Explaination of Danny's Comic

[Explaination to Danny's Comic]

For my 21st Birthday, my friend made a comic out of screenshots from the past games we've played throughout our lives.  He posted it on his livejournal page and stated that "there are quite a few inside jokes".  I would like to take the time and explain them to those that are interested.

[Page 1]

I actually don't want to explain the first 2 panels.....

[Contra - The Konami Code]

Not much is said other than that it's supposed to be funny because I (in the comic) was too late in giving the code.  But I think the inside joke of that was that for many years, (ever since I was 3-4 or something years old) I still remember the Konami code.  Other than that, I'm not sure since Contra III (The one in the comic) didn't have the Konami code.  We used it mainly for Contra 1.

[Tony Hawk's Pro Skating 2]

I'm not much of an explaination except that the "Ho" is Ken's last name, but Danny could have meant the other thing too.....

[Super Smash Bros.]

Probably the most notable memories we've had playing videogames in the past.  I remember very clearly how I went around always saying "I feel your pain" and Danny would like to say "Too bad so sad" (This is when we were about 10 or so).  Then one day, when I went over to Danny's to play some SSB, he started to say "Too bad so sad! I feel your pain~".  I said that was ingenious!  And the way we said it was in a certain way that can't be typed out, lol.  We would use that phrase after getting a kill on SSB or any game, and using it in general.  Pot Roast actually came from my sister who used Kirby a lot and would say "Mess with me and I'll turn you into Pot Roast".  It didn't mean anything, but it was funny.

[Page 2]

[007 Goldeneye]

For some reason, this event always stuck with us and always made us laugh when we think back to that day.  We were playing 007 Goldeneye on Nintendo 64 like we did every weekend during that time, and we were playing a mode called "Man with the Golden Gun".  The objective was that the player holding the golden gun (the strongest gun in the game) would have to kill everyone while the other players tried to take the gun away and do the same.  What's challenging about that mode is that the goldengun has a capacity for only one bullet, so if you miss, you're screwed!  When we were playing (It was either Danny, Vanna, Ken, Samantha, or me playing 4 players) Samantha had the golden gun and was waiting for us in a hall.  We were hoping that all 3 of us rushing toward her would make her miss and give us a chance to take the gun from her; however, we were killed one after the other, 3 in a row.  It was so rediculous that we remembered it up till this day.

[Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 & 2]

Nothing much said other than that we spent countless hours playing on hard mode, trying to find the rare items in the game while I constantly jumped up and down going "redboxredboxredboxredboxredbox" only to end up with 20 of the same rare weapons (VARISTA!!!!! > ,<).  I've been playing that game forever, but still like it for some reason.

[Halo: Combat Evolved]

Ever since I watched this video:

I would teabag everyone in every fps game I played from then on (fps as in First-Person Shooter).  The cat looking comic came from VGcats if anyone remembers from an older post I put up in the past.

[Page 3]

[Brute Force]

Nothing to be said except that WE KEEP GETTING LOST IN THAT GAME!!! XP  It was a good co-op game though.

[Ragnarok Online]

We started playing last summer but didn't play throughout the whole school year.  We started again this summer and forgot how hard certain monsters were in the beginning.

[Page 4]

[Guild Wars: Factions]

When I first started using wireless high-speed internet, I had a bad Wi-Fi USB port.  So I would always lag and sometimes freeze there in place.  We tried using Ventrilo once and I was lagging so bad that I couldn't control some of my actions and I wasn't heard on vent.  Instead, I wasn't heard until 10 mins later or something like that (It was a one minute lag, not a 15 minute one).  I miss playing GW:Factions, I haven't even beat it yet.....

[DotA]

What I found humorous about this part of the comic was that the screenshots were taken the night before this comic was presented to me.  We were playing DotA on WTF mode which granted unlimited Mana and no cool downs.  In other words, players spammed their special abilities constantly, and I happened to chose one that summoned and another that shot the closest opponent.  The quote on the bottom left came from this video:

Thanks for the comic Danny.

First Comic Post and Handheld Games Preview

[Ragnarok: The World's not over Yet]

It's been a while since I've done a post since I'm trying to make my summer worthwhile with my music, drawing, videos, reading, exercising, and of course playing some videogames.  Anyways, I started a new comic series that I may or may not continue drawing considering how long it took just to do one page, and it isn't even up to par in terms of humor with my other original comic (to those that know of it).  There are only some of those who know I like drawing comics, and so to those that know about my older comics, the drawing on this one page might look a bit similar.  I hope to evolve out of that and become a bit more creative with my art.  Anyways, here it is:

I've been thinking of just doing Ragnarok references in my original comic, but was inspired to start its own series upon hearing my friend Danny's desire to write fanfiction stories of the experiences from the game "Ragnarok Online" on his blog page.  Danny has yet to write any yet considering that he is possibly busier than I am.  I am not completely content with my first page on this series, mainly because it took so long to do with drafting, character design, coloring, scanning and editing; however, I was at the very least able finish one page.  I was thinking on developing a strong storyline with this series, but that all depends if I continue creating it even after I transfer to my new college.  I really want to work on my art, but I also love working on my music, video and game creations (which I would like to do= last game made and finished was probably Junior year High school).  PS: A possibly better view of the comic can be seen within my new album on "Facebook".

