2018 went by very quickly. I recently seen posts on the internet saying that 2018 felt particularly long and one particular post pointed out some events, memes, and topics from earlier in the year and it even surprised me that they were from this year. That particular post felt that our modern day society is fed so much media in such a short duration that it's become normal to quickly forget something once something new is introduced. On one hand, it's a bit terrifying how much information we consume each year on a day to day basis. But on the other hand, it's impressive how much we can accomplish in such a short amount of time now.
There were a few major low-points throughout this year: Our whole family getting sick in January and neglecting exercise because of it, losing our pet chicken Powderpuff early May (which I didn't even post about because of the anxiety it caused), my mental breakdown in September, and some family tension that just happened a few days ago (that'll hopefully be resolved).
But I've been doing the best I can to see the bright side of things. I've really been trying to be more positive for myself and not just because I want to be for others. This was especially true after my mental breakdown in September. I'm only a few weeks away from going on my first trip to Japan because of that incident. Throughout the year, I started working on original audio work again to prepare a new portfolio for finding a job. Through practice and more remixes, I've finally learned a bit more about mastering which has made a huge difference in the quality of my work. I became closer to my family, lifelong friends, and even new friends. I enjoyed a lot of great games this year. I got a Nintendo Switch from my sister and Nintendo released a new Super Smash Bros. game. One of my closest friends had her wedding ceremony earlier this month. Yes, the low-points of this year have been difficult; however, there were a lot of things to be happy about and grateful for this year. I want to be able to move forward in life and enjoy even more of it from here on out.
I'll probably post about New Year's Resolutions and this year in gaming in the following days. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the last day of 2018 and do a bit of planning for 2019. Happy New Year~
Monday, December 31, 2018
Monday, November 5, 2018
Nintendo Smash Direct 11-1-18
Oops, I totally missed making a post in October. I can't say I was particularly busy last month as progress for work was slow (finished one audio project) and so was progress on finishing games (finished 5 on record, but 3 of them were extremely short). I don't see myself fulfilling much of my New Year's Resolution, but I'm still working hard to get as close to it as possible. Much of October was mis-management of time, being distracted, and creating lots of characters in Soul Calibur VI. I've barely played single-player in SC6 as most of my time is spent in character creation and playing online with friends.
Besides that, I've started making plans to go on a trip to Japan three months from now. One of the things I really wanted to do out of High School or College was study abroad in Japan, learn the language, learn the culture, and change while I was there (hopefully to become more independent and responsible for myself). That never happened and I often wondered if I still want to do it. It definitely wouldn't be the same anymore as I've changed and so has Japan. So at the very least, I want to visit Japan and experience a tiny bit of it before Olympics 2020 Japan as I'm sure the country is bound to change after the event. Hopefully plans go smoothly and I'll finally get to experience Japan first hand.
Nintendo finally aired their last Smash Direct this past Thursday. Near the end of October, I was hungry for more information on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I wanted to know who the last characters were and what that mysterious mode that was blurred out is supposed to be. Before Nintendo even had a chance to announce a Direct, news reports were blowing up on a supposed "leak" that revealed the last characters being added to Smash Bros. Ultimate. In retrospect, I should've known the leak was fake considering how perfect it seemed. The "leak" was a snapchat picture of all the characters, but it was blurry. Based on that blurry picture, fans speculated that the remaining characters joining the roster were:
-Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)
-Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie)
-Isaac (Golden Sun) "WHY COULDN'T THIS ONE BEEN REAL, DANG IT?!"
-Ken (Street Fighter) "This was the only real one"
-Mach Rider (Mach Rider)
-Geno (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)
-Chorus Kids (Rhythm Heaven)
-KOS-MOS (Xenosaga)
Aside from Mach Rider and Chorus Kids (and maybe even KOS-MOS), all of these characters were highly requested characters by fans during the Smash ballot back on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. I would've been pretty excited and happy for all of these characters. Alas, this was not the case and it caused quite the drama.
So the Direct started out really strong by revealing two new characters: Ken Masters from Street Fighter (an Echo Fighter of Ryu), and Incineroar from Pokémon. The inclusion of Incineroar hinted strongly that the leak was fake. It caused quite a sinking feeling for me and many others when Sakurai said that these were "the last two fighters to join the roster". "Surely, there has to be more?" was going through many people's minds. It went on to talk about Amiibos and then led up to talking about the mysterious mode "spirits" where a large number of characters from many different games act like "equipment" from SSB4 for the player's character to use in Spirit mode.
