A new year and decade is upon us. Too lazy to do any sort of looking back, so will just post another short-review update.

Anime

Asura Cryin’: The story is very slow to pick up, but it does become somewhat interesting… right before the first season ends.
Verdict: 6/10. Hopefully the second season will continue building on the story well.

Nyan Koi: Hapless guy in love with cute girl who also likes him but neither can tell each other, surrounded by other hot girls who like the guy. Yes, it’s another generic harem story. But wait, there’s a twist! The guy, unfortunately allergic to cats, is cursed by a cat deity, can understand cats talking, and must solve their problems. It sounds ridiculous (and it is), but the cat-related hijinks elevate this past the standard harem shows that litter the anime landscape. I enjoyed just about every episode, and am glad that a second season has been approved.
Verdict: 7/10.

Kara no Kyoukai: Satsujin Kousatsu (Go): The final installment in what is certainly the best multi-part anime I’ve seen in recent years. A bit on the long side and does feel like it could have been edited to be shorter, but the ending makes up for all of it an more. KnK 5 is still the best of the 7, but this is a close second.
Verdict: 9/10. Now where are the BD releases? I would buy and import those in a heartbeat.

Rosario + Vampire Capu2: Not sure how they managed it, but the sequel manages to be even worse than the first. Awakened Moka still looks good, but the new regular and semi-regular characters are just plain annoying, and it has even less character and plot progression.
Verdict: 5/10, and that’s being generous.

Seitokai no Ichizon: A student council that does absolutely nothing except play up character stereotypes and make 4th-wall-breaking references to other anime/games/manga, with 95% of it set inside the student council room. It’s kind of fun and enjoyable, but 12 episodes is probably enough, so it’s good it ended there.
Verdict: 6/10.

Games

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: I said that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will always be my favorite action-adventure-platformer when I played the first Uncharted. After playing the sequel, I’m no longer quite so sure. Uncharted 2 not only fixes almost all of the little problems that the first game had, it also takes just about everything that Drake’s Fortune did right, and improve upon it. The graphics and animation are probably the best ever seen in a console game, the soundtrack is fantastic, the combat system (both gunplay and melee) are much improved, and the story, characters, and pacing are absolutely stellar. From start to end, the game delivers “holy shit that was awesome” moments like few other, and what few faults it has (the characters’ eyes look slightly weird, final boss fight is not the most inspired, and needs more Sully) never comes close to detracting from the overall experience. Oh, and let’s not forget the multi-player elements. The gameplay mechanics with its focus on verticality translates very well into the MP modes, and the co-op mission modes are a complete blast, even if there’s only 3 of them.
Verdict: 10/10. This is arguably the best game of this generation, and without a doubt the best game I played in 2009.

Dragon Age: Origins: “145.2 hrs on record”. That’s the amount of time Steam shows me as having spent on this game, and I believe that actually excludes time spent playing in offline mode, which would make the actual total well over 150 hours. And that’s the most time I’ve put into a RPG, or, for that matter, any game (that isn’t World of WarCraft) since the PS1 era, encompassing 3 playthroughs of the entire story as well as all the Origin stories. I have somewhat of a love-hate relationship with most fantasy-setting stories, but the “dark fantasy” setting of DA:O worked for me here; yes, it’s supposed to be very similar to the A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, but I haven’t read more than part of the first book (if the series actually had an end in sight, I would!), so it’s fresh to me. And the main characters (companions) also were pretty well done, with Morrigan and Shale (aka HK-47v2) especially great – with her performance as Morrigan here and as Chloe in Uncharted 2, I’ve decided that every game needs a character voiced by Claudia Black. The dropoff in quality for the voice acting for some of the other characters are a bit jarring though – Anora’s is especially bad, and one particular player-character voice was so annoying that I wanted to find a mod to remove it. But overall, it’s a well-written story with some epic battle sequences, and one that I (obviously) enjoyed.
Verdict: 9/10. 8.5 would probably be more accurate, but we’ll round up.

