April 6th, 2013
Aku no Hana
Anime Relations: Aku no Hana
Aku no Hana, a new anime series this season that caused a huge ruckus among the anime community because it did not quite fit the style of what they are looking for. Or is it because there is a huge contrast between the anime and the manga? The animation style as it comes to a surprise, really hits the nerves of people who are actually not used to this style of animation. Or maybe not, because whatever the studio in charge of the anime is thinking, probably has poor marketing skills because they did not target the correct audience for this show.
Of course, there are obvious signs that the animation is very flawed, not because it used a different style per se but rather I would have to say that the animators are just trying to do some rotoscoping. Unfortunately they failed in some sort of way, because if they did not fail then people would not complain about how awful the anime is. I think there are clues that the misuse of rotoscoping is a huge issue in this case, because from my experience on watching the first episode, I actually felt dizzy during that scene when there show different perspectives as the main protagonist walks to school.
It is obvious that there is no way that people would be turned off by the anime because it is drawn realistically. Kuuchuu Buranko is one example that used realism and funnily enough turns out to be quite a good show on average according to the MAL users here (using this site is a bad example for statistics but if you could see a gap between the two of these anime, well I see no harm). Realism is not a good excuse to dismiss an anime, because anime itself is based on realism. In fact, if you see a character drawn badly because of its improper proportions, chances are you would probably drop it. Because they would not be beautiful, they would just look deformed and you would just find the character ugly.
Perhaps, you might still be convinced that realism does affect the quality of this anime. It actually does, because what I am emphasising is not the technique used in making the anime but rather how the technique is used to make it more appropriate. I will give you an example. Imagine that you are cooking exotic Madagascar cuisine because it is delicious and no one ever knows what Madagascar cuisine is. You try cooking it however if you do not really know the basics of cooking and you never had actually researched the ingredients before, it will taste bad because you do not have enough proficiency to cook that specific cuisine you are looking for.
Same applies to this show unfortunately, because had they actually researched the demographic that was interested in reading this series, then they would not risk experimenting this sort of technique in the first place and would probably avoided public execution. Again there is a huge significant difference between the style used in the original work itself and the style that is used in the anime, which somehow the characters in the manga look more refined and young while the show features these schoolchildren as ugly freaks because they do not really look as young as their own manga counterpart.
The story does serve its purpose of whether to used that particular animation style or not and it is very crucial because then you would know what type of appropriate demographic you are looking at. Especially when this story is just your typical teenage romantic noir series, this does appeal to younger people and when you apply realism to a show that appeals to these type of people, you just know it will not work out as you would expected it to be. It does have a slow pacing to begin with, the sounds fit within the nature of the series and this had the potential to become great. They are missing elements in the adaptation because they are not really consistent because of their animation style. Aku no Hana relies on beauty to encourage sinning to come to the other side of the world. Frankly, if they made their characters ugly to their targeted demographic, that would just ruin the whole aspect of the story to begin with.
Aku no Hana is not a bad series, though it is not necessarily good either. To be honest, despite the misuse of techniques used in this show, I got through it fine and I am pretty sure it is not the worst anime as people make it out to be. However what gets me is that people complaining about people who criticises this anime as people who watch moe or shows that has cute girls in it. That is incredibly wrong, a person who enjoyed watching shows that apply realism to it would find the animation techniques not very appropriate for this kind of series. They would understand that if it was a show that had mature themes then maybe yes, it is appropriate for them to use this animation style like Kuchuu Buranko as previously mentioned. This show is for teenagers despite its dark sexual themes and it does not have to be moe to portray the characters beauty, but there have to be consistent animation that the characters itself must look beautiful to make the whole plot within the series work.
Of course, there are obvious signs that the animation is very flawed, not because it used a different style per se but rather I would have to say that the animators are just trying to do some rotoscoping. Unfortunately they failed in some sort of way, because if they did not fail then people would not complain about how awful the anime is. I think there are clues that the misuse of rotoscoping is a huge issue in this case, because from my experience on watching the first episode, I actually felt dizzy during that scene when there show different perspectives as the main protagonist walks to school.
It is obvious that there is no way that people would be turned off by the anime because it is drawn realistically. Kuuchuu Buranko is one example that used realism and funnily enough turns out to be quite a good show on average according to the MAL users here (using this site is a bad example for statistics but if you could see a gap between the two of these anime, well I see no harm). Realism is not a good excuse to dismiss an anime, because anime itself is based on realism. In fact, if you see a character drawn badly because of its improper proportions, chances are you would probably drop it. Because they would not be beautiful, they would just look deformed and you would just find the character ugly.
