Character Blog: Kinda Homesick

Kira Isagarra July 14th 2135 10:00am EST

As i sit on the cruise ship hanging out and lounging around I have a hard time not looking at the girls running around half dressed in their bathing suits as though its a party boat without thinking of my girlfriend Mea back in North City.

She'd enjoy the atmosphere here and I think she'd also like the Academy. Admittedly a lot of this is coming from the fact that shortly before I left for the Academy we'd celebrated our two year anniversery of our first date by me coming out and proposing to her. I figured the time I'd be spending at the Academy for my first term would give her enough time to make plans for our wedding although I'd mentioned to her that i wanted to wait until next year at the earliest since the two of us are 20 and I was wanting to wait till we're at least 21 before we get married cause my dad always told me he regretted rushing into getting married to mom

Any way that aside I'm eager to get to the academy from the brochure they put out it looks pretty impressive. So it'll be fun to see how things play out in the Kabuto program if I decide to join.

See ya

Character Blog: Apologies and Distractions

Kai Inara July 14th 2135

Sorry about not posting lately. Its not that I haven't been wanting to keep the blog running its just I've been caught up playing WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2136 which my dad sent me a copy of as a belated birthday gift.

I've been playing non stop trying to get the achievements and unlockables for it. Aside from my Create A Superstar version of myself and my friends. I'm playing around with some classics I got as part of the Online pass that the game has. Xbox 720 players got 2000's era Randy Orton and John Cena as well as :sigh: the Miz. I think Kira said the Playstation 6 version of it has !990's Era Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit.

I've been playing the heck out of it and I'll say its the bast game in the series to date at least since Activision bought out THQ back before I was born. (Dad followed the series religiously as a teenager.) sadly thats the draw back when there's only 2-3 3rd party game companies thankfully Ubisoft is still around even though its part of EA the heads of the company from the pre-merger period managed to get them to agree to allow Ubisoft to develop games outside of the normal EA games production schedule.

As for SVR 2136 its a great game it still has the occasional quirk of the Xbox 360 generation games but thats a minor quibble. they're still very fun and playable.

I'll try and get back on schedule of posting more regularly as soon as I can.

Kai Out

Game Review: WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2011

I'm not going to say that this game re-invents the wheel when it comes to wrestling games. but I do think its taking steps in the right direction. This year's Smackdown Vs Raw does as much right as its predecessor and fixes some of the problems that have plauged the series for the past few years.

The Good: What the game does right above all is the presentation it really sucks you in to the game. If you play it with all the settings turned to max and turn off the Heads up Display you'll feel like your practically there.

The controls are improved a ways they removed the standard strong grapple modifier button (Right Bumper on 360 R1 on Playstation 3) instead basing it on chained reaction attacks connected by a series of reversals. this prevents players from abusing strong grapples as was prevalent in the previous games but also causes a conflict as the more impressive moves have a gateway animation to them which enables them to be countered much easier than in previous installments thanks in part to the simplified 1 button counter system.

In some ways this is a good thing but it will also make competitive play rather bland as most fights will be fought with simple quick grapples with very few impressive non finishers being used.

The So So: The stuff in the game that's neither improved or degraded include the idea of the animations looking smooth as ever although several moves being generically renamed so as to avoid association with specific superstars who have left the WWE in the past year or so. The big "innovation" of the game is the introduction of Havok Physics into the game. Havok Physics being the cornerstone of most modern games as far as realistic physics rendering.

Although with the supplement of the physics comes the idea that while it is used in various areas (ladders breaking, Tables shattering and other environmental objects reacting more realistically the drawback is that these physics haven't been applied to the more subtle elements of the game. Such as the physics not being applied to clothing or hair on the models this is more prominent on the Create A Superstar models as their models are more generic than the motion captured WWE Superstars. It straddles the fine line between it being their first time using the engine and there for not wanting to push into territory they don't understand yet and them being a bit too lazy to implement a subtle touch like that.

