Shine Your Light

Dang Shining Force CD...

One of the things that I was always disappointed with was that I had a Megadrive but I never could afford a Mega CD. One of the reasons why I wanted one was Eternal Champions CD (see previous blog), the other reason was Shining Force CD.

This game is why I haven't been blogging as much. Thanks Mike Funkin South for hooking me up. Old Skool is better then New Skool.

pP

Phillip meet Phil...

So observant people might see that I now have a contributing writer to both 'Rants & Raves' as well as 'Run: Side by Side'. His name is Phil. Confused? Don't worry I will explain but before I do let's have a quick history lesson.

Now for the longest time I have been using my optusnet email addy as my primary address. I signed up for everything and everywhere with my optusnet email. So my myspace, my facebook and youtube, you get the picture. They were all associated with my optusnet email. However for the longest time I always wanted to get rid or at least associate less things with my optusnet. One, it is an Australian email addy and the part after the @ was long and hard to explain to people. I mean optusnet.com.au, people are puzzled by the optusnet (since Optus is an Australian phone company that doesn't operate around the world) and second the au (standing for Australia) at the end had people thrown off as well. Another major issue I had with my optusnet was when I signed up for optusnet, the person whom set up my account, put my name down as Philip, yep with one L when my name is Phillip. So another problem emerged when I gave away my email address to anyone. People be like "Phillip, so it's one L as per your email?" and I will have to say "no it's two L's... the dude whom set me up, messed up". Annoying? yes it was.

So a couple weeks ago, inspired by how useful gmail was as I used another account, I decided to create a gmail address. I decided to make my gmail address a main address for all my stuff as well as a representation for my budding company. Hence apocryphicvisions@gmail.com was born. No more one L, no more optusnet, no more au. Gmail is a well known email provider now, it is up there with yahoo and hotmail. After that I started to associate all my websites I visted/ accounts with my gmail instead of my optusnet so it would force me to use it a lot more (I had another gmail account, many moons ago which feel into disrepair because I didn't use it due to reliance on my optusnet. I did not wanted to make that mistake again). A couple of them were easy as pie and now all my stuff is linked in a nice little bow. I can now be reading my latest email and automatically login to my YT account with a click of a button.

Then I noticed something. Blogger was one of the last things I signed up with my optusnet. An annoyance is when I am logged into my blogger under my optusnet email, my gmail and automatically log me out because of Goggles' multiple account/ one login theory. I would be flying blind if I was in middle of a long blog (which I do write) I could not know if I received a email in my gmail account, unless I logged out of my blogger first. It became a hassle and I wanted to not have to do it anymore.

So I tried to do what I have done with all my other sites/ account. Stop associating optusnet with blogger and associate it with my gmail instead and then we hit what I must say is the retarded thing ever. Goggle won't let me change my primary email address from optusnet to my gmail. Nope, no dice. I have no idea why it is like this but it is and it is annoying as Hell.

Hence we come back to original statement. It turns out I can't associate my gmail with my optusnet blog BUT I can make my gmail account a 'contributor'. Hence Phillip (optusnet) and Phil (gmail). Now I can check my emails, whilst surfing YT, whilst writing a blog on blogger. I just can't make any major changes unless I log into my 'primary' email address.

Ta da!!

pP

P.S now all I need to do is explain people who want my email addy how to spell Apocryphic... it's not that hard LOL

Raves: Eternal Champions CD

So I said in my last blog entry that Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side was a massive improvement over its predecessor and no truer words have ever been said.

Eternal Champions: CftDS or Eternal Champions CD was developed for the Sega CD/ Mega CD (UK/Aus/Japanese owners) and off the bat, the developers took advantage of the Sega CD's Full Motion Video (FMV) abilities and rendered two impressive intros. The first was an introduction to 'Deep Water' which was supposed to be a sub-division for Sega games which pushed the envelope in terms of violence and mature themes. The gore followed images of a shark eating people abandoned on a raft was shocking to say the least.

