The Lone Gamer

Coming soon to the Youtube Channel!

Following the wonderful reception I’ve been getting to my first Skyrim Roleplaying LP, A Coming of Mage Story (which is into its Second Volume/Season!), I’ve decided to spread myself thinner, like butter spread across too much bread, with ANOTHER LP series.

The reason being that Vryll’s series is well enough on its way- and it will continue indefinitely. However, I wish to do things and play Skyrim (continuously) through other avenues and directions that our admittedly Goody Two-Shoes Altmer Archmage and Animunculist won’t or can’t go. Where Vryll won’t head, our new protagonist Jo’Kir will.
The gameplay style will be markedly different- although they are both mages, Jo’Kir will be using primarily the Illusion School of Magic (SkyRe), Conjuration and Restoration. Alteration will be secondary (mainly just for utility and Mage Armor), and Destruction not at all- Jo’Kir’s ranged offense will be totally different. His melee talents will be new as well, with him being a trained Monk of the mysterious Monastery of the Mists- he will only fight using his bare hands/claws- which are in themselves formidable weapons.

Is Jo’Kir evil? Perhaps that’s too strong a word, but I need to give him a very different voice, tone and mood from Vryll- but hopefully, still make him a likable character to follow, if not interesting. His adventures will take him to the darker corners, nooks and crannies of Skyrim, such as the Thieves’ Guild, perhaps the Dark Brotherhood and perhaps even… Castle Volkihar? We’ll see.

I don’t plan this series to be as long, or as updated as often as my other LP, but we’ll see. For now, please look forward to more Skyrim RP-ing from the Lone Gamer soon!

Stay a while and listen…

Last July 25 at the San Diego Comic Convention, Namco-Bandai held their panel for fighting game previews for the next few years. In focus was the upcoming Tekken 7, whose information didn’t amount to much concrete facts, mostly story-centric.

The game will revolve primarily around the conclusion of the Mishima Saga, and explain once and for all why series antagonist Heihachi Mishima has been trying his best all this time to kill off his descendants- mainly son Kazuya and grandson, Jin. The game will feature in some as-yet-unrevealed degree Heihachi’s (presumably deceased) wife Kazumi.
On the game’s roster, the only character confirmed during the panel was Lars Alexandersson, the ex-Tekken Force commander introduced during Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion/Tekken 6 PS3. By simple process of deduction, we can probably assume that Heihachi and Kazuya at least will be in the game as well (DUH). No word yet on the current condition of Jin, who exited Tekken 6′s Scenario Campaign Story half-buried in sand. Chances are he’ll be back too, I think.

In terms of gameplay, Harada revealed that the game will focus on one-on-one fighting, and dispense with the tag team mechanic in Tekken Tag Tournament 2. The Tekken Team is still in the process of developing the basic gameplay and polishing it.

Several guest artists will be contributing character designs for the game- this will include the artsists of Bayonetta, Fire Emblem: Awakening, No More Heroes and Anarchy Reigns. Director Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed, Halo Legends, Captain Harlock CG) will be handling the game’s cinematic intro.

Tekken 7 will be using the Unreal 4 Engine. It is supposed by most that Xbox One and PS4 versions are no-brainers, and that a PC version is very likely.

Last but not least, Tekken X Streetfighter is STILL in development, but according to the devs, is still trying to find it’s own time to be put on the limelight- heck, with T7 now in development, when will that be? In five to ten years? YIKES…

UPDATES:
Recently on Twitter, a fan asked Harada about Character Customization, referring to the feature in Tekken 6 which was far superior to the customization in the subsequent Tekken Tag 2. Harada replied with the answer, ‘more deep’.
Also, the game will not be using the stat-boosting or red moves introduced in the F2P PS3 game, Tekken Revolution.

To be honest, I was really disappointed by the relative scant info revealed at SDCC, but this is the single most important fighting game for me in the near future. I’ll certainly be keeping my eyes out for this. Again, hoping this doesn’t take too long to arrive. More as we get it then.

The Tekken 7 ‘Full’ Teaser Trailer. Yawn.

Really. What a disappointment.

No gameplay. No solid info aside from ‘Lars is in the game’.

Nothing save the cinematic bore-fest above.

