Backseat Gamer: Mortal Kombat X

Intro:
We have a PS4!!  We can finally start gaming again and playing to new stuff we really want!
*cough*  Ok, now that that's out of my system...

Mortal Kombat has always been one of my wifey's true video games loves.  As a kid I didn't grow up with a game system, so I never experienced playing the game.  Still I knew of it and I absolutely loved (and still do) the live action movie that came out - in spite of all it's cheesiness.  I also enjoyed watching her play the last one, so needless to say we bought this with our new PS4 immediately.  This was a long time coming.

Summary:
About 20 years after the events of MK9, most of the main characters are either dead, or trying to pick up the pieces.  Trouble starts up again, when a certain magical amulet goes missing and it's time for the newest team of recruits to take on the battle to save Earth Realm with a few old familiars.  

Thoughts:
Back when this game was released, the PS3 version was delayed (and eventually got cancelled) so we were left with the choice to wait or find some other way to see the story mode.  This is the first game I can think of where we actually hunted down the full story mode online via Youtube because we really didn't want to wait.  I remember liking it at the time and loving the new characters.  And, when we finally got the system and the game, we happily played through the story mode again.

The new characters?  I love them.  I'll admit I was hesitant, because Soul Calibur also tried a jump forward in time with new characters and it was less them impressive.  However Mortal Kombat seems to have nailed it.  The new characters of Cassie, Jacqui, Takeda and Kung Jin provide excellent backstories, unique personalities and are easy to identify and associate the newest generation of fans with, plus they don't alienate the older fans.  Of that group I would have to say that Takeda is my favorite overall and favorite to play with, but I seriously love all of them (though Kung Jin is really hard for me to play).

There's also a whole host of new 'villains' from other realms that I really like.  Kotal Kahn is super interesting, taking a character based on Mayan and Aztec gods and adding him to the realm.  I especially love how some of the cultural aspects are part of his character, making him incredibly unique when compared to other fighting games I've seen.  I also really like D'voriah and Ferra/Tor more then I thought I would.  And Shinnok, while annoying, makes a pretty threatening boss.

Other well known characters are also back.  We get to see aged versions of Sonja Blade and Johnny Cage and others, while many of those who died in the last game come back as ghostly versions of themselves thanks to Quan Chi.  Added to that, there's several cameos of other lesser known Mortal Kombat characters worked into the storyline.  It's a bit of a disappointment that you don't get to play them and they aren't included in the DLC, but there's hope for in the future and it makes me excited to see the next installment, if they keep this up.  I continue to be impressed by how these new Mortal Kombat games have successfully rebooted things, without ignoring the previous source material.

The storyline is good, keeping the same cinematic scope as the last game and Injustice.  I really like this trend, where the fighting graphics and the cut scenes are so close to quality that you can actually watch it as a movie with very little adjustment.  The adding in of reaction commands was perfectly done.  Not too hard to interupt the story and create frustration, but instead they added to it in just the right way.

In the actual nitty gritty of the fighting game, there's a couple new mechanics worth note.  In this game, each fighter has three modes - which let the player pick what they want to focus on.  Fundamentally the character doesn't change, but the ability to choose if you want your character to lean a bit more toward magic, offense or defense actually makes the easier for players like me who are more of the button mashing type, and yet endlessly playable because now you have the option to master the same character in three different ways!

There's also the addition of challenge towers that change on a constant basis.  This reminds me of those endless iPhone games where there's just level after level and you can play to your hearts' content but translated for a console (without micro transactions, thank god).  There's a set of challenge towers that are normally with the game, but also a set of living towers that change frequently.  So, essentially, even after you've played through each character's story, you can always log in for a new challenge.  In that, I see this game having a seriously long life, even if the DLC doesn't continue.

The one thing we haven't tried yet is the DLC.  We plan on getting those next, but at the time of writing this review neither of us have tried the added characters.  Though I do love the idea of adding in horror movie baddies and making your own horror movie fighting game as time goes on.

The bad?  Hmmm, honestly I don't really have anything I dislike about this game.  I could play the whole thing, even with my minimal gaming skills.  I enjoyed many of the gross characters and fatalities and really don't have any complaints.  Other then why the heck didn't this come out on PS3? Damnit, that wait was agonizing!

How Much I Played:

I am proud to say that I played about half of the game with my wifey.  She and I switched the controller back and forth during story mode and I beat the personal towers with quite a few of the characters.  The krypt was all mine, thanks to the random jump scares that come up.  The only thing I didn't really play was the living towers, as those are stuck on medium and way past my skill level - but I am proud to say that I can beat the game on Easy and didn't have to use Super Easy the whole time ^__^;;;.

