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

  2. Pahrak Model ZX
    I somehow managed to find time to update the Spirit Index! Goes to 1470, includes Hero Factory summer sets, HERO Model 2012, and Kyurem.
    Oh...I guess I do need to put the link to Kako on Exo's Desk, huh...
    And related to Bioni-Lords, I've been doing some thinking about VRHS, and I realized I hadn't given any thought to how to handle tracking Gemini Spirits. I mean, there are only three of them...four, if you count Kaxium V3...so I'm not sure I could justify making a separate Tracker attachment for them. And then once you find them, there's battling them two on one...of course, since they're not in Fusion they would be weaker...hm. Since there are so few, I may just leave it alone.
     
    So for a few days I've been playing Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention. It's pretty fun, but I think Disgaea 2 remains my favorite so far...but I'll be continuing my habit of turning Disgaea main characters into Spirits and make one based on Mao soon-ish.
    Also decided to pick up that Xenoblade Chronicles game everyone's been talking about. Haven't played much of it yet, but it seems okay. Although something about the characters' faces bothers me...
    I restate that this is a great year to be an American fan of JRPGs, for reasons stating previously plus The Last Story. And since Pokemon Conquest is the next big game we'll be getting, my next display name will probably be Pahrak: Pokemon Bushou.
     
    By the way, since I'm running out of ideas on what to post, starting next week I'm going to move my weekly blog posts to Saturday. That way, if nothing else, I can talk about Legend of Korra.
    My thoughts on last week's episode, may contain spoilers and nuts:
    -Thank God I don't live in close proximity to any hardcore Makorra fans. You know, those people who freak the heck out anytime Mako and Korra are just in the same scene? They must have been real...excited about last week's episoe.
    -So Amon CAN Energybend! And Tenzin stated that he shouldn't be able to, which means that, rather than a blunt retcon, there's a real reason as to why Amon can Energybend! Also good to know that the reason he wears his mask is because he was burned. That sounds mean, but I only say it because now maybe everyone will stop theorizing that Amon is some character we already know or know of that is secretly villainous.
    -Also...wondering why Mako and Amon were given similar backgrounds. Curious as to how this will be significant.
    -And apparently any Firebender can use lightning now. What the heck.
    -In related news, I just recently found out that Zuko is still alive during Legend of Korra. As such, he has to make at least one appearance, right?
    -One last thing: Bolin's false mustache. That is all.
  4. Pahrak Model ZX

    Ventilation

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Okay so I don’t talk about my personal life on here a lot, I like to be vague about it, but I’ve been feeling sort of stressed and the idea to vent some of it here won’t get out of my head. Stuffed behind spoiler tags of course. This is mainly for my own benefit so, you know, move along, we don’t need to see your identification and all that.
     
     
     
  5. Pahrak Model ZX
    Oh, I almost forgot it was Saturday! I'm all out of whack now that there's no Korra... D:
     
    I updated Exo's Desk with a few profiles, and I added some new Spirits to the Spirit Index. Hoping to get a few more Spirits up soon.
     
    Still writing Kako--almost done with Onu-Isle, so I've started giving some thought to Ko-Isle. We won't be seeing much of the Shadow Consortium during this arc, but there will still be a threat to deal with...
     
    And, uh...I don't really have anything else prepared. Oh, they revealed the American release date of Pokemon Black and White 2: October 7th! But, that's all I got...soooo...
    Bye.
  6. Pahrak Model ZX
    I’ve been thinking about some games I like that are sort of underappreciated so I don’t know I’m just gonna spit ‘em out. It’s late and I’m tired, here’s a closer look at how Pahrak thinks.
     
    -Mega Man Star Force: Seriously this is probably the least-liked of the Mega Man series…es. Unless you count Xover, but chances are a lot of people don’t even know that was a thing, so I’m not gonna count it. And sure, it has its flaws, and I know fans of the main timeline’s gameplay don’t appreciate the RPG style of this and Battle Network (I’m actually the reverse), but there’s something it has that the Mega Man series as a whole is not known for: character development! (…Granted, mostly the first game, but STILL.) You don’t just go around crushing random berserk robots or stopping a series of increasingly quirky cyber-terrorists, each boss you fight is an actual person going through an honest-to-God crisis when a freaking alien materializes in front of them and says “HEY I’LL HELP YOU SUCKER!”, and then Mega Man actually cares about what they’re going through and tries to actually help them through it in addition to kicking their butt. (It’s a game, butts have to be kicked.) And Mega Man has problems too, that he slowly works through over the course of the game/series! Geo is my Mega Man because I can actually relate to him, even if Hub was my first and Ven/Aile are the only main timeline heroes whose game I’ve actually beaten. Geo Stelar is like Shinji Ikari done right. Which is the perfect mix of what I’m actually like and what I’d kinda sorta like to be like. Please love him.
     
    -The World Ends With You: Oh man where do I start. Yeah, the only reason I bought it at first was because “oh hey a new Square game could be fun”, and then it ended up being one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. Grinding feels like a privilege. And I never even fully mastered the crazy combat system, I had a freaking blast being mediocre at it. On Ultimate difficulty. It’s just so much fun to play. And then you get a story with genuinely interesting twists in a world with neat mechanics (the more complicated ones you don’t even need to know about until you get to the post-game reports) affecting characters who feel like actual modern teenagers in a way that isn’t totally obnoxious. Okay, one of them is totally obnoxious. Maybe two. But Neku is great. And you know JRPGs are generally all “friendship and collectivism”, and there’s some of that there, but they actually make a point of showing collectivism going too far, and instead of demonizing introversion and individualism, make a darn convincing argument that it is vital to strike a healthy balance between the two extremes. How novel! And they make it so easy to replay it, which is the real danger here, because if you like this game you’ll probably end up playing through it at least seven times, which I’ve done, and I really don’t replay many games. For me the world ended when I realized I could play this game instead of interacting with it. That’s not entirely true but I thought it sounded funny. Anyway TWEWY is dramatic yet touching and you should love it, but no rush they’re probably never actually going to make that sequel they teased.
     
    -Final Fantasy V: Because it’s always about VII. Cloud has blocked the sun from falling on everything that came before him, except occasionally IV and VI. V is always in that dark spot, partly because the original SNES version was never brought stateside, and I guess the PS version had a bad translation? (So I’ve been told.) BUT DID YOU KNOW! Prior to the release of IX, V was Sakaguchi’s favorite Final Fantasy?! (Sakaguchi is the guy who made Final Fantasy BTW.) And now we have the GBA and mobile phone versions which have a much better translation and new stuff, and the sprites are pretty weird in the phone version but you can deal with that, so there’s no reason to ignore it any longer! FFV takes the Job System from I and III and enhances it before it disappears for a few installments, probably because it took them a while to feel like they could do it better. And this game, let me tell you, it has that balance of humor and drama that I love. A huge amount of it is self-parody, just messing around with standard Final Fantasy stuff and not taking itself too seriously. And then suddenly something super dark happens. And sometimes, there’s something serious happening, and someone says something that’s just genuinely hilarious. And then a few minutes later you’re crying. Like, you’ve got Gilgamesh taking about “NOW WE FIGHT LIKE MEN! AND LADIES! AND LADIES WHO DRESS LIKE MEN! FOR GILGAMESH, IT IS MORPHING TIME!” And then like, Exdeath just chucks your hometown full of innocent villagers straight into the Void for no practical reason. Exdeath is the most terrifying tree ever. Gilgamesh is the best recurring boss, which is why he recurs in so many Final Fantasies now, and those are just the villains. The heroes are great. Bartz is pretty normal I’ll admit, but he’s still pretty darn cool. Then you’ve got Captain Faris Scherwiz, who gets thrown off a cliff and just freaking climbs back up two dialogue boxes later. (She’s probably the coolest girl in this franchise, and was written in 92. A cool girl in a JRPG in 92. You didn’t think it was possible did you?) And freaking Galuf, who basically breaks the game mechanics through sheer force of will and I’m crying again. It’s goofy and dark and filled with lovable dorks and you get to master the piano to the point where mere mortals quake in fear of your superhuman keyboard manipulation skills. Please punch Cloud and play this game.
     
