Concerto Gate: Square-Enix's Foray into Free MMOs

Sexism in RPGs Exhibit 1: Girl is always the healer

It looks like Square-Enix have grown tired of its online cash-cow(?) FFXI and instead are venturing into something a little... cutesier. Except this time around, you don't have to pay the $11-15 a month. Yep, this MMORPG is completely free with the big-wigs banking on the fact that our impatient gaming senses will lure us into giving up the cash via microtransaction deals.

Concerto Gate takes place in the fantasy kingdom of Fahren to where you are transported and as one of the unlucky "heroes" that is totally rejected by the king, is forced to make a living in said magical land.

According to the preview at 1up.com, it looks like there are 15 job classes so far, split into four umbrella categories of combat, craftsman, gatherer, and special. The most interesting thing about this game seems to be its unorthodox treatment of the classes' roles: instead of having to grind your way to the top through combat regardless of your class, you can choose to chop wood for success.

So if you like fighting you can choose to be a combat class, but if cooking (chef) or drug-dealin' (pharmacist) is more up your alley, you can choose to be a class solely devoted to those skills. Depending on the class you choose, you might never need to kill a flan to advance. Every class seems to depend on each other, however, as combat classes need to rely on craftsman classes for equipment, who in turn rely on gatherers for materials, etc. No idea on what the "special" classes do yet... bonus points for Squeenix if they add Holy Swordsman as a class a la Final Fantasy Tactics.

Character creation in Concerto Gate... wait, are those my boxers?!

This unique job system seemingly allows for a robust in-game economy consisting of players who gather materials to trade for weapons made by craftsmen used by fighters! Essentially, it's the professions system in WoW... except that's the entire game.

The game seems like it could be pretty entertaining so I'll probably try it out when, and I'd definitely be up for some sweet online dealing-on-the-dark-corners.

Check out the link for more screenshots and the official preview from 1up.
[All pics and info from 1up.com]

Back from a Coma with Some Stealth Action

"Damn You Wal-Mart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yes, your eyes fool you not; I have actually made my first post since October 17, 2007 (lulwut?!). For the few of you who may have stumbled onto this blog (none?) and shed a tear for yet another abandoned blog on the internets, I spit at your piteous mourning, because second semester was an unrelenting binatch. Luckily, that nightmare is over and for a lack of anything better to do at work, I am stealthily typing away regardless of whether or not anybody is still out there.

Speaking of stealthy, I finally broke down and bought myself a PS3 along with the recently-released Metal Gear Solid 4 with the moneys I've been making at work writing blog posts writing software with an obsolete language (you guys remember VB6?). As satisfied with it as I am now, the process of getting said bundle was a unbelievable pain in the bum.

Commence my story of getting this blasted bundle. I was actually waiting to buy this a couple months prior to the actual release week and I knew if I was getting ready only a couple months before the release, fanboys all across the country were twitching with credit cards in hand to get their hands on the bundle the moment it was announced last year. Knowing this, I made a reminder on my phone about the midnight release date last Thursday and proceeded to Google map my route to the nearest Wal-Mart, which ended up being an hour from where I lived.

Another thing was that I had to find a 24-hour Wal-Mart, because hell if I'm waking up at 4:00AM and staying awake at work for 9 hours. LULWUT to that one.

Before you start cursing me for selling my soul to the enemy of hard-working wage-earners everywhere, you have to know that Wal-Mart was the only place handing out $100 gift cards with the purchase of the MGS4+PS3. Call me a sell-out, but $100 is a LOT of money for a poor college student like me... which made me think twice about shelling about $500 just so I could play MGS4 and FFXIII, but then my gaming instincts kicked me in the groin and called me something nasty.

