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SHAW!!
Posted a month agoYeah, it happened.
It took seven years (and lots of clown make-up) but the bug in the red cloak is finally here.
I guess it's time for me to silk some songs and shaw all over the place like there's no tomorrow...
(If you know, you know)
It took seven years (and lots of clown make-up) but the bug in the red cloak is finally here.
I guess it's time for me to silk some songs and shaw all over the place like there's no tomorrow...
(If you know, you know)
My Mate Hiatus
Posted 2 months agoIt seems like a number of my readers have missed the notice I posted in my comments for the latest update (page 430).
I figure I might as well re-post that notice here, as a separate journal entry.
So, then, here it is:
"I'm afraid the planned mid-season break begins now. This was inevitable, as my buffer of finished pages was starting to grow dangerously thin. So I'm going to use this break to rebuild that buffer. This could take anywhere between three or six months; I want to have at least 50 finished pages ready before resuming publication. So, yeah, I guess I'll see you guys later!"
By the way, things are going fine. I'm making progress at a nice steady pace, but I'm still months away from reaching my fifty-page goal. We'll get there eventually, I promise! ^_^
I figure I might as well re-post that notice here, as a separate journal entry.
So, then, here it is:
"I'm afraid the planned mid-season break begins now. This was inevitable, as my buffer of finished pages was starting to grow dangerously thin. So I'm going to use this break to rebuild that buffer. This could take anywhere between three or six months; I want to have at least 50 finished pages ready before resuming publication. So, yeah, I guess I'll see you guys later!"
By the way, things are going fine. I'm making progress at a nice steady pace, but I'm still months away from reaching my fifty-page goal. We'll get there eventually, I promise! ^_^
In memoriam
Posted 3 months agoLast Saturday (June 28th), my best furry friend of 15 years departed on his final journey. He was a good boy.
(Photo)
(Photo)
Farewell, Ricky.
Posted 7 months agoI'll always cherish the memories of the time we spent writing stories with Scythe and the others. We all were twenty years younger then, full of dreams and epic adventures with the chivalrous knights and fiery deishlings we loved to write about. Ah, those were the days...
May your soul soar on the mighty wings of dragons, buddy.
Rest in peace.
May your soul soar on the mighty wings of dragons, buddy.
Rest in peace.
Happy Holidays!
Posted 10 months agoIt's that time of the year again, so Merry Christmas to all among you who celebrate it, and a Happy New Year next week for everyone! ^_^
This is clickbait. Feel free to ignore.
Posted a year agoIsn't it interesting how July 1st this year just so happens to be a Monday?
Just musing aloud, that's all...
[whistles non-suspiciously]
Just musing aloud, that's all...
[whistles non-suspiciously]
My Mate Hiatus FAQ
Posted 2 years agoBetter late than never, right? >.>
Okay, here we go:
-Q: Why is My Mate on hiatus?
-A: My buffer of completed pages shrank dramatically after I finished work on chapter 4, sometime around June 2021. At that time, I took a 9-month sabbatical. As a result, right now I don't have enough finished pages to begin uninterrupted publication of chapter 5 (due to the way my workflow works, I only begin publishing a chapter once it's fully complete).
-Q: A 9-month sabbatical? What did you do in that time?
-A: For the most part I shifted my focus onto a couple other projects, such as The Offering of the Fangs 2 (available in my Writings folder) and the final chapters of a SFW book/novel of mine called The Dragonhead Chronicles (unreleased for the time being).
-Q: So... right now you're working on building up your buffer of completed pages to where it was before, right?
-A: Yeah, about that... You see, something big happened shortly after chapter four finished publication; The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released. I, being a huge fan of that franchise, immediately dropped everything and dove headfirst into it. So, for the last two months, I pretty much dedicated 100% of my spare time to playing that game. And let me tell you, Tears of the Kingdom is a HUGE game, with a capital H. That said, I completed it a couple days ago (and I mean full 100% completion -- yes, I got every Korok, Bubbul Gem, Addison sign, monster medal, etc, etc), so I should be returning to Farin's world soon enough... although I might pay Fang's world a visit too, as I had been missing it lately.
-Q: How many pages of chapter 5 are complete right now?
-A: So far, 36 pages. Which is about... one third of the chapter or something like that -- hardly enough to even consider beginning publication, as I couldn't possibly guarantee an uninterrupted weekly schedule with such a small buffer.
-Q: When do you think the hiatus is going to end?
-A: Hard to say, but most likely not this year. Drawing My Mate is a lot of work, and that takes time; especially considering it's something I can only do on my spare time, and I do it for no monetary gain whatsoever (which is fine by me! My Mate is, after all, a passion project). So... let's say sometime next year. I'm afraid that's the best I have at this moment.
Alright, I think that's all I've got for now. Thank you all for reading this far, and for being patient with me. I promise you: My Mate WILL return... eventually. It's going to take a while, yes, but it will happen. We have yet to see the end of Farin and Sekk'ral's love story.
See you guys later! ^_^
Okay, here we go:
-Q: Why is My Mate on hiatus?
-A: My buffer of completed pages shrank dramatically after I finished work on chapter 4, sometime around June 2021. At that time, I took a 9-month sabbatical. As a result, right now I don't have enough finished pages to begin uninterrupted publication of chapter 5 (due to the way my workflow works, I only begin publishing a chapter once it's fully complete).
-Q: A 9-month sabbatical? What did you do in that time?
-A: For the most part I shifted my focus onto a couple other projects, such as The Offering of the Fangs 2 (available in my Writings folder) and the final chapters of a SFW book/novel of mine called The Dragonhead Chronicles (unreleased for the time being).
-Q: So... right now you're working on building up your buffer of completed pages to where it was before, right?
-A: Yeah, about that... You see, something big happened shortly after chapter four finished publication; The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released. I, being a huge fan of that franchise, immediately dropped everything and dove headfirst into it. So, for the last two months, I pretty much dedicated 100% of my spare time to playing that game. And let me tell you, Tears of the Kingdom is a HUGE game, with a capital H. That said, I completed it a couple days ago (and I mean full 100% completion -- yes, I got every Korok, Bubbul Gem, Addison sign, monster medal, etc, etc), so I should be returning to Farin's world soon enough... although I might pay Fang's world a visit too, as I had been missing it lately.
-Q: How many pages of chapter 5 are complete right now?
-A: So far, 36 pages. Which is about... one third of the chapter or something like that -- hardly enough to even consider beginning publication, as I couldn't possibly guarantee an uninterrupted weekly schedule with such a small buffer.
-Q: When do you think the hiatus is going to end?
-A: Hard to say, but most likely not this year. Drawing My Mate is a lot of work, and that takes time; especially considering it's something I can only do on my spare time, and I do it for no monetary gain whatsoever (which is fine by me! My Mate is, after all, a passion project). So... let's say sometime next year. I'm afraid that's the best I have at this moment.
Alright, I think that's all I've got for now. Thank you all for reading this far, and for being patient with me. I promise you: My Mate WILL return... eventually. It's going to take a while, yes, but it will happen. We have yet to see the end of Farin and Sekk'ral's love story.
See you guys later! ^_^
So I heard you'd like to support me...
Posted 3 years agoOver the years, I've been asked several times how fans can support me and my work, what my Patreon was, etc. Problem is, I could never figure out how to overcome the many hurdles preventing me from receiving money from overseas. You see, not only do I live in Argentina, but I'm also a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to money and modern technology. Things like Patreon and PayPal are alien to me. It's just how it is.
But today I had an epiphany. Why don't I just use the same system I had back in the day, when I used to take commissions? Back then, I accepted payment in the form of Nintendo eshop credit (handed to me via private note in the form of codes). I've always been a huge Nintendo fan, so this worked perfectly for me.
So, yeah! If for some arcane reason you feel like throwing a little bit of money my way to show me your support, you can send me a code for Nintendo eshop credit (you can get them physically in the form of scratch-cards)! Just remember that it has to be from the American region, or it might not work.
That's all for now. See ya around!
But today I had an epiphany. Why don't I just use the same system I had back in the day, when I used to take commissions? Back then, I accepted payment in the form of Nintendo eshop credit (handed to me via private note in the form of codes). I've always been a huge Nintendo fan, so this worked perfectly for me.
So, yeah! If for some arcane reason you feel like throwing a little bit of money my way to show me your support, you can send me a code for Nintendo eshop credit (you can get them physically in the form of scratch-cards)! Just remember that it has to be from the American region, or it might not work.
That's all for now. See ya around!
12 anime reviews by yours truly
Posted 5 years agoSo, earlier this year, during the first couple months of the quarantine, I binge-watched a ton of anime. Here are my short reviews on each one of them:
Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni)
Episodes: 12
My score: 7/10
Premise: Humanoid gems battle alien invaders from the moon.
Review: Steven Universe but anime. Well, on a surface level at least. Overall it was nice. A bit of a slow start, though. CGI was good. Some interesting imagery going on. The setting was a bit barren, though. Just grassy plains and little else beyond that. The story is interesting, but is also woefully incomplete. Many questions are introduced, yet almost none are answered. The story just stops at a random point. The manga it's based on continues far beyond where the anime ends, but more seasons seem very unlikely at this point. Overall, I'd say it was alright, but not something I would go out of my way to watch.
Kill la Kill
Episodes: 26
My score: 9/10
Premise: In a world of badasses where clothes are serious business, a hot-blooded girl wants to avenge the death of her father with the help of a giant scissor blade and a sentient skimpy outfit that powers her up.
Review: Insanity. Sheer animated insanity. Unabashedly over-the-top. More screaming than anyone could possibly handle, and tons of gratuitous fanservice violently shoved into your eyeballs. And yet it works! Somehow, it works! This one has earned my recommendation.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Episodes: 27
My score: 7/10
Premise: Loud, hot-blooded young men pilot mechas to battle an alien menace or two.
Review: Spiritual predecessor of sorts to Kill la Kill. It has some of its style and presentation, and a lot of screaming and ridiculously over-the-top nonsense. But the story didn't grip me as Kill la Kill's did. I didn't care much for the mecha battles. They all felt like screaming matches to me, where whoever screamed the loudest would win. Also, Kamina was insufferable. Sorry, guys.
Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga
Episodes: 12
My score: 5/10
Premise: A bunch of historical figures from feudal Japan reincarnate in the present as cute dogs.
Review: Slice of life. No overarching plot. You could watch the episodes in any order and it wouldn't make a difference. It was kind of cute, yes, but the jokes fell flat to me most of the time. It just wasn't that funny. Also, if you watch one episode, you would have watched them all. They're all the same. Well, at least it gave us an adorable ending sequence featuring footage of real-life dogs doing cute doggy things, so there's that.
Kemono Michi: Rise Up (Hataage! Kemono Michi)
Episodes: 12
My score: 4/10
Premise: An animal-loving wrestler is isekai'd into a fantasy world.
Review: Promising concept, disappointing execution. Main character is too unreasonable for my tastes. Average to below-average animation. Humor felt forced. The suplex joke was driven into the ground (ha). The dog mascot was cute though. Still, I wouldn't recommend this one. There's much better stuff out there.
Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba)
Episodes: 26
My score: 7/10
Premise: A shonen boy goes around slaying demons while carrying his half-demon sister in a box on his back, in hopes of finding a way to restore her humanity.
Review: It started very promising, and then... it became just another shonen show. Many of the usual tropes started rearing their heads. Characters became weirder and weirder, as well as more and more gimmicky, in that typical shonen fashion, culminating with the introduction of the elite demon slayers near the end of the season, who all felt more like the kind of characters you'd find in something like, say, My Hero Academia. Worst character: Zenitsu. Seriously, that guy was insufferable 98% of the time. Best character: Inosuke. I quite enjoyed his uncivilized ways. The boar head was just the cherry on top.
Dorohedoro
Episodes: 12
My score: 7/10
Premise: In a crapsack world, an amnesic lizard-head man searches for whoever cursed him to be that way.
Review: Weird. Chaotic. Crazy. Batshit insane. Someone was high on something when they made this show. But, you know what? It works. There's a lot of blood and gore here, and yet... most of the cast is still oddly likable! Yes, even the bad guys! The antagonists of this show look out for each other in ways you don't see often in media. Even though they can murder you in frankly horrible ways, they're still so... friendly and upbeat when they aren't busy dismembering people. There are many mysteries too, which mostly remain unsolved at the end of the show. Will there be a second season? Who knows?
Interspecies Reviewers (Ishuzoku Reviewers)
Episodes: 12
My score: 6/10
Premise: In a typical sword & sorcery land, a small group of horny adventurers goes around trying every brothel they find to review them.
Review: Borderline hentai. Sometimes straight up hentai. One wonders how this show was even greenlit at all. There's metric tons of titillation here, featuring a wide variety of monster girls in very little clothing. It all revolves around sex in this show (paid sex, that is), for better or for worse. Beyond that, there's no substance, no overarching plot, no world building, no character development, no nothing. It is what it is: an endless parade of naked monster girls and sex jokes of varying quality from beginning to end. Well, I guess at the very least the show gave us best boi Crim, so there's that.
