SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT. IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED, DON'T SCROLL DOWN!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Well, we're finally here... the Final Four of the first story arc. And the turning point is big. Our heroes head to the moon to find out who they are, Sailor Venus pulls out the Holy Moon Sword, and - as I predicted - not only did a battle royale between the Sailors and the four Kings happen in the frozen battlefield that is Tokyo, but we get a glimpse of the Kings' past lives as knights who swore to protect Prince Endymion, who represented the royalty of the entire planet Earth.
But nothing prepared me for the major change from the manga that played on a theory long speculated by fans for decades: The theory that the Inner Sailors and the Kings were once in love with each other in their former lives during the Silver Millennium. During the big fight, Venus recalls their memories clearly confirming their romance. At that moment, the Kings manage to escape when Sailor Moon uses Moon Healing Escalation to melt the ice of the frozen Tokyo.
Shortly after - as in the manga - Queen Beryl uses Endymion to bait Sailor Moon into getting the Silver Crystal in the next episode. However, unlike the manga, the original Endymion is not killed and replaced with an empty husk, but rather spared and brainwashed.
I'm perfectly okay with the way this episode was executed, though they may improve some visuals in the finalized Blu-Ray release anyway. That said, there's only 3 episodes to go until the Black Moon arc. Here's hoping they deliver!
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Anime Blog #13: Sailor Moon Crystal Impressions (November 1, 2014)
It's been 19 weeks since Sailor Moon Crystal has aired exclusively on stream. And now, we're finally at the meat of the Dark Kingdom arc. The revelations of the Moon Princess and her past go full circle in this week's Act 9.
After Tuxedo Mask takes a mortal blow for Sailor Moon during an airborne battle at Tokyo Tower with Kunzite, a grief-stricken Sailor Moon recalls the memories of her ancient past completely, forming the Silver Crystal from within her tears. The crystal's light transferred into Endymion's body, and much to the heroes' chagrin, is taken by Queen Beryl just as quickly.
As Queen Beryl attempts to extract the crystal's light from Tuxedo Mask, the four Heavenly Kings memories seem to surge vaguely. Meanwhile, Sailor Moon ultimately makes her decision to travel to the moon to have a full understanding of her destiny.
This episode, though heavily riddled with dialogue, had enough tension to act as a prelude to what will be an onslaught of exciting episodes henceforth. Act 10 may very well end up being a battle royale between the Sailor Senshi and the Four Kings, the likes of which we've never seen before. I look forward to seeing the action unfold in 2 weeks.
After Tuxedo Mask takes a mortal blow for Sailor Moon during an airborne battle at Tokyo Tower with Kunzite, a grief-stricken Sailor Moon recalls the memories of her ancient past completely, forming the Silver Crystal from within her tears. The crystal's light transferred into Endymion's body, and much to the heroes' chagrin, is taken by Queen Beryl just as quickly.
As Queen Beryl attempts to extract the crystal's light from Tuxedo Mask, the four Heavenly Kings memories seem to surge vaguely. Meanwhile, Sailor Moon ultimately makes her decision to travel to the moon to have a full understanding of her destiny.
This episode, though heavily riddled with dialogue, had enough tension to act as a prelude to what will be an onslaught of exciting episodes henceforth. Act 10 may very well end up being a battle royale between the Sailor Senshi and the Four Kings, the likes of which we've never seen before. I look forward to seeing the action unfold in 2 weeks.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Spotlight Blog #1: AutoAim / Vortex Miaotua
What I'm about to write here is different from my usual blogs about DOA, anime, and things of that nature. This series of blogs will be dedicated to longtime friends who have made an impact on me in some way or form in the past several years, driving me to do the things I enjoy doing. As such, the first of these spotlight blogs is dedicated to possibly the oldest online friend I made specifically on Xbox Live as far as 2006 that I still keep in touch with to this day.
Yes, I know what you're about to ask... who the heck is AutoAim? To simply put, he's a competitive gamer from Arizona whose actual name is Anthony Desiata. He's not a well-known player, but is nonetheless a very important friend to me. Before he got into DOA at the time, he was into and had a knack for shooters, as his Gamertag's namesake would imply (Halo 2, obviously). Additionally, he's a Pokemon buff. When I met the guy in a public session on DOA4, something about him stood out among the other public lobby players.
While others would send hatemail for (a lack of a better word) "running the lobby", Auto had a tenacity I've never seen. At the time, he was torn between using Ayane and Hayate, but eventually leaned toward Hayate. He later told me that he really wanted to learn how to use Spartan-458. Luckily there were a few things I learned from that matchup just watching Escapingjail play (and later get my ass kicked). He was the only character with a 5-frame command grab, whereas typically, only neutral 5 frame throws were escapable in DOA4. Obviously, I wasn't fit to teach him about the characters he played, but over time I watched him improve, particularly with Spartan and Hayate.
Additionally, he was one of the few people I was actually able to talk to over the mic. For the most part, we've been inseparable. We had a clique together, we trolled in certain clans together, hell, we even reminisced on the golden age of Toonami. (he was particularly a fan of Zoids). And soon our interests would expand a little beyond DOA. When Soul Calibur 4 dropped, I found out he had some remote interest in moe types of fictional characters... but I never expected Tira. I really got to see his primary gaming prowess to an extent when GTA4 dropped with online multiplayer. While it wasn't exactly competitively viable, this guy knew what he was doing regardless. I could honestly say that I had fun, even though I was losing. Unfortunately, those times were short-lived, as I had to go back into DOA4 to help someone for CGS.
Eventually I'd get Facebook, and we talked about all kinds of interesting stuff... though there are a few things I will not discuss here out of respect for him. DOA5 dropped around 2012, and he was eager to play Mila. But he never quite adjusted to the mechanical changes the way he wanted to, and decided the best way he could learn it is to wait for a character that played like Spartan. In DOA5U, Rachel was that answer. Unfortunately, around the time this happened, he came to a crossroads in his life, making a decision that cost him to part ways with his Xbox. My times in DOA have felt quite empty ever since... but one day, he'll be back to play.
