amihaze-blog-blog

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This is one of my top three favorite songs of all time, and it happens to be an unused track in one of my top three favorite anime of all time.

Check it out if you haven't already!

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I feel like leveling drg has given me a new perspective on loldrg jokes.

That is. The ones we have are boring. In my week of playing lnc/drg I have:

elusive jumped off a cliff into two packs of mobs that immediately went after the healer because I had regen on me

spent a good 20 seconds...

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And for my latest work~ Teen Titans! I took my time on this one. I especially love the details on Starfire and Robin. Don’t give up hope on Season 6 everyone!

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I want to keep writing and making animation for the next generation; but I need to finish up my degree to do that. So, if you could, vote for me on this scholarship so I can finish up my final year of college. Thanks to everyone who does! :)

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There and Back Again: A Mega Man Tale

Like a lot of people my age, Mega Man X was one of the games that defined my childhood. While I only ever beat one or two of the X games, I spent countless hours writing down save codes in the hopes of picking up where I left off after 12-hour runs to clear the game. One of my friends and I were huge X fans, and would play it whenever we saw each other.

I recently moved back to the same area, and happened to check PSN the other day and see the Mega Man X 4 was for sale. Having never played X 4, I jumped on the opportunity.

I expected to die a lot due to old-school difficulty curves. And I did, but for two reasons I didn't expect. 

The first was that the concept of "simple patterns" was all but gone. I found myself planning 20 steps ahead to maneuver around a laser beam when all the game wanted me to do was jump. Just once. Not even a special jump.

The second was far stranger. I mentioned before that I grew up playing MMX. Well, after being slapped around by bosses for several hours straight, I went to shave and sat back down smelling of after-shave. "What a weird and sombering thing", I thought to myself.

And then I suddenly realized why the bosses kept killing me. It wasn't because I didn't know how to play MMX anymore -- I was maneuvering just as I always had, once I remembered the beauty of the "dash" command.

My thumb is bigger than it used to be. I used to dash/jump at the same time to get extra speed while charging my Buster up for a powerful attack, but trying to do so now results in an extra button press that cancels the charge attack and sometimes sends me jumping off somewhere when I mean to just dash across the room. Normally that jump is right into the face of my enemy's attack.

Turns out that I was right: old-school games were harder than I remembered. But for different reasons.

PS -- It took me 5 hours to beat my first boss. 

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More practice with my tablet. This time it was all about the expressions, so I created a template and fooled around with layer manipulation to get the hang of it.

My daily sketch for Tuesday. It's nearly 3am for me now, but it still counts!

deviantART: http://amihaze.deviantart.com/art/Three-Expressions-484278006

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Is Capcom stuck in the past?

It's no secret that Capcom fans are normally pretty upset with how their favorite franchises are treated. Mega Man fans are upset that the entire franchise was shafted one meta-series at a time (I really, really feel for you guys -- I wanted Legends 3 as well!), Street FIghter fans are upset that they get constant re-releases (although I've heard Ultimate Street Fighter IV GOLD Arcade Edition might be pretty fun) and Resident Evil fans are upset for reasons far too numerous to count.

Oh, and don't even get me started on Dragon's Dogma.

But why, exactly, does Capcom seem to have a knack for angering so many fans en masse? You'd think after the negative comments made about Street Fighter 2's myraid of releases and the complaints and backlash that followed three Resident Evil titles in a row, perhaps they would realize what they were doing wrong and correct it. But I don't think it's quite that simple.

Let's look at what made Capcom popular among gamers. While Resident Evil really brought them home, it wasn't that series that launched them into fame. It was series such as Mega Man and Street Fighter, both of which used a very strict formula that was repeated in every single release. Fighting games are rarely overhauled, and live off of one to three characters additions and minor gameplay tweaks per game. Similarly, Mega Man always had the same setup: you fight a square of bosses to proceed to the final boss stage during which, at some point, you're forced to fight all the bosses before in one go.

The pattern was something we all expected and, frankly, all wanted. That's why Mega Man was able to release so many sequels But now, fast forward to 2014 -- people are constantly expecting more and more from their games. Any time a game is rehashed, gamers are quick to tear it apart. Just ask a Call of Duty fan. What Capcom once thrived off of is now taboo.

But they don't seem to realize this. Street Fighter IV still sees rehashed releases and underhanded DLC tactics, both of which make fans cringe. What we as gamers often fail to realize is that the companies we grew up with are still stuck in the past. We grew up, but they didn't. Their model for Street Fighter releases is largely the same as it was during the 80s/90s.

