Okay so the SMT series never really got me off. I'd played most of the first 2 on SNES/SFC as translated by Aeon Genesis as well I dabbled with the precursors on the NES. I've also played several of the spin offs, Last Bible (AKA Revelations: Demon Slayer) was the only one that managed to really thrill me (BTW very good game, that one). However something about Persona 3 intrigued me, even from the pre-release screenshot I thought, this one was different. Not being a keen observer of release dates I managed to miss the first release, and seeing that it became OOP in little time I'd thought I was out of luck, eBay prices are too steep for this fella. Upon hearing of the re-release, FES, I headed to GameStop to Pre-order my copy. Upon picking it up I haphazardly stumbled upon Nocturne, you see they just got a copy and the cashier was in the process of stocking it, it just so happened to be sitting on the top of the pile staring me in the face. So, having heard nothing but enormous amounts of praise for it, I thought to myself, What the Hell?
After bringing my purchases home I devoted about 2 hours to each, trying to weigh my options. I was on the fence, both looked to be fantastic games, I was already quite hyped about P3: FES, but Nocturne was calling me. So I chose Nocturne and now some 20 hours in I think I'm addicted. I'd decided SMT would be worth re-examination, and wandered over to eBay to see what else I could get my greedy paws upon. The prices as expected were a bit absurd, so I checked GameStops website and found myself a used copy of DDS2 for relatively cheap, upon visiting the store I, in familiar form stumbled also into a cheap new copy of Devil Summoner so I bought that too. All in all I've invested over a 100$ in the series I once thought to be highly overrated, go figure?
I don't currently have a lot of Free Time to invest in gaming and far too much on my plate as well, I'm playing Puzzle Quest on the side, I'm still in the middle of a game on both Wild Arms 1 and 4 and my Backlog keeps building, Innocent Life and Code Age Commanders are next in line. All that makes for slow going, so this probably wasn't a good time to jump into a series that has a reputation for being incredibly time consuming.
Well now then, It's weird to think it's been almost two years since I last posted one of these trivial and entirely irrelevant blogs, ne? Okay so perhaps it's not that weird and is only a reflection of my utter lack of motivation, and complete laziness, as well as the fact that I just don't care. Anyhow, todays blog will be divided into several sections first:
GameSpot Hates Importers.
So apparently GameSpot is oblivious to the fact that some people Import and/or live in other countries. I recently went on an importing binge, not the least healthy way to blow your cash I suppose I could think of worse. Anyhow the haul include Code Age Commanders, The Onechanbara 2, The Maid Fuku to Kikanjuu, and Ururun Quest, among others. However guess who can't add them to his game collection here? It's not too big a concern or anything, but I'd assumed they would've taken that into account for those of us who enjoy the esoteric. But then again nobody ever thinks of the minorities (discrimination?). The games are all pretty sweet, though I haven't gotten into some of them (CAC + Ururun) as I'd like to improve my Nihongo drastically before I commit to a full scale RPG (anyone wanna offer some assistance?). I've been diggin' the Simple 2000 series quite a bit, I didn't really expect them to be that great, I just got them because the concepts were quite possibly the best I'd ever heard, eg.
The Onechanbara 2, You take control of a young woman in a cowboy hat and a bikini (and little else), along with your school girl little sister, you go on a Zombie slaughtering rampage with little more than a sword and some throwing Knives. Tell me that ain't just the greatest concept you ever heard, and I'll call your bluff. They're making a film based on it now, and I have every intention of importing that too. I've already spent probably close to 20 hours on this awesome game. It may be simple, but that makes it no less fantastic to me.
Next up The Maid Fuku to Kikanjuu, or in other words (correct me if I'm wrong) The Maid Clothes and Machinegun. Essentially you play as a robot Maid with a Machinegun and a sword at your disposal, brilliant.
