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scoutception · 3 years ago

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Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei re-review

With the recent release of Shin Megami Tensei V, I’ve decided it’s about time for me to more actively explore and play through the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, starting with the oldest games, as opposed to just getting the new game everyone’s currently excited about like a reasonable person would. As it happened, I actually started this journey a while back, playing through the first two games in the franchise, and even writing my first two reviews on them, before shifting my attention elsewhere for a long time. Oops. As I realized that I had played these games in a pretty bad way, namely rarely bothering with demon fusion, and seeing how my original reviews are, to me, at least, pretty rough compared to my more recent works, I’ve decided to revisit both, replaying them and re-reviewing them, now that I’m hopefully more equipped to at least make them interesting reads. Thus, today, we’re here to talk about the very first SMT game ever made, and the subject of my first review ever, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei. Even for this franchise, this game is quite obscure, so let’s get started on this look at the origin of this huge franchise. The version I’ve played is the SNES remake of Megami Tensei I and II, Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei, or Megami Tensei: The Old Testament, playable in English thanks to a fan translation.

Story:

As it happens, Megami Tensei is actually based on a trilogy of novels, Digital Devil Story, with several of its concepts, such as the Demon Summoning Program, magnetite, and the Hinokagutsuchi sword, carrying over into the wider series even once the games started distancing themselves from Digital Devil Story. In fact, there was even a completely separate Megami Tensei game released months earlier for the MSX and other home computers, though it’s a much worse game and has even less to do with SMT. The series follows a computer genius named Akemi Nakajima, who, out of a desire for vengeance against his fellow students who have humiliated him, invents a program capable of summoning forth demons, with Nakajima specifically managing to summon the loyal Cerberus and the malicious Loki. Realizing the error of his ways when Loki targets Yumiko Shirasagi, a transfer student whom Nakajima had felt a strange connection with, Nakajima’s attempts to save Yumiko and destroy Loki lead him to discover that he is in fact the reincarnation of the god Izanagi, and Yumiko the reincarnation of Izanami, with Izanami’s spirit coexisting with her. Megami Tensei actually means Reincarnation of the Goddess, explaining the meaning of SMT’s name.

The story of Megami Tensei takes place after the second novel, but before the third, which hadn’t yet been completed, thus making it an odd alternate continuity. Lucifer, the eventual villain of the third novel, has raised a demonic palace, Daimakyuu, in Asuka, the location of Izanami’s tomb. Planning to use the demonic armies inhabiting the palace to conquer the surface, Lucifer has further taken the initiative by reviving Nakajima and Yumiko’s old enemies, Loki and Set, to serve as his generals, and has imprisoned Izanami deep within the labyrinth contained within the palace to prevent her interference. Wishing to save Izanami and destroy their foes once and for all, Nakajima and Yumiko enter Daimakyuu, armed only with the COMP, a portable computer containing the Demon Summoning Program, and Yumiko’s magic.

In terms of actual plot, that’s unfortunately as far as things go. There’s no actual plot developments beyond just fulfilling the goals as stated in the above summary, and when it comes to representing elements from Digital Devil Story like Nakajima’s dark past or his relationship with Yumiko, it falls quite flat, as both of them are completely silent. Loki and Set don’t even acknowledge their grudges against the two, either, to the point they may as well have been any other random demons. It’s to be expected, considering this was originally a Famicom game, but it’s disappointing regardless. I can say, however, that it does do a decent job at representing other aspects from DDS, more than I originally gave it credit for. There’s fairly obvious gameplay aspects, like being able to communicate with demons using the COMP or the use of magnetite, to less obvious ones, like the roster of demons. Every demon from the first two DDS novels - Loki, Cerberus, Yomotsu-Shikome, Set, Apep, and Typhon - appear, either as randomly encountered enemies or bosses, and the ghost of Isma Feed, the human antagonist of the second novel, appears as a miniboss. Furthermore, while most of these were antagonists in the novels, and thus only serve as enemies, Cerberus and Yomotsu-Shikome were both allies, and thus are recruitable, with Cerberus in particular being recruitable at a much lower level relative to his power than one would expect, emphasizing the loyalty he has towards Nakajima. Nothing mind blowing, but a good effort for a game from 1987 that otherwise had to make up a lot of original content. Besides that, there’s really not much to talk about, so let’s get to the gameplay.

Gameplay:

Megami Tensei is a first person dungeon crawling RPG, in the style of early RPGs like Wizardry. Setting the standard for many of the future SMT games, despite the max party size being six, Nakajima and Yumiko are your only human party members for the entirety of the game, with Nakajima being physically focused and possessing the COMP, letting him analyze and summon demons in battle, while Yumiko is capable of using magic, learning a variety of spells as she levels up. Both of them can use equipment, namely weapons, armor, and a secondary armor category, either shields for Nakajima or headpieces for Yumiko. Your ultimate goal is to navigate through each of the six areas of Daimakyuu, the Tower of Daedalus, the sky city of Bien, the Valhalla Corridor, the Mazurka Corridor, the Rotting Sea of Flames, and the Infini Palace, defeating each area’s boss in the process, the Minotaur, Medusa, Loki, Hecate, Set, and Lucifer, respectively. Needless to say, however, only having two party members makes doing this pretty absurd, and that’s where one of SMT’s most iconic mechanics comes in, namely, demon negotiation.

When encountering enemies, you’re presented with four options: fight, which simply prepares to initiate combat, escape, which has you attempt to escape the encounter, with success sending you backwards a tile, and failure giving the enemy a free round to attack you, with escaping being impossible if your back is to a wall, I’m pretty sure, auto, which simply initiates a few rounds of sped up combat, with the AI automatically choosing what to do, and most importantly, talk, which has Nakajima attempt to communicate with the encountered demon using the COMP, in order to convince it to join his side. When doing so, several more options pop up, those being offer, which has the demon make you a monetary offer that may result in the demon joining if it’s granted, soothe, which gives several methods to attempt to calm the demon, with success making the demon more accommodating to your offers, and failure simply resulting in no change, persuade, which seems to only exist to indicate what the demon’s mood is, giving aggressive statements if they’re in a bad mood and giving more reasonable ones if they’ve been successfully soothed, and intimidate, which has Nakajima attempt to force the demon to join him by threatening it, with success having the demon join for free, and failure causing the demon to immediately attack, as if you failed to escape from the encounter.

While later SMT games have negotiation systems that can get pretty complicated and unpredictable, it’s fairly easy to use here. Once you’ve figured out how each option works, it becomes a routine of soothing, persuading, and offering, with intimidating opening up for demons that are very notably weaker than you, as it doesn’t seem to work on anything even close to your current level. That said, things are still quite capable of going wrong. Demons can just choose to null all your attempts at soothing them, they may bug you to give them jewels instead of macca, the normal currency, which is a terrible price to pay, as jewels are your only healing items, and can’t be bought, only being found in treasure chests or as drops from certain enemies, they may choose to attack you if you reject their offers, and even when everything should have gone right, they may choose to simply ditch you after being paid, rendering it all a waste of time and money. Another annoyance is that the game just doesn’t make it clear what some of your options do. One of the soothing options, approach, seems to have no positive outcomes, compared to smiling or sheathing your weapons, which have fairly obvious indications of when they work, and if persuading has some sort of effect beyond showing how well you’re doing, I couldn’t tell you what it is.

Additionally, there’s several stipulations to actually recruiting demons. You can only successfully recruit demons whose levels are equal to or lower than your own, with attempting to talk to demons of a higher level often ending with them attacking you, and at best resulting in them simply leaving. You also can’t talk to demons when the moon, shown in the top left, is full, as it drives them feral and renders them unable to speak. NPCs imply that demons become easier to negotiate with when less of the moon is visible, but again, this isn’t something I can confirm. Finally, demons are divided into three general alignments, with them divided into several races beyond that: evil, which makes the majority of the random encounters, and can’t be recruited, with them either being unable to speak and immediately attacking you, or, in the case of the Jaki race, attempting to trick into getting afflicted by a status effect by asking to speak to you, neutral, which make up the rest of the random encounters, and are the ones who can be recruited through negotiation, and good, who are only obtainable through one of the other major mechanics to demons, fusion.

Demons aren’t actually capable of leveling up, and thus, outside of simply recruiting stronger ones, there’s only one way to make them stronger. At the Cathedral of Shadows, located within the various towns throughout the labyrinth, you’re able to fuse two of your demons together in order to create a new one. While sometimes this results in neutral demons who can be encountered later on, this also includes good demons, who, as stated, are only obtainable this way. As with negotiation, you cannot fuse a demon that’s a higher level than you, and any incompatible combinations will result in a Dryad, which can admittedly be used in a few combinations of its own. The way fusions are determined is also much simpler than in future games, as, to put it simply, it’s just determined the specific demons you’re using, as they all fall into different categories. For instance, Hanuman, Djinn, and Cu Chulainn all make up category F, and fusing any one of them with Salamander, Pazuzu, or Kwancha, who are all part of category J, will always result in Kali. While it makes following a fusion chart pretty simple, it also means that you will often have to just hunt very specific demons down in order to get what you want. As well, once you can start fusing them, good demons rapidly outclass any neutral demons around their level, meaning you’re gonna be doing a whole lot of this as the game goes on. As you start fusing the more powerful half of the good demon rosters, you eventually need to start using other good demons for fusion, as neutral demons can only do so much, and this often spirals into hunting for materials to make good demons to make other good demons, and when you’re only capable of holding seven demons at a time, it can get very frustrating to manage. That said, the results are well worth it, with the ultimate good demon, and thus ultimate demon in the game, Krishna, being an absolute monster, with maxed out HP, fantastic stats and spells, and very good resistances.

Of course, with how powerful these demons can get, you can’t just use them as much as you like without consequence. In addition to needing to pay macca to summon them in the first place, demons require magnetite to manifest in the physical world, which you acquire by defeating certain races of demons, most often Fouls, Spirits, and Haunts. The more powerful the demon, the more magnetite they drain with each step you take, and if you run out, they begin taking damage with every step instead. While this is easy to manage in the earlier parts of the game, as demons barely drain anything, and the drops you can get are pretty substantial, magnetite becomes a more noticeable problem later on, as the few enemies that do drop it either don’t drop nearly enough, or are way too dangerous to fight in large numbers. While I never actually ran out of magnetite at any point, it was still pretty annoying, and there were times I had to go back and grind weaker enemies with just Nakajima and Yumiko to build my magnetite supply back up. Additionally, if both Nakajima and Yumiko die in battle, then it’s game over, as they can no longer use the COMP to control the demons. Thus, you always have to be cautious in battle and keep them healthy and protected.