I do have to say, the most fun moment was playing one of the Test Your Might challenges and we had to work together, one of us holding the controller against the table and ready with the trigger, while the other mashed the buttons as quickly as possible.  That was a lot of fun!

Grade:

Loved the hell out of this game.  It was a long wait and so worth it.  Now, I really really need that DLC.

Cosplay?
Yep!  Back when the game came out, we threw together a quick closet cosplay for my wifey as Scorpion and here's some of the pix!

Review: Fate/Stay Night (Unlimited Blade Works)

With the ending of the convention season, I finally have time to catch up on some anime series, so I'll be doing more reviews like this, hopefully.  Any recommendations?

What is the show?


Fate/Stay Night is one in a series of stories about mages who summon historical figures in order to fight for the coveted Holy Grail, a mystical item that can grant the winning mage and servant any wish.

Unlimited Blade Works specifically is the remake of the series from the original (just Fate/Stay Night) which focuses on one of the many storylines and endings from the visual novel/dating sim game that started the series.  Yes, you read that right, this is based on a dating game from Japan, but honestly you may as well push that fact far from your mind, because this isn't a romance.

Shirou is the main character and he is the adopted son of a mage from the last Holy Grail War, which he knows very little about.  But when he accidentally summons one of the legendary servants: Saber, he's thrown into the storyline and the current Holy Grail War and must become the hero in the process.

I've known about this series for years and have always loved the premise of taking historical figures and bending them to fit as warriors in such a fantastic story.  When I attempted to watch the first series, I have to say I was less then impressed by the lack of character and personality Shirou had.  In this remake, I'm happy to say that's been corrected.  No longer is he a very lackluster character next to the exciting and new takes on well known historical figures - now he is very much a character who stands on his own and who you end up rooting for, no matter how tilted his ideals may be.

All in all, it's a really dramatic series, that made me love the main characters and quite a few of the side characters.  As it was based on a dating game, you can still see threads of pandering to the fans, but they really only left in the important plot related points, so I can't complain.  The character development is well written with everyone, the animation is gorgeous and the fight scenes really keep you on the edge of your seat.  In fact those fight scene are a beautiful marriage of computer animation and the traditional animation style, that you feel every blow on the screen.

I do highly recommend this series and it fits right in there with action series such as Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan and other awesome titles.  The contained storyline gives you a complete series that you don't need to go hunting for history about (but it's fun to after the series has ended) and the amount of kick ass females who are woven into the storyline is a great bonus.  That and, without any spoilers, the storyline centering around Shirou and his personal growth is one of the most interesting I've seen in a long time.

There is a prequel to this series in Fate/Zero but you don't need to see it to understand this series.  Instead, it's more of a bonus and you'll recognize some characters who float between both storylines.  It doesn't matter what order you watch the two series in, there's just a few 'easter eggs' you'll notice if you take the time to watch both.

Watched on: Streaming on Hulu

Want some spoilers and in depth thoughts?  Just scroll past the image:

Spoilers below this point!

Lets talk about those servants - specifically Saber (least to start).  I love the fact that Saber is in fact King Arthur.  It's not stated flat out in the series, but they make it pretty obvious once you find out what her weapon is and with her flashbacks to the original reason why she wanted the Grail and her wish fulfilled.  The whole idea of mages summoning historical heroes in itself is really interesting, but the fact that they made one female with no explanation or excuses, really intrigued me.  I like that it's never really discussed that while the mythical/historical King Arthur would have been male, Saber is very much female.  There's no long drawn out flashback as to why, the audience is just told to accept it as reality, and I like that.  It allows me to extrapolate and search out my own fanfiction prone explanations after the fact and it doesn't hurt the story at all.  Yet, at the same time it's not too far to expect that had a female drawn the sword meant to pick the future king of Britain - then yeah, she would have probably had to pretend to be a male or simply live with being called a 'king' for most of her life.  It's a new twist on an old and familiar story that I really like.

And that is part of why I love this series.  Part of the fun is watching it and trying to figure out who each of the servants are.  Some are flat out named in the series, while others are not and it can lead to many hours of looking up information and discovering other story tidbits that keep you interested far past the actual series.  It's like a little puzzle book that just keeps giving you more and more information as you pull apart the pieces.

Gilgamesh was my only disappointment - and even then he wasn't really.  He's so arrogant and unforgiving that you can't help but laugh at his particular type of madness.  I mean a bad guy bent on world domination that is ok with killing most of humanity because they don't deserve to have him as their king?  That's some special thinking right there!  What they didn't tell you about his story, I know is revealed and expanded in Fate/Zero, so I really can't complain.  All in all there was far too little of him in this series and I wish there'd been more - but I understand why there wasn't.

