Super Robot Taisen EX pictures

Well, that's the first dialogue between Mio and Masaki. Mio appears as a result of the 2nd battle, where you defend a gate (one-way only, unless you're reeeally powerful... er, like the Silver Star =/, but even then, it's only enough to transport the core itself) from some guys who are invading the country, as the king seems to be quite not there (don't know really why: looking at a dictionary in the middle of a game is a little troublesome ^^;;).

As you pick her up asleep, she wakes up in Masaki's camp, along with some soldiers from a small country near the Gate.

Mio: "Kya~! Murderer! Kidnapper!"
Masaki: Shut up!! Stay quiet and listen to what I have to say, OK?


Mio's on a whole different wavelength.
Masaki: Well then...
Mio (interrupts): Well, certainly, even if you kidnap me, it won't be a crime if you marry me. You don't look bad, but I hate like guys like you who come on so strong...

Do you really expect that sort of dialogue in a mecha series? Well, a bit, but still...

Mazinger Z appears. By the way, that's the battlefield. Blue units are yours, red are the enemy's. As you can see, the robot under the brackets (Silver Star) is flying, and thus has no problem climbing the cliff. It can even transform, jeez.

Masaki: "Mazinger Z?! Then, that means those guys were brought here as well! Koji, Sayaka! Can you hear me??

Koji: Eh, Masaki! Where in blazes are we?! There's no horizon and the sun doesn't move... no matter how you look at it, this isn't on the Earth's surface, is it?!

Ta-dum. This is one of the screen where you can look info about a certain unit. This is the page about the robot. There's other two: your weapons and your pilot. This is Toulouse's robot, Burooweru (Blower? Blauwer?) Just for trivia, you can see their height, weight without and with armor, and then their HP, Energy (big attacks require this), type (this one's an Earth mecha), movement radius (7 squares here), armor, and maximum reaction capability. (not too sure of the last one). Mazinger Z's got a whopping 5800 HP.

And that's the weapons screen. There's the name of the weapon, its offensive power, maximum distance, effect on accuracy (some are easier to aim than others), and a stat I can't quite understand. Update: thanks to Wakan, got that one. It's "Remaining Ammo".

Also, in the second bar from the bottom, there's the kanji for "sky", "earth" and "sea". That's how effective the weapon is in the three elements (this one's not so good against enemies in the water). It might happen than one or more of them have '-', meaning it doesn't work at all. The weapon might require a minimum level of Intuition and Willpower (both noted there: no requirements at all), and use up some energy (10 units out of our 150 for this battle).

That's the main screen. We're in the 5th turn of the battle, with 9,850 credits. We can either end our turn (passing to the Enemy Phase), look up a list of our troops, see the battlefield from far above, change orders about how to react to enemy attacks, change game options, check the winning conditions (most of the time, Gotta Blast 'Em All), and Save.

Those two blue heads on the top of the cliff are Mio and Sayaka. Those two near the river are Toulouse and er.. just a Soldier acting as backup (the winning condition for the enemy was to kill him).

And that's it. Hope you like it! (that is, hope someone reads this.. xDD)

Super Robot Taisen EX

Well, it's been a long time since my last post. At least for my standards. Anyhoo, a penpal of mine, Aki-san, mentioned a favourite of him, Super Robot Taisen EX. That could be translated as Super Robotic Great War EX (lots of super/duper/ultra stuff here... =/) or Great War of the Super Robots EX (which makes a little more sense).

If you've played Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or Shining Force, you'll know the genre: strategy RPGs... sort of. I wouldn't call this a strategy RPG, that's Shining Force. FF Tactics actually gives you some choice. This game's got a story, but it's er.. kind of linear. You just read the dialogues and play the battles. Or so it seems from the 4 battles I've fought already.

As you might've brilliantly guessed from the title, yes, it's about robots. Even more, the usual Japanese robots: Mazinger Z, Aphrodite (actually, Diana A or something of the sort), and mobile suit alikes (like Silver Star), and the like. There's several game modes:

- Easy (Main Character: Masaki) - Well, no doubt it's easy. You get Masaki, a high-level pilot with the mecha equivalent of a nuclear bomb in his arsenal. Especially useful for his Psy Blast, which is a map attack: basically, a blast big enough to damage a whole area of the map.
- Normal (Main Character: Rune) - Haven't gotten this far yet, hey. xD Though, from the training lessons, it seems Rune has an attack similar to the Psy Blast.
- Training (lead by Sasuga Mio) - Masaki teaches Mio how to fight, basically.

