metavanaj

[metavanaj]

‘Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes’ | I’m not mad, just disappointed...

Hi, my name’s MetaVanAJ and you’re too late. Of late, I’ve been diving into Suda51’s return to the directorial seat, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, for the Nintendo Switch. I don’t want  to give my ‘pre-release story & thoughts’ because ultimately it didn’t impact my final feelings on the title. All you need to know is I entered the game with a fresh & positive mindset - I went in open minded, looking for a new experience and above all else...a Suda experience. I still got one so I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. The recurring theme you’ll see in this article, and by extension the game, is that TSA gives but it also taketh away. But what is it giving and who is it giving to? And what does it take away from itself? Read on, little reader, read on. I wish it was as clear-cut as saying ‘TSA takes one step forward, two steps back’ but it isn’t. I’ll break it down for you and hopefully, you’ll see what I’m trying to communicate about the various elements of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.

Combat

The meat of TSA is the beat ‘em up combat - I’d say it’s top down but occasionally, the camera likes to remember it’s a camera and it takes up a different/interesting angles, to frame the action. The majority of the time though, it remains in a birds eye view. To order my thoughts, I’ll be splitting up this section, in two: player character control, and enemy composition. The player can take control of series, lovable and hateable, Travis Touchdown & the newcomer with a grudge, Badman (with the DLC adding the two brilliant ladies of Bad Girl & Shinobu). The character’s moveset, for the most part, is incredibly well-designed. You have light and heavy attacks, a jump and a dodge. Light attacks are best for clearing mobs while heavies do the big damage. Unfortunately, they can’t be mixed and matched so you are best off finishing a string of light attacks with a couple of heavy hit. Your attacks can also be used in conjunction with your other moves, meaning you have access to a jumping heavy & light attack, as well as lunge move, inputted by rolling and then attacking. Holding down the L button gives you access to four pre-equipped skills, all of which correspond to a face button. When a special gauge is filled, you can vigorously smash that R button for a 3-hit super move, that does the big numbers and the big AOE. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Well, it is - sadly, nothing really combos into anything but combat is more about keeping enemies trapped in a constant barrage relentless hitboxes than it is about ‘comboing’.

While you may have a fun, customisable toolset, the instances/encounters you can use it in are...unsatisfying. See, any good action game knows the toolset is only half the story; the other half being enemy composition. And oh boy, TSA’s enemy composition is flaccid. Enemies either go down in two hits, like total punks, or can take up to a solid minute of  nothing but heavy attacks, to eat the digital dust. It begins to feel like a musou...that’s not a good thing. This ain’t no 1000 heartless fight from Kingdom Hearts II, bub. TSA’s mobs for 90% of its duration are mind-numbing and dull. I say 90% because in the 4th game, Golden Dragon GP (it’s the racing one), contextually it makes sense for it to feel ‘grindy’; as well as, in the latter half of the last ‘full’ game, Serious Moonlight, the game starts to demonstrate competency, with its enemy encounters. The only saving grace of the combat is the boss encounters. The only gripe I have, with those set encounters, being that their 2nd phase doesn’t differ enough from their first but hey, neither of the prior two games did this so it’s a mute point. I had fun with the bosses of TSA, but that’s about the extent to which I enjoyed fighting the enemies, in this title.

Level Design

I think it’s very easy to bash TSA’s level and so I will. I jest, of course, my beautiful reader. You see, a lot of the design philosophy from the series past has subliminally snuck into this title as well, thus I kind of have to forgive the often, sub-par level design. That and the game actually does showcase some promising elements; a running theme you might be starting to notice. The ‘puzzles’ contained in Life is Destroy (the 2nd game) is an interesting concept, but is never elaborated/expanded upon. The idea of Travis going through a Resi-style mansion (Coffee & Doughnuts, the 3rd game) in a more trippy-esque fashion sounds great, but isn’t executed in an engaging way. On some level, it’s not ok to attack TSA’s level design but had the level’s been, gosh I don’t know, somewhat interesting to traverse maybe it could of disguised the monotony found in the game’s combat. Its levels feel a whole lot like the past two NMH’s titles, and Killer Is Dead, so it’s exactly what you expect from another Grasshopper hack and slash. However, in the grand scheme of good game design, it’s got a long way to go before being considered decent.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is a bit of a mixed bag. Most of it is a thumping techno assault to the ears, to match the cliche ‘ video game-y’ aesthetic of the game - whether or not, this is a good thing varies from track to track. Personally, I love the techno remix of the main NMH theme but I can see why others wouldn’t. Rarely does the game whip out a sensational track that completely juxtaposes its premise because when it does boy, is it beautiful. Probably, the best example of this is in Golden Dragon GP, when the track Cold Rice kicks in. It’s a beautiful sombre piece and it really highlights just what TSA’s OST can do...and this is just song about cold leftovers. I get that, like, on an emotional level. The soundtrack, like the game, is a little conceptually messy but occasionally, when it wants to it can deliver on something truly magical and unique.