Sadly, I am beginning to think that Harada and team have forgotten how to do their own game anymore. It’s been so long since the last good Tekken, or the last Soul Calibur. All they’ve been doing since are rehashes and F2P nonsense. They need to get their heads on straight.

This, honestly, is crap. This is the crappiest showing of Tekken I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe how worthless this SDCC showing has been. They should have just NOT announced the game until they could have showed something. Like the first Tekken 6 trailer. THAT had stuff. That had content.

This… This crap… a fan could do better. I am totally serious. Really, Namco, Harada, Tekken Team- please re-watch all the trailers and spots you did in the past and realize how SHITTY your stuff is now. My GOD this is horrible.

I won’t talk or speculate about Tekken on this blog again until they show something worth being excited about.

That is all.

My gosh, this was such a fail.

Just for kicks, here’s some footage of the Tekken 7 Evo Announcement, care of LevelUpYourGame.

It’s still a few days till our next glimpse of what the next Tekken, or Tekken 7, will look like at SDCC, but this early fight fans are already being teased by the possibility (or is it already confirmation?) that the next Iron Fist Tournament may be headed for PCs.
Aside from this article from Shoryuken, the simple fact that the next Tekken is using the Unreal 4 Engine means that portability to any platform, PC included, is a given. So what will playing Tekken on PC entail, aside from needing to buy a spiffy game controller or fiddling with new specs?

For the most part I am salivating for Tekken 7 PC for the possibility of mods. If the awesome mods I’ve seen (and am enjoying) with the PC versions of Streetfighter X Tekken and Super Streetfighter IV AE are any indication, just give a few talented individuals the tools to play with and you’ll find awesome, awesome treats for the Tekken characters on the platform. Mods will give the game untold longevity and replayability, and I hope that the Tekken Team embraces this aspect of the PC version.

In any case I am also quite curious to how the game will look apart from the previous versions, given the new graphics engine. We can speculate all we want though- SDCC is just a few more days away, and I can’t freakin’ wait to see the next trailer.

Taking apart the first video of the upcoming Tekken sequel.

We’ve seen it, and now it’s all we have to know that the next canon Tekken game is coming. Tekken 7 is in our futures, and with that little snap, Katsuhiro Harada and recaptured the attention of thousands and thousands of dormant Tekken fans all over the world. Well, this 1 minute and 30-second or so video is all we have to go on until July 25, when the full, first trailer for Tekken 7 is revealed. So, let’s take a look at the spot, shall we?
Note: I will be referring to the Japanese language version.

• The spot starts with grainy, scratchy video footage of a woman in very traditional-looking Japanese hairstyle and costume sitting/kneeling in a temple, her back to the camera so we cannot see her face. The sepia-toned look and sounds reveal this is a flashback, something that happened many years ago- presumably before the birth of Kazuya Mishima.

• The Temple is similar to stages like the Honmaru Shrine in Tekken 4. The Japanese do love their temples.

• The woman is almost certainly Kazumi Mishima, wife of Heihachi and mother to Kazuya.

• A figure opens the doors going into the Temple, behind the seated woman. It is that of a male, and I speculate that this is probably a young(er) Heihachi.

• There are many cuts of images from past Tekken Cinematics, most of them involving Heihachi and Kazuya, including bodies being dropped into volcanoes and such. The woman mentions that she must stop Heihachi, whom she knows has finally realized that Kazuya has inherited her powers.
It is common knowledge in the Tekken mythos that the Devil Gene, the power that lies inside Kazuya and Jin, which is coveted by Heihachi, is not present within Heihachi, Jinpachi or Lars. The original person who first had the Devil Gene may now be assumed to be Kazumi herself. In order to protect Kazuya from being exploited by Heihachi for his power, she resolves to fight him.

• We then see a scene between Heihachi and an angry Kazuya who says, ‘You killed my mother!’ Up to now, it has been said that Kazumi had died in childbirth delivering Kazuya. The truth may be that she was murdered/killed by her own husband, dying to protect her son.

• The confrontation between Kazuya and Heihachi apparently takes place in a place with splashing lava and flames- the volcano from which both father and son have in turn thrown each other into may be the setting of their climactic final meeting.

• After the Tekken 7 logo, we then cut to a final scene (which seems to be missing from the English-dubbed trailer) showing the names ‘Heihachi and Kazumi’ engraved into the Temple’s woooden floor. Awww, so sweet.

