Over the many years, we have seen characters from other games coming into a fighting game. A perfect example is in Street Fighter Alpha, we see Guy from Final Fight joining the cast. Now, I wasn't around during the arcade era but I know that if I were a big Final Fight fan and they bring in one of the fan favourites into another game, I'd definitely be curious to see how he fits in!
In recent games, there have been many guests coming into games such as Soul Calibur II having Link from The Legend of Zelda on the GameCube version, Heihachi from Tekken on the PS2 and Spawn from his own comic. Namco kept up this tradition with Soul Calibur IV having Star Wars characters (which had extremely mixed reactions), Broken destiny on the PSP having Kratos from God of War and now with Soul Calibur V coming out, Ezio Auditore from the Assassin Creed series.
I would make a more detailed history on guest characters in fighting games but I really wanted to express my thoughts on Ezio in Soul Calibur V and comparing it to the Star Wars characters in Soul Calibur IV among some other examples like Street Fighter X Tekken.
Star Wars is a very big franchise with a hexology of films with many spinoffs and game iterations. Even to this day it is still selling with the Bluray release, many Lego Star Wars sets and games and of course the recent MMO The Old Republic. This must've made those many fans interested in Soul Calibur so a very unique marketing scheme especially since they included the new Star Wars character named The Apprentice. He was the main character in the Force Unleashed which was released around that time so it was beneficial for Star Wars fans on a little teaser of a mysterious character.
However, there were many issues with it in that they had played very differently to the rest of the cast so they had been banned in tournaments. Another issue was that there was option for Japanese voices but Yoda and Darth Vader just didn't sound right so you either had to stick with English or put up with it (this is more of a personal problem with it). There were many other problems with them being in the game but I will not speak for everyone that had a problem with it.
I personally didn't mind it as it had the Star Wars music which I liked. It didn't really add much for me but it didn't really take away anything as I never really used them but they had the one thing that made them stand out from the rest of the cast and it is the fact they can use the force. No other character except these three characters could use it so it made them quite powerful if in the right hands as they can control spacing and the distance between them and the opponent.
Now with Soul Calibur V coming out, Ezio is the newest guest character. With the Assassin Creed series having so many fans who are already gamers, I find it is more fitting that he is in. He doesn't have his own separate silly force meter or any particuar mechanics different to other characters making him in my opinion, a viable character in the roster. Sure he has crossbow but with the new system mechanics, it makes it easy to avoid. I believe that he will be a tournament viable character from what I've played so far but really, it comes down to the community to decide whether he should be used in tournaments or not.
From a marketing point of view, he is a brilliant addition as Assassin's Creed is one the of the biggest names in the charts and has a very big fan base. It is almost certain to attract the attention of the Assassin's Creed fans as it is out on both Xbox and PS3 and those are the consoles Soul Calibur V is coming out on so put 2 and 2 together and there are hopefully more sales and if those fans stay, there will be more Soul Calibur V fans which can help drive future Soul Calibur games.
So if you did skip the wall of text, here is my little conclusion:
Ezio is a great addition in my opinion and I think he can fit in tournament play as well as increasing the Soul Calibur fanbase. As to whether the theory meets reality, we'll have to wait and find out!
Thanks for reading
E
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Monday 16 January 2012
What exactly is a fighting game scene?
Something I was thinking about when making a reply on Neo Empire where I was proper angry about the following post:
"If Soul Calibur manz don't go to this event, I have no faith in the SCV scene.
I mean you get free shit if you go.
How can you pass that up?"
I was going to reply with the following:
"Not everyone can go to every event that has Soul Calibur (or any game for that matter) and saying that you have no faith in the scene is damn outrageous. If everyone can go to every event then fine but this is reality where people miss some whether it is location, money, clashes, etc. Anyway, this game is getting a lot of great reception where new faces (including myself) are appearing to make the scene. A scene is not just there out of nowhere, it has to be created."
Then I thought to myself as I was typing out the last bit, what exactly is a 'scene' in fighting games? Is it the number of people who play it competitively? Is it the people who talk about it frequently? Or is it simply something as simple as the number of people that has tried it?
I'm curious on what people call a 'scene' so please leave a reply either on here or on my Twitter and I'll make a little compilation of what people's ideas are.
E
P.S. I do not intend on exposing anyone so if you do find the actual post of the quote, don't mention me if you are going to talk to him about it.