Writing/Presentation

The highlight (and personally, the only redeeming factor) of TSA is the writing and how the story is presented. The visual novel segments are a quaint little way to tell the meaty sections of story and I adore them. These are a not-so-subtle throwback to Grasshopper’s early titles, like The Silver Case. The absolute absurdity of the sections makes them difficult to present in any other format than just that...a wall of text. There’s nothing with the way it has been executed that is inherently ‘wrong’ but it could have been done so in a more engaging manner. I would’ve loved to have seen a level try to encapsulate what occur in these visual novel segments, due to just how entertaining they are to read; this where the ‘Suda-ness’ of the game shines. Instead, we got an incredibly well written visual novel, accompanied by a lacklustre game; I wish it was the other way around. Oh well, the writing’s the best it has ever been, I guess.

Is this shit good?

SO that’s TSA...or at least the elements you should take into account when trying to sum up whether this strange little game is worth it. To summarise crudely, everything in TSA starts off as a promising concept, but is often sloppily done in execution. Ultimately, I can only recommend it to the Suda fans, not even NMH fans, as the cheeky amount of hidden fanfare and that brilliant writing is sure to bring a smile to anyone who believes in the big 51. Even so, still pick it up but only for a discount... just if you’re curious. It’s incredibly sad that the nicest thing I can say about a game, to the mainstream consumer, is that hey ‘at least it runs at 60FPS’. As a fan, I’m glad TSA happened but at the end of the experience, the actual ‘game’ in this video game left me feeling flaccid.

Did I just a end a review with a dick joke? Yes. Godspeed, reader...

[metavanaj]

What the hey, AJ? | First Assault [Volume: January 2019]

YES, THE TITLE IS COMPLICATED.

Hi - if you’re reading this, you know the drill. My name’s MetaVanAJ, insert quirky catchphrase and/or ‘your mum’ joke here. Welcome to the first volume of ‘What the hey is AJ play...ing?’ Yeah, the title isn't the greatest but hey it rhymes...mostly. I just thought I’d use this as quick way of communicating what I’m playing (or going to play) at the moment, & hopefully give some quick recommendations, to pique your interests in some really good stuff. As much as I would love to do a video version of this, I feel I would lose the spontaneity behind the idea; once I get my shit together I’ll do one of these in video form, someday. The only reason I’m writing this now is because January 2019 is so jammed packed with excellent NEW titles (despite most of this article being about ports & remakes), that I literally won’t be able to keep up. And I can’t even keep up in an off-season so this is just exponentially worse. So, ‘what the hey is AJ playing’ in January 2019?

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes

(Platform(s): Switch | Release Date: Jan 18th)

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is taking another core title hostage so please buy this game. Joke aside, I am still looking forward to this title. Like everyone else, I’m a bit iffy and uncertain about how the gameplay is shaping up but I’ll be picking this up day one. Why? For one reason only, of course: Suda51. You see Goicha Suda is a brand - he is a different, ‘special snowflake’ and he makes different ‘special snowflake’ games. His name has been slapped on various works the past decade, and then some, but he actually hasn’t directed a game since 2007’s No More Heroes, on the Nintendo Wii. Travis Strikes Again marks his return to the directorial seat, albeit an odd-way to do so. But hey, this means pure unadulterated Suda-vision, the same vision that gave us Killer7 and No More Heroes; meaning narrative-wise we’re up for, what the kids call, some wacky shit. That and being able to blast through this with a bud, in co-op, will ease any of the pain, if the gameplay isn’t to mechanically engaging. Pain divided...is worse - why would you subject your friend to that?

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition

(Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC | Release Date: Jan 11th)

I saw someone call the ‘Tale of’ series the McDonalds of JRPGS - I don’t think that’s an accurate metaphor but hey it’s an interesting way to open up a paragraph, no? Tales games tend to be a bit ‘same-y’ but it’s a bloody excellent formula and the fact they’ve released so many of these over the years just goes to show the formula works. Don’t like the characters, story & setting of one Tales game? Play the next one - gameplay remains the same, fundamentally. I won’t dive into the gameplay deep here but let's just say the ‘action’ is pretty decent in this ‘action-RPG’. Personally, you can’t go wrong with any Tales after Tales of the Abyss (Symphonia didn’t click with me, my bad). Apparently, Vesperia is one of the best in the series, so if it’s half as good as Abyss, and what I’ve seen of Xillia, then this is definitely worth a buy - especially on Switch, so you can take this bad boy on the go. Don’t worry, high-frame lovers: it was 60fps on the 360 in 2008, it’ll a good time, trust me. And this is one also has a dog with an eye patch in it...and a pirate midget. The definitive edition also adds all the extra goodies from the japan exclusive PS3 port, which is all the more reason to pick up a copy now. LIKE RIGHT NOW.

New Super Mario Brothers U Deluxe

(Platform: Switch | Out now!)

Eh, I’m not super excited about this game in particular but moreso the idea of the game itself. Shocking fact: New Super Mario Bros. games have been decent this entire time. The games have no spunk, in terms of story and presentation, but boy is the level design tight & fun. If you’re looking for a good 2D platformer on Switch, get Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, or hey even Shantae ½ Genie Hero. The other big 4-player party-style offerings however, have been kinda meagre offerings. Super Mario Party looks boring and soulless, Kirby: Star Allies is patronisingly easy to a point of being ‘unfun’ (and that’s for a Kirby game), and I forgot how to casually play Smash without crushing people’s dreams. Super Mario Bros. U is a great platformer and even greater with a few buddies but I’m not clamouring to get it at full price. I still strongly recommend it though if you’re just looking for some 4-player platform ‘em up fun. Comes with Luigi U too, that’s nice - surprised they didn’t charge us for it, all over again. That’d be almost as bad as charging a full 80 Australian dollars for it...oh wait.