• It is not known in what capacity Kazumi will appear in the game. To have her only appear in flashback cinematics seems to be a waste of a character, and supposedly dead people often return to the story very much alive, and very malevolently powerful (like Jinpachi and Jun before). Perhaps we’ll see Kazumi appear as a boss or playable fighter as the first and long-sought-after female Mishima fighter? That would be awesome.

• We don’t know how long Tekken 7 has been in development, but I hope that the game is far more along that we may know or hope- this IS being touted as an offering marking the 20th Anniversary of the series, which is this year…
In any case, I just hope that this doesn’t need to head for arcades and have the customary 2-year wait before coming to consoles. In any case, the next time we see anything of this game is at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, this coming July 25.

Yep, it’s real and it’s coming.

It’s been a LOOOOOONG time coming since the last CANON Tekken game… Tekken 6 came out in 2006 after all (arcades). But about eight years later, the long-suffering fans of one of the most popular fighting game franchises ever may be rewarded for their vigil. Tekken 7 has finally, FINALLY been announced at this year’s EVO Tournaments, via a teaser trailer from Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada.

But the announcement didn’t come without a bit of controversy or hiccups- earlier today, the teaser was supposedly leaked on AOL by IGN, and because of this there were fears the reveal would be postponed. But here it is, nevertheless, and it’s something fight fans have long been wanting. No, it’s not Tekken X Streetfighter yet, but arguably it’s BETTER. The 7th REAL Tekken. No silly Tag-gimmicks. No Revolting Revolution crap. This has to be the real deal. I am hoping this is a return-to-form for the Tekken team and their baby- depth of characters, detail, modes aplenty, customization that hearkens back to Tekken 6 at least (not the garbage from TTT2 please) and hopefully, continuation (and what appears to be a conclusion) to the Mishima War.

No details yet aside from the teaser above, which I want to just take apart second by second. Who is this mysterious lady? What ‘Power’ does she speak of?

More details as they come. Time has finally started moving again.

UPDATE: Here’s the Japanese version trailer via Tekken Channel. It also has subtitles, and also a scene I believe wasn’t in the English-dubbed trailer. Check it out. I think it may reveal the identity of the mystery woman…
The Japanese trailer also has a bit that mentions that the game will use the Unreal Engine- Harada has said during Evo that they chose Unreal Engine 4 since it will allow the game to look like a proper next-gen game, and still let them port it to any system they wish (I expect it to arrive in some form to every console out there).
Next update for this game will be at the upcoming San Diego Comic Convention (July 25), where Harada will debut the full trailer. Damn, it’s About Freakin’ Time.

Tekken 7′s Japanese language teaser.

Warrior Queen Maya returns in KI’s Season 2.

At their panel during EVO 2014, developer Iron Galaxy revealed their second character to come in Killer Instinct’s sophomore season. Set to appear alongside the previously-shown T.J. Combo is the warrior woman Maya, who originally debuted in the original KI2. Just as before, this femme fatale fights using dual daggers, which this time apparently can be leveled up in power, and will entail a bit of risk and reward as these weapons may actually be left on the ground and need to be recovered after some specific attacks.
The character design has also seen a bit of updating- and while I love the stylistic upgrade (gone is the ‘Janet Jackson’ clone look of before’s game), I expect (nope, DEMAND) that her classic ‘Jungle Queen’ look be available, at least as a set in her accessories or alternate costumes. Heheh.

No videos yet shown of Maya in action, but I expect that to arrive soon. Of course, this reveal will surely disappoint fans expecting Cinder (who was assumed to be the one teased at the end of T.J’s trailer), but I am ecstatic to see more of the fairer sex entering the arena for KI. More on this as we get it.

This F2P Time and Money Sink should have stayed lost.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Sigh. I guess it was inevitable, given the apparent failure of Soul Calibur V to meet the expectations of the Namco-Bandai masters. On one hand, that could have been the end of the Tale Eternally Retold right there… and perhaps this would have been better. But nope, NB resurrected their beloved franchise as a zombified version of itself with Soul Calibur: Lost Swords.

Soul Calibur: Lost Swords is a way to get your money. That’s all there is to it.