Perhaps, you might still be convinced that realism does affect the quality of this anime. It actually does, because what I am emphasising is not the technique used in making the anime but rather how the technique is used to make it more appropriate. I will give you an example. Imagine that you are cooking exotic Madagascar cuisine because it is delicious and no one ever knows what Madagascar cuisine is. You try cooking it however if you do not really know the basics of cooking and you never had actually researched the ingredients before, it will taste bad because you do not have enough proficiency to cook that specific cuisine you are looking for.
Same applies to this show unfortunately, because had they actually researched the demographic that was interested in reading this series, then they would not risk experimenting this sort of technique in the first place and would probably avoided public execution. Again there is a huge significant difference between the style used in the original work itself and the style that is used in the anime, which somehow the characters in the manga look more refined and young while the show features these schoolchildren as ugly freaks because they do not really look as young as their own manga counterpart.
The story does serve its purpose of whether to used that particular animation style or not and it is very crucial because then you would know what type of appropriate demographic you are looking at. Especially when this story is just your typical teenage romantic noir series, this does appeal to younger people and when you apply realism to a show that appeals to these type of people, you just know it will not work out as you would expected it to be. It does have a slow pacing to begin with, the sounds fit within the nature of the series and this had the potential to become great. They are missing elements in the adaptation because they are not really consistent because of their animation style. Aku no Hana relies on beauty to encourage sinning to come to the other side of the world. Frankly, if they made their characters ugly to their targeted demographic, that would just ruin the whole aspect of the story to begin with.
Aku no Hana is not a bad series, though it is not necessarily good either. To be honest, despite the misuse of techniques used in this show, I got through it fine and I am pretty sure it is not the worst anime as people make it out to be. However what gets me is that people complaining about people who criticises this anime as people who watch moe or shows that has cute girls in it. That is incredibly wrong, a person who enjoyed watching shows that apply realism to it would find the animation techniques not very appropriate for this kind of series. They would understand that if it was a show that had mature themes then maybe yes, it is appropriate for them to use this animation style like Kuchuu Buranko as previously mentioned. This show is for teenagers despite its dark sexual themes and it does not have to be moe to portray the characters beauty, but there have to be consistent animation that the characters itself must look beautiful to make the whole plot within the series work.
Posted by IoriMinase | 04-06-13, 5:25 PM | 2 comments
March 22nd, 2013
Policies and sense
Anime Relations: Black Jack
It is quite interesting when people are highlighting the importance of evidence to strengthen whatever argument you are going to make. Imagine when people spread a rumour and someone would whisper to your ear and went 'that guy is dumb, don't touch him or his dumb germs would infect you'. Those without critical thinking would be naive enough to fall for it and would become prejudicial so that whenever that person meets that 'dumb' person, that person would avoid him (because he would be dumb if he is 'exposed' to the person for a particular amount of time) and eventually would never understand deep down what the 'dumb' person would be.
Adhering to the whatever community you fit in and not thinking for yourself, makes you into a sheep that is already lured into the wolf's lair of being chopped into meat and sold to the butcher shops. You would need to think for yourself and present yourself with a question that could assure you a logical answer. Is it appropriate enough as an answer? Is it possible that there are actually flaws within the answer? Why do people follow hearsay when in fact the truth should already be found in the evidence?
What is evidence anyway?
You might encounter in statistics where research is already done in a couple of experiments , where there are lots of styles for whipping up a study and to prove that the results of the study is not made from gobbledegook, peers would review other people studies and see if there are any faults within them that the researchers could improve based on their reviews.
That is what evidence came from, that is how you know why people could fly in the sky, why people could swim and what absurd mixture of chemical compounds would cause a person to commit a crime. You are probably told that smoking is bad for you, drinking fucks up your live and doing drugs moderately to get high is probably a good idea to spend a weekend. Am I right? (Not that I was right about doing drugs though, not all evidence is proven to be true, as we get all this gritty experimental errors, compounding variables and all of this awful bias if it is the wrong type of study appropriate for the case)
Now here is when things get complicated. The ethical side to things. That one decision where because some of Americans are traditional conservatives and that they believe in some book that using contraceptives are the bad evil things delivered by Satan/Lucifer/what have you to kill many innocent children who died as a sperm and that abortion is a bad bad thing to do. Well that is wrong to force your beliefs upon others that you have to do the deciding for them. Having a contraceptive is simple but when we have a decision that could impact on the lives that could have been saved, this is when this matter gets serious.