Resident Evil 2 [2019 remake]

(Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC | Release Date: 25th Jan)

Legitimately thought, I don’t need to sell you this one. You saw the trailer, you’re probably already hyped that Resi is ‘returning to its roots’; whatever that means. Personally, I haven’t touched Resident Evil up until recently, as I am a big baby when it comes to jump-scares. I know their coming but I still go through the physical shock of getting scared by set jumps. The titles I have been delving into (and loving) of late, have been Resi 4, 5 & 6...all at once - and I wonder why I can’t tame the backlog? Anywho, that’s why I am excited for the Resi 2 remake. Why should YOU be excited? The Resi 2 remake takes from all the best components of the series, and smooshs them together to create something extraordinarily beautiful -  the actual horror elements and sense of claustrophobia through environmental design from the first three classic games, the tight gameplay formula from the modern Resi formula (4, 5, 6) and the beautiful new engine from Resi 7. Resident Evil 2 (2019_ is like a best hits album of everything the series has achieved so far. Play it, yeah - you owe it to yourself.

Kingdom Hearts freaking III

(Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One | Release Date: 29th Jan)

At this point, you are either on the Kingdom Hearts hype train, or you live in beautiful bliss of the Kingdom Hearts hype train. I got in an abusive relationship where whenever I thought about Kingdom Hearts 3, I would angrily playthrough the entirety of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix again. I’m better now - I spend my days now complaining about Dream Drop Distance like a good boy now. That being said: I’m a fan like everyone, I’m getting this Day 1, and I payed an extra 20 Australian dollars, on top of full price, for the deluxe edition. If you’re wondering why you should buy Kingdom Hearts 3, all I’m going to say is it’s going to be epic. It’ll have a rippling behemoth impact on anyone who’s touched a game from the Eastern shores, like Final Fantasy XV did, at its release. If you’re a newcomer, obviously start with Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2, as they are the finest action-RPGs I’ve ever played, in my short time on this earth. But if you’re even remotely invested in the series, you’re already drooling - that fabled release of KH3 is so close I can practically taste it. It tastes so good. I SWEAR TO GOD THOUGH IF I SEE ‘FLOATY COMBAT’, I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’ll DO. I’ll see you at the end of it all...

Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal

(Platform(s): PS4, PC | Release Date: 18th Jan)

Woah, that last one got a little emotional there. Anyways, this one’s an easy sell: BOOBS, BUTTS, ANIME BABES, & BODACIOUS BLADES. Senran Kagura Estival Versus was a interesting musou that showcased some promising gameplay elements; I actually had to activate more than two brain cells at once, during my playthrough. Shocking, I know. Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal is a remake of a 3DS game (Senran Kagura Burst), which consists of gameplay more akin to a 3D-Beat-’em-up. It simply looks like a bit of a meatier Estival Versus so I’m keen to check it out & see how deep the game mechanics well is. If you’re looking for a fun light action romp too, you should as well. The presentation, which I won’t delve into here, is often what is a bit of a turn off for newcomers - I personally have never been swayed by it either way it. Sure, it’s a bit saucy but it doesn’t detract from the fact that whatever the Senran Kagura series tries its hand at, is often a pretty fun & polished experience, albeit a slightly shallow one. This one isn’t necessarily a ‘must get’ but they’re not charging full price so it is definitely worth an investigative playthrough, if you can get past the ‘fan-service-y’ presentation.

Well, that’s it for the first volume of ‘What the hey, AJ?’ Next time, I hope to adapt this into video form & hopefully spin in a few funnies, as well as just tighten up the structure. Next time, probably won’t be all new releases either - I’ll probably end up doing another just if I find that everything I’m playing, at any given time, is amazing. I have, and always will be, MetaVanAJ - stay cool, fools. Actually, that was mean calling my audience fools. Stay cool, individuals.

[metavanaj]

AJ’S ARCADE | TIME CRISIS 5

Game: Time Crisis (Released 2015)

On the 4th of January 2019, I was blessed with the opportunity to play Time Crisis 5 - which as of the time of writing this, remains trapped in the arcade. Mid-way through 2018, I found out that they had ported past Time Crisis games, which sparked a light gun phase thus I’ve been scooping up every one I can for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3; hence the vested interest & high hopes for TC5. Having played all the past main line TC games, how does the latest 2015 romp hold up? Eh.

Before we go any further though, I thought I’d should let you, the precious reader, know that I only played through the first three stages. While I had access to the True Mastermind edition, with the extra three stages I only managed to have enough time to play through those first three stages twice - once to enjoy the spectacle, and once to try master them. However, I will make reference to the latter three stages, as I have watched a few playthroughs on YouTube, so I could experience the story, without the pressure of the gameplay.

Now, let us dissect this bitch.