"If Soul Calibur manz don't go to this event, I have no faith in the SCV scene.
I mean you get free shit if you go.
How can you pass that up?"
I was going to reply with the following:
"Not everyone can go to every event that has Soul Calibur (or any game for that matter) and saying that you have no faith in the scene is damn outrageous. If everyone can go to every event then fine but this is reality where people miss some whether it is location, money, clashes, etc. Anyway, this game is getting a lot of great reception where new faces (including myself) are appearing to make the scene. A scene is not just there out of nowhere, it has to be created."
Then I thought to myself as I was typing out the last bit, what exactly is a 'scene' in fighting games? Is it the number of people who play it competitively? Is it the people who talk about it frequently? Or is it simply something as simple as the number of people that has tried it?
I'm curious on what people call a 'scene' so please leave a reply either on here or on my Twitter and I'll make a little compilation of what people's ideas are.
E
P.S. I do not intend on exposing anyone so if you do find the actual post of the quote, don't mention me if you are going to talk to him about it.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Demo review
My first review on this blog! I don't know if I'll do any more, it just comes down to whether I feel like doing one which probably I will when I get to try Skullgirls and Tales of Graces F.
This review will contain no spoilers of the demo.
I played the first FFXIII and I quite liked it as a nice easygoing RPG. Not too difficult only the extra stuff can be tricky like getting 5 stars on every battle in the labyrinth (which I don't think I ever did) and getting the best equipment in the game. It had a very in depth story, a little confusing at times because of the terminology but I got it at the end. Visuals are beautiful as half of it is CG film while the other was quite well done with the in game 3D models.
Now I was never a big Final Fantasy fan as this is the first one I've sat and played through till at least the ending (I tried to do every side quest but PSN came back on :p). The demo this review is on is the PAL PS3 version.
Let's start with the controls. Compared to the first one, it will feel very familiar but one thing that is a bit weird but easy to get used to after a short while is pressing circle to jump. Now I know this might sound a bit silly but in the first one, you couldn't jump so having a button to jump is a little weird. The other change is that when you press R1, you use your little aide character or 'pet' called Mog in place of taking drugs who is used for finding hidden items (which was a really unnecessary feature imo). Now I haven't been keeping up with all the changes with FFXIII-2 but I think he is used as well for grabbing items which can't be reached by you however there wasn't an opportunity to do so in the demo. As for all the other controls, it still is the standard left stick to move character, right stick to move camera, X as an action button, triangle for menu, square for map.
In battle, the controls will feel right at home if you have played the first FFXIII. They say that it has been improved but the only thing I have noticed is that the time from pressing X to the character actually attacking is slightly quicker otherwise it really is the same without the summons. There is still some delay when pressing the action and the character actually going to attack which is annoying.
Now onto the graphics. The demo is introduced with a cutscene showing off the town you will be in using the CG video which still looks brilliant. They have really set the standards on what they can produce in the first Final Fantasy XIII. The opening cutscene shows that they can still keep up the standards of what they did before. After the first cutscene, you are taken into another one which leads to a boss battle and it is a big one. They have in the middle of the battle some QTE (quick time events) where you have to do a certain action in the middle of the battle and if successfully done, it leads to another mini cutscene where you can take off more damage on the opponent or avoid attacks. However, one thing I noticed was that the frame rate drops during these cutscenes so the fluidity of the battle does kind of slow down.
Once the battle is finished, there is a small town in rain. The rain effects are alright but not amazing as the characters don't really change with the water effects like soggy clothes and the lighting of the scene does make it slightly hard to see (but that could be because of my TV) so you may need to change the brightness accordingly. There is also access to a dungeon where enemies would appear after you travelled a certain distance and a pretty cool timer effect in a red zone appears which is pretty cool. The battle effects in a small battle are the same as FFXIII so it is to a high standard but a little disappointing that it isn't updated. Still looks cool none the less. There is one part when you get far enough in the demo where you go into this maze which is set up really well as if you are in a dream place which was set out really well. The menu has been changed slightly so you now see bigger portraits of both characters however, one of the most prettiest parts of the first game in terms of graphics was the crystarium system which unfortunately they have changed completely so it doesn't fill up a track leading to another stone which you can do bit by bit or by holding the X button.
Now the sound. The first one used an orchestra (or sounded like one) doing their music but now they have gone for more electronic sounds which I think is a downgrade. The music isn't very nostalgic at all however that may be because it is just the demo and in that part of the game, it isn't very far into the story as it is only Chapter 2 so no familiar music will be heard.