The Bad: The aforementioned changes to the control system make it easier for casual gamers who may have trouble getting into the game but I can imagine it makes things rather annoying for the competitively minded player especially any of those interested in starting amateur leagues might have problems keeping things interesting as it will likely break down into spamming basic grapples and such

Also in single player the way the game handles ladder matches is also very annoying as the Computer controlled superstars don't stay stunned remotely as long as the player does and it can make anything more than a 2 person ladder match drag on forever.

The Ugly: While the create modes are strong as ever including the match creater mode the one mode thats lacking this year is the Create a move set as they stripped out a large number of the moves (I assume to make room for the other features and instead of reducing he variant moves they took whole groups of moves out. And from what i've played so far it appears as though there are no ways to unlock additional move sets to supplement what's available in the vanilla game.

Over all in spite of the negative elements of the game its a very solid addition to the franchise and I give it a 4 out of 5

Character Blog: Way of the Samurai

Kai Inara July 13th 2135 9:00am

I'm updating via my cellphone this morning, i couldn't bring myself to break out my laptop and besides i figured i'd take a look at the decks while its early enough that things are a bit more mellow.

As i treaded the decks i saw a few Shinkenger dorm students meditating, from their looks they were second year students not prefects but students who merely caught the freshman boat in for sake of convenience as opposed to waiting for the boat for the second years. I saw an open spot and began to sit down but my partner Ryusei decided to interrupt and demand I ask. I relented after a short internal argument and i asked for the spot, surprisingly they were very hospitbable about it and let me sit there.

Once I'd gotten myself relaxed and began to drift off I heard the voices of the other students murmuring and it seemed like it was concerning me. it seemed at first like it was hostile but then one of them walked over to me.

the young man who stood about as tall as me had black hair and teal eyes. was fairly skinny but still looked fairly capable of handling a sword. he said "You seem to be fairly well trained in martial arts and equally well disciplined in meditation the characteristics that we at Shinkenger dorm look for. Would you be interested in enrolling?" I sat there still partially in my trance contemplating the invitation and after a few moments i looked up at him and nodded in approval saying "I'll definitely consider it if I clear the entrance exams. " after that I made my way back to the my room and relax a little bit

See you later

Character Blog: Kabuto, It Just had to be insect themed

Kira Isagarra July 12 2135 12:00 noon

Its day two of the trip and it seems like some of the students are getting a little overzealous about two hours ago i had to break up a fight with a few Kabuto dorm prefects involving some potential students who'd hijacked a few of the new DualHopper type Zectors and belts from the storage of rider gears that the on board sparing arena had stocked.

This by itself wasn't a threat knowing that the belts were equipped with limiters that greatly depowered the belts from the versions at the academy but one of the kids managed to rewire the zector and bypass the limiter unlocking its full functionality.

The Kabuto dorm prefects got trounced pretty badly by the kid who seemed to know the DualHopper Zector a little too well for his own good. As much as I was aware of the restriction on using personal henshin devices i broke out my Thunder Dragon Gauntlets and challenged the kid to a straight up fight.

As i charged in me and the thief traded blows i could tell this wasn't just some punk with a bit of tech skill he actually new a good deal about how to fight as well. After several minutes of exchanging blows i finally got annoyed with it and I drew my hand back charged it with spirit energy and punched the Zector belt and trashed it.

as the punk ran off scared i handed the remains of the belt to the Prefects and I'm genuinely not sure if they were put off by me destroying the belt or happy to have gotten it back with out the student causing any damage.

After everything was sorted out the leader of the prefects approached me and offered me a spot in Kabuto dorm. I said "I'll consider it but I'd like to earn my spot." the prefect shook my hand and nodded saying "The offer is open and on the table if your interested once we get to Glendale." I walked away giving him a thumbs up pointed to the side showing my indecision at the moment.

Overall today was a good day.

Kira out.

