Gameplay

The gameplay is very much like other music/rhythm games; a note slides by the screen and when it reaches the hit area, you press the correct button. Daiko no Tatsujin is however limited to two commands; top of the drum (orange faces) and edge of the drum (blue faces). The bigger faces require you to hit a specific part of the drum (center of the top and exactly on the edge, respectively), but while all this sounds pretty simple and straight forward, the harder difficulties will seriously mess up your timing.

Song list

The songs are many and varied, both in genre and difficulty. I’ve made a short list below with all the songs (in romaji) divided in the same way they are in the game. I’ve omitted the artist names due to lack of space, but will be adding videos as soon as a mail goes through and I get access to a beta of a plugin~

Unlockables

It is possible to unlock items in order to customize your character (WadaDon), who is seen dancing on the top screen during songs. In the beginning, you can only change the colour of the drum (as can be seen on the drawing I made), but as you play the game, you will also unlock specific costumes that you can dress WadaDon up in, such as a pirate outfit, various animal outfits, food items, etc.

But costume items aren’t the customize items you get; you will also unlock items to customize the sounds made by your drum when you play it. So instead of the normal taiko drum sounds, you can hear farts, sumo sounds, pacman game sounds, baseball sounds, etc. Some of them are super cool and make the song sound even more awesome 8D

Modes can also be unlocked in order to amp up the games difficulty. In the beginning, four modes are unlocked: Auto, baisoku, sanbai, and nashi (none, i.e. the off setting). Auto is used to get a feel for the song by having the CPU play it perfectly, while baisoku and sanbai increase the speed the notes on the screen fly by with (2x and 3x, respective). You can unlock 4 other modes by clearing the songs (getting an accuracy rating of 80%): Yonbai (4x speed), Doron (removes the coloured face clues, leaving only the below hiragana), Kanpeki (Perfect; song will end if you miss a note), and Abekobe (Inverse; changes the orange Don to blue Ka and vice versa).

Conclusion

I absolutely LOVE the game!! There are a lot of varied and fun songs, and once you start thinking it gets too easy, you can just one-up the difficulty. It even has a secret unlockable difficulty called “Oni” (Ogre/Demon) which is just friggin’ insaaaaaane!

Also, due to the nature of the game, it’s a perfect pick-up-and-play game; there’s no story, nothing you have to know to understand the rest, so you can just pick it up at anytime, play a song or two, and that’s it.

While it -is- a fun time killer for when commuting, there’s not really anything there to motivate you to get better at the game. There are occasional random missions you get with the mail which will let you unlock more customize items or songs + the daily “Test your drum skills dojo”, but that’s pretty much it. I think it would be more fun if you could have missions or objectives to beat on all the songs on various difficulties, since that would want to make you play all the songs several times over and you’d be driven to get a better score or more accurate presses, etc.

All in all, a wonderfully funny game that I heartily recommend. You can play wireless 4-player mode (via download play, I think) so it’s a great games to play with your friends too.

Score
									awesome!

12►

Credits

Elemental© Goldenwolf18
Alyssa© fallenangelsnevercry
Blaze© Hecko X (me)
Sketch & original story© fallenangelsnevercry
Lineart & colours© Hecko X ]]> http://m-27.com/4555/art-post/aoh-winter-ball-comic/feed/ 3 http://m-27.com/4549/post/overwork-and-smiling-dogs/ http://m-27.com/4549/post/overwork-and-smiling-dogs/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:00:28 +0000 Hecko X http://m-27.com/?p=4549 Long story short, I was right about pushing myself too heard in physical therapy, like I posted about a few days ago, as evident when I 20 minutes into the last session passed out from overwork.

So now, a few days later, I can’t even move my head or jaw because of the tears in the muscles between my shoulder and neck. I’m feeling all depressed and annoyed because of it, so I found these videos to cheer me up a bit. Maybe they’ll put smiles on your lips too~

The Stream

Mechanics

The game is relatively light-weight taking up only around 700MB, and that’s fully updated, though this might be because it is currently ‘only’ in its open beta stages. I don’t know when the beta ends, but for now, I’m just enjoying it since it means that less people know of it and that in turn means always tons of space on the server. Speaking of servers, there are currently only two of them (though this is enough), each having four channels. When you create a character (you can create up to three) on a server, you are confined to that server (as far as I know), but you can move freely between the four channels.