The Good

Story - It has one...?

To say past games haven’t had much of a narrative would absolutely be true. Usually, the formula consists for two bros., two handguns vs a whole terrorist organisation, and taking them down before they unleash a super weapon of some sorts. Throw in a few interesting boss fights, some varied locales a not-so-surprising showdown with Wild-Dog...boom-bada bing, you have a Time Crisis narrative.

Past entries of the series have literally been too short (in terms of game time) to tell anything of worth, in the story department. Time Crisis 5, being twice as long as any previous entry, actually has enough breathing room to tell a story...for an arcade game. Mind you not anything complex, but it’s leagues better than any other light gun shooter, that dare put in possess cutscenes, inter-midst gameplay, and call it a plot. The plot actually goes somewhere - literally, and figuratively. From stages 4-6 onwards, Time Crisis 5 deviates from its usual action movie plot and manages to actually possess a few decent twists & turns, which all culminates in a satisfying finale. I wouldn’t say it’s emotional but it does evoke an emotion...and this is an hour long arcade game; that’s pretty outstanding. The series for the first time in history, makes reference to the fact it does indeed have a history; however I won’t delve into it as it would involve major spoilers - I’ll just say that it’s pretty neat.

Sights - Gwaphics

To say Time Crisis 5 is gorgeous would be an understatement. The game bleeds beauty in the presentation department. Not only does the game look like a modern, vivid, and colorful spectacle for each and every frame but even small things like the UI and HUD looks uber crisp. I especially like the simple ‘end of area’ screen in which the game primarily utilises the color of the whatever character you’re playing.  While I still believe Time Crisis 1-3 still look decent regarding their age, acting as sort of landmarks of the series graphical progression, I believe TC5 straight makes TC4’s early-HD-looking ass a lot less appealing; making that game appear to age not so gracefully. While I do praise the visuals highly, it’s not 100% great all the time. Bandai Namco, have indeed utilised Unreal Engine, instead of whatever in-house concoction they usually come up with. While I’m not entirely sure if it’s 4, or a heavily modified version of 3, either way the team behind it all have left in a few jaggies here and there. Nothing too bad mind you, it just means the game looks great most of the time, instead of all the time.

Sounds - VO, Sound Design, Music?

There’s not much to say here. It’s an arcade on-rail shooter - of course the sound design is amazing. Each bullet iss followed a meaty sound effect, which of course  is poorly balanced with the rest of the audio, so everything is drowned out by gunshots . I was in a noisy arcade so I didn’t get to appreciate other environmental sounds and the music, as much as I would have like.. Watching it back, there’s nothing special about TC5’s soundtrack but it still remains fitting and energising. The main theme is a pretty nice EDM interpretation of the series main theme but that’s it really. Personally, while the series has had a great soundtracks, in the past, I would call any of the OSTs after TC 1 & 2 too memorable at all. As I said, it’s fitting and that’s all it needs to be.

Voiceovers, voiceovers, voiceovers. By god, they’re voiceovers, alright. The game features dual audio but I only experienced the English VO - mind you, I have seen a playthrough with the Japanese ones. Both languages provide the equal parts cheese and cringe, both giving the ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ vibe. This is House of the Dead 2 levels of bad but it’s up to par with rest of the series so you’ve got nothing to worry about. I will say that the English VO tends to have more awkward moments more frequently but they both get the job done and they both provide a different experience. What more could you want?

Gameplay - It’s Time Crisis Alright.

Gameplay, at it’s core, is the same formula seen in TC3 & 4. It’s your usual shooting gallery with a cover mechanic. If you get to greedy an enemy’ll throw out a special red bullet that will take off one of your lives; the game will let you know this happening with a bright red ‘crisis flash’. The game also has you on a time meaning you can’t take your sweet time from behind cover - however, Time Crisis hasn’t felt like an actual crisis of time since the first game so you might as well take your sweet time behind cover. Introduced in TC3, is weapon switching; weapon switching functions a little differently in this game, so I’ll delve into that later into this piece. All you need to know is you have access to 4 guns: a handgun, machine gun, shotgun and a grenade launcher (all of which fire just as you’d expect). All of these little things add up to create some great set pieces and intense gunfights. TC5, as the series second HD outing, introduces that enhanced presentation and a small but meaningful load of mechanics. I won’t go in-depth about some of the new additions as they make brief appearances and are mostly featured in the latter three stages. Let’s just say as no point does TC5 feel ‘same-y’ or ‘stale’

The Bad

The Gameplay - Ok, let me elaborate.

Right, I just said that the gameplay’s good, right? Why is it now in the bad-section? Well, it’s a mixed bag. While, TC5 still retains what made the past games fun, this iteration features some drawbacks...and some they’re pretty game defining. For every step forward TC5 takes, it takes two steps back. These little niggles start to quickly add up and begin to degrade the quality of the experience. This game could be the best in the series, but with the flaws I’ll mention below in mind, it ends up feeling like an incredibly mediocre outing when it should in fact be the biggest and baddest TC yet.

