Jump to content

Pahrak Model ZX

Premier Outstanding BZP Citizens
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,462

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    35

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Pahrak Model ZX

  1. Pahrak Model ZX
    Because you can download it. And then use it in documents. And then set the text on your computer to appear in Matoran.
     
    You're welcome.
     
    Also, December 6th was Final Fantasy V's 20th Anniversary!! It's a lesser known Final Fantasy, due in part to the fact that the original SNES version was never released in English, but it has a wonderfully refined Job System, introduced series staples like Tonberries and Gilgamesh, and is somehow utterly ridiculous yet heartwarming at the same time. It's a favorite Final Fantasy of mine, and I strongly recommend it.
     
    Obligatory Bioni-Lords news, then. I added some new Spirits to the Index and updated the Elemental Rarity article on Exo's Desk. Rahaga and Steel are now tied for second most common Element. I've finished writing Kako 35, so once I throw together a psychology project I'll type that up. Worst case scenario, it should be up by next Thursday, but it probably won't take that long.
  2. Pahrak Model ZX
    Bioni-Lords:
     
    Bioni-Lords Book 3: Kako
    -Le-Isle: After their harrowing experience with the King of Kohrak, our heroes make it to Le-Isle with new power, believing themselves to be ready for any threat. That belief will be tested when they encounter a boy of mysterious heritage who leads them in an investigation of a haunted castle. What is more dangerous: the monster said to stalk the halls, or the Shadow Consortium’s experiments to create a brand new Element?
    -Ga-Isle: As Valxan continues his crusade against the Suit Bosses, the Shock Trooper Division sets their sights on the island of Water. Its goal: the total annihilation of Ga-Isle and everyone on it! With an agent capable of blasting the whole place to smithereens, does the Water-Lord stand a chance?
    -Flora-Isle: There can be no more doubt—Les Quatre Frères de Lame are gathering, meaning a disaster is not far away! An ancient tribe on the island of Jungle may have some answers, but their mysterious leader has ordered they stay mute. Who is it keeping our heroes in the dark: the Consortium in disguise, or something else entirely?
    -Healer-Isle: Tragedy strikes on Flora-Isle! An emergency trip to Healer-Isle is one character’s only hope, but even the best doctors in the world may not be enough.
     
    Bioni-Lords: Story of the Violet Rose
    A mean-spirited girl, desperate to escape her boring life, crosses paths with a villain obsessed with legends. Will she care enough to stop him, or sit by as he awakens a long-forgotten evil?
     
    Bioni-Lords: Story of the Honored Soul
    A lonely child sets out on her journey, but ends up in the way of a man gathering strange artifacts. Is his plan to draw out the Archaic Spirits madness, or a recipe for disaster?
     
    Other Possibilities:
    (These are still just ideas; I may not actually go through with any of them, but I see no harm in tossing them in here. If you have any questions or see one that sounds interesting, please speak up!)
     
    Creation For Creation’s Sake
    The Hapori—entities of fantastic power created by the Great Beings and then left without purpose. Can the newest addition to their ranks cope with this empty existence, or will he lose himself in pursuit of answers?
     
    Legend of the Makoki Stones
    The story of Dragon Ball Z, the world of Bionicle. A young warrior named Tahu gets drawn into a hunt for the magical Makoki Stones, racing against the evil Teridax! When the mythical Bahrag is summoned, will it grant Teridax’s wish for ultimate power?
     
    Untitled 1
    Three Toa guarding a village on the Northern Continent come under attack from a Vortixx wielding a rusty sword imbued with the power of Poison. Barely surviving, they discover the trial is not over—more warriors are on their way, each wielding a shadowy Mangaia Blade! Can this small group of Toa defeat villains with the power of some of the most dangerous Rahkshi?
     
    Untitled 2
    In a timeline without heroes, new weapons are constructed to protect the Matoran: Exo-Vahki, powerful mecha designed to fend off any evil! But in order to activate the Exo-Link System, the Matoran pilots must put aside their differences, else a looming darkness will obliterate them all.
  3. Pahrak Model ZX
    I was too busy feasting and commiting genocide to make a post until now.
    That is how we celebrate, right...?
     
    All pessimism aside, I want to mention that next month's issue of Famitsu will have information on the new Pokemon movie featuring Genesect!
    ...It's exciting for me, at least. I got a lot of use out of the Genesect distributed when Black/White 2 were released.
    Also the teaser trailer for this movie reveals why it is that Genesect can learn Fly: apparently it transforms into some kind of mini UFO jet thing.
    Pokemon...
     
    Well anyway, I've been doing more work on Bioni-Lords Book 3: Kako--Chapter 34 is done, and I've begun typing it. It may take a while, though, since it's a long chapter and this if final project season for me. I'm trying to pace myself so that I'll have free time to type in small amounts, but worst case scenario it'll be up sometime around December 7th. (Though I may be able to get it in by the end of today. Maybe...)
    I've also been working on some new Spirits--some Pokemon, our very first Adventure Time Spirit (though there will probably be more), and a new Exo-Pokemon I'm still fine-tuning. Not sure when these will be online, but for reasons stated above, it probably won't be until December.
     
    Upon realizing that I'm nearing my 100th blog post, I took a look back through the entries and stumbled across my "2011 Preview" entry. I'd like to make a 2013 Preview of what I hope to accomplish within the next year, but I'm not sure it would work out. Most of my work for next year will probably be Kako, and I could give a preview of Le-Isle, Ga-Isle, and Flora-Isle, but Le-Isle is the only one I've really fine-tuned. I'm also hoping to make some serious progress on VioletRose and HonoredSoul next year, but things with that are still a tad bit vague and I'm not really sure what I would post in a preview of that. As for non-Bioni-Lords material, I'm putting Creation For Creation's Sake on indefinite hiatus since it's coming out a little boring, and I do have an idea for a Matoran Universe fanfiction involving the Mangaia Blades of the Seven Deadly Rahkshi, but I'm not sure if that's actually going to go anywhere...and there's also that Bionicle adaptation of Dragon Ball Z, but that's probably a terrible idea.
    I'll give it some thought, though. Maybe I'll be able too pull together a 2013 Preview, but I can't promise anything. On a related note, I believe I previously mentioned a new Kako preview involving Aile and Zempyst and their history? I typed it up, and I'm thinking of putting that in a blog entry at some point, maybe for the 100th entry.
     
    Not a whole lot of exciting developments, but hey, I'm not complaining.
  4. Pahrak Model ZX
    This past Tuesday, something momentous happened...
     
    I finally got a full team of Pokemon all the way to Level 100!!
    (Yeah, I know: what took me so long? Well...I dunno.)
    It was originally my Platinum team, but they were also trained in HeartGold, White, and White 2. The team includes Lucario, Infernape, Giratina (Origin Forme), Floatzel, Garchomp, and Luxray. It's a strange feeling, seeing them "completed" like this...but now I'm thinking it's time to restart Platinum with a new team. So farewell, Pokemon Trainer Khadaz--your team has reached its limit, and now you must make way for a new trainer.
    *sniff*
    N-No, I'm not crying! I just came out of a battle where a Pokemon used Sandstorm, so I've got some sand in my eye!
     
    ...Anyway...
     
    More news on TWEWY -LIVE Remix-: more playable characters will be made available in the future, presumably by DLC (Joshua and Beat were specifically mentioned). We've also been told that we'll see Minamimoto someday. (Vague, yes, but now we have hope!) Also it's been officially confirmed that Live-chan and Hype-chan are not the same person--I guess some people were afraid the Solo Remix artwork was only hinting at Live Remix? More hope for a sequel!
     