Character Blog: Day 2

Kai Inara July 12 2135

According to the crew we're about two days out from arriving at Glendale island. I spent yesterday afternoon and into the early evening playing my guitar on the main deck both as a way to make up some money under the table and as a way to get a look at the populace of girls on the ship. it seems like for the most part the students are fairly well content turning this boat into a big old party barge up till we arrive at the island. course the idea of roughly 6%+ of the students here being in excess of legal age to drink doesn't prevent that impression from rearing its ugly head either.

The majority of the girls were pretty good looking although a little slutty for my taste besides after the last argument i had with Ami before i left North City I'm not really interested in picking up girls at the moment.

Kai Inara out

Character Blog: Diary Usagi Inara

Dear Journal,

My brother Kai and I just finished unpacking our stuff and Kai's sitting on the bed with his electric guitar out playing it. i believe i remember it being a Fender Strata Castor the most recent model of the line. he got it as a belated graduation gift from our grandparents who knew he and the others ran a band.

he's been working on tuning it and such before he goes up on deck. more than likely knowing my brother he'll use it as a way to pick up girls even though i'm sure Ami back in North City wouldn't be to keen on the idea, although i believe the did have an argument recently so that may be grounds as to why he'd play the field a little bit. At least till he sooths things over with her. Right now we've been on the boat for the afternoon and its getting ready to turn twilight.

To my surprise in spite of the lights on deck the night sky looks amazing over the sea. I hope we meet some new allies and friends there when we arrive at Glendale.

Usagi Inara,

Peace.

Character Blog: Zero Hour

Kira Isagarra

As we finished up putting our things away in the rooms they had reserved for us on the ship. Rei's darted off to the main deck and left me to handle packing things away. I can't blame her its not often you get the chance to take a ride on a cruise ship like this with a couple thousand of your peers. Of course knowing her like i do it won't be five minutes after she gets on deck before she's down to her bathing suit.

I wouldn't call her trashy but she's definitely not shy about her looks. Half my time spent around her is clubbing guys i hang around with over the head for going to far oggling her in a skimpy bathing suit.

Thankfully Kai, while he is prone to being easily distracted by pretty girls he knows Rei well enough that he doesn't mess with checking her out. While she's attractive in terms of looks its her personality that tends to be a buzz kill as she tends to flip between her tomboy default personality and a more love struck side.

The change in apprearence she undergoes between them is more than enough to get a few looks from the guys. when she's all Tomboy she gets "deflated" up north and gets a bit more of a plain figure. while in her lovestruck mode she undergoes a bit of "urban development " upstairs and gets the hourglass figure that tends to send the guys chasing her.

its fun to see the reactions when she switches from dredre to tsuntsun. most guys go from rabid dogs chasing a piece of meat to "Meh"

But i'll leave that for another entry. Kira out

Character Blog: Beginnings

Kai Inara Entry 1 July 11th 2135

My rag tag group here just boarded the ship to Glendale Academy. its a nice scenic looking cruise liner and it has some pretty lush accommodation considering its owned by the the school. we were sent to poke around and see if any students had the potential of joining our little group. i can't go into details but suffice to say things are likely to get hairy in the next few months.

Its me, My sister Usagi, my best friend and partner Kira, and his sister Rei, as we board the ship we see the flocks of students piling aboard and carting their things to their room before the ship sets sail and everyone goes into party mode. i can see each deck is supervised by prefects from each of the 24 dorms squads of 4-6 from each one cover the decks running security watch for any dopants who may be roving in the waters around the ship.

I'll sign off for now i've gotta scope out my room and then head out to the deck to "Help with the party set up." Kai out.

Poetry Corner with Kira

The Dragon's fury by Kira Isagarra
The heavens quake, the earth trembles. clouds darken as the golden dragon makes its fury known. Lightening that splits the sky. rain that rips through the forests winds that tear the soil. A guardian awakens to protect the natural balance.

A fist, a blade, the voices cry for a protector in this forsaken time. Warriors clad in armor emerge once in a life time taking up communion with the dragons to defend the world they call home. The Dragon's Fury a power unchained and beyond that of mortal men but still as subject to mortal vices.