All in all, I can safely say this guy's been there for me both in my happy and sad times. In times of confidence and lack thereof. He even gave Queen's Blade a chance, while he kept me posted on HunterXHunter. His never-say-die attitude in the face of competition - though I never say it much - is inspiring to me, no matter how down in the dumps I get. I may have confidence issues time to time, but he's among the few who serves as a reminder that I must never quit what I enjoy deep down, and I thank him for that.
So AutoAim, aka Anthony Desiata... here's to you. May we meet again in DOA on Xbox, just like the good ol' days.
Lastly... Death in a box. That is all.
Yes, I know what you're about to ask... who the heck is AutoAim? To simply put, he's a competitive gamer from Arizona whose actual name is Anthony Desiata. He's not a well-known player, but is nonetheless a very important friend to me. Before he got into DOA at the time, he was into and had a knack for shooters, as his Gamertag's namesake would imply (Halo 2, obviously). Additionally, he's a Pokemon buff. When I met the guy in a public session on DOA4, something about him stood out among the other public lobby players.
While others would send hatemail for (a lack of a better word) "running the lobby", Auto had a tenacity I've never seen. At the time, he was torn between using Ayane and Hayate, but eventually leaned toward Hayate. He later told me that he really wanted to learn how to use Spartan-458. Luckily there were a few things I learned from that matchup just watching Escapingjail play (and later get my ass kicked). He was the only character with a 5-frame command grab, whereas typically, only neutral 5 frame throws were escapable in DOA4. Obviously, I wasn't fit to teach him about the characters he played, but over time I watched him improve, particularly with Spartan and Hayate.
Additionally, he was one of the few people I was actually able to talk to over the mic. For the most part, we've been inseparable. We had a clique together, we trolled in certain clans together, hell, we even reminisced on the golden age of Toonami. (he was particularly a fan of Zoids). And soon our interests would expand a little beyond DOA. When Soul Calibur 4 dropped, I found out he had some remote interest in moe types of fictional characters... but I never expected Tira. I really got to see his primary gaming prowess to an extent when GTA4 dropped with online multiplayer. While it wasn't exactly competitively viable, this guy knew what he was doing regardless. I could honestly say that I had fun, even though I was losing. Unfortunately, those times were short-lived, as I had to go back into DOA4 to help someone for CGS.
Eventually I'd get Facebook, and we talked about all kinds of interesting stuff... though there are a few things I will not discuss here out of respect for him. DOA5 dropped around 2012, and he was eager to play Mila. But he never quite adjusted to the mechanical changes the way he wanted to, and decided the best way he could learn it is to wait for a character that played like Spartan. In DOA5U, Rachel was that answer. Unfortunately, around the time this happened, he came to a crossroads in his life, making a decision that cost him to part ways with his Xbox. My times in DOA have felt quite empty ever since... but one day, he'll be back to play.
All in all, I can safely say this guy's been there for me both in my happy and sad times. In times of confidence and lack thereof. He even gave Queen's Blade a chance, while he kept me posted on HunterXHunter. His never-say-die attitude in the face of competition - though I never say it much - is inspiring to me, no matter how down in the dumps I get. I may have confidence issues time to time, but he's among the few who serves as a reminder that I must never quit what I enjoy deep down, and I thank him for that.
So AutoAim, aka Anthony Desiata... here's to you. May we meet again in DOA on Xbox, just like the good ol' days.
Lastly... Death in a box. That is all.
Monday, October 13, 2014
DOA Community Blog #9: My Personal TFC Experience
DISCLAIMER: What I'm about to post doesn't reflect the views and opinions of the DOA community. They are based on my personal feelings, and my actions from here on out are of my own accord.
NOTE: Based on past experience after tournies - and because people online are stupid and always find a way to get to you - I will try to stay away from playing online or browsing FSD for a while, since I know there are a lot of people who don't like me and will try to give me hell. For those that know they're cool with me who want to keep tabs, do so on Skype or Facebook, but as of right now, I'm just not ready to get online and play for a while until this shittalk subsides among the stupid people online. I've seen a taste of it on PSN a while before posting this blog, and I don't feel like dealing with that now. I hope you'll understand.
That being said... let's move on to the experience itself.
Taking away all the keyboard commandos, trash talkers, and other nonsense which almost convinced me not to go to TFC in the first place, I ultimately ended up going to the event. But the process of going wasn't easy, as I had a certain individual promising to make good on their threat to make sure a "washed-up scrub like me" has a miserable weekend at TFC. Now I dunno if this person was planning to torture me mentally or physically, and the name of this person sure as hell isn't important now (since he never showed up), but I had to take this person seriously if he's making his beef with me THAT personal.
After this incident, my plan to "not go to TFC" was immediately set in motion. I figured that if I pretended not to go and convince other people in the community, that maybe - just maybe - I won't have to deal with this person until the day of the tourney, because who would make a fool of themselves in a tourney by picking a fistfight in the venue, knowing the ground rules result in suspension from competing in that event or other related ones? For those I may have tricked into believing I wasn't going, I am truly sorry. But I don't fuck around when crazy people make threats. I take 'em seriously and try my best to avoid conflict if possible.
Fast-forward to Thursday, October 9. Immediately following work, I got ready to head over to Fred Campbell (Blitzkreig/Toothless)'s house. As usual, he was as dependable as ever. I had a place to rest, and we had a plan set in motion to pick up Justin (aka JDE, aka "Just Dad-Gummed Early") from the airport. On the way back we were faced with interesting traffic... but none that stood out as much as this one car that kept crashing into the left boundary over and over. My guess was that either the car was stolen and the driver didn't know how to handle it, the driver was drunk, the driver was texting, or the driver passed out. Either way, we kept a couple hundred yards away from it.