Let's take an abstract from this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JVOHgCFd-Q) for example. Our pal Carl Sagan here states ''It seems madness to say we are worried that they are going to become addicted to marijuana that there is NO EVIDENCE whatever that this is an addictive drug but even if they were, these people ARE dying what are we saving them from? That is an example of a highly IRRATIONAL fiscal government position on some parts of drugs."
Note that evidence was highlighted in his statement, where you cannot really ban things just because oh 'MARIJUANA IS BAD FOR YOU, IT KILLS' but in reality, there are not enough studies just to confirm whether a patient is addicted to marijuana if it were to be used in moderation (who knows, there are potential studies where it measures the addiction rates of patients using it but do keep in mind the video was made years ago). It is vital that decisions that could affect population at a large scale are not something relative to the footnote in the video above and instead of punishing people just because the rule of not providing marijuana to anybody else was already deeply inserted into the wounds of the law. Being a deontologist is alright if you have to follow your own set of standards because of your own beliefs but if it results in the actions of harming others, please, step away from whatever profession that is filled with life-threatening decisions and find another job that does not involve ethical principles because seriously, you would save yourself some negligence bills and lessons on how to avoid professional misconduct.
In the end, we all know that evidence is a strong method of presenting yourself in an argument, yes? What the government should focus on is not following whatever the demographic is based on but to actually follow on studies that are double blinded RCTs (oh okay, you got me, peer-reviewed articles that strongly supports the notion as a result of many of these double blinded RCTs), that logically fits within ethical principles and they ensure that they do not based all their entire evidence on hearsays to start a policy. It does not make sense if the policies are not reformed enough when the real focus is based on spending all the money on criminal justice rather than looking critically within the issue itself and provide another alternative answer.
Adhering to the whatever community you fit in and not thinking for yourself, makes you into a sheep that is already lured into the wolf's lair of being chopped into meat and sold to the butcher shops. You would need to think for yourself and present yourself with a question that could assure you a logical answer. Is it appropriate enough as an answer? Is it possible that there are actually flaws within the answer? Why do people follow hearsay when in fact the truth should already be found in the evidence?
What is evidence anyway?
You might encounter in statistics where research is already done in a couple of experiments , where there are lots of styles for whipping up a study and to prove that the results of the study is not made from gobbledegook, peers would review other people studies and see if there are any faults within them that the researchers could improve based on their reviews.
That is what evidence came from, that is how you know why people could fly in the sky, why people could swim and what absurd mixture of chemical compounds would cause a person to commit a crime. You are probably told that smoking is bad for you, drinking fucks up your live and doing drugs moderately to get high is probably a good idea to spend a weekend. Am I right? (Not that I was right about doing drugs though, not all evidence is proven to be true, as we get all this gritty experimental errors, compounding variables and all of this awful bias if it is the wrong type of study appropriate for the case)
Now here is when things get complicated. The ethical side to things. That one decision where because some of Americans are traditional conservatives and that they believe in some book that using contraceptives are the bad evil things delivered by Satan/Lucifer/what have you to kill many innocent children who died as a sperm and that abortion is a bad bad thing to do. Well that is wrong to force your beliefs upon others that you have to do the deciding for them. Having a contraceptive is simple but when we have a decision that could impact on the lives that could have been saved, this is when this matter gets serious.
Let's take an abstract from this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JVOHgCFd-Q) for example. Our pal Carl Sagan here states ''It seems madness to say we are worried that they are going to become addicted to marijuana that there is NO EVIDENCE whatever that this is an addictive drug but even if they were, these people ARE dying what are we saving them from? That is an example of a highly IRRATIONAL fiscal government position on some parts of drugs."
Note that evidence was highlighted in his statement, where you cannot really ban things just because oh 'MARIJUANA IS BAD FOR YOU, IT KILLS' but in reality, there are not enough studies just to confirm whether a patient is addicted to marijuana if it were to be used in moderation (who knows, there are potential studies where it measures the addiction rates of patients using it but do keep in mind the video was made years ago). It is vital that decisions that could affect population at a large scale are not something relative to the footnote in the video above and instead of punishing people just because the rule of not providing marijuana to anybody else was already deeply inserted into the wounds of the law. Being a deontologist is alright if you have to follow your own set of standards because of your own beliefs but if it results in the actions of harming others, please, step away from whatever profession that is filled with life-threatening decisions and find another job that does not involve ethical principles because seriously, you would save yourself some negligence bills and lessons on how to avoid professional misconduct.