This implementation of demon negotiation and fusion is certainly limited, as besides all the above points, there’s only 142 demons in the game total, with only 65 of them being neutral or good demons, meaning over half of them aren’t recruitable. All of those may sound like big numbers, except the average SMT game, including Megami Tensei 2, have far, far more demons both recruitable and in total. There’s also not very much strategy to your party set up, as you’re likely to be good as long as you’re using the highest level good demons available at your current level, regardless of what stats or spells they have. That said, for a 1987 Famicom game, 9 years before the original Pokemon games would release, it’s still pretty damn creative and impressive to see. It makes MT1 stand out among the sea of Dragon Quest and Wizardry clones from this time, and it provides a very solid foundation for its successors to expand upon. With all that demon stuff explained, onto the exploration and combat.

The combat of MT1 is pretty simple. Every party member has four different commands they can use in combat. The universal ones are attacking, which, as you may expect, just attacks physically, and defending to reduce damage. Yumiko and many other demons can use magic, with effects ranging from healing, to attacking with various elements, to curing or protecting from status effects, while Nakajima has access to the COMP, to either summon demons in the middle of combat, or analyze the enemy, exposing their alignment, abilities, and stats. Nakajima and Yumiko can also use items, while demons have the ability to desummon themselves if they are close to death or unneeded. Only one specific enemy can appear in each battle, but many of them compensate for this by appearing in packs, with up to 8 of them being in battle at once depending on the enemy. This is one of the most frustrating parts of the combat, as not only are the huge swarms of enemies you can encounter often overwhelming, but you cannot control which of the enemies your party actually attacks, with them instead swinging randomly, which often equates to leaving enemies that could have easily been killed alive to cause even more damage. The number of physical attacks that your party can use also varies, as depending on the weapon they have equipped, Nakajima and Yumiko are capable of occasionally performing multiple attacks in a row, and some strong demons like Kali can do this as well. Demons can also use abilities when they choose to attack, though them doing so is random, and often takes the form of AoE attacks or attacks that have a chance of causing status effects.

Combat is overall a pretty tedious and miserable experience, unfortunately. Your party members’ accuracy is pretty terrible, to the point it’d probably be physically impossible to win if this game used the press turn system. The encounter rate is miserable, in a unique way, as it seems to be truly random. You could go through an entire floor without encountering an enemy, or you could run into one two steps after a previous one. All combinations seem equally likely, which just makes it even more irritating to deal with. Most of the early demons are pretty terrible, and while you do start strong enough to take on most of the enemies in the first dungeon with just the humans, it takes a while before recruiting demons actually feels worthwhile at all. Magic is pretty underwhelming, as the selection of spells Yumiko and the demons get are pretty limited until late in the game, and the signature buffing and debuffing spells don’t seem to have much influence, or even any indication that they work. Boss fights aren’t terrible, but are frustrating in their own way, as they have strong resistances to most elements, rendering magic all but useless, and their physical attacks often target the whole party, meaning Yumiko or a demon with healing magic is often going to be relegated to healing every turn to prevent total wipes. They also have a pretty special gimmick attached to them, but I’ll touch upon that in a bit. As for stats, there’s five of them: strength, which increases the damage of physical attacks, intelligence, which increases magic defense, the rate at which Yumiko learns spells, max MP, the amount of damage spells deal or HP that they increase, and increases Nakajima’s success rate in negotiation, vitality, which increases max HP, speed, which increase preemptive attack and flee rates, increases hit and dodge rates, and increases the chances of dodging magic, and luck, which increases critical hit and ailment recovery rate, occasionally increases max HP, and increases preemptive attack, flee, and negotiation success rates, though not as much as the previous stats. The game never clearly states what the stats do, however, so it may be some of these are wrong. I don’t know, because I had to look it up.

As for exploration, you just go through tile based floors, finding treasure chests, NPCs, and stairs to take you up or down. The first half of the game is fairly reasonable, helped by having an automap you can open, something that didn’t exist in the NES version, but the second half gets much meaner. Floors become absurdly long, and much more confusing to navigate, to the point they’re longer than several of the first dungeon’s floors put together. Additionally, you can’t just use maps to head straight to the bosses, because in a pretty unique twist, all of them except for the Minotaur have a special ability that makes fighting them very, very difficult, from petrifying your party members, to being able to fully recover their HP, to even being outright invisible, making them genuinely unbeatable. Within each dungeon, however, is a special item that lets you seal off these abilities, making them actually beatable. As someone who fully explores these dungeons anyway, it’s a neat enough gimmick to encourage exploration, giving you time to level properly and outfit your party. There’s also a bonus dungeon, exclusive to the SNES version, only accessible through the third dungeon in you have Cerberus in your party, which takes you to Hades. The COMP doesn’t work in Hades, meaning no automap or summoning demons if you didn’t do so beforehand, but it’s short, and only has a few especially threatening enemies. Aside from a treasure chest containing a jewel that can be upgraded to contain 3000 macca and 1000 magnetite by paying an NPC, however, there’s not much to be found, and when you reach the exit, Cerberus stays behind to guard the dead. The only benefit of this is causing an extra scene to play in the ending featuring Cerberus, but otherwise, it’s a very odd inclusion.

If there’s one thing about all this I actually really like, however, it’s the convenient shortcuts that the game starts leaving you as you clear more and more areas. Several areas have elevators you can use to quickly get through locations once you’ve defeated the area’s boss. Yumiko eventually learns a spell that teleports you back to the last save point you used, cutting down backtracking pretty significantly in a lot of places. The city of Bien can actually be flown to several different locations, providing alternate, and sometimes more convenient, points of entry for later dungeons. Getting around is overall much less difficult than I would have expected, and it’s very much appreciated. There’s also casino games that you can play in Bien that can make you absurd amounts of macca, which really helps with how stingy the game can be otherwise, and many pieces of the best equipment, including the sword Hinokagutsuchi, Nakajima’s ultimate weapon with absurd attack power and the ability to always strike twice, can be found for free, albeit needing some effort to find. Overall, MT1′s gameplay is ambitious, but miserable to experience nowadays. Besides the lesser polish on many of its mechanics, there are things that are just infuriating, ranging from several enemies that have the ability to permanently reduce your character’s levels, to a point in the game where you need to pay an NPC all of your money to get a necessary item to continue. The experience draining I’m pretty sure is a carryover from Wizardry, which had vampires that could do the same, but these are instances of horrendous design, and really just set the tone for how pointlessly sadistic the game as a whole is.

Graphics:

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the graphics of this game really aren’t much to write home about. Dungeons of course look extremely monotonous, NPCs just look smudgy and lack detail, and on top of that their designs are just weird a lot of the time. The best looking part of the game is the demons themselves, but even they have issues. Kazuma Kaneko, the artist responsible for so many great and iconic designs throughout the series, didn’t actually work on MT1, meaning their designs are quite different in a lot of cases. Some of them were changed for the SNES version to match their Megami Tensei 2 designs, which are somewhat more in line with those that would come later, but others still look either generic or just bizarre, such as Purski being a horse instead of an elephant, or Beelzebub being a completely normal sized fly. Equally bizarre are the choices for demons. While several mainstay demons that would go on to appear in many SMT games after this debuted here, such as Nue, Asura, Nekomata, Thor, Ganesha, and Susano-o, a lot of the demons in MT1 are generic fantasy or folklore creatures, like Werewolves, Orcs, Cyclops, Giants, and Vampires, demons that would be phased out in later games and usually only appear in obscure spinoffs like Last Bible. Others, I can barely comprehend, such as one called Lagoon, as in based off the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and one that’s apparently just meant to be fungus, with a design that does not evoke any form of fungus. Additionally, there’s a lot of palette swaps, which makes the number of demons in the game feel much smaller than it should, and results in other bizarre designs, such as Barong actually having a design close to his normal one, but Rangda just being a palette swap of it. Overall, they still don’t look bad, and the sprites themselves look great, but it’s a far cry from what would come later.

Music:

MT1 has a pretty decent soundtrack that I didn’t really appreciate before. Some tracks get pretty annoying, like the battle theme and a few of the dungeon themes, but others are really catchy. From the upbeat, yet surprisingly atmospheric theme for the Tower of Daedalus, to the intense theme for the Sea of Flames, to the ethereal theme for the Infini Palace, to Izanami’s theme that plays after freeing her, there is overall more good than bad. Unfortunately, it’s still a pretty small soundtrack, so most of it will start to grate on you after a while. Still, it’s a good effort, and the SNES version’s renditions are remixed quite faithfully.

Conclusion:

In the end, would I recommend this game to anyone? Absolutely not, not even to hardcore SMT fans. The archaic and repetitive design, lack of story, and overall lack of connection to most of the later games makes it an extremely hard sell. Even for those wanting to see SMT’s early days, I would instead point towards Megami Tensei 2 as the real start of the franchise, which I’ll get to talking about sometime soon. I really don’t know how I even made it through a second playthrough, but I can say for a fact this will be my last. With that, it’s time for me to continue creeping through this franchise. Till next time.

-Scout

#shin megami tensei #atlus #smt #game review #atlus games #jrpg #rpg #snes

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smokeybrandreviews · 5 years ago

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The King of Iron Fist

I don’t talk about this much but i am a massive, massive, fan of fighting games. I’ve been playing these things for decades, since all the way back in ‘92 with the release of the original Mortal Kombat. Watching the growth, decline, and then resurgence of the fighting game community has been a goddamn treat for me. Admittedly, i suck at the Capcom titles. Absolutely terrible. I do okay with the Rival Schools franchise, but outside of that, straight up balls, man. Never my forte. I’m pretty good with the original MK trilogy, the sprite based one, but absolutely awful with Deadly Alliance through Deception. I hated the fighting styles in those games. They were so goddamn awful, it was sickening. I do okay with the MKIX, MKX, and MKXI titles, though. They feel like the old games which lends itself to my old timey skill set. That said, my strength lies with the two Namco headliners; Tekken and Soul Calibur.

I mastered every Tekken title through 7, though, admittedly, I'm not so godly in the newest release, only great. Personally. For me, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection is the title I'm best with. I love that game, man. I can use literally everyone in the roster to perfection. All of their moves. All of their ten-hits. I maxed out my rank in the Ghost Battles with several of the characters and ranked in the top-10, worldwide, leader boards when it was first released. I was feeling a bit nostalgic and wanted to revisit my favorite fighting franchise, giving a little love to my favorite fighters, kind of like how i did with my Persona 5 mains. They are ranked, top to bottom, in order of my skill with them. I even threw in the rank i reached in their respective Tekken games, just for good measure. Since 6 is the last one i really spent any time with and there might be a few characters introduced in 7 or, like, the Tag titles that I'm pretty good with but don’t really have a correlation in rank, I'll have to approximate my skill with a Tekken 6 rank, just to keep things equal.

1. Emilie De Rochefort - Tekken 5 - Tekken God

Lili is my main from 5 onward. Her speed, power, and cross-ups are ridiculous. There is a fluidity to her style that makes for an amazing number of possibilities. All of those flips, somersaults, and hopping knee pokes make for a varying arsenal of devastating stuns. If you can time your attacks right, you can string one, long ass, chain of hits that will deplete an enemy with a Perfect within seconds. Her strength carried over into Tekken 6, easily winning me over in that title, too. I haven’t played much of 7 but what i did get into, Lili feels a little nerfed. She just feels a bit slower than she should. That’s not a problem or whatever, but it is kind of annoying that have to have so many gaps in my assault.

