmed the shared Miis and ended up picking someone’s Waluigi Mii The various personality types have perks that activate from time to time. Laid-back characters can become “unusually focused” to power up their attacks, or hide behind an ally who takes damage for them. (I’m so sorry Kairi.) They also have an ability to avoid getting status ailments, entitled “Nah.” Kind characters will sometimes go easy on an enemy and not actually attack them, and the enemy will either strike while their guard is down (I’m so sorry Kairi) or be grateful and leave the battle. A cautious character will sometimes take a little extra time to warmup, powering up their attack. Cool characters, meanwhile, will sometimes aim for an enemy’s weak spot to do extra damage, and can also avoid damage entirely with a smooth sidestep. The Jobs available in the demo are Warrior (attack and defense), Mage (magic damage), Cleric (healing), Thief (speed, stealing, normal attack hits all enemies), Chef (attack and healing), and Pop Star (buffs). There’s a lot of little things that go into this system, so I don’t have time to go over each and every one. Some things I’m a bit uncertain about, such as your Mii, the traveler, being the only one you actually control. The rest of the party is controlled by AI, though it seems a fairly competent AI, and you have some support options available separately from whatever Job your Mii is using. Shops, too, are oddly random—when your characters reach an inn at the end of each area, each character will pick something they want to buy (either a restorative item, their next tier of armor, or their next tier weapon), and you decide who to give the money to. It seems to be random, so if you really want that new sword for your Warrior but they want an HP Banana, you’ve got to go on another adventure and see what they’re thinking after that. Apparently, there’s also a chance that the character will by something other than what they set out to get, but I haven’t encountered that yet. You could say there’s an unusual lack of control here, but…somehow, the game is still a lot of fun. I guess the idea is you’re supposed to trust your party members to do their own thing and back you up? And I mean, that’s essentially the function of the relationship system: you can do various things to bring two characters closer together, and with each new level gained you unlock extra perks such as showing off to do more damage, warning of an incoming attack for a better dodge chance, and comforting someone after they’re hit to raise the relationship value even further. When everyone’s showing off at once, you can lay down some serious hurt. Since this is a demo it’s obviously not super long. There’s only one town, and a handful of its NPCs have their faces taken and placed on boss monsters; once you defeat them you can go put the face back where it belongs to get a reward, and after restoring everyone in that town, you’re given a key item to pass the castle gate…only for the guard to tell you the demo ends here. But, the available areas will give you a few hours of gameplay, and even after reaching the gate you can still grind if you want. Did I mention the demo’s save data can be transferred to the full version of the game? And since one of the last areas is really good for grinding, I still feel like there’s a lot of value in continuing to play. My characters’ levels and equipment tiers are steadily rising, and more than that, a count of how many enemies you’ve defeated is kept, and at every 50 you get upgrades to your support options. When I do get the full version (which I probably will), I’ll be unstoppable! (…Though, spoilers, I hear there are two points in the game where your level gets reset, so it’ll probably be short-lived. Not sure what to think about that…) Anyway, for a relatively short demo of a seemingly simple game, Miitopia has some thoroughly entertaining content for you to play around with, and the transfer function is great incentive to delve deeper into it than you might otherwise. If I can afford it, I definitely want to pick up the full game when it comes out, and I’ll probably keep playing the demo so I’ll be more prepared when I do. It’s not perfect, but when you’ve got a mix of classic RPG flavor and Nintendo humor, how can you possibly say no?

Onua’s a pretty chill guy, except for when he’s playing Whack-A-Mole. I have never seen anyone get more competitive over Whack-A-Mole.

...What?

Quite an illuminating analysis!

Square Enix has been doing a Kingdom Hearts Orchestra lately, and apparently there was a show somewhere last night. They used this opportunity to display a brand new trailer, which can be watched . I guess this technically counts as its E3 showing, sort of? Thoughts I wonder…the text at the beginning mentions “dreams” and “dive”, and then we see Sora falling in a way very reminiscent of Dive Mode from 3D. Of course, the significance of that is questionable. The music is pretty sweet, though. It sounds like the final boss music from 0.2, maybe a little different? It’s awesome. The main draw here is a ton of gameplay footage. Flowmotion, Shotlocks, team-up attacks, they all make appearances, plus footage of Sora using his Keyblade’s shield transformation and a ton of other techniques through the new form changing mechanic. I’m starting to be more optimistic about using this system in place of Deck Commands. This looks pretty cool. There are some minor nods towards story as well, but…honestly, that’s my least favorite thing here. I think this is our first look at Maleficent and Pete (and Hades) in KHIII, and apparently they’re searching for the box that the MoM left behind in Back Cover. That whole plot point was kind of “Eh” IMO. I guess it’s consistent: Maleficent mentioned the Book of Prophecies in 2.5 and is involved somehow in X/UX (we still don’t know how). Still…”Eh”. And then there’s a scene outside the Twilight Town mansion with Sora, Donald, and Goofy talking to Xemnas and Ansem. I went really quickly from “Ah, Xemnas!” to “Oh, come on, why?”, since the dialogue is Xemnas asking Sora how he plans to bring Roxas back. I’ve gone on about how I don’t want them to separate Roxas from Sora, right? About how Roxas rejoining with Sora at the end of KHII and finding peace felt like a good end to me and that ripping him out of that would only serve to undermine that resolution? I have? Okay. It’s funny, just last night I asked myself if I actually still like Kingdom Hearts, and even after seeing a brand new trailer upon waking up I still don’t have a proper answer. Hm. The end promises that at the D23 Expo next month (July 15th, specifically) there will be a new trailer with a new world, which sounds promising. Hopefully this will be the start of a more consistent stream of updates, eh?

It says we decide our roles in the Tribe PM, but do we get to choose which Tribe we want or is that random?