Mass Effect: Finish one BioWare game, start on another. By most indications Mass Effect crafts a very nice setting for the story that will unfold through a trilogy, so I decided to finish the first game in anticipation of the sequel that’s coming out soon. And having finished it… I’m not completely sure what to think, honestly. The game can accurately be described more as a FPS than a RPG, which is unfortunate because it’s not a very good FPS. The game is a precursor to Dragon Age, and it shows. The dialogue system isn’t nearly as good, and the inventory/party management system is just completely terrible. I do think the Paragon/Renegade system is a better idea than the approval rating in DA:O though. The sidequests are also extremely lacking in variety – there’s only so many times you can land on a planet, drive around in a 6-wheel buggy with terrible driving physics, and then go into one of 3 types of buildings to kill every enemy inside before it gets repetitive and boring as hell. But, I’m playing it for the story, and I do tend to be a sucker for these sci-fi space operas, so I enjoyed it and will get Mass Effect 2 when it comes out.
Verdict: 8/10. Would be much lower if it wasn’t for the story and setting, but I have high hopes for the myriad of improvements supposedly in the sequel.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: It’s a new 2D Mario game on a home console. The stages, the “story”, the secrets… there’s very little that’s new here, especially in the single player mode. Sure, there are a few new power-ups: Ice Flower is a great idea, and Propeller Suit is quite amazingly useful, but it’s still no Super Mario Bros. 3 (Tanooki Suit, Hammer Bros. Suit, Kuribo’s Shoe… will any game ever top it?), wall-jumps are possible (was that in the DS NSMB? I can’t remember), and there are now coins that move with the stage, but this is classic Mario through and through. And, you know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s amazing platformer fun in a way that seemingly only 2D Mario games can be, and once again reminds why just about nobody else even bothers trying to compete with Nintendo (sorry, LittleBigPlanet, but this is how a platforming game is supposed to control). And lest anyone thinks it being a Wii game means it’s easy… think again. Collecting every Star Coin and every secret exit is definitely no cakewalk. There were many stages where I failed so many times trying to get all the coins that I got angry, but still wanted to try it one more time, because I know that it can be done if only I had timed my jump better. If that isn’t the mark of a great game, I don’t know what is. About the only criticism I can offer is that the Wiimote held sideways is not the most comfortable controller (especially with the “condom”, but even after removing it), and sometimes I do feel like the motion controls are not quite as consistently sensitive as I’d like it to be. But those are nitpicks, and even without having played it multi-player, it’s still a fantastic experience.
Verdict: 9/10. With millions of sales between this and the DS version, Nintendo has to make more 2D Marios, right?

This post has been in draft status for almost 3 months now… guess I might as well publish it. Just some reviews of stuff for myself.

Anime

CANAAN: A sequel of sorts to a Wii (and soon to be PS3) VN that got a surprising 40/40 rating from Famitsu, with story by Nasu of Type-Moon fame. It’s not set in the “Nasuverse” a la Fate/stay night or Tsukihime, but when you learn the namesake character has a special vision that allows her to sense the world in a super-human way named “Synesthesia”, it’s hard not to draw comparisons. Even so, it’s not a plot-heavy series – in fact, with zero prior knowledge from the game, the story would really not make much sense – you get bits and pieces and learn about the major events, but nothing is clear. But the characters are… unique (some more than others, Canaan herself actually being rather a shallow and boring character, albeit one whose potential depth is given a glimpse of but sadly not expanded upon), it looks very nice, and it’s does an amazing job of depicting a foreign locale (Shanghai, in this case) in a realistic manner compared to most anime. Good, not great.
Verdict: 7/10.

Death Note: One of the biggest mainstream anime of recent times, and one that I’d keep meaning to get around to watching but never did for a long time. Anyway, I did find it to be a very intriguing series… until the post-L parts started. After that it just went downhill. I also don’t like Light, at all, but I wonder if that would’ve been different had I not seen Code Geass first – Lelouch has all the brilliance and charisma of Light, but despite him being quite ruthless at times, he never reaches the point of being a complete and utter bastard and asshole like Light did. L, on the other hand, was a fascinating character, and what really made the series tick. His “replacements” are sub-par, at best.
Verdict: 8/10, maybe 9/10, for the first 25 episodes, and a very generous 6/10 for the rest. We’ll call it a 7/10 overall.

Hatsukoi Limited: What’s this, a romantic comedy that’s not a harem? Praise the anime gods! Anyway, I really liked the character designs, as it’s based on a manga from the same author as Ichigo 100% – and I’ve always liked that she tends to draw her characters with smaller eyes than the norm for anime/manga, which makes them kind of unique. The story is light and fun, and the length is spot-on. Both the manga (32 chapters) and anime (13 episodes) are on the short side of norm for this type of thing, and I really think 12/13 episodes is the perfect length for romantic comedies. It never drags on, but is enough to show all the main characters, and with some development for them as well. Oh, and I love the ending theme.
Verdict: 8/10.

Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East): A fun series with an interesting story and a whole lot of “WTF random”-ness, but the ending, which isn’t the ending (two movies on the way), is completely inconclusive.
Verdict: 8/10 so far, subject to change when the movies are released.

K-On: Well, it’s kinda funny, I can definitely see the whole “moe” thing, and this apparently has just further cemented Kyoto Animation’s godhood, what with coming after Suzumiya and Clannad, but… there really isn’t enough substance for my tastes. Inoffensive and also uninspiring is about how I’d describe it. Tsumugi with her eyebrows is very cute though. ^_^
Verdict: 7/10.

Macross: Yes, the original. I’d never watched the whole thing, and I thought I’d start from the original and (eventually, maybe) make my way to Macross Frontier. Anyway, it started off well enough, but it just became a huge drag after the Macross settled back on earth – what had been a space opera turned into a love triangle with a completely unlikeable possible love-interest (I wanted to choke Minmay by the end), a boring, if not outright stupid, male protagonist, and another quasi-love interest with barely any depth. Had to force myself to finish it… ugh.
Verdict: 8/10 for the first 3/5ths or so, 4/10 for the rest. Average out to maybe a 6/10.

Maria+Holic: Cross-dressing always leads to interesting hijinks. Throw in blackmail and a dim-witted hapless girl who’s trying to hide her lesbian tendencies, and you’ve got the making of a lot of laughs. The story… well, it barely gets started and never gets finished, but the series is so funny and random that it doesn’t really matter.
Verdict: 8/10.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Yep, the original here too. Finally got around to watching it, and I have to say that I really wish I hadn’t seen Gundam SEED prior to this. Most of the main characters are interesting, but the majority of the antagonists/Zeon (i.e. everyone except Char and maybe Ramba Ral) lack much depth. Amuro is not a terrible lead, but not one that knocks your socks off either. The supporting cast among the protagonists/Earth Federation are a bit better, but both sides suffer from the issue of having characters killed off way too quickly. But, a lot can be forgiven when remembering that this is a show that aired 3 decades ago, and viewed in that light, it truly is ground-breaking. Even by today’s standards, it’s definitely one of the better Gundam series I’ve seen (though not quite as good as The 08th MS Team).
Verdict: 8/10.

Saki: An anime about Mahjong featuring a lot of cute girls and more than a hint of yuri undertones. It’s completely ridiculous, but in an enjoyable way. Having all my knowledge about mahjong being in Chinese makes it a bit weird, but it’s not like the actual mahjong playing is the real focus anyway. The story is far from resolved, so there’s probably another season coming, which I think I’ll definitely watch.
Verdict: 7/10.

Shikabane Hime: Aka/Shikabane Hime: Kuro: I enjoyed Aka quite a bit, but Kuro rather less so. The fanservice in the latter was just pointless and unnecessary, and I can only assume Fresh is a more purposeful character in the manga, because there was no really no reason for her to be in the anime at all. The story was serviceable, and the “ending”… well, again, it’s one in name only.
Verdict: 8/10 for Aka, 6/10 for Kuro, though we’ll see how the extra DVD special episode turns out.

Toshokan Sensou: The concept of libraries having their own military force to counter a big-brother censorship committee is just ridiculous (the show even lampshades it by having a character mention how outrageous it would be to outsiders), but it’s an entertaining enough series that has some likable characters and humor. There’s also a love story that offers no surprises what-so-ever thrown in, but it’s not the focus. Overall, it’s just a fun little series that benefits from being short (12 episodes, plus 1 DVD special episode).
Verdict: 7/10.

There’s also Bakemonogatari, which has been the best show of the season by far. Unfortunately, there’s 3 more episodes that will be released via the internet, and not until Oct. 28th for the first one. Eagerly anticipating!

