dmxrated

Upon reading yesterday's entry, Jake said that having boss battles that consist of the player character doing nothing but dodging attacks would piss people off. He suggested that, instead, the boss fights could be replaced with some kind of trap gauntlet, or something like that.

(I should note that I actually got the idea of not being able to fight for the entire game from the manual for Contra IV, which lists a few special modes to play, even though I already traded that game in at GameStop at the end of 2010. Having watched some gameplay videos for the Pacifist mode, it turns out that not only is there no boss fight at all, but each level is cleared before you even get to the point where it would normally take place.)

Jake also suggested that I mention this game he showed me the other day, called Senran Kagura, which involves everyone's clothes getting torn up the more damage they take. I actually did think of mentioning that yesterday, but figured I'd only be rambling on by doing so. After seeing some footage of it, I commented that on the one hand, that while I'm not actively interested in actually playing the game myself, it would be nice to see more games like that on the American market (especially given how many fanservice-oriented works we have as far as anime goes). On the other hand, there also ought to be more gender-balanced games around (which, admittedly, there are some of). Whenever something isn't about fanservice and/or moe (in which case, nearly everyone is female), or unless it has exactly one male and one female for the core protagonists, it tends to be mostly male, with maybe a token chick or so. This is exactly why the game idea I thought up (which I don't have a title for yet, and probably shouldn't base that on its fanservice potential) would have the two main characters be boyfriend and girlfriend.

(There's also the fact that Masakani's scene happens to be my least favorite from Makeruna! Makendou Z, specifically because it involves a female character tearing three fellow females' clothes to pieces. A character's embarrassment--from anything, actually--usually appeals more to me if it's in front of or by someone of the opposite sex.)

Anyway, while someone stated somewhere that Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos (which Jake also showed me a while back) is definitively not coming to North America, the folks behind Senran Kagura did say that they actually are working on marketing it overseas. Of course, that was a whole year ago, and we still don't have it, so it's anyone's guess whether or not it will hit American stores.

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Well, there are things I write on this blog, which I wish afterwards that I hadn't, and often delete them at a later point. Conservation of detail is exactly why I don't write about every single thing that I view or look up online or that me and my friends talk about. Usually, for stuff that doesn't go on in real life, I consider first whether or not there'd be a better place to talk about it than here, such as in my notebook (formerly to bring up with Dr. Perret), on a Word document, or in a discussion with anyone. Right now, though, there are several other things I kinda wish I had mentioned here while they were fresh, although it does help that they were still brought up just fairly recently.

First, is that after reading on TV Tropes: The Computer is a Cheating Bastard about how Trainers in the Battle Towers, Frontiers, and Subway manipulate the games' Random Number Generator further and further in their favor (and Jake told me that this has been true since Pokemon Stadium), I am officially done with the Pokemon games! I have lost all intention to play Pokemon Battle Revolution or even play Platinum part of the way through, not after finding out that one of my favorite parts of the games is fucking RIGGED! That just takes the cake. Parasitic Trio is where it's at!

The other thing I should have mentioned, is this company called TecToy, which has been associated with Sega for a long time, and continues to be even though that company has been out of the console business for a decade now. Not only does it happen to be centered in Brazil, where Jake lives, but in years past, there might have been a fair chance for both Sonic Xtreme and the Neptune to finally see the light of day, even if only there. Click the link below to read more about their accomplishments and what they do:

http://hardcoregaming101.net/GOTW/Brazil/tectoy.html

In response to yesterday's post, Jake told me during a convo that he was reminded of someone who hosted videos showing how difficult it is to defeat Air Man without the Leaf Sheild, to defeat Wood Man without the Atomic Fire, and to even get to Heat Man without Item-3, which you get after defeating Air Man. I guess that kinda makes sense, though I still think it would be more interesting to have something that you need to beat a certain number of levels for, rather than something in particular. Maybe each level could have secret passages containing different valuable stuff, which you can only access if you have the correct tool.

Anyway, even though I'm never going to make any games on my own, I had gotten some ideas of my own MegaMan/Rozenkreuzstilette-style game, which might be either a game adaptation of Cult (my Mon Colle Knights fanfic, for those who just started reading this... namely, N Masters) or the start of its own series.

The former would have you play as either one of the twelve Knights or possibly one of the villains. Each would have their own abilities and powers, but a problem rises when I realize that few would be actually capable of harnessing the powers of those they defeat the way Mega and Spiritia do. Of just the Knights (and not counting their magic powers), Katsuo uses a machine gun, and thus would be able to fire much more rapidly than Mega, while having limited ammunition; Derek wields a shield, and would use the "attack command" to defend himself; and everyone else would be stuck with melee.

Let's take a look at all aspects of both the MCK anime and Cult, and see how they'd apply:

Professors Ichirobei Hiiragi and David McKnight: Would have the same role as both Dr. Light from the original MM series and Ciel from the Zero series.

Lovestar: Would have the same role as Lilli from RKS, despite not being sapient. That is, no purpose for gameplay.

The stage selection screen: Well, yeah. With the Stove Dragon, the core Knights and Ichirobei are capable of traveling to any destination once they leave Man World, and the Supporting Knights and McKnight would just catch up with them. In fact, there was even one of these in the GBC game, to select which realm you wished to visit. In game, it would be more like the player selecting where the energy-reading takes place before everyone sets foot there.

Summoning: Naturally, this is what the equivalent to Rush would be. However, everyone (especially Mondo and Rokuna, who have already been on their own adventures beforehand) already would have a ton of Monsters that they could summon, and wouldn't have any logical reason to dispose of these. Fortunately, if I recall correctly, there's actually a canon rule that states that one can only summon something once a day, thus balancing the whole thing way out.

Upgrades: For the good guys only, one of the Knights' special abilities would be unlocked after each level, with the first one unlocked depending on who you play as for the first level tackled. Not sure what the rest of the order would depend on, but either before or after the first stage, regardless of who attempts what, they can also get a pair of magically linked bracelets for a possible tag-team mode, with which to apply each special spell used to both wearing one.

Affinities: For the fic, this is something that Chelle has been urging me to think about for the supporting Knights, and which I will probably decide through dice. In canon, Mondo is best with Fire and Wind, while Rokuna specializes in Water and Earth magic. However, in any kind of game, this is what would be customizable for everyone, while Root Elements (which are what each of the Knights' weapons depend on) are the built-in factor.

Gemstones: Probably collectible, similar to E-Tanks, except that they would likely restore the magic power of a particular Knight (thus encouraging you to make use of all of them) instead of health for just anyone.

So far, looking pretty good! But, if the game in question ends up being its own franchise (that is, if it even gets made at all), it might possibly take place in the present (as an in-between of the future-oriented MM and the medieval RKS). The playable characters (at least in the first game) would probably be one boy who would fight similar to Zero and use something elemental just to make his weapons stronger against certain enemies, and one brown-beehive-haired girl who would be able to use the powers of those she defeats until each game ends (between then and the next game which her time being able to use it would run out). The girl's hair color in question would also change in tune with which power she readies, just like how Spiritia's (which in turn is a reference to Mega's armor doing so) does. The rest of the cast would also be much more gender-equal than MM or RKS. Beyond that, though, I'm not sure what else would be involved or what the story or any other specifics would be.