Now time for the remaining gameplay features which I have missed out. There are many changes that have been made which you can mess about with through the menu. For a start, you can change your leader. In the first one, you couldn't until near the end of the game which is great for employing specific tactics. The crystarium system which was how you got new abilities or changes in stats have also been changed where you have to have at least the right amount of CP in order to get the upgrade otherwise you can't fill it up even part way which you could have done before. This makes it quicker to get through levelling up and things but at the cost of making it all pretty and nicely animated.
Also there is a Pokémon system where you can capture monsters and you can use them in battle as your third character. Each monster has its own class like Ravager, Medic, Sentinel, etc which is an interesting addition as you can level them up through making them take certain things. At first I thought it was like the weapon levelling up system but it actually is that items give certain amount of experience and stat boosts and you need enough of the 1 item to use it on the monster to level it up. Personally, I think it is quite interesting system which can develop a lot of tactics as each monster has different stats, moves to learn, etc which is why I nickname it the Pokémon system.
And finally before the conclusion, monsters drop gil, the currency used in the game which makes acquiring money easier for getting potions, etc instead of getting items of enemies and selling them which was annoyingly tedious especially trying to get high value items that have a low drop rate.
So all in all, it has some improvements and some downgrades but it is overall an improvement. I look forward to seeing and trying out for myself some of the more advanced battle mechanics and tactics.
Out of 10 I give it 8/10 but that is mainly because the first FFXIII had really set the standards especially with the graphics and music so it is very noticeable that they had focused that little bit more on the game mechanics.
E
This review will contain no spoilers of the demo.
I played the first FFXIII and I quite liked it as a nice easygoing RPG. Not too difficult only the extra stuff can be tricky like getting 5 stars on every battle in the labyrinth (which I don't think I ever did) and getting the best equipment in the game. It had a very in depth story, a little confusing at times because of the terminology but I got it at the end. Visuals are beautiful as half of it is CG film while the other was quite well done with the in game 3D models.
Now I was never a big Final Fantasy fan as this is the first one I've sat and played through till at least the ending (I tried to do every side quest but PSN came back on :p). The demo this review is on is the PAL PS3 version.
Let's start with the controls. Compared to the first one, it will feel very familiar but one thing that is a bit weird but easy to get used to after a short while is pressing circle to jump. Now I know this might sound a bit silly but in the first one, you couldn't jump so having a button to jump is a little weird. The other change is that when you press R1, you use your little aide character or 'pet' called Mog in place of taking drugs who is used for finding hidden items (which was a really unnecessary feature imo). Now I haven't been keeping up with all the changes with FFXIII-2 but I think he is used as well for grabbing items which can't be reached by you however there wasn't an opportunity to do so in the demo. As for all the other controls, it still is the standard left stick to move character, right stick to move camera, X as an action button, triangle for menu, square for map.
In battle, the controls will feel right at home if you have played the first FFXIII. They say that it has been improved but the only thing I have noticed is that the time from pressing X to the character actually attacking is slightly quicker otherwise it really is the same without the summons. There is still some delay when pressing the action and the character actually going to attack which is annoying.
Now onto the graphics. The demo is introduced with a cutscene showing off the town you will be in using the CG video which still looks brilliant. They have really set the standards on what they can produce in the first Final Fantasy XIII. The opening cutscene shows that they can still keep up the standards of what they did before. After the first cutscene, you are taken into another one which leads to a boss battle and it is a big one. They have in the middle of the battle some QTE (quick time events) where you have to do a certain action in the middle of the battle and if successfully done, it leads to another mini cutscene where you can take off more damage on the opponent or avoid attacks. However, one thing I noticed was that the frame rate drops during these cutscenes so the fluidity of the battle does kind of slow down.
Once the battle is finished, there is a small town in rain. The rain effects are alright but not amazing as the characters don't really change with the water effects like soggy clothes and the lighting of the scene does make it slightly hard to see (but that could be because of my TV) so you may need to change the brightness accordingly. There is also access to a dungeon where enemies would appear after you travelled a certain distance and a pretty cool timer effect in a red zone appears which is pretty cool. The battle effects in a small battle are the same as FFXIII so it is to a high standard but a little disappointing that it isn't updated. Still looks cool none the less. There is one part when you get far enough in the demo where you go into this maze which is set up really well as if you are in a dream place which was set out really well. The menu has been changed slightly so you now see bigger portraits of both characters however, one of the most prettiest parts of the first game in terms of graphics was the crystarium system which unfortunately they have changed completely so it doesn't fill up a track leading to another stone which you can do bit by bit or by holding the X button.