2. Hwoarang - Tekken 3 - Tekken God

Hwoarang was my main for years. He was the very first character that i mastered in any Tekken title. See, my older brother would come over with his PlayStation and commence to beat my ass in Tekken 3 for hours. One day, he told me to actually get good and lent me his Sony for a week. Welp, i did just that. I got good. Real f*cking good. Hwoarang uses Tae Kwon Do, which is dope because it’s easy to combo with, but this dude’s strength is in his juggle potential. His kicks lack the power of his master, Baek Doo San, but they come out faster and in more numbers. Within that week, i was able to string together a flurry of devastating kicks that not even my big brother could counter. Twenty-three years later, he still hasn’t beat me in a single game. If Lili isn’t available, Hwoarang is my guy. Even so, i am probably equally skilled with both, i just prefer the stylish flourish my darling Emilie has with her style.

3. Steve Fox - Tekken 4 - Tekken God

Steve was a quandary when he first released. Dude has no kicks and it was ridiculous to see in a game with such an expansive roster of fighters like Tekken, especially in the fourth iteration. His addition was ridiculous to me. And then i tried him. My, god, was his speed stupid. See, in a fighter like this, speed kills. If you can bust a quick combo, maybe juggle a cat, maybe fired off a quick combo before retreating out of counter range, you can destroy an opponent in seconds. That’s why i love Lili. That’s why i love Hwoarang. Steve Fox has that same potential but it’s different. You can’t launch characters too easily and being a puncher, his reach is limited, but you can juggle the f*ck out of them if they end up airborne. Steve has a lot of weapons to f*ck you up in a near infinite juggle if you’re not careful and i know all of them. Interestingly enough, he’s gotten better with age. I prefer his 5 version but 6 and 7 are pretty beefy, too.

4. Kazuya Mishima - Tekken - Tekken Lord

Kazuya is my power hitter. I’m a speed guy, admittedly. I love the juggle. I love the chains. I love the artistry in forging a string of consecutive, devastating, combo hits. The issue is, there are motherf*ckers like Paul Phoenix who can punch a planet into retrograde in this game. Now, against a computer, I'm fine with my main three Tekken Gods. I’ll dog walk a computer, no matter how high the difficulty. Once you’ve beaten Jinpachi on the highest setting in Tekken 5, you are ready for anything. However, against a real person who knows how to use a power character like the f*cking bears or goddamn Jack? Nah. If they’re good with that heavy-hitter, i have to bring in my own and Kazuya is that ringer. Dude’s probably the second strongest character in the the game after his pops, Heihachi Mishima. The difference? Kazuya’s cross ups are f*cking ridiculous. All of that twirling and overhead kicks make for some confusing hurt when you know how to execute.

5. Eliza - Tekken 7 - Tekken Lord

Eliza was an interesting character for me to pick up. I was curious about her so i bought that money pit Tekken Revolution or whatever. I hated that game so much but i played enough Eliza to feel borderline conceited in my ability. Imagine my elation when my darling drowsy vampire made her cannon appearance in Tekken 7. Again, i didn’t play much, but i did find that my Revolution skills translated well and i was even able to pick up a few new tricks. Eliza, admittedly, is super wonky to master, she’s similar to Alisa Bosconovitch that way, but her mix ups are superb. If you put in the time, Eliza is a very rewarding character to play.

6. Marshall Law - Tekken - Tekken Lord

The elder Law is my guy. I’m a sucker for a Bruce Lee facsimile and Marshall is one of the best out there. He has a good combination of speed and power but it’s his mix ups that endear him to my heart. That and i learned how to play with him because Forest Law, Lee’s son, was the character my brother beat my ass so handily with for months in Tekken 3. I learned Forest out of spite but, when his pops returned in 4, i made sure to master that version, as well. Over time, i grew to love playing with Marshall. He has a very unique, very acrobatic and showy style, like his real life inspiration.

7. Jun Kazama - Tekken - Tekken Lord

Jun ain’t no joke. That Kazama style martial art is something nasty. I could have probably put Asuka here, i am about as good with her as i am Jun considering how similar their styles are, but i have to give respect to the original tooth fairy. Jun Kazama is a f*cking problem, man, She’s deceptively powerful but quick with those hands. She will poke the f*ck out of you with such insidious precision, you won’t even realize you died even after the match is called. The way her blows flow make for some unwieldy mix ups and stupid juggle stuns. I hated fighting her in 2. I hated fighting her even more in the Tag titles. But i love fighting WITH her, especially if you can master that funky timing she has.

8. Lee Chaolan - Tekken 4 - Tekken Lord

Lee is bit of a detraction form my usual fighting fare. He’s kind of a gag character. A little effeminate and a little cruel, Lee’s kicks are the real deal. This cat sends those footsy out at blinding speed and you know how much i love my speed. The thing is, he lacks the power of, say, Hwoarang, Baek, or Bruce. I actually picked up Lee n 4, then Violet, on a whim because i thought it would be funny to beat someone with a character i had no idea how to play. After that first round, though, i was on it.Dude felt good in my hands. I knew Lee was something special and spent the rest of the night with his pokey kicks and flying drop kicks. It was f*cking incredible. I couldn’t believe i slept on such an amazing character for so long. I went back to Tekken 2 and spent weeks with him just to get a proper feel from start to finish. Now, he’s a staple of my rotation. Only when I'm feeling flamboyant, though.

9. Devil Kazuya - Tekken 2 - Dragon Lord

I picked up Devil Kazuya way back in Tekken 2 because i liked the design. Also, the face laser. That sh*t was stupid. As time went on, and the games advanced, i always went back to Tekken 2 in an effort to hone my skills with the original Devil. To my surprise, when Tekken 7 dropped, Devil Kazuya was playable once again and my skills translated perfectly. Dude has a few new tricks and i immediately ate those f*ckers up but it felt so good taking to the air once more. It sucks he only has two, official, appearances but this is one of those cats that i played a lot with in the Tag titles. Like, SO much. Devi was my second choice after Hwoarang in the original Tekken Tag and, like, my fourth in Tekken Tag 2. Obviously, I'm just as good with Angel, too. I mean, they’re the same f*cking character so i better be!

10. Anna Williams - Tekken 2 - Dragon Lord

Oh, the Williams sisters. Similar to the case of Jun and Asuka, I'm probably equally as good with both the Williams but Anna is my preferred character. I just like her design better. That and her deceptive ass sexuality. Anna is gorgeous but she will f*ck you the f*ck up. The Williams sisters are power characters and you can’t tell me otherwise. These chicks will ruin your life as a fast as Paul Phoenix if you’re facing off against someone who knows how to use them. I know how to use them very well. Again, Anna over Nina, but I'll mess you up regardless.

11. Zafina - Tekken 6 - Dragon Lord

Zafina was a surprise. Her style is all over the place. I read somewhere it was designed after a snake or something. That sh*t is fitting because she is a slippery motherf*cker, man. Zafina took me a while to master, kind of like Eliza, but once you understand her strengths, this chick can be a proper powerhouse. She’s quick, juggles well, but pokes like a f*cking champ. If your poke game is strong with her, there’s a good chance you can stun lock an opponent into a perfect or two.

12. Devil Jin - Tekken 5 - Dragon Lord

Admittedly, i wanted to put Jin from Tekken 3 on this list. His mixture of Kazama and Mishima style martial arts is mad potent. I love the way dude plays. It’s like fighting with Jun and Kazuya at the same time. However, with the release of Tekken 4, Jin unlearned literally everything about the Mishima style and decided to master normal karate. That sh*t was whack, man. I mean, it was fine, i learned the new Jin fine, but it wasn’t MY Jin. That said, my Jin was in the game, only he took the form of a devil. Devil Jin is f*cking ridiculous. I understood a lot of his abilities because of my mastery of Devil Kazuya but, with the addition of the Kazama style martial arts, Devil Jin was a f*cking beast in that game. He’s kind of a beast in every game he makes an appearance. between the two, i prefer Devil Kazuya, but I'll wreck a guy with Jin if necessary.

13. Bryan Fury - Tekken Tag Tournament - Dragon Lord

I love Bryan Fury. The design, the inspiration, the brutal fighting style, that ridiculously evil laugh; Dude is just amazing. I got pretty good with Bruce Irvin in Tekken 2 so when he wasn’t around in Tekken 3, i was a little bummed. It took awhile for me to pick of Fury, i actually first really got into the character in Tag but i did fool around with him in 3 a little bit. That was after i was surprised by how effortlessly powerful he was in Tag. Dude ain’t Bruce, but he’s still pretty dope.

Honorable Mentions: Unknown, Armor King, Ling Xiaoyu, Alisa Bosconovitch, Heihachi Mishima, Bruce Irvin, Kazumi Mishima, Miguel Caballero Rojo, Josie Rizal, Eddy Gordo

#Tekken #Mishima Zaibatsu #G Corporation

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rex101111 · 6 years ago

Text

Ch'io mi scordi di te?

Remember all those ideas/hopes about Aria/ being playable in the next Guilty Gear game I posted? Well, combine that with a short scene by @mystech-master and you get this little thing I whipped up in about two days. It’s super angsty and I hope you like it!

A monster stands in the dark of her mind, it is a giant of metal and fire and blood, and she feels red hot fear dig a trench through her gut at the sight of it. Her mind expands, feels far away, and in walks a person. Or half of one, half of her.

The half-person turns to her with a broken smile, waves to her, before walking to the monster, placing a hand on the monster's chest. Slowly, the monster shrinks from a giant to about the size of the half-person, and then it is not a monster.

Her two halves now stand there, in the dark, facing each other without a word. The half that was-is-will be-a monster raises its own hand to mirror the first half. As soon as the fingers touch the other's chest, a sharp, bright light splits her mind into a thousand shards, a million memories.

Running from the orphanage with nothing but her lightly stuffed and battered back pack.

Sitting at a desk working over her thesis.

Meeting Fredrick Bulsara at a café on campus, whistling the Queen song he was humming under his breath as he waited for his order.

Asuka R. Kreutz cursing her out in German as she laughs at some joke she made.

The day the Gear Project was announced, standing shoulder to shoulder with two people she would give her life for.

Coughing blood into her palm while she worked on Backyard research.

Schematics for a suit, a suit to explore the Backyard, an idea, a stupid idea, her idea. Their idea.

Walking away from Fredrick, refusing to listen to his pleas to stop, please, you don't know what you're doing! She does know, of course she does, how could she not?

Arguing with Asuka over data, what it means, what they could do with it, she calls him an idiot.

Fredrick crying at her bedside while she was eaten from the inside out.

Asuka on the other side of a glass tube, tears going down his determined face.

Death. Fire. Fear. Destroy. Destroy. DESTROY. DESTROY!