Then the story of EC was told via FMV, in the previous entry, this story was told via a scrolling text but this time around we actually saw the nine protagonists in full 3D. To add to the fact that the game was a sequel, it also introduced the new characters. The 4 brand new fighters all stayed true to the games roots, when ether it was Rames the III, a Pharaoh or Raven, a witch doctor and the true villain of the series, the Dark Champion. The scene was set.

EC: CD is the perfect example of learning from your mistakes. EC was a decent game but it lacked a lot of things. EC: CD rectified most of these. First you could actually continue when you loss in the tournament (yah), no more being sent back to re-fight previous battles. The A.I. was still difficult (Larcen and Xavier are the Kings of anti-air for example) but now manageable.

The ying/yang special bar still existed but EC: CD added tons of new moves for each character that did not drain the bar or as much as other moves. The A.I. was still able to spam special moves with no special bar but hey, you can't have everything. Another major change was inclusion of proper combos and the concept of 'power' combos.

EC had 'combos' but EC: CD has combos that resembles other popular fighting games (SF, KOF, MK) where you can chain jump ins into low, standing moves into special moves. One could also juggle an airborne opponent for an extra hit too which was another nice inclusion. EC: CD took the concept to the next level and in a move which I say was a first of its kind (before KOF, SF, MK), a player could chain one special into another special (much like SF's special into super cancel but EC: CD was way before SF: EX, the first game to implement the concept). These big combos usually lead to a 'power' combo which the game awards you for doing with a corresponding SFX and a couple seconds of unlimited ying/yang special bar. Cutting a power combo on opponents was a satisfying thing and getting rewarded for it was like icing on the cake.

So these changes in game play were very welcomed. Aesthetically the game looked a little better. FMV ending/ bad ending were added for each character on top of some brand new backgrounds. The creators was also much like MK in that they loved secrets i.e Easter Eggs and whilst EC had overkills (stage triggered fatalities), EC: CD again took this to the next level. Making sure they earned the mature rating it was given, EC: CD included modified overkills from the original (with a lot more blood in some cases), brand new sudden deaths (another stage triggered death sequence which is obtained under different circumstances), vendettas (characters exclusive fatalites) and cine-kills where if you fulfill the correct circumstances, the Dark Champion would appear and in FMV style, will kill your opponent in a devious way (exposing the vampire, Midnight to sunlight for example). All these finishers have to be seen to be believed. They did not break the game tho and some of them required some real specific circumstances so they were the exception and not the norm way of finishing a match. Then you have the secret characters and in EC tradition, even the secret characters have a long detailed back story even if the hidden character is an Owl or a Monkey, yes I said a monkey. Only in EC lol!

I have mentioned the Dark Champion and he is the new hidden boss as well. The Eternal and Dark Champion still had to be beaten multiple times (Eternal gaining 4 extra animal forms, so you have to beat him 9 times with one life bar which gets replenished slightly every win) and the Dark Champion uses natural disasters like fire storms, lighting, earthquakes and more. He had to be beaten 9 times as well. Also just like the original, if you lose to either, it's game over, no continues. So for the people who love the challenge, it still exists. It's just not as un-fair in this one.

So overall EC: CD is a massive improvement and I really can't stop raving about it as you can see. It is sad through because one of the expected improvements actually did not happen. With the move to CD, most people were expecting even better music like how Sonic CD and Ecco CD both have lush multi instrument tracks. EC already had great music to me and I figured it could only get better. It did not and in my opinion, the music is the worse thing in EC: CD which is a shame. EC: CD greatest insult to me was removing the awesome title and bio music and replaced it with 'something'. Even character songs have been changed for the worse. It is a small flaw in such an awesome game tho so I do overlook it.

EC: CD comes highly recommend. It is a shame that it was released for the Sega CD so it never got the market and acclaim it deserved but with the wonderful world of emulation, nearly anyone can experience it and give it a go. Trust me, it might not be SF and it can not be played competitively (too many infinites and damaging scaling is non existent) but it is definitely a fun game.