Audio/video

While it’s cartoony-esque style might be off-putting for some, I find it an advantage since it translates to less processor butt-rape and let’s face it, we all want to avoid teh butt-rape… That aside, the scenery and details are quite impressive, especially on higher settings. Pallete swaps for monster are however abundant, which is a bit of a shame, but is to be expected. It would’ve been nice with some extra details on more dangerous fiends of the same genus rather than a darker shade of yellow. On the audio side, it is surprisingly good! I sometimes linger around some of the areas just to enjoy the area-specific music.

Character classes

The job classes are more or less the same as they are for most other RPGs, starting with the generic novice. At level 5 you then choose the “path” you want to take by becoming a Fighter (tank), Hunter (ranged), Spellcaster (magic user), or Acolyte (healer). You get a class ugrade again at level 15, which is essentially just a stat boost and more abilities unlocked for purchase, and then the same at level 30, but where you have a choice between two jobs within the same path. E.g for the tank path, it would be: Novice -> lvl. 5 -> Fighter -> lvl. 15 -> Warrior -> lvl. 30 -> Paladin OR Beserker.

Personally, I think the Beserker (tank) or Necromancer (magic user) are the best classes to go after, simply because the defense stat is next to worthless as far as I am able to tell, so pouring everything into offense is the way to go. I think they went with this to maybe balance out the other jobs more, so not everyone would just tank everything, but I honestly don’t know.

Social aspect

I have probably never played an MMORPG that tries harder to force you into being social and marking parties. I mean sure, the game has guild-only missions, but so do many other MMORPGs. Grand Fantasia, however, will have regular missions seperate into 3-5 parts, where the last part is always a boss fight that you have no chance of winning alone, unless you are the boss’ level x 1½, and even then it’s difficult. So you are essentially forced into forming parties, but since only one person can pick up the mission item, only one person per time can complete the mission, after which, they usually quit the party. So it’s a pretty poor marketing decision to have done this >____>

On the upside, I think they at least somewhat acknowledge the issue, as the regularly have timed Double Experience events where you in the one hour the event is ‘active’, you earn double exp for any kill and therefore level faster.

Sprites

A feature I had never seen before was the Sprite system. The easiest way for me to explain sprites are that they are in-game Tamagochis crossed with Pokémons or something. Why I like this system is that while many MMORPGs will have you waste time doing mundane things such as harvesting, foresting, mining, etc., these things are all performed by the Sprites in exchange for a very small fee (which you usually earn back by killing a low-medium level monster).

In addition to doing these mundane things, they can also perform alchemy and even forge armors and weapons. One sprite is however confined to forging one type of weapon or armor, e.g. only tank armor or only magic armor, etc. But the smart thing is that in addition to the Sprite you get in the beginning, which is also able to evolve at higher levels, you can also summon two additional sprites with special summoning items and have them forage for you as well.

There’s a bit more to the Sprite system, such as caring for the sprites, training them, and summining them to give your character stat boosts, but I’d rather not go into that much detail. You’ll find out when you play it.

Conclusion

Grand Fantasia is a fun game that tries to allocate the mundane chores to a pet system which actually works rather well. It also contains several interesting features not mention in the review, such as a player auction (in addition to just selling stuff at stores), mounts, PvP battles and PvP Wars, etc. because I simply didn’t have the time to cover all that. It is, however, advised that you start playing with some of your friends as many missions require parties to successfully pass, and the only guarantee of an effective and consistent party is to play with at least 2-3 people you know in advance.

Apart from that, it is an entertaining games with a few twists that sets it apart from many other cartoony MMORPGs, and with it’s relatively small file size, you should definitely give it a chance. While the missions might become a bit mundane in the long run if you’re playing solo, the nice surroundings and fantabulous music almost makes level grinding bearable. If you reach level 10 and still don’t think the game is something for you, then I’m sorry for having wasted your time, but personally, I think you can get at least a few weeks of playtime out of this game, probably months if you join a good guild.

Score
								Totally	awesome!

Greetings

First off, Serbia is a very religious country and while we do have a way of saying “merry Christmas“, we have a special way of greeting eachother on Christmas which we use instead. One is to say Hristos se rodi (Christ is born) to which the other(s) is to respond Vaistinu se rodi (Truly, he is born). After that, you can usually add “merry christmas.” While I don’t believe in God or Christ, I still honour traditions and say the greetings.

Gift exchange

We do not exchange gifts Christmas Morning. Rather, we do that on the three consecutive Sundays leading up to Christmas (kinda like Advent, I suppose, I don’t really know how that works). Anywho, the three Sundays leading up to Christmas are called Detinjci (Children’s Day), Materice (Mothers’ Day), and Oci (Fathers’ Day), respectively.