I think that, even on a story-telling level, Capcom is stuck in the 80s/90s mindset of male action heroes that will always downplay heroines, even if the heroine is the main character. Allow me to explain.

Let's think back on the protagonists of the series for a moment. The first game had dual protagonists; the second was the same. It was Resident Evil 3 that broke this two-game tradition by giving us a single lead: Jill Valentine. The game was entirely her story. She had a nemesis (no pun intended) that was tracking her, specifically. Yet she gets the damsel-in-distress treatment when she gets infected, forcing us to play as a stereotypical male hero for a few minutes so that we can save her life. Now this would be fine if her infection had some bearing on the gameplay or plot.

Except it doesn't. Not only is her infection never mentioned again until 2009, when it's used as a poor plot element ten years after the fact, but the implications of her becoming the first and only character to be immune to the T-virus is never touched upon. Jill had the leading role snatched away from her just so she could have the leading role snatched away from her. The same is true of Claire in Code Veronica.

As Resident Evil 3 was Jill's game, Code Veronica was Claire's. Sure, Chris is on NA the cover...in the background. Alternate covers don't even show him on there. Neither does the soundtrack, for that matter.

The existence of every side character in this game is justified because they help tell Claire's story and personal growth. She's one of few survivors of Raccoon City and is set on surviving another outbreak on a prison island controlled by a complete sociopath.

...That is, until Wesker is thrown into the story and Claire is conveniently rendered unconscious ¾ of the way through the game, leaving us to play Chris so that we can rescue her. In the continuity, the reason for her becoming a damsel in distress is flaky at best. Not only has she been given the dubious honor of killing a monster known specifically for his ability to not be killed (or at least subdued him long enough for a nuclear bomb to destroy him), but she's also killed two tyrants (which, if you don't know, is Resident Evil's equivalent of killing The Hulk), numerous monsters and zombies, and survived a plane crash in Antarctica. She and Steve then proceed to kill the sociopath that brought them into this mess.

And when his sister comes into play, she just decides to flip the vehicle they're in and tie Claire up on a wall somewhere. It would have made a lot more sense to kill her (seeing as how that's exactly what she did to Steve), but instead we get to rescue her.

And in the ending cutscene, she completely breaks character as she tries to run at the man that, just a few hours ago, fell from the sky and proceeded to give her a Matrix-style beat down before showing her his glowing red eyes and jumping away like a ninja.

Somehow, running at a person like that while unarmed just doesn't seem like something a survivor of two zombie outbreaks would do. Chris gets the opportunity to hold her back and tell her to run away while he then survives a much longer beating than Claire did. The entire ending scene of the game has nothing to do with Claire, despite the fact that every character except for Wesker and Chris were created to suit Claire's story. It's all about the fight between Chris and Wesker.

When we next see Claire, we realize she has been waiting in a jet plane for Chris the entire time because she didn't know how to fly it herself. Granted, we knew she didn't know how to fly – but let's not forget that the island was literally exploding all around her. She escaped a nuclear blast and the self-destruct sequence of an island before this, but because the action male hero is on the scene, she can do nothing but wait patiently for his inevitable return.

At the risk of sounding like I'm making a pro-feminist statement, I want to state for the record here: it has nothing to do with feminism, but everything to do with story-telling methods used in dated media that totes male action stars and downplays anyone who isn't that. As a matter of fact, I didn't play this game until I was 14-years-old, and that ending still bugged me. I couldn't tell why at the time, but a recent replay made it painfully clear to me. 

Continuing on.

Enter Resident Evil 4, where we play as Leon for all but two minutes (unless you include the optional extra gameplay modes). And those two minutes were really thrown in so that we could feel helpless playing as Ashley after having proven ourselves as Leon. Sure, it was a great and tense two minutes – but Leon didn't get anyone to steal the spotlight from him.

In Resident Evil 5, Chris never had anyone steal the spotlight from him. Sheva only existed so that the game could have cooperative play in the story. Her backstory is not only as cliché as they come, but it's literally explained in about fifteen seconds in a single cutscene halfway through the game, and is never mentioned or hinted at again. Ever.

Resident Evil 6 saw the return of Sherry Birkin (finally! I waited, like, fourteen years for her!) and the addition of Helena Harper. While Helena is arguably leading Leon around for half of his story, once her unwitting role in the viral outbreak the cast is caught up in is explained, she serves no purpose. Once she is done leading Leon around until he knows what's going on, Helena barely says a thing.