    -Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: I mean, as far as Pokemon regions go. This seems to be about the cutoff for nostalgia blinders. But see, Young Pahrak (Pahrak Va) wasn’t allowed to watch/play Pokemon at first, not until around the end of Gen II/beginning of Gen III. At which point I binged, fell in love with Gold, but then got annoyed that I couldn’t trade my Pokemon up to Ruby and Sapphire. So my newly-permitted interest in Pokemon just completely dropped off, until I was in a store and saw Diamond, realized I had enough money in my pocket, and took it home with me. That game is the reason I’m playing Pokemon today. Sinnoh is a beautiful region filled with great Pokemon (I know, not enough Fire types, WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES), the Gym Leaders started to develop actual personalities and do things, and it had the first and still best female Champion (you were on your last Pokemon Cynthia, why did you do that to me, I still love you but why). And the mythology. Sure it led to Legendary inflation, which I’ll admit is obnoxious, but the mythic feel of Sinnoh just gives it a meaningful and fantastic (as in fantasy-like, though it is fantastic good as well) atmosphere I haven’t found elsewhere in the Pokemon world. Sinnoh is wonderful please love it like you love Kanto/Johto/Hoenn.
     
    That’s all I can think of right now I should probably sleep.
  7. Pahrak Model ZX
    As usual, I have video game news to report that may or may not concern anyone else.
    I believe I previously mentioned Pokemon+Nobunaga's Ambition, the strategy game with Pokemon in feudal Japan? Well they're officially bringing it to America as "Pokemon Conqeust" in mid-June. So far it looks like they're leaving the names of the Japanese historical figures alone! *energetic fist pump*
    Oh, and the handheld Final Fantasy DDR is coming on July 3rd, and Kingdom Hearts 3D (!!!) is coming here July 31st.
    ...It's really difficult to avoid spoilers when you've been consuming any and all Kingdom Hearts news for months on end...
     
    Now for BZP-related stuff. Forgotten Bond's final duel is next Tuesday! Also, if you've read Chapter 28, you know about Tahu's new fusion form, Technic Tahu. Well, I did make a MoC of it (ZMoC-10)...but it turned out, ah...less-than-epic. If you still want to check it out, though, here's the gallery.
     
    I've been putting some thought into the story about Khadaz and Amy's wedding (thinking of calling it Eternal Fusion...), and after doing all the math, it turns out they're the last couple in their group to get married. Weird how things turn out...anyway, it'll take place fourteen years before Sekai, in 1307 A.B.L., probably sometime in April/May. I've decided on location, maid of honor, best man, minister, and some traditions for Bioni-Lord weddings and Ga-Isle weddings specifically, including the fact that they won't be using rings. On Ga-Isle, it's traditional to kill a Water Shark (one of the Elemental Animals I need to release more info on...like the Ice Wolves) and put one of its teeth on a necklace, with the first initial of the person you are proposing to carved on it in Matoran (so a Matoran 'A' for when Khadaz proposes to Amy). Then, once the couple is married, they each get a necklace with three Water Shark teeth carved with more Matoran letters: their first initial, the first initial of the person they married, and the first initial of their surname (so Khadaz's necklace has 'K', 'A', and 'I', and Amy's has 'A', 'K', and 'I'). Of course, due to conservation efforts, people aren't allowed to actually kill Water Sharks anymore and need to buy their necklaces at jewelry stores. And yes, this idea was inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender.
    After deciding this I began to put some thought into what wedding tokens would be employed on the other islands and the Mainland...haven't decided on too many yet. Ta-Isle uses rings, but they have Lava Gems instead of diamonds; Le-Isle uses Air Eagle feathers tucked behind opposing ears (as either an earring or part of a headband); and Av-Isle carves rings out of Lightstones. As for Healer-Isle, I was thinking of turning that over to Keizah...
    Anyway, the original idea was to just write up the ceremony, but now I'm thinking I might want to do more, primarily to explain some of the traditions before or after the wedding so that I don't constantly have someone in the audience explaining things as they're happening. I was thinking a chapter of preparations, a chapter for the ceremony, and then a chapter for the reception...but I wouldn't know what Forum to put it in--it's not quite Epic, but it's too serious to be a Comedy...could serialize here in the blog, I suppose. Either that, or just put it all in one Short Story.
     
    *shrug* Well, I'm going to keep working on the wedding story and give you guys updates as I work. And don't worry about VRHS--I promise I'll have it ready in early June!
  8. Pahrak Model ZX
    Though each Version specializes in half of the Elements, there will still be places where you can find Spirits with Elements of the other Version. However, some Spirits are 100% unobtainable depending on which Version you choose.
     
    VioletRose Exclusives:
    Exo-Toa, Cahdok, Toa Norik, Akamai (and upgrades), Thulox, Cyber Hordika G, Dread, Gold Destroyer Emblem, Space, Destiny Fighter, Aku Knight Red: Eshi, Optimus Flare, Fossil of Dinosaur, Powered Noise, Venusaur, all RoboRiders (and their combiners), Contrivance, Dark Keyblade Master, Sentiment of Darkness, BionicleTwayblade: Sorcerer Variant, Sniperahk, Sonicspeed: Dark, Flame Turbine, Offense Program, Advanced Program, Terrain Program, Heartless Composer, Zekrom, Son Goku
     
    HonoredSoul Exclusives:
    Exo-Armor, Gahdok, Toa Iruini, Wairuha (and upgrades), Morak, Cyber Hordika F, Omni, Silver Destroyer Emblem, Time, Destiny Mage, Aku Knight Blue: Eshi, Megafreeze, Shuriken of Shinobi, High-Speed Noise, Blastoise, all Slizers (and their combiners), Guren Lagann, Keyblade Samurai, Sentiment of Light, BionicleTwayblade: Mercenary Variant, Gunnerahk, Sonicspeed: Light, Freeze Turbine, Deffense Program, Support Program, Elusive Program, Heartless Swordsman, Reshiram, Vegeta
     
    In addition to the Spirits listed above, there will be two "Version Mascots"--you may have noticed on the Spirit Index that Spirits 1241 and 1242 are labeled as TOP SECRET. The full files will be put online later, but for now, I have some information to give you.
    Another paragraph of story, to be revealed later, will explain the origin of these Spirits, and late in the game, the player will have the opportunity to gain these Spirits. The mascot of VioletRose is Wildflower, a Rahaga/Jungle type with a Kanohi Aki and Akamai's sword who can control plant life and ultra-violet radiation. The mascot of HonoredSoul is Elder Toa, a Dragon/Psionics type with a Kanohi Rua and Wairuha's shield who has psychic powers and unrivaled martial arts skills.
     