Future Diary (Mirai Nikki)
Episodes: 26 + 1
My score: 7/10
Premise: Twelve people with cellphones that can predict the future must fight each other to the death. The last person standing becomes a god.
Review: Some people are fans of battle royale plots. I'm not one of them. Compounding this, I always found the magic cellphone element in this show a bit too outlandish and weird (the fact that I don't own a cellphone myself undeniably helped accentuate my disconnect with this show). The large amount of gratuitous fanservice never failed to have my eyes rolling in annoyance either, plus some characters were just plain weird, and not in an endearing way. Also, the main character was dreadfully, unbearably, unrelatably pathetic to me for the first half of the show. I hated his guts and I wanted him dead. He got a bit better in the second half, when he actually started taking matters into his own hands. As for the girl, well, I truly have no idea what the hell she saw in the main lead, but whatever. She's a psycho anyways. The twist near the end was interesting, I'll give it that; though I'm not convinced the ending (in the extra post-show episode) was fully earned. Karma Houdini much?
High Score Girl
Episodes: 24
My score: 8/10
Premise: In the early 90's, at a video arcade, a gamer kid encounters a mysterious girl who's better at Street Fighter II than he is.
Review: Was this show tailor-made for me? It prominently features arcade video games from the early-to-mid nineties, most notably Capcom's Street Fighter II and its sequels, which is stuff I grew up with! The retro-gaming lover in me was thoroughly tickled pink by this alone! What's more, it also features a cute love story centered around our protagonists as they slowly bond over playing these classic video games, and you know I always love me a cute romance story! Interestingly, the lead girl, Akira Oono, never utters a single word throughout the entire run of the show, although she is not canonically mute. Instead, she's consistently described as "quiet". She's still quite assertive when she wants to be! So, yeah, if you are into retro-gaming and/or love video games from the early 90's arcade era, and also enjoy cute romance plots (and don't mind cel-shaded CGI art, which this show features), then I would definitely recommend this to you.
The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland)
Episodes: 12
My score: 9/10
Premise: A bunch of young kids in an orphanage live a happy, carefree life while they wait to be adopted. However, one day, two of them witness something they were not meant to ever see.
Review: It's good. It's damn good. Go watch it. Now.
It's hard to review this show without spoiling anything, but I'll say this: if you enjoyed the battle of wits between Light and L in Death Note, then you'll love this. There are twists, turns and a big mystery that is slowly unraveled as the story progresses. Who can you trust? Who are your friends? Who are your foes? What has gone so horribly wrong in this perfect, idyllic world full of smiles and heartwarming love that these kids inhabit?
Beastars
Episodes: 12
My score: 9/10
Premise: In a world wholly inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, where tensions exist between carnivores and herbivores, a wolf boy encounters a rabbit girl. Will he eat her, or...?
Review: Zootopia but anime. Huh? What do you mean that joke is played out? Well, meme or not, the truth is that Beastars is kind of like a darker, more adult version of Disney's Zootopia, set in a boarding academy. The story mainly centers around the interactions between Legoshi (a rather tall yet gentle grey wolf who mostly keeps to himself), Haru (a spirited dwarf rabbit who's half Legoshi's height even though she's a year older than him), and Louis (a popular red deer with an abrasive personality and massive hang-ups regarding his condition as a herbivore). The story opens with the moment Legoshi and Haru meet for the first time; a fateful encounter that sets the whole plot in motion. From that point on, the lives of our main characters will start changing in ways none of them are prepared for. I really enjoyed their journey, and thus I'm going to give this one a serious recommendation. Also, I can't wait for season two!
That would be it for now. See you next time!
Land of the Lustrous (Houseki no Kuni)
Episodes: 12
My score: 7/10
Premise: Humanoid gems battle alien invaders from the moon.
Review: Steven Universe but anime. Well, on a surface level at least. Overall it was nice. A bit of a slow start, though. CGI was good. Some interesting imagery going on. The setting was a bit barren, though. Just grassy plains and little else beyond that. The story is interesting, but is also woefully incomplete. Many questions are introduced, yet almost none are answered. The story just stops at a random point. The manga it's based on continues far beyond where the anime ends, but more seasons seem very unlikely at this point. Overall, I'd say it was alright, but not something I would go out of my way to watch.
Kill la Kill
Episodes: 26
My score: 9/10
Premise: In a world of badasses where clothes are serious business, a hot-blooded girl wants to avenge the death of her father with the help of a giant scissor blade and a sentient skimpy outfit that powers her up.
Review: Insanity. Sheer animated insanity. Unabashedly over-the-top. More screaming than anyone could possibly handle, and tons of gratuitous fanservice violently shoved into your eyeballs. And yet it works! Somehow, it works! This one has earned my recommendation.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Episodes: 27
My score: 7/10
Premise: Loud, hot-blooded young men pilot mechas to battle an alien menace or two.
Review: Spiritual predecessor of sorts to Kill la Kill. It has some of its style and presentation, and a lot of screaming and ridiculously over-the-top nonsense. But the story didn't grip me as Kill la Kill's did. I didn't care much for the mecha battles. They all felt like screaming matches to me, where whoever screamed the loudest would win. Also, Kamina was insufferable. Sorry, guys.
Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga
Episodes: 12
My score: 5/10
Premise: A bunch of historical figures from feudal Japan reincarnate in the present as cute dogs.
Review: Slice of life. No overarching plot. You could watch the episodes in any order and it wouldn't make a difference. It was kind of cute, yes, but the jokes fell flat to me most of the time. It just wasn't that funny. Also, if you watch one episode, you would have watched them all. They're all the same. Well, at least it gave us an adorable ending sequence featuring footage of real-life dogs doing cute doggy things, so there's that.
Kemono Michi: Rise Up (Hataage! Kemono Michi)
Episodes: 12
My score: 4/10
Premise: An animal-loving wrestler is isekai'd into a fantasy world.
Review: Promising concept, disappointing execution. Main character is too unreasonable for my tastes. Average to below-average animation. Humor felt forced. The suplex joke was driven into the ground (ha). The dog mascot was cute though. Still, I wouldn't recommend this one. There's much better stuff out there.
Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba)
Episodes: 26
My score: 7/10
Premise: A shonen boy goes around slaying demons while carrying his half-demon sister in a box on his back, in hopes of finding a way to restore her humanity.
Review: It started very promising, and then... it became just another shonen show. Many of the usual tropes started rearing their heads. Characters became weirder and weirder, as well as more and more gimmicky, in that typical shonen fashion, culminating with the introduction of the elite demon slayers near the end of the season, who all felt more like the kind of characters you'd find in something like, say, My Hero Academia. Worst character: Zenitsu. Seriously, that guy was insufferable 98% of the time. Best character: Inosuke. I quite enjoyed his uncivilized ways. The boar head was just the cherry on top.
Dorohedoro
Episodes: 12
My score: 7/10
Premise: In a crapsack world, an amnesic lizard-head man searches for whoever cursed him to be that way.
Review: Weird. Chaotic. Crazy. Batshit insane. Someone was high on something when they made this show. But, you know what? It works. There's a lot of blood and gore here, and yet... most of the cast is still oddly likable! Yes, even the bad guys! The antagonists of this show look out for each other in ways you don't see often in media. Even though they can murder you in frankly horrible ways, they're still so... friendly and upbeat when they aren't busy dismembering people. There are many mysteries too, which mostly remain unsolved at the end of the show. Will there be a second season? Who knows?
Interspecies Reviewers (Ishuzoku Reviewers)
Episodes: 12
My score: 6/10
Premise: In a typical sword & sorcery land, a small group of horny adventurers goes around trying every brothel they find to review them.
Review: Borderline hentai. Sometimes straight up hentai. One wonders how this show was even greenlit at all. There's metric tons of titillation here, featuring a wide variety of monster girls in very little clothing. It all revolves around sex in this show (paid sex, that is), for better or for worse. Beyond that, there's no substance, no overarching plot, no world building, no character development, no nothing. It is what it is: an endless parade of naked monster girls and sex jokes of varying quality from beginning to end. Well, I guess at the very least the show gave us best boi Crim, so there's that.
Future Diary (Mirai Nikki)
Episodes: 26 + 1
My score: 7/10
Premise: Twelve people with cellphones that can predict the future must fight each other to the death. The last person standing becomes a god.
Review: Some people are fans of battle royale plots. I'm not one of them. Compounding this, I always found the magic cellphone element in this show a bit too outlandish and weird (the fact that I don't own a cellphone myself undeniably helped accentuate my disconnect with this show). The large amount of gratuitous fanservice never failed to have my eyes rolling in annoyance either, plus some characters were just plain weird, and not in an endearing way. Also, the main character was dreadfully, unbearably, unrelatably pathetic to me for the first half of the show. I hated his guts and I wanted him dead. He got a bit better in the second half, when he actually started taking matters into his own hands. As for the girl, well, I truly have no idea what the hell she saw in the main lead, but whatever. She's a psycho anyways. The twist near the end was interesting, I'll give it that; though I'm not convinced the ending (in the extra post-show episode) was fully earned. Karma Houdini much?
High Score Girl
Episodes: 24
My score: 8/10
Premise: In the early 90's, at a video arcade, a gamer kid encounters a mysterious girl who's better at Street Fighter II than he is.
Review: Was this show tailor-made for me? It prominently features arcade video games from the early-to-mid nineties, most notably Capcom's Street Fighter II and its sequels, which is stuff I grew up with! The retro-gaming lover in me was thoroughly tickled pink by this alone! What's more, it also features a cute love story centered around our protagonists as they slowly bond over playing these classic video games, and you know I always love me a cute romance story! Interestingly, the lead girl, Akira Oono, never utters a single word throughout the entire run of the show, although she is not canonically mute. Instead, she's consistently described as "quiet". She's still quite assertive when she wants to be! So, yeah, if you are into retro-gaming and/or love video games from the early 90's arcade era, and also enjoy cute romance plots (and don't mind cel-shaded CGI art, which this show features), then I would definitely recommend this to you.
The Promised Neverland (Yakusoku no Neverland)
Episodes: 12
My score: 9/10
Premise: A bunch of young kids in an orphanage live a happy, carefree life while they wait to be adopted. However, one day, two of them witness something they were not meant to ever see.
Review: It's good. It's damn good. Go watch it. Now.
It's hard to review this show without spoiling anything, but I'll say this: if you enjoyed the battle of wits between Light and L in Death Note, then you'll love this. There are twists, turns and a big mystery that is slowly unraveled as the story progresses. Who can you trust? Who are your friends? Who are your foes? What has gone so horribly wrong in this perfect, idyllic world full of smiles and heartwarming love that these kids inhabit?
Beastars
Episodes: 12
My score: 9/10
Premise: In a world wholly inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, where tensions exist between carnivores and herbivores, a wolf boy encounters a rabbit girl. Will he eat her, or...?
Review: Zootopia but anime. Huh? What do you mean that joke is played out? Well, meme or not, the truth is that Beastars is kind of like a darker, more adult version of Disney's Zootopia, set in a boarding academy. The story mainly centers around the interactions between Legoshi (a rather tall yet gentle grey wolf who mostly keeps to himself), Haru (a spirited dwarf rabbit who's half Legoshi's height even though she's a year older than him), and Louis (a popular red deer with an abrasive personality and massive hang-ups regarding his condition as a herbivore). The story opens with the moment Legoshi and Haru meet for the first time; a fateful encounter that sets the whole plot in motion. From that point on, the lives of our main characters will start changing in ways none of them are prepared for. I really enjoyed their journey, and thus I'm going to give this one a serious recommendation. Also, I can't wait for season two!
That would be it for now. See you next time!
Achievement Unlocked
Posted 6 years agoDecember 16th.
December Update
Posted 6 years agoDecember is here!
Here's this month's update on My Mate: well, at long last, the goal line is in sight! I'm currently at page 286 of 291 total, which means I just have to draw five more pages in order to complete chapter 3. I should be able to accomplish that before the end of the year, I believe. So, with that in mind, I'm pretty sure the next update will just be a date.
Well then, thank you for your patience, and see you then!
Here's this month's update on My Mate: well, at long last, the goal line is in sight! I'm currently at page 286 of 291 total, which means I just have to draw five more pages in order to complete chapter 3. I should be able to accomplish that before the end of the year, I believe. So, with that in mind, I'm pretty sure the next update will just be a date.
Well then, thank you for your patience, and see you then!
Warning: notification bomb going off soon-ish.
Posted 6 years agoNo, this isn't about chapter 3. There will be an update on that on December 1st.
What this is actually about:
I got tired of VCL's unstability. I was using it as storage space for the Spanish version of My Mate, but it just isn't reliable anymore. So I think in the next few days I'm going to do something I should have done ages ago: start uploading the Spanish version of My Mate here on FurAffinity. That means I'm going to mass-upload all currently available 198 Spanish pages here, which means many of you will get up to 198 notifications from me. So... uh, sorry for the incoming spam!
What this is actually about:
I got tired of VCL's unstability. I was using it as storage space for the Spanish version of My Mate, but it just isn't reliable anymore. So I think in the next few days I'm going to do something I should have done ages ago: start uploading the Spanish version of My Mate here on FurAffinity. That means I'm going to mass-upload all currently available 198 Spanish pages here, which means many of you will get up to 198 notifications from me. So... uh, sorry for the incoming spam!