Games

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger: The latest fighter from Arc System Works, the makers of the Guilty Gear series, in glorious high definition 2D. The cast is small by fighting game standards these days (12 characters), but they’re so unique that it’s hard to fault the game for it. And having a robot/cyborg girl who has wings made out of swords? Pure awesome. I’m truly not anywhere near the fighting game fan I used to be, but more than Super Street Fighter II Turbo:HD Remix, Street Fighter IV and even Marvel vs. Capcom 2, this is the one I’ve played the most this generation.
Verdict: 8/10.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade: This is, quite simply, the most beautiful 2D game I have ever seen. But if it wasn’t for the amazing visual style and good music (I absolutely love one of the BGM tracks), it wouldn’t have been a must-have for me. And I can’t help but think that if it retained the visuals, music, and combat system, but had Metroidvania-esque level design, exploration, and upgrading, what an amazing game it would’ve been. As it is, I’d say it’s a good and enjoyable game, but not a great one.
Verdict: 8/10.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village: I started this ages ago, and would do a few puzzles before going to sleep every couple of days (if I remember), but the sequel’s North American release made me finally just suck it up and finish it. It is a simple point-and-click adventure with some interesting characters and a decent if not-terribly-deep plot, but the core is the puzzles. Not all of them are great, but I did have fun going through and solving them all. I’ll definitely want to play Dialobical Box, but who knows how long that will take.
Verdict: 8/10.

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X: I’ve always had an interest in fighter planes (how many boys didn’t?), and so when this game went on sale for $20, I jumped at picking it up. The single player portion of the game isn’t very long – just 18 missions, with 3 difficulty levels. Playing through it on Normal took maybe 6 or 7 hours, and then maybe that again to beat all of the missions again on Elite. Online multi-player is kinda fun, but the main problem is that the planes and weapon packages available for use depends on the player level, and even after playing through the campaign missions twice and doing a good portion of the challenges, I was still only in the low 20s – reaching level 40 is a huge time commitment, and it just doesn’t always feel like a level playing field online when you don’t have access to the planes/weapons that others have due to level (and that’s not even including the DLC planes). But, the campaign missions are pretty fun, and I definitely enjoyed being able to fly planes like the F-22 (even if I never got any additional weapon packages for it).
Verdict: 7/10. Nowhere near perfect, but pretty fun. Can’t complain, especially for the price.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune: The game can best most accurately be described as Tomb Raider with a male lead, a summer blockbuster-esque story, and slightly more interesting gun fight gameplay. But to dismiss it as just that would probably be to do it a disservice. No, neither the characters nor the plot are paragons of depth, but not every game needs a story like that of Xenogears, and it’s enjoyable and a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed the TR series since Legend, but the combat in those games always felt like the weakest part. And unless just about everything I’ve heard about Underworld in comparison to Uncharted is inaccurate, I would imagine that still holds true. I think Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will forever remain my favorite game in the “3D action platformer” genre due to the ingenuity of the time rewind mechanic and its fantastic blend of gameplay, characters and storytelling, but Uncharted definitely has the best “action” parts out of the bunch.
Verdict: 9/10. Very much looking forward to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves coming up.

Firefox 3 is fantastic. Huge upgrade over Firefox 2. But Mozilla Weave is, so far, a terrible replacement for Google Sync.

PS3 is a nice system. MGS4 looks amazing. Need to finish MGS3 first. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is awesome. Need more FFXIII information. Game controller costs are getting ridiculous – $50 for a Wireless 360 controller, $55 for a Dualshock 3, $60 for a Nunchuck + Wiimote, and never mind Classic Controller attachments. The World Ends With You is a wonderful game, but I still need to finish it. Homebrew via CycloDS Evolution is cool (thanks David!). Phoenix Wright games are quite good. Picross is awesome.

The Hulk was pretty good. As was Get Smart. Anne Hathaway looks gorgeous.

Code Geass season 1 was amazingly awesome, even if I don’t like Lelouch. At all.

As cool/nerdy/geeky as it is to run my own web server off my own internet connection… it leaves a lot to be desired on the performance and reliability front. It still has its uses of course (mainly to share stuff with people easily), but I thought the time has come to finally get me a real host, so it’s not a crapshoot whenever I feel like accessing/editing it.

And also needed a host to put the website for my WoW guild on, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and get it now. So here it is, gokieks dot com. Yay.

I’m annoyed, however, that some jackass/jackasses (I’m looking at you, Greenlight Properties in Charlotte, NC) decided to buy the old domain I had used, gokie.com. I had always thought my blog/homepage of randomness wasn’t worth the trouble of anyone stealing, so I had let it lapse when I had been more focused on other things during the past year or two. But guess I was wrong.

Oh well, I’m fine with this. I’ll see about doing some more page design updates soon, since this gives me a (temporary) bout of inspiration. That or I’ll end up spending my time AFK in Shatt, reading random news of geeky things, or playing Wii Sports Tennis instead. ^^