    Been working on Kako, may be able to get Chapter 33 up this week if I can finish my homework. Progress on Chapter 34 has been delayed a bit, but it's a big battle and I want to put some thought into it. I've also been putting some thought towards a couple of side projects, like a preview-type thing with Aile, Zempyst, and Xyla...not sure if I'm going to type it up or just wait to use it in the story. I did finally get Aile and Zempyst's appearances (more or less) finalized, though, so that's something.
     
    Sigh, November...the month where you start to really run out of time to procrastinate on those final projects you've known about the entire semester. So guess what I'll be trying to get myself to focus on this week?
  5. Pahrak Model ZX
    The recent issue of Famitsu revealed some more information about The World Ends With You -LIVE Remix-. The game will be for iOS and Android devices and takes place in a parallel universe, similar to the Another Day bonus chapter in the original game. Players will be divided into teams of 20 and hunt down "Ringleader Noise" in order to earn points for the end of the week. Sounds like it won't have a lot of story to it.
    Oh, but they did mention the new character. They're calling her "Atarashi Koko," or "New Kid," and apparently she acts as some sort of guide.
    (Personally, I think I'll keep calling her Live-chan.)
     
    Hm, I should probably say something about Disney buying Lucasfilm, huh? Well, being the pessimist that I am, I wouldn't say that I'm thrilled, but I'm going to try and keep quiet until we actually see how they handle it.
    (Also this makes it possible for Star Wars to be in Kingdom Hearts. Star Wars is veeeery popular in Japan...)
     
    On to something else I hope to see in future Kingdom Hearts games: Wreck-It Ralph. I went to see it yesterday and was quite pleased. The movie plot itself was well-done, and they topped it off with hundreds of video game references and cameos. I'm sure I missed some, but I laughed at the ones I did catch--the entire theater roared to life when we saw the Konami Code. I can't say a whole lot without spoilers, but it's a great movie and I recommend you go see it.
     
    Side note on Muramasa Vita: it looks like the new playable characters will have "new features," which I hope means new gameplay features. Definitely looking forward to this!
  6. Pahrak Model ZX
    Earlier this week Square Enix announced another remake of The World Ends With You: a social game titled The World Ends With You -LIVE Remix-. There isn't really any information at this point, but apparently it'll be released in Japan this winter. I wish I could post this in the TWEWY topic, but it kinda died. D:
     
    Thank God they announced it sensibly this time, rather than overdoing it with a one-week countdown like last time. Although the fact that this is a social game still throws some of us off...but, meh, they'd have to try pretty hard to mess up TWEWY. This will also appeal to a different group of players, continuing to broaden the fanbase...hm, I wonder what they could be doing that for? Heheheh...
     
    If Square is trying to expand the appeal of TWEWY, they must be intending to do something with it. TWEWY -SOLO Remix- had the famous secret artwork of a never before seen character, dubbed "Hype-chan" by the fanbase. (No, seriously. Hype-chan. I love these people.) It sure seems like a hint at a sequel...
     
    You can expect me to put news on this remake in my blog as it becoms available, what with my obsession and all. I'm not particularly excited because of the whole "social game" thing, but I'm hoping it will have a new piece of artwork (or maybe a Kingdom Hearts style secret movie!) further hinting at a new game. Hype-chan, I expect to see you at the end of this remake!
     
    On a related note, it looks like the TWEWY concert this Novemeber is sold out. D: Not that I would have been able to get to Japan anyway, but...still. So, I'll just sit at home with my DS and have Neku stand in A-East while I peruse my collection of in-game soundtrack CDs. It's the next best thing, right?
     
    EDIT: Somehow I didn't realize this before, but one of the images of TWEWY -LIVE Remix- has another new character! We can only see her face, but she appears to be a Reaper wearing a pink hoodie with animal ears. Her eyes look green/blue, and her hair is part blonde and part gray/silver. The fandom has named her "Live-chan." (Have I mentioned that I love these people?) No idea what kind of role she'll have, but at least we won't have to wait too long to find out. Winter isn't that far away...
  7. Pahrak Model ZX
    Well, I'm back from both Isshu and Pennsylvania. (I've been playing a lot of Pokemon White 2 and I went to Pennsylvania for a family event.) I'm in that awkward phase of post-story play where all my potential opponents are either too weak or too strong...
    And if you're wondering about my team: Serperior, Keldeo, Genesect, White Kyurem, Gigalith (all Level 72), and Chandelure (Level 74).
     
    Believe it or not, I actually managed to update the Spirit Index! The list now goes to 1573--new Spirits are mostly from Rockman.EXE, although one of them is from TWEWY. I also updated Exo's Desk with a link to "Fantasy Fanfiction That's Less Than Fantastic," and brought the Elemental Rarity article up-to-date.
     
    I'm actually quite glad I was offline for the period of time immediately following BZP's article about how Bionicle's future couldn't be confirmed one way or the other. Anything to escape being sucked back into the debate that tore our fandom apart and makes me ashamed to identify as a Bionicle fan...
     
    The other big news is that Spoiler Season has officially kicked off! What's Spoiler Season? I'm glad you asked! You see, the release of a new wave of Lego sets happens in four stages:
    Stage 1--The Leak Stage. Also known as Spoiler Season, this is when pictures of the new sets get scattered about the Internet, and despite the fact that they're really very easy to find we aren't allowed to talk about them on BZP out of respect for Lego.
    Stage 2--The Announcement Stage. Lego officially announces the new wave, releasing the leaked pictures with slightly better quality and perhaps giving us a few tidbits of info. This is when we're able to start talking about it here on BZP.
    Stage 3--The Sightings Stage. Sets begin popping up at random stores here and there, with some BZP member scrambling to report their sightings and the rest scouring their local stores to no avail.
    Stage 4--The Widespread Availability Stage. Sets become very easy to locate and obtain. The transition between Stages 3 and 4 is gradual, but a good indicator that we've reached Stage 4 is when the sets become available on the Lego website.
     
    Since we're still in Stage 1, I won't talk about the next wave yet. But Bioni-Lords readers may be interested to know that I have gotten a headstart on the relevant Bioni-Spirits.
     
    Also for Bioni-Lords readers, I have finished writing Kako 32 and will begin editing/typing it today. I can't be sure when it will be ready to be posted, but it shouldn't be too long, so keep your eyes out!
  8. Pahrak Model ZX
    (Otherwise known as "An Abridged History of the Bioni-Lords Saga." This was originally done for a school paper, but I've made some edits to it since then. It's still probably not very good. Anywho, here we go...)
     
    I’m not original—never was. That’s why fanfiction has always appealed to me: you already have an idea to start with, you just need to take it and work with it. When I’m in a particularly good mood, I say that my creativity lies in combining and twisting pre-existing ideas rather than creating my own original ones. The rest of the time, I say I have no creativity. I don’t stick with a whole lot of my ideas—most of them end up being abandoned a few chapters in—but there is one major exception: a “saga” of stories that are almost original while at the same time borrowing from dozens of series. It will take a while to explain, but should you have the time, I would be honored to share with you the story of my story.
     
    As you may have guessed, all throughout my childhood one of my most key interests has been the Bionicle series. I have spent a lot of time thinking about things I could do with the Bionicle story or the concept of it, and one was to combine it with the ever-popular Pokémon series. (Please understand, I was 12 at the time this idea occurred to me.) The concept was simple: it was Pokémon, but the Pokémon were replaced with Bionicles. I made a text-based game based on this idea and posted it here on BZP; people could join, collect Bionicles, and have them fight each other. Since I was not a Premier Member, I needed to get someone else to start this up for me…and soon afterward, that person said he couldn’t keep up and had the game shut down. At the time, I was furious. In truth, this was a wonderful blessing.
     