I liked the idea of seeing so many different characters show up. As the direct explained the gameplay, I thought to myself "this sounds like a mobile game". It sounded potentially fun, but possibly grindy as well. Spirits can be caught, trained, fed, sent out to find treasure, etc. Its main gameplay is essentially a glorified events mode where the player must fight opponents with specific conditions and scenarios and references the spirits. What I like about all of this is all the RPG aspects that gives the player a sense of progression by collecting and getting their characters stronger.
I have mixed feelings about how Online gameplay is handled. Online will allow more flexibility on specific rules the player wants to be matched up with, but it'll also make finding matches potentially more difficult. The ranking system will be universal all around rather than having a specific "ranked" mode (which was For Glory in SSB4). Match making will prioritize making matches closer to where you are to minimize lag. Overall, the changes give the player more control over what kind of match they want to play online.
And then Assist Trophies showed up with the first one being Shadow the Hedgehog, which means he won't be a playable character. They show cased new assist trophies such as Yuri from Fatal Frame from Wii U. And then immediately after that they showed Isaac from Golden Sun, a character I was really hoping on being playable for once. They showed some other cool ones like Guile from Street Fighter, Dr. Wily from Mega Man, and Tiki from Fire Emblem.
The direct talked a bit more about different modes, options, gallery, and Mii Fighter customization and costumes. Then it revealed that they already planned on 5 DLC packs, with each one containing a new character, a new stage, and additional music tracks to go along with it. Unfortunately, they're not going to tell us who are what they are. So it's like every other fighting game where they ask you to put down money on content we don't know anything about. ($5.99 each or $24.99 for all five). If you do buy the season pass, you get Rex's costume for Mii Fighters, additional music from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and characters from it show up as spirits. This made me sad that Rex/Pyra didn't make the cut as playable characters.
So when it got to the part where Sakurai mentioned working on something that isn't completed yet but will be free for those who purchase the game before the end of January, I didn't know what to expect. Many people expected/hoped that it was another character with some individuals believing that it was going to be Geno. I normally watch reaction videos for Smash directs to see other people get excited for the same things I'm excited for. But this time around, I went to see how others felt about the reveal of Piranha Plant as a character. For me, I was only mildy disappointed and confused. But man, were some people upset. The common reactions I saw from watching reaction videos were:
-Incessantly screaming "WHAT?!"
-Being very angry and screaming "WTF?!"
-So shocked/confused that they just stare with a blank expression
-Laughing hysterically
-And the rare one was seeing some of them cry
Here are some of my favorite reactions to various parts of the direct:
Shadow and Isaac deconfirmed
Rex/Pyra deconfirmed
Piranha Plant
Rex/Pyra deconfirmed
Piranha Plant
Piranha Plant
Piranha Plant
Poor Jacob.....
Arnold one of the very few people happy to see Piranha Plant
At the very least, the ended with a high note at the end showing a cinematic from Spirits' Story mode, gameplay footage of it, and the reveal that the main theme has lyrics. Despite some mild disappointments from this last direct, I am so excited to play this game and to see what the future holds for it.
Besides that, I've started making plans to go on a trip to Japan three months from now. One of the things I really wanted to do out of High School or College was study abroad in Japan, learn the language, learn the culture, and change while I was there (hopefully to become more independent and responsible for myself). That never happened and I often wondered if I still want to do it. It definitely wouldn't be the same anymore as I've changed and so has Japan. So at the very least, I want to visit Japan and experience a tiny bit of it before Olympics 2020 Japan as I'm sure the country is bound to change after the event. Hopefully plans go smoothly and I'll finally get to experience Japan first hand.
Nintendo finally aired their last Smash Direct this past Thursday. Near the end of October, I was hungry for more information on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I wanted to know who the last characters were and what that mysterious mode that was blurred out is supposed to be. Before Nintendo even had a chance to announce a Direct, news reports were blowing up on a supposed "leak" that revealed the last characters being added to Smash Bros. Ultimate. In retrospect, I should've known the leak was fake considering how perfect it seemed. The "leak" was a snapchat picture of all the characters, but it was blurry. Based on that blurry picture, fans speculated that the remaining characters joining the roster were:
-Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)
-Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie)
-Isaac (Golden Sun) "WHY COULDN'T THIS ONE BEEN REAL, DANG IT?!"