On Twitter, the Project Soul Twitter continually tries to sell the game with cheesecake poses of the female characters in lingerie or swimsuits, doubtless trying to draw in hot-blooded gamers like Dead or Alive does. In fairness to DOA, at least they sell DLC stuff that builds on an already solid game. Lost Swords is not even that much. The cheesecake does not exist in the game aside from the fan service outfits. The game itself is so bare bones and joyless, it is ridiculous.

Lost Swords has one mode- a single player ‘Quest’ divided into chapters with some useless text blocks of ‘story’ that makes utterly no sense or context- it’s also totally generic to any character, which means it really doesn’t matter. All there is to the game is one-round fights with three or four enemies per chapter. Defeat them to move forward. There are some missions that may unlock a playable character, or get you some gold or items.

Oh, and you start off with just one playable character- Sophitia, the longtime veteran Soul Calibur fighter killed off in SCV. For some reason (perhaps fan rejection of SCV’s killing of their beloved fave) they brought her back for this non-canon Free-to-play garbage- heck, I’ll say it… they brought her back to sell the damn game, of course.

You unlock other fighters in missions that come randomly. You get to play missions by using AP points, which you get periodically. Finishing rounds or chapters nets you chests of stuff (random loot, mostly junk to sell or use for crafting). Losing a round means you have to start over, unless you use a ‘Continue Ticket’. Continue Tickets and AP Potions (which let you play missions) are sold, by the way, for real money. Free to download, but yeah, you are encouraged strongly to pay.

On the one hand, you can play without paying anything. But really, why do that? If you want to play a single player Soul Calibur, why put up with a cut-down roster, no modes, no Character Creation, No NOTHING except load times, load times and load times?

Bottom-line, this Free-to-play time and cash sink is really a disgrace. If you ever loved Soul Calibur and wish to play it, go get a copy of Soul Calibur IV or Soul Calibur V and play to your heart’s content- everything is there to be played, with many modes, varying difficulty, at no charge after you buy the game.
There’s really NO REASON to play this Lost Swords atrocity- no new stuff to be seen, no new characters, no multiplayer, no innovations, no story worth experiencing, NOTHING. Not unless you want to make the soulless gods of Namco Bandai happy that you are throwing money at them.

To play this is to reward laziness and greed. Please don’t.

For shame, Project Soul. First that Tekken Regurgitation crap, and now this. Crap.

Flag-waving Sin is coming to consoles.

It’s been known for some time that the console versions of Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN will be featuring some new characters, and now we know who at least one of them is- Sin Kiske, the son of series’ favorites Ky Kiske and Dizzy. Sin first appeared in the GG spin-off game, Guilty Gear 2: Overture. Being the son of a King and his Gear wife/lover is a bit of a big secret, so Sin was sent off to be taken care of and raised by Ky’s best friend/rival Sol Badguy. Despite being just ten years old(!) chronologically, he looks quite grown.
Sin’s fighting style revolves around his battle standard and ‘full stomach’ meter- using special moves depletes this, and when his belly’s empty he can no longer do specials. Eating something in mid-battle will rectify this.

Sin will have all the trimmings of regular characters, including a part in the Story. It’s not know yet whether Sin will be the only new character added to GGXrd, but we’ll surely see more if gamers want that. The game will be released on PS3 and PS4 this holiday season.

30 Minutes of MGS Awesomeness to come.

It’s a bit late, but I’d like to chime in my thoughts about the next epic chapter of the MGS saga. Behind closed doors, Kojima Productions showed off their upcoming stealth-action sequel at E32014. Thankfully since then, the demo has made its way to Youtube, all 30 or so minutes of it (as you can see above from IGN). All I can say it, wow! Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain looks freakin’ amazing. But it’s quite refreshing to see that despite it looking all photo-realistic, there’s still that Kojima charm and surreal, comicky feel with the goofy but cool ‘Fulton’ gizmo that lets you capture enemy personnel and equipment for your own use. This was already existing in previous MGS games, but actually sending off the stuff you capture via super balloons (and the size of what you can capture is astounding) is off the wall amazing.

So far though the stuff shown is Snake taking on mundane obstacles and enemies- you just know all the freaky stuff like weirdo bosses and wild character designs will show up later. This is definitely a game I will be playing either on my XBox One or my PS4 (when I get it) with utter gusto.