#wink wink more LAL posts to come! ;3

[shinygoku]

In LAL I’ve finally done the 7 chapters, so I feel like Ranking ‘em with short pros and cons that contribute to my placements~

It’ll be in Quality Acending order, so starting with the least and moving up to the Beast! ✨ This post will try to be Spoiler Free!

7th Place - Prehistory: A goofy Flintstones-esque romp, though with less smoking ads and 60′s references. Though honestly, I’d have preferred that type of humour over the Fart and Nudity centred focus that we actually get lmao... but this scenario still made me smile and was overall Fun, just the clear weakest for me. Extremely boppable music and nice simple enjoyment in raw Unga Bunga Power, but I did not want to deal with the Superboss and the secret I did engage in was still cryptic as hell.

6th - Present Day (1994): An interesting spin on the gameplay, but with only 7 battles you don’t have much to dig into... In a Mega Man-esque direction, the order of the fights is yours, but there’s a nice through line if you may your choices in a certain order. The other fighters have some implied depth to them and are good sportsmen, which was a neat surprise. Masaru is also fun to play as, his barren apartment still allowing him to make serious gains lmao. But yeah, very short and pretty same-y, so it’s not The Strongest on the rankings...!

5th - Near Future: This is hard to place, as when it’s good, it is very very good! And when it is bad it is horrid... Hmm. It starts several cool ideas but then fails to properly follow up on them, pretty much every point is left a bit open and hanging at the end, and that’s bothersome on one with a big dark plot! There ain’t many enemy types, one plot-important location is way too big and easy to get lost in while having no way to return in case you missed something. Also, there’s a minigame that you can miss entirely that gives good items. Also also, there’s a big plot turn towards the end that only had slight foreshadowing if you went out of your way to look for it. Yeah, it’s a bit of a mess... AND Akira’s stats are kinda weedy! But I do love Akira himself, the Battle Theme and especially the Kageyama vocal song~

4th - Western: This is a popular chapter, the main fault that people have with it being that it’s very short. And yeah, that’s very agreeable! I also didn’t much care for the battle theme in this one, fortunately you spend way longer hearing Megalomania instead! The main gimmick is a bit hard and/or trial and error, but very satisfying if ya pull it off~

3rd - Imperial China: Good length, good variety of moves and enemies, nice music, a huge gut punch that is impossible to avoid... This is a Solid Chapter. But I’m never that pleased when the Gut Punch actually happens, as I feel guilty too easy anyway! But also, if you get complacent, you may make moves you regret dearly later on. There are a fuckload of fights and I get a bit bored of the Imperial KK sounding first few notes after a few in a row though.

2nd - Distant Future: The most Cerebral of ‘em all, only 1 mandatory fight, and lots and lots and LOTS of Characters Talking. And it’s goooooood!! As much as the plot leans on Famous SciFi, the interactions and character nuances give this a lot of meat, with the side dish of horror and suspence. We Are All Love Cube!!

1st - Edo Japan: I’m gonna admit first that I am biased for this, and if I wasn’t, I mighta put it lower because HOO BOY this one is Hard Mode!! And you can choose to make it even harder, which I did! But see... that’s a strength objectively; it’s a huge, sprawling, maze-like scenario and you have a certain amount of freedom in just how you go about it. The visuals are fantastic, the music is all bangers and the ending even takes into account the choices you made and changes accordingly. This is the Undertale before Undertale, after all, but much more My Style lmao. Just yeah, go in ready to grind, refer to maps and get a bit lost several times... it’s all worth it in the end imo, also fighting as Oboro is really enjoyable and even pretty~

[boloorsportsmania]

#682 A Sporting Vacation with a purpose !!

Saksham hit the football high in the air in the beautiful seaside shore of Rio De Janeiro.  He was enjoying his vacation in Brazil along with his parents. He had made some local friends with whom he played football, beach volleyball and swimming. It was vacation of immense pleasure for the 12 year old. His parents Ratan and Jayamala were enjoying a walk beside the seashore. Ratan and Jatan were twin brothers. Both were originally from Delhi but their father had settled down in Udupi quite a few years ago. Ratan was a scientist settled in USA. Jatan was doctor settled in NZ. Jatan had a son as well by name Vidyut who was 11 years old.