It looks like a pretty hard-core game: there seems to be references to characters from several different mecha series, and also there's quite a bit of detail when it comes to strategic points. Different types of terrain affect your accuracy and evade ratio. Beam weapons don't work underwater. There's weapons which don't work on earth: they seem to be earth-air and air-air and that's it. And enemies you fire at can counterattack, which they do quite frequently.

There's weapons which don't let you counterattack, like energy swords a la Deathscythe (not so high-powered, though), or Anti-Counterattack Bazookas (surprisingly, used by regular troop).

It's funny, since in the 3rd battle, a weird threesome riding a single robot will just appear out of thin air, act as support and then -pop- go away. And in the 4th... Mazinger Z joins your group. Yes, Mazinger Z. And Aphrodite (didn't know her real name WASN'T Aprodite, but Dianan A or something of the sort). Complete with those :cough: weird :cough: missiles. The author was a perv, mind you.

Characters level up by earning experience, getting better stats and new skills. "Seishin" skills... now, how'd I translate that? Seishin means the human mind. For example, seishin kantoo is "human mind expert" -> psychologist. I'd rather just use Skills, than use expressions like "Mind Skills". That sounds like hypnosis. You have points to use them (just like MP), and they vary a lot between character and character.

Some allow you to stop certain enemies for a turn or so, others pump up your speed or your evade/accuracy ratios, and others repair your robot. Poor Soldier A spent the 4th battle fixing his robot, the poor guy. Good thing: you can actually use a skill and then fire, but somehow it's much harder moving and then firing. Gotta get the hang of that.

Also, yours or the enemy's mechas might or not be able to fly, and thus you might or might not be able to access difficult terrain, or climb cliffs / canyons.

Reading is a lot harder than with Tokyo Mew Mew and just a little more than with DQ5. Mucho kanji around. Glad I reviewed the Geography part in my vocab book (otherwise, I wouldn't have understood much the point of the 4th battle, which takes place in a canyon, to avoid the enemy from displaying his superior firepower - 14 machines against, what, 5?). I still need to get a grip on military ranks. I'm sure Masaki is a high-graded militar and so Toulouse, but other than that...

On the next post: Pics!

GetBackers - Ginji Dance

It's been a couple of days since the little brother and I finished watching Getbackers. The series was enjoyable, full stop. It stopped abruptly and leaving unresolved many plot threads, so we thought the manga might have probably gone on much longer. The missions were nothing too showy or sophisticated, nor were their solutions very witty. However, dear Gin-chan makes up for all of it! I don't usually find guys in anime (or their chibis, for all that) cute (in the sense of kawaii), but Ginji definitely is. A very extraordinary thing about his chibi is that not only the spectator sees the little plushie sort of figure, so do other characters in the anime, who actually ask him to take that shape every now and then for their own purposes. Something hilarious is how scared Ginji is of one of the baddies, Akabane (a dark sort of character with rather placidly sadistic habits), in spite of his being rather powerful himself. One of the following caps (afterwards edited for avatars in Photoshop, you may use them at will, etc etc) did actually happen at the sight of the sarcastic sadist (poor Gin-chan!).
Best of all is his expression of joy - his "Ginji dance", and the avatar I shall adopt elsewhere next, which is the image on top of these lines. Isn't he lovable, or what?