    The starting Orbs players can choose from in VioletRose are William Furno, Pohatu, and Onyx. In HonoredSoul, players can choose from Preston Stormer, Lewa, and Scuba.
     
    Players will also be able to interact with other players. A Training Field facility will be in each city, and players can either engage NPC opponents or fight players who are playing the same Version as them. To interact with players from the other Version, a facility called the Olmak Breach comes into play. The Olmak Breach is a gap between the two dimensions where players can leave behind a "ghost" that can battle the ghosts of players from the opposing Version, and players will reap the rewards when they next access the Olmak Breach. Both facilities will also allow Orb Trading in addition to battles.
     
    More information to come!
  9. Pahrak Model ZX
    The time has finally come! Bioni-Lords: VioletRose and HonoredSoul has begun! If you've ever wanted to become a Bionicle, feel free to stop by and play!
    Nevermind, it's locked.
     
    Also, you guys remember when I asked for some feedback on a story I was working on? Well, I've been adding on to it, and I wasn't sure about one of the scenes a little bit after the intro I posted last time. Could you please look it over and provide some more feedback?
     
    Creation for Creation's Sake Excerpt 2:
     
    Slizer’s hall had gleaming chrome plating covering every inch of the floor, walls, and ceiling, with not a single hint of decoration—just a straight, silvery, rectangular prism. The exceptions were the large ceiling lamp that hung near the center of the hall and what was directly beneath it: a circular 4-legged table with a smooth black surface. Sitting around this table were Slizer, Rider, Bluetooth, Mecha, Comic, and an empty chair. Each Hapori held five playing cards and stood guard over a pile of about twenty small chips made of white plastic, and the remains of the deck the cards had come from lay nestled behind Slizer’s chips.
     
    “Can we just start?” Bluetooth asked, shuffling the cards in his hands. “He’s not gonna show. Guy’s not exactly acclimated to Hapori life yet.”
     
    Slizer smiled and replied, “Then who’s that?”
     
    Bluetooth looked over his shoulder to see Zadakh making his way down the hall. “...I’m wrong sometimes.”
     
    As Zadakh neared the table, Comic greeted, “Glad you could make it! Have a seat!”
     
    Zadakh sank into the empty chair without a word, appearing as if someone had coerced him into attending. Slizer turned to him and said, “Nice to see you again, Zadakh. Are you playing?”
     
    “Just watching,” Zadakh replied. His tone was steady and uninterested.
     
    Slizer nodded, and everyone picked up their cards. “Alright,” the old Hapori said, “the initial bet is 200 units.”
     
    “By the way, Zadakh,” Bluetooth said as he eyed his cards, “no hard feelings about knocking you out earlier, right? Someone had to do it.”
     
    “Sure,” Zadakh sighed.
     
    “What do you mean by that?” Bluetooth asked. “Kind of a vague answer.”
     
    “Let it be, Blue,” Mecha said. “He probably doesn’t want to talk about it, and I don’t…”
     
    Mecha trailed off and stared into space. A few seconds later, Rider suggested, “Blame him.”
     
    “Right!” Mecha exclaimed. “Right, I don’t blame him. Thanks Rider.”
     
    Rider nodded and tossed two chips towards the center of the table. Slizer leaned over towards Zadakh and explained, “Mecha doesn’t always finish his sentences. Sort of a bug in his programming.”
     
    “My audio receptors work just fine, though,” Mecha said. He sifted through his chips before adding, “I’ll raise you 200.”
     
    “All in good fun, brother,” Slizer chuckled. Slizer’s face may not have been very expressive, but Zadakh got the distinct feeling that Slizer was smiling. “I’ll raise 800.”
     
    “Someone’s confident tonight,” Comic said. “Still, it’s easy to tell when you’re bluffing.”
     
    Slizer shrugged. “I’m perfectly fine with not being a good liar. I never have had a good poker face. I think Zadakh will, though; tough to tell what a Vahki’s thinking.”
     
    Zadakh looked directly at Slizer. “…Yeah. You’re right. I guess one good thing did come from all this.”
     
    “I could tell what he was thinking there,” Bluetooth said. He set his cards on the table face down. “I fold.”
     
    Zadakh’s gaze shifted to Bluetooth. “Never was good at making sarcasm subtle.”
     
    Bluetooth leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Really? From what you were mumbling earlier, I figured you didn’t remember much about your human life.”
     
    “Well I’m pretty sure of that, at least,” Zadakh said, leaning forward.
     
    Slizer put a hand on Zadakh’s shoulder, calmly saying, “Zadakh, take it easy.”
     
    Mecha gave Bluetooth a disapproving look. Bluetooth shrugged and responded, “Just making conversation.”
     
    “Rule #1: Never let anything Bluetooth says get to you,” Slizer advised. “Let’s just say he’s not interested in making friends.”
     
    Bluetooth shrugged again. With some effort, Zadakh relaxed a bit. Slizer said, “Don’t worry—he gets easier to deal with. He’s not as bad as he seems.”
     
    “No, I am,” Bluetooth disagreed.
     
    “Let’s not have this argument again,” Mecha said. “I fold.”
     
    “You always fold!” Comic declared. “Come on, Mecha, take a risk once in a while!”
     
    Mecha casually replied, “If I don’t have a good chance of winning, I’m not going to take it. Even with low risks like this, it’s always good to be…”
     
    A few seconds later, Rider finished, “Cautious.”
     
    Mecha thanked Rider for his help, and then Comic said, “Okay, well, let’s see what everyone’s got! Monochrome brotherhood 4!”
     
    Comic laid out four of his cards face up, and Zadakh turned his head to examine them. These cards weren’t what he expected—each one displayed one or two characters in red print, including ‘G’, ‘K’, ‘E’, and ‘10’.
     
    What kind of cards are these? Zadakh wondered.
     
    Slizer set down his cards and threw his hands in the air, prompting Comic to laugh and reach for the chips at the center of the table. However, Rider held up a hand, laid out for of his own cards, and stated, “Monochrome bloodline.”
     
    These cards had green print and read ‘S’, ‘R’, ‘B’, and ‘HF’. Comic backed off and sighed, allowing Rider to take the chips for his own. The players all returned several cards back to Slizer, some turning in more than others, and Slizer shuffled the deck and began dealing for the next round.
     
    “Interested yet?” Comic asked Zadakh.
     
    “We can explain it to you if you want,” Slizer offered. “It’s actually a very effective distraction.”
     
    Zadakh thought about it for a few seconds. Bluetooth whispered, “The suspense is killing me.”
     
    After giving a quick glare, Zadakh answered, “Okay. It won’t hurt to learn.”
     
    “Great!” Slizer said. He threw four face-down cards at Zadakh and then reached under the table, pulling out another 20 chips. After giving these to Zadakh as well, he picked up his own cards and nodded.
     
    “Alright, here’s the game,” Slizer said. “Cards have one of four colors and one of nine values. Colors are red, blue, green, and black; values are ‘S’, ‘R’, ‘B’, ‘G’, ‘K’, ‘E’,’10’, ‘HF’, and ‘DC’.”
     
    Zadakh picked up his cards, making sure none of his opponents saw them. “What kind of values are those?”
     
    “They’re abbreviations,” Mecha answered. “‘S’ is for ‘Slizer’, ‘R’ is for ‘RoboRiders’, ‘B’ is for ‘Bionicle’…and so on.”
     