-Ken (Street Fighter) "This was the only real one"
-Mach Rider (Mach Rider)
-Geno (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)
-Chorus Kids (Rhythm Heaven)
-KOS-MOS (Xenosaga)
Aside from Mach Rider and Chorus Kids (and maybe even KOS-MOS), all of these characters were highly requested characters by fans during the Smash ballot back on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. I would've been pretty excited and happy for all of these characters. Alas, this was not the case and it caused quite the drama.
So the Direct started out really strong by revealing two new characters: Ken Masters from Street Fighter (an Echo Fighter of Ryu), and Incineroar from Pokémon. The inclusion of Incineroar hinted strongly that the leak was fake. It caused quite a sinking feeling for me and many others when Sakurai said that these were "the last two fighters to join the roster". "Surely, there has to be more?" was going through many people's minds. It went on to talk about Amiibos and then led up to talking about the mysterious mode "spirits" where a large number of characters from many different games act like "equipment" from SSB4 for the player's character to use in Spirit mode.
I liked the idea of seeing so many different characters show up. As the direct explained the gameplay, I thought to myself "this sounds like a mobile game". It sounded potentially fun, but possibly grindy as well. Spirits can be caught, trained, fed, sent out to find treasure, etc. Its main gameplay is essentially a glorified events mode where the player must fight opponents with specific conditions and scenarios and references the spirits. What I like about all of this is all the RPG aspects that gives the player a sense of progression by collecting and getting their characters stronger.
I have mixed feelings about how Online gameplay is handled. Online will allow more flexibility on specific rules the player wants to be matched up with, but it'll also make finding matches potentially more difficult. The ranking system will be universal all around rather than having a specific "ranked" mode (which was For Glory in SSB4). Match making will prioritize making matches closer to where you are to minimize lag. Overall, the changes give the player more control over what kind of match they want to play online.
And then Assist Trophies showed up with the first one being Shadow the Hedgehog, which means he won't be a playable character. They show cased new assist trophies such as Yuri from Fatal Frame from Wii U. And then immediately after that they showed Isaac from Golden Sun, a character I was really hoping on being playable for once. They showed some other cool ones like Guile from Street Fighter, Dr. Wily from Mega Man, and Tiki from Fire Emblem.
The direct talked a bit more about different modes, options, gallery, and Mii Fighter customization and costumes. Then it revealed that they already planned on 5 DLC packs, with each one containing a new character, a new stage, and additional music tracks to go along with it. Unfortunately, they're not going to tell us who are what they are. So it's like every other fighting game where they ask you to put down money on content we don't know anything about. ($5.99 each or $24.99 for all five). If you do buy the season pass, you get Rex's costume for Mii Fighters, additional music from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and characters from it show up as spirits. This made me sad that Rex/Pyra didn't make the cut as playable characters.
So when it got to the part where Sakurai mentioned working on something that isn't completed yet but will be free for those who purchase the game before the end of January, I didn't know what to expect. Many people expected/hoped that it was another character with some individuals believing that it was going to be Geno. I normally watch reaction videos for Smash directs to see other people get excited for the same things I'm excited for. But this time around, I went to see how others felt about the reveal of Piranha Plant as a character. For me, I was only mildy disappointed and confused. But man, were some people upset. The common reactions I saw from watching reaction videos were:
-Incessantly screaming "WHAT?!"
-Being very angry and screaming "WTF?!"
-So shocked/confused that they just stare with a blank expression
-Laughing hysterically
-And the rare one was seeing some of them cry
Here are some of my favorite reactions to various parts of the direct:
Shadow and Isaac deconfirmed
Rex/Pyra deconfirmed
Piranha Plant
Rex/Pyra deconfirmed
Piranha Plant
Piranha Plant
Piranha Plant
Poor Jacob.....
Arnold one of the very few people happy to see Piranha Plant
At the very least, the ended with a high note at the end showing a cinematic from Spirits' Story mode, gameplay footage of it, and the reveal that the main theme has lyrics. Despite some mild disappointments from this last direct, I am so excited to play this game and to see what the future holds for it.
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