The Lone Gamer

Playable in TTT2 Console? She’d better be.

WHOA! Looks like Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is starting to make some waves online again. Just recently, the above render of TTT2′s gorgeous goo-covered final boss, Unknown, appeared online. But heck, that she’d be playable and in the console version of Tekken Tag 2 is kinda expected. Well, Harada has been saying for a while now that the home version of TTT2 will have a LOT more fighters- more than 50, and here’s what looks like the first solid looks at perhaps some of these newcomers. The images below have supposedly been leaked online originally from Gamespot (they’ve since been taken down), showing pretty legit-looking (and downright awesome) renders of long-time MIA Tekken characters Kunimitsu, Ogre and Angel. Are these indeed our first look at TTT2′s console challengers? If so… FREAKIN’ AWESOME. You can find larger versions of these character arts over at Shoryuken.

Shrek’s back! Now players can finally have their Ogre/True Ogre tag team. Yikes!

The Manji renegade is back and looking even hotter than ever.

Elysium- er, Angel is back and looking fine. Hoping she’s not just a Mishima clone this time around.

We’ll need to hear actual confirmation from Harada, which should be forthcoming… perhaps we’ll see these returning faces in action during next months’ E3? I really hope these guys all have unique fighting styles. My, oh my… June is turning out to be quite an exciting month. More as we get it then!

Once past the Gates of Hell (aka Logging In), Diablo III is… actually fun!

Yeah, I’ve already ranted my head off here and on Twitter about my Diablo III woes at the start. Buying the game was no problem, and actually constituted a cool lunch-out foodtrip. But thereafter, I was unable to play the game later that night since I couldn’t log in (since D3′s servers were full). Can’t log in, can’t play. Waaa. Feh.
Anyways, the second day was better though- logging in then was quick and I was in Sanctuary finally, ready to kick demon butt as a buff, white-haired babe (Female Monk). Now, I actually didn’t play the Beta, though I did see a few vids of that on Youtube. Still, as I clicked my female fury through Old Tristram Road to New Tristram, killed off the zombies besieging the town and explored the Old Ruins… it all just felt… by the numbers. Well, again, I have been seeing this part over and over and over for months, so no wonder it didn’t exactly excite me. Still, being the one clicking and walking around was cool. In actuality, despite the 3D makeover and the spiffy art, Diablo III feels and plays a LOT like Diablo II. ZOUNDS! Still pretty simple and clickety-clicky. Enemies seemed to cave fast from my Monk’s electrifying punches. Kinda weird though that I could arm myself with swords and such, but still just basically punch in my attack animations. Eh.

Also a bit weird to hear my Heroine talk- been playing silent protagonists for far too long. There’s quite a bit of spoken dialogue in D3, which is good- along with the speech of townspeople and other NPCs, you even find books and journals which relate some side story or lore of the land, kinda like the audio diaries of games like Bioshock (and its clones). Overall pretty well and good… though I am finding the Monk a bit too Girl Scout Goody-Goody. Well, she IS a Holy Warrior after all.

Day 3 found me penetrating the old Cathedral in the hopes of finding the missing Deckard Cain. My ultimate goal of course was The Fallen Star, that weird comet thing that we are shown crashing into Tristram’s church in the gorgeous opening cinematic. Once I found Cain, I also found Act 1′s probable Boss, albeit I wouldn’t face him in battle just yet. Back to town with the old Codger and some side questing. On that, looks like there will be a lot of other little missions to do aside from the main quest- I don’t expect this to be as extensive as in other recent RPGs, but that’s a nice bit. Oh, and stages seem to respawn quite quickly, so there’s always stuff to kill. Nice!

Well, what can I say? Once past the Always-Online BS, Diablo III looks and plays familiar and that should please or put off gamers depending on what they’re expecting/looking for. I don’t mind the nostalgia and the similarities- I just want a diabolically good hack-and-slash action adventure with lots of satisfying monster killing, leveling up, awesome gear and loot, and amazing cinemas at the end for my troubles. Not really looking for much aside from that, so if there’s more it will be a pleasant surprise.
This really isn’t a review- it’s pretty certain that people are going to get Diablo III, and that’s that. Enjoy it for what it is, try out every character and wring out all the fun you can. Diablo IV won’t be here anytime soon.
Between this and the fact that I am STILL playing Skyrim, I guess I’m all set to pass the time easily until my much-awaited VF5 Final Showdown arrives in early June. Whoopie!

ELBOW. ELBOW. SHOULDER. ELBOW. Winner, Akira.