The name of the days tell who it is that are the gift givers. But it’s not like they just ‘give’ the gifts, they are given as ransom XD On the morning of e.g. Materice, the children will wake up early in the morning and tie together the feet of mothers (doesn’t have to be their own) and the mothers then give gifts in order to be untied by the children. The best gifts are usually kept within the family while those outside usually receive candy or fruits. The same applies to the two other days ^^ This tradition has unfortunately died out today, and instead, gifts are given on the 7th of January and only to the children; parents and grandparents recieve nothing =[

Badnjak/Veseljak

The Badnjak is a log of oak (the oak is considered a tree representing Christ in Serbia) that is cut on the morning of Christmas Eve, is burnt through the night until Christmas Morning and then plays a role with the visit of the Polažajnik (later section). There used to be many traditions associated with how and when to bring in the log, but all died out by the time I was a kid, so I don’t know any of them except that you are supposed to enter right foot first.

Sometimes, leaved oak branches replace the log (they did when I was a kid). Christmas Eve is actually named after the tradition of the tree, being called Badnji Dan (lit: “Day of the Badnjak”) and Badnje Veče (lit: “Eve of the Badnjak”). The burning of the Badnjak is said to symbolize the fire made to keep the newly born Baby Jesus warm through the night.

Christmas Straw

This is a tradition that has simply died out because kids these days only care about money and technology >___> But long ago, the head of the house would gather straw from the stables tie it up in a bundle and carry it into the house. He would (in some regions) then cluck as a hen and the children would (in all regions, as far as I know) then imitate chickens and pick at the straw. It would then be spread out on the floor and money, walnuts, candy, and whatever else would be thrown in as well. The children would then dive in and search for all the goods. This was obviously far more fun back when my mom was a kid, because a family would usually have several children.

Church

The church (and mass) plays a central role on the first Christmas Day and is attended extremely early in the morning. As I recall, I was awoken at about 3 AM, we were there at 3:30AM and the church was aready jam-packed. Today, the church has also taken over some of the traditions that were performed by the head of a household, such as the burning of the badnjak log.

Strong Water

The tradition of collecting water differs from region to region, but in all instance it is water collected from a well or stream before sunrise on Christmas Day and that it is later used for making the Christmas Loaf. What is done in-between differs greatly, but in our case, nothing was done.

Česnica

Česnica is the Christmas Loaf made early Christmas morning by usually the woman of the house. The dough is made using the strong water and symbolic items are inserted before the bread is baked. The items are different from place to place and sometimes the same item may symbolise one thing in one region, but something else in another. In our village, it was customary to use a coin, a small twig from the Badnjak (in some places, it is the first splinter that falls off while felling the tree), and a small cleaned bone from the foot of the roasted Christmas Pig.

When breaking the bread, it was generally believed that getting one of the items meant that you would be especially beneficial in whatever the item symbolized, e.g. if you got the coin, you would have a good economy for that year, if you got the bone, you would have good health, and if you got the twig, you would be exceptionally lucky. It is actually possible to buy for the head of the house to purchase the item and the luck assiciated with it, if he so wishes.

This tradition is still carried out today, and I just got a call from one of my cousins in Serbia 1½ hours ago wishing me a merry christmas and informing me that she got the piece with the coin XP

Položajnik

The Položajnik (goes under MANY other names as well) is the first and usually only guest on Christmas Day as this day is usually spent with the family alone. The visit by the Položajnik (who is typically male) is usually pre-arranged and he is meant to be the bringer of good fortune for the following year. Like with the Badnjak, much of the tradition with the Položajnik has died out by the time I was a kid, such as poking at the Badnjak that had been burning overnight with a firepoker in order to produce sparks while reciting a verse (the verse equates the number of sparks with the amount of different livestock and prosperity the household will have that during the next year).

By the time I became the Položajnik, the only traditions left alive was to enter the home right foot first while saying “Christ is Born, Merry Christmas”, to which the family responds “Truly He is Born”. Also, the Položajnik dines with the family and breaks the Česnica with them. I’m actually on my way out now to fulfill my duty as such.