Frame Rate - Cinematic But Not Practical

The game is capped at 30fps and it sure doesn’t feel like it was built around that frame rate. Need I say more? While this doesn’t impact gameplay for the most part, it can become an irritation. The game isn’t a rock-solid 30fps and that’s where I begin to have issues with the frame rate. It’s nothing horrible (just brief dips to 25fps, it felt like), but it could mean the difference between you losing a life or not, which could mean the difference between spending another dollar or not.  The game functions at 30fps but it doesn’t thrive at it; an obvious boost to 60 would indeed rectify, or at least help mask a lot of the issues I have. The main one, that directly tied to frame rate, is the ducking behind cover; vital for both shielding yourself and reloading. Numerous times during my play session I was blindsided by bullets I was meant to dodge...half of these yes, I’ll admit were my fault but other the other half, not so much. I would often left go of the pedal, with in an appropriate reaction window, but the animation of ducking behind cover wouldn’t play out in time. Sure, I could adapt to the new rhythm (like most 30fps games force you to) but I shouldn’t have to - every past entry has ran at 60 and the ducking mechanic has function fine. It shouldn’t be problem now. If I had to take a guess, the creators have prioritised graphical fidelity, with the frame-rate being an afterthought.

Weapon Switching - Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke

OK - so this might not be a major problem but it was with my experience of the game. The new guns feature a little button on the side for weapon switching, similar to a GunCon2 which is pretty cool. This replaces pulling the trigger behind cover to switch weapons. However, this means you’re force to take a two handed grip - not necessarily a bad thing but does remove an option. My concern was more the button wasn’t very responsive. I could quickly snap between handgun to machine gun but trying to switch to the other two guns was hassle for some reason. The button almost pushes through to the other side and gets stuck - this might’ve just been an issue with the gun I was using though, but it did result in some imprecise weapon switching. All I’m saying is that the way, weapon switching has worked in the past was fine, and I believe the button on the side of the gun could’ve been used for something else.

Dual Pedals - It’s weird

New to the Time Crisis 5 is that aforementioned dual cover system. It...works - kinda, not really, sorta. On paper, it sounds like an excellent idea but in execution, it’s a little clunky and clunky play gets you killed. So you use the two pedals to switch between cover right? Yes, that part’s fine. Personally the animation getting between cover is a little long, but not too bad. It’s more say I’m poking out of the left cover. If I want to the be poking out of the right one, I would need to tap the right pedal which would put me behind the right cover - to then poke out of it, I would need to double tap the pedal and then hold it down. While I wouldn’t complain about the extra foot work, it just doesn’t feel kinaesthetically sound. It’s not entirely bad though. Tt’s just more that the 30fps caps lead to some imprecise cover shifting, which results more often than not for you to be smacked by a bullet you saw coming. If the game did have to be tied to that 30fps though, I feel a viable way to fix this would be to just use the pedals to switch between covers and use the button on the side for peeking out of cover, tying the two actions to two seperate inputs for more precise play. I guess if the button on the side is being used, might as well revert back to old weapon switching method.

The Handgun - What have you done to my baby?!?

The handgun got nerfed and I am sad. Past titles didn’t have a cap on how fast you could fire the handgun - it would fire as fast as you could finger blast. Rhyme and innuendo intentional. Hell, TC1 & 2 are entirely built around just having the handgun and how fast you can fire it. The fire rate on the handgun, in TC5, isn’t abysmal but it makes the little thing less satisfying to use, as well as less viable when stacked up against the machine gun. Yet again, people were easily doing handgun only runs of TC3 & 4 just because of how easy it was to use the handgun. It’s a bit of double edge sword so I can see why such a change happened, so as to make the hand gun feel like an obvious downgrade. I’m just not sure the way they did it in TC5, was the way to do it.

The FABULOUS

Character Designs - Oh yeah, baby

Say what you will but I like the path the series has taken since TC3, becoming increasingly more ‘mong’ as the series goes on - TC5 is the ‘mongiest’ entry thus far. The game also introduces some much need color into the overall presentation, which not only reflects well on flamboyant tone overhaul but also just makes the game more visually appealing to the eye. Oh and all the characters look visually distinct from one enough, not just the dual twink protagonists this time round. Essentially, everyone who’s not a target has been given the attention that a MC would be given.

The EVEN FABULOUS-ER?!?

Wild Dog & Wild Fang

‘Nuff said.

And that’s Time Crisis 5 - it makes some weird design choices that affect the flow of combat and your reaction time but ultimately it retains a lot of what the series has been praised before. While I wouldn’t say it’s as tight a gameplay experience as, say TC2 & 3 (even for 4 that matter - hey it runs at 60fps), it’s certainly a good enough title to add to the lineage. The new mechanics in the game also do a decent job of setting itself apart from past entries. I also feel lot of the issues I mentioned would actually be easily rectified with a higher frame rate. Maybe a console release could fix this, hey Bandai Namco? *wink wink* If you see TC5 out in wild, give it a few quarters and minutes of your time - it’s not the most polished experience but it sure is one hell of a ride.

[metavanaj]

Opening to my first novel...I think.

WOAH, I STILL POST HERE?!? I didn’t know I still did that. Hey cool kids; you’re a beautiful non-existent audience and I love that. 