Harry Potter 6 - SPOILERS

Back here after a short absence. I know, I know, I should be more constant in updating. When I do, I think there's hardly anything interesting to say, and when I don't, I keep remembering things I'd like to blog! Now aren't we odd, we humans?
Anyway, I finished reading the sixth HP last Friday, after this looong wait, and a bit later than 24 hours since I got it from Amazon. The wait was all worth it, I'm sure. Yes, the books keep getting darker, and though the happy-happy, fairy sort of atmosphere of the first books has disappeared, there remains charm in every single page. The plot thickens, too. And Rowling has really taken her readers in - I really thought it'd be a student dying, I believed it might have been Neville. I really like the character, but in the light of his increasing importance and his part in the prophecy, it sort of felt possible (btw, didn't you people love Prof. MacGonagall's rebuke that she'd talk to his grandmother and tell her that her having failed Charms in her time was not a reason to dismiss it as a useless discipline?!). So did Ginny's relationship with Harry, and the feeling was right, wasn't it?

It is also remarkable how we end up pitying Malfoy. It is funny, because with all the excessive pride exhibited in the previous book, I think Harry was meant to appear slightly unlikeable even to his admirers. It is some achievement, I believe. And the idea of the Half-Blood Prince was fantastic - I really did not expect it, though it made perfect sense when revealed.

I also loved Horace Slughorn, and what about taking the shape of a shabby sofa to conceal himself from Dumbledore. As hilarious as his little drunkard scene with poor, grieving Hagrid (I love him so!) after Aragog's burial. And what a creation, Fred and George's Wizarding Wheezes. What a fantastic pair they are - and what about their "U NO POO". Heh.
And oh dear, I can't believe he is dead. After I had such a bad time when he was suffering and begging for mercy while trying to get Slytherin's locket back. The funeral was such a beautiful bit of narration, in my opinion. Nothing less for the only one You-Know-Who feared, uh? But it still leaves one really shocked and somewhat deflated. Not the book. It's just he was such a great man, such a lovable character. Well, at least there's still his portrait at the Headmaster's office.
But it is hard to imagine another book without him. I know Rowling will manage, but still...!

I shall really look forward to her work after HP is finished (oh yes, let's face it, there is only one left now!). She is a great storyteller, and she has got a great imagination and a wonderful instinct for new materials, I think.

Well, I've just finished doing a few things. Finishing the 6th HP book and ending quite depressed, I decided to try out this SNES underdog I read about in a site: Magical Pop'n. A platform game made in 1995 by Polestar (??) and distributed by Pack-in-Video (??), it obviously didnt' make much impact at all, not even coming here to Europe.

The game is surprisingly good, though. And quite fun to play, if I may add. It's the closest thing to Sonic I've seen on the SNES, actually. Fast gameplay, nice graphics (with that extra touch of kawainess on the lead character, a little girl) , and OK music. Well, the digitized voices COULD use some help - poor seiyuu was prolly just picked off the street and has as much acting talent as me in a good day (that is, nothing at all). It's sad to hear such a dull "Yatta!".

But the "Kya!" when you duck a little too long is still prime material. The girl has potential, after all.

The game's got 7 stages: first one, you get used to the game; next 5 ones, you pick up one spell every stage; and then the last one, with the final boss (and 5 mini-bosses, ugh). The fact that there's mini-bosses shows the attention to detail these guys had. Spells have two modes: normal mode, with normal strength, required stars and looks; and BIG mode, which is just plain flashy and wasteful. xD

Gameplay, as I said before, is pretty fast, and not that linear, actually.

I really recommend this game. I'll give it an 8 out of 10. Now, as usual, screenshot time!



This is the.. hmm.. 3rd stage. You can see there's no Japanese involved in the gameplay itself. xD

There's the number of tries, the energy bar (which you can expand by gaining hearts, a la Zelda), the list of spells you can use along with their cost, and the number of stars you've got to spend. Oh yes... see those little heads below the life counter? Get three of them and you get an extra life.




Ugh... this is Blogger's fault. It's screwing the order of the pictures. Anyhow, see that stone? That was what you were supposed to get back. This is part of the ending. What's she saying? Well, it's quite simple:

Princess: Yatta!







Going into a new stage. This is the 4th one, the ice one. Funnily, you actually don't get the ice spell but the _fire_ spell. Watch out for those penguins. Those have bazookas. Really.










Part of the ending as well. After beating the evil sorceror king, the princess comes back just to make hell out of her gramps' life. I hope she'll get into his old skull that pointy hats with stars and PINK clothes won't get him anything.

I wonder if he's really his gramps or he's just some old man?

