(SPOILERS) Pokémon Black and White 2: Review.

When I say that Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 revolutionises 'Pokémon' in general, I am NOT kidding.

The Story is stellar. We get to revisit a 2 year shifted Unova, and see improvements here and there, and we get to observe the changes in the characters we've grown to love.

*cough* 'sup?

Pokémon Black and White 2 'Pre-Release' tourney tips.

HEY GUYS~

Trivia: Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 are the first main series Pokémon games with numbers!

Anyway, I've decided to release a mini-guide with regards to the Release Tourney taking place tomorrow, Sunday.
Now, the rules are simple.

The Amazing Su-paidaman!

SO, Deborah and I went to watch The Amazing Spiderman in theatres 2 days ago, and I have to say that I really really loved it.
I wasn't expecting to, honestly. Marvel movies usually make me cringe at the continuity errors.

Dude, then why the fuck do you LIKE THIS MOVIE?!!?!?!?

I'll list out the reasons why I love the movie...
but...I will sum it up. In one. Sentence.

They. Brought back. Web Shooters.

FUCK YES.

YA FUCK YOU AND YOUR ORGANIC SHOOTERS.

:okay:

"Dude, that shit has been KNOWN for ages, didn't you watch the trailers?!"
I DID, Only the teaser ones. BUT...I wasn't looking forward to this whatsoever. I DIDN'T BOTHER TO FOLLOW DEVELOPMENT FOR THIS MOVIE!

Ever since Tobey Maguire Spiderman? I kinda lost faith in the Spiderman franchise. Tobey Maguire Spider pussified the actual Spiderman image, imo.
Especially you know. It's because of the 2002 movie they fucking made that whole retarded story line with The Queen?

Bitch.

JUST for the Organic Webslingers. Idiots.

Srsly. At the point of which you see him inventing the webshooters? I just SQUEE-D. Deborah had to shut me up when I was commenting and squeeing.

Oh btw? I wore a Batman shirt to watch Spiderman. xD

Until then, may you always have faith in your superheros!

-Ry

Avacyn Restored Midnight Prerelease at Gameshaven!

Hi, I'm Helly the Helvault. Nice to meet you!

So Constantine, Justin and myself decided to go for the Avacyn Restored Midnight Prerelease tournament event at Gameshaven. 35 Bucks for 7 Boosters, you get 6 Boosters with which to build a deck(or 2) from, and you play a few rounds of swiss to see how many boosters you win.

It was an interesting interesting experience.

A few hours before the event, we're just stoning there~

The biggest challenge was making it through the whole day until Midnight without falling asleep...except that when the event finally started, I was awake and hyper as a jackrabbit.

So the event started, and we're asked to sit randomly for the deck building. We were passed these checklists to submit your deck and submit which cards you received in your cardpool.
Usually, for sealed tournaments like these, you would be swapping your cardpools. HOWEVER, since it's a prerelease, Gameshaven's staff said that there would be no cardpool swapping. Thank Lord.
JaY, one of Con's buddies, pulled a foil Tamiyo. One of the rarest cards in the set!

My Six boosters. You have to admit that the booster pack art is prettyyyyy

So after you're distributed the packs, you're allowed to open it and make your decks. Minimum of 40 cards, as opposed to the usual 60.

Devinn, Con and JaY are all at the same table as I am, for deckbuilding.

The conversation between my friends and I were pretty sporadic, since we were all building our decks. xD
 Me: "Con I'm doing Green White"
Con: "Awesome man. Red"
Me: "Huh?"
Con: "Miracles."
Me: "Got any?"
Con: "No."
...

Yeah. For good reason^^; I was concentrated on my own decks. xD

You see that despair in my eyes? That's not despair, it's merely fatigue. 

So, I managed to form two decks, Green-White and Red-Blue decks...
And funnily enough, the spare deck was so much better than my main deck, the Green-White one.^^

In the end, I managed to pull off a 1W-2L-1Draw record. Not bad for a newbie, and I have to say that the Draw was one of the best matches I've ever played before. :)

Team Tableflip, and JK's Helvault~

So that was the midnight prerelease.

Not pictured: Justin, Con and I stoning and heading to Bedok for Macdonald's in the morning. xD

-Ry

Kamen Rider Fourze: Never liked JK...but DAMNNNN

"This script is disgusting."

Battle Factory Beta, in retrospect.

The First Box, dated 14/4/2012

Project: Battle Factory: Singles
Project Leader: Justin Lok.
Resources and Advising: Ryan Loh.
Summary: Distribute a whole bunch of Pokemon from a set box among 10 or so people, and observe the member's reaction to a previously unreleased box of Pokemon, and see how they build with the tools they are given. Participants are supposed to force a trade, with the winner being able to choose the Pokemon to be traded.