    I could have just restarted the game, but for some reason I thought I had to rework it into something new before doing so, or else I would get in trouble. After some thought, I did what (to me) was the logical evolution of the concept: the player would still fight and collect Bionicle Pokémon (or would Pokémon Bionicles be more accurate…?), but rather than sending these creatures to fight each other, one would fuse with the creature to obtain its armor and abilities in order to fight. (Again, please keep in mind that I was 12.) I decided to name these creatures “Bioni-Spirits” for some reason, and the humans who fused with these Spirits were dubbed “Bioni-Lords.” (“Bioni” for “Bionicle” and “Lord” as in “master.” Essentially, a “master of Bionicles.”) I reformatted the text-based game and prepared to restart it, this time able to do so myself…and that’s when I got the idea to turn this concept into a story.
     
    Since I was 12, the story was set to be very simple. I would just call it “Bioni-Lords: The Epic,” and a Bioni-Lord based on me would go on a quest mirroring the events of the game and end up fighting some cliché villain because he was, in fact, “The Chosen One.” (I. Was. 12. It may seem like I’m overemphasizing this, but I feel the need to do so because of how ridiculous these ideas are.) I didn’t know how long it would take to write this story, so I decided to serialize the chapters one-by-one in the Epics Forum, and since I had seen several other stories who had allowed readers to submit their own “guest star” characters, I said I was open to this as well. So, I began writing Bioni-Lords Book 1.
     
    Oh, what a literary atrocity those early chapters were! Terrible grammar, overly simplistic, poor characterization, virtually no setting at all! I’m amazed that even one single person committed to wading through just one of those chapters! Yet someone did! People came and people went—I’ve never had a particularly large group of readers at any point in time, but there have always been at least a few, and I encouraged them to submit characters, design their own Bioni-Spirits, and even send plot ideas. The thing is, though, I have a tendency to procrastinate, and I suffer from a severe case of writer’s block. Bioni-Lords Book 1 began in June of 2005. Its first version wasn’t completed until August of 2008.
     
    As you can imagine, I developed greatly as a writer over those three years, and made massive adjustments to the story as I went on. I also took some time to go back and rewrite the story, although it wasn’t my main focus (since I was working on serializing Book 2 at the time), and I’m sure it still requires a lot of work. Also during that time frame, I expanded the scope of Bioni-Lords: rather than having Bioni-Spirits based solely on Bionicles, I started to design Spirits based on characters from a variety of other fictional series, and my readers did the same. In a sense, Bioni-Lords has become a “fanfiction of everything”—something that you can throw things from all manner of sources into (although they’re not all used in the story itself). The plot was also influenced in this way—I became a huge fan of the Kingdom Hearts video games, and through that came to like the Final Fantasy series, both of which have fairly convoluted plots that I have attempted to emulate. (Usually, however, it only ends up making things confusing.)
     
    The “Book 2” I mentioned earlier was started in March 2009, and I just put the Epilogue online during November 2011. It might have taken only two years rather than three, but it was actually longer than the first one. (Maybe this means I’m improving!) The second book still mirrored the general course of that game (which I had abandoned by this point), but I extended the primary plot and added a second one, alternating between the two. (It may seem repetitive, but the reason is based in the society of the world—all Bioni-Lords are expected to journey across a string of islands, and Book 2 focuses on the son of Book 1’s main character taking this journey.) Right before I started serializing Book 2, I decided that I needed to add some flavor to the titles, and since I had developed a thing for Japanese media, I decided to use Japanese words as titles for future Bioni-Lords Books. For example, the second book ended up being called “Bioni-Lords Book 2: Sekai”; “sekai” is the Japanese word for “world”, and Book 2 expands the world of Bioni-Lords (mainly by introducing a new Atlantis-style continent). I had matured by this point, so I’m in no hurry to rewrite Sekai like I was with Book 1, but Sekai still has its problems…
     
    This is where my openness to reader input exceeded my skill level. There was so much stuff that I had to try to fit into Sekai! It became a real problem later on, when I was asked to include some new characters who were (supposed to be) very powerful and important…that didn’t exactly happen. In addition, I didn’t do the best job at spacing the secondary plot, and I probably should’ve tried integrating both plots a little better. Also, the son of Book 1’s main character ended up a little…lackluster. He needs more character development. Not his girlfriend, though—I really enjoyed using her as a character, and I think she was well-received. I also introduced a new character who is (supposedly) the strongest person in the world…but she’s so goofy that you can never take her seriously, and she never seems all that interested in helping out. (She easily could have defeated the final villain of Sekai all on her own. Instead, she waits until he effortlessly knocks out almost every other character in the entire book before finishing him off.) But forgetting all that, I love something else born of this book that I feel deserves its own paragraph.
     
    This requires some in-depth info. To enable the fusion that creates a Bioni-Lord, when a Bioni-Spirit is defeated it transforms into a glass Orb filled with a spark of energy. Humans usually use these Orbs to fuse with Spirits, but there is a technology in the timeframe of Sekai that lets people pull the Spirit out of the Orb, convert it to data, and store it in a watch-like device. (For the record, this idea was submitted by a reader. I can’t take credit.) While thinking about this, I began contemplating the uses of these empty glass orbs…what if they still contained some residual power from the Spirit? What if a maniacal glass-maker collected thousands of such orbs? If he were to melt them down into shards, and then place these shards on a robot skeleton, would that robot have the powers of all those Spirits? An android with a nearly unlimited range of powers, powers that came from a unique source, thus making it almost invulnerable to conventional means of attack…the uber-powerful, fan-favorite mechanical menace that I affectionately refer to as “Project Stained Glass.” Stained Glass has seen a few variations, each one granting it an even wider range of powers, and while it has been incapacitated a few times, it has never really been “defeated”…and probably never will. I fully intend to somehow incorporate Stained Glass in the original stories I plan to eventually write and, hopefully, sell, as it is perhaps the only (more or less) original entity in the Bioni-Lords Saga.
     
    I’m sure we all remember the server crash that made BZPower inaccessible for a portion of 2011, something that obviously delayed the conclusion of Sekai. But, thankfully, BZP did come back, so I wrapped up Sekai and began prepping my readers for Bioni-Lords Book 3: Kako, a process which began in the last chapter and epilogue of Sekai. The villain who was defeated in Book 1 showed up, said he was sorry and all, and revealed that he is the uncle of Book 1 (and the saga’s) main character. Book 3: Kako (“kako” being the Japanese word for “past”) is a flashback to 20 years before Book 1, the timeframe where this villain/uncle and his brother were on their standard journey, so that we can see how a polite teenager turned into the world’s most hated villain. Plus, I figure this will give new readers and excellent place to jump in. I was very eager to begin writing it, and it’s been a fun experience thus far.
     
    I started serializing Kako in April, and it seems to be doing about as well as Books 1 and 2. Unfortunately, I have not been able to acquire any new readers as of yet, but my returning readers continue to provide me with helpful feedback, and I am very grateful to them. While I did try to keep out a flood of reader-submitted content (like what happened in Sekai), I did commit to collaborating with a few choice comrades, and I’ve gotten just about all I need out of them. To be honest, I have no idea how long it will take to write and serialize Kako, but I’m uncharacteristically optimistic that I can make it one of my best (and perhaps most original) stories yet. (More so than its predecessors, at least.) I’ve also given thought to what will happen after Kako, God-willing—but I’m cutting this part out since I don’t want to reveal my plans to my readers just yet. Sorry guys, but I have to try my very best to surprise you! How else will I gain your respect?
     
    Bioni-Lords has come a long way, due in no small part to the input of readers, and I’m rather proud of it…though, at the same time I’m embarrassed for putting so much time and effort into mere fanfiction. As of the update to this piece, there are over 1500 Bioni-Spirits, two websites I’ve made (using free, simple site builders) to serve for reference, over one and a half thousand notebook pages that record the Books and some short stories, and around 4 and a half megabytes of data on my computer used for storing Bioni-Lords data.
     