After safely making it back to Fred's house, we began packing our things in Fred's new car and putting mine in the garage for safekeeping. My car was in no condition for long-distance travel, and I couldn't afford to get new tires at the time. Before we took the long trip back, we headed to the Golden Corral to eat what we could at the buffet. But after we finished eating, Fred realized he had forgotten an important item. After doubling it back to his house, we were ready to head out to the freeway.
Immediately heading into South Carolina, we stopped by an auto shop that Fred's uncle worked at, getting all the necessary tune-ups for the car to ensure there will be no problems outside our driving skill. We had some interesting conversations along the way, including this one story about how Fred and Dallaz got pulled over by the cops for suspicion of driving drunk, but somehow got let go despite evidence. Eventually we made another stop, and I insisted on driving as soon as I realized Fred was going to get some Mountain Dew mixed with vodka. Despite Fred saying that the steering was a little different, I managed to handle the car quite well throughout most of the trip in North Carolina. But I was unfamiliar with how to get the beams on at night.
I eventually got tired and let Fred deal with the home stretch. When we finally got to the actual venue, I started feeling uneasy again and having uneasy thoughts:
What if said player is actually here and really does make good on his threat?
What will other people think of me if I play casuals and lose too much?
What if I never get a chance to meet the people I know I'm actually cool with?
What if everyone hates me now because I haven't done well in tourneys, despite supporting the offline scene?
That Friday night at the Skybox bar in the Hilton hotel was not easy to go through. I felt that if I did anything... that if I went and tried to play the DOA5 Last Round demo, I'd be laughed out of the bar and possibly draw attention to the guy who threatened me, assuming he was around. So I kept my distance and watched instead. I wasn't ready to interact with or face anyone. To be honest, things would've been a lot easier for me if Punishere and Auto were there... but alas, they were not. So afterward, I headed outside and walked for a while, figuring out some good places to eat closeby so I can be ready for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Fred negotiated with Chosen1 on getting me and Justin to lodge with his folks for two nights. By the time I got back I wandered around for a bit and found the room RhytmikDesigns was in, then at the room Justin visited where most of the high-level crowd was in. Feeling out of place, I eventually left both, but not without a tip from Justin that Adon (aka Earlee, aka Shadow) was looking for me. So I fired up my laptop in the lobby in the hopes of contacting him, but they were already calling it a night. By the time I went back to Chosen1's room, nobody was there, and nobody answered.
NOTE: It was eventually brought to my attention the next morning that Chosen1 got in a car accident that night with his car totaled, which explained the situation altogether. Upon hearing this, I was going to talk with Fred on having him and his party ride with us back to Georgia.
So I spent that night sleeping somewhere in the lobby. When that didn't work, I just killed time watching movies on my laptop.
The next morning I went back to Chosen1's room and got spruced up for the tourney. I was feeling slightly better and less insecure this time around, and greeted most people formally, as opposed to last night when I was feeling distant. Either way, it felt good knowing I survived that Friday night, and I could confirm that whether or not the guy who threatened me showed up, he wouldn't try anything funny inside the venue as long as the tourney was active. Thankfully, this person never showed his face, so I could act normal. Everyone was friendly enough (especially ElectrifiedMann), but I was really happy to see some of my friends I regularly talked with on Skype when they arrived-- Adon, Gruff757, HajinShinobi, Madian. Hell, even Blackmoonrising and his buddy Knightzero arrived on the scene as promised. I even got to meet some old friends like BlackberryChaos, Enforcer, and Brightgamer, newer guys like Hoodless and Sly Bass, and even the two overseas players from the Netherlands, Glyx (Gehaktbal) and his girlfriend Tjiger. At this point, no matter how I did at the tourney, I had the pleasure of meeting them all.
So the tourney started, and it ran smoothly enough. I didn't have to deal with the pressure of playing on stream in the first match, nor any other recurring matches. I lost my second match against Rikuto, and realized too late that I never bothered to check my sidestep settings during the button check, which explained my difficulty for dodging certain attacks. But what's done is done. There was little shame in losing to him anyway. D.J. McAteer then told me something very important afterward. Something bad happened to Fred, and he was being hospitalized. He also told me Master was already with him, and I didn't know how long he was going to be out of commission. I then realized that even if I made it far in the tourney, I'd eventually have to forfeit. So I was again eliminated by Elecman (ElectrifiedMann), who was using Helena at this point.
Immediately after that I rushed to the hospital, getting Master's number from Allan Paris to get the location of the hospital. By the time I called him I realized the hospital was in plain sight across the street... and there they were outside of the emergency office, waiting on a shuttle to carry Fred back to the hotel. I then realized he had a case of the shakes from withdrawing from alcohol for too long, which caused him to pass out in the first place. Rather than wait for the shuttle, Fred decided to give me the keys to his car and Master and I escorted him back to the hotel, or more specifically, the Skybox, where he had to get some drinks and some food. I stayed there for a while, and eventually went back to the ballroom to check on how everyone's doing.
After the matches leading to top 8 were complete, I got together with Hajin's crew as well as Justin, Blackmoonrising, and Knightzero to eat at this Japanese restaurant near Hajin's venue. Without a doubt, things looked a lot brighter from here. Fred was doing okay, I got to meet some of the people I really wanted to meet, and we had some fun conversations. We had so much fun in fact, that I lost track of time and didn't realize Fred was calling me on another matter, which was finding out about what BlackberryChaos intends to do after TFC. According to him, he said he needed a ride to Georgia in order to get to Connecticut, but I eventually found out that was a misinformation. After talking to BlackberryChaos briefly, I went back to the Skybox to check on Justin, who was with Devon (BlankOctober) at the time. I had my initial suspicions with Devon after previous skirmishes with him on Skype, but ultimately he turned out to be a cool guy. I ordered a ceasar salad and some fries, and the three of us ended up talking about girls, fighting games, and laughing at weird jokes. It was at this point that I wished Devon and Hajin would get along at this point, but I realized only they could make it work for them. Once again I went back with Hajin's crew and got some casuals in with Hajin, at last. The guy is good at spacing, as I expected. Though he wished he could've performed better at the tourney, I knew how he played when he was at his best.