Notes:
1)Ry's box was imbalanced.
From one glance, you can tell how imbalanced this box is. xD We have stuff that really really tanks in Singles format, we have DOUBLES things(not me, blame Justin.), we have outdated sets(hello Tyraniboah).
The item choices were not optimised. We have good stuff, we have bad stuff. My boxes were chosen because I have an immense library of competitively ready Pokemon from since my 4th Generation career. As start April 2012, I have a total of 140 Competitively ready Pokemon across the board. SO, Justin was in charge of selecting from those 120:)

2)"What the hell is this Gliscor, Ry?!"
I quote Su on this. xD Gliscor was a baton pass set!

Things we could improve on:
1)Selection.
Admittedly, one thing that tanked badly was that the selection was a TAD imbalanced. This was INTENTIONAL. We were trying to observe how people perceive valuable Pokemon. Which Pokemon got picked up FIRST.
Since the participants in Battle Factory Beta were close friends of Justin and Ry, you do notice the subtle differences. People chose Pokemon they have seen me use before, be it effectively or experimentally. Of course, there were little things like Sugi forgetting the Registeel(I USED IT WHEN WE WERE STILL AT THE CATHAY E2MAX.:D)

2)Distribution.
It's Battle Factory. The whole POINT of Battle Factory was the player's ability to make use of Pokemon based on their knowledge of a Pokemon's possible usage.
Problem: Setup. The amount of time it takes to distribute the Pokemon and collect them back has been the biggest problem Justin and I had, ever since the conception of the idea. When he initially approached me, this was the conversation that went between us:

Justin: Battle Factory.

Ry: Impractical. Distributing is a bitch, collecting even more so.

Justin:...True.

Hell, without his drive an insistence that this idea would take off, I would have to admit sheepishly, I thought it wouldn't work.

With 10 participants, distribution took half an hour, a lot faster than my projected. It takes cooperation from the participants, of course. For now, I think that we have overcome that stumbling block. With enough preparation beforehand, distribution isn't too much of a problem.


So now what?


Was Battle Factory a success? I like to believe so, we were met with a tad underwhelming response, but we can't wait for the official release.

Thanks for attending! :)

-Ry

Pokémon TCG, Magic and why I betrayed my own people. xD

A few of you have been aware that I've started playing Magic the Gathering, correct?

WHY!? Why have you betrayed us, Ry? Why have you betrayed the Pokemon TCG?

Story.

_____

This is the prerelease picture of the upcoming expansion set, Avacyn Restored.

The story behind Magic the Gathering is really deep, and I really love the themes that are prevalent in most of the sets.
So, wait, Ry! POKEMON STORY SUCKS? TRAITOR TRAITOR.
Yeah, shut up, morons. When was the last time the Pokemon TCG pursued a separate story that isn't already in the Video Games?

...
Thought so.

See, the way Magic works, is that every year, they release 3/4 sets that are part of a "block".
Like in the Ravnica block in 2008ish, it had Ravnica, Guildpact and Dissension.
then in the current 2011/2012 block, it's Innistrad, Dark Assension and now, Avacyn Restored.

Magic the Gathering is a brilliant cardgame in that sense. The story is optional, but with it, a lot of cards just make SENSE.

The writing is brilliant, the strategy is genius, and having brilliant developers behind it like Mark Rosewater, makes me feel good.
_______

NOW, back to Pokemon TCG, how many playstyles are there? 2.
Aggro and Durant.

(seriously.)
Pokemon focuses on pulling out your Pokemon fast, and hit the opponent before they can counteract. In Magic, we call such a playstyle, "aggro."

...
I guess that's why I've stopped Pokemon TCG for the moment. It's not the fault of the Community(Trust me, I really love you guys, Team Robo/Magma/Rocket! It's not your fault. It's the game's fault. It bores me...)

Ry out~

Psychological Thrillers.

You know what would be totally cliché? Writing about the differences about The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. Especially since THG the movie came out recently.

Today's topic of the day? Psychological Thrillers. I'm talking about thrillers like The Hunger Games, or Battle Royale. Or Sandman(FUCK YEA), or hell, anything that effectively dealt with certain elements of psychology as part of its story.

I'm frankly not much of a Psychology guy. I love delving with the many facets of the Human psyche. Hell, I admit that it can be both scary, yet interesting to read about Psychology. About certain philosophies in life.