ALL OF THEM. EVERY SINGLE ONE. DESTROY!

FIRE. A SCOWL. Fredrick. Doesn't know, doesn't recognize her. She can only be glad that he doesn't. Death is soft and quiet and she holds it with both hands.

A sword, a death, fire, another death. And another, and another, and another. Over and over, from a thousand different eyes. Forever.

I-no chasing after her (but not her), Raven healing her leg, Fredrick (bigger and older and sadder and hurt and scared and different but still) watching her as she explains all she can, Asuka (thinner and sorry and wiser and quiet but still) sending her off with a promise and a hope.

A giant, a monster, a will, light.

Nothing.

Aria Hale wakes to the smell of disinfectant and the sound of flickering florescent lights from outside the room. Her head is pounding, her world is spinning, and she is, miracle of miracles, alive.

She swallows what little spit she has in her dry throat, coughs, and then rasps the first sound she makes with her own voice in little over a century, "what the fuck?"

The nurse, who she did not see in the room, is very startled, drops her clipboard, and runs out the door screaming for a doctor.

Aria blinks at the swinging door, then looks back up at the off white ceiling, "what the fuck", she repeats, just as confused, but this time with a weary smile.

-_-_-_-_-

By the time the doctor showed up, the world stopped spinning long enough to gather herself more solidly. She is Aria Hale, over a century ago she died, and now she's alive again.

Between that death and right now a million memories bounce around in her head and give her a migraine, but somehow she manages to make sense of them all, or at least most. The doctor fills her in once he checks her eyes and gives her a plastic cup filled with water.

She's been in the hospital for about six days now, she's in Illyria, and her medical bill is being paid by king Kisuke. She will stay in the hospital for a few more days, just to be safe, and then she's free to go where she pleases.

She smiles tiredly at the doctor, some young man barely out of his scrubs whose name she doesn't catch, and thanks him. She doesn't tell him she doesn't really have anywhere to go as he leaves the room. Doesn't tell him the name Kisuke barely means anything to her, or at least doesn't mean what it means to him.

To her it means lightning and an army, some figure cutting down her soldiers as he streaks across battlefields.

And your son-in-law. A melodic voice, like that of a child, adds from somewhere deep in her heart and she smiles incredulously. She rubs her eyes as she remembers Dizzy, and Ky, and all the things Jack-O knew and now she needs to know if she intends to make full use of this life she's been given.

Life. Alive. She's alive. The concept is numb in her mind, unreal. Her heart thumps lazily in her ribcage, her lungs expand and contract as she takes a breath and sighs. She feels the uncomfortable itch of the hospital gown covering her form, her long hair (she’ll need to cut it, she never liked her hair that long) splayed over the pillow and tickling the back of her neck.

It doesn't make sense, strictly speaking, that she is here, on this bed, alive and fine and waiting for shitty hospital food. It was almost yesterday, to her, that she was wasting away on another hospital bed, miles from where she is right now, hooked up to tubes and wires and patiently waiting for the dull, burning pain to go away so she could sleep.

She remembers accepting death, readying herself for it, bracing herself by holding on to Fredrick's hand as the world grew cold.

But, now, here she is, alive and fine and with a sore throat and a splitting headache.

It's almost overwhelming, but only barely not, just within her reach to understand it, which only makes it more unreal. That it was that easy in the end. One moment she was dead, the next she was alive, and in between those moments a century somehow wedged itself in and she needs to play catch up, simple, straightforward, and too damn much.

It's whiplash and jetlag both at once, her head is pounding and her eyes aren't used to the light and she just wants someone in this hospital to do their job and give her an aspirin or something. Or maybe just pump her full of morphine so she could stop having this existential crisis at 4 in the afternoon.

Before she could spiral down further a knock on the door jars her to attention, "Ms. Hale? Is it alright to come in?" The voice of her doctor floats from the other side of the door, the tone is kind but it is sudden and rubs against her tired and recently resurrected ears like sandpaper and she has to bite her lip to control her reaction to it, "you have visitors."

She breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth and manages to work her face into a facsimile of a welcoming smile as she turns to the voice, "yes, please come in." Her heart belatedly picks up its rhythm at the thought of who might be on the other side as the door opens, she clenches her fists to stop it, it's been a century, if he cared enough to see her she would have seen him by now.

She was right to curb her enthusiasm, as the person who follows the doctor into her room isn't who she hoped. "Ms. Hale." Ky Kisuke bows his head politely at her as the doctor steps aside from him before leaving him with Aria, a pleasant tilt to his lips as he looked at her, "it's good to see you awake."

Aria can't help the tired laugh that jumps out, she almost makes a comment about wakefulness being overrated, but bites her tongue to stop it and instead shakes her head fondly at the young man. "Thank you for the concern, Sir Kisuke, but I'm surprised at how quickly you showed up, I just woke up about an hour ago!"

"We told the hospital to call us as soon as you did." A second voice calls out gently from behind the king, and a lump lodged itself firmly in Aria's throat as Dizzy brushes past her husband to sit by her bedside, face welcoming and warm as she took her hand. "I wanted to meet you as soon as I could…mother."

There. Right there. That word right there brought the full and utter absurdity of her situation into perspective for Aria; mother. She's a mother, this woman in front of her is her child, hers and Fredrick's, a child with her eyes and the curve of her nose and Fredrick's chin and ears, a child with wings and a tail. It is ridiculous and absurd and her heart is struggling to take it all in.

But Dizzy is not a child at all, there was a childhood she missed, a life Aria abandoned and did not care for and yet her she was, a woman fully grown, with a husband and child of her own and a household she needs to worry about. All of that over her head and yet here Dizzy was, taking time out of her day to hold the hand of a woman who is a century too late to be her mother and that she barely knows and that she should by all accounts either hate or resent but instead she holds her hand tenderly yet firmly with a smile.

A century ago she died with nothing to her name but an ill-fated science project that would kill millions as a legacy, today she lays on a hospital bed while her daughter and son-in-law smile at her, glad to be talking to her and glad she is alive and here.

She didn't earn this, none of this. People, people who she loved and loved her but still other people, decided that she deserved all of this. Later, when she acclimates and finds her footing this idea will leave a bad taste in her mouth. Right now? Her daughter is holding her hand and smiling and telling her she wants to know her, and her heart damn near bursts.

She wants to say that, to tell Dizzy how happy she is at this moment that everything starts to click together for her, to promise her she will try to make up for lost time even though she has never known herself to be nearly so maternal, because she is alive despite the odds and that thought makes her so ecstatic that she doesn't know what to do with herself.

Instead, she takes Dizzy's hand in both of her own and controls her voice just enough to smile wetly at her daughter, "well," she started once she could gather some composure, "let's talk!" Her face stretched into a smile so wide it hurt but she did not care, "what do you want to know about me?"

The smile Dizzy sends her way is blinding. "Everything."

-_-_-_-_-

They talk for hours, in-between catching up on her life and Aria's, Dizzy fills her in on the basics of, well, everything she should know about Illyria. Sorry, The United Kingdoms of Illyria. The languages, the holidays, what café is worth a damn near her home.

This is also around the time she finds out she'll be staying with Dizzy and her husband until she can settle herself elsewhere, however long that would take her. The concept surprises her and fills her with an odd sort of anxiety. She is used to living on her own, in her cozy little apartment near the Gear Project complex.

A tiny little three room affair with a half assed kitchen, creaky bed, and barely working shower, but still hers. Hers and long, long gone, probably buried under tons of rubble and a century's worth of dust and God knows what else.

She still recognizes the necessity of the gesture, she has no money, no home, and no fucking clue how to get a job or if any of her three degrees are still any good after all these years. She swallows the indignation at being dependent on someone else and thanks Dizzy as warmly as she can manage.

The mundane details of her daughters' life serve as an anchor, give her a base to stand on where she could find something familiar in a world so changed by time and war and death it might as well be an alien plant. Some things don't change, no matter how much time passes, and that idea is the biggest comfort she has managed so far.

Something distracts her though. Ky, while he participated in the conversation, adding his own little asides whenever Dizzy said something that he felt needing expanding or simply whenever he wanted to make her blush or smile, he seemed occupied by something. Every so often, and more frequently as time wore on, he would steal a glance at the door, his eyes narrowing for a moment before he looked back at them.

Aria wanted to ask him what he was looking at, but decided he would tell her in his own time and she would just enjoy her daughters' company until he does. She didn't have to wait long though, in the middle of Aria telling Dizzy about her undergraduate work for her B. S. (which was indeed, as she told her daughter, BS), Ky heaved a sigh of frustration and shoved the door to her room open with no small amount of force and stomped out.

Before Aria could ask if it was something she said, Ky came back, face annoyed, and holding a large, muscular man by the scruff of his shirt as he dragged him into the room. It takes her a moment to parse who it is, and when she does the grip on Dizzy's hand goes limp.

Fredrick Bulsara, taller then she remembers and more solidly built then she thought he could ever possibly be, looks at her with conflicted eyes and his mouth in a severe line. Her mind went blank, and then it was stuffed to bursting with things she wanted to say, either way she found her mouth refused to work. All she could manage is a wide eyed look as she clenched her thin blanket between her fingers.

Her daughter seemed more on the ball though, thankfully, and quickly rose from her chair, "we'll finish our talk tomorrow, okay mom?" Dizzy calling her mom was just enough of a shock to get her to nod a bit dumbly before Dizzy walked to her husband, leveling a rather interesting look at her father on the way, "you two have a lot of catching up to do as well, right?"

Fredrick, who probably weighs twice as much as Dizzy and is pure rippling muscle (that Aria was not staring at what are you talking about), nods quickly in assentation, bordering on the frantic.

The King of Illyria and his wife exited the room, and left Aria Hale and Fredrick Bulsara to stare awkwardly at each other like teenagers on a first date. Aria remembers that their actual first date wasn't nearly this awkward, the memory is fuzzy but she distinctly remembers it including a movie and burgers for dinner, she thinks the movie was-

"Star Wars."

"Huh?"

"Star Wars, we saw episode 4 on our first date, you thought Harrison Ford looked like a shaved jackal."

So, she said that out loud, but, not being one to let a slip trip her up, she straightened her back and glared at him, "yeah? Well you thought Carrie Fisher had sweet rolls taped to her head."

"We all make mistakes."

They stare at each other after that, that flippant comment striking a spot they both weren't guarding. After a moment, the tension leaves both of their shoulders, and Aria feels a sad smile curve her lips, "good afternoon, Fredrick."

After a moment he shuffles his feet to sit at the chair Dizzy occupied before, every muscle in his body relaxing into an exhausted heap as he slumps on the back rest. He levels a tired smile at her to meet her own, the edges of his mouth don't reach his eyes but neither do hers, and mutters, "afternoon."

As if a century hadn't passed since the last time they were like this, as if they both hadn't died in one way or another, they sat there in front of each other for a moment and exchanged greetings. Like they were having lunch to discuss work, or the weather.