[Ipod game - Song Summoner]

An incredibly intriguing game that came out recently for the Ipod called "Song Summoner" by the esteemed software industry "Square-Enix" (known for their Final Fantasy series) has me interested in buying a new Gen Ipod (160GB classic) so that I could play it.  [Note- I don't know every aspect of the game, so the description might be off] In "Song Summoner" you play the role of Ziggy who is confronted by an army of robots who wish to eradicate the human race and take all things musical away from them.  A man comes and teaches you the ways of using music as your weapon.  So what exactly is the weapon?  The music you have uploaded in your Ipod!!!  You choose whatever song you have and the game turns it into a playable character that will fight for you.  So what's the point in using the music on your Ipod?  Well, each time you listen to that particular song you chose to be a character on your Ipod, your character will get stronger each time:

The genre of the game is turn-based tactics (to those that know what it means), which means it's like a Role-Playing Chess game (to those that don't play videogames).  If I had the appropriate Ipod to play it on, I would not hesitate to buy this game (which I usually would when looking at Ipod and cellphone games).  It is available on iTunes for $5, so I think it's worthwhile.

[NDS - Final Fantasy IV]

Final Fantasy IV (known as Final Fantasy II in America when my dad bought it on Super Nintendo) was the first Final Fantasy game that I played (or watched my dad play, I used to always watch him play videogames).  So upon hearing Square-Enix's plan on remaking Final Fantasy III-VI on the DS in 3D got me excited.  Though I did not play Final Fantasy III that much (mainly because it did not come out in America on the NES) I thought of the remake on the DS to be interesting, especially with the incredible CG opening video to the game.

I'm not very far on it, so I don't know what to say about it.  Final Fantasy IV's CG opening on the other hand brought me to tears with it's dynamic CG opening and beautifully arranged music that brought back so many memories (I was about 5 or so when FF2, aka FF4 in Japan during that time, came out).

The obvious difference in the remake was the 3d view and rendering of all the characters and scenery.  Much of the game has been kept true to the original, so it feels very comfortable to veteran FF4 players.  But the aspect of the game that had me awestruck was the voiceovers.  The voice acting was surprisingly stupendous!  What's even stranger is that I think the english voice acting is even better than the Japanese voice acting.  I think what got me interested into Final Fantasy (besides my dad's influence on me) is the storylines (usually Hironobu Sakaguchi), the artworks (usually Yoshitaka Amano or Tetsuya Nomura), and especially the music (Nobuo Uematsu!).  The remake of Final Fantasy III was only average from the critics, but FF IV made up for it, scoring an average of 9-10 out of 10.  I don't know exactly what it is about Final Fantasy games that makes me love it so much, but I already knew I was a Final Fantasy fan when FFIV (remember, it was FFII in America during that time) came out.

hmm...I would do a review on it, but I just practically started.  It only came out 3 days ago (in America, it was out in Japan Nov. 2007).  But who cares, BUY IT!  BUY IT NOW!!!  (Though if you have an Ipod, I would suggest getting Song Summoner since it's more affordable.  FFIV DS=$40.  Song Summoner Ipod= $5).

VGcats - Scott Ramsoomair

Although I forgot to blog yesturday, I will definately make this one the best as a ending note to the comic topic blog for this week.

I came across VGcats (stands for Videogame Cats due to the many references to videogames the comic makes) one day when I was looking for "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" information and videos and accidently found that video.  I looked it up and realized it was a webcomic that referenced a certain game each strip.  As I began to read more and more of it, I laughed harder and read more until I caught up to where it is now (yes, a webcomic I'm actually up to date with).  The comic is based on moments, references, and insides jokes of those who know the videogames and pokes fun at it by making parodies, pointing out the irony, and simulates situations in those games if it were to happen.  You DON'T need to have played the videogames that each strip portrays, though in some of them it won't make any sense unless you have.  One strip in particular was one of the greatest ones of all and should make sense who's ever been grown up with "Pokémon".

If you don't get this comic strip, then you missed a large part of your childhood, unless you weren't allow to know about Pokémon throughout your life.....which would have been weird but meh~  The two most notable characters are Leo Leonardo (the gray cat) and Aeris (the pink cat).  They usually portray certain characters for each strip, but there are times where they are themselves and have a distinctive personality.  They are based off of the real life cats that "Scott" has and serves as a great influence in his work.  Lately, he's been working on other strips that are more concentrated on a certain series.