That being said, this gave rise to another concern that was again mentioned by Chosen1 and Justin the next morning-- the stream monitors. People were convinced that compared to the off-stream monitors, there was considerable lag, which he soon addressed to the host of TFC, Eric Small, aka Big E. While I didn't directly involve myself in the conversation too much, I do plan to mention this in a future blog, since it does appear to be something of a concern. (UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that it was an issue of the controller converters that have caused the input delay.)
I didn't stick around too long for top 8, as it was getting predictable at this point, with either Kwiggle's Christie or his brother SonicFox taking 1st or 2nd. Immediately after the grand finals - much to my chagrin - my crew had to leave, which means Justin, Fred, and I had to miss out on a huge dinner celebration. And if that wasn't a kick in the nuts, I had no clue that Force of Nature was even here until Fred told me Chosen1's crew was getting a ride with him. I felt so bad after that. But I'm sure by the time he reads this blog, he'll forgive me. So to Force of Nature, I formally apologize for not noticing you right away, and I really am sorry for not getting the chance to hang with you when I could.
Getting back home was relatively easier, and we had a few cases of "The Fred and Awesmic Show" here and there (inside joke), but the important thing is that we got back to Georgia safely. I had a few casuals with Justin, and drove myself back home, which brings us to this long-winded blog post I'm making now.
Yes, I didn't do well in the tourney. And given the circumstances during the tourney, my situation was unfortunate. But Fred's well-being was more important, and he's been nothing short of a very good friend to me as well as a strong supporter of the DOA community. Without him, I dunno what I could've done. There will be plenty of tournaments, but there is only one Fred Campbell. And looking back at it at the time I made this blog, I honestly don't have any regrets. But assholes will be assholes online. They'll only see the surface and measure your worth as a person - a person - by how well you play. If only they knew there was more to tournaments than just trying to win. I see that clearly now myself. I honestly had more fun just hanging with the friends I always wanted to hang with than worrying about how well I did at the tourney in the hopes of being liked by everyone depending on how well I do. After carefully reviewing my surroundings, I've come to the conclusion that Justin was right... a person's worth isn't synonymous with a person's skill as a player. It's only barely scratching the surface of what the community is really about.
Right now I feel like I've relieved myself of a huge weight on my shoulders. But in order to make sure it stays that way, I've got to mentally challenge myself. And the first sacrifice I must make is to stay away from playing online for a while. It seems to be the source of all my problems and I've been feeding too much on the negativity of some players, and gradually blurring the line between those who genuinely care about me, and those who don't. Instead, I'll spend my time slowly trying to be more sociable on Facebook and Skype with folks in the DOA community until I am more mentally secure to play casuals without worrying so much about impressing people... it seems to be all I ever do, and I have to stop. It's become an addiction, it's been hurting my friendships, and it's almost killed whatever fun I used to have playing the game.
So from here on out I vow to become a better me... not just a better Christie player than before, but a better me. The going won't be easy, but I need the self-discipline to make it work, even if it means not visiting FSD or playing online for a while. TFC was exactly what I needed, and the community interaction exceeded my expectations... but I've been shutting myself away in my own fear. To all I have talked with, I thank you for helping me see the light more clearly.
To everyone who took the time to read this blog, thanks for reading, thanks for understanding, and take care of yourselves. Come Final Round next year, I promise to be the Awesmic you once knew and loved... only more sociable, hopefully.
NOTE: Based on past experience after tournies - and because people online are stupid and always find a way to get to you - I will try to stay away from playing online or browsing FSD for a while, since I know there are a lot of people who don't like me and will try to give me hell. For those that know they're cool with me who want to keep tabs, do so on Skype or Facebook, but as of right now, I'm just not ready to get online and play for a while until this shittalk subsides among the stupid people online. I've seen a taste of it on PSN a while before posting this blog, and I don't feel like dealing with that now. I hope you'll understand.
That being said... let's move on to the experience itself.
Taking away all the keyboard commandos, trash talkers, and other nonsense which almost convinced me not to go to TFC in the first place, I ultimately ended up going to the event. But the process of going wasn't easy, as I had a certain individual promising to make good on their threat to make sure a "washed-up scrub like me" has a miserable weekend at TFC. Now I dunno if this person was planning to torture me mentally or physically, and the name of this person sure as hell isn't important now (since he never showed up), but I had to take this person seriously if he's making his beef with me THAT personal.
After this incident, my plan to "not go to TFC" was immediately set in motion. I figured that if I pretended not to go and convince other people in the community, that maybe - just maybe - I won't have to deal with this person until the day of the tourney, because who would make a fool of themselves in a tourney by picking a fistfight in the venue, knowing the ground rules result in suspension from competing in that event or other related ones? For those I may have tricked into believing I wasn't going, I am truly sorry. But I don't fuck around when crazy people make threats. I take 'em seriously and try my best to avoid conflict if possible.
Fast-forward to Thursday, October 9. Immediately following work, I got ready to head over to Fred Campbell (Blitzkreig/Toothless)'s house. As usual, he was as dependable as ever. I had a place to rest, and we had a plan set in motion to pick up Justin (aka JDE, aka "Just Dad-Gummed Early") from the airport. On the way back we were faced with interesting traffic... but none that stood out as much as this one car that kept crashing into the left boundary over and over. My guess was that either the car was stolen and the driver didn't know how to handle it, the driver was drunk, the driver was texting, or the driver passed out. Either way, we kept a couple hundred yards away from it.
