There's only 2 weeks of May left and I have a lot on my mind. My last music project was Burning Fighters which was the first remix for the Shoot-em-Up album which I uploaded in the beginning of April.
I haven't been working on any music since then aside from practicing some guitar and piano. I spent all of April trying to read. I borrowed Romance of the Three Kingdoms from a friend and tried my best to sit down and read through all 4 books. I'm not even done with the first one. I guess I could be spending more time throughout the day reading it and I'd be done by now. I've been trying to get back into exercising regularly again and it always feels like it takes up a lot of time after I've finished, eat lunch, and take a shower. I had planned on getting back into working on music in May, but I've also been focused on wanting to finish certain games as well. Interestingly enough, a friend recommended his friend to me for Videogame music composition/production. He's working on a game independently and wanted original music for it so we set up a deal with each other and now I'm just waiting for more information on what he needs. In the meantime, I'll probably still be reading and getting back into my own music work.
As for finishing games, I was adamant on finishing BlazBlue Central Fiction's story mode as BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle was releasing soon. Although they probably don't have anything related to each other, I felt it necessary to finish up the game before then. I knew it was going to take me a while, but it wasn't nearly as long as previous games since it had a lot less content. I really liked the whole story and it's become one of my favorite ones in videogames. With each passing game, I've come to love BlazBlue more and more. Although a bit cliché and finding a lot of parallels to its counterpart game Guilty Gear at times, the characters of BlazBlue stand out with its eccentric designs and striking colors. Backgrounds have a certain depth to it that sets the stage of its lore. The music is obviously good as it is composed by Daisuke Ishiwatari of Guilty Gear fame. The music often reflects the characters' personality and/or theme rather well while still managing to keep it catchy and memorable.
To give some examples, Ragna is a hardheaded combatant who keeps things simple and fights wildly. So his theme has a simple melody and the rhythm is rough and aggressive. He's also known to be a beginner friendly character to start out with because of his simple move sets. So the art design, music, personality, and gameplay of the character all work together cohesively to create this image that stands out and is memorable.
Here's another easy example. Taokaka is a playful character that has a childlike behavior. The music portrays this through its fast tempo and very happy melody.
This is one of my favorite songs. Bang's character is loud and fails to be inconspicuous which is ironic as he's a ninja. He is filled with pride leading a life of righteousness and serving justice to all who do wrong. The way the guitar wails and sings matches Bang's personality well in the same way he yells and makes his presence known. The tune honestly sounds a bit like a sentai hero theme song where the protagonist is filled with justice and hope for everyone.
Other than the story, art, and music, BlazBlue's gameplay was something that also felt new to me when I first play it nearly a decade ago. Each character has a unique mechanic or "gimmick" that stands out from the rest of the roster. Unlike other fighting games where learning one character might make it easier to learn the rest of the cast, each character is so different that you really have to find the time to sit down and find out each individual attack and their potential for each situation. This might seem discouraging to newcomers and casual players, but there's a stylish mode which simplifies the combat so that it's enjoyable for the player but not so optimal that it breaks competitive gameplay. In other words, there is a lot of depth to the characters.
I was thinking of doing a full rant on BlazBlue's story mode, but considering that it's a series that took me potentially 100+ hours to finish, I think I'll just simply say that "I loved it and can't wait to see more in the future".
As I stated in the beginning of the post, there are only 2 weeks of May left. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle releases on June 5th and that'll probably start my summer slack in which the events of Summer will distract me from productivity. The schedule is really weird this year as it usually has the events back-to-back from each other: E3, Steam Summer Sale, EVO, and Awesome Games Done Quick. This year, Steam Summer Sale and Summer Games Done Quick over lap each other right after E3. Then nothing happens all of July (not counting Comic Con since there's never news that I care about during that event). Finally, Evo begins at the beginning of August. Maybe I'll try to stay productive in July. So before June 5th, I'd like to get some work done and finish up a few more games before then.
