beni

wtf, I missed this news. Only saw it now on another site. ;-; Definitely checking out!! I've always enjoyed how they sounded/looked.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you played this is dub just recently, right? I didn't notice the date, I really need to check this out. Thank you for all the updates. : 3 Vocaloid related but still a worth while listen, don't be turned off.

'appy 'appy birthday to @CaRaN for today and @jduv86 for yesterday~

And I was just getting used to dub! I'm trying to log back in now but it's been so long, I've forgotten how I even made the account. X'D EDIT: ok, me and kitty have access and are on it now.

Been playing more of the Xbox instead of the PS3 and really getting into Infinite Undiscovery and Magna Carta 2, especially the latter. While Infinite Undiscovery is taking its time to get itself going, the plot is rich with a variety of different ways to progress the story, from sneaking up on your enemies in the dark in order to retreat from the first chapter/stage and carrying your wounded team mate while the rest of your party protects you from enemies. That almost works as an escort mission but you're powerless, you have to put your faith in your much stronger team mates, aha. This is all in just the first couple of hours of the game and its already great fun. I'm looking forward to when you have about twelve characters you can play beside on your team. A lot of content to enjoy, and its feedback has been super positive with obvious setbacks such as voice work not being included in all cut-scenes and not being able to control all characters the whole way (you can control them on certain occasions when a certain move of theirs needs to be used). Magna Carta 2, on the other hand, is proving to be even more worth while than Lost Odyssey. I thought I wasn't going to see anything special in it what with how annoying the mechanic of "Over Heat" being that makes your character be unable to make any other action the more you use them, but it made for a challenge and balance in using all the characters at all times. This also gave battles a quick and nice flow, and I ended up not seeing it as a pain very quickly. While I have no clue about the first game, what drew me into it overall was the really neat art, and coming from a Korean artist, it's really manga inspired on the page/as stand stills. It's a shame there's only 6 playable characters (I always wish the rooster is as big as Star Ocean's in certain games), but the gameplay itself is surprisingly addicting. You get two weapons for all six characters to use, and it can either be psychically (sword, two handed sword, axe, hammer as examples) or magically/nature (water, fire, rods - wind, healing as examples) based. I like the balance of three females and three males in the party, and the story, while typically about war, unbalance and opposition, it still has charm certainly thanks to both characters and voice casting. For an English dub, I agree with a review I had read on the game that it has some of the best voices in any recent RPG. While they're the dub lot you already know about (Johnny Yong Bosch, Michelle Ruff, Stephanie Sheh, Yuri Lowenthal) they do make their characters shine when it's usually more than grating and makes you pray there is a sub option. Characters themselves have so much life to them, from Crocell being a sarcastic, protagonist hater and Celestine, with the oh so cliche mentality of a ten year old even though her race have a shorter life span of humans and age quicker. All in all, it's a really worth while game I know I'm going to continue to enjoy for years to come.

宇多田ヒカル - ? 黒木渚 - single 綿めぐみ - passed

Another TV one, sorry not sorry, but damn is it memorable and has repeat value. This BGM track always plays in the back of my mind.

Is there something I don't know, hmm? Serious answer: Pasta, pancakes and omelets. Le basics/all I need.

Missed wishing you a happy birthday @pinkmakona, but I do hope you had a terrific day. Same goes to you, @Ada Suilen, for today.

Ooohhhhhhh, they're majoring? Will continue to keep my eyes and ears on them, thanks.

Have you ever had/do you currently have a crush on a Jrocker? To submit a poll for the MH POLL OF THE WEEK, P.M. either @CAT5 or @beni with your poll question, choices, and state whether it's multiple choice or not.

Been playing Venetica for a good while now and it's the most mediocre RPG I've ever bothered playing. I like the whole Venice focus since I've visited the location before and it is truly breathtaking, but this game fails in every other aspect so hard. I still ended up playing it for a good while somehow because while the storyline is typical and the gameplay is repetitive with no real benefits/improvements on leveling up, it's a simple one to kill time on. That is until it decides to make the first boss of a snake untouchable because of severe glitching... It reminds me of Skyrim if it had no budget, which I didn't even like playing anyway. xD

I have been so excited to hear any official statements for her return after all the rumors. It's looking up to be another good year in music, if not more so just because of this. Totally excited, I'm so happy for her hiatus to finally end.

I'm so done, this can't be serious.