"Adventure Log" is based off the "Final Fantasy XI" Online game and his own experience in playing the game.  The artwork is very "Animé-ish" but also follows his own original style he started with VGcats.  This series so far is very typical "poke fun at MMORPG" type of jokes, and so is not incredibly funny to me.

Please do not feel discouraged of playing MMORPGs from this strip.  It actually DOES happen quite a lot where trying to find a "class" you actually like playing with will have you die quite a number of times, but that's the fun in discovery~

The one new series that Scott has started that IS immensely halarious is "Super Effective" which follows the original "Gameboy Pokémon" although some of them are very random or just plain humor.  The Pokémon games always starts the same way: You see a Pokémon professor, he studies Pokémon, and then he asks you what your gender is (in the later series).  But in the original game, there was only a boy you can use, so.....

And then something that people take advantage of is when being able to choose the name of their rival:

But I thought it was even more funny when (someone I know) named their friend/rival in Pokémon Diamond "JAT" (Jerk *** Tard).  LOL!!!  Over all, the VGcats series is probably my favorite webcomic to follow, since it only updates each monday and the artist gets busy/lazy sometimes so doesn't post up new ones.  Hope everyone enjoyed this week of webcomics.

Megatokyo - Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston

Megatokyo is by far one of the more popular webcomics out there, considering that it has been published and translated into several different languages.  Influenced by the Japanese animé/manga style, Megatokyo attracts animé lovers and gamers alike with their videogame references, incredible artwork and architectual designs for the background, and originality.  The webcomic uses a combination of the western style and Japanese style of 4 panel comic strips which reads in a "Z" fashion (top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right).  The series starts with Piro and Largo wanting to get into E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo where they release news on the latest development of each gaming company's work) but failing to do so because they are not game developers themselves (I want to get into E3 as well...).The story truly starts when Piro drags Largo along to go to Japan for a short trip, but end up stuck there with no money to fly back to America.

Piro, who knows how to speak Japanese, ends up working at a bookstore (I believe, it's been a while since I've followed MT).  Largo, the more imaginative and crazy like friend, goes around trying to prevent an evil attack???  (Yeah, I'm not very far into the series since I actually read the first volume from borrowing it at the library).  At a certain point, the artist drops the 4 panel design to turn it more into a graphic novel that follows the format of a Japanese manga.  Humor, Action, and Fantasy are among the genres in the series as well as a bit of romance and drama.  I don't know what attracted me to this comic, but I'm guessing it's all those gaming references they put in there~

4h, 7h15 57r1p 15 5uch 4 c1551c~ |)u|\| u 7h1n& 50?

Dominac Deegan:Oracle For Hire - Michael Terracciano

Possibly one of the most original and unique webcomic I've read in a while (there are probably hundreds of good ones out there that I don't know about).  Dominac Deegan is a seer who can see into the future.  His occupation is to be of service to the townspeople by seeing into their future for a small fee.  Unfortunately, many of his customers are nothing but dim-witted morons who seek answers to petty questions and discriminates against many of the main characters because of who/what they are.  Dominac meets a young girl who possess the power of magic when he travels to a nobleman's home to release himself from a curse of fish falling on his head:

The magic wielding Luna possesses a feature on her face that frightens people and/or causes them to jeer whenever she is present.  Dominac has a younger brother named Gregory who undergoes the practice of white magic (which is known for its holy powers to vanquish monsters and for its healing).  Gregory has a limp leg and goes through life being called a lame, handicap, or crippled.  The series itself starts out with short story, four-panel humor.  As it progresses, a storyline is unfolded and the readers find out that one of brothers of the main character is tied with the forbidden practices of Necromancy.  Dominac begins to have many visions of his brother killing and torturing innocents to furthur strengthen his powers.  And so, Dominac the seer, Gregory the white mage, and Luna the magic wielder sets off to stop the maddened Necromancer.  Um, there might be more to the story, but I'm at the 50% point.  15 Chapters have been created so far, I'm somewhere in chapter 8.

Thanks to Olivia for this interesting webcomic.

Questionable Content - Jeph Jacques

This week, I'll be sharing some of the webcomics that I've been following that might be of interest.  Since I like to draw comics, I read comics other artists have created to seek ideas and to be inspired (oh yeah, and also to have a good laugh since most ones I've read are humor comics).

Okay, I'll make this one short since I'm actually 1061 pages behind this one.  Questionable Content is about a typical, young, indie college student who finds himself living with a girl who claims she's not attracted to him (I haven't got that far yet, so yeah...) when her apartment burnt down.  References of college life, drinking, relationships, technology, indie music, and some random topics is the base factions that create the simple yet ingenious webcomic.  As you progress through the series, you can see the art style and development evolve.  Reading it is a very good time killer.  Example:

Thank you to Danny for sharing this awesome webcomic to me.