Sega of America was even planning on making a third one for the Saturn but because of Virtua Fighter emergence and Japan's lack of interest in the game it never came to be. I for one would have love to seen it, if the game improved so much over just one game, one can only imagine how much better it the third one would have been.

As it stands, EC: CD is a lost gem and deserves to be discovered and enjoyed.

pP

Raves: Eternal Champions (Original)

FINALLY lol that was frustrating as hell. Sorry y'all but the last couple days I have been trying to add a YT video to my blog and it just wasn't working. I original started with an essay and when that didn't go through, I did a more simply test and that didn't go through so I just ended up typing test and viola... it finally works.

Anyway, it has been awhile since my last 'rave'. The subject of this rave is Eternal Champions. The original Genesis/ Megadrive (as we called it in Australia) version. EC has one of the coolest soundtracks and one of my favorite songs is the song it played during each characters biography. The song is so pimp that Bone Thugs N Harmony (Ohio stand up!) even sampled it for one of their songs.

Eternal Champions was released back in 1993. It was touted as Sega's in house answer to Street Fighter 2 and in a lot of it's ads it seemed like EC was mocking SF II. However for all it's bravura, it was not so and SF has continued to a be a Juggernaut in the gaming industry and EC has faded to obscurity. EC has some awesome stuff tho. First are the characters, each character were fully fleshed out protagonists with long back stories. When ether it be Shadow, the female assassin or Trident, the merman from Atlantis. It was not just the characters too, each protagonist practiced a real martial art, where ever it be Savate (Jetta) or Muey Thai (R.A.X.) and the game explained the history behind their art as well. It was detailed and the storyline was different. It wasn't just a tournament to see who was the best, it was a tournament to determine who deserved a second chance at life.

The graphics were detailed and the stages were lush, especially for a GEN/ MD game. EC also had a very innovative system of performing special moves where all moves were charge motion attacks (think Guile from SF) or multiple button inputs. Add a very detailed and fun to muck around with training mode, multi playing modes like tournament, kumite and more. It had tons of good stuff.

Also I have already added my favorite song from the OST above but the whole games music was very nice as well. The intro song and biography song especially stick in my head even when I am not playing the game.

The only problem tho was the game play, Eternal Champions had issues. LOL I am being nice, it had major issues. Anyone whom has played it will understand what I mean.

EC Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) was one of the most frustrating computers to fight against back in the day. LOL it's like Western programmers don't know how to make a game challenging but they know how to make a game cheap (hello Mortal Kombat 2 as well). I like a good challenge. It is why I love playing Ninja Gaiden Black, one of the most challenging hardest games ever but EC was ridiculous. Add to the fact that the A.I. also lets you opponent cheat. EC tried to be innovative with a ying/yang bar, that goes away as you perform special moves. You do a really damaging attack, your ying/yang bar suffers as a result and it will take awhile to come back. Now if the A.I. would actually respect the rules of the game, it would have been fair but nope. Even when the computer's ying/yang bar is tapped out, it can still perform all of it's attacks, you however ain't got nothing to work with but basic attacks and throws (which can't be broken). When certain characters like A.I. Trident can continuously put out his force fields which really messes us your game even when he should not be able too, it gets a bit frustrating.

Add the fact that EC does not have the conventional continue method. If you lose to someone, you get sent back a couple matches. So example, you are at player # 6, Jetta. Jetta pwns you (very hard to beat, always speeding up (as mentioned above without loss to her ying/yang bar) you then get sent back to player #3, Larcen (who is also a bish to fight). You then have to fight Larcen all over again, Player # 4 and Player # 5 and then you get your rematch with Jetta. WTF?! It's like by trying to be innovative, the creators made it retarded.

Oh and don't get me started about the last boss, the Eternal himself. Dude's first form already cheats with a invicibility move and then you have to proceed to beat his other 4 forms...with one life bar. Each form get proceeding cheaper too, his shark form especially and then ultimate grand daddy of B.S, if you lose two rounds to the Eternal, it's game over and you get the bad ending automatically. Nope you don't get sent back, you don't get a chance to continue. It is over.