As far as the others Code Age Commanders probably sounds familiar to the RPG community a Square Enix game that will likely never see a localization here in the US. It was at one point my most anticipated release, due in large part to the fantastic Art Style and Character design. Next Ururun Quest an RPG targeted and designed specifically for girls, now why then did I a heterosexual male think this game would be fantastic? I don't know. I'm not really concerned with how others perceive it, but I thought it might be fun to play an RPG from the perspective of a woman, the closest I've ever played was Rhapsody which I rather enjoyed. Anyhow it's a cross between a Dating Sim and an RPG, from what I'm told it leans more toward RPG, which is how I generally prefer my Date Sim/RPG games. I might write up some reviews eventually.
Most of these games have a page here on GameSpot, so if you wants to see pretty screenshots and what have you, you won't have to wander to far. BTW GameFAQs, (GameSpots better half) features all the games mentioned, however not all have screens.
Music
I'll be brief in this section, stick to the facts you know. I'll list some of my best finds over the last two years.
A Fistful of Dynamite - Buck Wild (Folk Punk)
Joshua Bell - Voice of the Violin (Classical)
Crippled Black Phoenix - A Love of Shared Disasters (Post-Rock)
I Have Dreams - Demo (Emo)
I Would Set Myself on Fire For You - Believes in Patterns (Emo)
Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter - Reckless Burning (Alt-Country)
Low - I Could Live in Hope (Slowcore)
Men as Trees - Six Waves In (Post-Rock/Emo)
Arvo Pärt - Alina (Minimalist)
Slap Happy Humphrey - Slap Happy Humphrey (Acid Folk/Noise)
Tenjo Sajiki - Shintokumaru (Prog/Rock Opera)
Nihongo Sensei wa Hoshiidesu.
As is likely evident by the attempt at a sentence above, I need assistance in learning Japanese. I'm currently half way through the Pimsluer method of audio lessons, as well I'm using the Rosetta Stone program, and various online sources. However there is only so much self teaching can accomplish and I can't really afford classes or anything of that nature (even if I could I wouldn't know where to look.) Anyhow I'm just looking for some assistance, if anyone wants to offer to teach a newbie. Even if you aren't completely fluent, I just need some conversations or interactions (if not spoken, maybe written in Hiragana/Katakana, as my Kanji is pathetic). Anyhow just post some comments if you're interested.
I just got back from MDF a short while ago. It was a hell of a way to spend the weekend. However this was more than just a concert to me. It marks the end of an era, a grand finalé to my love of Death Metal. Honestly I've been into DM for around 6 years or so now, and I've been drifting further and further away from it lately. It's time to close that chapter of my life, to strangle the last life out of my former Metalhead. I don't know how much longer I can even enjoy Death Metal, I'll always love my favorite finds from years past; Demilich, Necrophagist, Lykathea Aflame, Arghoslent, Edge of Sanity, Ect. However I have no further interest in it. So I figured a two day fest jam packed with some of the best out there would be a good way to say farewell to my fateful friend. I'm sure you couldn't care less, but I thought I'd throw that out there. On to my thoughts on the event, now.
We flew out on Friday morning. It was a nice flight, my first. After my airtravel virginity was taken, we wasted the night doing nothing of note. Saturday came quite quickly, and we (My Girlfriend, Little Brother and I) headed to the venue. It was a mid-size venue, not the biggest I've been to, but far from the smallest. A couple hundred lookalike patrons crowded in, creating a sweaty, smelly, dark crowd. I made a conscious decision to not wear a band tee on Saturday, I wore a rather nice blue button-up dress shirt, that I'm rather fond of, and some black dress pants I randomly grabbed. I ended up wearing my Demilich Tee and some Khakis on Sunday though. There were a ****load of vendors that I only briefly sifted through, before the first band took stage. Embryonic Cryptopathia. They were nothing special.