After safely making it back to Fred's house, we began packing our things in Fred's new car and putting mine in the garage for safekeeping. My car was in no condition for long-distance travel, and I couldn't afford to get new tires at the time. Before we took the long trip back, we headed to the Golden Corral to eat what we could at the buffet. But after we finished eating, Fred realized he had forgotten an important item. After doubling it back to his house, we were ready to head out to the freeway.
Immediately heading into South Carolina, we stopped by an auto shop that Fred's uncle worked at, getting all the necessary tune-ups for the car to ensure there will be no problems outside our driving skill. We had some interesting conversations along the way, including this one story about how Fred and Dallaz got pulled over by the cops for suspicion of driving drunk, but somehow got let go despite evidence. Eventually we made another stop, and I insisted on driving as soon as I realized Fred was going to get some Mountain Dew mixed with vodka. Despite Fred saying that the steering was a little different, I managed to handle the car quite well throughout most of the trip in North Carolina. But I was unfamiliar with how to get the beams on at night.
I eventually got tired and let Fred deal with the home stretch. When we finally got to the actual venue, I started feeling uneasy again and having uneasy thoughts:
What if said player is actually here and really does make good on his threat?
What will other people think of me if I play casuals and lose too much?
What if I never get a chance to meet the people I know I'm actually cool with?
What if everyone hates me now because I haven't done well in tourneys, despite supporting the offline scene?
That Friday night at the Skybox bar in the Hilton hotel was not easy to go through. I felt that if I did anything... that if I went and tried to play the DOA5 Last Round demo, I'd be laughed out of the bar and possibly draw attention to the guy who threatened me, assuming he was around. So I kept my distance and watched instead. I wasn't ready to interact with or face anyone. To be honest, things would've been a lot easier for me if Punishere and Auto were there... but alas, they were not. So afterward, I headed outside and walked for a while, figuring out some good places to eat closeby so I can be ready for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Fred negotiated with Chosen1 on getting me and Justin to lodge with his folks for two nights. By the time I got back I wandered around for a bit and found the room RhytmikDesigns was in, then at the room Justin visited where most of the high-level crowd was in. Feeling out of place, I eventually left both, but not without a tip from Justin that Adon (aka Earlee, aka Shadow) was looking for me. So I fired up my laptop in the lobby in the hopes of contacting him, but they were already calling it a night. By the time I went back to Chosen1's room, nobody was there, and nobody answered.
NOTE: It was eventually brought to my attention the next morning that Chosen1 got in a car accident that night with his car totaled, which explained the situation altogether. Upon hearing this, I was going to talk with Fred on having him and his party ride with us back to Georgia.
So I spent that night sleeping somewhere in the lobby. When that didn't work, I just killed time watching movies on my laptop.
The next morning I went back to Chosen1's room and got spruced up for the tourney. I was feeling slightly better and less insecure this time around, and greeted most people formally, as opposed to last night when I was feeling distant. Either way, it felt good knowing I survived that Friday night, and I could confirm that whether or not the guy who threatened me showed up, he wouldn't try anything funny inside the venue as long as the tourney was active. Thankfully, this person never showed his face, so I could act normal. Everyone was friendly enough (especially ElectrifiedMann), but I was really happy to see some of my friends I regularly talked with on Skype when they arrived-- Adon, Gruff757, HajinShinobi, Madian. Hell, even Blackmoonrising and his buddy Knightzero arrived on the scene as promised. I even got to meet some old friends like BlackberryChaos, Enforcer, and Brightgamer, newer guys like Hoodless and Sly Bass, and even the two overseas players from the Netherlands, Glyx (Gehaktbal) and his girlfriend Tjiger. At this point, no matter how I did at the tourney, I had the pleasure of meeting them all.
So the tourney started, and it ran smoothly enough. I didn't have to deal with the pressure of playing on stream in the first match, nor any other recurring matches. I lost my second match against Rikuto, and realized too late that I never bothered to check my sidestep settings during the button check, which explained my difficulty for dodging certain attacks. But what's done is done. There was little shame in losing to him anyway. D.J. McAteer then told me something very important afterward. Something bad happened to Fred, and he was being hospitalized. He also told me Master was already with him, and I didn't know how long he was going to be out of commission. I then realized that even if I made it far in the tourney, I'd eventually have to forfeit. So I was again eliminated by Elecman (ElectrifiedMann), who was using Helena at this point.
Immediately after that I rushed to the hospital, getting Master's number from Allan Paris to get the location of the hospital. By the time I called him I realized the hospital was in plain sight across the street... and there they were outside of the emergency office, waiting on a shuttle to carry Fred back to the hotel. I then realized he had a case of the shakes from withdrawing from alcohol for too long, which caused him to pass out in the first place. Rather than wait for the shuttle, Fred decided to give me the keys to his car and Master and I escorted him back to the hotel, or more specifically, the Skybox, where he had to get some drinks and some food. I stayed there for a while, and eventually went back to the ballroom to check on how everyone's doing.
After the matches leading to top 8 were complete, I got together with Hajin's crew as well as Justin, Blackmoonrising, and Knightzero to eat at this Japanese restaurant near Hajin's venue. Without a doubt, things looked a lot brighter from here. Fred was doing okay, I got to meet some of the people I really wanted to meet, and we had some fun conversations. We had so much fun in fact, that I lost track of time and didn't realize Fred was calling me on another matter, which was finding out about what BlackberryChaos intends to do after TFC. According to him, he said he needed a ride to Georgia in order to get to Connecticut, but I eventually found out that was a misinformation. After talking to BlackberryChaos briefly, I went back to the Skybox to check on Justin, who was with Devon (BlankOctober) at the time. I had my initial suspicions with Devon after previous skirmishes with him on Skype, but ultimately he turned out to be a cool guy. I ordered a ceasar salad and some fries, and the three of us ended up talking about girls, fighting games, and laughing at weird jokes. It was at this point that I wished Devon and Hajin would get along at this point, but I realized only they could make it work for them. Once again I went back with Hajin's crew and got some casuals in with Hajin, at last. The guy is good at spacing, as I expected. Though he wished he could've performed better at the tourney, I knew how he played when he was at his best.