So early 2015, I started writing a novel. It was conceptual shit, to say the least. Then I started writing another one and it was conceptually pretty sound. This isn’t going to be a super long preface so this is a quick rundown of the concept: ‘vampires in feudal Japan but it reads how a wuxia film looks’. I really want to drive home the point of the ‘whole wuxia film’ thing; I literally said to myself, “I want each paragraph to read like a beautiful tapestry”. Hence why I’ll never finish this...probably; I literal labor over trying to word this thing.

A quick warning before you deep dive into this: I wrote this in high school. I did not know how dialogue work, like at all. The dialogue is clunky and I plan to rectify that BUT the over all style is something I’m immensely proud of. It took me 3 week to get the wording down perfect...just for the prologue.

Please, enjoy the prologue to my thing, book, whatever, ‘House of Eternal Nocturne’: 

Prologue: The Sisters Who Drink

The older girl glared into the moon longingly, taking in the nocturnal breeze that swept it’s way up the grassy knoll. Her long black hair danced festively along the soft winds. She crossed over to the group of eagerly waiting girls; their glowing eyes reflected the moon’s light back at her. She crouched gracefully to meet their height. “Okay girls,” she uttered, softly,” tonight...we dine. Please, please, do not disturb the hard-working farmers. They have had a long day of working their land and deserve rest. You may only go after the cattle. You know what will happen if you disobey me. Now go, go on. I’ve kept you waiting long enough.”

The girls thanked her and playfully sped off down the hill, their kimonos flailing violently behind them. All of the girls had left…all but one. “Come here little one”, she said,” what’s wrong? Are you not hungry?” The remaining girl rushed to her side and clung to her leg. A few shimmering tears rolled down her small porcelain face. Once again, the older girl leant down and met her fellow sister’s eyes. “What’s your name, little one?” she asked, wiping away the small girl’s tears. “Yukiko”, she whispered, staring at the ground.

The older girl lifted the small girl’s chin with an elegant finger and greeted her face with a warm smile. “What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” the older girl said, beaming,” my name is Meisa. Yukiko, why haven’t you joined the other girls?” Yukiko mustered up her courage and replied, “Because…I’m scared. I’m scared I won’t be able to stop.”

Meisa brought Yukiko into a gentle embrace. “You know, Yukiko, I’ll tell you a secret. I was scared once like you. But we need to eat and this how we do it. I promise you won’t lose control. Would you like it if I came with you?” Ending the embrace, Yukiko nodded insistently. Meisa stood up and outstretched her hand to Yukiko, who met Meisa’s hand with her own. Bearing her fangs in a playful smile, Meisa reassured,” Come along now; I am starving.” She led Yukiko down the knoll in the same direction as the other girls.

The sound of mutilated cattle cries rang out through the otherwise serene Night.

[metavanaj]

Do a scene with tension. Well, go on.

Preface:

SO. This is a thing; another post. Who knew? Anywho, this was another exercise for my Intro to Creative Writing subject, which I did last semester. It was one of the aforementioned writing exercises for the portfolio. The aim was simply to ‘write a scene with tension’. I utilised a technique called ‘iceberg writing’ - meaning a lot of the tension within the scene occurs below the metaphorical surface, or moreover, it’s subliminal. Enjoy...I guess. 

PS - No title for this one. 

PPS - VB is a brand of beer. Just in case, you’re not from down under ;)

Gary opened his eyes. The slamming headache returned. He lumbered down the stairs, towards the mini fridge next to the TV and opened it up. VB, VB, VB...VB it was. He stood up slowly and took a sip. He picked up yesterday’s newspaper off the coffee table and tucked it under his arm. Bacon. He smelt bacon. Huh, now that was a rare phenomenon. He stumbled into the kitchen and took a seat at the crowded table. Marge was in the kitchen, cooking. His wife, cooking. Cooking...

He inspected the table. Plum juice. Bagels. Croissants. Toast. Jam. A real nice spread. Bacon, though. He unfolded the newspaper. Marge was gliding around the kitchen, her bright red sundress fluttering behind her. Her long blonde locks were in curls; Gary always told her she looked better with curls. She was humming ‘Teenage Dirtbag’; that was her favourite song. She had a cake in the oven too, chocolate by the looks of it. She kept bouncing between peeking at the cake and occasionally flipping the eggs and bacon. She swooped up the coffee pot.

Marge placed it gently down in front of Gary and gave him a beaming smile. She poured him a cup and gave him a pleasant peck on the forehead. Gary reciprocated with a lukewarm smile. His grip on the newspaper tightened a little. She returned to tendering to the eggs and bacon. He pretended to read the sports column while he watched Marge closely, trying to figure it out. Finally, she turned around with an attractive plate of bacon and eggs and placed it in front of Gary. Gary piped up.

“Didn’t hear you come in last night, honey…”, said Gary.

She spun back around. “Oh, ah, I was working late, again. Ha, sorry.” She smiled again.

Gary put a rasher of bacon in his mouth.

“Huh, been doing a lot of that of late, hey hun.”

Marge begun to run a sink and plopped in the dishes. “Oh yes, well this new story is quite the thriller. The station has got me and Mark working extra late. Not even getting over time for it.”

Stupid girl. Another mouthful of bacon.