In the end, we all know that evidence is a strong method of presenting yourself in an argument, yes? What the government should focus on is not following whatever the demographic is based on but to actually follow on studies that are double blinded RCTs (oh okay, you got me, peer-reviewed articles that strongly supports the notion as a result of many of these double blinded RCTs), that logically fits within ethical principles and they ensure that they do not based all their entire evidence on hearsays to start a policy. It does not make sense if the policies are not reformed enough when the real focus is based on spending all the money on criminal justice rather than looking critically within the issue itself and provide another alternative answer.
Posted by IoriMinase | 03-22-13, 11:55 PM | 0 comments
January 31st, 2013
/@/ in a total nutshell
Anime Relations: iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia
Posted by IoriMinase | 01-31-13, 4:43 AM | 0 comments
Shitty shounen fanfiction 1
Anime Relations: The iDOLM@STER: Shiny Festa
My name is Iori and I am a member of 765 productions. All of my friends in the 765 productions had died an awful death under the evil organisation 'Cinderella Girls'. It was a tragic event for me to bear as I lost my best friend Takatsuki Yayoi to that huge ass bitch Moroboshi Kirari... Having a friend died under the hands of an ugly giant is much worse than reading that sequel fanwork 'I am sorry, Yayoi' because at least she lives in that one.
But it had to happen. I somehow survived that day back then but I am not sure what I do then. The idol scene has transformed itself into a blazing hell of death and torture which whenever an idol loses, her life would be gone... forever. The members of the 765 production has no chance against the new elite 'Cinderella Girls' and I had barely even survived the last audition.
The last audition was when I ripped Anzu into pieces and she laid there with her coldless eyes. She was shivering intensely and that poor soul of her glanced at me as she expects me to spare her life. Not a fat chance after what you did to Takane. Strangling her while she attempts to blast me back with her generic Touhou NEET anthem of /jp/, it was a very long battle.
Anzu must die. She must die for imitating Miki and assassinating her that way. Who knows how many lives has been lost to her. But I could not stand it and I painfully torture her to show her who is the boss of this industry. I am the best idol and I shall avenge for my friends using my super celebrity skills. After all, I cannot waste my life after my Producer sacrificed himself to save me from the mighty Kirari. I was crying all night over his dead body. His mangled decapitated head seemed lifeless but from seeing his head, I knew he loved me and he did everything for me to survive.
But now it had to resort to this. A battle with one of my worst nemesis ever. Moroboshi Kirari, an idol that should deserve a fate worse than death. One must win the battle to progress to win the Idol Ultimate Championship and now only the idols worthy in strength may become the Legendary Idol Princess, a title that is to be remembered for several generations. I must win to this avenge for all my friends yet I have to end up fighting with a rabid dog that is brutally relentless. I know I am able to pull it off but when should I use my last resort? I have nothing against this mighty beast...
"ARE YOU HAPPY?!" Kirari yelled.
"It's time for you to die," I said. "Your Nyowa corporation will now fall into pieces."
"NYOHOI! YOU NOT BEAT ME! YOU DIE! I AM TRUE PRINCESS"
Kirari had set her fighting stance and set her theme song to 'Marshmallow Lesbians'. Her techniques relies on being too huge and then stomping them flat after she baits them into lesbian love with her marshmallows. I know this because I witnessed Yayoi's death from stage and I must analyse Kirari from dying such a horrible death. Preparation is the key. I got this.
"MARSHMALLOW IS LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE."
There she comes with her marshmallows. And I hate marshmallows.
"WANT ONE?!"
Her stupidity never fades away, right?
"GOOD, INSTANT FORCE CHOKE! BE HAPPY, NYOWA~!"
She lunged herself at me, trying to shove that disgusting marshmallow of her down my throat. But by then, I dodged and sidestep her lunge. She stood there and wondered how she misses but knowing her movements, I knew the moment when I had to dodged her attack. During the time she is figuring what else she could do from there, I had to act fast and end this battle as quickly as I can.
This is when I bit my finger and dropped my blood on the bunny I had since I was a child.
"Don't leave me by, serious and gentleness, toleration and calmness, I want to be blessed by thine powers" I chanted, wishing the process to be faster at least.
"PITIFUL... IORI, TIME FOR FUN FUN ROOMTIME AND BE HAPPY... FOREVER!"
"As the Queen of Visual Idols, I summon thee! Charles Donatello XVIII!"
"USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!"
"Begone, thou wretched knave!"
Suddenly a man with bunny ears with a top hat appeared. He was a tall handsome man, his face truly resembled the face of my Producer.
"My deary Alice," he said as he faced me with his face filled with coolness. "What is thy command?"