She has a maelstrom of questions for him, how did he survive this long without crumbling under the pressure, did he ever think anything like this could ever happen? Did he think Asuka's robe and hood outfit looked as ridiculous as she did?

Instead of all of those question, she found herself sputtering out a laugh, laughing a bit louder as she caught the confused look in his eyes, "Sol Badguy?" She managed to get out between a chuckle or two, "seriously? You couldn't think of a better alias then Sol Fucking Badguy?"

Fredrick blinked owlishly at her for a long moment before crossing his arms and huffing, "sounded cool at the time…"

"A reference to a Queen song nobody gave a shit about for close to two hundred years sounded cool to you?"

He barked out a laugh, "well you got the reference didn't you?" She burst out laughing again, unable to answer, "well, you and Asuka…"

And she was gone, laughing so loudly she was practically screaming. That was so stupid, so absurd, so ridicules! So Fredrick. That was so Fredrick Bulsara it nearly hurt to think about, this is the guy who spent four straight nights cramming for his theoretical physics finals in senior year, after blowing it off for months, by holing himself in his dorm with literally every single book the professor even referenced during the year.

He got a B-, he was so angry he nearly choked her out when she said it could have been worse.

"You are the most preposterous man I have ever met; you know that?" She managed finally, wiping a tear from her eyes as she leaned back on her pillow, "I swear the only thing that changed is your biceps," she smirks, "is that what you were doing while I was taking my week long nap, pumping iron like some dumb jock?"

If he noticed the bite she paired with the question, he didn't show it, simply shrugging, "gotta keep fit these days, can't exactly go into a lap anymore." She clicked her tongue and shook her head, and he went on. "Besides, you can thank Asuka for most of these things, Gear DNA has some perks."

She pointed a leer at him from under her bangs, "I'll say, never knew Asuka was into that kinda thing, learn something new…"

"Funny…" He muttered quietly, but he placed his hands behind his head, and made a show of flexing his arms, dragging another chuckle out of her, "forgot your sense of humor was this brutal, Aria," he grumbled, though with a hint of affection, "…I missed it."

Her heart leaps into her throat. She doesn't know why that, that simple little phrase is what finally pushes her to her limit. The idea that he missed her, even after all this time, after all the death he's seen and all the lives he's saved, the idea that he missed something as small as her sense of humor, it was overwhelming in a way she couldn’t describe.

Like a Century and a half didn't pass, like they haven't been torn apart until barely anything of who they were remained, like she was never sick and there were never any Gears and they were just shooting the shit on campus between lectures, like it was only yesterday and the world was still okay.

But it wasn't. None of this was okay, not a single scrap of it.

Everything she had ever known, every person she had ever so much as crossed on the street, gone, all of it gone. It was a miracle she could still speak the same language as the people around her, nobody knew who she was or what she had accomplished.

She was one of the head engineers of the Gear Project, she worked her ass off for close to 15 years in college with a shitty job and no family to make something of herself and gain that position. She stood shoulder to shoulder with two of the greatest minds of her generation and made their absurd ideas work.

And no one even remembered her name. In the grand history of the world she was just another nameless drone that worked with That Man to destroy the world, less than a foot note, less than a reference.

Less than nothing.

But, she had a family now. She came into this world with nothing but a name and now she had a home waiting for her, somewhere. A home with a daughter who wanted to know her, a grandson who was excited to meet her, a son-in-law that looked at her child with love and care.

And she still had Fredrick and Asuka. But only barely, but still they hung on, somehow, and they were all alive, somehow, and every pragmatic inch of her wanted that to be enough, and it just might be, eventually.

But right now, she feels so very, crushingly alone.

She got a life she did not earn, that she did not deserve, that she can barely use, that she almost doesn't want.

But she wants to be happy, almost out of spite. She wants to want this life that she got back, she wants that so desperately she can hardly breath.

"Aria?"

She looks up at Fredrick, worry etched on his face, his hands hovering near her like he doesn't know what to do with them, like he ever knew at all without her telling him, he was always a little awkward around her, just considerate enough to hesitate so he could get instruction, part of the reason she fell in love, all those years ago.

"Fredrick…"

Except that was over a century ago, for him, when to her he's still that hard headed jack ass who banged his head on a project until it played by his rules. But what is she to him? A memory he half remembers? A shadow he could never let go of? Is she still Aria? Or is she Jack-O? Valentine?

Justice?

He puts a hand on her cheek, brushing away tears she only now notices, "c'mon…" he mutters helplessly, "you know I'm fucking useless when you start crying."

She launches herself at him with little warning, wrapping her arms around his neck with a wrenching sob, relief and happiness and anger and helplessness and endless other emotions she can barely recognize churning in her gut and bursting out of her throat without restraint.

He crushes her to his chest as she wails, and she hangs on for dear life, her heart is bursting open and her head is screaming with the million memories of the monster and the half person and she prays she can find herself somewhere in between.

"Thank you…"

She almost doesn't hear the mutter from behind her sobbing, she presses her ear to his throat, partly to hear him and partly to anchor herself to his heartbeat.

"Thank you for coming back…"

If she was foolish, she would believe he was chocked up himself as he held her a little tighter. She hugs him tighter still and hopes he understands.

The sun dipped into the horizon by inches from the window behind her, the light slowly but surely fading away. The world sunk into the dark, where only she and Fredrick remained, clutching tightly at each other with all their might.

In a few hours, Aria Hale would officially be alive again for a whole full week.

The thought pulls a smile out of her that stretches from ear to ear, the rumble of Fredrick's chest as he laughs in incredulous joy when she tells him she wants to celebrate with hamburgers, her face still stuck to his sternum, makes the smile stretch even wider.

#Guilty Gear #Aria Hale #Sol Badguy #stuff rex wrote #Arias and ballads

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gear-project · 5 years ago

Note

Since you mentioned your gut instinct, I just have to ask (with all due respect though, I'm not trying to prove you wrong or anything): who do you think might suddenly show up in the new game, playable or otherwise? I'm especially interested in your predictions regarding more obscure characters like, say, A.B.A, or NPCs that can unexpectedly become important/playable like Answer did.

I go based on evidence provided from previous games in the context of the story.

For example, Venom has a conversation in Xrd Sign’s Story Mode where he talks about the Conclave and more specifically the Postwar Administration Bureau when talking to Slayer, Millia, and Zato… and he brings up the name Leon Mining.

Leon Mining was actually an obscure antagonist from the Night of Knives drama CDs that was never released in the West, despite the fact only an English fan translation exists.

Of course, Leon wasn’t the only character mentioned in passing: Testament (Johnny hints at talking with him), Izuna (Paradigm hints at his disappearance), Happy Chaos (Jack-O’ mentions her to Raven), Vince McDonell (was mentioned in Slayer’s Diary), Alistair Crowley (mentioned in the GG World Library), Crow Kuruwaba (connected with Johnny’s Master Unchou’s past), Delilah (Bedman’s sister, mentioned by Bedman and possibly makes an appearance), Leo’s Sister, Bridget’s Twin Brother… and really, the list goes on and on and on.

Even if they just show up as cameos, each has their own significant connection to the story both past and present.

Here’s another example… Ky and Dizzy had a rather dark confrontation with Crow Kurwaba during the events of GGXX Accent Core Plus, during that time Crow was trying to capture Dizzy with his Justice Copies, and just as Ky managed to defeat him, Crow says “so long as you (persist) to live alongside Gears, you won’t see the last of me”.

This is an obvious and cliche’ hook line, something you don’t see every day, which implies that we WILL in fact see him again. In fact, Robo-Ky actually SHOWED UP in Revelator (Crow Kurwaba was responsibile for building the RK Series of all things)!

And while Crow himself hasn’t shown his face, Venom mentions the Bureau, Ky talks to Daryl about merging the Bureau and the Assassins with Illyria’s military forces, and it’s by and large an open discussion left there on the table for us to speculate on. The Bureau was also mentioned in GG World as being connected with A.B.A., who we might still see once again as well.

There’s other “hook conversations”, like when Ky talks to Sol about the OutRage in Sign (referencing VastEdge events) before they are interrupted by a soldier telling them they arrived in Zepp… a deliberately UNFINISHED conversation at that!

To the plebian viewer who isn’t familiar with the lore or just glosses over the content, these things are easy to miss. Really, they’re ENTIRELY easy to miss!

But if you know the lore, if you study it from both old and new game stories, you’d be surprised what topics get brought up.

Like why Izuna suddenly disappeared after the Babylon Cradle incident, or why exactly Leo starts talking about his past in Australia to Sin Kiske, or why Faust is never mentioned by name yet SOMEHOW is mentioned to be the only doctor on hand to take care of Dizzy when Sin was born (in GG2 stories related to Sin’s past).

Johnny’s photograph with President Colin Vernon, the G4 International Summit, Raven’s obscure conversation about a plan being executed during “That Man’s” incarceration when he turns himself over to the authorities.

This is all convoluted stuff, but trust me, it’s coming together… slowly, gradually.

“That Man” mysterious for years, now finally takes off his hood to reveal a face: Sol Badguy gives him the name “Asuka R. Kreutz”, which, up to that point had never been mentioned or uttered previously, not even in Xrd Sign’s or GG2′s events.

Asuka’s name shows up AGAIN in the Guilty Gear Begin Novel… so you KNOW that there’s a strong past connection with him and Frederick Bulsara and Aria Hale… the past Sol Badguy never brings up but says is “bad luck for the God of War”. Asuka’s challenge he issues to Sol, suggesting there will (WILL) be a violent confrontation!

Playable characters, certainly may or may not show up in order or sequence (some not at all or ever again)… that I can guarantee… but they will play a role in the story at some point, because they already HAVE.

GG2020 is Guilty Gear reconstructed… everyone who’s been in GG previously WILL show up at some point… the question is HOW will they show up?

I have no doubts that Ishiwatari has plans for each and every one of the characters we all loved, past, present, and future… executing those plans will be risky and tricky… and hard work to say the least.

But I’ve no doubt he’ll do his best to bring the BEST of the “smell” of the game to us in the best ways he knows how.

Even if that sounds like a prediction, it’s faith in his works, extensive knowledge of what he does and what he strives for.

Whether others place their faith in Ishiwatari, is really up to them. But my experience tells me there’s nothing to worry about.

It’s frustrating that I can’t convey this any better than this, it’s just something you come to know from studying the story for as long as I have.