    “The point value of your hand is determined by similarities between your cards,” Slizer went on. “If two cards have the same color, that’s 1 point. If two cards have the same value, that’s 2 points. So, let’s say you’ve got a green ‘B’, a green ‘K’, a black ‘K’, a red ‘E’, and a red ‘DC’—that would add up to four points.”
     
    Zadakh examined his cards more closely and nodded. “Sounds simple. Then we wager our chips before seeing whose hand has the most points?”
     
    “Right,” Slizer said. “Each chip is worth 100 units. When you run out of chips, you’re out of the game.”
     
    Zadakh looked at his chips—20 of them at 100 each meant he had 2000 units to wager. It still seemed straight-forward.
     
    “But!” Slizer interjected. “There are also some special hands that ignore point values. If these hands are played, point-based hands automatically lose, and the special hand highest on the ‘special value scale’ wins. ‘S’, ‘R’, either ‘HF’ or ‘DC’, and any one other value makes a ‘bloodline’. Any four out of ‘B’, ‘G’, ‘K’, ‘E’, and ‘10’ makes a ‘brotherhood 4’—all five makes a ‘brotherhood 5’. Get ‘S’, ‘R’, ‘HF’, and ‘DC’ and you have ‘bookends’. Also, these hands are usually worth more if they’re ‘monochrome’, or all the same color. You got all that?”
     
    This is where things got complicated, it seemed. Still, after going over it one more time, Zadakh was confident he understood it well…or rather, well enough, at least. “I think so.”
     
    “The special value scale is as follows,” Slizer said. “From best to worst: monochrome bookends, monochrome bloodline, monochrome brotherhood 5, multicolor bookends, monochrome brotherhood 4, multicolor brotherhood 5, multicolor bloodline, and multicolor brotherhood 4.”
     
    He paused to chuckle. “I know, it’s a lot to take it. Don’t worry about memorizing the scale—we won’t cheat you. After we share our cards, we begin a new round. All cards played get shuffled back into the deck, and everyone’s given enough cards so that they have five again. Anyone who folded can exchange up to three cards for new ones.”
     
    “I handed in two just now, for instance,” Mecha spoke up.
     
    “So, any questions?” Slizer asked.
     
    “Uh…” Zadakh muttered. “…I’ll just wing it.”
     
    “The sign of a true card player,” Bluetooth commented.
     
    “Okay, I’ll start us off,” Comic said, tossing in five chips. “500.”
     
    Zadakh watched the chips clatter against the table and then looked back to his cards to do the math. He had four cards that displayed ‘B’ in different colors, plus one green ‘G’. If he remembered the rules correctly, that gave him 7 points—not bad at all, but apparently worth nothing if anyone had a special hand.
     
    Bluetooth tossed in five of his own chips. “I’ll see your 500.”
     
    Zadakh looked over the other players. They all wore stone-cold expressions that he was incapable of reading.
     
    Rider said, “Raise 300.”
     
    He’s betting 800 units? Zadakh thought. Well, I guess he can afford to after last round…
     
    “Hm…I’ll fold,” Comic said. “I’ve got a lousy hand.”
     
    “I’ll see your bet Rider,” Mecha said. The table fell silent as Mecha threw in his eight chips.
     
    “…You, Mecha?” Slizer asked. “You never bet! I’m definitely out!”
     
    Rider followed Slizer’s lead, leaving only three players in the game. Bluetooth added enough chips to meet Mecha’s bet, and then all eyes fell on Zadakh.
     
    If it’s true that Mecha usually folds, then he must have a good hand…right? But how much do I really know about this guy—can I trust a random comment like that? Plus, he could just be using that to his advantage as a trick…
     
    “Come on, does it really require that much though?” Bluetooth complained.
     
    Zadakh ignored him. …You know what, this is a good hand.
     
    “I’m in,” Zadakh finally declared. He put eight chips in the pile and laid his cards out on the table.
     
    “…Well, I lose,” Bluetooth mumbled.
     
    “Haha…sorry, Zadakh,” Mecha said. He laid out his cards—all black, with values of ‘S’, ‘R’, ‘HF’, and ‘DC’. “Monochrome bookends. You guys never stood a chance.”
     
    Mecha claimed his winnings and then handed in his cards. The latter action was repeated by the other players, though Zadakh was a bit slow in doing so.
     
    “So…what do you think?” Comic asked.
     
    Zadakh held on to his answer for a few seconds before sharing. “…This is fun.”
  10. Pahrak Model ZX
    My team has been completed!
     
    Hana the Venusaur, currently Lv 42
    Scorch the Growlithe, currently Lv 41
    Gahlok the Vaporeon, currently Lv 41
    Sentinel the Marowak, currently Lv 42
    Aeroga the Aerodactyl, currently Lv 41
    Articuno, currently Lv 50
     
    I haven't actually used Articuno yet since I want everyone else to catch up, but I think they'll really come in handy. Pokedex just hit 50 so I picked up the EXP All, hoping that will prove useful; I managed to beat Sabrina so I'm now exploring the Pokemon Mansion, which I might mess around in for a bit even after I need to in order to get some more levels. Although between Gahlok and Sentinel, I don't think Blaine's going to be much trouble.
     
    But Scorch, though. Poor, poor Scorch. Bad movepool, low stats, the only way to fix the former is by coping with the latter until Level 50...it's a bit frustrating. But, I'm gonna hang in there. We can do this, Scorch!
     
    Also why can Aerodactyl, a Rock type Pokemon, not learn any Rock type moves in this Generation? Kind of disappoint. (Aeroga's still freaking awesome though.)
     
    On another note, thinking about the team I had planned for Pokemon Z has made me think about restarting Y with said team, Zygarde included. I figure I'll decide after I finish Virtual Red and transfer my Living Dex to Omega Ruby.
     
    EDIT: ALSO, starting March 4 you can get the Regi trio with Hidden Abilities through Pokemon Bank! Sorry, can't believe I forgot that...
  11. Pahrak Model ZX
    I wasn’t going to buy the Virtual Console Pokemon games, but since we can transfer Pokemon from them to Sun and Moon and I had some leftover eShop cash, I decided to pick up Red.
     
    For one thing, it takes up basically no space and downloaded super-quick, I was surprised by that. Anyway, I’m enjoying it, which I wasn’t too sure I would. They’ve held up alright, though if the system had remained totally unchanged Pokemon probably wouldn’t have lasted 20 years.
     
    I started with Bulbasaur, named it Hana, it was the only Pokemon I used all the way through Vermillion. So Hana’s now a Level 37 Venusaur who’s basically sitting back and watching the new recruits try to catch up. Gahlok the Vaporeon is doing nicely at Level 32, and Sentinel the Level 32 Marowak very quickly became a pillar of the team. I also caught a Growlithe, currently Level 31, but the only STAB move poor Scorch has is Ember, which is pitiful—and they won’t learn anything else until Flamethrower at Level 50. So, that Fire Stone is going to be sitting in my bag a while…hopefully a flamethrowing Arcanine will be worth it.
     
    Scorch was able to beat Erika for me, though, so next up is Koga. But the first trainer in his gym has a Level 38 Hypno, so that’s not happening. There are still some sources of EXP around—especially Silph Co and the Fighting Dojo—so I’m hoping to power up there, beat Koga, and then go from Pallet to Cinnabar so that I can get Aerodactyl on my team. After a little time powering that up, I want to go to Seafoam Islands and use that Master Ball on Articuno. Perhaps then, I’ll be able to stand a chance against Sabrina…but, I’m getting ahead of myself.
     