"Destroy the giant, my servant! Crush her bon-"
Before I had the chance to finish my command, Kirari appeared out of nowhere and shoved marshmallows down my throat. It tasted bitter and it was disgusting, I could not bare that awful smell that comes from it.
"GAME OVER, BITCH, JOIN ME TIME"
And now. This feeling feels so good every time I see this fluffy girl. I am quite overjoyed now and I feel like-
"Ugh!"
I am now coughing up blood and as Charles stood there doing absolutely nothing, Kirari is going to stab me. I can't even defend myself from her because I am in love with her. I fell under her spell. I guess this is it, this is all over for me. I went all the way here just to die by some stupid giant hands. I want to smile and just get this over with. Kirari is set to finish this competition with her final appeal. Her last signature appeal: an instant kill to those who are already under the notorious spell of Kirari. I can't believe my pride was ruined just in a few seconds, that useless bunny. Now lifeless huh?
"GOODBYE LOSER! TALL IS BEST, I GOOD IN BED!" Kirari snirked.
It was then this moment, where Takatsuki Yayoi just stabbed Kirari.
"When are you under the illusion that I am dead?" Yayoi was smiling giving off her usual vibe.
But it didn't happen. I wish I could just make up a tulpa of myself instead. Not deluding myself that I will be saved from this giant bitch anyway. Because when I looked down, I was stabbed. Bleeding heavily and now Kirari stares at me as if she was interested into me who is now slowly dying under her hand.I had no option to avoid this, Kirari is such a strong opponent. Time to join Producer and be happy with him forever then! I guess this world was always ugly to begin with. Being born to become a idol, die from being an idol.
I somehow went unconcious. Maybe a few minutes I would be dead, at least.
At least.
At least.
At least.
At least.
Then I woke up in a middle of nowhere. I somehow lived for some reason, even if I was stabbed. I am now in some prison, I think, with all the prison bars surrounding my room. Then entered my Charles. Guess he went to me in heaven as well.
"Charles, yahoo!" I yelled out to him.
"You woke up hmm," He spoke in a cool manner but that way of speaking pisses me off.
"Freak!"
"Congratulations, you defeated Moroboshi Kirari," he smiled.
"I defeated?"
"Thanks to your summoning, witnessing your pseudo-death was quite entertaining."
I had no reaction to respond to this. Is he kinda of a sadist to watch me die so cruefully! That idiot, I knew I shouldn't have summoned him in the first place. I wanted to get rid of my bunny but I was with him for so long now.
But I am truly the best idol. Because I am ready to destroy the next audition while I try to figure out how to get out of this nasty place.
But it had to happen. I somehow survived that day back then but I am not sure what I do then. The idol scene has transformed itself into a blazing hell of death and torture which whenever an idol loses, her life would be gone... forever. The members of the 765 production has no chance against the new elite 'Cinderella Girls' and I had barely even survived the last audition.
The last audition was when I ripped Anzu into pieces and she laid there with her coldless eyes. She was shivering intensely and that poor soul of her glanced at me as she expects me to spare her life. Not a fat chance after what you did to Takane. Strangling her while she attempts to blast me back with her generic Touhou NEET anthem of /jp/, it was a very long battle.
Anzu must die. She must die for imitating Miki and assassinating her that way. Who knows how many lives has been lost to her. But I could not stand it and I painfully torture her to show her who is the boss of this industry. I am the best idol and I shall avenge for my friends using my super celebrity skills. After all, I cannot waste my life after my Producer sacrificed himself to save me from the mighty Kirari. I was crying all night over his dead body. His mangled decapitated head seemed lifeless but from seeing his head, I knew he loved me and he did everything for me to survive.
But now it had to resort to this. A battle with one of my worst nemesis ever. Moroboshi Kirari, an idol that should deserve a fate worse than death. One must win the battle to progress to win the Idol Ultimate Championship and now only the idols worthy in strength may become the Legendary Idol Princess, a title that is to be remembered for several generations. I must win to this avenge for all my friends yet I have to end up fighting with a rabid dog that is brutally relentless. I know I am able to pull it off but when should I use my last resort? I have nothing against this mighty beast...
"ARE YOU HAPPY?!" Kirari yelled.
"It's time for you to die," I said. "Your Nyowa corporation will now fall into pieces."
"NYOHOI! YOU NOT BEAT ME! YOU DIE! I AM TRUE PRINCESS"
Kirari had set her fighting stance and set her theme song to 'Marshmallow Lesbians'. Her techniques relies on being too huge and then stomping them flat after she baits them into lesbian love with her marshmallows. I know this because I witnessed Yayoi's death from stage and I must analyse Kirari from dying such a horrible death. Preparation is the key. I got this.