The highlight of Sherry's scenario should have been Sherry, especially since the last time we saw her she was a little girl. Now she's got super-abilities. Instead, the son that Wesker never spoke of or hinted at and is a plot hole in and of himself supercedes her by not only being humanity's only hope for a cure, but by being the one to have superior action sequences, the one to fist-fight a monster likely capable of flipping tanks while Sherry presses buttons, and the one to have his personal back-story delved into.

Just to be clear, Weaker never knew his father. He knew that he tried to take over the world and has brought down by his arch-nemesis, but in reality, it only took three people to stop Wesker. Sherry's father became an unstoppable monster that not only impregnated her (doesn't that deserve an honorable mention? No? Jake has daddy issues? Okay then.) but also became a key factor in the downfall of Raccoon City – the event that nobody can stop talking about – yet Jake is the one that gets the dramatic scenes where he goes on a journey of self-discovery.

Revelations had the same issue. It was the answer to what survival horror fans wanted – less action, more horror, and Jill. Yet it was still rudely interrupted by high-octane action sequences with Chris that not only broke the tension of Jill's scenario, but were largely unnecessary. It was almost as if Capcom had ADD and couldn't stand the idea of allowing Jill (or even Jill and her unneeded partner) to carry the story on their own. Chris had to be there.

What was once a series that gave dual protagonists with equally important stories that never detracted from each other has become a series that wants to focus on a single protagonist but, when that protagonist is female, will always see a secondary protagonist come in part way through and suck the life out of her scenario.

I hate to be so pessimistic about the Revelations 2, but I'm calling it now: Barry's going to come in, guns blazing. If not, we'll be seeing him in a mini-game where he delivers Burton Punches and Burton Sandwiches.

Special shoutout to paxsean! The conversation we had infuriated me enough to write this!

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My daily sketch for the day. This one was done on tablet; made some errors with the positioning, though. >_<

deviantART: http://amihaze.deviantart.com/art/Woman-on-Tablet-484072813?ga_submit_new=10%253A1411442155

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Another daily sketch from the very talented flailkitten. She's now done our entire Final Fantasy family. :')

Sooo…This was supposed to be Day 6 but I had a few issues getting it done so three days later! Probably the last of the Final Fantasy characters for a while. This is for the lovely married couple tamajurobei and aozoratama’s characters Jurobei and Aozora. I have a love/hate relationship with that armor right now :P

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Daily sketch for the day. More experimenting.

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Quick-sketch of the day

Sorry that I cannot post the picture itself up; the file is too big. This is one of my characters from FFXIV.

http://amihaze.deviantart.com/art/Miqo-te-483661413?ga_submit_new=10%253A1411279061

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The eyes weren't quite what I wanted, but here's an old sketch. Claire Redfield from Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

deviantART: http://amihaze.deviantart.com/art/Claire-Redfield-483621682

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Forgive me not posting something of my own; something came up and it couldn't be done. Instead, here's a drawing of a friend's character done by the same person that did mine. Great job, flailkitten! 

My new IPhone Lock Screen! Huzzah!!

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Working on faces. Tomorrow, expect either a full body or faces. Lots of them. Inoue Orihime by Amihaze

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My fellow gamers...

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this one, and I want to make it clear before you start reading that this isn't a call to arms. Nor is it meant to be some big, drawn-out thing meant to deal with controversy. I really just want to take the time to point out something to my fellow gamers -- directly, and as personally as I can right now.

Yes, I play as Lili Rochefort and Alisa Bosconovitch in Tekken -- and you wouldn't believe how many times I've beaten arrogant players who immediately messaged me with the following:

"r u a girl?"

Why does it matter, man? You just got your ass beat. Guy, girl, who cares? You lost. And no, I'm not a girl, so stop reading "Ami" as "Amy". And quit adding me as a friend and messaging me until you realize I'm not a girl, and then deleting me!

That's not nice, damn it!

But by far, the most disturbing message I received as a voice message saying this: 

"Hey man...uhhh, are you a guy or a girl? I was just wondering 'cause...man, I GOTTA know."

No, really, you don't gotta. Trust me on this one. I could be a lizard and it wouldn't change the fact that you just got beat by a robot with pink hair.

Come on, gamers. I'm not even a woman and I feel uncomfortable. 

Please, please stop making a big deal out of female gamers. I'm not saying "treat them with respect" (although that would be great). I mean to literally quit acting as if it's some huge deal every time one is around. There is no difference between male and female gamers. Saying and acting as if there is encourages people to focus on the sex of the player and unconsciously change their attitude and remarks to reflect it.

Again, this isn't a call to arms or anything like that. It's really just letting you guys know how people see you. I'm a gamer and a guy, and I feel violated  online.

By guys.