My Mate: a post-mortem, part 2 of 2.
Posted 6 years agoENGLISH:
All right! It's been a while, but here's part 2. Better late than never, I guess!
So, on part 1 of this post-mortem thing I focused on how the comic was received. Now, I feel like going into how it came to be in the first place. So, here it is, the origin story of My Mate.
My Mate was born in late 2007, out of the very mundane need to give shape to some furry fantasies of mine. It then took the form of a one-shot, 8000-word lemon story. In this first incarnation, Farin gets lost in the forest and meets Sekk'ral, much like in chapter 1 of the comic. Unlike the comic, however, Farin and Sekk'ral then proceed to have sex at first sight, and there are no supporting characters whatsoever (sorry, Elder fans!).
Not too long after that, I started getting ideas for a sequel. Eventually, I wrote a part 2 (6700 words) and a part 3 (7800 words). In the comic, the events of part 2 are spread among chapters 2 and 3, while the events of part 3 will be covered in chapter 4 of the comic. A part 4 was planned, but I never got to write a single word of it, because a certain idea had begun to pop up in my mind, an idea that got more and more enticing the more I entertained it: "What if I turned this story into a comic?"
So, one day, I went and bought a 500-unit, A3-size paper sheet package, grabbed my pencil, sat down at my desk and just started drawing! At first, it was going to be a faithful retelling of the original lemon story. However, I realized pretty soon that it wasn't going to cut it. So, I started thinking about how the world of My Mate could be expanded. Soon, Farin's friends and the elder were born, and the mere creation of those three new characters gave me plenty of ideas as to how I could turn Farin's banal sex-at-first-sight non-story into something with a little more substance to it. Farin and Sekk'ral now had a "dating period" of sorts, in which they got to know each other better and bond over the course of several days, thus developing a relationship before the love-making happened. I also took this opportunity to delve deeper into Farin's struggles with discovering and accepting his own sexual orientation.
As for the setting, I went for something tribal-esque for a number of reasons. First, because I feel like it just fits the characters in the story, and complements their furry nature rather well. Second, because I noticed how a large portion of furry stories today are set in modern times indistinguishable from our own. Furry characters tend to live in cities like ours, they dress like us, they have jobs like we do, they use mobile devices like any other run-of-the-mill homo sapiens out there, and so on, and so forth. While I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with any of that, I certainly do think putting furry characters in modern day settings tends to erode part of what makes animal anthropomorphism exotic and fascinating. After all, animals are more connected to and attuned with nature, as opposed to the mind-numbing comfort of the worldly, day-to-day artificiality that comprises our modern lives. Or at least that's how I feel. At any rate, it was a niche within a niche, and I felt like I could help fill it, and hopefully inspire others to do the same.
Now, on the topic of influences, well, I clearly used what I like to call "the Beauty and the Beast archetype" (itself, a variation on the broader concept of starcrossed lovers most commonly associated with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet). After all, Disney's Beauty and the Beast remains one of my favorite animated movies of all time... even though, admittedly, some aspects of it may not have aged too well (cough-Stockholm syndrome-cough!). Regardless, in the end, I suppose I'm a sucker for stories that revolve around the idea that true love is blind -- which, of course, is the core message my humble comic tries to convey. Oh, and I must also mention One Stormy Night (a Japanese animated movie that, technically, also uses the Beauty and the Beast archetype), which is probably much closer to what ended up being the foundation of My Mate's storyline.
Well, then! I believe that's all the topics I wanted to go over in this post-mortem. By the way, the original incarnation of My Mate is still up and available, for historical purposes. If you are curious about it, you can check it out at https://www.sofurry.com/view/39132
Until next time!
ESPAÑOL:
Bueno, ha pasado un tiempo, pero aquí está la parte 2. ¡Mejor tarde que nunca!
Así que, en la parte 1 de este escrito, me enfoqué en cómo este comic fue recibido. Ahora, voy a detallar cómo surgió este comic en primer lugar. Así que, he aquí, la historia del origen de My Mate.
My Mate nació a fines de 2007, fruto de la muy mundana necesidad de darle forma a algunas de mis fantasías furry. En aquel entonces, tomó la forma de una historia erótica auto-conclusiva de 8000 palabras. En esa primera encarnación, Farin se pierde en el bosque y conoce a Sekk'ral, tal como sucede en el capítulo 1 del comic. Sin embargo, a diferencia de este último, Farin y Sekk'ral proceden a tener sexo a primera vista, y no existe ningún personaje secundario (¡lo siento, fans del Sabio!).
Poco después, comencé a tener ideas para una secuela. Eventualmente, escribí una parte 2 (6700 palabras) y una parte 3 (7800 palabras). En el comic, los eventos de la parte 2 están dispersos entre los capítulos 2 y 3, mientras que los eventos de la parte 3 serán cubiertos en el capítulo 4 del comic. Había una parte 4 planeada, pero nunca llegué a escribir una sola palabra de ella porque, para ese entonces, cierta idea había comenzado a rondar mi cabeza; una idea que cobraba más y más fuerza cada vez: "¿Qué tal si convierto esta historia en un comic?"
Así que, un día, fui y compré una resma de 500 unidades de papel tamaño A3, tomé mi lápiz, me sente ante mi escritorio y ¡simplemente comencé a dibujar! Al principio iba a ser una adaptación fiel de la historia erótica orginal. Sin embargo, pronto me di cuenta de que eso no iba a ser suficiente. Entonces comencé a pensar acerca de cómo podía expandir el mundo de My Mate. Así nacieron los amigos de Farin y el sabio, y la mera creación de esos tres personajes me dió muchas ideas sobre cómo podía convertir el magro relato banal del sexo a primera vista de Farin en algo con un poco más de sustancia. Farin y Sekk'ral ahora tienen una especie de "período de citas", en el que tienen la oportunidad de conocerse mejor y establecer un vínculo a lo largo de varios días, entablando así una relación antes de la escena del sexo. También aproveché esta oportunidad para profundizar en las dificultades por las que atraviesa Farin mientras descubre y acepta su propia orientación sexual.
En cuanto al mundo en que se desarrolla la historia, existen varias razones por las que opté por un tono tribal. Primero, porque sencillamente pienso que concuerda con los personajes, y complementa muy bien su naturaleza furry. Segundo, porque he notado que gran parte de las historias furry de hoy en día transcurren en tiempos modernos que se diferencian en poco y nada de los nuestros. Los personajes furry tienden a vivir en ciudades como las nuestras, se visten como nosotros, tienen trabajos como nosotros, usan celulares modernos como cualquier otro homo sapiens común y corriente, etcétera, etcétera. Aunque, por un lado, no creo que haya nada inherentemente malo en eso, también considero que al colocar personajes furry dentro de un contexto moderno se pierde parte de lo que hace al antropomorfismo animal exótico y fascinante. Después de todo, se supone que los animales están más en sintonía con la naturaleza, y a la vez alejados de la banal comodidad de nuestras mundanas vidas modernas. O al menos eso es lo que pienso. En todo caso, era un nicho dentro de un nicho, y vi que podía llenarlo, y tal vez inspirar a otros a hacer lo mismo.
En cuanto a las influencias, bueno, claramente he usado lo que me gusta llamar "el arquetipo de La Bella y la Bestia" (que es una variante del concepto de los amantes trágicos más comúnmente asociado con Romeo y Julieta de Shakespeare). Después de todo, La Bella y la Bestia de Disney sigue siendo una de mis películas de animación favoritas de todos los tiempos... aunque tengo que admitir que algunos aspectos no resultaron muy favorecidos con el paso del tiempo (¡tos-Síndrome de Estocolmo-tos!). En todo caso, al final, supongo que las historias centradas en la idea que el verdadero amor es ciego son mi debilidad. Por supuesto, ese es también el mensaje central que trato de trasmitir a través de mi humilde comic. Oh, también debo mencionar One Stormy Night (una película de animación japonesa que, técnicamente, también usa el arquetipo de La Bella y la Bestia), la cual probablemente se acerca más a lo que terminó siendo la base del argumento de My Mate.
¡Bueno! Creo que esos fueron todos los temas que quería cubrir en este escrito. Por cierto, la encarnación original de My Mate aún está disponible (sólo en inglés), por motivos históricos. Si alguien tiene curiosidad, el enlace es https://www.sofurry.com/view/39132
¡Hasta la próxima!
All right! It's been a while, but here's part 2. Better late than never, I guess!
So, on part 1 of this post-mortem thing I focused on how the comic was received. Now, I feel like going into how it came to be in the first place. So, here it is, the origin story of My Mate.
My Mate was born in late 2007, out of the very mundane need to give shape to some furry fantasies of mine. It then took the form of a one-shot, 8000-word lemon story. In this first incarnation, Farin gets lost in the forest and meets Sekk'ral, much like in chapter 1 of the comic. Unlike the comic, however, Farin and Sekk'ral then proceed to have sex at first sight, and there are no supporting characters whatsoever (sorry, Elder fans!).
Not too long after that, I started getting ideas for a sequel. Eventually, I wrote a part 2 (6700 words) and a part 3 (7800 words). In the comic, the events of part 2 are spread among chapters 2 and 3, while the events of part 3 will be covered in chapter 4 of the comic. A part 4 was planned, but I never got to write a single word of it, because a certain idea had begun to pop up in my mind, an idea that got more and more enticing the more I entertained it: "What if I turned this story into a comic?"
So, one day, I went and bought a 500-unit, A3-size paper sheet package, grabbed my pencil, sat down at my desk and just started drawing! At first, it was going to be a faithful retelling of the original lemon story. However, I realized pretty soon that it wasn't going to cut it. So, I started thinking about how the world of My Mate could be expanded. Soon, Farin's friends and the elder were born, and the mere creation of those three new characters gave me plenty of ideas as to how I could turn Farin's banal sex-at-first-sight non-story into something with a little more substance to it. Farin and Sekk'ral now had a "dating period" of sorts, in which they got to know each other better and bond over the course of several days, thus developing a relationship before the love-making happened. I also took this opportunity to delve deeper into Farin's struggles with discovering and accepting his own sexual orientation.
As for the setting, I went for something tribal-esque for a number of reasons. First, because I feel like it just fits the characters in the story, and complements their furry nature rather well. Second, because I noticed how a large portion of furry stories today are set in modern times indistinguishable from our own. Furry characters tend to live in cities like ours, they dress like us, they have jobs like we do, they use mobile devices like any other run-of-the-mill homo sapiens out there, and so on, and so forth. While I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with any of that, I certainly do think putting furry characters in modern day settings tends to erode part of what makes animal anthropomorphism exotic and fascinating. After all, animals are more connected to and attuned with nature, as opposed to the mind-numbing comfort of the worldly, day-to-day artificiality that comprises our modern lives. Or at least that's how I feel. At any rate, it was a niche within a niche, and I felt like I could help fill it, and hopefully inspire others to do the same.
Now, on the topic of influences, well, I clearly used what I like to call "the Beauty and the Beast archetype" (itself, a variation on the broader concept of starcrossed lovers most commonly associated with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet). After all, Disney's Beauty and the Beast remains one of my favorite animated movies of all time... even though, admittedly, some aspects of it may not have aged too well (cough-Stockholm syndrome-cough!). Regardless, in the end, I suppose I'm a sucker for stories that revolve around the idea that true love is blind -- which, of course, is the core message my humble comic tries to convey. Oh, and I must also mention One Stormy Night (a Japanese animated movie that, technically, also uses the Beauty and the Beast archetype), which is probably much closer to what ended up being the foundation of My Mate's storyline.
Well, then! I believe that's all the topics I wanted to go over in this post-mortem. By the way, the original incarnation of My Mate is still up and available, for historical purposes. If you are curious about it, you can check it out at https://www.sofurry.com/view/39132
Until next time!
ESPAÑOL:
Bueno, ha pasado un tiempo, pero aquí está la parte 2. ¡Mejor tarde que nunca!
Así que, en la parte 1 de este escrito, me enfoqué en cómo este comic fue recibido. Ahora, voy a detallar cómo surgió este comic en primer lugar. Así que, he aquí, la historia del origen de My Mate.
My Mate nació a fines de 2007, fruto de la muy mundana necesidad de darle forma a algunas de mis fantasías furry. En aquel entonces, tomó la forma de una historia erótica auto-conclusiva de 8000 palabras. En esa primera encarnación, Farin se pierde en el bosque y conoce a Sekk'ral, tal como sucede en el capítulo 1 del comic. Sin embargo, a diferencia de este último, Farin y Sekk'ral proceden a tener sexo a primera vista, y no existe ningún personaje secundario (¡lo siento, fans del Sabio!).
Poco después, comencé a tener ideas para una secuela. Eventualmente, escribí una parte 2 (6700 palabras) y una parte 3 (7800 palabras). En el comic, los eventos de la parte 2 están dispersos entre los capítulos 2 y 3, mientras que los eventos de la parte 3 serán cubiertos en el capítulo 4 del comic. Había una parte 4 planeada, pero nunca llegué a escribir una sola palabra de ella porque, para ese entonces, cierta idea había comenzado a rondar mi cabeza; una idea que cobraba más y más fuerza cada vez: "¿Qué tal si convierto esta historia en un comic?"