"MARSHMALLOW IS LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE."
There she comes with her marshmallows. And I hate marshmallows.
"WANT ONE?!"
Her stupidity never fades away, right?
"GOOD, INSTANT FORCE CHOKE! BE HAPPY, NYOWA~!"
She lunged herself at me, trying to shove that disgusting marshmallow of her down my throat. But by then, I dodged and sidestep her lunge. She stood there and wondered how she misses but knowing her movements, I knew the moment when I had to dodged her attack. During the time she is figuring what else she could do from there, I had to act fast and end this battle as quickly as I can.
This is when I bit my finger and dropped my blood on the bunny I had since I was a child.
"Don't leave me by, serious and gentleness, toleration and calmness, I want to be blessed by thine powers" I chanted, wishing the process to be faster at least.
"PITIFUL... IORI, TIME FOR FUN FUN ROOMTIME AND BE HAPPY... FOREVER!"
"As the Queen of Visual Idols, I summon thee! Charles Donatello XVIII!"
"USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!"
"Begone, thou wretched knave!"
Suddenly a man with bunny ears with a top hat appeared. He was a tall handsome man, his face truly resembled the face of my Producer.
"My deary Alice," he said as he faced me with his face filled with coolness. "What is thy command?"
"Destroy the giant, my servant! Crush her bon-"
Before I had the chance to finish my command, Kirari appeared out of nowhere and shoved marshmallows down my throat. It tasted bitter and it was disgusting, I could not bare that awful smell that comes from it.
"GAME OVER, BITCH, JOIN ME TIME"
And now. This feeling feels so good every time I see this fluffy girl. I am quite overjoyed now and I feel like-
"Ugh!"
I am now coughing up blood and as Charles stood there doing absolutely nothing, Kirari is going to stab me. I can't even defend myself from her because I am in love with her. I fell under her spell. I guess this is it, this is all over for me. I went all the way here just to die by some stupid giant hands. I want to smile and just get this over with. Kirari is set to finish this competition with her final appeal. Her last signature appeal: an instant kill to those who are already under the notorious spell of Kirari. I can't believe my pride was ruined just in a few seconds, that useless bunny. Now lifeless huh?
"GOODBYE LOSER! TALL IS BEST, I GOOD IN BED!" Kirari snirked.
It was then this moment, where Takatsuki Yayoi just stabbed Kirari.
"When are you under the illusion that I am dead?" Yayoi was smiling giving off her usual vibe.
But it didn't happen. I wish I could just make up a tulpa of myself instead. Not deluding myself that I will be saved from this giant bitch anyway. Because when I looked down, I was stabbed. Bleeding heavily and now Kirari stares at me as if she was interested into me who is now slowly dying under her hand.I had no option to avoid this, Kirari is such a strong opponent. Time to join Producer and be happy with him forever then! I guess this world was always ugly to begin with. Being born to become a idol, die from being an idol.
I somehow went unconcious. Maybe a few minutes I would be dead, at least.
At least.
At least.
At least.
At least.
Then I woke up in a middle of nowhere. I somehow lived for some reason, even if I was stabbed. I am now in some prison, I think, with all the prison bars surrounding my room. Then entered my Charles. Guess he went to me in heaven as well.
"Charles, yahoo!" I yelled out to him.
"You woke up hmm," He spoke in a cool manner but that way of speaking pisses me off.
"Freak!"
"Congratulations, you defeated Moroboshi Kirari," he smiled.
"I defeated?"
"Thanks to your summoning, witnessing your pseudo-death was quite entertaining."
I had no reaction to respond to this. Is he kinda of a sadist to watch me die so cruefully! That idiot, I knew I shouldn't have summoned him in the first place. I wanted to get rid of my bunny but I was with him for so long now.
But I am truly the best idol. Because I am ready to destroy the next audition while I try to figure out how to get out of this nasty place.
Posted by IoriMinase | 01-31-13, 12:09 AM | 0 comments
January 1st, 2013
Dark Souls - Is it that hard as people make it out to be?
Anime Relations: iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia
I thought I expect Dark Souls to scare the hell out of me because of its infamous difficulty. Yet after hundreds of hours spent into this game, it is not surprisingly hard as people make it out to be. Other than the Ornstein & Smough fight (where I probably actually end up resorting to help from another phantom so I don't want to be stuck at Anor Londo forever), it is not hard to solo through the game by itself. So in the end, if you know what you are doing, like every other game out there, you can breeze through the game easily.