    It probably goes without saying, but if you have not seen the Bioni-Lords Saga thus far, I would like to ask you to take a look at Kako and provide me with some feedback—even if it is negative. I know that my stories need a lot of work, but if no one tells me what is wrong with them, how will I ever improve? Kako is still far, far from over, and I believe that provides me with plenty of time to fix it before it ends, so long as people are willing to share with me how they think I should best proceed. I know that I won’t actually get to do much with this story due to its nature, but I believe it to be a sort of warm-up that will allow me to hone my skills for the day I do, hopefully, develop a degree of originality. If nothing else, I feel obligated to bring this story to a complete close, as it has come to mean a lot to me over the years. There is no way I can forget about Bioni-Lords, and no way I can completely move on until I complete the eventual Book 5 I have planned, and I deeply, truly hope that I am able to learn something along the way.
     
    Is there a moral to this story? Do you mean Bioni-Lords or this memoir thing? Either way…I don’t really know. Honestly, I just hope I did a decent job of explaining the whole thing—exposition has never been my strong suit (something else that causes many, many problems). If you take something from this, then I’m glad; either way, I thank you for your time. We all know that it takes time and effort to become a writer of great skill—I’ve been working for years and I’m still not there. Of course, I was 12 when I started and I’m only 19 now, so…there’s that. On the other hand, I’d like to think that starting early will have benefits later on. It’s too soon to tell, but I hope and pray that I’ll get the chance to find out. Until then, you know where to find me: sitting in the Epics Forum piecing together words and references, trying my best to craft an endearing tale about a land where all of our fantasies can gather.
  9. Pahrak Model ZX

    Mini-Entry

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Vegeta! What does the Scouter say about the number of views this blog has?
    "IT'S OVER 9000!!"
    WHAT 9000?! There's no way that can be right!!
     
    ...Ahem. I'd like to thank all of you who've viewed my blog thus far, even if you just stumbled in, realized it was lame, and walked right back out.
     
    This is sort of a forecast entry. Since I'm running low on topics and you guys probably don't want to hear me rant about my characters like I did in my last entry, I've decided that this Saturday will be a special entry rather than a weekly update. For the Intro to Creative Writing class I took last semester, we were required to write a non-fiction account of something from our past, and by twisting that prompt I was able to get away with writing a summary of my experience working on the Bioni-Lords saga, from making it up to stumbling through Book 1 to improving through Sekai to getting started on Kako. It doesn't really have any new information, but I figured I'd share it with you guys anyway, so I'll be posting it here in my blog this Saturday. It can also double as an "Intro to the Bioni-Lords Saga" for you newcomers I'm desparately trying to attract! (Like you can't tell how desparate I am, putting that in bold...)
     
    The weekend after that, though, I'll be gone, so I'm just going to skip my blog post for that week altogether. I'll make another update the week after that, which is...what...the 20th, I think? After that I imagine things will be back to normal for a while.
     
    Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, I finished writing Kako 31, though I'm not sure when I'll start typing it...
  10. Pahrak Model ZX
    Well, it was fun being Lexaeus, but I've decided it's time to check back in with Pahrak. Looks like he got kicked out of Shibuya and wound up on Cybertron. Now he transforms into an ankylosaurus!
     
    On to Bioni-Lords. After I posted Kako 30 earlier this week, I contacted the Epic Critics Club to ask for another review. I just felt like I should get some new opinions, especially since I sort of wanted Kako to be a good place for newcomers to jump in. Since I don't want to create more work for the critic, I won't be posting any new chapters until the review is in, but then again, I haven't finished writing Kako 31 anyway.
    I will tell you, though, that we're getting into the action of the Ko-Isle arc starting in 31. Not sure how many chapters it'll run, but there are a number of things I want to make sure I cover, so it probably won't be the briefest scenario.
     
    Also this week, I realized that I haven't really worked out the appearances of Aile and Zempyst all that well, so I started brainstorming on that. Aile is more or less done, but I'm having a bit of difficulty finding an appearance to suit Zempyst's personality. The first idea I had seemed too rough, and when I tried to fix it she ended up feeling too stuffy, so I'm trying to find a way to balance that. Since so few females characters in Bioni-Lords wear dresses, I considered having Zempyst wear one, but then I got this image in my mind of her raging "There's no way I'm wearing this in public!!" with Aile hanging off of her saying something to the effect of "But you look so kawaii~!"
    ...I don't have a probelm.
    Then I got side-tracked and played out a scenario where Aile forces Zempyst to wear a dress for some fancy event, and Zempyst feels awkward because she's never really thought of herself as beautiful, leading Aile to start constantly calling her beautiful because she cares about her and asfkheogiubs;ibv
    ...I don't have a problem.
    Ugh, I can't stand that I have to wait until just about the end of Kako before I can write scenes with these two, and there'll be nothing after that because Zempyst dies right after where Kako ends, I can't believe I shot myself in the foot like that I want to write more about them it's not fair that she has to--
    *shot with silence Rhotuka*
     
    ...But I digress. The point is, it made me consider writing a mini-series type thing detailing Aile and Zempyst's history. My original thought was that I would publish it here in the blog during a hiatus I'm planning later on (so that I can focus on getting somewhere with VRHS and let you guys process a terrible plot point), but now I'm thinking that might not be the best idea. Besides, best title I can think of is "Storm Beneath My Wings," and that's just a lame but elaborate pun...
     
    Also, I'll try to update Exo's Desk soon!
     
    On a different note, there have been a few minor updates on that Vita port of Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Apparently there will be a new downloadable scenario, which I have mixed feelings about. I like that the idea of a new scenario, but I have never been a fan of DLC. Also, I heard that they were adding four new playable characters to the game, but since this sounds pretty extreme I'm not holding my breath. Still, if there are more playable characters, it would probably inspire the programmers to put more differences between them...Kisuke and Momohime were, more or less, exactly the same, after all. Well, I guess we'll find out later.
     
    Yes I realize I've overused strikethroughs in this post.
  11. Pahrak Model ZX
    But first, obligatory Bioni-Lords update: Kako 29 was posted earlier this week, currently typing Kako 30 and will probably get it up either today or Monday, and I've started writing Kako 31.
     
    Also, I must call to your attention that this November, Square Enix is holding a The World Ends With You concert in Shibuya. Since I cannot put how awesome this is into words, that is all I have to say.
     
    Okay, Tokyo Game Show news! (If there's anything else relevant to my interests revealed later today or tomorrow, I'll be updatin' this post.)
     
    -First off, Muramasa: The Demon Blade is being ported to PS Vita! Not a whole lot of news on it yet, but they've said it will have some kind of new content. Muramasa is hands-down my favorite Wii game, so getting a portable version I can play without hogging the TV is a blessing.
    -By now I imagine you've all heard of Mega/Rockman Xover, Capcom's attempt to celebrate Megaman's 25th anniversary. The concept is great--put all the different Megamen in one game--but it's actually an iOS game where the playable Megaman just keeps moving right automatically, ending in a turn-based boss battle. I'll let you draw your own conclusions...oh, but they did publish a pretty cool piece of artwork with all the Megamen!
    -Yeah, I'm moving on to Kingdom Hearts now, heh. There was some new merchandise being shown off, including more formation arts figures for KHII and the new play arts figures for KH3D. (On a side note, why did we not get any BBS play arts?! Let me love you, Aqua! D: ) The KH3D figures shown were Sora and Riku in their basic and Grid forms, and a selection of Keyblades were also shown. This selection did not include Skull Noise, the TWEWY-themed Keyblade, so I am disappoint.
    -The big KH announcement was "Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX," which will apparently put KH Final Mix (now with Japanese voice acting), KH Re: CoM, and scenes from KH 358/2 Days on one disc for the PS3...in HD, obviously. See, this is where I have to go into an unpopular opinion: I really don't get HD, so I just see this as a placeholder to fill the "one game a year" quota for 2013. I mean, we already played these games...they're just being given slightly better graphics and trophy support. Also, I'm sick of looking at Sora KH1 version; after seeing it in KH1, CoM, and Re:coded, I'm anxious for them to do more with his KHII or 3D clothes, or a new outfit. Not to mention I don't have a PS3. Still, if they're not going to add in any new features, I won't be going out and buying a PS3 just for this.
    -What interests me more is the vaguest announcement: a Kingdom Hearts PC browser game that appears to be set during the Keyblade War (!!). We haven't been given a lot of info--just a brief overview of the setting, confirmation that Wonderland and Keyblade Graveyard are worlds, and that it uses KH Mobile/Theatrhythm Final Fantasy character avatars (which I, personally, have never been a fan of). It's also been said that this is a basic 2D action game and uses cards in battle, but, again, details are scarce. Looking forward to this one...
     