The problem was that I'd been reading online about the launch and how many they were going to have in stock, etc. etc. and the general consensus had been that there would be around 20-30 units shipped to each Wal-Mart on average. I felt pretty confident I would get one if I set out early and so I drove for an hour and arrived 3 hours before midnight, pretty good for an amateur of midnight releases, right? Apparently, NO, according to Wal-Mart, who had 6 (SIX? ROKU? SEIS? SINGLE DIGIT NUMBER??!?) units available for purchase at midnight. And even though there were only 12 people in line, because of this disgusting lack of supply, I wouldn't have been able to get one. Luckily, the guy I talked to told me this before I actually stood in line so I didn't have to wait three hours for nothing, but still I felt cheated.
Possible options ran through my head: was this a fluke at one Wal-Mart location? Should I wait in the morning to go to a non-24-hour store and see if they had one in stock? The internets said 20-30 units, was it all a GIANT CONSPIRACY??!

After the initial freaking out over nothing, I drove back down to my local GameStop to see if they had any more in stock. As I expected, there were more people, especially since it was only about 1.5 hours till the launch, but after checking with the clerk in charge (and getting dirty looks from people who thought I was going to cut them) I found out that they had 5 units in stock...

Literally 17% of Wal-Mart's stock of PS3 bundles... Marketing Genius

At this point, I felt pretty defeated by life and beat myself up for not just pre-ordering on Amazon like I originally planned in lieu of getting the midnight-launch experience. But then... I got a phone call from my good-ol' Dad asking me about the launch. Which is funny because video games to my Dad is like physical exertion to me as in the two NEVER come near each other, but I suppose it was fate that I told him about it the day before and he remembered that I told him I was going to stand in line for three hours to get a video game (system), to which he told me he had failed in raising a son who wasn't retarded (in a fatherly way).

So, after some begging, my Dad drove down to the nearest Wal-Mart in Littleton and found out they too only had 6 units to sell. But even though it was only 30-minutes to launch back in the CO, he was the sixth person in line... I was like OMGWTF, God indeed loves me. Apparently, there are no gamers in Colorado, or more likely, they are only lazy gamers in Colorado because a bunch more showed up after my Dad before midnight.

In the end, I did get my bundle, and I'm VERY glad I decided not to go to Kojima-san's launch party in Hollywood, but the sucky part is that I have to wait to play the game for another couple weeks until my internship's over and I go back home. Moral of the story: you are never too old to ask your parents for stuff. Now let's see if I can keep from watching any spoilers for the next couple weeks... T_T

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Quantum Giga Drill Breaker the Heavens

School Days 11/12 - More like Pimp Days

Psycho-Mode Katsura is a good thing. Trust me

I really don't care if this series is a train-wreck, because it's one of the most fantastic train-wrecks I have ever witnessed. Although I'm still pissed off Makoto didn't die of AIDS, which would've been the ideal case, imho, I'm glad how everything seemed to have wrapped up.

Let's all welcome the two newest members of the I'm-a-Giant-Slut Club

I actually hate myself for ever thinking Makoto was a human being. I mean, I can
understand the studio wanting to build up the suspense by playing out a separate ending before the actual ending, but in the context of Mama Sekai, it just made me hate Makoto more.

And he took 7 episodes to realize that he's an asshole... wow, just wow.

The end of 11 scared me a bit though... besides Makoto never making any sense in what he does, the whole reunion scene made me think everything might turn out to be okay for our illegitimate father... but thank God I was wrong.

Bad people bleed black, I thought everyone knew that

One alternate ending I might have enjoyed just as much would've been if Makoto Jr. grew up with the heart his father never had and Giga Drill Breaker'd his papa to another dimension. However, I found the reality very satisfying.

Gives Itachi a run for his money...

YES! Psycho-mode Katsura is always a good sign. Doesn't she kinda give off an Akatsuki vibe in that picture? Or am I just wanting Naruto to end too much?

+10 Speed??!! WTF H4XXX!!!?!!?

It's sad that the fight didn't last longer, it would've been so epic. And I wish one of them dual-wielded, that would've been pretty sweet too. And did anyone else notice Katsura's wicked speed boost? I thought Sekai leveled up from killing Makoto, but I guess she's no match for 1337-gear Katsura. Also, the "Oh Shit" look on Sekai's face is classic, but not as classic as...