Así que, un día, fui y compré una resma de 500 unidades de papel tamaño A3, tomé mi lápiz, me sente ante mi escritorio y ¡simplemente comencé a dibujar! Al principio iba a ser una adaptación fiel de la historia erótica orginal. Sin embargo, pronto me di cuenta de que eso no iba a ser suficiente. Entonces comencé a pensar acerca de cómo podía expandir el mundo de My Mate. Así nacieron los amigos de Farin y el sabio, y la mera creación de esos tres personajes me dió muchas ideas sobre cómo podía convertir el magro relato banal del sexo a primera vista de Farin en algo con un poco más de sustancia. Farin y Sekk'ral ahora tienen una especie de "período de citas", en el que tienen la oportunidad de conocerse mejor y establecer un vínculo a lo largo de varios días, entablando así una relación antes de la escena del sexo. También aproveché esta oportunidad para profundizar en las dificultades por las que atraviesa Farin mientras descubre y acepta su propia orientación sexual.
En cuanto al mundo en que se desarrolla la historia, existen varias razones por las que opté por un tono tribal. Primero, porque sencillamente pienso que concuerda con los personajes, y complementa muy bien su naturaleza furry. Segundo, porque he notado que gran parte de las historias furry de hoy en día transcurren en tiempos modernos que se diferencian en poco y nada de los nuestros. Los personajes furry tienden a vivir en ciudades como las nuestras, se visten como nosotros, tienen trabajos como nosotros, usan celulares modernos como cualquier otro homo sapiens común y corriente, etcétera, etcétera. Aunque, por un lado, no creo que haya nada inherentemente malo en eso, también considero que al colocar personajes furry dentro de un contexto moderno se pierde parte de lo que hace al antropomorfismo animal exótico y fascinante. Después de todo, se supone que los animales están más en sintonía con la naturaleza, y a la vez alejados de la banal comodidad de nuestras mundanas vidas modernas. O al menos eso es lo que pienso. En todo caso, era un nicho dentro de un nicho, y vi que podía llenarlo, y tal vez inspirar a otros a hacer lo mismo.
En cuanto a las influencias, bueno, claramente he usado lo que me gusta llamar "el arquetipo de La Bella y la Bestia" (que es una variante del concepto de los amantes trágicos más comúnmente asociado con Romeo y Julieta de Shakespeare). Después de todo, La Bella y la Bestia de Disney sigue siendo una de mis películas de animación favoritas de todos los tiempos... aunque tengo que admitir que algunos aspectos no resultaron muy favorecidos con el paso del tiempo (¡tos-Síndrome de Estocolmo-tos!). En todo caso, al final, supongo que las historias centradas en la idea que el verdadero amor es ciego son mi debilidad. Por supuesto, ese es también el mensaje central que trato de trasmitir a través de mi humilde comic. Oh, también debo mencionar One Stormy Night (una película de animación japonesa que, técnicamente, también usa el arquetipo de La Bella y la Bestia), la cual probablemente se acerca más a lo que terminó siendo la base del argumento de My Mate.
¡Bueno! Creo que esos fueron todos los temas que quería cubrir en este escrito. Por cierto, la encarnación original de My Mate aún está disponible (sólo en inglés), por motivos históricos. Si alguien tiene curiosidad, el enlace es https://www.sofurry.com/view/39132
¡Hasta la próxima!
My La-Mulana 2 Steam review
Posted 7 years agoNOTE: this is a spoiler-free review.
Okay! Let's begin:
The first game was a rather unique take on the Metroidvania subset of 2D platformers. It was big, complex, full of retro charm, and difficult enough that it didn't care one bit whether the average player would ever see the staff roll or not. It was a bold experiment by a small Japanese indie team obsessed with the old MSX 8-bit system, and I found it utterly fascinating. The WiiWare remake of 2012 -the version I played first- was one of my favorite games of that year.
La-Mulana 2 is... essentially the same game, with a new coat of paint.
Let's start from the beginning. La-Mulana (and, by extension, La-Mulana 2) is heavily based on an old MSX game by Konami called "The Maze of Galious". The tiny character sprites, the way the game world is structured, the general gameplay mechanics, the character movement and jumping physics, it all bears heavy influences from that game. This is particularly true in the original release, which featured 8-bit graphics and sound design that mirrored those the MSX was capable of.
Now, La-Mulana is a pretty difficult game, especially if you go in blind. However, even though there sure is a learning curve to navigating the platform-heavy, enemy-infested ruins, what really defines La-Mulana's difficulty actually resides in an entirely different aspect of the game: the riddles.
80% of the game consists in figuring out complex riddles and puzzles (most of them mandatory) in order to progress, with minimal to no hand-holding whatsoever. Usually, the hints for solving these riddles are located in entirely different areas, and further obscured by intentionally cryptic wording. It's the kind of game that requires comprehensive documenting of practically everything. To stand the slightest chance at beating the game blind, you pretty much have to draw your own maps and take notes of every single tablet and NPC dialogue you come across, as well as having a sharp eye for subtle details and the brains to juggle it all. And even then, you're not guaranteed to make it to the end without looking up the solution to a riddle or two here and there! It's a very demanding game in that respect.
Now, everything I said so far about the first game applies to La-Mulana 2 as well. And I mean everything. If you played the original, then you know exactly what to expect here. This sequel is essentially the first game, but set on a new set of ruins, with a couple other changes and embellishments here and there. But the foundation and design philosophy of the game remain exactly the same as in La-Mulana 1. Whether that is a good or a bad thing, that depends entirely on you and what you want from this sequel. I will say this, though. When over half of the inventory is the same as the first game's, and even a few bosses and scenarios are pretty much lifted wholesale from La-Mulana 1 with minimal alterations, then a case can be made that perhaps things may be a bit too "samey" for their own good at times.
That aside, there's still a lot of fun to be had here, because La-Mulana 2 is legitimately a good game in its own right. Sure, there were some bugs and softlocks at release, but the worst ones have already been patched out, and the rest are surely to follow suit soon. The devs appear to be quite active on that front, which is very much appreciated.
With all that said, if you haven't played the first game, I'd suggest you give that one a try first. Then you can decide whether you also want to play this sequel or not. Also, there's the fact that La-Mulana 2 spoils pretty much the entire plot of the first game in the first fifteen minutes or so, so that's something else you may want to consider, depending on how much you care about video game plots.
So, in closing, I give this game a solid recommendation... provided you are the kind of hardcore retro-gamer this game was made for, of course!
Okay! Let's begin:
The first game was a rather unique take on the Metroidvania subset of 2D platformers. It was big, complex, full of retro charm, and difficult enough that it didn't care one bit whether the average player would ever see the staff roll or not. It was a bold experiment by a small Japanese indie team obsessed with the old MSX 8-bit system, and I found it utterly fascinating. The WiiWare remake of 2012 -the version I played first- was one of my favorite games of that year.
La-Mulana 2 is... essentially the same game, with a new coat of paint.
Let's start from the beginning. La-Mulana (and, by extension, La-Mulana 2) is heavily based on an old MSX game by Konami called "The Maze of Galious". The tiny character sprites, the way the game world is structured, the general gameplay mechanics, the character movement and jumping physics, it all bears heavy influences from that game. This is particularly true in the original release, which featured 8-bit graphics and sound design that mirrored those the MSX was capable of.
Now, La-Mulana is a pretty difficult game, especially if you go in blind. However, even though there sure is a learning curve to navigating the platform-heavy, enemy-infested ruins, what really defines La-Mulana's difficulty actually resides in an entirely different aspect of the game: the riddles.
80% of the game consists in figuring out complex riddles and puzzles (most of them mandatory) in order to progress, with minimal to no hand-holding whatsoever. Usually, the hints for solving these riddles are located in entirely different areas, and further obscured by intentionally cryptic wording. It's the kind of game that requires comprehensive documenting of practically everything. To stand the slightest chance at beating the game blind, you pretty much have to draw your own maps and take notes of every single tablet and NPC dialogue you come across, as well as having a sharp eye for subtle details and the brains to juggle it all. And even then, you're not guaranteed to make it to the end without looking up the solution to a riddle or two here and there! It's a very demanding game in that respect.
Now, everything I said so far about the first game applies to La-Mulana 2 as well. And I mean everything. If you played the original, then you know exactly what to expect here. This sequel is essentially the first game, but set on a new set of ruins, with a couple other changes and embellishments here and there. But the foundation and design philosophy of the game remain exactly the same as in La-Mulana 1. Whether that is a good or a bad thing, that depends entirely on you and what you want from this sequel. I will say this, though. When over half of the inventory is the same as the first game's, and even a few bosses and scenarios are pretty much lifted wholesale from La-Mulana 1 with minimal alterations, then a case can be made that perhaps things may be a bit too "samey" for their own good at times.
That aside, there's still a lot of fun to be had here, because La-Mulana 2 is legitimately a good game in its own right. Sure, there were some bugs and softlocks at release, but the worst ones have already been patched out, and the rest are surely to follow suit soon. The devs appear to be quite active on that front, which is very much appreciated.
With all that said, if you haven't played the first game, I'd suggest you give that one a try first. Then you can decide whether you also want to play this sequel or not. Also, there's the fact that La-Mulana 2 spoils pretty much the entire plot of the first game in the first fifteen minutes or so, so that's something else you may want to consider, depending on how much you care about video game plots.
So, in closing, I give this game a solid recommendation... provided you are the kind of hardcore retro-gamer this game was made for, of course!
-
Posted 8 years agoSept 18.
My Mate: a post-mortem, part 1 of 2
Posted 8 years agoENGLISH:
So, a few weeks ago I finished uploading chapter one of My Mate. Reception has been mostly positive, which makes me happy (though I've certainly seen comments all over the spectrum!). Over time, the pages also popped up in a handful of other sites, courtesy of some nice anons, which helped broaden the reach of this humble little project of mine beyond the borders of FurAffinity. There's even a Russian language version floating around somewhere, which is awesome!
Now, what can I say? Although I've done comics before, all of them were clean and all around safe for work. This comic, however, was my first attempt making something involving same-sex romance and, well, pr0n. Of course, it was challenging in ways I didn't anticipate, and some things may perhaps not hold up to scrutiny, but at least I can say I've learned a lot of things as time went on, and I promise I'll try to keep improving as I continue with the next part.
Even though I don't hesitate to say I've worked on each and every page to the best of my skills, making this comic was also a constant process of learning. As such, my art skills kept getting ever-so-slightly better with each page, which means art evolution was an inevitability. I suppose that's something that happens to everyone in the creative field... I mean, have you seen the first episodes of The Simpsons lately?
Of course, such imperfections are the product of me being but an imperfect human, but that's kind of a cop-out excuse, isn't it? Granted, I'm far from being the best artist around. There are plenty of very talented furry comic artists out there who far exceed my skills, such as Meesh, Tokifuji, Adam Wan, Bonk, Powfoo, Maririn, Onta, Jay Naylor, Peritian and many, many more. I just can't compare to those guys. But I can try! I may never get there, but I can still give it my best shot, right? (also, shoutouts to those guys, and SimpleFlips too!)
In the end, "My Mate" is a labor of love. It's a story I just want to tell, using the medium I'm the most familiar with, while trying my best to fight and overcome my own human limitations as an amateur artist that has yet so much more to learn. But, reading all the comments I've received throughout the entire run of this first chapter, it becomes readily apparent to me that it managed to resonate with quite a few of you guys, which warms my heart and encourages me to do even better in the future. So thank you all, fans and critics alike, for your support.
This journey is only just beginning!
And that's all I have for now. Next time I'll discuss the origins of My Mate. See ya!
ESPAÑOL:
Hace unas semanas terminé de subir el capítulo uno de My Mate. La recepción fue mayormente positiva, lo cual me pone muy contento (¡aunque ciertamente también he visto más de un comentario negativo!). Eventualmente, las páginas también fueron apareciendo en varios otros sitios, cortesía de anónimos a quienes debo agradecer por el interés, lo cual ayudó a expandir el alcance de este pequeño y humilde proyecto mío más allá de los límites de FurAffinity. ¡Si hasta incluso existe una versión traducida al ruso, lo cual es genial!
Bueno, ¿qué puedo decir? Aunque he dibujado comics antes, todos ellos en general fueron aptos para todo público. Sin embargo, este comic fue mi primer intento en hacer algo centrado en la temática del romance entre dos individuos del mismo sexo (con una dosis de p0rnografía). Por supuesto, esto fue todo un desafío, y tal vez algunas cosas no salieron perfectas, pero al menos puedo decir que aprendí muchas cosas con el correr del tiempo, y prometo que seguiré intentando mejorar en el próximo capítulo.
Aunque no dudo en decir que puse lo mejor de mí en cada una de las páginas, hacer este comic también fue un proceso constante de aprendizaje. Como tal, mis habilidades en el dibujo fueron mejorando muy gradualmente con cada página, lo cual significa que el fenómeno de "evolución del arte" fue inevitable. Supongo que eso es algo que les pasa a todos en el campo creativo... Es decir, por poner un ejemplo, ¿han visto los primeros episodios de Los Simpson últimamente?