“Ah, Mark. I like Mark. You two working together on it or something, hun? The story, I mean.”

“Yep, sure are.”

More bacon. This time, a long slurp of coffee to wash it down.

“Mark’s pretty good looking right, hun?”

Gary watched Marge’s back stiffen. Her dishwashing tempo momentarily slowed.

“Ah, yeah? I guess, he’s attractive.”

Gary put his knife and fork down. He got onto his feet.

“Would ya fuck him?”

“What?” She turned around to protest.  “No! I haven’t, god no!”

Gary stepped closer, raising his voice.

“I didn’t ask whether you HAD fucked him, I asked whether you WOULD fuck him!”

He lurched forward and grabbed a handful of dress, lifting her clean of the floor. She let out a short, sharp yelp in shock. He met her eyes, his chest heaving; she could feel the anger pulsating off him. His eyes widened. A long moment passed and he dropped her to the floor. Gary stormed out of the kitchen and then the front door, still wearing his pyjamas. Marge lay lying on the floor, gasping.

The bacon gave her away.

[metavanaj]

My first big piece of assessment

Preface: So this was part of my first piece of assessment, for the end of semester. All the other stuff prior to this was just writing exercises compiled into a “portfolio”, which hey I might share some of here. However for this, we had to hand in a poem (no longer than 2 pages) and a short story (1500-2000 words). So this is the short story. Title is a little on the nose but it’s probably one of the best pieces of writing I’ve poured time into. Enjoy…I guess. 

PS - I failed the Intro subject so I have no clue if this is actually any good but hey, I’ve never been one for summarising the worth of a piece, or someone’s ability to do something, into a single number. BTW, this has not been edited since I submitted it; it may not be grammatically perfect.

Title: Girl kills Boy because Girl felt like it.

I never thought my first time would feel like...like this.

The moon was gleaming through the kitchen window, highlighting the scene that should be gross. I didn’t find it gross, though. The moon’s light reflected off the broad stainless steel knife and back into the otherwise calming night. I awkwardly shuffled closer, to really take the sight the in.  His chest was heaving lethargically; his once golden brown glazed skin was now a more meagre shade. That was probably the blood loss, though. His lustrous mop of black curls were matted now with the viscous blood; it slowly crept along the kitchen floor. The red actually contrasted really nicely against the black and white tiles. He twitched every so often; an eerie reminder that he wasn’t quite dead yet but boy, was he taking his time getting there. His eyes were wide open in fear, petrified; as if the act of getting stabbed was playing on repeat in his mind. He kept gasping, like he was incredibly thirsty. It looked like he was trying to say something. I crouched down to the floor. I could feel my heart racing in excitement; a little smile snuck it’s way onto my face. This is the closest I have been since, you know...I put a kitchen knife into his abdomen. Ah, he was trying to say something. “Mi-che-lle”, he said, punctuating each syllable with a desperate wheeze, “Mi-che-lle.” I was going to say something back but I couldn’t think of anything so I just preemptively shut myself up before I said anything stupid.

Now you’re probably thinking: “God, this Michelle sounds awful; she must be some psycho killer or something”. I’m like, not, ok, jeez. That’s just sick. See, I’ve just had this ‘morbid curiosity’, as I like to call it. I’ve always just want to see someone die, in the flesh. For as long as I can remember, I’ve just had so many questions about murders, death and stuff. Like what’s it feel like? Is dying quick? Is it the sensation like flicking a light switch on then off or is it more like a slow, gradual fade? You know, just real existential stuff. Except I was not going to go all pretentious emo and like, try to kill myself to find this all out. But that’s for quitters. So I’m in my senior year, this year, and I’m like, right: I’ve got to kill someone. It’s pretty much now or never. Although, saying you’re going to kill someone and actually doing it are two completely separate things. Murder takes a lot of effort and planning, as I found out, but I managed. I mean, I made this far, haven’t I? When I first starting concocting my cheeky little scheme, believe it or not, the biggest setback was figuring just who I was going to kill...

Who

Initially, I was like ‘oh my god yes, time to off a bitch’, because I have beef with a lot, and I mean, a lot of people. For example, I was really thinking of offing this bitch, McKenzie, as somehow she got the cheer squad over and above me, but I couldn't. She was kinda my best friend so that’d totally give me away. Then, there was Chad, sweet Chad. He straight up cheated on me. Sure, we had broken up at the time but we always intended getting back together - well, at least that’s what I thought. He clearly didn’t care about me, about us. Those two were just the worst of them, though. There were just so many to choose from. However, they were all to obvious. They would set me up with motive; my candidate would have to be more seemingly random and then it hit me. No, he literally hit me. I was on my way to Biology, when the dingus wasn’t watching where he was going and I walked straight into Miguel. He’s absolutely gorgeous though, so all was forgiven. He had moved from somewhere in South America, I can’t pronounce, and he started here at the beginning of senior year. “Uh... hello. Sorry, Miss”, I remember him saying to me, as he nervously scrambled for my books. Back then, Miguel thought you had to call all girls, ‘Miss’. Ah, fond times those were. It was then as I watched this exotic adonis grovel at my feet did I come to the realisation. I was going to kill this pretty foreign boy and I knew exactly how I was going to do it...