They had an amazing way of getting to meet each other.  Both families took 2 weeks off every year. Each family would travel a tourist country in first week. In 2nd week, both the families would have a get together in some lavish resort. This started 8 years back. They block their calendars upfront for this amazing vacation. It would be a mix of tourist attraction plus family bonding. It worked well for both the families as they got closer as every year passed by. Saksham and Vidyut had become very close. Both loved sports. Saksham played tennis in USA and had represented in U-12 for his state California. Vidyut was quite a master in chess. His father used to be college champion in chess as well. Ratan was a hardcore athletics and swimming fan. He would go for long jogging or swim across the rivers during weekends.

Year was 2018 and both the families met in Bali. They had a whale of time doing shopping, adventure sports across the beach, long drives, etc. During penultimate day of their trip, the whole family had a ritual of speaking to Kishan Lal via a video chat. Kishan Lal was father of Jatan and Ratan. He was all alone in Udupi but was having a peaceful life. He is a retired Hindi school teacher. He would pass his time by doing free tuitions for poor students, a daily visit to famous Krishna temple and a regular cup of coffee every 2 hours. His eyes always had a glow when he smelt decoction of pure filter coffee. Just when he was smelling another cup of coffee, his kids called him. He picked his tablet. He gave a big cheers to his children and grandchildren with his famous cup of coffee. Jatan pulled his dad’s legs. He said its time he did cheers with a mug of beer instead ;-) Kishan responded with a wink. He blessed all his kids. They were all happy to him as well. Before they hung up, Kishan made a suggestion. He told them to make a trip to India same time next year. He specified exact dates when he wanted his family to be in Udupi. Jatan and Ratan didn’t have a clue what it was all about. It had been 3 years since they had visited India. So they happily agreed.  Saksham and Vidyut were more thrilled as they had liked the GadBad ice cream they had from Hotel Dian last time around. They also loved to spend time with their granddad.

Jatan and Ratan were still curious as to why their dad had given specific dates. There should be a reason. It was not his 75th birthday which was still 3 years later. There was no specific other functions to attend.  They finally concluded that it’s better to keep that as a suspense. Ratan’s family made a trip to Dubai before they reached Udupi. They were amazed by the beauty of sand and glitter of gold which they viewed in Dubai. Jatan had made a family trip to Maldives. They had great fun too across the seashore resort. They both reached Udupi with a day apart. They were thrilled to see their dad in high spirit. He had prepared food for them on his own. It literally brought tears to eyes of Ratan and Jatan. Their mother had expired 5 years back.  A day passed away just like that. Kishan didn’t let out why he had called his kids during this specific period.  He told that it’s better to experience it rather than being told.

He took his grandkids to a mini stadium near by. It was brand new one built by neighbor of Kishan. His name was Upendra. Upendra’s son Jadhav was classmate of Ratan and Jatan. Ratan and Jatan had followed their dad to stadium as well. In 4 days time, there was a competition being held. It was a unique event. It was kind of  medley race. It started with 400 metres running race, followed by 200m swimming, followed by 1 set of tennis match followed by a game of chess. Each game had its share of points based on how fast they completed. Chess was Rapid chess competition where in player should not take more than 10 seconds for each step to make.  This medley race was a game of skill and thrill. Saksham and Vidyut were thrilled and asked their granddad if they can actually participate. Kishan told they definitely can but would need practice as athletes from across the state would come over to participate. Jadhav was very much into sports during college days. His son Shourya was participating in the event as well. This was inaugural event. Jadhav was running for MP post in upcoming elections as well.