WHOA, what’s this? Another Character Countdown? And for a series whose name doesn’t rhyme with Smekken? ZOUNDS!
Well, why not? I’ve found that doing this kind of article series not only proves entertaining for both me and readers- it’s also a great way to pass the time. And passing the time is something I really want to do since the release of the awesome Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown is so close but also so far away. So here, a countdown series featuring the blokes and babes of Sega’s flagship fighter, the Virtua Fighter series. I imagine that even veteran beat ‘em up fans may not be totally acquainted with the VF crew, unless they made it a point to read up on them. Well, let’s fix our collective VF ignorance and get to know the combatants in the Next Big Fighting Game to hit our consoles next month.

So, to start the ball rolling, why not kick things off with VF’s Poster Boy- the franchise’s ‘Ryu’ and the Main Guy; a frighteningly powerful fighter… so frightening he scares off gamers from even trying to use him! He’s the Hakkyokuken Master, Akira!

AKIRA YUKI
Distinguishing Features: Japanese male of exceptionally fit physique, usually dressed in a plain, unspectacular martial arts gi and matching headband. Basically he’d be Ryu who actually gets to bathe and change clothes more often (or is it less rarely?).

Strengths: Shoulders and elbows that can crack concrete. Akira is the epitome of efficient, explosive movement. Very intimidating… fighters have been known to pass out from fear even before his elbow hits their jaw. In the right hands, Akira can destroy his opponent faster than you can say ‘WTF?!’

Weaknesses: So many think he’s so hard to learn, few dare try to use him. Does indeed require at least a fair level of skill on the part of the player to use effectively. Not the most exciting fighter to watch since he’s so darn methodical and to the point in his attacks. Hotheaded and impulsive; a bit naive and uncomfortable in social events outside of martial arts.

Background: A fighter who’s been competing in the World Fighting Tournament in VF since the very beginning, Akira was raised from childhood training in his family’s dojo, mastering the art of Bajiquan/Hakkyoku Ken. He continually trains and yearns to fight strong opponents in order to test his skills and uncover his own flaws and shortcomings.

Ryu Who? Akira’s resemblance to Streetfighter’s main man may or may not be a coincidence, or it may just be indicative of the stoic, ‘The Fight is All’ archetype that he represents. He’s that kind of character, totally dedicated to his calling, the fight, the school and the secret of True Strength. In other words, this guy may be a monster in the fighting tournaments, but he’s probably clueless in pretty much every other arena or social gathering. He is, after all, the model after which the Champion of Blandness, Ryo Hazuki of Shenmue, was inspired from. Heck, he’s got a gorgeous lady (Aoi Umenokoji) basically throwing herself at him (probably hand and feet first though), and they’re strictly platonic. Nope, just like Ryu, Akira’s sight is squarely on the horizon. I honestly don’t believe he actually expects his journey to ever end. When that actually happens, he’s probably gonna die.

On that note, it also doesn’t appear that Akira has any inkling or awareness of the unsavoury, sinister goings-on with the organization holding the World Fighting Tournament- Judgement Six. However, he’s such a significant player that he’s sure to be a thorn in the bad guys’ side if he finds himself in the way between J6 and their intended targets. For as pure and one-dimensional as Akira may seem to be, one thing that is also sure is that this guy is a hero- an unwary hero, still looking for his potential, but a hero nonetheless.

Akira has always been known as the character in VF that requires an ‘Almost Zen-like Dedication’ to master. I think that may not be entirely false, but it’s also not totally true. In fact, it seems that like many aspects of Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, Akira’s skills have been made more accessible and usable by players who are at least open to putting a wee bit more effort into learning. The Tutorial mode in VF5FS, which comes complete with timings and frame data, should be perfect tools for anyone to master even the infamous ‘Stun Palm of Doom’. In short, don’t be scared away from Akira, and give him a try when VF5 Final Showdown hits this June. Then you may find everyone in fear of your skills.

‘Um, Pai… would you go out on a da… er… uh… IF I DEFEAT YOU, YOU PAY FOR MY DINNER, AGREED??!’

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown comes to PSN and XboxLive this coming June 5-6, 2012.

Fast Tube by Casper
People are experiencing Hell with Diablo III… and not in a good way.

Yesterday was the release day for the long-awaited click-happy dungeon crawler sequel, Diablo III. It was a worldwide release, and I had anticipated a tricky experience in grabbing a copy given the long lines I experienced several weeks ago when Mass Effect 3 was released. So me and a fellow gamer dude took a lunch out to forage for our ticket back to Tristram. Well, this kinda didn’t happen- for starters I guess copies were in abundant supply in any gamestore, so even if there was a relatively short line of buyers, we weren’t in any danger of leaving without a copy.

Well, that was the easy part, turns out. The hard part of getting into Diablo III was due to login issues. As we’ve known for a while, Diablo III requires itself to be always-online; to play you have to log in and stay logged in; that’s even if you’re not playing coop or even remotely interested in any of the public features like the auction and such. And so, yesterday, as quite gamely brought to us by online game sites and news, countless players couldn’t play since Blizzard’s servers were full, down or such. This, I think, just straight up SUCKS. When I want to play Diablo III, I want to play it immediately, not having to freakin’ QEUEU up for an hour or so. What the hell was Blizzard thinking? This is really suckage to the Nth Degree.