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tokiro07 · 6 years ago

Text

There’s two DLC slots left (assuming there’s only going to be one season pass), and there’s a lot of ways it can shake out, so I’m gonna cast as wide a net as I can so I have a decent chance of being right

The one thing that we can say for absolute certain is that the two characters will either be from a Nintendo property (1st or 2nd party) or from a 3rd party property that has been on a Nintendo system before

Since this post ended up getting kind of messy, I’m going to be highlighting the ones that I think are the most likely from each developer or category

If it’s from a Nintendo property, then it’d either be:

Someone from a relatively long-standing Nintendo franchise that doesn’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy yet; the best I can think of would be the Wars franchise (probably Andy), the Excite franchise (probably Excitebiker), Chibi-Robo, Custom Robo (one of the models of Ray), or Rhythm Heaven (if Spirits are out, then probably Tibby or Marshall, but if Spirits are in, Karate Joe or the Chorus Kids)

A character from a recent game or series such as BoxBoy (Qbby) or Ever Oasis (Tethu) which have been gaining some attention lately, or upcoming Nintendo game, like Astral Chain (Akira Howard), Daemon x Machina (either the pilot or the mech), or some other game that we don’t know about yet

A character from an older Nintendo game that may have only had one or two games, like Balloon Fight, Mach Rider, StarTropics (Mike Jones), or any others that don’t have a fighter or Assist Trophy

For 3rd parties, it could be from a developer already represented in Smash:

Of the 3rd parties already in, Bandai-Namco is the only one that only has one series as opposed to two (not counting Bayonetta, technically 2nd party, or Banjo, a former 2nd party), which is especially odd given their involvement in the creation of the game itself; their new series could be Dark Souls (most likely the Chosen Undead), Klonoa, Katamari (the Prince of All Cosmos), Dig Dug (Taizo Hori), Tower of Druaga (Gil), Tekken (Heihachi), Soulcalibur (Nightmare), or the Tales franchise (probably Lloyd). Alternatively, Bandai specifically could get in on the action with either Tamagotchi (Mametchi) or its more action-oriented counterpart Digimon (probably Agumon), which both started out as Game-and-Watch style digital toys and evolved into video game franchises in their own right, though Digimon had a much greater focus on that

Sega, who technically only has one (Sonic), since Persona was an acquired property rather than an original property, could get Alex Kidd, NiGHTs, Super Monkey Ball (AiAi), or Virtua Fighter (Akira Yuki, who already has a Mii costume), though their most likely addition would probably be Puyo Puyo (most likely Arle), as despite being another acquired property (from Compile), it is most heavily associated with Sega and is currently one of their most popular franchises. They could also get other Sonic characters, like Tails or Eggman, but I’m mostly leaning towards new franchises. Also, though I don’t believe it has any real shot, Sega does make the Vocaloid rhythm games, Project Diva, so there’s a non-zero chance that we could get Miku.

Capcom, who already have Megaman and Street Fighter, could potentially get Monster Hunter (as the Rathalos is already a boss), Ace Attorney (Phoenix Wright), Devil May Cry (Dante), or possibly even Resident Evil (Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, or most likely Leon Kennedy, since he has the closest ties with Nintendo)

Konami, who already have Metal Gear and Castlevania, could potentially get Frogger (an icon of arcade gaming), Silent Hill (unlikely, but Pyramid Head is a horror icon, so it wouldn’t be too far-fetched), Mystical Ninja (Goemon), or Contra (Bill Rizer/Lance Bean). If Bomberman weren’t already an Assist Trophy, I’d say he was a strong contender as a Hudson rep, though Bonk is still in the running there

If you consider Banjo-Kazooie a Microsoft property, then it’s possible that Microsoft allowed Nintendo to use it on the condition that they get another character in as well, though this seems unlikely. If that’s the case, though, they’d most likely go with Minecraft (Steve/Alex), since as far as I know that’s the only property of their’s that’s ever been on a Nintendo platform outside of other Rare properties, though maybe that hypothetical deal would open the gates for series that have never been on a Nintendo console, like Halo (Master Chief)

Square Enix most likely won’t get another one, but they do own Taito, formerly a major studio in their own right, and thus could reasonably get Bubble Bobble (Bub/Bob) or even Space Invaders, though I’m not sure how viable that would be. For Square Enix themselves, the Mana series (likely Randi) or even Kingdom Hearts (Sora) would be good choices, but I don’t see it happening

If Nintendo wants to keep bringing in other companies, though, there are still four more of the top 10 biggest gaming companies in Japan that aren’t in yet:

Tecmo-Koei has pretty close ties with Nintendo, co-owning the Fatal Frame franchise, which already has an Assist Trophy; chances are good they’d go with Ninja Gaiden (Ryu Hayabusa), since that’s one of the iconic classic Nintendo games, though they could also potentially go with Dead or Alive (Kasumi) or Dynasty Warriors (though for the life of me I don’t know who they could go with. Lu Bu?)

Level-5, who frequently gets help from Nintendo with international publishing, would most likely go with Professor Layton or Yokai Watch (likely Jibanyan), though Inazuma Eleven (Mamoru Endou) or Ni no Kuni (Oliver, Evan, or Roland) would also work in a pinch. Interestingly, Level-5 also owns Comcept, so Mighty no. 9 (Beck) is a possibility, but an exceedingly slim one

Sony, Nintendo’s most major rival, doesn’t have much to offer since most of their first party games aren’t on Nintendo systems, and their most significant viable IP, Crash Bandicoot, is currently owned by Activision, so even if Crash got in, it’s hard to say that it would be as a Sony rep. Still, Crash is a gaming icon and former mascot of Sony, which would heavily symbolize the rivalry between Sony and Nintendo even if ownership has changed hands. If being on a Nintendo system isn’t an issue, Little Big Planet (Sackboy), Sly Cooper, or God of War (Kratos) would all be excellent choices. Interestingly, everything I’ve said so far has been developed by Sony’s American or European subsidiaries. For Japanese studios, their most likely reps would probably be Ape Escape (Spike) or Gravity Rush (Kat). Sony also currently owns Q*Bert (formerly owned by Gottlieb), who would be a perfect representative of arcade gaming, though I don’t imagine Sony would pick Q*Bert over any of their original IPs if given the choice.

Marvelous, who happens to be making Daemon x Machina with Nintendo, frequently releases their games on Nintendo platforms; by far their biggest series is Story of Seasons (likely Pete with Sara as an alternate costume, though other player characters such as Mark, Pony, Toy, Claire, Henry and Holly would also work), or its spinoff, Rune Factory (likely Raguna), but Muramasa (Momohime/Kisuke) would be a fairly strong contender if only because of popularity. They also own Senran Kagura (Asuka), which got its start on Nintendo consoles and still remains there to this day. Its risque nature makes me hesitant to call it viable or likely, though that certainly didn’t stop Bayonetta, but either way Story of Seasons feels a lot more likely. There’s also Little King’s Story (Corobo), but that’s a fairly niche title, I think

More in line with Microsoft, there are also a number of particularly big Western companies with a lot of support for getting into Smash

The biggest is probably Ubisoft, who is definitely the Western company on the best terms with Nintendo; they would most likely use Rayman, especially since he’s had a trophy and a Spirit, though a Rabbid is also possible. Assassin’s Creed (probably Ezio or Altair), Prince of Persia, or even Starlink (Mason Rana) may all work, but Rayman is definitely the best bet

A representative from Bethesda, another major Western company which seems to be on at least friendly terms with Nintendo; since Bethesda owns Id, I’m inclined to say Doom (Doomslayer), though I would think that Bethesda would want to use one of their original properties, so potentially Elder Scrolls (Dovahkin). Fallout (likely Vaultboy) may work too, but that’s also an acquired property

Though mostly inactive now, Atari was once one of the pillars of the video game industry. Unfortunately, they don’t really have many iconic characters that are particularly viable, but as I’ve said in the past, the Centipede would make a really interesting fighter

Activision Blizzard doesn’t have much that’s been playable on Nintendo, though there are games from both Activision and Blizzard individually: Activision could potentially contribute Call of Duty (Private Martin?), but they did acquire Spyro and Crash from Sony, so that would probably be a better fit for Smash, though it’s hard to say if they’d use someone else’s mascot; on Blizzard’s side, Overwatch (Tracer) was recently announced to be coming to Switch, and Diablo has gotten a lot of attention from Nintendo, what with the Diablo variant Switch and the Loot Goblin amiibo, though I’m not sure who would be a viable representative

Warner Bros. Interactive doesn’t really have a ton to offer since it mostly does licensed games, but it does publish NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat (Scorpion or Sub-Zero), one of the most iconic fighting games of all time, and 5th Cell’s Scribblenauts (Maxwell). The latter certainly isn’t as iconic as Mortal Kombat in terms of video game history, but it’s at least a lot easier to associate with WB

The Tetris Company doesn’t explicitly have any characters of their own as far as I know, though Tetrominos are a surprisingly popular choice. I however propose that they could use Tee from Puyo Puyo Tetris, as he is the closest thing to a Tetris character that there is. Unfortunately he’s probably considered a Sega character since he was designed by Sonic Team, but who knows, maybe the Tetris Company co-owns him

EA has...uh...the Sims, which used to belong to Nintendo? Dr. Wright from SimCity is already an Assist Trophy, but Nintendo never lost the rights to the character, so that doesn’t really count. They don’t really have much else that’s useful. Plants vs Zombies? Need for Speed? Dragon Age...? Regardless, EA has said that they are distancing themselves from the Switch (though they immediately backtracked on that statement), which seems evident since they don’t appear to be putting the new PvZ on Switch, so it feels unlikely that they’d get any representation in Smash at all

CD Projekt Red is getting Witcher III on Switch, and people really love Geralt, so maybe? Doesn’t seem super likely, but not impossible

Take-Two Interactive has GTA and LA Noire, but I’m not sure if those are viable

Epic Games has Fortnite which...I guess could just have eight different outfits? I don’t know anything about Fortnite

Some smaller Japanese studios (smaller than the top 10, not necessarily indie) may also be decent choices, since they have games with enough history to warrant being in Smash:

SNK has King of Fighters/Fatal Fury (Terry Bogard or Mai Shiranui) and Metal Slug (Marco/Tarma). SNK has officially gotten Fatal Fury’s Terry in Smash, seemingly to represent the Neo Geo system, which honestly I should have considered would make SNK a stronger contender

Cooking Mama Limited has...Cooking Mama

Nippon Ichi Software has Disgaea (Laharl)

ArcSystem Works has BlazBlue (Ragna), Guilty Gear (Sol Badguy), and iconic beat-em-up series Double Dragon (Billy/Jimmy Lee) since acquiring Technos Japan from Data East

Grasshopper Manufacture has No More Heroes (Travis Touchdown), which has had pretty much its entire history on Nintendo systems

Natsume is probably the least likely of this entire post, but they have what is currently called Harvest Moon (Farmer?) and their more well known original title, Medabots (Metabee or Rokusho) which is surprisingly still going

And of course, there’s the indies, both Japanese and Western:

Nicalis currently has the rights to indie forerunner Cave Story (Quote), and are the current publishers of classic SNES series Umihara Kawase, but the real star for them is definitely Cave Story

WayForward’s Shantae is already a Spirit in Smash, so of indies, I think she has the best bet, but only if Spirits don’t preclude fighter status