We have stuff like Bokurano and Madoka

Make a contract with meeeee

The two series dealt with first deconstructing their respective genres. Bokurano's not a mecha anime? AHAHAHAHA. It is.
Then, they MINDFUCK YOU with images and story so revetting and interesting that you keep watching and get totally totally absorbed into it.

I'm only talking about Animanga at the moment. With stuff like Lord of the Flies and Battle Royale and (to me) Norwegian Wood and WATCHMEN, they take commonly taught morals, ideas and notions of Loyalty, Love, Truth, Lies, Heroism, Alturism and absolutely, and TOTALLY upturn them onto their heads.
We have Lord of the Flies and Battle Royale dealing with setting youths against each other in a desperate attempt of survival.
We have Norwegian Wood explaining that Life, Death and Love isn't all as cracked up as it seems, as we observe the protagonists fall in and out of love.
We have Watchmen, a brilliant bit of art that absolutely overturns the ideas of a 'superhero' saving the day, and makes you really FUCKING SYMPATHISE and EMPATHISE with the worst hero EVER in Rorscharch.

And Doc Manhattan's blue wang. Don't forget the Mental Scarring of Doc Manhattan.

It's literature like these that are usually the most controversial yet most fun to read.

Check them out!

-Ry

Side note? Fuck off the Watchmen Prequels. >_>

Why I just love Mass Effect.

http://www.bioware.com/_commonext/themes/masseffect/default/images/home_header_noflash_1000x467.jpg

Mass Effect...
One of the arguably best Space Opera/Science Fiction Video Game series in recent years. How did I get to know of it? How did I get so enamored with Commander Shepard and his adventures to save the Galaxy from the Reapers?

Frankly, when I got it, I didn't think much of it.

I had heard the rumors of Lesbian Love Scenes and stuff, and I was all. "Huh. So...that's why it was banned in Singapore for a while?"

I got it in a buncha games from my Cousin Samantha, and I was all...huh? It was in her collection. I read up that it was a Sci-Fi game, and that it had a good story, so I was skeptical.

Sure enough, I found out it was a 3rd Person Shooter + RPG kinda game.

The story...started slow. It started with the first mission where Shepard meets Nihlus, and then meets Saren, the antagonist for the first game.

You start slowly falling into the Galaxy, and you start falling into how the story fits. You start understanding what goes on.

You start meeting the human like Asari, the lizardoid Salarians. You meet the avian-like Turians, the Jellyfish-like Hanar.
The huge gigantic elephants they call "Elcor", and then the giant behemoths of Krogan. The wandering nomads in the Quarian.
You make friends, and some join your mostly human crew.

You learn about how Humanity became part of the Galactic Civilisation.

You just realise that it's that amount of REALISM Behind it. Seriously. I played it, and it slowly dawned onto me after the first 10 hours or so.

"Galactic Civilisation is actually quite realistically handled in this case."

That's what got to me. It's not like Star Wars where you have bounty hunters and a billion species all over the place. That's what I didn't like about Star Wars.

Say. WHAT?!

Yes, Lord Vader. That's what I DIDN'T LIKE about Star Wars.

In Mass Effect, you had things called Mass Relays. They are what links up star system to star system, and helps with FTL travel. It helps build Galactic Civilisation, and it's good.

EXCEPT THAT THEY WERE PLACED THERE as a trap. By Mecha-Chutulus from outer space trying to kill all life as we know it(SRSLY).

Mass Effect as a series...is just plain well written.
Enough Said.

-Ry

HEY BIOWARE?

FUCK. YOU. BIOWARE.

FOR THE CRAPPIEST. ENDING. TO THE BEST GAME TRILOGY. EVER.


EDIT @ 19 March: http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/2012/03/19/mass-effect-executive-producer-responds-to-player-complaints-over-mass-effect-3s-ending/

Casey Hudson has responded with regards to the Ending of ME3...

Mass Effect 1-3, were the best 100 hours of my gaming career. I won't say THE BEST, but I'll say some of the best 100 hours I've had over my years.

They took the last 10 minutes to ruin the whole fucking thing. FUCK YOU.
I'll elaborate more soon.

EDIT 17032012:
So anyway, let's get this post started:



This guy on youtube pretty much sums up everything about the Mass Effect 3 Ending.

Now, what are the endings?
Spoiler alert, check after the jump~

Pokémon Black and White 2: Electric Boogaloo. First impressions, and speculations.

I'm not even fucking kidding. Pokémon Black. and White. 2!

What the fuck?