The whole crux of the story, and the reason why it's called Unlimited Blade Works centers around Shirou and his relation to Archer.  I found that story to be really intriguing with how well it was written and handled.  It was almost a time travel story, to be honest, but not quite.  Since the heroes are timeless, the fact that Shirou and Archer are actually the same person from two different times (and possibly two different threads of time) is really interesting and their well thought out explanation worked better then most time travel stories I've come across.  It made Archer a really interesting character with oh so many layers and during their fight, I honestly couldn't tell you who I was rooting for, because damnit they both deserved to win and lose at the same time.

So yeah, like I said, I loved the series.  I do highly recommend it and I plan on finishing Fate/Zero soon here.  I hope they explore the other storylines presented in the visual novels and some of the other games in future series.  I would be quite happy to see these characters over and over again.

(With the exception of Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya - where they turn it into a magical girl series.  I really have no interest in that thread.)

2016 Conventions!

With the closing of the 2015 convention year, and the ending of the year as a whole, we've retreated into our warm house to restock our shop, write more books and plan for next year's conventions.  Luckily we already have a few we can announce, and some new products that we'll be releasing.  And there will be at least one more written piece on the way, and hopefully a few more.  Here's a preview of some things to come!

March - 2016

We have two conventions already confirmed: 

Anime Milwaukee - we'll have a table in Artist Alley, while Shuto con we'll just be attending and running some panels!

We will also - hopefully - be releasing the sequel to Seeking the Storyteller.  More news on this as we have it!

April - 2016

We're confirmed as Featured Artists at Anime Detour this year!  So you'll find our table up near registration and the dealer's room!

October - 2016

We're confirmed as Guests at Gaylaxicon!  Stay tuned for more info on this con as well!!

We have a lot of other things planned as well, but we can't quite share them just yet.  So keep an eye out.  And next week I'll return to my normal blog posts ^__^

If there's any conventions you'd like to see us at, feel free to comment and let us know!  Otherwise you can always recommend us as guests to your local con too!  We'd love to travel all over and meet everyone!

Announcement: The Little Book of Big Babes!

I'm happy to announce finally that the wifey and I are featured in a lovely picture book promoting body positivity and all around plus size loveliness!

Check out  The Little Book of Big Babes!

Get your copy, starting today, from Createspace!

Review: The Enfield Haunting

What's it about?
A three episode mini series I found on Hulu, The Enfield Haunting tells the story of a poltergeist that haunted a house  and family in Enfield, London.  It's marked as being based on real events.

Review
The first thing that struck me about this mini series is how unclean it is.  I'm not saying it's dirty, but being a production from over seas, I immediately noticed the difference in style.  Whereas here in the US, haunted house stories are presented with bright lights and pristine white walls and clean houses, this piece has a home that looks decidedly lived in and a family that is very plain.  This gives the mini series a very 'lived in' look and makes it feel that much more real.  That added to the non-shaky camera that follow the main characters like a peeping neighbor, gives you the feeling of being right in the house while it's all happening.

It's a very realistic and startling effect that adds to the story and is honestly something I wish they would do more often in American movies.  Heck, this would have made movies like Paranormal Activity that much scarier.

The story is presented in a very real and authentic, lived in look that stays the entire film.  Bits and pieces show up here and there to tell you the poltergeist is real, but yet there's still a lingering wonder if those parts are untrue and maybe the family has been lying the whole time.

I don't want to give away spoilers, but I will say that I was quite happy with the ending presented and the revelation to why the poltergeist actually exists.  There's a chance that there's much more to this story then we see, but you're still left with quite a bit of closure because you learned what you needed to know.  I do plan on looking up the actual case after watching this, to see what was actually reported to have happened, but I found this to be quite entertaining and a very good story.  It certainly didn't have and didn't need all the gore we're used to seeing in American movies lately and it was quite a welcome change.


Watch it on Hulu!


(Disclaimer: I watched this on my own Hulu subscription, no money was received for this review.)

NaNoWriMo Pep Talk - Tips for Finishing This Month

It’s November!  Welcome to National Novel Writing Month!  If you’re one of the several people around the world who are ambitious enough - and possibly crazy enough - to embark on this journey, here’s some helpful tips to help you toward your goal.

1.Write Now!