LOL you now you are probably thinking, is this really a rave, it sounds more like a rant and I got to be honest, this game really lives up to my blog title. It is a rant and a rave but it's more of a rave because flaws and all, I still like this game. I still enjoy mucking around with it. I love the music, the characters, the setting. It's one of the fighting games where you actually want to see each characters' endings cause they are so involving.

EC was one of the many niche games I really got into back in the day. It and Primal Rage (another quirky fighting game with quirky special moves) were def played a lot by me. It had its issues but it was still a fun game. Now in the next part I will rant about its sequel and boy, talk about upgrade you...

pP

Side by Side

Just a quick plug for my new blog "Run: Side by Side".

This blog will run concurrently with 'Run' and will act as a companion piece. Basically all the stuff I usually reserve for my appendix will be in this.

If you really want to get the full story behind 'Run' I will reconmend you check it out.

http://avisionspresentrun.blogspot.com/

NOTE: If you are interested in reading 'Run' in it's draft stage, let me know.

pP

Welcome to the Running Hurricane.

Hah, that is such a stupid title but I like it. So the last couple days have been busy. I have updated my blog to reflect something more along my taste (lots of black and purple and some red). Today I have updated all my music players on my main sites, more on that later.

So the current songs on my blog and why I picked them.

Welcome to Heartbreak by Kanye West: Now I must admit I (among with a lot of others) looked at Kanye with a lot of doubt when he announced that he wanted to make an album purely with what is really killing hip-hop right now, auto-tune. However when he first premiered 'Love Lockdown' at one of the most tedious MTV award shows (MTV can't make a decent award show to save their life it seems) I was not that annoyed. If anything I did not mind it on first listen. On subsequent listens I actually began to like the song and then soon it actually started being played regularly on my window media player/ Flippa's (my nickname for my phone) mp3 player.
He then released 'Heartless' which I actually did not mind either and now 'Welcome to Heartbreak'. All three of these singles are not as bad as I thought they would be and Kanye has done something I did not think he could do anymore, surprise me. Kid Kudi, the singer on the song makes it awesome tho in my opinion. Now I wonder if 808s and Heartbreaks would be more of the same (which I might like) or will it re-enforce why I hate auto-tune. If anyone has a copy they would like to share, holla atcha boy eh?

Run- Leona Lewis: I LOVE Leona Lewis. First her voice reminds me of a old skool Mariah Carey (i.e. before she became a sex kitten), with how she can effortlessly control her tone and hit those crazy high notes. Bleeding Love is a song that I can never get tired of hearing, it is timeless and the reason why me and my wife picked up her album during our honeymoon. We definitely did not regret that choice that is for sure. 'Run' however is not from her US released album, it is actually from a deluxe UK version. When I first heard it, I feel in love with it. It was dark and moody and video fitted it so well that I could not get it out of my head.
Second. I am working on a short story called 'Run' and this song just gets me in the mood to write it.
Third. One of my favorite fighting game characters of all time is called Leona heh.
Props to Snow Patrol for the original version but Leona is what makes me love this song.

After the Hurricane- Jazmine Sullivan: When Jazmine first came out with 'Need U Bad' I liked her but it was follow up single 'Bust Your Windows' that made me sit up and notice her. That song alone made me want to buy her album and I was able to and at the same time give my lovely wife a nice Christmas present at the same time... yah! Her album is another wise purchase and 'After the Hurricane' is a great song on an album with a lot of great songs.
Oh and just like how I already had an idea to use 'Fix You' and then Brothers & Sisters used it, I was determined to use 'After the Hurricane' on my next player and then recently another show I watch, 'The Game' used it... this is extra funny because 'After the Hurricane' is not even a released single... kismet again I guess.

So before I mentioned my other 'main sites'... those of course being Myspace and Facebook. Both whom have new music on them as well which are completely different then each other and this blog as well. If you want the full scope of what is on my mind radio, make sure you check out those sites as well.

pP