    Well, that's it for now. Can't wait to see what else we get out of TGS!
  12. Pahrak Model ZX
    Finally got Kako 28 posted the other day. Started working on Kako 29, which will have a Tag Match against Stratoro and Kopuju (the Ice-Lord from Book 1). Haven't decided if Kopuju will be in any chapters after this or if it's just a cameo...
    Oh, I almost forgot...
     

     

     
    Yeah, the Word Document for Kako passed 100 pages. Wooo~!
     
    Also, Phoenixian Wraith has started up a new spin-off: Bioni-Lords Origins: Phaenyx! Check it out! I'll put a link on the website soon.
     
    There are also a few new Spirits on the Index. Trying to work out another one right now, but don't know how long that'll take, and I plan to make a minor edit or two to a Spirit in about a week or so.
     
    And that MoC I mentioned last week is up: ZMoC-17: Shinryu Zadakh. This is a "super form" I used back when I was playing Bionifight 4; I'd been kicking around a MoC idea for a while, but for some reason never got around to it until now. Wierd.
     
    One more thing: This time next week, the Tokyo Game Show will be going, so expect my blog post to be a constantly-updated cache of fanboying over relevant news.
  13. Pahrak Model ZX
    That's why I'm a little late today--was taking pictures of ZMoC-17. Think I'm going to wait until the gallery is public until I post the topic, though. This model might look familiar to those of you who played Bionifight 4...
     
    I updated the Spirit Index, although I think there's only one new Spirit...been a while since I made a proper update.
     
    Remember when I made a big deal about that TWEWY themed countdown? Yeah, it turned out to be an iOS remake. Since the fandom was expecting more, we kind of exploded. However, a secret artwork was discovered in the remake, featuring a completely new character and the phrase "New 7 Days." So it looks like we're getting a sequel after all? Hopefully Square will say something at the Tokyo Game Show later this month.
     
    Also, I got my Ackar spinny! Woooo!
     
    ...Sorry about the lack of Bioni-Lords, also. I've been a little distracted, but I promise to get the next chapter done sometime next week!
  14. Pahrak Model ZX
    41. This may not appeal to everyone, but those of us who have played Final Fantasy will catch a few references throughout TWEWY. The material pins (Orichalcum, Adamantite, etc) are named after Final Fantasy items, there are a number of pins named after summons (Tin Pin Bahamut, Tin Pin Shiva, etc) that you get from encounters with characters who just happen to share names with Square employees, and then there's Minamimoto's "Lv. i Flare" (though that takes too long to explain). Think of these as a bonus for Square Enix fans--a sign that they really do love us.
     
    42. The enemies in the game, Noise, are collections of negative energy driven purely by instinct, attacking Game players and possessing humans. They take the form of various animals with specific parts of their body replaced with tribal tattoos, giving them a familiar yet strange feel with intricate designs. Noise are named after various genres of music--J Popguin, Carcinoska, Grunge Wolf--so those who are really into music get an extra bit of enjoyment from browsing the names of these creatures. The Noise are more than interesting enough to make you want to hunt down each and every one to fill out your Noise Report, and you won't be able to rest until you've seen every last one.
     
    43. There are several rare Noise that serve as optional bosses, specially-colored symbols that appear in fixed locations on fixed days. The first of these is the Progfox, and it's a fascinating creature. This fox has the ability to transform into a variety of other Noise, several unique forms with their own special attacks, and even a duplicate of Neku wearing a fox mask! As the battle goes on, Progfox begins to grow more tattoo tails, growing stronger with each one. When he grows his ninth tail, he executes an unavoidable cinematic attack where he transforms into a giant armored dragon and uses Final Fantasy's infamous Mega Flare attack. Progfox may not be among the strongest Noise in the game, but he is hands-down one of the most interesting for his variety of attacks.
     
    44. During Week 2, a new type of Noise is introduced: Taboo Noise, dark variations of the already fearsome creatures who have greater strength and far greater defense. While scanning for Noise symbols to fight, most will just float around until you touch them, but Taboo Noise symbols will home in on you and force you to fight them in grueling battles you are unable to escape from. The worst thing about Taboo Noise is that your attacks will barely scratch them unless you are holding the "light puck" that flies back and forth between the two playable characters, prolonging the time it takes to erase them and giving them more chances to erase you. And that's not even considering that there are several Taboo Noise bosses...
     
    45. As you might expect, the final boss, Draco Cantus, is a sight to behold: a six-headed hydra who attacks continuously with devastating abilities from every direction. This fearsome foe is beautifully designed, and just looking at him is enough to tell you that this really is the final battle. The circumstances of this creature's creation are unique, making the battle itself equally different from the norm in a way that might make you nervous at first--don't worry, though, those characters you think can't help you will prove to be not-so-helpless after all. And, as everyone knows, a boss like this has to go out with a bang, but I can't detail it here because it's something you just have to see.
     
    46. Square Enix has a thing for "friendly enemies"--the Magic Pots in Final Fantasy, the White Mushrooms in Kingdom Hearts, and the Pig Noise in TWEWY. In fixed locations you will encounter oddly-colored Noise symbols that will send you into "battle" with one of these quirky foes, who (with the exception of the Pig Butoh) won't launch a single attack. Instead, Pig Noise will immediately head for the far edge of the screen, and if they reach it, they will escape the battle and leave you looking foolish. It might not sound too difficult, but most Pig Noise have special twists--illusory duplicates, invisibility, appearing in a group that needs to be erased in a specific order...things like that. Of special note are the Pig Carol, who can only be damaged by one specific Pin that changes each time you encounter them, and one little piggy who can only be erased by closing the DS system at just the right time. Still, hunting them down is more than worth it--they all drop special Pin rewards, and erasing them all is necessary for collecting the Secret Reports. They don't respawn, though, so once you turn them all into sausage, you won't ever get to encounter the Pig Noise ever again...
     
    47. As mentioned earlier, Another Day has some secrets hidden in it, one of which is Pork City. Pork City is a tower in the corner of Shibuya that is visited briefly at the end of Week 2, but can only be fully explored in Another Day. Each floor is tied to a specific brand, and you can only use Pins of that brand (or unbranded pins) in battle. You will be required to fight several normal Noise battles culminating in an encounter with Pig Noise before clearing the way to the next floor, and erasing the Pigs here is the only way to get them in your Noise Report. Clear all 13 floors and you're done, right? Not quite...
     
    48. On the roof of Pork City, you'll run into a little Noise by the name of Panthera Cantus. Who's Panthera Cantus? Oh, nobody, just the single most powerful boss in the entire game. Thankfully, any brand of Pin can be used on the roof, but even with a perfected set of Pins you're going to need to pray, pray, and pray if you want to beat this guy. If you're easily frustrated, you may want to avoid this Noise, but at the same time...beating him gets you a great Thread, he may drop one of the best Pins in the game, you need to win to complete your Noise Report, and destroying him (possibly on Hard) is necessary for getting the last Secret Report. If you do decide to give this a try, then I wish you the best of luck.
     