Por supuesto, tales imperfecciones son propias del producto de un humano imperfecto, pero eso suena mucho a excusa, ¿no? Desde luego que estoy lejos de ser el mejor artista por estos lugares. Existen muchos otros artistas furry muy talentosos que superan ampliamente mis habilidades, como por ejemplo Meesh, Tokifuji, Adam Wan, Bonk, Powfoo, Maririn, Onta, Jay Naylor, Peritian y muchos, muchos más. Realmente no puedo compararme con ellos, ¡pero puedo intentarlo! Tal vez nunca llegue a su altura, pero aún así puedo hacer el intento, ¿no? (saludos a todos ellos, ¡y a SimpleFlips también!)
Al final, "My Mate" es una obra de amor. Es una historia que quiero contar, usando el medio con el cual estoy más familiarizado, mientras intento superar mis propias limitaciones humanas como artista amateur que aún tiene mucho por aprender. Pero, leyendo todos los comentarios que he recibido en el transcurso de este primer capítulo, me resulta evidente que el mismo ha conseguido resonar con muchos de ustedes, lo que me reconforta y anima a hacerlo aún mejor en el futuro. Así que gracias a todos ustedes, fans y críticos por igual, por su apoyo.
¡Este viaje apenas está comenzando!
Y eso es todo lo que tengo por ahora. La próxima vez hablaré sobre los orígenes de My Mate. ¡Nos vemos!
So, a few weeks ago I finished uploading chapter one of My Mate. Reception has been mostly positive, which makes me happy (though I've certainly seen comments all over the spectrum!). Over time, the pages also popped up in a handful of other sites, courtesy of some nice anons, which helped broaden the reach of this humble little project of mine beyond the borders of FurAffinity. There's even a Russian language version floating around somewhere, which is awesome!
Now, what can I say? Although I've done comics before, all of them were clean and all around safe for work. This comic, however, was my first attempt making something involving same-sex romance and, well, pr0n. Of course, it was challenging in ways I didn't anticipate, and some things may perhaps not hold up to scrutiny, but at least I can say I've learned a lot of things as time went on, and I promise I'll try to keep improving as I continue with the next part.
Even though I don't hesitate to say I've worked on each and every page to the best of my skills, making this comic was also a constant process of learning. As such, my art skills kept getting ever-so-slightly better with each page, which means art evolution was an inevitability. I suppose that's something that happens to everyone in the creative field... I mean, have you seen the first episodes of The Simpsons lately?
Of course, such imperfections are the product of me being but an imperfect human, but that's kind of a cop-out excuse, isn't it? Granted, I'm far from being the best artist around. There are plenty of very talented furry comic artists out there who far exceed my skills, such as Meesh, Tokifuji, Adam Wan, Bonk, Powfoo, Maririn, Onta, Jay Naylor, Peritian and many, many more. I just can't compare to those guys. But I can try! I may never get there, but I can still give it my best shot, right? (also, shoutouts to those guys, and SimpleFlips too!)
In the end, "My Mate" is a labor of love. It's a story I just want to tell, using the medium I'm the most familiar with, while trying my best to fight and overcome my own human limitations as an amateur artist that has yet so much more to learn. But, reading all the comments I've received throughout the entire run of this first chapter, it becomes readily apparent to me that it managed to resonate with quite a few of you guys, which warms my heart and encourages me to do even better in the future. So thank you all, fans and critics alike, for your support.
This journey is only just beginning!
And that's all I have for now. Next time I'll discuss the origins of My Mate. See ya!
ESPAÑOL:
Hace unas semanas terminé de subir el capítulo uno de My Mate. La recepción fue mayormente positiva, lo cual me pone muy contento (¡aunque ciertamente también he visto más de un comentario negativo!). Eventualmente, las páginas también fueron apareciendo en varios otros sitios, cortesía de anónimos a quienes debo agradecer por el interés, lo cual ayudó a expandir el alcance de este pequeño y humilde proyecto mío más allá de los límites de FurAffinity. ¡Si hasta incluso existe una versión traducida al ruso, lo cual es genial!
Bueno, ¿qué puedo decir? Aunque he dibujado comics antes, todos ellos en general fueron aptos para todo público. Sin embargo, este comic fue mi primer intento en hacer algo centrado en la temática del romance entre dos individuos del mismo sexo (con una dosis de p0rnografía). Por supuesto, esto fue todo un desafío, y tal vez algunas cosas no salieron perfectas, pero al menos puedo decir que aprendí muchas cosas con el correr del tiempo, y prometo que seguiré intentando mejorar en el próximo capítulo.
Aunque no dudo en decir que puse lo mejor de mí en cada una de las páginas, hacer este comic también fue un proceso constante de aprendizaje. Como tal, mis habilidades en el dibujo fueron mejorando muy gradualmente con cada página, lo cual significa que el fenómeno de "evolución del arte" fue inevitable. Supongo que eso es algo que les pasa a todos en el campo creativo... Es decir, por poner un ejemplo, ¿han visto los primeros episodios de Los Simpson últimamente?
Por supuesto, tales imperfecciones son propias del producto de un humano imperfecto, pero eso suena mucho a excusa, ¿no? Desde luego que estoy lejos de ser el mejor artista por estos lugares. Existen muchos otros artistas furry muy talentosos que superan ampliamente mis habilidades, como por ejemplo Meesh, Tokifuji, Adam Wan, Bonk, Powfoo, Maririn, Onta, Jay Naylor, Peritian y muchos, muchos más. Realmente no puedo compararme con ellos, ¡pero puedo intentarlo! Tal vez nunca llegue a su altura, pero aún así puedo hacer el intento, ¿no? (saludos a todos ellos, ¡y a SimpleFlips también!)
Al final, "My Mate" es una obra de amor. Es una historia que quiero contar, usando el medio con el cual estoy más familiarizado, mientras intento superar mis propias limitaciones humanas como artista amateur que aún tiene mucho por aprender. Pero, leyendo todos los comentarios que he recibido en el transcurso de este primer capítulo, me resulta evidente que el mismo ha conseguido resonar con muchos de ustedes, lo que me reconforta y anima a hacerlo aún mejor en el futuro. Así que gracias a todos ustedes, fans y críticos por igual, por su apoyo.
¡Este viaje apenas está comenzando!
Y eso es todo lo que tengo por ahora. La próxima vez hablaré sobre los orígenes de My Mate. ¡Nos vemos!
S&M
Posted 9 years agoToday I feel like talking about S&M.
And by that I mean Pokemon Sun and Moon. But you knew that already. I mean, what else could S&M possibly stand for, right?
So, yeah. The 7th generation of the Pokemon core series came out last month, to considerable success. I played it for the better part of the last few weeks myself. Having already completed the main story and most of the post-game content, I decided that it's time for me to share my (spoiler-free!) impressions.
Basically, this is the best Pokemon game I've ever played. That's not to say it's perfect, but it came pretty close in my book, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Let's break it down, shall we?
-Story and characterization: I think this is the first Pokemon game that actually made a serious effort in making the characters you meet memorable. In the past, gym leaders and the such were confined to their small, self-contained gyms, and the extent of your character's interaction with them was essentially limited to battling them once, claiming their gym badge, moving on and forgetting they even existed. In S&M, however, the gym leader equivalents actually appear several times over the course of the game, and are way more involved in the progression of the game's storyline. In my opinion, this alone makes for a richer and more interesting experience than what past entries had to offer. So, yeah. I really liked S&M's colorful cast of characters. And I fondly remember every single one of them.
-Music: Pokemon games usually feature a great soundtrack, and these new entries are no exception. There's a lot of good stuff here. In fact, I'm listening to the soundtrack right now, as I'm typing this!
-The world: Alola is a fun place to explore. There are lots of sights to see and environments to navigate. The game is visually quite impressive, despite the admittedly aging hardware running it. The fact that the developers finally ditched the old grid-based movement system and gave all characters more realistic human proportions only makes it all better and adds to the immersion factor in my opinion.
-Ride Pokemon: The long awaited replacement of the old and outdated HM system of previous generations. Finally, "HM slaves" are no more. It was about time!
-Festival Plaza: Sure, it's a side thing that can be ignored for the most part, but considering on-line play is tied to it, I feel like it still needs to be said: the Festival Plaza is slow, clunky, grindy, and just plain unfun. An experiment gone wrong. It just feels like an underdeveloped idea that needed more time in the oven.
-Framerates: This game pushes the 3DS hardware to its limits, and that becomes particularly evident pretty much anytime there's more than two pokemon on the battlefield. And let's not even speak about the Battle Royal. You can almost count the frames on those!
-The main character's facial expressions: Or rather, the lack thereof. Your main character can't emote. 99.9% of the time it's just this blank, borderline lifeless stare with a goofy smile plastered on. Even when the world around them is crumbling. Geez, show some emotion! Frankly, it can get somewhat distracting at times, particularly in the more dramatic scenes.
-Camera mode: A mode where you take pictures of pokemon in select spots spread all over Alola. And that's it. It's shallow, adds nothing to the experience, and the reward is... nothing. There's no reward.
-...And that's pretty much it, I think!
Overall, this was a solid entry (the best one yet, if you ask me) in the Pokemon series. Sure, it's heavy on story and cutscenes, but I didn't mind it. I enjoyed these characters and their interactions a lot, and I would certainly not mind seeing them again in a possible sequel.
And by that I mean Pokemon Sun and Moon. But you knew that already. I mean, what else could S&M possibly stand for, right?
So, yeah. The 7th generation of the Pokemon core series came out last month, to considerable success. I played it for the better part of the last few weeks myself. Having already completed the main story and most of the post-game content, I decided that it's time for me to share my (spoiler-free!) impressions.
Basically, this is the best Pokemon game I've ever played. That's not to say it's perfect, but it came pretty close in my book, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Let's break it down, shall we?
THE GOOD-Story and characterization: I think this is the first Pokemon game that actually made a serious effort in making the characters you meet memorable. In the past, gym leaders and the such were confined to their small, self-contained gyms, and the extent of your character's interaction with them was essentially limited to battling them once, claiming their gym badge, moving on and forgetting they even existed. In S&M, however, the gym leader equivalents actually appear several times over the course of the game, and are way more involved in the progression of the game's storyline. In my opinion, this alone makes for a richer and more interesting experience than what past entries had to offer. So, yeah. I really liked S&M's colorful cast of characters. And I fondly remember every single one of them.
-Music: Pokemon games usually feature a great soundtrack, and these new entries are no exception. There's a lot of good stuff here. In fact, I'm listening to the soundtrack right now, as I'm typing this!
-The world: Alola is a fun place to explore. There are lots of sights to see and environments to navigate. The game is visually quite impressive, despite the admittedly aging hardware running it. The fact that the developers finally ditched the old grid-based movement system and gave all characters more realistic human proportions only makes it all better and adds to the immersion factor in my opinion.
-Ride Pokemon: The long awaited replacement of the old and outdated HM system of previous generations. Finally, "HM slaves" are no more. It was about time!
THE BAD-Festival Plaza: Sure, it's a side thing that can be ignored for the most part, but considering on-line play is tied to it, I feel like it still needs to be said: the Festival Plaza is slow, clunky, grindy, and just plain unfun. An experiment gone wrong. It just feels like an underdeveloped idea that needed more time in the oven.
-Framerates: This game pushes the 3DS hardware to its limits, and that becomes particularly evident pretty much anytime there's more than two pokemon on the battlefield. And let's not even speak about the Battle Royal. You can almost count the frames on those!
-The main character's facial expressions: Or rather, the lack thereof. Your main character can't emote. 99.9% of the time it's just this blank, borderline lifeless stare with a goofy smile plastered on. Even when the world around them is crumbling. Geez, show some emotion! Frankly, it can get somewhat distracting at times, particularly in the more dramatic scenes.
-Camera mode: A mode where you take pictures of pokemon in select spots spread all over Alola. And that's it. It's shallow, adds nothing to the experience, and the reward is... nothing. There's no reward.
-...And that's pretty much it, I think!
Overall, this was a solid entry (the best one yet, if you ask me) in the Pokemon series. Sure, it's heavy on story and cutscenes, but I didn't mind it. I enjoyed these characters and their interactions a lot, and I would certainly not mind seeing them again in a possible sequel.
Dream ports
Posted 9 years agoI felt like writing about my dream ports. That is, ports of video games that could only exist in my dreams. Because a man can dream, right? >.>'
Anyway, in no particular order, here we go:
1) Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 3DS:
It doesn't even have to be retextured or anything. Just a straight port with stereoscopic 3D would be more than enough. It could even be part of the long discontinued "3D Classics" label. Alas...
2) La-Mulana for Nintendo 3DS:
The only reason it doesn't exist is because the devs had no idea how to make it happen. It only barely made it to WiiWare back in the day, and that was only after stripping it of its infamous bonus dungeon of hell.
3) Ori and the Blind Forest for Wii U:
Beautiful metroidvania-esque game that would feel so at home on a Nintendo console. Except that it's Microsoft's so... yeah. Never going to happen.
4) Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie for Nintendo 3DS:
A remaster of these two games in the vein of Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D would absolutely shine on the Nintendo 3DS. Except, well... same issue as Ori.
5) Undertale for either console:
For this one, I think a reimagining would be the way to go. Perhaps in full 3D, but with blocky N64/PS1 era graphics to preserve the old-school vibe. Could include the original, untouched game as an unlockable for purists. Chances of happening: morbidly obese.
Well, I think that's about it. If anyone wants to share their own dream ports, feel free to do so!
Anyway, in no particular order, here we go:
1) Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 3DS:
It doesn't even have to be retextured or anything. Just a straight port with stereoscopic 3D would be more than enough. It could even be part of the long discontinued "3D Classics" label. Alas...
2) La-Mulana for Nintendo 3DS:
The only reason it doesn't exist is because the devs had no idea how to make it happen. It only barely made it to WiiWare back in the day, and that was only after stripping it of its infamous bonus dungeon of hell.
3) Ori and the Blind Forest for Wii U:
Beautiful metroidvania-esque game that would feel so at home on a Nintendo console. Except that it's Microsoft's so... yeah. Never going to happen.
4) Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie for Nintendo 3DS:
A remaster of these two games in the vein of Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D would absolutely shine on the Nintendo 3DS. Except, well... same issue as Ori.
5) Undertale for either console:
For this one, I think a reimagining would be the way to go. Perhaps in full 3D, but with blocky N64/PS1 era graphics to preserve the old-school vibe. Could include the original, untouched game as an unlockable for purists. Chances of happening: morbidly obese.
Well, I think that's about it. If anyone wants to share their own dream ports, feel free to do so!
Something something determination.
Posted 9 years agoYep. This is going to be about that. You know what.
So, chances are you've heard of something called "Undertale" in some capacity. I mean, who hasn't? It's like everywhere lately. It exploded in popularity overnight in a manner similar to FNAF before it. Well, last month or so, at a friend's request, I caved and played it. These are my (spoiler-free) impressions, which I feel like sharing...
But first, a little background for context:
I've never played Earthbound. I tried it once and it didn't click for me. I played some 10-15 minutes then never came back. Truthfully, the RPG genre in general doesn't appeal to me all that much. I could pretty much count the total number of RPGs I played in my life with one hand, and most if not all of those have "Mario" or "Pokemon" in the title.
Enter Undertale.
So, one day, about a month ago, my friend told me I should play this game. Now, I had heard some stuff about it beforehand. Y'know, because it was everywhere. I had heard about the Earthbound influences. I was aware of the Spare/Kill gimmick (and its associated logical extremes: Pacifist/Genocide runs which lead to special endings). I had even seen some fan art here and there, so I knew there was a motherly figure that seemed to be quite popular in the fandom (Toriel a.k.a. Goatmom). Oh, and the flower too...
Eventually, one day I sat down and started playing it. So, what did I find? Well, my first impression was that it was a weird, quirky game, but I didn't feel particularly hooked. Even though my friend gave me some spoiler-free pointers (mostly to ensure I reach the True Pacifist ending), I was playing the game "wrong" for various reasons (mostly my own fault for assuming certain things and/or my own inexperience in the genre). For example, after my very first battle encounter (which was a frog), I wrongly assumed all the NPC frog characters that started appearing from that point on were enemy encounters, so I never talked to any of them, which resulted in me never properly learning about some of the most basic battle mechanics (including the significance of certain colors, like yellow). I also ran away from every single random encounter I, uh, encountered. About 10 hours later (split in about three sessions), I reached the end of the aforementioned route (my friend helped me with stuff I couldn't figure out on my own, such as how to resolve the Undyne battle in the context of a Pacifist run). So, yeah, I got the best ending.
...and I still wasn't quite sure what to think of the game! It felt... uneven in some respects. Like, it was super silly and super quirky 90% of the way, with the last 10% throwing most of that out the window and substituting for lots of sudden exposition and somewhat vague/confusing backstory crumbs. Also, there were so many non-descript, barren corridors throughout the entire game. But the battle system was certainly innovative, and the variations/twists to the formula introduced during boss battles were quite interesting. The music also grew on me. Some of the tracks are just very, very good. So, I guess I could sum up my impressions of the game after my first playthrough with: "yeah, it's a generally good game, even brilliant at certain points, but I still don't think it quite justifies such a massive explosion in popularity?"
Afterwards, I watched the key parts of a Genocide run on YouTube, learned some new things from that and some various other sources, and eventually decided to go back to the game and start a new file, to give it another shot. This time, I had learned from all my newbie mistakes, and finally played the game "right". Again, I reached the best ending, but this time it only took me like 6 hours! Along the way, many, many lines of dialogue and various other details gained a new meaning in the context of having already beaten the game before. Gradually, a lot more pieces were falling into place. I was surprised at the amount of stuff that suddenly meant something. It was like a BIG jigsaw puzzle! Now I was starting to understand what the fuss was all about...
In the end, it dawned on me that the game's story was much, much deeper and richer than I initially gave it credit for. Like I said, it's like a massive jigsaw puzzle with tiny story crumbs scattered throughout the entire game, over two different routes. One playthrough isn't enough to fully understand what's going on story-wise. You have to play it at least twice to better appreciate the bigger picture. Or at least that was the case for me.
So, yeah. I'd definitely recommend checking this game out if you haven't done so already. It does interesting things with the conventions of the genre (and even the medium), plays with your expectations at pretty much every turn, has a great soundtrack, contains a colorful and diverse cast of characters (some of them with surprising hidden depths), and tells an intricately-woven story that doesn't become apparent until the very end. Sure, on the surface, the minimalist pixelated visuals are a bit on the unimpressive side, but don't let that fool you. The whole package, although not without some imperfections, works.
* Reading this post... It fills you with Determination.
* GAME SAVED.
So, chances are you've heard of something called "Undertale" in some capacity. I mean, who hasn't? It's like everywhere lately. It exploded in popularity overnight in a manner similar to FNAF before it. Well, last month or so, at a friend's request, I caved and played it. These are my (spoiler-free) impressions, which I feel like sharing...
But first, a little background for context:
I've never played Earthbound. I tried it once and it didn't click for me. I played some 10-15 minutes then never came back. Truthfully, the RPG genre in general doesn't appeal to me all that much. I could pretty much count the total number of RPGs I played in my life with one hand, and most if not all of those have "Mario" or "Pokemon" in the title.
Enter Undertale.
So, one day, about a month ago, my friend told me I should play this game. Now, I had heard some stuff about it beforehand. Y'know, because it was everywhere. I had heard about the Earthbound influences. I was aware of the Spare/Kill gimmick (and its associated logical extremes: Pacifist/Genocide runs which lead to special endings). I had even seen some fan art here and there, so I knew there was a motherly figure that seemed to be quite popular in the fandom (Toriel a.k.a. Goatmom). Oh, and the flower too...
Eventually, one day I sat down and started playing it. So, what did I find? Well, my first impression was that it was a weird, quirky game, but I didn't feel particularly hooked. Even though my friend gave me some spoiler-free pointers (mostly to ensure I reach the True Pacifist ending), I was playing the game "wrong" for various reasons (mostly my own fault for assuming certain things and/or my own inexperience in the genre). For example, after my very first battle encounter (which was a frog), I wrongly assumed all the NPC frog characters that started appearing from that point on were enemy encounters, so I never talked to any of them, which resulted in me never properly learning about some of the most basic battle mechanics (including the significance of certain colors, like yellow). I also ran away from every single random encounter I, uh, encountered. About 10 hours later (split in about three sessions), I reached the end of the aforementioned route (my friend helped me with stuff I couldn't figure out on my own, such as how to resolve the Undyne battle in the context of a Pacifist run). So, yeah, I got the best ending.
...and I still wasn't quite sure what to think of the game! It felt... uneven in some respects. Like, it was super silly and super quirky 90% of the way, with the last 10% throwing most of that out the window and substituting for lots of sudden exposition and somewhat vague/confusing backstory crumbs. Also, there were so many non-descript, barren corridors throughout the entire game. But the battle system was certainly innovative, and the variations/twists to the formula introduced during boss battles were quite interesting. The music also grew on me. Some of the tracks are just very, very good. So, I guess I could sum up my impressions of the game after my first playthrough with: "yeah, it's a generally good game, even brilliant at certain points, but I still don't think it quite justifies such a massive explosion in popularity?"
Afterwards, I watched the key parts of a Genocide run on YouTube, learned some new things from that and some various other sources, and eventually decided to go back to the game and start a new file, to give it another shot. This time, I had learned from all my newbie mistakes, and finally played the game "right". Again, I reached the best ending, but this time it only took me like 6 hours! Along the way, many, many lines of dialogue and various other details gained a new meaning in the context of having already beaten the game before. Gradually, a lot more pieces were falling into place. I was surprised at the amount of stuff that suddenly meant something. It was like a BIG jigsaw puzzle! Now I was starting to understand what the fuss was all about...
In the end, it dawned on me that the game's story was much, much deeper and richer than I initially gave it credit for. Like I said, it's like a massive jigsaw puzzle with tiny story crumbs scattered throughout the entire game, over two different routes. One playthrough isn't enough to fully understand what's going on story-wise. You have to play it at least twice to better appreciate the bigger picture. Or at least that was the case for me.
So, yeah. I'd definitely recommend checking this game out if you haven't done so already. It does interesting things with the conventions of the genre (and even the medium), plays with your expectations at pretty much every turn, has a great soundtrack, contains a colorful and diverse cast of characters (some of them with surprising hidden depths), and tells an intricately-woven story that doesn't become apparent until the very end. Sure, on the surface, the minimalist pixelated visuals are a bit on the unimpressive side, but don't let that fool you. The whole package, although not without some imperfections, works.
* Reading this post... It fills you with Determination.
* GAME SAVED.
Super Mario Maker
Posted 10 years agoYes, of course I got this game. I pretty much grew up with Mario so it was a no-brainer. So, any other Mario makers out there? I've got a few levels to share:
Dry Bones' Warehouse of Mystery: F752-0000-00ED-BD62
Unravel the puzzle in this spooky ghost house and find the exit! (hint: that big Bob-omb might be useful for something)
Winners don't do shrooms DeLuxe: 6DB6-0000-005D-E702
Remake of a relatively popular level from the closed Media version. You can have all the shrooms you want, but at the end of the day, only small Mario shall win! (hint: Piranha Plants can be your friends!)
The Colossal Cave Contraption: 47A2-0000-0103-9B0D
A big, complex underground puzzle for Mario to solve. Possibly my best work so far. (hint: don't enter the spike maze without a helmet AND boots, or you'll die!)
Welcome to La-Mariolana: EB9D-0000-00ED-C170
Mario has stumbled upon the deadly ruins of La-Mariolana! Can he find the way out? (hint: the exit is marked with arrows)
Risky Retro Ride: A324-0000-007B-476C
Ride a tricky snake platform made of note blocks and dodge the many hazards along the way! (hint: try to get to the top of the starting area if you can)
I have a couple more, but these are my best in my opinion. I hope you guys like them! Of course, Stars are always appreciated! Also, feel free to share your own Mario Maker masterpieces in the comments for me to try!
Dry Bones' Warehouse of Mystery: F752-0000-00ED-BD62
Unravel the puzzle in this spooky ghost house and find the exit! (hint: that big Bob-omb might be useful for something)
Winners don't do shrooms DeLuxe: 6DB6-0000-005D-E702
Remake of a relatively popular level from the closed Media version. You can have all the shrooms you want, but at the end of the day, only small Mario shall win! (hint: Piranha Plants can be your friends!)
The Colossal Cave Contraption: 47A2-0000-0103-9B0D
A big, complex underground puzzle for Mario to solve. Possibly my best work so far. (hint: don't enter the spike maze without a helmet AND boots, or you'll die!)
Welcome to La-Mariolana: EB9D-0000-00ED-C170
Mario has stumbled upon the deadly ruins of La-Mariolana! Can he find the way out? (hint: the exit is marked with arrows)
Risky Retro Ride: A324-0000-007B-476C
Ride a tricky snake platform made of note blocks and dodge the many hazards along the way! (hint: try to get to the top of the starting area if you can)
I have a couple more, but these are my best in my opinion. I hope you guys like them! Of course, Stars are always appreciated! Also, feel free to share your own Mario Maker masterpieces in the comments for me to try!
GeminiSaint reviews some games (II)
Posted 10 years agoMore brief impressions of downloadable games I played recently.