That being said, this gave rise to another concern that was again mentioned by Chosen1 and Justin the next morning-- the stream monitors. People were convinced that compared to the off-stream monitors, there was considerable lag, which he soon addressed to the host of TFC, Eric Small, aka Big E. While I didn't directly involve myself in the conversation too much, I do plan to mention this in a future blog, since it does appear to be something of a concern. (UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that it was an issue of the controller converters that have caused the input delay.)
I didn't stick around too long for top 8, as it was getting predictable at this point, with either Kwiggle's Christie or his brother SonicFox taking 1st or 2nd. Immediately after the grand finals - much to my chagrin - my crew had to leave, which means Justin, Fred, and I had to miss out on a huge dinner celebration. And if that wasn't a kick in the nuts, I had no clue that Force of Nature was even here until Fred told me Chosen1's crew was getting a ride with him. I felt so bad after that. But I'm sure by the time he reads this blog, he'll forgive me. So to Force of Nature, I formally apologize for not noticing you right away, and I really am sorry for not getting the chance to hang with you when I could.
Getting back home was relatively easier, and we had a few cases of "The Fred and Awesmic Show" here and there (inside joke), but the important thing is that we got back to Georgia safely. I had a few casuals with Justin, and drove myself back home, which brings us to this long-winded blog post I'm making now.
Yes, I didn't do well in the tourney. And given the circumstances during the tourney, my situation was unfortunate. But Fred's well-being was more important, and he's been nothing short of a very good friend to me as well as a strong supporter of the DOA community. Without him, I dunno what I could've done. There will be plenty of tournaments, but there is only one Fred Campbell. And looking back at it at the time I made this blog, I honestly don't have any regrets. But assholes will be assholes online. They'll only see the surface and measure your worth as a person - a person - by how well you play. If only they knew there was more to tournaments than just trying to win. I see that clearly now myself. I honestly had more fun just hanging with the friends I always wanted to hang with than worrying about how well I did at the tourney in the hopes of being liked by everyone depending on how well I do. After carefully reviewing my surroundings, I've come to the conclusion that Justin was right... a person's worth isn't synonymous with a person's skill as a player. It's only barely scratching the surface of what the community is really about.
Right now I feel like I've relieved myself of a huge weight on my shoulders. But in order to make sure it stays that way, I've got to mentally challenge myself. And the first sacrifice I must make is to stay away from playing online for a while. It seems to be the source of all my problems and I've been feeding too much on the negativity of some players, and gradually blurring the line between those who genuinely care about me, and those who don't. Instead, I'll spend my time slowly trying to be more sociable on Facebook and Skype with folks in the DOA community until I am more mentally secure to play casuals without worrying so much about impressing people... it seems to be all I ever do, and I have to stop. It's become an addiction, it's been hurting my friendships, and it's almost killed whatever fun I used to have playing the game.
So from here on out I vow to become a better me... not just a better Christie player than before, but a better me. The going won't be easy, but I need the self-discipline to make it work, even if it means not visiting FSD or playing online for a while. TFC was exactly what I needed, and the community interaction exceeded my expectations... but I've been shutting myself away in my own fear. To all I have talked with, I thank you for helping me see the light more clearly.
To everyone who took the time to read this blog, thanks for reading, thanks for understanding, and take care of yourselves. Come Final Round next year, I promise to be the Awesmic you once knew and loved... only more sociable, hopefully.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Anime Blog #12: Sailor Moon Crystal Impressions (October 4, 2014)
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD BECAUSE I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF. If you haven't watched the episode, do that now.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
OK... now this series is starting to get interesting. Act 7 was a lot better than I thought it was gonna be. As usual, it follows the manga closely. We're introduced to Queen Metallia as expected. Zoisite comes back for Round 2, and Usagi is reluctant to tell her friends more about Tuxedo Mask because she has already fallen for him. Lastly, Sailor Venus is teased throughout the episode.
But what really made this episode stand out were three things...
1) Umino's brainwashing making him unleash his inner creepy otaku.
2) That moment Tuxedo Mask first called Sailor Moon "Usako".
And my personal favorite...
3) Tuxedo Mask having a "Catch a Fade" moment. Wasn't expecting this to happen... at all. Respect.
This was an excellent episode, and due to the nature of the manga, it can only get better from here. Come Act 10, my expectations will be very, very high, as I expect from this minor deviation of keeping the four Heavenly Kings alive an all-out battle royale between the Inner Senshi and the four Heavenly Kings. But for now, I must bask in the current hype...
V-Chan. In simulcast streams everywhere October 18.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
OK... now this series is starting to get interesting. Act 7 was a lot better than I thought it was gonna be. As usual, it follows the manga closely. We're introduced to Queen Metallia as expected. Zoisite comes back for Round 2, and Usagi is reluctant to tell her friends more about Tuxedo Mask because she has already fallen for him. Lastly, Sailor Venus is teased throughout the episode.
But what really made this episode stand out were three things...
1) Umino's brainwashing making him unleash his inner creepy otaku.
2) That moment Tuxedo Mask first called Sailor Moon "Usako".
And my personal favorite...
3) Tuxedo Mask having a "Catch a Fade" moment. Wasn't expecting this to happen... at all. Respect.