    49. When you beat the game, things don't really make a whole lot of sense. However, when you go to the newly-unlocked Chapters menu, each day will have a list of 3-4 tasks for you to complete, some of which are straight-forward, some of which are riddles. But if you're able to complete all the tasks for the day, you unlock the corresponding Secret Report, which gives a wealth of new information to help you understand the game in-depth. With 7 days X 3 weeks + Another Day adding up to 22 Secret Reports, you may think collecting them all will take a long time, but it goes more quickly than you think until you have to defeat Panthera Cantus. If you can get them all, the game makes a lot more sense, plus it unlocks a bonus scene after the credits. The Secret Reports are definitely worth the trouble, but there's no shame in finding them online--especially the one you need to beat Panthera Cantus to get.
     
    50. Well, we've reached the end of the list, and it only seems fit to save the best for last. The World Ends With You isn't just a great game, but it also has a great message that is almost impossible to not pick up. There are a few different ways to phrase it, but I'm just going to quote Mr. H on this one: "The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."
  15. Pahrak Model ZX
    31. Beat, whose real name is too complicated for me to write out, is the kind of person I would hate if I met him on the street. He's a tough guy punk with a skateboard and a bad attitude, and he's not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. Over the course of the game, though, we begin to uncover more of Beat's character and backstory, and by the end you begin to admire him for his determination. Being able to take a character so far from their first impression isn't easy, but Beat is a fantastic example.
     
    32. Rhyme is a welcome voice of reason among a hot-headed cast, but due to story events I don't want to spoil, her character doesn't get fleshed out quite as much as I would've liked. Still, these same events ends up turning Rhyme into a major driving force for the remainder of the game, and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't like her.
     
    33. No list of characters would be complete without mentioning the main character, one Neku Sakuraba. He's antisocial, so he always wears a giant set of headphones to keep the rest of the world out (leading to his nickname "Phones"), but to survive the Reaper's Game he needs to learn to trust people, else he's going to get erased. Neku is a modern teenager who's easy to relate to, and his steady growth throughout the game has inspired a lot of players to change their own viewpoints. A main character needs to be someone you can connect to, and as long as you're willing to care, I think anyone can connect to Neku, making him effective in his role.
     
    34. Next on the menu is the Game Master of Week 1, Yodai Higashizawa. He may not get as much screentime as a lot of other characters, but this dish is not to be missed--his constant food jokes make him deliciously hilarious. As an added spice, his voice actor is someone you anime fans will probably recognize, but the secret ingredient is how he very casually serves up one bombshell of a plot point. I won't spoil your dinner by typing it out, but it's definitely one of the highlights of the meal.
     
    35. Koki Kariya and Uzuki Yashiro are two mid-ranking Reapers who continue to harass the main characters all throughout the game, sort of like Team Rocket. Watching them, you have to wonder how their friendship works: they seem to be complete opposites! Kariya, despite his experience, is lazy and undriven, while newer employee Uzuki is determined to outshine her peers and earn a promotion as soon as possible. They have a fantastic yin-yang thing, though you may not notice while they're annoying you. Still, near the end of the game we find out that they do have hearts, and you just might begin to respect them.
     
    36. Since I've mentioned the other two Game Masters, I have to also mention the only one who doesn't joke around. And let me tell you, she does not joke around. Mitsuki Konishi is cold, calculating, and utterly heartless--probably the character you're most likely going to love to hate. She mainly stays backstage in Weeks 1 and 2, and even during Week 3 she spends a decent amount of time off-screen, which helps to make her seem distant and uninterested. Still, you end up with plenty of reason to despise her by the time you finally get to fight her, but don't expect it to be easy. The battle against Konishi is one of the more complex battles in the game, divided up into multiple stages that each have a trick to them. Defeating her a challenge, but the pins you get for doing it are definitely worth it!
     
    37. Giving out orders to the rest of the Reapers is the Game's Conductor, Megumi Kitaniji, also known as "Shades." Besides his trademark sunglasses, he's always seen wearing a set of headphones suspiciously similar to Neku's, but no one ever points this out--even when Neku and Kitaniji meet. Since he collects the entry fees and reveals the results of each game, he quickly becomes a target for players to hate, something that actually only gets worse the first time you fight him. I won't tell you why, but I will tell you that a certain aspect of that fight really takes you by surprise. Of course, being the perceived "master bad guy," you need to fight him more than once, so you should be able to vent all of your frustration...just in time to find out his true intentions.
     
    38. While he's almost entirely irrelevant to the plot, I have to make mention Eiji Oji, the Prince of Ennui, and his blog, which apparently everyone in Shibuya reads to find out what's most fabulous in the city. I hesitate to go into detail, not for spoiler reasons, but because, while the blog is not obscene in any way, it is phrased in a way that the unaware will think that it's obscene. Then again, that's exactly what makes it great!
     
    39. During battle, executing combos with the top screen character obtains you Fusion Stars, and when enough are collected, you can unleash a spectacular Fusion attack where both characters combine their powers. These attacks are great because they not only damage every enemy, but they also heal you, not to mention that most of the attacks are epic, hilarious, or epicly hilarious. Of note are Shiki's Level 3 Fusion, where Mr. Mew turns into Godzilla and shoots lazers from his eyes, and Joshua's Level 3 Fusion, which literally drops the moon onto the battlefield. Believe it or not, Kariya and Uzuki even use a Fusion attack when you fight them together!
     
    40. Walls blocking you from certain areas are a common occurence, but most can be lowered by talking to a nearby Reaper and completing whatever task he assigns you. Some of those Reapers give you a short quiz. Ahem..."Like a bolt from the blue, it's time for the Reaper Review!!" If you're not paying attention to your surroundings, you may not be able to pass, but the Reaper won't tell you which question you got wrong, so it takes a few tries. Still, these Reapers have a habit of referencing internet memes, so it's all worth it. "But! Though you may forget the Review, rest assured, it remembers you."
  16. Pahrak Model ZX
    21. Every Thread and Pin is assigned one of 13 brands (or left unbranded), which seems like nothing more than an organizational thing, right? Wrong! Each area has its own brand chart detailing which brands are popular and which brands are not. If you have a Pin from one of the three most popular brands, they get a power boost, but if they're way down at rank 13, they get power reductions. Still, the brands aren't set in stone--wearing Threads and Pins from a specific brand and fighting battles in an area will cause that brand to climb the charts, making battles easier and easier as you continue to clear the area. Having this extra level of control over the flow of combat is very rewarding, especially when you can use it to your advantage against some particularly tough enemies.
     
    22. There's a reason why there are 13 brands, and no, it's not Kingdom Hearts related. 12 of those brands have names referencing the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and the thirteenth one is a reference to the cat, which those familiar with Japanese media may know is included in a number of zodiac-related legends. It's a minor point, but I think it makes the brands feel a little more special...and it definitely helps you to keep track of them.
     
    23. Being a Square-Enix game, TWEWY naturally has a bit of nonsense, but what's special about it is that it contrasts the nonsense against reality. The game is set in the city of Shibuya, which is actually a real place--one of the three major districts of Tokyo. Of course, American-players like myself may not be able to fully appreciate Shibuya, but we can understand that it's a very chaotic city where you may expect something strange like the Reaper's Game. At the same time, though, there's a very good in-game reason as to why this Shibuya is so different from the real one...
     
    24. The story in TWEWY is a bit dark at times, but it's truly a masterpiece. It's full of numerous plot twists that toss you around a bit, making you fall in love with Shibuya and the real characters that populate it, culminating in...well, I don't want to spoil it. Really, I don't know how much I can talk about the story without giving things away, so I guess I need to be vague for now. Just trust me: it won't make complete sense until you collect the Secret Reports, but you're definitely in for a treat!
     