Thomas Was Alone: (Available on Steam, PS3/4, Vita, XBOne, WiiU, iOS, Android) 2D puzzle platformer where the "characters" are flat rectangles. It was... okay, I guess. I just didn't think it was the masterpiece I was led to believe it was. The gameplay is fine. Serviceable. It's just not something that couldn't be reproduced in Flash with little compromising. There's a sort of "plot" going on about artificial intelligence and whatnot, told through narration, but I didn't find it particularly riveting. And that was a problem when the game heavily relies on its plot and writing to connect with the player. The story just failed to grab me, thus I didn't care much about what happened to these jumping rectangles. I think some of them "died" or something? Whatever.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War: (Available on Steam, PS3/4, XB360/One, iOS, Android) 2D sidescrolling adventure game set in World War I. Developed by Ubisoft (Rayman, Beyond Good And Evil). I liked this game. Loosely based on the very real (and deeply tragic) events of World War I, this game chronicles the interconnected stories of four characters (and a dog) as they basically attempt to survive through the unspeakable madness of the aforementioned conflict. The art style draws a lot of inspiration from classic European comics, and looks really nice, with several moments where you just have to stop to admire these gorgeous, multi-layered backdrops for a while. The gameplay consists on solving situational puzzles which get gradually more complex as the game progresses. There's also a (completely optional) digital encyclopedia about World War I, for those who want to learn more about it. The bottom line is, this game has a lot of heart, with great storytelling, and most definitely gets my recommendation. Check it out.
Never Alone: (Available on Steam, PS4, XBOne, WiiU) Sidescrolling adventure game with some platforming and puzzle-solving elements, set in Alaska. The gimmick here is that you control two characters (a girl and an artic fox). Of course, they each have their own abilities. I wanted to like this game. Unfortunately, it's a bit too rough and unpolished in a few key areas, so I can't really give it a solid recommendation. The controls are just not very good, sometimes bordering on unresponsive, plus your main character moves like, uh... like a drunk turtle. With arthritis (and jumps like one). Also, your companion's AI often acts up, and you'll see him/her happily jump off a bottomless pit, causing you both to die, which is an annoying waste of time. But even if the controls and movement were perfect, there's still the monotony of snow, snow and more snow throughout nearly the entire game. It gets old very quick. I've also experienced some glitches every now and then, involving clipping through objects and whatnot. So... I dunno. It's not ALL bad, certainly, but there are far better games out there.
Tengami: (Available on Steam, iOS, WiiU) Point-and-click adventure game with Japanese-y music by David Wise (of Donkey Kong Country fame). Interesting art style, with 3D scenery designed to look like dioramas made of paper. Everything folds like a pop-up book. Visually, the game screams "Ancient Japan". It's like a traditional Japanese fairy tale in papercraft form. Your guy is on a mission to retrieve three sakura flowers to make a dead-looking sakura tree bloom. It's probably meant to be symbolic and stuff. Your guy is the only character in the entire game (besides a few background wolves on the first level). There are puzzles, none of them particularly hard (except for the last one, which was a bit too obtuse for me). Now, for the cons: first, the game is short. You can complete it in about three hours. And second, the player character is SO EFFIN' SLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW. It takes him forever to get from one side of the screen to the other. You'd think someone broke his legs or something. All in all, it's an okay game. Good while it lasts, which isn't too long, even with the player character being slower than a geriatric snail.
Super Win The Game: (Available on Steam) 8-bit-esque platformer with many metroidvania elements and a world map reminiscent of Zelda 2 (except with no overworld enemies, thank god!). Graphics, audio and gameplay are all true to the NES era. You run and jump your way through the stages, and eventually acquire new abilities to open new paths and progress in the game. Your guy dies in one hit, but you have infinite lives and checkpoints are abundant. There's a lot to do, gems to collect, dungeons to conquer and challenges to overcome, especially if you are a completionist. There's also a handful of special courses for speedrunners, complete with online leaderboards, ghost racing and all that good stuff. By the way, this is the sequel to "You Have to Win the Game", which is very similar in gameplay, except shorter and even more retro, but still works great as a demo for this game, because it's 100% free on Steam! Also, they both feature (optional) filters that make it look like they're being played on an old CRT TV screen. So, bottomline, they're both good, enjoyable games.
Nihilumbra: (Available on Steam, WiiU, iOS, Vita, Android) Puzzle-oriented side-scroller somewhat reminiscent of Limbo. The game's gimmick is the ability to paint portions of the level different colors to change their properties. For example, painting a platform blue will make it slippery like ice, while painting it brown will make it sticky, green makes it bouncy, and so on and so forth. You use this ability to dodge and/or defeat enemies, as well as solve various puzzles, most of them of the "push a crate over a pressure switch" kind. Visuals and music convey a gloomy/desolate kind of mood, again, not unlike games like Limbo. There's also a narrator accompanying you through the entire main game. A (very) hard mode is unlocked upon completion of the main quest, with significantly tougher puzzles to crack. All in all, Nihilumbra is an okay game, but it doesn't really set itself apart from other games in this sub-genre. From beginning to end, I felt like I had already played it before.
La-Mulana: (Available on Steam, Wii, Vita) This game is my personal GOTY 2012. It's a very challenging, intricately designed 2D metroidvania platformer with a heavy focus on solving (at times) ridiculously arcane riddles. Targeted squarely at the hardest of hard-core gamers. The kind that draws their own maps and stuff. A formidable challenge from beginning to end, this game was originally developed as a love letter to the MSX gaming system (an old 8-bit console/computer that was very popular in Japan), particularly a Konami game called "Maze of Galious", which can be considered the foundation La-Mulana was built on. You are an Indiana Jones look-alike on a quest to uncover the secret of the ancient ruins of La-Mulana. Except the ruins themselves are hell-bent on seeing his quest come to a bloody end at every turn! But the spikes and death traps aren't the greatest challenges to overcome. No, those would be the riddles. Making sense of them is where the true challenge resides! Also, there's pretty much no hand-holding and very little in-game help (though there's an Engrishy digital manual that contains potentially vital information that's not readily available in-game, as well as an official beginner's video to ease first-time players into the game). Expect to get stuck at many points throughout your quest, and be ready to come to terms with the fact that you will most likely need a little external help (guides and/or the aid of people who have already played through the game) to get yourself unstuck. So, the question is, are you a bad enough dude to tackle the challenge of La-Mulana?
Thomas Was Alone: (Available on Steam, PS3/4, Vita, XBOne, WiiU, iOS, Android) 2D puzzle platformer where the "characters" are flat rectangles. It was... okay, I guess. I just didn't think it was the masterpiece I was led to believe it was. The gameplay is fine. Serviceable. It's just not something that couldn't be reproduced in Flash with little compromising. There's a sort of "plot" going on about artificial intelligence and whatnot, told through narration, but I didn't find it particularly riveting. And that was a problem when the game heavily relies on its plot and writing to connect with the player. The story just failed to grab me, thus I didn't care much about what happened to these jumping rectangles. I think some of them "died" or something? Whatever.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War: (Available on Steam, PS3/4, XB360/One, iOS, Android) 2D sidescrolling adventure game set in World War I. Developed by Ubisoft (Rayman, Beyond Good And Evil). I liked this game. Loosely based on the very real (and deeply tragic) events of World War I, this game chronicles the interconnected stories of four characters (and a dog) as they basically attempt to survive through the unspeakable madness of the aforementioned conflict. The art style draws a lot of inspiration from classic European comics, and looks really nice, with several moments where you just have to stop to admire these gorgeous, multi-layered backdrops for a while. The gameplay consists on solving situational puzzles which get gradually more complex as the game progresses. There's also a (completely optional) digital encyclopedia about World War I, for those who want to learn more about it. The bottom line is, this game has a lot of heart, with great storytelling, and most definitely gets my recommendation. Check it out.
Never Alone: (Available on Steam, PS4, XBOne, WiiU) Sidescrolling adventure game with some platforming and puzzle-solving elements, set in Alaska. The gimmick here is that you control two characters (a girl and an artic fox). Of course, they each have their own abilities. I wanted to like this game. Unfortunately, it's a bit too rough and unpolished in a few key areas, so I can't really give it a solid recommendation. The controls are just not very good, sometimes bordering on unresponsive, plus your main character moves like, uh... like a drunk turtle. With arthritis (and jumps like one). Also, your companion's AI often acts up, and you'll see him/her happily jump off a bottomless pit, causing you both to die, which is an annoying waste of time. But even if the controls and movement were perfect, there's still the monotony of snow, snow and more snow throughout nearly the entire game. It gets old very quick. I've also experienced some glitches every now and then, involving clipping through objects and whatnot. So... I dunno. It's not ALL bad, certainly, but there are far better games out there.
Tengami: (Available on Steam, iOS, WiiU) Point-and-click adventure game with Japanese-y music by David Wise (of Donkey Kong Country fame). Interesting art style, with 3D scenery designed to look like dioramas made of paper. Everything folds like a pop-up book. Visually, the game screams "Ancient Japan". It's like a traditional Japanese fairy tale in papercraft form. Your guy is on a mission to retrieve three sakura flowers to make a dead-looking sakura tree bloom. It's probably meant to be symbolic and stuff. Your guy is the only character in the entire game (besides a few background wolves on the first level). There are puzzles, none of them particularly hard (except for the last one, which was a bit too obtuse for me). Now, for the cons: first, the game is short. You can complete it in about three hours. And second, the player character is SO EFFIN' SLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW. It takes him forever to get from one side of the screen to the other. You'd think someone broke his legs or something. All in all, it's an okay game. Good while it lasts, which isn't too long, even with the player character being slower than a geriatric snail.
Super Win The Game: (Available on Steam) 8-bit-esque platformer with many metroidvania elements and a world map reminiscent of Zelda 2 (except with no overworld enemies, thank god!). Graphics, audio and gameplay are all true to the NES era. You run and jump your way through the stages, and eventually acquire new abilities to open new paths and progress in the game. Your guy dies in one hit, but you have infinite lives and checkpoints are abundant. There's a lot to do, gems to collect, dungeons to conquer and challenges to overcome, especially if you are a completionist. There's also a handful of special courses for speedrunners, complete with online leaderboards, ghost racing and all that good stuff. By the way, this is the sequel to "You Have to Win the Game", which is very similar in gameplay, except shorter and even more retro, but still works great as a demo for this game, because it's 100% free on Steam! Also, they both feature (optional) filters that make it look like they're being played on an old CRT TV screen. So, bottomline, they're both good, enjoyable games.
Nihilumbra: (Available on Steam, WiiU, iOS, Vita, Android) Puzzle-oriented side-scroller somewhat reminiscent of Limbo. The game's gimmick is the ability to paint portions of the level different colors to change their properties. For example, painting a platform blue will make it slippery like ice, while painting it brown will make it sticky, green makes it bouncy, and so on and so forth. You use this ability to dodge and/or defeat enemies, as well as solve various puzzles, most of them of the "push a crate over a pressure switch" kind. Visuals and music convey a gloomy/desolate kind of mood, again, not unlike games like Limbo. There's also a narrator accompanying you through the entire main game. A (very) hard mode is unlocked upon completion of the main quest, with significantly tougher puzzles to crack. All in all, Nihilumbra is an okay game, but it doesn't really set itself apart from other games in this sub-genre. From beginning to end, I felt like I had already played it before.
La-Mulana: (Available on Steam, Wii, Vita) This game is my personal GOTY 2012. It's a very challenging, intricately designed 2D metroidvania platformer with a heavy focus on solving (at times) ridiculously arcane riddles. Targeted squarely at the hardest of hard-core gamers. The kind that draws their own maps and stuff. A formidable challenge from beginning to end, this game was originally developed as a love letter to the MSX gaming system (an old 8-bit console/computer that was very popular in Japan), particularly a Konami game called "Maze of Galious", which can be considered the foundation La-Mulana was built on. You are an Indiana Jones look-alike on a quest to uncover the secret of the ancient ruins of La-Mulana. Except the ruins themselves are hell-bent on seeing his quest come to a bloody end at every turn! But the spikes and death traps aren't the greatest challenges to overcome. No, those would be the riddles. Making sense of them is where the true challenge resides! Also, there's pretty much no hand-holding and very little in-game help (though there's an Engrishy digital manual that contains potentially vital information that's not readily available in-game, as well as an official beginner's video to ease first-time players into the game). Expect to get stuck at many points throughout your quest, and be ready to come to terms with the fact that you will most likely need a little external help (guides and/or the aid of people who have already played through the game) to get yourself unstuck. So, the question is, are you a bad enough dude to tackle the challenge of La-Mulana?
GeminiSaint reviews some games:
Posted 10 years agoHere are brief impressions of some downloadable games I played recently. Because why not?
Portal 2: (Available on Steam, PS3, XB360) Impressive in many ways. Expands on the foundation established in the original game in almost every aspect. Game is about three times longer than its predecessor too. A solid experience all the way through. Very recommendable.
Shovel Knight: (Available on Steam, WiiU, 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita) Excellent throwback to the glorious era of 8-bit platformers. If you grew up playing games such as Mario and Mega Man on the good old NES, this game is for you. Actually, even if you hadn't, this game is still for you. It features top-notch pixel art, highly polished gameplay and a very catchy chiptune soundtrack. You can tell it was lovingly crafted with utmost dedication. Everyone should play it.
Teslagrad: (Available on Steam, WiiU, PS3, PS4, Vita) Atmospheric 2D platformer in which a boy on the run has to explore a massive tower filled with strange contraptions that revolve around magnetism. Great world-building and storytelling that employs no words whatsoever, complemented by a beautifully immersive gloomy atmosphere. Obstacles are mostly physics-based and require a certain level of dexterity. And by that I mean you will die a lot, particularly during those grueling boss battles! The difficulty might be a bit too much for the unprepared, but I still think it's worth checking out.