In fact most of the bands were nothing special, still I tried to repress my overly-critical inner critic and just enjoy the generic artists. Which I think worked in my favor. All in all there were 32 bands on the bill, One (Mesrine) dropped off at the last moment, another (Alarum) we skipped for multiple reasons. So in total I heard/saw 30 of the bands. The Best in Show would go to Demilich, followed by Unholy Grave and Anata. Necrophagist would be up there too, since they played a damn fine set, and they did it almost perfect. However sound issues ****ed the whole thing up. Muhammed's guitar was too loud while Sami's guitar was too low. The bass was often too loud as well. The thing that totally ****ed it though, was this loud piercing feedback noise that dominated the last few songs to the point that I had to plug my ears in pain. Demilich's set however went off without a hitch. To say the very least they were the ****! I've waited over a year (since they announced they were planning tour dates) for that, and I wasn't disappointed. They ended up playing most of Nespithe. I got to talk to Antti Boman, on Sunday. Being the Complete Social Failure I am it really didn't amount to much other than me making a fool of myself.
Some of the big surprises for me were, first and foremost Unholy Grave, as well as Anata, Embalmer, and Butcher ABC. Unholy Grave were ****ing awesome. They were relentless, they didn't stop for even a second of their 30(?) minute set. They were full of energy and kept the audience completely enraptured. I'd heard of them a thousand times, but for some stupid reason never looked into them. I probably will be looking into them soon now. As for Anata, I'd heard Under a Stone With No Inscription before and really didn't think too much of it, but they put on a hell of a show. Going along with the theory that most bands are better live. As for Embalmer, I was just impressed, kick ass (although Generic) Death Metal, I might look into their work as their discography seems to be rather small. I know I said I was done with DM, but I think I'll always be checking out releases here and there as the fancy strikes me. The thing with Butcher ABC is that I was expecting them to totally blow, but they were actually among the better bands there, that's all.
Now onto the Bad, The worst band there, Municipal Waste. I wanted to cry, I'm sorry, I can't stand Punk, but even more so I can't stand Crossover. My ears were ready to bleed. Also sucking were Catheter (from my homestate of Colorado), Sanitys Dawn, Machetazo, Total ****ing Destruction, and Sayyadina. Also Vital Remains were horrible live, I knew they were mediocre on their albums, but live they were in a whole new league of worthless. My little brother hated Rompeprop also, but I think that's just cause of the Pitch-shifter vocals. Posers. Real Growls are where it's at. I won't go into why these bands suck, I prefer to focus on the positives of the weekend.
I managed to pick up 6 free CDs, and I bought 2 from some vendors. Firstly I bought November Doom - To Welcome the Fade, I've been addicted to this album for some time now, and was planning to buy it anyway. Secondly I picked up Mournful Congregations double disk release The Dawning of Mournful Hymns. Yep, that's right I bought two Doom releases at a Deathfest, go figure. I guess that's why I'm abandoning DM. As for the free CDs I got a compilation from Obscene Productions that's pretty sweet, and Demonicon - Bloodlust which I think I heard a long time ago, but I'm not sure of. The rest were random samplers and demos/promos that really aren't worth mentioning, if you really want to know what/who they were, leave a comment. Anyhow, sometime late on Sunday the Cops told us we couldn't leave and re-enter the venue anymore. So we were stuck in that small, sweaty, hot room, standing. Me and my Bro'd been standing through Unholy Grave and Cattle Decapitation (who suck btw) just so we could be close to the stage for the Necrophagist set. So that news was bad news, where were we to rest our feet? At the end of the night both our ankles were ****ed. We had a painful time walking back to the hotel I'll tell you that much. My brothers ankles were swollen as hell, mine was more in my right ankle and less severe. ****ing pigs, so inconsiderate.
That was it, that was my weekend, my big, and ****ing expensive, farewell to my old friend. I had a great time, despite all the trivial little personal **** that went down. If you're interested in any of the band I mentioned or any of the ones I didn't head over to http://www.supremebrutality.com/fest/. You'll find info on the event and links to all the bands personal pages.