    25. All the characters in TWEWY stand out, and even the nameless NPCs walking the streets get a little bit of character. When scanning for enemy encounters, you'll see some thought bubbles above the heads of the background characters, and tapping them will bring up a few sentences telling you what they're thinking. They range from relatable to funny to just plain wierd, and this little touch makes the unimportant masses of pixels floating around feel alive. These thought fragments are also used in a creepy way to establish a plot point near the end of the game...
     
    26. At this point I want to start bringing up specific characters, and I just have to begin with the Game Master of Week 2, the Reaper prodigy, the psychopathic mathematician known as Sho Minamimoto. Yes, psychopathic mathematician. The defining variable in what makes this matrix so interesting is his habit of spouting math jokes at 186,000 m/h. Established: unless you're a zetta genius, you won't get a 100% on reading these equations, but even a yoctogram can derive enough enjoyment from them to calculate 1/0! Interested yet, radians? QED. Class dismissed!
     
    27. Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu shows up out of nowhere on Week 2 (not counting his Day 1 cameo), but he very quickly takes center stage. Joshua is responsible for more than his fair share of surprises, and love him or hate him, you feel you just have to keep watching him to try and figure him out. Approach with caution: Joshua will take you on an emotional roller coaster that may ultimately leave you with mixed and/or very intense feelings.
     
    28. A mysterious mentor is always a must, and TWEWY was sure to inclue one. Sanae Hanekoma, usually called "Mr. H," runs a cafe on the edge of Shibuya and isn't a part of the Reaper's Game...or is he? He knows an awful lot about the Game and supplies the main characters with some strange but incredibly useful items. You'll never guess who he really is, but then again, with a guy this friendly, how bad can he be?
     
    29. The very first character you'll be controlling on the top screen is Shiki Misaki, who seems like a pretty normal teenage girl. She's friendly and fashionable, and a great seamstress--just don't let her catch you with a loose button. But there's way more to her than meets the eye--once you figure out her entry fee for participating in the Reaper's Game, your view of her will probably do a complete 180.
     
    30. It's not cheating for me to make Mr. Mew a seperate reason, right? If you don't know, Mr. Mew is a stuffed cat that Shiki made when she was young, and she carries it with her all over Shibuya. Did I mention that Shiki fights by animating Mr. Mew and having him lunge and claw at all her enemies? There are few things quite like seeing a plush cat jumping around a city street to slash shinigami with energy claws, and it's not something you easily forget!
  17. Pahrak Model ZX
    11. In most cases, slang is nothing but flat-out silly. However, with the notable exception of Beat (whose overuse of slang is part of his character), TWEWY keeps the sland to a manageable level—it helps keep the game feeling different, but doesn’t overdo it. A prime example: your miscellaneous items are referred to as “swag”—and not the obnoxious definition.
     
    12. The game does only have one save file, but multiple people can still play it. Once you beat the game, you unlock the Chapters Menu, which will allow you to instantly jump to the beginning of any chapter in the game! This makes replaying the game a lot easier, since you don’t have to start over from scratch—think of it like the ultimate New Game+. I’ve played it about five times now. The Chapters Menu also allows you to access the bonus chapter, which we’ll get to shortly, and explains how to get the Secret Reports, which we’ll address in a few days time.
     
    13. Although it’s not my cup of tea, TWEWY does have a special mini-game that can be played wirelessly with friends. Tin Pin plays a glorious 8-bit track as you slide your pins across a tabletop, trying to knock your foes’ pins off the edge. Pins also have “whammies”—special attacks like swinging a giant hammer, turning into a meteor, and even pushing a pin that’s about to fall back onto the table. You do need to play it a handful of times during the story, but it’s not like the game requires you to be a master to reach the final boss—most of these events don’t even require you to win!
     
    14. That bonus chapter I mentioned earlier is called “Another Day,” and it’s set in an alternate universe where Tin Pin rules the land like children’s card games in a certain anime series. No, I’m not kidding. Even if you don’t like Tin Pin and can’t complete the “story” of Another Day (which does require Tin Pin proficiency), it’s still worth checking into because it’s just plain hilarious. Not to mention there are a few secrets hidden away in this parallel world…
     
    15. One of the secrets in Another Day is the Final Time Attack, an 11-round string of rematches against bosses you fought during the story. It’s one of the game’s final challenges, and, when done on Hard Mode, your time is added to your save file so you can remember how awesome you are. Clearing it also earns you a very special Thread and a small collection of pins.
     
    16. Pins. Glorious pins. The pins Neku uses to fight enemies come in a wide variety, but they’re all worth hunting down! The pin designs are neat, all the different attacks are fun and flashy, and there are so many different ways to activate them! Pins are a huge part of what makes the combat so fun, so be sure to find and master every last one! (Or just find one set that works really well, haha.)
     
    17. Lots of video games let you use your enemies’ powers in different ways, and TWEWY is one of them. Every Noise in the game, even the bosses, have a corresponding Pin with an attack related to the Noise it represents. Naturally, they’re hard to get, but they’re pretty powerful—the final boss’s pin, when mastered, has the highest base damage of any pin in the game!
     
    18. Your playable characters aren’t the only ones getting EXP—your pins level up too! When a pin’s level goes up, it becomes stronger and can be used longer or more often. Give it enough levels and it may even evolve into an entirely new pin! But, just wearing them into battle won’t be enough for certain pins—they may need a different type of Pin Points (PP) to evolve.
     
    19. We’ve all been there: playing video games late into the night because we just can’t put them down. TWEWY is highly addictive, but they also give you incentive to put down the DS and get some sleep. When you turn the game back on, the Pins you have equipped will gain “Shutdown PP” based on how long the system was off—the longer the better, all the way up to one week! (Of course, you can just adjust the DS clock to instantly get a week’s worth of PP, but that’s part of the fun!) This game is pretty hardcore, so giving you a reason to be a little more casual is probably healthy.
     
    20. The last type of PP is Access PP, obtained through using a little thing called Mingle Mode. Basically, you activate Wireless Communication and see who else is doing the same. It doesn’t even need to be someone playing TWEWY—anyone whose DS is using wireless will earn you a boost of Access PP, and apparently there’s even a chance to encounter some kind of mysterious entity…who knows what it could be? If you do encounter another TWEWY player, though, you get extra PP and can make friends with them. Friends are nice because their Threads and Pins are put into a special shop in Mingle Mode, where you can buy them at discount price, making it easier to obtain some of the rarest (and/or most expensive) itmes in the game.
  18. Pahrak Model ZX
    (I just figured I'd make one of these each day this week. You'll see why in a minute! If you've played TWEWY, feel free to drop by to reminisce, and if you haven't played it, please stay tuned to find out why should look into this obscure gem of gaming.)
     
    1. As you might expect, a lot of TWEWY fans would love a sequel—it’s a great game and we’d like more. But at the same time, the reason we haven’t been louder about it over the past 4-5 years is because TWEWY is capable of standing on its own as a fantastic game. Most fans will be content wheather we get a sequel or not—some fans are even against the idea of a sequel. TWEWY has a capacity for independence that we don’t see a whole lot in modern gaming.
     
    2. The art in the game is just beautiful. The areas, the characters, the enemies, the graffitti—everything in TWEWY is a visual treat…except for the guns…
     
    3. Like many Square Enix games, TWEWY’s music is a major characteristic. The songs all have a wonderful sound to them, and you can enjoy them even if you’re not a fan of the genre. There are a fair number of rap songs in the game, and though I am far from a rap fan, listening to these songs every once in a while in no way detracts from the experience because they’re so well-done. Plus, in-game you can “buy” soundtrack CDs and listen to the songs at any time from the main menu, and any song obtained this way can be set as background music for the menu.
     