"And with the spells she learnt, she pulled pranks on everyone all the time".



The bad guy, looking... quite bad. In the bad sense of the word.

Man, that was a bad joke.

... what?

Evil Sorceror King: "Guoooh... H-How can this be....?"

Kudos for the kid's victory sign.



Blogger blasting its way through my carefully ordered snapshots. This is right before you fight the guy from before.

After you beat him (which is EASY if you're fast, and I've always played fast), you'll fight the real boss, a big ugly thing which is also really easy to beat.

Bosses in this game are Megaman-ish: keep an eye out for what they do, act along and it's a piece of cake.

Woof?

Omae wa dochira anime no VILLAIN desu ka?
[koyasunomiko.com]

Well, that was the coincidence of the year, I think. XDD Got Yuki on one hand and Akito on the other. Somebody should tell the quiz author blue doesn't mix well with red.

OpenGL fun

I finished the (short) chapter on pixmaps and bitmaps (OpenGL ones; not to be confused with regular bitmaps... which are pixmaps). Basically, a pixmap is a picture, as we know it: you have the colors stored somewhere else, pixel by pixel, be it in color-index mode (just indices from a palette) or in true color mode (with the color components). The bitmap is _literally_ a bitmap: just a bunch of 0s and 1s, unlike the usual concept, which in OpenGL's terminology would be a pixmap.

There was a bit of a mess with this chapter as the book relies on DirectX and not SDL, and thus, some things don't work as is. Image loading is an example. I refrained from using those quick-and-dirty loading functions the book offered. Besides, it was just BMPs and TGAs, formats I'm not too fond of (I prefer PNG for non-lossy and JPG for lossy pictures).

Bitmaps just specify what pixels are colored with the current color and which aren't. Pretty boring, and I don't see much the use of them. Though working with pixmaps is interesting. Combined with the SDL_image library, you can load just out of the box GIF, JPG, PNG, TGA, BMP and XPM formats. Being careful with the format, you can work directly with the pixel data. But there's a few slight catches:

- Before drawing, you have to set the raster position to where you want your picture. This is modified by the modelview and projection matrices, so either use an orthogonal projection matrix (that way you can use direct on-screen coordinates) or just be careful with your perspective projection matrix.

Good thing about being modified by the modelview matrix: you can do stuff like rotating the starting point of the picture (I can already imagine this being used in Secret of Mana-ish circular menus). No, you can't rotate pictures straight away, but you can zoom/flip them.

Oh yes, and what's more important: with orthogonal matrices, (0,0) is the lower-left corner of the screen. With perspective matrices, (0,0) is the _center_ of the screen.

- Another note: the x86 architecture (which is what Intel, AMD and probably Cyrix use in their chips) is little-endian. What does this mean? Well, it means that, actually, colors aren't stored in the typical Red-Green-Blue-Alpha fashion, but in the Blue-Green-Red-Alpha one. It's exactly the other way around. If you had a Mac, it might be different. Or a machine with a Motorola chip, which are known for being big-endian. AFAIK, RISC chips are as well. Just about everybody except the x86 architecture xDD. Correct me if I'm wrong.

- SDL_DisplayFormat: you have to be careful with the conversion and give the right options to OpenGL. Of course, I've only done a small demo and it'd be overkill, but, you know...

- Pixels are stored in reverse order in SDL's native SDL_Surface structure. Thus, you have to flip the image horizontally and vertically. This is easy thanks to the glPixelZoom function.

When all is conveniently prepared (an orthogonal projection, and the image loaded with IMG_Load) it all boils down to:

glPixelZoom(-1.0f,-1.0f);
glDrawPixels(img2->w,img2->h,GL_BGRA,GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE,img2->pixels);

Oh yes: keep in mind SDL_DisplayFormatAlpha is to be used instead of the normal SDL_DisplayFormat if your picture has an alpha channel (like GIFs or PNGs do). Though PNGs offer pixel-by-pixel alpha values and GIFs just use a transparent color. SDL is bad with pixel-by-pixel alpha right now, though. People usually have to write a replacement and do some hacking around.

Mata jikai! (See you next time!)
~Antonio