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This is my friend's art of my character, Carinka. I was surprised and overjoyed to see it this morning. Thanks, flailkitten! :)

Day 3 of the Daily Sketch! Today we have amihaze’s character Carinka, one resident White Mage/Bard and the one that got me started on this daily thing :P

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Let's talk about "endings"...

I've noticed a trend with fanbases these last few years. For some reason, no matter how great a TV or game series is, we're always ready to rip it to shreds because of the way it ends. And that's not exclusive to the series itself ending -- it can happen if the ending is a cliffhanger meant to keep you guessing until the next installment.

Now, obviously, there are going to be some spoilers below (particularly for The Walking Dead, Mass Effect 3, Bioshock Infinite, and Breaking Bad). But I wanted to point a few things out here by bringing up three endings that either irked me or made me scratch my head when I saw people's reaction to it.

Let's take The Walking Dead, for instance. Last season ended with Rick and his band of survivors locked away in a cannibal camp. I thoroughly enjoyed the cliffhanger ending and was psyched for the next season, and was startled to learn that I was in the minority.

Have we forgotten that there is more than one sort of storytelling method? I don't ask that as an offense, but a genuine question. The point of that final episode was to show just how far Rick and everyone else has come. Where he met every other challenge with hesitation and diplomacy, his statement (They messed with the wrong people) shows a great deal of confidence bordering on arrogance. It also promises violent retaliation, and that he's more than just a de facto leader now.

I always saw the purpose of the cliffhanger as to bring up the question, "What will Rick do? Exactly how far as he come now?". Just because questions aren't answered at the end of a season (if they were, then the show's continuation could be in jeopardy or the next season would feel jarring) does not mean that the finale didn't do its job. Keep in mind, we don't know many things surrounding the core plot, much less what the next season holds in store for us.

Another ending I want to touch -- and I've avoided it for God knows how long -- is Mass Effect 3's ending. I'm not going to touch on how the fanbase was fed lies by Bioware regarding what the game would and wouldn't be like because, from that perspective, I was pretty upset myself. Instead, I'm going to bring up the actual idea behind the ending: that all your choices boil down to one large choice. We saw this in the first game, where we had to determine whether or not to save the council. We saw it in the second when we were given the option to carry on a giant weapon that had slaughtered thousands or millions of innocent lives. 

In that respect, the actual ending of the final game wasn't any different. I was heavily invested in the franchise (key term: was), but when the credits rolled, it really felt as if the point of it all was to say that no matter how unique Mass Effect was, and no matter how many new things it brought to that table, it was still sci-fi at heart. Hardcore sci-fi. It referenced and refreshed older sci-fi ideas and theories in new ways, and I actually forgot just how space-y it all was at one point. The ending was a very brutal reminder. I don't think that asking to live happily-ever-after is really a fair thing to ask because, in the end, sci-fi endings normally leave you irked because it wasn't the way you wanted it to end. Sure, I was hurting all the way through the game due to all of its plot cop-outs, but I still felt the weight of the ending and felt that it, too, was part of Shepard's grand struggle.

Bad plot writing aside, I do think that the ending managed to say certain things beyond "we lied to all our fans".

That being said, I'll end this with an ending that was actually given high praise when I personally think it didn't deserve it: Bioshock infinite's ending. I wasn't aware that people considered this the pinnacle of gaming and storytelling until after I beat the game, shook my head and went to trade it in.

Forgive me if I sound trite but...did anyone ever check out The Dark Tower series? Or anything dealing with time/string theory? Bioshock Infinite did nothing new in that territory. Every multi-verse has the exact same thing going on. The fact that it dealt with inter-dimensional travel and was called Infinite was really a giveaway, at least to me. I was far more concerned with the giant plot holes and character inconsistencies it left lingering about, and the fact that the ending effectively downplayed the importance of your journey because it was really the culmination of several journeys that you, the player, never saw (and technically never did). I found that far more offensive than anything else, and it was actually something  was hoping wouldn't happen. 

I suppose my point in saying all this is: is it possible that we've forgotten the mechanics of storytelling and instead just want to have a great time where everything goes our way? The more people get into popular series, the more I hear the complaint "I just wanted a happy ending, not a downer/cliffhanger". A lot of people thought Breaking Bad was going to end with it "all being a dream", which is a popular theory when people simply don't want the worst possible scenario to be the right one -- which was always the case and point of Breaking Bad.

Granted, at least Bioshock Infinite left people thinking at the end...and we do have things like Game of Thrones, where you'd have to be completely nuts to imagine it ending on a happy (or even satisfying note).