I am so glad that Skyrim, for example, can be played offline with no problem. But Nooo… Prima Donna Diablo III won’t let you play or even do crap if there’s even a hint of server glitchiness. BAH. DOUBLE BAH.

This is going to stab Blizzard in the freakin’ ass, mark my words. Making D3 always-online? BAD IDEA. Whoever thought this up should be ashamed. SHAME ON YOU. BAH.

Anyway, haven’t been able to play yet. I’ll try again tonight. So for now I’ll be staying away from the hours of playthroughs now sprouting up like demon hordes on Youtube. Meh. I’ll be clicking enemies into oblivion in due time. Maybe. If the game lets me. BAH.

On to other games in terms of Customization! A recent image surfaced online that was apparently taken from an upcoming batch of DLC for Soul Calibur V. The image included a large amount of items/costume pieces, including armor from Hilde and Astoroth and the Tekken Tag 2 costumes for Asuka and Jun Kazama. Now, it would be freakin’ awesome if the next DLC indeed included the huge amount of stuff in the image, but I’d be satisfied with just the additional Player character and Tekken costumes seen in it. This past DLC pack for SCV was pretty boring as heck (fireman uniform? Really?), but this upcoming bunch looks pretty promising.
Daishi Odashima on Twitter has said that the next update of DLC is coming on May 22. We’ll see then. You can see a nice pic of the SCV items over at Fighter’s Generation.

Fast Tube by Casper
The VF Fighters sure know how to celebrate a win, don’t they?

Even if Virtua Fighter has never been known for giving much emphasis to narrative (but there IS a serious storyline behind all the fighting), the series isn’t lacking in terms of personality and character for it’s roster of brawlers. Character intros and outros/victory screens are always full of fun and cool/funny antics, and up above is an awesome video by Japanese Youtuber and VF Player LadyVF that has compiled a good number of them. Since these are from the Japanese arcade version, most gamers probably haven’t seen most of these crazy victory screens, and some of them are quite hilarious.
These win animations are enabled when you equip certain items on your character via customization, so they’re kinda similar to Item Moves from Tekken- although here they’re used after the fight is won. Also, quite a few of the fighters have been customized to cosplay as characters from other franchises- anime, other games, movies. See if you can recognize them all!

Sadly not all of these cool cutscenes might make it into the console version (the ones with banners full of Kanji probably are Japan-only), but most should find their ways to gamers once VF5FS and it’s accompanying DLC arrive this coming June 5. Darn, I can’t wait!!!

Fast Tube by Casper
Gamespot sends you to VF Boot Camp.

With the release of Sega’s uber brawler, Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, just a little over three weeks away, I think it would be to a beat ‘em up fan’s best interest to get acquainted with this game’s system. Unlike Tekken, VF5FS runs with a three-button setup: Punch, Kick and Guard. You sidestep with the joystick (tap up or down), so similarities with NB’s fighter are there. However, every single fighter in the 19-strong lineup is unique, with their own individual fighting style, combos, flavor and tempo.

It may seem daunting, but don’t fear- VF5FS has been streamlined and refined to be a lot easier to get into, and the action very easy to discern and figure out. You really don’t have to play the original VF5 (still available on disc for PS3 and Xbox360) to get into FS- there have been so many changes, they’re pretty much very different games. I’d go as far as saying that FS is a ‘Tekken-ized’ version of VF5, complete with it’s own version of Bound (Bounce) stuns and combo-extending moves.

A good place to start off is by watching the vid above- which shows off more than nine minutes of gameplay from VF5FS’s Training mode, which is sure to be a a boon to newbie players getting into the VF style. Trust me- this game rewards you more the more you put in. It’s only a few weeks to fighting awesomeness, so prep yourselves… this is gonna be something else.

Fast Tube by Casper
This latest trailer for VF5FS shows what you’ll be getting come June.

Damn this is great news! I’ve been waiting for VF5 Final Showdown to come home for about a year now, and now it’s about three weeks away. Sega has just announced a release date for their Download-Only Five-Star Beat ‘em Up; Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown will be ready for download this coming June 5, 2012 on PSN and XboxLive. WOOHOO! Prior to today, speculation on a release has been ranging to as late as end of June- but with the game’s Release Party set for this coming May 19, this only makes sense.

Aside from the original VF5 Crew, Final Showdown gives us two new fighters. Taka-arashi is a returning sumo wrestler from VF3. Jean Kujo is a sinister-looking French fighter who uses a brutal form of karate.