Ittle Dew: (Available on Steam, WiiU) 2D game similar in appearance to classic Zelda. Sports colorful cartoony graphics that are very nice to look at. The writing is firmly tongue-in-cheek and full of self-referential humor. Gameplay is heavily puzzle-oriented, and involves a fair amount of crate-pushing and variations thereof. Some of the puzzles can get really hard, especially in the optional bonus dungeon. Definitely recommendable for those who enjoy their Sokoban-esque brain teasers.
Castle in the Darkness: (Available on Steam) Fast-paced 2D platformer with many elements of the metroidvania sub-genre and a decidedly retro 8-bit aesthetic. There's plenty of backtracking, hidden items to find, doors to unlock, stats to upgrade, etc. And secrets. There's TONS of secrets for those who want to dig for them. All in all, you can't go wrong with this game. Just bear in mind, things get quite challenging toward the end of the adventure!
Guacamelee!: (Available on Steam, WiiU, PS3, PS4, Vita, XB360, XBOne) Words can't convey how AWESOME this game is. Yes, that's AWESOME in ALL-CAPS. Just do yourself a favor and play it. You won't be disappointed. The game is an engrossing 2D metroidvania adventure set in a very colorful, very stylized world based on imagery from the Mexican Day of the Dead. Also, your main character is a masked luchador with a very robust move pool that is very useful for both exploration and -of course- beating the crap out of anyone who dares stand in his way. No, seriously, the melee system is loads of raw fun. Basically, I'd describe this game as Super Metroid with a luchador. And it's, without doubt, a must-play. (by the way, be sure to get the "Super Turbo Championship Edition", as that's the most complete version of this game).
Toki Tori 2+: (Available on Steam, WiiU) This game was much, much better than I expected. It's a beautiful, colorful 2D puzzle-platformer where you play as a rotund chicken whose only two weapons are whistling and stomping. Half of the fun comes from discovering how these two moves affect the world around you; a world that is also populated by various other creatures, whom you have to learn to manipulate in order to have them (unwittingly) help you overcome the many obstacles along the way. And did I mention there's no hand-holding whatsoever? Skills are learned organically as you go, one at a time. All stages are interconnected in various ways (many of them have more than one exit, and all of them can be revisited for missing collectibles/alternate exits), and there are several possible routes to complete the main quest. Non-linearity FTW! Of course, things begin on the easy, almost trivial side, but later puzzles will prove to be very challenging! You will definitely want to put on your thinking cap for this one. Highly, highly recommended.
Portal 2: (Available on Steam, PS3, XB360) Impressive in many ways. Expands on the foundation established in the original game in almost every aspect. Game is about three times longer than its predecessor too. A solid experience all the way through. Very recommendable.
Shovel Knight: (Available on Steam, WiiU, 3DS, PS3, PS4, Vita) Excellent throwback to the glorious era of 8-bit platformers. If you grew up playing games such as Mario and Mega Man on the good old NES, this game is for you. Actually, even if you hadn't, this game is still for you. It features top-notch pixel art, highly polished gameplay and a very catchy chiptune soundtrack. You can tell it was lovingly crafted with utmost dedication. Everyone should play it.
Teslagrad: (Available on Steam, WiiU, PS3, PS4, Vita) Atmospheric 2D platformer in which a boy on the run has to explore a massive tower filled with strange contraptions that revolve around magnetism. Great world-building and storytelling that employs no words whatsoever, complemented by a beautifully immersive gloomy atmosphere. Obstacles are mostly physics-based and require a certain level of dexterity. And by that I mean you will die a lot, particularly during those grueling boss battles! The difficulty might be a bit too much for the unprepared, but I still think it's worth checking out.
Ittle Dew: (Available on Steam, WiiU) 2D game similar in appearance to classic Zelda. Sports colorful cartoony graphics that are very nice to look at. The writing is firmly tongue-in-cheek and full of self-referential humor. Gameplay is heavily puzzle-oriented, and involves a fair amount of crate-pushing and variations thereof. Some of the puzzles can get really hard, especially in the optional bonus dungeon. Definitely recommendable for those who enjoy their Sokoban-esque brain teasers.
Castle in the Darkness: (Available on Steam) Fast-paced 2D platformer with many elements of the metroidvania sub-genre and a decidedly retro 8-bit aesthetic. There's plenty of backtracking, hidden items to find, doors to unlock, stats to upgrade, etc. And secrets. There's TONS of secrets for those who want to dig for them. All in all, you can't go wrong with this game. Just bear in mind, things get quite challenging toward the end of the adventure!
Guacamelee!: (Available on Steam, WiiU, PS3, PS4, Vita, XB360, XBOne) Words can't convey how AWESOME this game is. Yes, that's AWESOME in ALL-CAPS. Just do yourself a favor and play it. You won't be disappointed. The game is an engrossing 2D metroidvania adventure set in a very colorful, very stylized world based on imagery from the Mexican Day of the Dead. Also, your main character is a masked luchador with a very robust move pool that is very useful for both exploration and -of course- beating the crap out of anyone who dares stand in his way. No, seriously, the melee system is loads of raw fun. Basically, I'd describe this game as Super Metroid with a luchador. And it's, without doubt, a must-play. (by the way, be sure to get the "Super Turbo Championship Edition", as that's the most complete version of this game).
Toki Tori 2+: (Available on Steam, WiiU) This game was much, much better than I expected. It's a beautiful, colorful 2D puzzle-platformer where you play as a rotund chicken whose only two weapons are whistling and stomping. Half of the fun comes from discovering how these two moves affect the world around you; a world that is also populated by various other creatures, whom you have to learn to manipulate in order to have them (unwittingly) help you overcome the many obstacles along the way. And did I mention there's no hand-holding whatsoever? Skills are learned organically as you go, one at a time. All stages are interconnected in various ways (many of them have more than one exit, and all of them can be revisited for missing collectibles/alternate exits), and there are several possible routes to complete the main quest. Non-linearity FTW! Of course, things begin on the easy, almost trivial side, but later puzzles will prove to be very challenging! You will definitely want to put on your thinking cap for this one. Highly, highly recommended.
Special Commission (taken)
Posted 10 years agoI decided that I want to play Portal 2.
So, I'm going to take one commission in exchange for a copy of Portal 2 gifted through Steam:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/.....33012/wishlist
As for the commission:
-One character only.
-Minimal background.
-Refs required.
If interested, post links to your character here.
Thanks for your attention!
UPDATE: Slot taken!
So, I'm going to take one commission in exchange for a copy of Portal 2 gifted through Steam:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/.....33012/wishlist
As for the commission:
-One character only.
-Minimal background.
-Refs required.
If interested, post links to your character here.
Thanks for your attention!
UPDATE: Slot taken!
If I may indulge in a little bragging...
Posted 11 years agoSailor Moon Crystal, first impressions.
Posted 11 years agoSo, Sailor Moon is back.
The original 90's show was one of my favorite anime series ever. I have very fond memories of it. So, naturally, I was looking forward to this reboot. And now it's here! My thoughts so far?
Well, I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed by it. Allow me to elaborate.
1) Art style and character design: Basically, I'm not a fan. The characters look like they're now 90% limbs. Seriously, look at those arms and legs! They stretch on for miles! As a result, the sailor scouts now kind of look like they're all in their mid-twenties! And they want to convince me they're high-schoolers? Yeah, right. Suuuure. Of course, I understand that they were going for a style that mimics that of the original author's (Naoko Takeuchi). Too bad I don't really like Takeuchi's art either... For me, the character designs from the 90's anime were the best. They actually looked their age there.
2) Faces: Closely related to 1. Something about them is off-putting. Possibly because, again, I don't really like Takeuchi's art. At any rate, they seem to have lost a lot of expressiveness. Characters don't emote like they did in the 90's show anymore. Which is a shame, because faces in the 90's show were so expressive...
3) Music: Eh... The opening song is all right, I guess, but it can't top Moonlight Densetsu. Then again, I don't think anything could. Moonlight Densetsu is just so intrinsically tied to Sailor Moon. Other than that, I noticed the use of dramatic choirs in certain scenes. Not bad per se, but certainly not something I would associate with Sailor Moon.
4) Mood: The original show was mostly comedic in nature, with the occasional bouts of drama during plot-heavy episodes (usually during the middle and end of each story arc). It was balanced perfectly, in my opinion. Most of the time, the show didn't take itself seriously, which makes sense, considering the ridiculous premise behind it (because, yeah, let's face it: magical talking cats? schoolgirls that use magical pens to transform, strike poses Power Ranger-style and fight for love and justice? short-sighted bad guys that only ever seem to attack the same town our heroines live in, one monster at a time? the whole premise is and has always been absurd! Deliciously absurd!). The new series, however, seems to have dispensed with the comedic aspects. Now it's like they're trying to make it all dramatic and Serious Business-like. And it just doesn't work. At least not for me. Because the absurdity of the premise remains intact, and that's something that just can't be taken seriously. I'm not going to believe that that bus just drove into a warp portal in the middle of the city during day time and absolutely no one but the main character witnessed it. You can't play that kind of stuff straight. It's just way too ridiculous. It needs the comedic treatment to help maintain suspension of disbelief. Which, again, is something the 90's show had in spades, and it worked wonders. Also, yes, I understand that Sailor Moon Crystal is trying to be closer to the source material -Takeuchi's manga- which would explain the sudden drop in comedy levels. Of course, I didn't really like the manga, for all the aforementioned reasons.
5) Misc: Contrary to what you'd expect after having read all that, I didn't mind the CGI used in the transformation scenes. It was pretty cool, actually. Also, some of the in-universe technological upgrades are funny. Like Serena/Usagi's brand-new pink laptop, which she still doesn't know how to use! Still no cellphones in sight, though. On the other hand, sometimes the quality of the art hiccups and we get mismatched eyes, and the occasional single-frame monstrosity such as this.
So, three episodes in, Crystal isn't exactly living up to expectation. Of course, that's just my opinion. Anyway, here's hoping things improve later on. We'll see!
The original 90's show was one of my favorite anime series ever. I have very fond memories of it. So, naturally, I was looking forward to this reboot. And now it's here! My thoughts so far?
Well, I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed by it. Allow me to elaborate.
1) Art style and character design: Basically, I'm not a fan. The characters look like they're now 90% limbs. Seriously, look at those arms and legs! They stretch on for miles! As a result, the sailor scouts now kind of look like they're all in their mid-twenties! And they want to convince me they're high-schoolers? Yeah, right. Suuuure. Of course, I understand that they were going for a style that mimics that of the original author's (Naoko Takeuchi). Too bad I don't really like Takeuchi's art either... For me, the character designs from the 90's anime were the best. They actually looked their age there.
2) Faces: Closely related to 1. Something about them is off-putting. Possibly because, again, I don't really like Takeuchi's art. At any rate, they seem to have lost a lot of expressiveness. Characters don't emote like they did in the 90's show anymore. Which is a shame, because faces in the 90's show were so expressive...
3) Music: Eh... The opening song is all right, I guess, but it can't top Moonlight Densetsu. Then again, I don't think anything could. Moonlight Densetsu is just so intrinsically tied to Sailor Moon. Other than that, I noticed the use of dramatic choirs in certain scenes. Not bad per se, but certainly not something I would associate with Sailor Moon.
4) Mood: The original show was mostly comedic in nature, with the occasional bouts of drama during plot-heavy episodes (usually during the middle and end of each story arc). It was balanced perfectly, in my opinion. Most of the time, the show didn't take itself seriously, which makes sense, considering the ridiculous premise behind it (because, yeah, let's face it: magical talking cats? schoolgirls that use magical pens to transform, strike poses Power Ranger-style and fight for love and justice? short-sighted bad guys that only ever seem to attack the same town our heroines live in, one monster at a time? the whole premise is and has always been absurd! Deliciously absurd!). The new series, however, seems to have dispensed with the comedic aspects. Now it's like they're trying to make it all dramatic and Serious Business-like. And it just doesn't work. At least not for me. Because the absurdity of the premise remains intact, and that's something that just can't be taken seriously. I'm not going to believe that that bus just drove into a warp portal in the middle of the city during day time and absolutely no one but the main character witnessed it. You can't play that kind of stuff straight. It's just way too ridiculous. It needs the comedic treatment to help maintain suspension of disbelief. Which, again, is something the 90's show had in spades, and it worked wonders. Also, yes, I understand that Sailor Moon Crystal is trying to be closer to the source material -Takeuchi's manga- which would explain the sudden drop in comedy levels. Of course, I didn't really like the manga, for all the aforementioned reasons.
5) Misc: Contrary to what you'd expect after having read all that, I didn't mind the CGI used in the transformation scenes. It was pretty cool, actually. Also, some of the in-universe technological upgrades are funny. Like Serena/Usagi's brand-new pink laptop, which she still doesn't know how to use! Still no cellphones in sight, though. On the other hand, sometimes the quality of the art hiccups and we get mismatched eyes, and the occasional single-frame monstrosity such as this.
So, three episodes in, Crystal isn't exactly living up to expectation. Of course, that's just my opinion. Anyway, here's hoping things improve later on. We'll see!