Now the sound. The first one used an orchestra (or sounded like one) doing their music but now they have gone for more electronic sounds which I think is a downgrade. The music isn't very nostalgic at all however that may be because it is just the demo and in that part of the game, it isn't very far into the story as it is only Chapter 2 so no familiar music will be heard.
Now time for the remaining gameplay features which I have missed out. There are many changes that have been made which you can mess about with through the menu. For a start, you can change your leader. In the first one, you couldn't until near the end of the game which is great for employing specific tactics. The crystarium system which was how you got new abilities or changes in stats have also been changed where you have to have at least the right amount of CP in order to get the upgrade otherwise you can't fill it up even part way which you could have done before. This makes it quicker to get through levelling up and things but at the cost of making it all pretty and nicely animated.
Also there is a Pokémon system where you can capture monsters and you can use them in battle as your third character. Each monster has its own class like Ravager, Medic, Sentinel, etc which is an interesting addition as you can level them up through making them take certain things. At first I thought it was like the weapon levelling up system but it actually is that items give certain amount of experience and stat boosts and you need enough of the 1 item to use it on the monster to level it up. Personally, I think it is quite interesting system which can develop a lot of tactics as each monster has different stats, moves to learn, etc which is why I nickname it the Pokémon system.
And finally before the conclusion, monsters drop gil, the currency used in the game which makes acquiring money easier for getting potions, etc instead of getting items of enemies and selling them which was annoyingly tedious especially trying to get high value items that have a low drop rate.
So all in all, it has some improvements and some downgrades but it is overall an improvement. I look forward to seeing and trying out for myself some of the more advanced battle mechanics and tactics.
Out of 10 I give it 8/10 but that is mainly because the first FFXIII had really set the standards especially with the graphics and music so it is very noticeable that they had focused that little bit more on the game mechanics.
E
Wednesday 11 January 2012
Applying for Young Apprentice 2011
This was for a school magazine but I guess I may as well post it here. The magazine version will be more updated and fixed up with the help of some very enthusiastic future journalists which I may post if people are interested. As for the original, here it is!
Back in 20 May 2009, as ‘The Apprentice’ series 5 had come to a close but in the episode of ‘You’re Fired!’ (the show which breaks down what happened in the episode of ‘The Apprentice’ that was just aired), they announced that they are doing a Junior Apprentice aimed for people aged 16-17 years old. I was only 14 years old going on to 15. I was thinking about whether I should bluff my age just to have the chance to go. I didn’t in the end as I did not have anything to back me up as I looked at the application form which asked for GCSEs and enterprises which I had neither.
I had always watched The Apprentice ever since series 2 (as I didn’t know of it until then). Every time I watched an episode, I was always motivated to prove that I can do a better job of them especially when I see them make silly mistakes or big risks. Before I knew it, at school I have somehow made a reputation for myself selling all sorts of things from stationary, drinks, films, snacks and even clothing! I was even tempted to start up my own online shop but in the end I didn’t as I didn’t want to neglect my studies as it is the facts and qualifications that employers see first on paper that gets me the job, then it is my skills and what I’m capable of.
On 28 August 2010, they announced that they are going to do another series of Junior Apprentice which as soon as I heard about it, I sat staring at the application form screen for a solid half an hour to an hour just to make it as perfect as possible. Months later well into the new year, 29 March 2011 I received an e-mail that they would like to take me another step further into the application process by going for an interview. I was more than joyous when I read the e-mail as I was that one step closer to doing what I do best.
However when the day approached, it was slowly going sour. I had no idea what was going to happen during the interview. I had put on my best suit, borrowed my dad’s trench coat and even had a shave to look the part. I got there half an hour early and there was quite a long queue but that didn’t intimidate me, what did was when I got inside. There were many seats for us to help ourselves to but not enough to fill everyone that was there. I received a piece of paper stating what was to come where I had only minutes to prepare myself for, which is to sell myself within 30 seconds. My mind went blank.