I'm psyched, definitely, but what the fuck? CURVEBALL MUCH?!
Eh, I'm not gonna complain. It makes logical sense in so many ways. A lot that made Black and White good was the refined Multiplayer. BW2 would make compatibility a breeze.

Personal Speculations?

1)Gym Leader Rematches and Move Tutors and a New Battle Frontier.
Given. Every '3rd' Sequel has Gym Leader Rematches, Move Tutors and Battle Frontier. I say that this is a confirmed speculation already.

2)Direct sequel of BW. Hopefully.
Storywise, it's possible that this would be a direct sequel or prequel to Black and White. Look forward to this, if it's true. Then it would be the a brilliant move, and justifies my buying both. Logically speaking, it would be nearly impossible for the same characters to be brought forth...
Unless they introduce some method of importing your character to start the story with...

3)CHO GATTAI, ZEKROM, KYUREM, ZEKRUEM MODE!
I'm calling it now. In the final battle with N, you're supposed to use Kyurem AND Reshiram/Zekrom, and they combine and you fight!!!
Why? Rule of Cool.

4)Improvements to Dreamworld.
I say "There had better be."

5)New Link capabilities.
Maybe more reason for BW2 exclusivity.

-Ry

Why I don't like going to cosplay events.

WHAT WHY
RY WHY YOU NO LIKE GO TO COSPLAY EVENTS?!

1) Crowds.

3pm at 2012 Cosfest.

It's 3pm. This is the crowd. I wouldn't mind if SOMEHOW, they managed to rent at Expo(almost fat chance, really... xD)

The Anime/Manga/Cosplay/Gamers Community in Singapore's getting larger, so that small place at Downtown East is really not going to cut it.
This isn't a problem exclusive to just Cosfest anymore. It's a problem with AnimeFestAsia(AFA), Cosfest, hell, even EOY, imo.

Urgh, really dislike the crowds.

2)FUCKING. VOCALOIDS. EVERYFUCKINGWHERE.

BECAUSE FUCK VOCALOIDS.

BEFORE I GET FLAMED.

I am frankly neutral about Vocaloids. I admittedly like few songs of Vocaloids like Miku, Len.etc.

What I cannot stand about them, is the rabid fanbase. It's nearly as bad as K-Pop Fans(OH YEAHHH I WENT THERE!) and their retarded artistes.
I mean. FUCK.

IS IT VOCALOID-FEST?! NO. IT'S COSFEST.
So, stop cosfucking your fucking vocaloids and cosplay something better. ARGH.

3)Not enough Super Sentai Cosplay.

ZyuRed and Dragon Ranger!

If anything, I'm a toku freak, and I'm frankly quite sad that I see so few GOOD SENTAI COSPLAY.

I mean, I can see why it's difficult to cos, but damnnnnn<3

Just a short rant!

-Ry

Because Shinkenger VS Go-Onger was one of the best VS movies ever.

This week in Sentai(22022012 update)

SOOO, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger finally ends...

Inspiring words from Captain Marvelous.

Gokaiger was one of the best sentai series, not because it had excellent writing(GOD NO. Gokaiger's writing CANNOT compare with Shinkenger, or Magiranger.)
but because the fanservice was taken care of, with loads and LOADS of love.

Hell, Gai Ikari...

http://gokaichange.tumblr.com/post/8943149408

Or at least the actor for Gai Ikari, is a Toku-Fan himself, and that just makes it so much better. xD

Gokaiger was a fun series. Kudos to Toei for making this whole damn Love Letter to use Toku Fans<3

_______________________________________________________

SO. GOBUSTERS ARE COMING UP, NEXT WEEK, BUT I DON'T GIVE A FUCK BECAUSE AKIBARANGERS IS SO FILLED WITH WIN!

_______________________________________________________

(All Images for this section are from Jefusion.com)

Akiba Yellow, Akiba Red, and Akiba Blue<3

It's just an announcement shot, and damn, this looks awesome already.

Akiba rangers is set to air in April, so I'm ready to get let down by some shit joke that it's meant to be an April Fools' Prank, but I WANT IT SO BAD NOW.

Their Henshin Device, their Weapon, the Moe Moe Zukyuun, and their transport. xD

THEIR HENSHIN DEVICE IS A DOLL.

THEIR WEAPON IS CALLED 'MOE MOE ZUKYUUN'

AND THEIR CAR IS A FRICKING MODD'ED NORMAL RED CAR.

HOW IS THAT NOT AWESOME.

It's like, Toei's taking all the Otaku tropes and running amok with it!

Show of the year I'm looking at, Akibarangers. :B

Anyway, Ry out.

-Ry