    So yeah, Virtual Red is pretty fun! Now I’m considering future Virtual Console Pokemon games…
  12. Pahrak Model ZX

    Void Log 1

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    If by some chance this letter shall be read by anyone, I offer this piece of advice: never go seeking a Void-controlling warrior unless someone or something with magical powers says you're destined to do so.
     
    I am Exo-Pahrak, formerly honored with the title of "Kal Titan," but unfortunately I made the horrible mistake of taking on a mission I was not prepared for. In pursuit of a Void Saber, a sword capable of cleaving reality, I hunted down my world's static portal to the Void and grappled with its protector, Silhouette Panrahk. He was stronger than I was expecting, however, and I was cast into the Void.
     
    This realm of 'nothingness' isn't what I expected: there are bits of rubble floating here and there, along with thousands of star-like points of light. Not to mention all the creatures wandering its depths...I've had close encounters with both the dreaded Shinryu and the fearsome Omega. Worst of all is the current, a destructive force trying to pull me in all directions at once, seeping through my body and tearing at my very soul. The Void is perilous indeed, but...I can't allow myself to just fade away.
     
    I am now Exo-Pahrak, Void Nomad, and one day I shall find my way out of this world of emptiness.
  13. Pahrak Model ZX

    War and Ruin

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Beyond Ruin part 3 is now up, focusing on the Queen of War!
     
    War’s already gotten a lot of focus—she and Light were the Queens who appeared in the story this idea grew out of so I wanted them both to be fairly important. While I'm trying to experiment with characters who aren't necessarily right or wrong, War is a character who I think needs to have a unique morality, since I had to find some positive way to spin an incarnation of the concept of war, and that’s something that one needs to think about.
     
    Anywho, after constant warring releases immortal monsters upon the land, even someone who thinks war is a good thing might begin to question such a belief. So War’s probably in a very interesting place right now.
     
    Alright, who’s next? I suppose the Queen of Fire has had a start but little else…
  14. Pahrak Model ZX

    Warm Up

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    I got to thinking more about the world I was implicitly building back in Towards No End, and now I’m considering writing a full epic set in it. We’re gonna need a Toa team, though, so I’m trying to write some shorter stories to feel out their characters in the hopes that that will help me write them better.
     
    So, I wrote Malleable to start experimenting with Dreynarn, who will be joining Sukahu on his eventual quest. It’s over 800 words and I’m not too sure about the quality, but, eh, at least I wrote something. I also want to try to write a story introducing the Toa who will lead these two, and then maybe one more trying to figure out how they function as a team. Maybe once that’s done I’ll have a decent place to start for the epic?
     
    Before that, though, I should probably get back to the projects I’ve already started on that I haven’t updated in a while, eheheheh…
  15. Pahrak Model ZX
    (Here's a rough draft of the first post of Technic Warzone. In several places it will mention links, but I'm not putting any links in just yet, so don't mind those. You might just be surprised by what you'll find in here...)
     

    Technic Warzone






    We all have our favorite characters from Bionicle, Slizers, RoboRiders, and Hero Factory. We also might enjoy sponsoring them in a fighting league where they get to beat the snot out of other characters. Or we might enjoy sending them off into a hazy battle where they shoot death rays around blindly. If any of this appeals to you, then hey, welcome to the Warzone!
     
    Basics: In this game you will choose from a list of Bionicle, Slizer, RoboRider, and Hero Factory characters and sponsor them in a fighting league known as Technic Coliseum (usually referred to just as “the Coliseum”). You’ll purchase equipment for them, arrange matches with other fighters for them, and enter them into tournaments. There’s also the matter of providing them some direction in week-long games of laser tag war in the hopes of getting some extra cash.
     
    A note about stats: Strength affects the fighter’s physical attacks, Agility affects the fighter’s evasion and accuracy, Toughness affects a fighter’s resistance to damage, and Mind affects the strength of a fighter’s non-physical attacks.
     
    To join, simply pick an available character from the lists below and post your desire to sponsor them, and then post a modified stat profile for them. (Starting with the profile listed for the fighter, you may add 8 additional points to any stats in any way you wish.) You’re in! Each fighter has Elemental Powers, most of which are fixed, but some fighters have an unclear affinity; in these cases, you will be allowed to select any Element you wish for your fighter to use. If the fighter’s profile does not list a basic weapon in their Powers and Items section, you may pick a basic weapon for them to use.
     
    As an added bonus for those of you who played Technic Coliseum last year, you may add 1 additional stat point to your fighter’s stats. You only have until the end of the week to reclaim your old fighter(s) before they go up for grabs, though!
     
    You’ll have 20,000 Widgets to start out with. Your Widget count cannot exceed 75,000 W—if you receive enough Widgets to go over this amount, the extra Widgets will simply be lost. If you’d like, you can sponsor two or even three fighters (you will be given an additional 10,000 W for each), but be warned: having more fighters can make managing your resources more difficult. At any time, you may drop a fighter you are sponsoring, and you also have the option of PMing another player and attempting to negotiate a trade of fighters. (Extra items can be offered in addition to the exchange. If the player asks for cash, you may use it, but the Coliseum frowns upon this and will bar you both from matches for a short time.)
     
    Coliseum: The primary method of gameplay is arranging matches with other players. Just PM a member to ask for a fight, negotiate how many Widgets you will each pay to promote the match, which arena you’ll be using, and any other terms. Post here informing me of these terms, along with the strategy your fighter will use in the match. For fairness, post your strategy in spoiler tags, and DO NOT read your opponent’s strategy. (Spoiler tag help.)
     
    I will then review both strategies and determine a winner. The winner will receive Widgets using this formula: [(Total Amount of Widgets Contributed by Both Players)/2] x 5
     
    So, if Player 1 submits 100 W and Player 2 submits 300, the winner will receive 1,000 W. This includes the Widgets you spent on the match—so Player 1 in this scenario would have a net profit of 900 W, while a victory for Player 2 would bring them a net profit of 700 W.
     
    You can also arrange 2-on-2 matches, either with two of your fighters against another player’s two fighters, or one of your fighters teamed with the fighter of another player against another two player team. In the latter case, I highly recommend that you and your partner coordinate your strategy over PM before one of you posts it. Since these matches take more time to analyze, there will likely be a significant delay between when the strategies are posted and when the winners are announced. Both players on a winning team will receive the same amount of Widgets, determined by the formula above.
     
    Tournaments: The first Monday of every month begins a new Tournament. One week prior to that, I will open registration—players must post stating that they wish to enter their fighter (if sponsoring multiple fighters, they must pick ONE to enter) and then provide a list of the items the fighter will have access to during the Tournament. Each fighter can only have up to 5 items listed; the strategies you use during the Tournament may ONLY use the items from this list.
     
    When Monday rolls around, I’ll randomize the list of entrants and match them all up. I will also randomly determine an arena for the fight, which will be posted in parentheses next to the match-up. You will have 24 hours to post your strategy for the match. If you do not post a strategy by the time the round ends, you will be removed from the Tournament.
     