Game Review: Dante's Inferno

I recently picked up a copy of Dante's Inferno and i have to say i'm fairly surprised. In sprite of it being the proud recipient of Ben Croshaw's "Like God of War But" stamp. considering i was able to pick it up at my not quite local Gamestop for $26 American it wasn't that bad of a deal.

The good: This game is "Inspired" by the epic poem of the same name but history buffs familiar with the source material you may question their design choices with the game at certain points but it definately gives you the "going through the bowels of hell" vibe the developers were going after. the meat of the game is your standard god of war style hack and slash action with occasional quick time events to break up the manotony the main gimmick of the game is that you can punish (brutally kill) or absolve (Purify) enemies and certain other npc's to give boosts to your Unholy (Scythe) powers or your Holy (Cross based powers).

The game play overall is very well balanced and fair although those who like doing 100% completion runs may curse the game on the first play-through as certain relic items used to modify stats and background attributes like how many souls you get for punishments and absolutions among other actions, tend to be placed in locations that may be impossible to get to on the first run through.

Although in spite of how well balanced the game is there are occasional moments where the game will randomly proceed to lean back and give you a one finger salute by way of either throwing you into battle with little to no health and no available regeneration fountains (which take several seconds of button mashing to draw out the health. the action granting you no invincibility frames to do it with. and yes you can be knocked out of the animation for drawing from the health fountain such that you have to start again. there is an item acquired later in the game that breaks the fountains upon use but it seems to lessen the amount of health received from the fountain when used.) the above also applies to mana and soul fountains which also need to be broken through a button mashing sequence.

The bad: Some of the above can hamper enjoyment of the game if your easily frustrated but if you have a sense of pride in your gaming prowess something that will frustrate you even more is the idea that the game on occasion (usually after dying a few times) the game will condescendingly remind you that the difficulty can be changed in the options menu which can be accessed with the back button on the Xbox 360 version and select on the Playstation 3. EVEN AT POINTS WHEN THE DIFFICULTY ADJUSTMENT WOULDN'T MATTER!!! (Certain areas having instant death traps which i doubt changing the difficulty would effect.)

The verdict: Dante's Inferno is a good game, is it a triple a block buster on the same tier as god of war, not quite. is it still good based on its own merits. if you can deal with some moments of hair pulling frustration and the game occasionally condescending to you when you've messed up once too many you'll generally like this game. is it a god of war killer? No. Was it made to be? possibly.

Overall I give Dante's Inferno 4 stars out of 5.

Update GM Corner

I've just ordered my first dice from Toy Wiz and a hardcover copy of the Big Eyes Small Mouth D20 Revised handbook from Barns and Noble for sake of having a physical copy of  the book and owning my first piece of what i hope to be a vast role playing book and supply collection

A fresh start

for those new to what we're doing we're going to be doing a running blog of events relating to our BESM (Big Eyes Small Mouth) D20 tabletop adventure. we'll post Out of Character information on the main page and in character material under the character section. this is building up to us doing a weekly pod cast covering our weekly adventures.

New beginnings

 Starting off

As we are fairly new to this i think you should know what our goal is. part of it has to do with the general idea of promoting our podacast which will be starting soon as our group has the proper equipment. this page will also provide a resource and location for character bio's for the characters we use in our campaign. which the info will be mirrored on our pod bean page http://animesenshi.podbean.com/ with these sites we plan to bring out a new style of modern role roleplaying.

additionally we plan to have a secondary pod cast dealing with Anime Sentai, Kamen Rider and other geek centric news we may even do mini casts in character as the characters from our game to allow the viewers to get a better idea of what they're lik

The idea behind this blog is to provide a platform to allow others into the realm of Anime, Roleplaying and Tokusatsu in all manner of ways. Primarily by following the adventures of the roleplaying group I participate in who will also be contributing to this work.

As soon as the means are available we'll get started with a podcast that will allow you to follow our weekly adventures. In addition to that we'll have a running Sentai blog where myself and the two toku specialists of the group will converse about the latest toku news from across the net.