This was an excellent episode, and due to the nature of the manga, it can only get better from here. Come Act 10, my expectations will be very, very high, as I expect from this minor deviation of keeping the four Heavenly Kings alive an all-out battle royale between the Inner Senshi and the four Heavenly Kings. But for now, I must bask in the current hype...
V-Chan. In simulcast streams everywhere October 18.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Anime Blog #11: Sailor Moon Crystal Impressions (September 20, 2014)
Today's Sailor Moon Crystal was yet another (semi) faithful adaptation of Act 6 in the manga series, this time focusing on Tuxedo Mask's ambition to obtain the Silver Crystal, even at the cost of masquerading as a criminal and making himself known to the public. However, his plan backfires, as the third of the Heavenly Kings - Zoicite - has plans of his own to speed up the plan Tuxedo Mask had in motion. Disguising himself as a woman, Zoicite infiltrates a TV network station, transmitting hypnotic energy through the satellite in order to brainwash every civilian in Tokyo to search for the Silver Crystal.
Catching on quickly to the plan, Luna summons the Sailor Senshi to the "basement" of the Crown arcade, growing en more suspicious of Tuxedo Mask's actions. Sailor Moon objects to the possibility and runs away, leaving the other Sailors to fight Zoicite at the rooftop of the network station. During the battle, Queen Beryl makes a personal appearance before the heroes, and easily immobilizes them.
Meanwhile, Sailor Moon wanders the streets in anxiety, torn between her duty as a leader and wanting to trust Tuxedo Mask. At that moment, Tuxedo Mask appears before him, fully aware she and Usagi Tsukino are one and the same person and encouraging her to help her friends fight Queen Beryl. Tuxedo Mask's words were more than enough to give her the strength to fight, causing her to do amazing physical feats such as vaulting to the roof of the building. At that moment, she unleashed the power of Luna's Moon Stick and used Moon Healing Escalation to defeat Zoicite and restore the people of Tokyo back to sanity.
However, using the technique exhausted Sailor Moon, and the next thing she knew, she woke up in the residence of Mamoru Chiba, who willingly reveals himself to be Tuxedo Mask.
Catching on quickly to the plan, Luna summons the Sailor Senshi to the "basement" of the Crown arcade, growing en more suspicious of Tuxedo Mask's actions. Sailor Moon objects to the possibility and runs away, leaving the other Sailors to fight Zoicite at the rooftop of the network station. During the battle, Queen Beryl makes a personal appearance before the heroes, and easily immobilizes them.
Meanwhile, Sailor Moon wanders the streets in anxiety, torn between her duty as a leader and wanting to trust Tuxedo Mask. At that moment, Tuxedo Mask appears before him, fully aware she and Usagi Tsukino are one and the same person and encouraging her to help her friends fight Queen Beryl. Tuxedo Mask's words were more than enough to give her the strength to fight, causing her to do amazing physical feats such as vaulting to the roof of the building. At that moment, she unleashed the power of Luna's Moon Stick and used Moon Healing Escalation to defeat Zoicite and restore the people of Tokyo back to sanity.
However, using the technique exhausted Sailor Moon, and the next thing she knew, she woke up in the residence of Mamoru Chiba, who willingly reveals himself to be Tuxedo Mask.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Personal Blog #4: Making Extended Custom Loops for Your Favorite Music
This is more or less an informal guide for a recent hobby and pastime I have embraced since taking on a project as my way of contributing to the Dead or Alive community not too long ago: Making customized loops of existing music.
How do I do this, you ask? It's easy. All you have to do is download a freeware sound editor called Audacity online, and you are well-equipped for the task. But you've only been shown the door and walked through it. The question is, how do you make yourself at home with this intimidating program?
The first thing you'll want to do when opening the program is to select an mp3 file of your choosing to edit using Audacity. Upon selecting it, the following image will give you a basic rundown of what the Audacity app should look like upon running the program:
And now comes the fun part... tampering with your audio file and extending it further. But first, you'll want to familiarize yourself with the basic controls, or rather, the ones you'll be using often.
If you're going with the intention of looping your track seamlessly for a set amount of minutes, be sure to listen and listen well to the song while paying attention to the marker. It's up to you and your good ear to judge where you wish to start the loop point and end it. When you found the points you wish to loop, click the timeline of the project, click the end of the loop point, and drag to the starting loop point of the timeline. The highlighted loop point of the track should be a transparent gray, looking like this:
Now comes the most painstaking part of the project... making the loop sound as seamless as possible. If you don't get it right the first couple of times, that's absolutely fine. God knows when I first took on my batch of tracks for Ronin Warriors, I was hella frustrated when the loops didn't sound right.
NOTE: Remember that EVERY TIME you wish to use the editing tools, make sure you press "Stop" on the track, otherwise the editing tools will not work.
Step 1: To be on the safe side, edit the loop so that it repeats once. To execute this editing technique, make sure you pressed "Stop" first to activate the editing tools. After you do this, click on "Effect" from the top menu, then select "Repeat". You will be prompted to type in how many times you wish to repeat the loop. Set the number of times to "1" for a quick test run.
Step 1A: If the newly edited loop point still doesn't sound right, do not panic. Simply go to "Edit" on the top menu and select "Undo Repeat". The points where you selected the loop points previously should remain intact. And now this is where the "Zoom" options come into play.
Step 1B: To get better accuracy on your looping points, click the "Zoom In" icon to get a better fix on the beat in which you wish to edit, then using the cursor, click on each end of the highlighted area and drag it to the more accurate looping points. When you're finished, go to "Effect", select Repeat, set the number of times to "1", and listen to the looping point again. Please note that it may take a couple of tries and more zooming for some songs you may wish to edit, so be patient and don't get frustrated.
Step 2: Once you're satisfied with how the looping point sounds, go to "Edit", select "Undo Repeat" once more, Click "Effect", go to the "Repeat" option, and set the number of times to whatever closely caps the number of minutes you wish the looped track to be.