    When a fighter loses in a Tournament, they will gain Widgets based on how many rounds they participated in (10,000 per round). The Champion will receive an additional 5,000 W and be able to select any of the regularly available items for free OR obtain one Rare Item. (See below for items) The Champion’s profile will be updated to show their status, their name will be added to the Hall of Fame blog post, and they will be given an additional stat point that you may allocate to any one stat. This extra stat point will be lost when the next Tournament comes around, so as not to give them an advantage in that Tournament.
     
    Warzone: The Technic Warzone is a deadly game of chance that resets every Friday. Your fighters are armed with death rays and have very low visibility, but they can take rough aim when they attempt to fire. When making a post about the Warzone, state which fighter you want your fighter to target, and I will roll a die—if the die lands on 1, the target will be killed. Anything else, and your fighter misses. When your fighter is finally killed, or at the end of the week when the Warzone is reset, you will receive 5,000 W for every fighter you successfully eliminated.
     
    If you are sponsoring multiple fighters, only one can be active in the Warzone at a time—you may specify which if you choose, but if you do not specify before someone targets one of your fighters, the fighter targeted will be the one you use. (It doesn’t really make a difference which fighter is in anyway, though.) When that fighter is killed, you will then switch to your other fighter; when that one is killed, if you have a third, you will switch to that; and if they all three get killed, well…that’s it til Friday. But since that’s essentially surviving multiple hits, you get fewer rewards to keep things fair. If you have 2 fighters, you will receive 2,500 W per kill; if you have 3 fighters, you will receive 1,500 W per kill.
     
    Arenas: Listed in this blog post. To liven up your match, pick an arena to fight in! Each has its own unique features, some of which are hazardous, so be sure to incorporate these elements into your strategy. If no arena is stated, the match will take place in the default Coliseum Arena. Arenas are selected at random in Tournaments, so you may wish to prepare yourself for any arena you might end up in.
     
    Rules for Specific Elements: Some Elements have the potential to be overpowered, so fighters wielding those Elements will need to stick to the following rules. For everyone: Nova Blasts are forbidden.
     
    Light-Users: Light can be used to increase your fighter's speed, but not all the way up to light speed. Your fighter may only blind the opponent once per battle. Your fighter may only use one solid light hologram per battle.
     
    Gravity-Users: No attack can be instant-win (such as erasing gravity and flinging target into space, or increasing gravity so much that they are crushed to death). Each attack can only be used for a few seconds at a time, and the fighter must leave time between each gravity attack (the longer you manipulate gravity, the longer you have to wait before you can manipulate it again).
     
    Psionics-Users: Only basic illusions can be used, and you may only use one per battle. You can confuse the opponent once per battle and are forbidden from using mind control. Telepathy can be used to sense a hidden opponent’s location but will leave you vulnerable, and masking your presence will only have limited success. Telekinesis may only be used for simple attacks like throwing the target or other objects, and may not disarm the opponent unless you throw another object and knock their weapon from their hands. You may only hold the opponent in a telekinetic grip for a few seconds.
     
    Magnetism-Users: No attacks can be instant-win (such as willing an opponent’s armor to crush them to death). Each attack can only last for a few seconds (you cannot hold an opponent in place indefinitely), and you must leave time between each magnetism attack (the longer you use magnetism, the longer you have to wait before you can use it again). Magnetism can be used to achieve flight, but this method of flight is very difficult to control.
     
    Iron-Users: No attacks can be instant-win (such as willing an opponent’s armor to crush them to death). Each attack targeting the opponent or their items/armor can only last for a few seconds (you cannot hold an opponent in place indefinitely), and you must leave time between each non-projectile Iron attack (the longer you use Iron manipulation, the longer you have to wait before you can use it again). You may not destroy any of the opponent’s items or pull their items out of their hands. You may create armor, walls, weapons, etc out of Iron, but you will be more vulnerable while creating them, they cannot be made of Protosteel, and they will only be temporary.
     
    Upgrades: Some fighters can be upgraded, granting them a new ability that you may utilize in matches. When a fighter is upgraded, you may choose a new title/name for them, along with a new appearance and changes to their weapons.
    Energized Protodermis: Transforms a Toa into a Toa Nuva. Able to use timed elemental attacks; 20,000 W
    Core Transfer: Upgrades Hero Factory heroes from 1.0 to 2.0. If you bring only one item into battle, then your opponent will also only be able to use one item; 20,000 W
    OS Update: Upgrades RoboRiders to a RoboRider OS (Optimal Setting). Wheel damage will be calculated using highest stat; for RoboRiders; 20,000 W
    Meteor Armor: Upgrades a Slizer to a Cosmic Slizer. Can boost any one stat by one point in battle so long as they don't bring any stat-boosting items into battle; for Slizers; 20,000 W
    Legacy Gateway: Sends a Glatorian through time to train under Champions and become a Master Glatorian. Allows the Glatorian to take a Thornax Launcher into battle without it counting against the item limit; for Glatorian; 20,000 W
    Illegal Refit: Puts a Hero Factory villain in contact with some underworld mechanics who will outfit them with dangerous technology. Allows the villain to nullify the opponent's Upgrade abilities (excluding MoC Mocha and Shadow Leech); for HF villains; 20,000 W
    Antidermis Infusion: Imbues a fighter with the essence of a Makuta. Allows the fighter to use the power of a Rahkshi Staff they own in battle without using up an item slot (the Staff itself will not be included) (you must pay 3,000 W to make a Rahkshi Staff compatible with this ability); for Skakdi and Barraki; 20,000 W.
    Shadow Leech: Full Drain-change a fighter's Element to Shadow, 10,000 W; Partial Drain-gain Shadow powers in addition to current Element, both Elements will be reduced in power, you may not use Elemental Rahkshi Staffs while this upgrade is in effect, 30,000 W
    Klakk's Scream: Undoes a Shadow Leech; 5,000 W
    MoC Mocha: A Pahrak Family signature blend, infused with diluted mutagens that will allow your fighter to slightly alter their form and relocate the 8 stat points you arranged when you first sponsored your fighter (accompanying waiver must be signed before you will be served); 15,000 W
     
    Equipment: To save space, the items available for purchase are listed in this blog post. When you want to buy something, post your intent here in the topic, and I will add the item to your fighter(s) inventory and adjust your Widget balance accordingly.
     
    Fighters may only take 2 pieces of equipment into battle with them. Their basic weaponry does not count towards this limit. Slizers can bring in a Disk without it counting towards this limit, RoboRiders can do the same with Wheel Talismans, and Master Glatorian have the same option with Thornax Launchers. For items that require additional items as ammunition: the “launcher” item takes up a slot, but the ammunition does not. (In the case of the Rhotuka Launcher, you may only bring two types of Rhotuka into battle.)
     
    You may return items to the shop to receive half the price you paid for them. Multi-use items with less than their maximum number of uses may not be returned.
     
    Trainers: These friendly faces will spend some time with your fighter to increase one of their stats by one point…for the right price. There is a different Trainer for each stat. The first time you hire that specific Trainer, it only costs 3,000 W. The second session with them costs 6,000, the third costs 12,000, the fourth costs 24,000, and the fifth costs 48,000. After that, your fighter has hit their limit in that stat.
    -Ninja: Training with Ninja will raise your fighter’s Strength by 1. Those Wheel Talisman types are actually the RoboRider villagers, remember?
    -Kapura: Training with Kapura will raise your fighter’s Agility by 1. Sadly, five sessions will not be enough to master how to cross long distances quickly by moving very slowly.
    -Hiker Mike: Training with Hiker Mike will raise your fighter’s Toughness by 1. What? You don’t remember the original Fan-Created Content? Check Brickipedia.
    -Mr. Makuro: Training with Mr. Makuro will raise your fighter’s Mind by 1. Hope you like puzzles.
     