Final Words

There are many more traditions than those explained here, but many of them have either died out completely, weren’t celebrated in my family, or I simply didn’t bother cover them (such as the Christmas Dinner, cause it’s a bit mundane). But yeah, crazy stuff, huh? XD

Portrayal

Back to the movie~! Now, despite being an avid mystery lover, I have generally steered clear of Sherlock Holmes movies and series because, quite frankly, I find that they portray him as a humourless pansy. They never seem to explore his friendship with Watson (or Watson himself), his quick wit with comebacks, his fighting and martial arts prowess, and his complete disinterest in people and the social interaction. This movie changed all that by showcasing Holmes as more of the disorganized, brilliant mind that he is and makes better use of all of his (physical) abilities.

There was only one thing missing for it to have been the God honest portrayal of Holmes and the movie teased me about it in a scene! >:3 In one of the scenes, Holmes hadn’t had a case for three months, I think it was, and was going crazy about it. Watson tells the landlady to get Holmes something to calm him down and get his mind off things, and I immediatly thought “FINALLY! A movie where you see Holmes shooting morphine or cocain like he does in the stories“, but alas, she brought him tea… =.=; Watson does however note at one point that Holmes had been ingesting something that is normally used for eye surgery, and that’s probably the closest I’m gonna get for now…

Watson is also more honestly portrayed; rather than a bumbling idiot of a sidekick that he is usually portrayed as in the old pre-WWII movies, he is shown as quite capable at deductive reasoning (like in the books), able to utilize his great medical knowledge, seeing that he is a doctor, and as a man of action mirroring his past as a military man (I’ve read that he was also portraid in this manner in the 1984 TV series, which unfortunately never aired here in Denmark).

Watson’s vices are also portrayed, such as his gambling addiction which I found to be a nice touch. So I rather enjoyed that Watson was given more depth in this movie and was somewhat of a foil to Holmes, rather than being shown as a sort of incompetent follower without a mind of his own. His more natural sense of humour, rather than the exaggerated clowning about from the old movies, was also hearts; Nat and I laughed ourselves silly whenever Holmes and Watson started arguing.

Story

The story is original, i.e. not based on a book by Sir Conan Doyle, and so is the lead villain, Lord Blackwood. I’ve had a little trouble placing the movie in the Holmes canon, but given the events, I’d say it takes place right around the the time of conclusion of the case in the book “The Case of Four“, based on Watson’s relationship with his fiancé. In “our time”, that would make it around 1886-1887.

The story itself was quite well-written and rather exciting leading up to a great conclusion at the very climax of the movie. Some of the riddles were however redundantly simple, such as the secret behind one of the character’s death and resurrection, but overall, the mysteries had me sitting on edge.

The dialogue was absolutely delightful and humorous and I was laughing myself silly at the dry wit of the two main characters and their bickering. The action and effects were amazing and they took good advantage of recent trends seen in shows such as Discovery Channel’s “Time Warp” where everything is in super slow motion.

But like there’s something for “the common man” who doesn’t know much about Sherlock Holmes canon, there are also easter eggs and nods that you simply CANNOT get if you aren’t an avid Holmes fan and know of the mythos and habits of the two characters. For instance, at the end of the movie there is a short (10-15 second) dialogue involving the notes and journals Watson made of the adventures he’s had with Holmes; a nod to how the original stories were always written from Watson’s perspective as he was chronicling them.

Conclusion

An absolutely delightful movie and probably the best one of 2009 (Avatar is probably the most visually beautiful though). It has humour, action, mystery, more action, witty punchlines, awesome effects, and is just overall lovely~. If you haven’t watched it already, I advise you to do so, IMMEDIATLY!! And don’t listen to those BS “professional” critics who are completely biased and have to nitpick at like EEEEEVERYTHING while seemingly having forgotten how to simply sit back and enjoy a movie for what it is.

Oh, and the ending so TOTALLY segweys into introducing a sequel, so I’m totally looking forward to it already! ♥♥♥ ]]> http://m-27.com/4410/reviews/sherlock-holmes-2009/feed/ 3 http://m-27.com/4398/site-announcements/and-were-back/ http://m-27.com/4398/site-announcements/and-were-back/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:45:19 +0000 Hecko X http://m-27.com/?p=4398 Yeah, I don’t really know what happened. The host had originally shut me down because I didn’t pay the bill on time, but M Dash has now been re-opened. I’m assuming that they were assuming that it was just because of the holiday rush, since banks obviously close down for the holidays (inkluding online transfers), and when they re-open, they have so many transfers to deal with that it might take a few days for them all to go through (I’m still waiting for a transfer from over a week back to go through).

In any case, M Dash is back from the dead (for like the third time… I might start calling it Frankendash), so let’s just enjoy for now?