I was searching for achievements, skills, anything that I could use within those few minutes that I had just to make myself different from the others. I had decided to try and think of ways of even make them laugh a little that could relate but it wasn’t enough. When I got called up, I was there with nine other people. Nine other people doing the same thing as me. Nine other people after the same prize. We were randomly assigned a number as we entered a room. Ten contestants, two judges. One judge was a fairly young lady who smiled as we all entered, the other was a man who kept a straight face and had an extremely focused look almost no emotion through the scary looking glasses.
The pressure was on. He explained that he will only choose two people out of us to go another step further into the process for another interview. He also explained that there were over 20000 across the country entries and that less than 1000 were taken for these interviews so we shouldn’t feel ashamed if we don’t get past this as it is an achievement in its self. He did say that he is going to recreate the feeling of the board room where we will be feeling pressured. Before long, it began and he started out calling numbers where we had 30 seconds to say it all.
I wasn’t first fortunately. Or unfortunately depending on how you look at it but either way, as each candidate said their part, I was getting nervous and as he kept calling numbers, I was feeling very hollow. When my number was called out, I almost instantly started with traits about myself talking about how I’m hungry for business with some hand gestures and even talked about what I’ve managed to sell including a bad joke on how I’ve sold so many drinks at school that I had made a hole in my pocket from carrying all the coins (which honestly, I almost did) but before I knew it, there were over 5 seconds left and I was lost for words. The awkward silence made me stutter and lose my composure ending it with a brief statement of “that’s why I should be the apprentice”.
30 seconds is a long time. 30 seconds is a very long time and to improvise on the spot is one weakness that can be turned into a really useful skill in life for not only filling up the 30 second interviews but it can be used anywhere from presentations to even if you are in a board room and on the verge of being fired.
I unfortunately did not get chosen to be taken through but that I could respect as three people stood out as very clear winners from my group in not only the originality of their choice of words, but their nerves and composure were all in order which are very important skills needed for such a process which definitely reflects on how they do in business. The hard part was for them to choose which two to go through so I felt somewhat sorry that the person that did a very good job of selling themselves to not go through while the other two did.
As we left, we were all reminded about the fact making it that far was an achievement which made me then look up and walked out with a smile… as my hands were shaking. I definitely recommend that if you are interested in business or any sort of finance related interests, this is worth applying for as the interview puts you under pressure which is something that will come one day or another if you have high hopes becoming somewhere where Lord Sugar is or even higher. At the end of the day whether you do go through or not, you will learn something about yourself and other people your age.
Monday 9 January 2012
Capcom UK has a new community manager!
Just a quick little post to say that Capcom UK has a new Community Manager! He goes by a variety of names from Dawgtanian, David Hinds or something that might be a lot easier to say, British Seth Killian!
You can follow him @capcomdawg for all your Capcom community needs.
All I know about him is that he already is pretty well known in the fighting game community for his skill in competitive play in Street Fighter IV where he takes part in events and tournaments so he already knows what can go wrong in events as well as being already quite well known in the community.
Hopefully he will do a great job of being the Community Manager of Capcom UK!
E
You can follow him @capcomdawg for all your Capcom community needs.
All I know about him is that he already is pretty well known in the fighting game community for his skill in competitive play in Street Fighter IV where he takes part in events and tournaments so he already knows what can go wrong in events as well as being already quite well known in the community.
Hopefully he will do a great job of being the Community Manager of Capcom UK!
E
Sunday 1 January 2012
Happy New Year!
Hello everyone!
As a new years resolution, I decided to start a blog where I can just ramble on about... well anything and everything that I want to from video games, tournament scenes, food, economics, whatever crosses my mind.
I have started a couple in the past but never kept it up to date but as it is a new year with many things to talk about, I think I will stay dedicated with this one. One particular topic I would like to talk about is guest characters in fighting games and maybe why they one would do so along with many examples.
Please RSS and follow if you have a blogspot account as it will motivate me to keep it up!
Thanks for reading.
E
As a new years resolution, I decided to start a blog where I can just ramble on about... well anything and everything that I want to from video games, tournament scenes, food, economics, whatever crosses my mind.
I have started a couple in the past but never kept it up to date but as it is a new year with many things to talk about, I think I will stay dedicated with this one. One particular topic I would like to talk about is guest characters in fighting games and maybe why they one would do so along with many examples.
Please RSS and follow if you have a blogspot account as it will motivate me to keep it up!
Thanks for reading.
E
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