It’s November, that means now is the time to write.  Forget about editing and correct sentence structure, all of those things.  For this one time in your life, throw the English book out the window, grab your pencil and word processor and just go at it!.  The very point of NaNoWriMo is to write a novel in a month - 50,000 words!  That’s a lot of words for most people and can be a really daunting task.  What can make that task even more daunting is if you try and edit as you go.  This is the one time in your life where being a perfectionist can stop you in your tracks and that’s not something you want.

So this is why I’m saying, toss that English book out.  This month is purely for focusing on getting that story to paper.  All of the editing and correct grammar can come next month.  But for this month, let yourself free from those restraints and just tell your story.  You don’t have to share it with the world yet and it doesn’t have to be perfect.  But you do need to write it.  So just write and leave the rest for December 1st.

2. Surround Yourself With Support

Aside from the word processor, handy notebook and lucky pen; the other tool that a writer and author must always have is a supportive cast.  That means characters in your book that support the main character and real people around you to support you in your efforts.  Surround yourself with these people - people who want to hear about your story updates and those who can encourage you to keep pressing forward.  You need cheerleaders in your court and your can find these everywhere.

If your friends, family and coworkers don’t fall into this group, that’s ok!  There are social media communities posting words of encouragement and there are even pep talks on the NaNo Website.  Use these to your full advantage and get cracking.  Post statuses on your Facebook, pictures of your word count on Instagram and excerpts on your tumblr.  There’s motivation everywhere and it’ll only help you drive forward, because you can get this done!  So make use of it and go for that goal!

3. Edit Out the Noise

Normal life doesn’t go away for the month of November, so distractions will come up.  These can be things such as work, children, unsupportive friends and the like.  While I suggested above to toss out the English and grammar book until December, there is a specific sort of editing you should do: getting rid of the noise.

This means that there should be a safe place for you to work on your novel in progress, where discouraging and progress killing people can’t touch. Be it a quiet bedroom and a laptop, a tree house in the backyard with wifi, or even just a set of headphones and your favorite Pandora station. Find the thing you need to create a little wall around yourself and do it as often as you need.  Those naysayers out there who feel the need to point out your mistakes and the impossibility of the task at hand have no place this month.  You have better things to pay attention to and a novel to finish!

4. Don’t be Discouraged

As you type away, working on your novel, there will be those around you who will make comments.  You’ll see other people’s statuses talking about their plots, their word counts and their amazing accomplishments from previous years.  These posts are another sort of motivation - so don’t let them discourage you.

Keep in mind that your novel and your accomplishments are your own.  This means that no matter whatever heights others around you reach, that doesn’t mean your wins are any less important.

5. Keep in Mind the Goal

Ultimately, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write.  It’s a way to spur people who have wanted to write a novel, to take it on while there’s an outpouring of support and several other people working toward the same goal.  The stimulated work schedule gives you a hard deadline and several people racing with you to the finish line.  In the end, it’s not the 50,000 words that matters, but the fact that you tried.

This may seem counter intuitive to the whole process, but it’s important to remember that the goal is to write the story.  Not everyone makes it to the finish line in November and often times life and the real world can step in the way, and that’s ok.  So, if the goal of 50,000 words turns out to not be doable, that doesn’t mean you’ve lost.  It means you still get credit because you tried.  In NaNoWriMo there are no losers, as silly as that sounds, there are only Authors and their works in progress.  After all the year has more than one month.

And if it takes you more than a month to write your story, that’s ok too.

Sincerely - a participant who has not met the goal many years, but knows it’s still fun to try anyway.

Book Review: Teen Titans: A Kid's Game

What's it about?
The Teen Titans are back, the team reforming with the newest 'sidekicks' of the DC Universe, in the aims of giving them a place to be kids and learn to be themselves without the Justice League looking over their shoulders.  But this isn't the first group of Titans and the team's past comes back to haunt the new members, forcing them to stand up and fight as the team they hope to become.

Review
I have always been a fan of the DC Universe of comics, with a special love for Batman and Robin.  I also love the cartoon show for Teen Titans, enjoying the origin stories of teenagers coming of age as heroes and the pitfalls that come with it.  While this comic has, essentially, a completely new set of heroes and takes place in the DC universe after that show, it still does a good job of hitting the same notes I loved.  These characters aren't perfect heroes and I love the tension that many of them might become something else.  The climax of the book seemed a bit rushed, but it would have been amazing as an animated show where the action wouldn't be limited to about three pages.  All that said, I couldn't put this down.  I do hope, with all the DC animated movies doing so well, that they delve into the world of the Teen Titans once or twice.  Seeing these characters in a grittier and longer animated movie would be awesome and very welcome.


Purchase on Amazon


(Disclaimer: This book was purchased at Half Price books with my own money, no money was received for this review.)