Not technically indie, but Inti Creates broke off from Capcom several years ago and released Azure Striker Gunvolt (Gunvolt) before teaming up with various indie developers to help them with their projects, so I’m gonna go ahead and count them. They also have Gal*Gun (Ekoro), Dragon: Marked for Death (likely Empress) and now have the rights to Blaster Master (Jason) from Sunsoft. If they only have the license and the rights still belong to Sunsoft though, then chalk Sunsoft and Blaster Master up in the smaller studios category above

Toby Fox’s Undertale (Frisk) has a lot of demand, so it only seems fair to put it on this list

For the sake of acknowledgment, Yacht Club’s Shovel Knight is the only indie to have an Assist Trophy, so while I doubt Shovel Knight is going to be in the DLC, he could come up in a future Smash

Devolver Digital is getting pretty big lately and has a ton to offer, and with their flagship series Hotline Miami (Jacket) confirmed to be coming to Switch, their chances have certainly improved. The Messenger and Enter the Gungeon would both work too, but Hotline Miami is definitely the go-to for Devolver

Gears for Breakfast’s A Hat in Time (Hat Kid) is the latest indie darling making the rounds, and with its imminent release on Switch, its chances have only gone up

Similarly, Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight is gaining a lot of traction, to the point that its sequel had its own segment at E3 this year

Brace Yourself Games’ Crypt of the Necrodancer (Cadence) has a crossover with Legend of Zelda, an honor that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an indie game get from Nintendo before

Choice Provisions’ Bit.Trip (CommanderVideo) had a trophy in Smash 4, making it the first indie to be acknowledged in Smash, although CommanderVideo did not receive a Spirit in Ultimate. They’re also the current publishers of Bubsy, which...I would hope doesn’t get in

Edmund McMillen has at least two successful indies, Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, and while I don’t think either of them will make it, I felt that they were at least worth mentioning

StudioMDHR’s Cuphead is on Switch and ostensibly getting a physical release soon, and from what I’ve seen is one of the most hotly requested indies for Smash

Similarly to Cave Story, Kikiyama’s Yume Nikki (Madotsuki) was wildly influential for the indie scene and would be very interesting, though highly unlikely, for Smash

Speaking of influential indies, Team Shanghai Alice’s Touhou Project (Reimu Hakurei) is one that I see a fair bit of clamor for, especially now that it’s getting console games

Supergiant Games’ Bastion (the Kid) is yet another influential indie game, and also interestingly enough was published by Warner Bros. Interactive, so if Mortal Kombat doesn’t work out, this is another good option

And of course, how could I forget Matt Makes Games’ Celeste (Madeline), a game with tremendous pull by fans to get into Smash

If I think of any I missed that I think have a decent chance, I’ll add them in later

#super smash bros #super smash bros ultimate #smash ultimate #fighter pass

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des-shinta · 8 years ago

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Have you read about the new rules for Link summoning? I find them rather unneeded as it nerfs so many decks and dueling styles, let alone decks that need the extra deck for there more powerful combos.

I have discussed this elsewhere; and frankly this is utterly asinine; all done because Konami is damn stupid about managing their own game mechanics.

This all started, admittedly, with XYZ monster abuse during Zexal’s run because Konami kept making them vastly overpowered, and too easy to summon through those means; not helped with them beginning to errata cards to make them weaker–not limit an OTK condition they may be part of…but utterly changing their effects. Crush card virus being the most infamous where it was a great card…but is now worthless.XYZ’s were so abused they drowned out all other deck types Konami was making, which discouraged old players in a way synchro’s didn’t, as Fusion monsters and prior archetypes were still being supported and weren’t utterly dominated. Hell, I ran an amalgam Fusion/Synchro deck through most of 5D’s run, and it was decently successful. But you didn’t see that during Zexal; either you ran the most recent chase cards…or you lost.They then sought to fix that through the pendulum mechanics which were meant to unify all of the various summoning strategies, but initially backfired because when they were released, they put on the banlist several anti-spell/trap cards like heavy storm which would have kept them balanced, and made people discouraged from playing the game as pendulums were then assumed they would dominate. Thus, they Then needed to rush out anti-pendulum cards…that everybody THEN used instead of pendulums. Thus, back to square one until they once more made stronger cards to balance them, which is where we got beginning in Arc-V’s synchro arc and final year.Pendulum monsters weren’t really the problem as they in and of themselves were balanced–more summons deplete other advantages and you need certain cards to even summon out strong stuff which were small in number–but the issues came again from what Konami kept doing to incentive-ise their play after they didn’t learn their lesson.I thing the most balanced Anti-Pendulum monster we had, was blue-eyes spirit dragon, as it restricted mutli-summoning in the same way bottomless trap hole did. And bottomless trap hole was already a staple card.

Ironicly, the ARC-V years were ridiculously good for legacy archetype support, with blue eyes WINNING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, the legendary dragons from the DOMA arc and a lot of other anime-only cards being made real, magicians, Sacred beast and destiny board becoming playable, red eyes, Harpie and amazoness retraining, new egyptian god card support, Asuka Tenjoin’s cyber angels getting released, new destiny heroes, buster blader and black luster solider expanded into archetypes, toon mosnters, magnet warriors and the A-Z expansion.Which, really, is what people complaining about the game wanted; they WANT to play things they like and not just things that will let them win. People love blue-eyes dragons so much they were used as an engine for other decks, like the dragon lords. Black luster solider envoy of the beginning was many people’s favorite card, so never really went away. Gorz the emissary of darkness shonen jump subscribers got automatically, and it was a strong enough support card to still be around. Thus, people came back to the game for these new cards that made old stuff they loved playable again.…though oddly we’ve yet to get Magi Magi magigican girl because of stupid unneeded censoruship reasons.

Plus new stuff like Kaiju (yes, godzilla, Mothra and king ghidorah giant monster all out attack is a deck type), Spyral (james bond), Lunalight’s, Super quantal…just…a lot of good stuff came out the Arc-V years…that aren’t (in Japan) and soon won’t be (in TCG regions) playable anymore.The changes for Link monsters and VRAINS…essentially destroy innumerable decks that rely on more than one extra deck monster, and yet REWARD far more that people hate playing against. Monarchs, which were previously Overpowered even for the current format and people have hated to be trolled by before even GX started airing, are near-invincible now. Gladiator beasts, which EVERYONE hates is back. Red dragon archfiend and black wings are untouched, but admittedly Konami has NEVER nerfed Blackwings despite them being one of the most abused archetypes. Utopia is untouched due to them now being reliant on the utopia the lightning OTK, which they refuse to put in the banlist, because the BANLISt is made to prevent OTK strategies.But decks seeing a lot of play right now don’t even involve extra decks now because The Link rule format change has ruined pretty much everything competetive. Rituals already had a resurgence and aren’t hurt, but Gishiki/Nekroz were overused before, so a lot more are going to abuse cyber angels and the black luster archetypes now…which are Older cards and not new ones.Hell, people now see SKULL SERVANTS as a perfect deck in this format, as they break the damage tables previously ruled by extra deck monsters, and the cards that can be used to restrain them are now restrained.

Worse, People have already figured out how to entirely break the game and it’s new rules for LInks monsters…BY using Link monsters just released in the starter deck to ruin everyone’s day and mass-swarm summon themselves effortlessly for an OTK.AKA: THE GAME STRATEGY THEY WERE TRYING TO DISCOURAGE WITH THIS RULECHANGE IN THE FIRST PLACEThey’re starting out overpowered simply from summoning, while almost everything else is near-useless, and will thus dominate every other decktype in ways NEVER seen before in any previous format change or new card type addition.And the sad thing is…they Didn’t need to do that, Link monster’s powers are gained from Linking to things in other card zones, which is entirely serviceable from existing game mechanics that didn’t require the new monster zone, and would require some actual strategy about planning card placement to bring out their power. B But that’s not being done as now from the SINGLE monster zone they’re defaulted to, it’s just now an order of operations and they slot in automatically.Reducing pendulum zones back to the back row Spell/trap zones? That’s not a big problem, outside of several cards Konami already released or now is releasing in post-link sets requiring a full 4-5 card back Row ON TOP of needing the pendulum zones filled, meaning those cards INSTANTLY become useless and unplayable.

IN fact, the instant the rule-change was implemented in japan? pendulums Died. In their entirety. Few to no torunaments has been recorded playing a pendulum deck in Japan since the rulechange. 3 years and an entire card type...instantly shoeboxed. Not even going into XYZ’s, did that happen to synchro’s that fast.

It’s like…they didn’t think this through at all, and exasperated the issues of the play mechanics they were trying to mediate (swarm OTK strategies).So…yeah, with My Friends and I restarting our yugioh Streams this weekend…we’re not dignifying Link monsters until we’re forced to.

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recentanimenews · 6 years ago

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Best Characters That Have to Show up in the New Senran Kagura Anime!

With the world of Japan’s most bodacious brawler becoming far more well-endowed since anime fans were first introduced to Asuka and Homura in Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash, many now-iconic characters from the game series are set to make their small screen debut this Friday, with SENRAN KAGURA: SHINOVI MASTER.

Undoubtedly, the most notable addition is a shinobi who now even rivals Asuka for the title of franchise mascot: Yumi. Introduced in Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus for the PlayStation Vita, she is the leader of the Gessen Girls’ Academy ninja faction, who see her like a cool big sister. Her prominent placement in both the promotional artwork and trailer for Shinovi Master suggest a notable role is headed her way, but which Senran Kagura characters also deserve a shot at the small screen?

1.YOZAKURA

There’s no way I could start this list without first flying the flag for my favourite character! A dedicated eldest daughter, and a trusted friend of Yumi, Yozakura could be best described as the “mom” of the Gessen girls. She’s strict and tries to uphold a moral standard, while also showing a genuine desire to nurture her underclassmen.

Where Yozakura won my heart and may claim victory over that of others however, is in those rare moments when her guard is down, and a fun-loving smile appears on her face. While she was already briefly glimpsed in the official trailer, with so many shinobi likely to be vying for screen time, her presence may be limited. However, even one badass moment where she puts those gauntlets to good use would make me a very happy bunny!

2. AYAME

While Yozakura may add a more serious tone to the new series, anyone looking for an injection of fun will be delighted by an appearance from Ayame! Introduced in the Japan-only mobile game Senran Kagura: New Wave, Ayame is a carefree first-year student at Hanzo National Academy, who lives in total adoration of its resident pervert, Katsuragi. The comedic potential writes itself, but Ayame could also provide ample story opportunities for our boot-wearing heroine.

Although she worked her way up from a shopkeeper in Shinovi Versus all the way to a playable character in Peach Beach Splash however, Ayame has been noticeably absent in the run-up to the series so far. So whether the perverted protege will make an appearance, remains to be seen.

3. RYONA

Much of the newcomer spotlight has been on the small screen debut of Gessen Girls Academy, but every light is accompanied by shadow. Having transferred from there to Hebijo Clandestine Girl’s Academy, if any of their new elites deserves time on stage, it’s Ryona.