Step 3: Now you're ready to create a new customized, extended loop of your favorite music track. To complete the process and convert your work into an MP3 format, select "File", then go to "Export". From there, all you have to do is confirm the conversion, and the new MP3 will appear in the "Audacity" folder under "Program Files".
Now this is just making the MP3 alone. What if you wish to share your project on Youtube for others to listen to? Depending on your computer and available software, it may take a while to convert, or it could take a matter of minutes. I'm not exactly using a high-end computer, so I used the basic Windows Movie Maker. Some of you use Sony Vegas, so if that works for you, by all means, use that.
Making the video isn't that hard by comparison. Simply insert the MP3 to your video editing project, and insert the image file you feel is appropriate for the track.
*For Windows Movie Maker, all you have to do is make sure you drag the image file to the equal length of the track itself in order for the video to be saved.*
Once the video has been converted, go to YouTube. It is highly recommended you sign up for a YT account, because it's the only way you can upload your videos on your account (duh!). The uploading shouldn't take too long by comparison, maybe 2-3 minutes tops. From there, you can put in the title, description, and all that jazz. And if you have a playlist in mind, add that uploaded video to the playlists you have (or are about to create as you upload).
One final note: Some videos you upload may be under license from another company. Acknowledge the third party content and file a dispute. Usually, I'd select "I'm not selling the video nor making any money from it", which at the end of the day is the truth. You're doing this for fun, and it should be just for fun. Besides, I usually have custom video game music in mind when making these anyway... and the more variety I have, the better.
Well, I hope this tutorial helps. Hope to see some of you guys try out something with your favorite tracks that haven't got any love on YouTube soon. Have fun, and remember, take care of yourselves.
How do I do this, you ask? It's easy. All you have to do is download a freeware sound editor called Audacity online, and you are well-equipped for the task. But you've only been shown the door and walked through it. The question is, how do you make yourself at home with this intimidating program?
The first thing you'll want to do when opening the program is to select an mp3 file of your choosing to edit using Audacity. Upon selecting it, the following image will give you a basic rundown of what the Audacity app should look like upon running the program:
And now comes the fun part... tampering with your audio file and extending it further. But first, you'll want to familiarize yourself with the basic controls, or rather, the ones you'll be using often.
If you're going with the intention of looping your track seamlessly for a set amount of minutes, be sure to listen and listen well to the song while paying attention to the marker. It's up to you and your good ear to judge where you wish to start the loop point and end it. When you found the points you wish to loop, click the timeline of the project, click the end of the loop point, and drag to the starting loop point of the timeline. The highlighted loop point of the track should be a transparent gray, looking like this:
Now comes the most painstaking part of the project... making the loop sound as seamless as possible. If you don't get it right the first couple of times, that's absolutely fine. God knows when I first took on my batch of tracks for Ronin Warriors, I was hella frustrated when the loops didn't sound right.
NOTE: Remember that EVERY TIME you wish to use the editing tools, make sure you press "Stop" on the track, otherwise the editing tools will not work.
Step 1: To be on the safe side, edit the loop so that it repeats once. To execute this editing technique, make sure you pressed "Stop" first to activate the editing tools. After you do this, click on "Effect" from the top menu, then select "Repeat". You will be prompted to type in how many times you wish to repeat the loop. Set the number of times to "1" for a quick test run.
Step 1A: If the newly edited loop point still doesn't sound right, do not panic. Simply go to "Edit" on the top menu and select "Undo Repeat". The points where you selected the loop points previously should remain intact. And now this is where the "Zoom" options come into play.
Step 1B: To get better accuracy on your looping points, click the "Zoom In" icon to get a better fix on the beat in which you wish to edit, then using the cursor, click on each end of the highlighted area and drag it to the more accurate looping points. When you're finished, go to "Effect", select Repeat, set the number of times to "1", and listen to the looping point again. Please note that it may take a couple of tries and more zooming for some songs you may wish to edit, so be patient and don't get frustrated.
Step 2: Once you're satisfied with how the looping point sounds, go to "Edit", select "Undo Repeat" once more, Click "Effect", go to the "Repeat" option, and set the number of times to whatever closely caps the number of minutes you wish the looped track to be.
Step 3: Now you're ready to create a new customized, extended loop of your favorite music track. To complete the process and convert your work into an MP3 format, select "File", then go to "Export". From there, all you have to do is confirm the conversion, and the new MP3 will appear in the "Audacity" folder under "Program Files".
Now this is just making the MP3 alone. What if you wish to share your project on Youtube for others to listen to? Depending on your computer and available software, it may take a while to convert, or it could take a matter of minutes. I'm not exactly using a high-end computer, so I used the basic Windows Movie Maker. Some of you use Sony Vegas, so if that works for you, by all means, use that.
Making the video isn't that hard by comparison. Simply insert the MP3 to your video editing project, and insert the image file you feel is appropriate for the track.
*For Windows Movie Maker, all you have to do is make sure you drag the image file to the equal length of the track itself in order for the video to be saved.*
Once the video has been converted, go to YouTube. It is highly recommended you sign up for a YT account, because it's the only way you can upload your videos on your account (duh!). The uploading shouldn't take too long by comparison, maybe 2-3 minutes tops. From there, you can put in the title, description, and all that jazz. And if you have a playlist in mind, add that uploaded video to the playlists you have (or are about to create as you upload).
One final note: Some videos you upload may be under license from another company. Acknowledge the third party content and file a dispute. Usually, I'd select "I'm not selling the video nor making any money from it", which at the end of the day is the truth. You're doing this for fun, and it should be just for fun. Besides, I usually have custom video game music in mind when making these anyway... and the more variety I have, the better.
Well, I hope this tutorial helps. Hope to see some of you guys try out something with your favorite tracks that haven't got any love on YouTube soon. Have fun, and remember, take care of yourselves.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)