Then again, Dark Souls is such a versatile game, allowing you to play your character in many ways, such as being a melee fighter with a fully upgraded ascended Pyromancy or a Crystal Soul Homing Mass spammer who suddenly turns himself into an agile thief who looks to backstab and bleed his opponent in a matter of seconds. Perhaps this is the reason why people find it difficult because their play style does not really suit them in the game's cold harsh environment.
If I recall correctly, someone stated that a typical Call of Duty player will easily quit this game because their aggressive style keeps them from quickly dying. That may be wrong since people comparing Demon Souls with Dark Souls will probably say that being a melee-focused character gives you more advantage than a magic-focused character since the magic system is nerfed from Magic Points to Attunement Slots which magic itself is more limited this way. Either way, I am an aggressive player and since I stumbled upon Pyromancy later in the game, in the end, I fight enemies mostly by melee rather than using Combustion since I am afraid of running out of those uses which is to be used on tougher enemies.
It is also a game that really tests out your patience. Particularly due to the fact that there are many places where you could die instantly. A venomous swamp where you have the decision whether to either tread carefully in the swamp to avoid an ambush or go quickly through the swamp to avoid those annoying mosquitoes. Another place forces you to observe the environment in solid detail to know your surroundings before you might trip down and die instantly. Your chances of survival increases if you are extremely careful and patient enough to avoid being hit by a surprise enemy who will hit you in the back.
However, patience is NOT the key to everything in this game. I do not think in this instance that people will instantly quit this game out of rage surely because they are actually inpatient. It is not right to assume that and people will quit the game solely because they give up easily and due to the inferior complex, they will think that they would not make it in the game far enough as they can be. There is a key difference between persistence and patience which if you can think well in this game, it can give you many advantages.
Let me emphasise that Dark Souls is a game that punishes you for your own mistakes. You have nothing to blame but yourself if you die in the game. The only exception to this if someone invades you forcefully and you have no choice but to voluntarily fall off the cliff to avoid further embarrassment, even then you should be hollowed if you hate being invaded or summon phantoms to aid you (which might be risky because it is a matter of being invaded before you have the chance to even summon one). With that out of the way, dying multiple times is an alternative way of actually improving in this game.
People learn from mistakes and I think this is a way you could go through the game faster. Dark Souls is based on your ability to learn and adapt quickly to whatever your environments are depending on where you progress in the game. A person unknowingly enters a place where they die instantly as a result of being killed in one shot will soon realise that they are not meant to go there with their level not being appropriate with the place(although it would not really matter since there are possibilities where people beat the game with Soul Level 1). If it is a place where they fallen off the edge because it is hard to determine where the edge is will end up doing a series of trial and error to find the fastest route without actually dying again. Most importantly, the Artificial Intelligence in this game is so complicated that learning their set of attack patterns could also be experimented by doing a trial and error where one knows the exact timing to pull off a dodge that could instantly save their life. As a matter of fact, those inpatient and aggressive players who rush in can die and find a way around their death again by finding that exact cause of their death gain from actually dying purposely in the game.
So is Dark Souls 'difficult'? Personally for me, it is not. But take in factor due to my extremely cautious play style but rush when I absolutely have to, while overgrinding on top of that, it is not really difficult for me. There are ways to make the game even more difficult by equipping items that forces you to play in another style or in new game plus where enemies do even more damage and have an increased their vitality but I am not a skilful enough player to actually play these ways. But it is a game that forces you to think, to the point that you would use every nook and cranny in the game to overcome that difficult situation which becomes so much satisfying after completing whatever objective you aim for. There are calls for the game to have an 'easy' mode which is the most ridiculous proposal I had ever heard of. These games are notoriously famous for becoming games that seems to be difficult but actually fair which I would want for them to stay that way for that reason. If you honestly want an 'easy' mode for this game, then this game is really not for you. Go play another game then come back. Or watch a slice of life anime and then deeply reflect on what is actually causing you to be stuck on this level. Or maybe you do not want to waste your time honing on your skills in the game, which you should just blindly run into those swarm of enemies that is actually giving you trouble.
I guess it is great news since its sequel (or prequel?) Dark Souls 2 is coming out. I hope it holds that unique gameplay I experienced in Dark Souls and I hope Software does not disappoint me by making the game purposely easier. Because we have died plenty of times and threw our controllers down when there is a point in the game that really angered us. Because it is a harsh place where no one is supposed to be friendly to you. Because we prepare ourselves to fight in the most brutal way as possible and we are prepared to push ourselves beyond our very own limit that will challenge us in any way. Welcome to Dark Souls.