Saksham and Vidyut became good friends with Shourya. They practiced together. Shourya was an ace athlete. Saksham was good in tennis. Vidyut was a master chess player. They taught each other few aspects of games which could help them in getting ready for the competition. As the competition started, all three of them were in different groups. All of them reached SF. In SF, Vidyut found it hard to stay in the hunt in athletics and swimming but did well in tennis and chess. He reached finals by just 1 point. Shourya and Saksham were top 2 players. 8 players played finals. It was a blistering hot Sunday. All got ready for the most awaited event. Shourya came over to Kishan’s house to take his blessings. He blessed him and his 2 grandkids. Race started with 400m athletics. Shourya came first followed by Saksham. Vidyut came 4th. In swimming, Saksham raced ahead. Vidyut came 2nd followed by Shourya. Shourya was disappointed.  In tennis, it was split into 2 groups. Each group had 4 players.  Top player from each would reach finals. Saksham and Vidyut topped each group. Shourya missed entering finals by 2 points. He had to make amends in chess. Saksham outclassed Vidyut in tennis. He led the points table with 33 points. Vidyut was 2nd with 28 points.  Shourya was 3rd with 26 points. In chess also, format was similar to tennis. Shourya shocked Saksham to reach finals. In finals, he outsmarted Vidyut to win the all crucial chess match. Shourya won the gold by a whisker. Vidyut got silver. Saksham had to settle with bronze. Vidyut was still in shock as to how he beat him in chess. Shourya hugged him to tell that he learnt chess from Kishan uncle. Vidyut knew that chess was in his family’s blood. All 3 took blessing of Kishan. Vidyut told his grandad to train him in chess as well. Kishan winked with a smile. He told he learnt chess from the blog which his grandson writes. Jatan used to blog about chess. He had studied various key matches played by Kasparov, Karprov and Viswanathan Anand.  

Ratan and Jatan enjoyed the event as they kept cheering their kids. In the meanwhile when Kishan family were chatting non-stop, Jadhav knocked the door. He brought sweets to celebrate his son’s victory. He told Kishan that his grandkids had great talent. He spoke to Ratan and Jatan in length post that. Ratan was in awe with the facilities which stadium had. Just when all were chatting, Kishan brought his favorite filter coffee to all of them. Just as they smelt the coffee fragrance and started sipping it, Kishan opened up a topic which surprised all. He asked Ratan and Jatan whether they had a clue why he called them on these specific dates. They responded it should be because of the sport event which just got over which they all enjoyed. Kishan smiled and told that along with fun comes a certain set of responsibilities as well. He went to his cupboard and brought a set of cards. It was election voter id cards. He told them that Indian Loksabha elections is just 2 days away.  Ratan and Jatan asked their dad if this was some kind of a joke. In their respective countries they had done sessions with community to spread awareness of voting. But they had not voted in India for past 2 decades. Jadhav opened up. He told that he need not vote him just because he is standing for election. He gave background details and portfolio details of all candidates standing for MP from his area. It was a pretty exhaustive sheet. Of 10 candidates, 3 were post graduates and 5 were graduates. It was a surprising stat for Ratan and Jatan who felt India had never made a move in this aspect.  Kishan gave a clear cut example. He told them he would not leave teaching his students just because their marks were less. So it is equally important to do your responsibilities with full earnest and leave rest to fate. Saksham and Vidyut were listening to all of this with their ears wide open.  Ratan and Jatan told that they would vote but might not be able to do every 5 years hence forth. Kishan told them to vote atleast once in 2 terms. Saksham told his dad to cut his pocket money if money is the constraint but voting must happen. Kishan just couldn’t control his happiness. He hugged him tightly. Ratan, Jatan and their wives casted votes. Kishan and Upendra were super happy.

5 years later, when next election was held, Saksham and Vidyut had travelled to Udupi to work as volunteers under Upendra for election period. They also casted their votes. Post that they went to stadium where Ratan and Jatan were waiting. They saw a huge photo of Kishan in stadium entrance. Kishan had expired 2 years back but his photo had a peaceful smile. He knew he had done his job well. Vidyut felt his granddad winked at him again from the photo !!