    Fighters:
    List of Bionicle fighters can be found here.
    List of Slizer, RoboRider, and Hero Factory fighters can be found here.
    For quick reference, here are the fighters currently in need of sponsors:
     
    Player List: Over here you’ll find your name, which fighters you sponsor (and the collective inventory of items you have bought for all of them), and your Widget count.
  17. Pahrak Model ZX
    I was expecting Square to do something involving Kingdom Hearts Unchained X, which they sort of did, making a more formal announcement of it to the Western audience, that was cool.
     
    Then they did this.
     
    So, um, okay.
     
    That's definitely a new outfit. And what looks like the Star Seeker, possibly upgraded. And Flowmotion. And more dual gun Keyblade usage. And a pegasus-drawn chariot made from a Keyblade.
     
    Also apparently that's a Tangled world they're showing, never seen Tangled but I have absolutely zero complaints.
     
    I actually did pretty well on my joking wishes for E3.
  18. Pahrak Model ZX
    Apparently volume 73 of Bleach just came out in Japan, and it states that volume 74 will be the last. With how many chapters are usually put into volumes and how many have already been serialized in Jump, estimates are saying that there are five chapters left in the series.
     
    Haaaaaaaaaaaaaang on
     
    Now I know I’m on record as frequently saying I want Bleach to end, and I do, but with the point the series is currently at as of last week? If we only have five more chapters to go then I only see two outcomes:
     
    1. The ending is super-rushed, which is just going to be a huge letdown, despite all the disappointment I’m still fairly invested and was holding a tiny tiny sliver of hope that there could be a decent ending.
     
    2. Nothing will be resolved and a dang spin-off is gonna start up and I’ll be stuck with this series for another fifteen years.
     
    I don’t know which is worse so I’m really hoping that this is all a huge misunderstanding/marketing ploy. First Bionicle, now Bleach! Why must the things Child Me liked that start with the letter B get treated this way? D:
  19. Pahrak Model ZX
    We’re all still alive! Who would’ve thought?
    (Sorry to sound spiteful, but I was sick of this 2012 apocalypse thing the minute I heard about it…)
     
    Since Christmas is coming up soon: Merry Christmas. If you celebrate something else, then I hope you enjoy that.
     
    This past Tuesday, December 18th, was the 25th Anniversary of the original Final Fantasy game, and thus the whole Final Fantasy series as a whole! So much for it being Sakaguchi-san’s final game, eh? (Yes, that’s why it’s called “Final” Fantasy.)
     
    So, we’re finally allowed to talk about Hero Factory 2013. First off, my thoughts on the sets:
    -When I first saw them, I thought “bland knights vs Piraka controlled by Krana that look like Kraata, woohoo.” Now, I’m a tad bit more optimistic…but still think it’s a bit of a downgrade from Breakout. I also now see the bit of Hordika they’ve thrown in there…
    -The Heroes are just all so…similar. And they all have that vanilla silver that I rather detest. Also, now that I’ve seen some close-ups of the faces of their masks, I’m not impressed with those. The visors minimize that, though, so as long as you keep those flipped down they’re okay. By the way, those visors…are they there to protect the heroes from being taken over by the Brains? That would make the most sense, but I’ll settle for any story explanation. I don’t think I’ll go over them individually, but aside from what I’ve already stated: I like the shift to melee weapons (just a personal preference) and for the longest time I thought Bulk was actually Nex…that orange confused me…
    -On to the villains, then. The Brains are actually very interesting pieces, and I like the unique way the heads are put together. Also, apparently they actually have functionality?! That’s definitely impressive! Overall I’d say they’re interesting, but I think I’ll only be picking up a few. One question: are those names the name of the Brain, the creature being possessed, or the resulting fusion? Hoping they clear this up…
    -It looks like all the heroes are going to be fighting villains with the same color scheme as them. Maybe this was done to make the combiners mesh a little better? I’ve been able to see a few combiner models, and some of them look really nice, so if that’s what Lego intended then it’s working. The heroes seem to be the base of these models, so I’m thinking these are supposed to be what the heroes would look like if they were taken over by Brains. Which, in my opinion, would actually be really cool.
     
    Now, to serve as a transition to Bioni-Lords updates, my plans on turning these sets into Spirits:
    -Truth be told, I worked out the Spirits of the heroes from the leaked images, eheheh…I’m sorry.
    -I decided to take a cue from Lego and drop the numbers, so these won’t be “(Hero) 5.0”. Right now I’m going with Knight Breez, Knight Rocka, and Knight Bulk (and Furno XL), but I’m not sure if this is so good…suggestions? Anyway, barring Furno, they all have 170 FE and attacks that make the standard damage progression up to 35 damage, plus two status techniques that are the same for all three: Shield (block), and Vanquish Parasite, which removes any and all Parasite Spirits the foe is using from battle (mwa-ha-ha!). They also have immunity to mind control added to their Technic Descendant effect, working off my hunch that the visors are to protect them from the Brains. Furno XL is a Fire/Light 200 FE Spirit with an expanded effect and a standard 200 FE moveset, including a technique that makes him pretty overpowered for a few turns (like Stormer XL’s Alpha Charge). Not sure if I’m going to put them online just yet, or if I should wait until we get more info to see if I want to make any changes…although I probably won’t want to make any changes, and if I do I could always just edit them later…hm…
    -For now, I’m just making the villains 140 FE Spirits. Pyrox and Bruizer are more or less done since I was able to pick Elements for them, but I haven’t settled on Elements for Scarox or Ogrum yet. They’ll also have two uniform status techniques: Brain Toss, which is essentially the same as Krana Toss, and Remove Brain, which will turn them into a Parasite Spirit similar to Eternal Secret Character’s Magichange move. Once I pick Elements for Scarox and Ogrum I should be able to get them done really quickly, so the villain Spirits should be up not long after the Heroes are put online.
    -Like I said, I’m impressed with the combiners, so I was going to make them into Spirits. However, after giving the villains Remove Brain that would be kind of redundant…but I think I’ll make up for that by giving them special attacks unlocked when combining the right villain with the right hero.
     
    This past week I was able to put up Kako 37 and update the Spirit Index with Mu Survivor and a new team of Exo-Vahki Spirits. Aside from the Hero Factory Spirits, I’m considering making a new Disgaea-inspired Spirit, and since I have some spare time right now that’ll probably happen. Kako 38, the first chapter of Le-Isle, should be up soon—I hope to type it up today, but we’ll have to see. One thing about Le-Isle that I didn’t mention during the 2013 Preview: we’ll finally get to see how one Element-Lord transfers the position to another.
     
    Side note: Chapter 1 of Story of the Violet Rose is complete! The bad news: don’t expect to see it soon. I want to fully write out Violet Rose and Honored Soul before I start typing them so I have a better chance to make them fit together. Plus, this project still takes a back seat to Kako for the most part, so it’ll be slow progress. I’ll keep you guys updated, though!
     
    Guess what’s going on in Japan right now? Jump Festa! If I find any news that piques my interest, I’ll be adding it to this post, right here:
    -Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII…why not Final Fantasy XIII-3? I’m just gonna call it XIII-3. Anyway, don’t really have any opinions on this yet, other than I think I preferred Lightning’s XIII-2 armor. Plus, it looks like they may have just given Lightning a sword instead of a gunblade this time? I hope I’m just mistaken.
     