How

Ever since I made up my mind about this whole ordeal, I’ve kind of been fantasising just how I would ‘do the deed’. To be honest, I used to daydream about it all the time in class. At first, I was thinking quick and efficient: just shoot him, right? Well, that kind of seemed barbaric and not at all to intimate. Bang, and it’s over - it just wasn’t the answer to all my questions. Then, I was thinking, what about something like a wood-chipper or chainsaw? Then that’s just the opposite problem - it would take too long. I like Miguel; I think he’s alright. If I hadn’t chosen him, I could totally see a future with him, or something. I didn’t really want the guy to suffer; I just needed him to die, simple and clean. I racked my brains for weeks, just trying to come up with the perfect method but they all ended up being too elaborate. It took my forever but I finally came up with a solution: I’m just going to stab him. It’s a little derivative, I know, but I believe it’s a happy balance of not being too quick and painful. I reckon I can still get what I need from the experience. That and like, knives are so easy to procure and require no prior setup. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the most elegant solution. Nonetheless though, that was the easy part. I still had to figure out just when I was going to kill Miguel…

When

When. When, when, when. When! Ugh, the word, actually haunted me, for the longest time. Did you know, you’re never actually alone? No, like truly alone. See, I’ve hooked up with Miguel a few times, so I guess, he’s my boyfriend now. So that’s perfect scenario to get him alone, right? Nope. Like, when we did it under the bleachers, there was some stupid football match going on at the same time; not an ideal stabbing situation. I took him home once, when the house was completely empty, and I lead him up to my bedroom. Closing the door, I remember thinking to myself: “Yes, this is it!”. We were in the middle of getting hot and heavy and I began reaching for the knife I has stashed under my pillow, for such an occasion. Just as I was about to whip it out, I heard Wheel of Fortune flick on down in the living room - my damned parents had come home early, too early. Sadly, I didn’t get the penetration I was looking then. For months afterwards, I had so many near-perfect scenarios, only to be so rudely disrupted, every time. That is, until the perfect opportunity presented itself to me. Prom. Ok, not prom itself but the prom after-party. I have no idea how but my next neighbor, Kelsey, was somehow popular enough to be the grade’s appointed host for the massive after-party. And I mean, massive too; half the freaking school ends up showing to these things. It’s the only party worth looking forward to. And that weekend, my parents had planned a romantic getaway, or something - I don’t think they were too fond of the idea of a couple hundred drunk and high teenagers hanging out in such proximity. I knew, just knew that night was going to be the night.  The plan was to loosen Miguel up with a bit of booze, at the after-party, and then lure him to my place. It was a real shame I was so hung up on this ‘killing’ thing - prom was just perfect. My dress was drop-dead gorgeous and I had some impressive tall, dark and handsome man around my arm. We even slow danced to ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’ - my absolute favourite song. However, the entire time my mind was on the task at hand. The dance ended at 10 and we headed to the penultimate piss-up of the year: the prom after-party.  So just how did I lure Miguel away, from the party of the year? Actually, that part was incredibly easy - all I had to do was whisper something dirty in Miguel’s ear and he was like sweaty, adolescent putty in my hands. Finally, I would get the chance, I’d been looking for. And that’s how we got to where we are now…

Just beforehand, I had awkwardly said to Miguel, “I don’t think I can make it upstairs,” God, that had sounded pretty slutty but it was the only way to keep in the kitchen with, you know, all the knives. Luckily, he wasn’t going to be alive to remember that desperate one-liner. We then started eagerly  undressing in the kitchen. Miguel was in too much of a horny daze to realise that what I had lead him into was clearly a trap. But that’s enough reminiscing, I think he’s finally going to do it. Die, I mean. His breathing pattern had drastically slowed. His eyes still had a look of desperation that was freaking me out. Weren’t they supposed to close or something? No, wait - I do that after he’s done. And then, it happened. I saw it. He was dead, finally, dead. Just like someone flicking off a light…but they’re dead. I let the moment, try and wash over me but I... I felt nothing, empty even. I just felt limp, emotionally and spiritually; a little disappointed, actually. Was I supposed to feel some kind of high, now? Develop a god complex, or something? Had my psyche been tainted, now? Nope. None of my questions were answered. Worse yet, I felt the exact same as before the act. Deep down in the pit of my stomach, I knew this just wasn’t how I was supposed to feel. Clearly, I didn’t do it right…

I should do it again.

[metavanaj]

Introduction.

Hey. My username is AJ (in some shape or form). Currently, I am a student, studying Film and Creative Writing. In my free time, I tend to stream speedruns of game I enjoy over on Twitch (www.twitch.tv/dotajtheitaly). That’s besides the point. During my ‘Intro to Creative Writing’ course, something that really resonated with me was publishing your work, even it doesn’t get seen. Except when the tutor phrased it, it sounded like a inspirational quote. So I guessed I got inspired. Here, I’ll post some of my shorter works, be it short stories, novellas, reviews, etc. If anyone shows up to read any of this, thanks. If you actually enjoy, even more thanks. If you don’t enjoy it, I’m a dirty masochist. Give me that constructive (or destructive) criticism, I deserve.