The main game will be priced at $14.99 on PSN or 1,200 MS Points on XBL. This means all the available characters and their default outfits, all the stages and modes of play. As for customization, all alternate costumes and items are paid DLC. You can either get individual character customization packs priced at $4.99 (PSN) or 400 MSP (XBL) each or in two big bunches (each having 9-10 characters’ customs) worth $14.99/1,200 MSP each.
Take note though if you feel like penny-pinching… Character customization packages for VF5FS aren’t like in Streetfighter X Tekken or SSFIV where you get, oh- one or two costumes for a few dollars. It’s not even like Soul Calibur V, where you get several items for your money. NOOOOO… in VF5FS when you buy the character package, that’s ALL the customizations a character has (supposedly), accumulated over the course of several years in arcades- which amounts to about 600-900+ items for EACH fighter. That’s tops, bottoms, face items, eye items, hand items, foot items, hairstyles, headgear, back items, waist stuff and more… literally, the WORKS. Now, THAT is how customization and worthwhile DLC is done!
All in all, both the game and all Customizations still totals to less than a disc-release game. I think that’s a pretty good deal.

Man, even though VF5FS is really an upgrade to a game that has been out since 2006 or so, it’s a steal at the price given. If you’re into fighting games, this is a no-brainer purchase… there ain’t a fighter deeper, more polished or more value-filled than this one, people. THIS is the real deal. DAMN it’s a great time to be a fighting game fan!

For the full Sega press release, go on over to VFDC’s forum thread over here.

MAN, this is great. Just three weeks to Fighting Nirvana. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve been waiting for this game more than any other beat ‘em up for a long, long time. Once this is on my PS3, I will be pretty happy for the foreseeable future. And what a damn awesome birthday present for myself as well. HAHA!

Remember what your character was back then?

The first time I saw Diablo 2 was over the counter at a local comic shop, being played by the owner/manager (and my eventual friend). I started off just ridiculing the way he’d sit there, looking blankly at the little objects moving on the monitor, the only movement in his body being on his fingers, clicking away like mad on the mouse, slaaughtering hordes of frisky Fallen, underdressed Corrupted Rogues and what other monstrosity the game saw fit to throw at him. This eventually evolved to growing interest on my part, to rabid questioning, to eventually me making up some excuse to purchase my own desktop computer. Before I knew it, I was clicking away myself on the quest to destroy the Prime Evil.

My first character was a Paladin- the dusky-skinned armored champion with the buffing auras and the fancy sword swings. I guess that reflected my white knight personality of the time. I was fascinated as well by the Necromancer and having a small army of underlings to follow you around, but I never did get used to managing the pets well enough. When the Expansion arrived, I naturally gravitated to the Assassin- yeah, even then I had a thing for hot babes in skimpy outfits. Kinda overpowered, I guess- Baal was a cakewalk with the Teleport Kick. Was my Assassin chick named Kitana? I don’t remember.

I remember the hours and hours I played, clicking and clicking, organizing the puzzle-like interface of the inventory, figuring our the Horadric Cube, breaking into the infamous Cow Level… good times. It’s kinda odd to realize that Diablo 2 was a pretty linear game, with relatively small, closed stages that now seem quite small compared to the huge open worlds given to use today by games like Skyrim. You interacted with very few NPCs- mostly merchants and mercenary captains, the pivotal NPC and the occasional stranger. The story as well was pretty minimal, told only in some lines of in-game dialogue, and mostly via the game’s awesome (quite awesome at the time) cinematic cutscenes. Again, not that much narrative compared to the relatively huge volumes of text and narrative in more contemporary RPGs.

What I’m saying is, as much as I am excited for Diablo III, I’m a bit worried. Will the incessant, frantic clicking, kill-and-explore action gameplay of this classic series still hold the same appeal as it did before? Surely… not. We’ve moved on since then, seen bigger things. Seen greater things. But nostalgia should be enough to get us to play- it’s up to Blizzard to have refreshed their game since then to stand up to today’s gamer demand.

I’ve no doubt that D3 will be a best-seller, as much as Starcraft 2 was. I wonder why it needs to be constantly online. I wonder what character class I’ll use first and what I’ll love or hate. I wonder at what story this will tell and how improved the narrative will be. I wonder if Old Deckard Cain will still be around at the end of this game. So many questions.

Just four more days then.

Fast Tube by Casper
This should whet your appetite a bit for May 15.

Diabolical hack-and-slash RPG sequel, Diablo III, is almost upon us. But as we count the days till we are clicking like crazy again, here’s a short animated film based on events prior to the game’s timeline, portraying a pivotal battle (and aftermath of said battle) between the forces of Light and Darkness. Brought to us by the animators of Metalocalypse and Aeon Flux, it’s quite full of eye candy, although I prefer seeing action with more human characters, but this is pretty much in the flavor of the franchise. So check it out for more than six minutes of demon-killing action that should get you psyched up for launch day.