  21. Pahrak Model ZX
    Dragon Ball Super has recently kicked off the Universe Survival Arc we’ve been looking forward to. Rather than going straight to the tournament proper, they’re doing a three-round exhibition match between Universe 7 (Goku and friends) and Universe 9, and the most recent episode gave us some interesting information after the second round concluded. Which is a weird place to put it. Especially since the Grand Priest presents this in an announcement to everyone gathered—you would think it’d be done either before or after the match, not smack dab in the middle, but…anyway!
     
    A lot has been clarified. For starters, four of the twelve universes (1, 5, 8, and 12) will not be entering the tournament, the reason being that they’ve been deemed way too strong. Zeno has evaluated the “average mortal power level” of all twelve universes, and has already been thinking of erasing the eight that he thinks are too weak. When Goku suggested the tournament, he revised this to allowing the universe that wins the tournament to survive. This takes some of the heat off of Goku (and gives a better explanation for why the survival aspect is there), but still, the guy’s being shown in a less than positive light lately and that’s actually interesting to see. I feel like this is a good compromise: now, even if the stakes are maintained and they really do erase all losing universes, there will still be four whole other universes to explore, and they’re all immensely powerful. So I think that’s a plus.
     
    It’ll still be sad to see the others go, though. I mean obviously Universe 7 is going to win (even if they’re currently ranked second-weakest, beating out only Universe 9), so that’s bad news for the Universe 6 characters we’ve gotten to know…and Gowasu from Universe 10. But I guess if they capitalize on this, it could work out. Plus these characters will still all be around in video games!
     
    It’s also clarified that yes, all deities in the losing universes will be erased as well, with the notable exception of the angels. Whis’s reaction to this and a few other moments in the episode is…slightly unnerving. But the question is: if the universe an angel serves is destroyed but they get to live on, what do they do? …No, actually, the real question is: since we’ve been told there used to be eighteen universes and six were erased, their angels must still be around, so where are they?! There are some interesting possibilities here and I look forward to seeing how they turn out. I’ve been hoping we might get a villain who escaped the destruction of their universe and has come back for revenge against Zeno (or Goku) and this makes that look a lot more possible.
     
    I’m looking forward to this arc more now that I know there’s going to be more potential available afterwards than it initially seemed. Plus the fight in this episode had a little more variety in technique and showed that Gohan can still fight pretty well. That means there’s hope that all the B and C List characters showing up for this arc might actually get their time to shine!
  23. Pahrak Model ZX

    What a Scream

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Okay so the Destral Cycle is powered by sound, which probably means that once it gets going it uses its own noise as fuel, and that sounds really efficient and green and cool and all but
     
    How do you start it? It must need some kind of external sound to start, right?
     
    Do you just sit on it and scream for a minute to start the engine?
     
    Imagine Antroz climbing onto this thing, about to ride it into battle, and just going “AAAAAAAAAHHH okay it’s running let’s go”
     
    Or if he got it back from the shop and found out the mechanics reduced the noise it made, so it crawls along at a snail's pace unless he screams constantly.
     
    Makuta Antroz coming down the road on a motorcycle screaming his gaseous lungs out, that would be equal parts hilarious and terrifying.
  24. Pahrak Model ZX
    -Mega Man Star Force, or a sequel series
     
    -The World Ends With You
     
    -Interesting episodes/chapters of Bleach
     
    -Danny Phantom
     
    -Older Pokemon in the form of more Mega Evolutions. We do not have enough.
     
    -Slizers
     
    -RoboRiders
     
    -Final Fantasy V, preferably in remake form
     
    -Simplicity in life, no responsibilities, free time to actually play with Bionicle, and the like
     
    -GALIDOR
     
    If I don't get all these things then I will be very disappointed I mean if we're opening the portal to the past we need to make the most of it.
  25. Pahrak Model ZX
    I’m pretty excited that the first Technic Coliseum tournament has started! Not only do I get to see you guys go all-out and give you free Widgets, once the tournament is over I’ll be releasing some new items and upgrades! I wanted to give you a sneak peak so that you can budget your tournament winnings:
     
    Upgrades:
    -Core Transfer isn’t quite as big a boost as Energized Protodermis, so I added a new ability bonus. Now 2.0 Heroes have the option to limit themselves to taking just one item into battle in order to force the opponent to do the same. (And no, the price won’t increase.)
     
    -Poor RoboRiders, they’ve been pretty neglected thus far. They need an upgrade! For 30,000 W you can give them an OS Update, transforming them into a RoboRider OS (Optimal Setting). It boosts all stats by one and has the same training bonus ability as Core Transfer and Energized Protodermis. In addition, when a RoboRider OS uses a Wheel Talisman, its power will be calculated based on whichever stat is highest—if you’ve focused solely on increasing your Rider’s toughness, then his Wheel will use the toughness stat to determine its effectiveness.
     
    -I’m not going to leave out the Slizers! The new Meteor Armor (30,000 W) provides the standard stat boost and training bonus, and if your new Cosmic Slizer doesn’t bring any stat-boosting items into battle, you get to boost any one stat.
     
    -Since these will level the playing field, the price of Energized Protodermis will drop to 30,000 W.
     
    -After some Visorak-wrangling, the Coliseum now has a cache of Hordika Venom for sponsors to purchase for 30,000 W. Injecting your fighter with this substance will prevent them from being able to raise their mind stat, but when training for any other stat they’ll earn a bonus stat point!
     
    -If your fighter gets tired of not being able to increase his/her mind or just want to be their old self again, we’ll give them Keetongu’s Cure for 20,000 W.
     
    Items:
    -New for Toa: Kanohi Suletu! For 8,000 W you’ll be able to remove the opponent’s edge in mind. When this Kanohi is used, both fighters’ mind stats will be added together and then divided in two. The resulting value will be used as the mind stat for both fighters.
     
    -Some new Slizer items: Lava Stone to greatly decrease the agility of flying opponents, Air Pearl to raise resistance to special powers, Liquid Plasma to block one attack per battle, and Electric Atoms to temporarily paralyze the foe once per battle. Each of these costs 7,000 W.
     
    -A few new things for RoboRiders too: Firewall to block one attack per battle, and CreateRoads.EXE, which allows a RoboRider to create platforms beneath their wheels and essentially drive on air. Both cost 7,000 W.
     
    -Heroes will be able to purchase Wing Boosters for 7,000 W, allowing them to fly in battle. Also, for 15,000 W they can pick up a Feral Circuit that, when activated in battle, alters their stats to resemble a specific animal. For those available in the 3.0 line the animal the stats will mimic should be obvious; for the other three, negotiations will be in order.
     
    -We’re also adding items that any fighter can use! The Camouflage Badge (5,000 W) will boost evasion in battle, while the Vahki Staff (7,000 W) will temporarily disorient the opponent and reduce their mind stat. On top of that, we’re also getting our first batch of Rahkshi Staffs! This group includes Slow, Illusion, Darkness, Density Control, Accuracy, Sleep, and Insect Control. (5,000 W for Slow, 8,000 W for Insect Control, 7,000 W for the other five. We won’t be getting all 42 Rahkshi Staffs, but we will get a few more after the next two tournaments to bring the total to 21. I hope you’ll look forward to it!)
×
×
  • Create New...