There’s no point being subtle about Ryona, because she certainly won’t be. An unashamed masochist, she brings a much-welcomed new level of eccentricity to the Senran Kagura cast that is just a chaotic delight. There is a more serious side to her lurking beneath the surface, however. Ryona and her twin sister Ryobi are set to make an appearance with the rest of the Hebijo faction, so fingers crossed that we’ll get to see her perform a brutal ballet!

4. & 5. KAGURA AND NARAKU

Reborn every 100 years to eliminate demonic entities known as yoma, the story of Kagura is integral to my favorite game in the franchise (so far): Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson. Initially appearing in the form a child, Kagura grows progressively older as she regains her former power, before unleashing it all and starting the cycle of reincarnation all over again.

Kagura’s journey wasn’t a solitary one however, as she was accompanied in her quest by her guardian, Naraku. Descended from a clan devoted to watching over Kagura’s resurrections, she remains by Kagura’s side not just because of obligation, but friendship as well. While the pair made fleeting appearances in Estival Versus and Peach Beach Splash, it would be nice to catch up with and see what they’ve been up to since the dramatic events of Deep Crimson.

BONUS: YOMA

If you thought the Senran Kagura series was all jiggles and giggles, it might come as quite a shock if SENRAN KAGURA: SHINOVI MASTER ever places us face-to-face with these twisted nightmares. Born from the blood and despair of fallen shinobi, even knowledge of their existence is usually reserved for only the most elite ninja. They are responsible for many tragedies in the Senran Kagura world, and it once took the unification of the opposing Hanzo and Hebijo ninja schools to take them down. While Senko, Gekko and Fubuki are looking to be taking center stage as this series’ antagonists, the various Yoma designs are just simply too cool for them to not show up somewhere!

Which Senran Kagura characters would you like to see in the new series? Let us know in the comments! Don’t forget, SENRAN KAGURA: SHINOVI MASTER begins on October 12 2018, and will be available worldwide, excluding Japan.

Josh A. Stevens is a freelance PR with anime industry experience, and a writer at Anime UK News. You can follow him on Twitter @Joshawott.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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rex101111 · 6 years ago

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Character concept: Aria/Justice

because I can’t get it out of my head here’s some scattered nonsense of ideas that I would like to see if Aria becomes a playable character again in the next Guilty Gear :D just like, a bunch of stuff thrown at the wall because I want these out so they won’t bother me in my head so here you go!

Intro: Shot of a hand holding a remote with a prominent red button on it, the thumb presses down on the button. Camera pans up to see a shine in the sky, followed by a huge shadow dropping swiftly down. Cut to a side view of Aria with her hands crossed as the shadow stops in front of her, a lightly altered recreation of the Gear Justice. She looks aside, at the camera and her opponent, says her opening line, before the suit opens up and she jumps inside. The suit closes around her as lights turn on all at once and the Gear, Aria, turns to her opponent with clenched claws.

opening line ideas:

Sol: “Fredrick, I want to test this thing out, don’t hold back like last time.”

“Don’t give me that look, I know you’re itching for another go.”

“I get antsy too you know, research gets boring sometimes.”

“No, I’m not mad. I am still going to beat you up though, it’s the principle of the matter.”

Dizzy: “Alright, now take a deep breath, and don’t hold back.”

“I know you don’t like fighting, but keeping your skills sharp is important.”

“You can do better then that, I know you can, I’ll drag it out of you if I need to.”

“You can’t hurt me dear, so let Necro have some fun this time, eh?”

Ky: “I need to know for certain if you can stand by her side, your majesty, so get ready.”

“A mother-in-law’s advice is healthy for any marriage, now pay close attention.”

“You never did fight Justice did you? Now’s your chance.”

“Dizzy gets a lot from me; my looks, my eyes, and my fire power.”

Baiken: “Take your anger, your pain, your hatred, and fight me!”

“I remember the feel of your blade against my armor, this time don’t miss.”

“This is your revenge, come and take it!”

“Guilt isn’t weighing me down, but I won’t sit by and let you wallow.”

Generic: “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt you, just think of it as an intense work out.”

“I installed a few new tricks into this baby, keep your guard up!”

“This isn’t the real deal, but it will be more then enough to handle you.”

Instant Kill: Aria lunches out a sort of tether to trap the opponent in place, fires a barrage of lasers, and then charges her Gammy Ray. She charges it up until the glow of it reaches the sky, and then flies towards her target to fire it, at point blank range. DESTROYED. Open to a large canyon in front of the suit, stretching out into the horizon. The suit opens and out comes Aria, grimly satisfied and the wind whipping her hair around while she says her winning line. Aria WIN!

“Asuka really went for overkill with this, didn’t he?”

“And that, is how you win a battle, even if you lose a war.”

“Most strategies fall apart when faced with overwhelming force, bigger stick always wins.”

“It may be a pale imitation, a reproduction, but this lady still packs a mean punch doesn’t she?”

Normal Victory Pose: The suits opens to let Aria step out before kneeling behind her, she leans back to sit, not at all elegantly, on it’s head with a weary sigh, reaches into her pocket to pull out a lollipop with a kind smile as she says her line before she starts eating it. Aria WIN!

“Yikes, did I overdo it again? Sorry about that.”

“The thrusters still need tuning up, thanks for running around so much that I noticed.”

“You did well back there! A little more practice and I’ll have to work for it next time.”

“Next time, when you think of picking a fight with a laser shooting robot, don’t.”

End match quotes (AKA where I completely indulge in my HCs about Aria post Rev2):

Sol: “Hey Fredrick, remember that time I challenged you and Asuka to an arm wrestling competition? You two complained about sore wrists for weeks! *short chuckle*...brings back memories. doesn’t it?...”

Dizzy: “Very good Dizzy! Literally ever single reader and scanner on this thing burst and broke during that fight! W-wait no don’t look worried! That’s a good thing! I’m proud of you, really.”

Ky: “If I’m being honest, I really don’t get what Dizzy sees in you. Not that I’m questioning her choices, God forbid! You’re just not my type at all, bit too straight laced...though, that short hair look does suit you better, very handsome.”

Leo: “You make an odd King, Leo. But not a bad one at all! Sure, Ky may be more popular among the public, and the press love him more, and he tends to lead things more confidently and thoroughly, but you-you....Leo? Why are you sulking?”

Sin: “Well, deal’s a deal. I beat you so now you need to go back and finish your homework young man. Now don’t frown like that, only kids do that. Tell you what, finish your work quickly, and me and Fredrick’ll treat you to a big dinner, deal?”

Ramlethel: “Excellent work Ram, you’re improving very quickly! You and Sin train hard don’t you? Just try not to overindulge on those burgers after your sessions alright? Gear Biology or no those things are bad for you.”

Elphelt: “El, sweetheart, I know you have your style and all, but is the wedding dress still necessary? A place to hid your weapons sure but doesn’t it get in the way?...was I ever like that? God I hope not..oh! Nothing it’s nothing!”

Slayer: “Every single reader is either broken or glitching on me, armor cracked to hell, engine damn near exploded, exhausted my fuel and my ammunition...and here you are, lounging like it’s a holiday...what are you exactly...?”

Potemkin: “Well! Zepp technology is certainly...hardy! Nearly overloaded my canons on you! Took me by surprise there...”

Chipp: “You really need to stop playing this silly ninja game of yours and sit down. Politics is boring as dirt but if you call yourself a president that’s your job...*sigh* I pity your secretary, truly.”

Faust: “Sorry about that...outburst, I kind of have this thing with medical procedures and needles and...well, I’m sure you understand, Doctor.”

Jam: “God it’s been ages since I had proper Chinese food, how’s your general Tsao?...why are you giving me that dirty look? Did I say something wrong?”

May: “You pack a wallop don’t you? I thought that anchor was a toy at first but your swinging that cast iron like it’s nothing! Maybe train with someone who can teach you how to use it more directly? Who knows what kind of damage you could do...”

Zato: “...according to my scanners you don’t have a pulse...did that vampire have something to do with it? Either way, stay away from me, no offence but that shadow of yours is creepy, and coming from me that says something.”

Millia: “There are no chains on you dear, nothing holding you down and no one holding you back. Your freedom is right there, all you have to do is reach for it with both hands.”

Venom: “...you know, you remind me of this baker in downtown Ilyria, he’s a genius with bread and sugar, honestly incredible. I hope his business is doing well, I don’t know if I could make it through the day without one of his cinnamon buns.”

Baiken: “Get up. I know this isn’t all your anger, get up! Gather more hatred and fight me! Pour every ounce of pain you have into your blade and let it out! Get up! I won’t stop until you can live again, until you can let go before you tear yourself to pieces...get. Up.”

Anji Mito: “Now. You are going to behave, sit there, and tell the truth for once. Mind you this suit has a heartbeat monitor so I’ll know if you try to pull a fast one. Now, question one, what do you know?”

I-no: “...sorry for causing you so much trouble as Jack-O, my excitement kind of got away from me. Thanks for putting up with it.”

Raven: “I never did thank you for that wound you healed, did I? Of course I remember, who forgets a friend in this day and age?”

Extra stuff/Headcannons:

* She’s like mature Jack-O personality wise, though with a rather wry sense of humor. Pokes fun at Sol every chance she gets (only calls him Fredrick, or Freddie if she wants to troll him), but always with a hint of affection. Sometimes blanks out or has her mind wonder off.

* Worked closely with Paradigm to build the suit, though she did most of the heavy work herself. Used schematics from a few of Asuka’s old hideouts and accounts from the Crusades while adding her own spin on the design. No...crotch spike. Constantly improving it and tweaking it whenever she has the time.

* Nags Ky like a proper mother-in-law mostly just for the sake of poking fun, she trusts him with Dizzy. Wants to make up for lost time with Dizzy, though she knows she can only go so far with her being about a decade late to be a mom.

* Treats the Valentine sisters like, well, sisters almost. Little sisters. Spoils Sin rotten whenever his parents aren’t paying attention. Had a 10 hour long training session with him after he called her “grandma” once.

* Feels a little guilty about Japan. Doesn’t exactly blame herself entirely, but she still feels some responsibility to fix some of the damage. Baiken makes that guilt double in her gut, wants her to move on because she has a vague memory of Baiken fighting Justice and failing miserably.

* Has an odd, vague mix of memories from both Jack-O and Justice, she can just manage to keep up and make sense of them, but both at once has her needing to sit down and clutch her head because ow migraines. Also pretty much remembers everything from before she died the first time.

* Wants to punch Asuka in the nose. Also to say she forgives him and she gets why he did what he did, but first she needs to break his nose because seriously Asuka the fuck.

* Her theme would probably be some mix between “Meet Again” (Justice theme) and “Juno” (Jack-O theme), with maybe the “Diva” riff thrown in there for flavor. Slightly manic rock mix but ultimately in control and, near the end, happy. Song title would be something like “Together Again” or “Hera” (Juno’s Greek name)

#Guilty Gear #Aria Hale #Justice (Guilty Gear)#self indulgent stuff #to the max

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