Hey, that bag looks pretty cool, I wonder what's in it.... Oh... Snap...

And this is only 1 of 3 disturbing images for today's School Days episode, the last two to follow soon... I still can't understand why "compartmentalizing" her lover's body would do her any good, but I mean... she's insane, I guess... She must be pretty strong too for lugging that bag up to the freaking roof... anyway...

I guess that's the fast method for a c-section... but seriously WTF?

And if this doesn't take the cake for Most-Disturbing-Scene in an Anime award, this next one is a shoo-in.

I guess it's kinda sweet in a sick, twisted kind of way (DOUBLE WTFOMG??!)

I feel soooo bad for Kokoro, she might be the sole victim in this ridiculous show, but how can she not tell how PSYCHOTIC her sister is? Well, I wonder if Katsura will hold that head until it decays ala Faulkner or leash it so she could drag it around with her...

Despite nobody being sane and the main character being the biggest douche alive, I really enjoyed trudging through this show, and I'm especially amazed at how much it made me hate one character. I think one lesson we can take away from this show is to never go for the harem ending unless your ready for the pwnage, aka don't bone and disown.

Hayate no Gotoku! 22 - Maria == HOT

Proof that even fishing can be sexy with the right presentation

I love this show. I love Maria. I love the parodies. I love Maria. Almost halfway there, but still no plot development, but I don't really care, because every time I watch this show, it just makes me happy.
This time around, Nagi drags Hayate to go fishing with her after reading some Sanpei, after which some more hilarious misunderstandings occur.

One weird thing is how much Nagi reminds me of myself, it freaks me out. I mean, when I was a kid I used to read all sorts of manga and get obsessed with whatever I had read about an hour ago. I seriously think my childhood aspirations were directly related to which manga I was reading that week... oh, wait... I still do that.
Anyway, it turns out Maria pwns at fishing, too (surprise!), which is actually strangely attractive... the thing I still don't understand, though, is if Maria is so freaking smart and good at EVERYTHING, why is she a MAID? Of all the things she could possibly do? Especially for Nagi. I'm guessing there's some back-story to how this came to be, but if there isn't, I wouldn't be too shocked considering this is an anime about a combat butler.

Omega-Kawaii~

I always love trying to see how many references I can point out. Usually I miss only a couple (yes, yes, even I cannot catch every parody...), but this episode was particularly easy. BTW, I could totally see Maria cosplaying Mikuru during her free time, and I'd have to say Nagi = Danchou, Isumi = Yuki, Hayate = Kyon (kinda forced), Tama = Itsuki (LOL), and Sakuya = Tsuruya. Oh! and Hinagiku as Asakura ftw.

I love you Shin... I mean, Hayate

You gotta love Tama as Kaworu, though Klaus would've been an equally hilarious alternative. Hayate as Shinji doesn't really cut it, however. Hayate is definitely missing the whole "I'm-so-emo-I-could-turn-into-LCL" attitude. In fact, Hayate is probably the antithesis of Shinji, but no matter, it was funny nonetheless.

I'm glad to see the Hayate-Maria relationship developing a little more, because it fools me into thinking that there will be a hint of a serious plot arc coming our way. I guess adding actual romance into Hayate would be kinda weird though.

Saitoouuu!!!!!!!! K-k-kono B-bb-baka Inuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nagi's reactions to anything Hayate does is awesome. Especially when she thinks he's "cheating" on her. Snap, Naruto's Kyubi-form has nothing against Super Nagi-jin 5. And did anyone else detect a little Louise in Nagi's reaction to Hayate and Maria's "awkward moment"? Sometimes I think Kugimiya Rie has a universal voice that she uses for every tsundere character she plays, which is like 90% of all the roles she plays. Not that I'm against it, Kugimiya-san is seriously one of my favorite seiyuu's. Plus with her coming back with her best role ever this season, I guess Hayate and Zero no Tsukaima will have to hold me off until Shakugan no Shana II airs.