    4. If there was ever a game that justified owning a Nintendo DS, it would be TWEWY. This game takes full advantage of the system and pushes its capabilities to its absolute limits—you use the touch screen for literally everything, both screens are essential to play, some attacks require you to use the microphone, there are wireless functions, and defeating one enemy actually requires you to close the system (with precise timing) to defeat it. How many games think to utilize the fact that the system can close?
     
    5. The official name for TWEWY’s battle system is “the Stride Cross Battle System,” and boy does it shine. You control one character on the touch screen entirely through touch control, and at the same time, you control a second character on the top screen through button input. Sound tough? You bet it is—I still haven’t mastered it! But controlling two characters on two screens at once, difficult as it is, is something you can only do on the DS, and if you find it too tough, you can always set the top-screen character to computer control.
     
    6. The best way to gain permanent stat boosts actually isn’t through levelling up—it’s through consuming food items. When you feed a character, a number of blocks on their “bytes” grid will fill up, and with every battle you fight, a block will disappear. Once the food has been completely “digested,” your stats will permanently increase and you can eat a new food item. There is a restriction—your character can only consume a total of 24 “bytes” per day—but in the post-game you can obtain a special ability that removes this restriction, allowing you to gluttonously increase your stats at ferocious rates.
     
    7. Rather than equipping your characters with armor and weapons, you equip them with clothing items called “Threads.” Threads will increase your characters stats and/or grant them new abilities, and play into the brand management system (discussed later). You can equip up to 4 threads, so long as you don’t have two or more of the same variety (you can only wear one hat) and your character’s “Bravery” rating is high enough. Some of the threads are way out there—the Samurai Sword, the Samurai Armor, the Mr. Mew suit—and yes, crossdressing is allowed.
     
    8. Each store in the game has one specific shop keeper, and as you buy more items from them, you begin to develop a friendship. Raising friendship with shopkeepers will make new items available for purchase and also incline them to reveal the secret abilities of your Threads, making this system invaluable for making the most of your equipment.
     
    9. Decided to try Hard mode, but found yourself in a bit over your head? No problem! You can adjust the difficulty from the main menu at any time over the course of them game! You will need to get through one or two chapters on Normal before Easy is made available, but that’s nothing a little power-levelling can’t fix. Later on you unlock Hard mode and, in the post-game, you can even obtain Ultimate for a real challenge. This option keeps the experience just plain fun for everyone, wheather they want to be tested or just want to slide through on Easy.
     
    10. With a battle system this fun, power-levelling your characters feels more like a privilege than a chore, but some of you may be afraid that this will cause you to quickly outlevel your enemies. Don’t worry—on the main menu right next to the difficulty setting, you’ll find the level slider, which allows you to reduce your level as low as you want. Not only does this handicap make the game more interesting, lowering your level also increases your drop rate, making it easier to earn rare pins by defeating enemies. There are other methods of raising your drop rate, but they’re much more difficult to use effectively, so a level handicap is the best way to catch a rare pin. Like you needed another reason to power-level.
  19. Pahrak Model ZX

    Excited

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Well, I have to go back to school on Monday. Oh well, I'm sure the day won't be completely ruined. If nothing else, it'll get me close to GameStop, who will be distributing Keldeo to Pokemon Black and White players. And, hm...I think there was something else...
     
    Oh yeah, THAT'S WHEN THE COUNTDOWN ON THE SUBASEKA TEASER EXPIRES WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
     
    *Ahem*
     
    ...I'm just...really excited. I even made a The World Ends With You topic so I'd have other BZPers to be excited with (and also to see how many people actually knew about it...it's kind of obscure).
    Sure, there was that thing about the rerelease of the soundtrack and the iOS remake, but I'm still going to hope that there's more to it that that. If not...
    *puts on Minamimoto hat*
    Factoring hectopascals! What a zetta waste of my time. Whatever yoctogram thought this was a good idea is garbage--CRUNCH!! I'll add them to the heap!
     
    ...
    *takes off Minamimoto hat*
    ...Anyway...
     
    I added a few new Spirits to the Index, and I have one more that I'm working on that should be up soonish. I'll also get back to work on Kako, which actually occassionally works better when I'm at school.
    So, yeah, I think that about covers it. Back to listening to the teaser's Day 0 Mix!
  22. Pahrak Model ZX
    As requested, I've put links to the review topics for the Bioni-Lords stories on Exo's Desk, plus a few new Spirits have been put up. There are also a few more that I want to get up soon--a new submission from Keizah, and another Psionic Spirit (I haven't forgotten about getting the number to 70, it's just taking a little while...one more!).
     
    Kako 26 is up, and 27 is written. I will definitely start typing 27 today, but I can't promise I'll finish it today...if not today, then Monday. I'm wondering if the main characters should start learning Hidden Arts yet...I definitely want them to have a couple by the half-way point, but I don't want to rush it...
     
    As you may know, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is being released on Tuesday, and, well...I'll be taking some time to play it. My next semester starts on the 27th, so I want to beat it before then if possible. Not sure how much work I'll have this semester, but I should still have time to work on Bioni-Lords and whatnot, so I don't think it'll matter unless I get an unprecedented amount of homework...
     
    Man, these entries are getting so short...
  23. Pahrak Model ZX
    I've officially begun updating the Spirit Index with new Spirits! Not done yet...not sure when I will be done, but it'll probably be soon. I have a slew of Dream Eater Spirits to get online, then a Spirit that Wraith sent in, then some new Pokemon Spirits, and then...since there were already several groups of "alternate Freres," I decided to do a new batch of my own. Probably won't be in the story at all, just thought they'd be fun to try out--see what they'd be like if I made them nowadays. After that I want to put up Spirits based on Sora and Riku as they appear in KH3D, then I need to think of two more Psionic Spirits to get the count to 70...
     
    I did finish writing Kako 26, but I won't be typing it until I finish updating the Index. I'll get started on 27 soon, though I'm thinking I should stop and lay out a tentative overview of the arc first...
  24. Pahrak Model ZX

    Done Dreaming

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Guess who beat KH3D and unlocked the secret movie in under 25 hours of game time? (Though I realize there are probably plenty of people who have done it in less time...)
     
    But you guys probably don't want me to ramble on about my feelings, so I'll move on. I've started working on several Bioni-Spirits inspired by KH3D--not sure exactly how many there will be, but I'm determined to make enough that there will be at least 70 Psionic Spirits! These should be done soon-ish. And yes, a decent number of them will be featured in Kako--Psionic-Lord Cerveau will have quite a collection, mostly for when she uses the Shiki Spirit or to use them as power-ups (you'll see how that works when they're online).
     
    Also, I wanted to point out that a few new Spirits have been put on the Index--the list now goes to 1504.
     
    There are also a couple Spirits I want to make edits to--I want to update Isshu Leader and Isshue Elite to incorporate Pokemon Black and White 2, and I've decided to remove Hapori Dume's Shadow Dragons and Curse Seal techniques and replace them with...something. Not entirely sure what yet, but will probably be Vahki related.
  25. Pahrak Model ZX
    You may have noticed that I made a rather significant change to my display name. The reason is this, in case you're wondering.
    (And because Lexaeus has a power level of OVER 9000!!)
     
    In other Kingdom Hearts news, KH3D comes out on Tuesday!! So yeah, I'll be more or less disappearing off the face of the Internet until I beat it. Should take a week at most. In that time I will do my best to continue writing Kako and whatnot...also making tons of Bioni-Spirits based on Dream Eaters. Fun stuff.
     
    Kako is now caught up, meaning the wait time will only increase. Sorry. Later today I'll update Exo's Desk so that it's caught up through the Onu-Isle arc. The Spirit Indix is actually (more or less) up-to-date!
×
×
  • Create New...