Then again, Dark Souls is such a versatile game, allowing you to play your character in many ways, such as being a melee fighter with a fully upgraded ascended Pyromancy or a Crystal Soul Homing Mass spammer who suddenly turns himself into an agile thief who looks to backstab and bleed his opponent in a matter of seconds. Perhaps this is the reason why people find it difficult because their play style does not really suit them in the game's cold harsh environment.
If I recall correctly, someone stated that a typical Call of Duty player will easily quit this game because their aggressive style keeps them from quickly dying. That may be wrong since people comparing Demon Souls with Dark Souls will probably say that being a melee-focused character gives you more advantage than a magic-focused character since the magic system is nerfed from Magic Points to Attunement Slots which magic itself is more limited this way. Either way, I am an aggressive player and since I stumbled upon Pyromancy later in the game, in the end, I fight enemies mostly by melee rather than using Combustion since I am afraid of running out of those uses which is to be used on tougher enemies.
It is also a game that really tests out your patience. Particularly due to the fact that there are many places where you could die instantly. A venomous swamp where you have the decision whether to either tread carefully in the swamp to avoid an ambush or go quickly through the swamp to avoid those annoying mosquitoes. Another place forces you to observe the environment in solid detail to know your surroundings before you might trip down and die instantly. Your chances of survival increases if you are extremely careful and patient enough to avoid being hit by a surprise enemy who will hit you in the back.
However, patience is NOT the key to everything in this game. I do not think in this instance that people will instantly quit this game out of rage surely because they are actually inpatient. It is not right to assume that and people will quit the game solely because they give up easily and due to the inferior complex, they will think that they would not make it in the game far enough as they can be. There is a key difference between persistence and patience which if you can think well in this game, it can give you many advantages.
Let me emphasise that Dark Souls is a game that punishes you for your own mistakes. You have nothing to blame but yourself if you die in the game. The only exception to this if someone invades you forcefully and you have no choice but to voluntarily fall off the cliff to avoid further embarrassment, even then you should be hollowed if you hate being invaded or summon phantoms to aid you (which might be risky because it is a matter of being invaded before you have the chance to even summon one). With that out of the way, dying multiple times is an alternative way of actually improving in this game.
People learn from mistakes and I think this is a way you could go through the game faster. Dark Souls is based on your ability to learn and adapt quickly to whatever your environments are depending on where you progress in the game. A person unknowingly enters a place where they die instantly as a result of being killed in one shot will soon realise that they are not meant to go there with their level not being appropriate with the place(although it would not really matter since there are possibilities where people beat the game with Soul Level 1). If it is a place where they fallen off the edge because it is hard to determine where the edge is will end up doing a series of trial and error to find the fastest route without actually dying again. Most importantly, the Artificial Intelligence in this game is so complicated that learning their set of attack patterns could also be experimented by doing a trial and error where one knows the exact timing to pull off a dodge that could instantly save their life. As a matter of fact, those inpatient and aggressive players who rush in can die and find a way around their death again by finding that exact cause of their death gain from actually dying purposely in the game.
So is Dark Souls 'difficult'? Personally for me, it is not. But take in factor due to my extremely cautious play style but rush when I absolutely have to, while overgrinding on top of that, it is not really difficult for me. There are ways to make the game even more difficult by equipping items that forces you to play in another style or in new game plus where enemies do even more damage and have an increased their vitality but I am not a skilful enough player to actually play these ways. But it is a game that forces you to think, to the point that you would use every nook and cranny in the game to overcome that difficult situation which becomes so much satisfying after completing whatever objective you aim for. There are calls for the game to have an 'easy' mode which is the most ridiculous proposal I had ever heard of. These games are notoriously famous for becoming games that seems to be difficult but actually fair which I would want for them to stay that way for that reason. If you honestly want an 'easy' mode for this game, then this game is really not for you. Go play another game then come back. Or watch a slice of life anime and then deeply reflect on what is actually causing you to be stuck on this level. Or maybe you do not want to waste your time honing on your skills in the game, which you should just blindly run into those swarm of enemies that is actually giving you trouble.
I guess it is great news since its sequel (or prequel?) Dark Souls 2 is coming out. I hope it holds that unique gameplay I experienced in Dark Souls and I hope Software does not disappoint me by making the game purposely easier. Because we have died plenty of times and threw our controllers down when there is a point in the game that really angered us. Because it is a harsh place where no one is supposed to be friendly to you. Because we prepare ourselves to fight in the most brutal way as possible and we are prepared to push ourselves beyond our very own limit that will challenge us in any way. Welcome to Dark Souls.
Posted by IoriMinase | 01-01-13, 4:37 AM | 0 comments
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