For those games that you just can't put down because there's thousands of enemies to massacre to kill time with plenty of rewards and an addicting gameplay style. While all three genres of gaming are different, they do have their similarities, hence the united thread for each category. Instead of simply listening all the games that can go under each, I'll go straight ahead on naming my personal favourites (and not so favoured lot), explain why they're worth trying (and why they're really not worth anything), then hand it over to you. Popular hack 'n' slash games I have purchased, still have and am playing at the moment are Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. I have the HD Collection of Devil May Cry to Devil May Cry 3, and have yet to see the appeal. I admit I had played the Xbox DmC before trying the first lot, but I really prefer that one. It's a lot more fun and reminds me of the splendor that is Shadows of the Damned (Grasshopper reference for later~). Bayonetta has yet to grip me too, which I have always said when bringing this one up. It has very fluid and awesome gameplay, but despite it being so quick and engaging, it still doesn't get me (and I have this same problem with many well recieved titles like Asura's Wrath). Some oldies now. The Bouncer and Jackie Chan Stuntmaster (both from 2000) were my go to games as a kid. They both were the equilivant to those movies you kept rewatching after each viewing when you were at that age. Despite never getting far in The Bouncer, I loved the really typical and simple anime style, and still do to this day. It's not the kind of game I'd even bother playing now (static and almost two dimensional), it's still fun and has that nostalgic factor I seem immune to with almost every other title I've played years ago. The Jackie Chan game is one of the few games I can remember music/BGM from, and very clearly at that. I did complete the game many amount of times and I wish to replay it even now. I never realised how many games I have which fall into these categories (now onto what's supposedly beat 'em ups). There's four in particular that are quite literally my babies. Heavenly Sword, Blades of Time, Drakengard 3 and Lollipop Chainsaw all kick ass and rightly so. I put HS and BoT together quite often because while they play out just as materfully done as the already mentioned Bayonetta, it has that pull I've been missing from that game. The characters are surroundings are interesting and beautiful. BoT has a feature of pausing time, while HS gives you another character to use as a sort of mini game that's a lot more challenging than your main girl where you're controlling her long range, arrow attacks to progressive the story. I had never played a Drakengard title before but its third installment got my pumped. I adored the art and soundtrack (Nier name dropping!), and almost finished my first run through. It's frame rate and rather outdated looking graphics shouldn't put you off. Even I managed to love it for what its worth, and it's totally worth it. Lollipop Chainsaw is literally a guilty pleasure. All these games are subject to the "too repetitive" slam down, and I've got to say, no one would surely disagree with me if I say LG is the worst culprite of this, closely followed by D3 (can you see where I'm going with this?) Despite that repetitive gameplay, I love it. It's a short but sweet game, with its obviously flaws, that allows for repeated runthroughs thanks to that good and bad ending options depending on if you save all of your school 'mates'. The last bunch I have of these are Genji, Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The latter is like the male counterpart to Bayonetta; looks flashy, but it's really all just for show. A bore, I've only ever tried to get through five minutes of the game only to not bother to reach a save point and try it again another month. Trinity I have actually gotten through a lot of. I was addicted with for a while but ended up forgetting about. I had no idea about its tie in to the Dynasty Warriors (which I'll be getting to btw), but I haven't gotten that far with Genji, which reminds me of the musou games because of it's traditional Japanese surroundings and characters, which makes me come to... Musou now, and I only knew about Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes and only that for a long time. I didn't even know about its genre other than assuming it was just a hack 'n' slash one. I was quite addicted to its gameplay and characters (Little Crane Tsuruhime and that gorgeously dark and morbid Oichi that kicks Dynasty Warrior's Oichi into a home run) but never really got into the whole musou genre itself until my bf introduced me to One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn and Warriors Orochi 3. OPPW3 makes me pumped for more of its games unlike the feeling the Naruto games gave me (I've ended up not even bothering to buy them ever since Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations). OPPW3 is just perfect of the genre, it's much quicker unlike WO3, and has even more of a challenge and balanced amount of enemies to wipe out than SB:SH. On the topic of WO3, I do love how long it's taking to complete and its almost endless amount of content to unlock, from weapons to characters. The story is simple to follow yet really involving (going back in time to save a variety of comrades that you even need to go further back in time to change certain events then retry the stage in order to rescue them). I haven't played much of DW:GR though, but that also looks like good fun and with loads of the franchise's characters, I'm sure I'll end up being excited to try more of the series (only ever watched Gundam Build Fighters) like I did after having played OPPW3 (unfortunately have gotten head over heels for plenty of characters now). Too bad there's no Kid... >.> The worst of the worst with this genre is definitely the Bleach: Soul Resurrection game. I have played it twice only because I wanted to get all the characters out and secondly the trophies which I had to delete the save and start all over on my new PS3 account due to the lost sign in password... The fact that it only goes over the "rescuing Orihime" arc and nothing before or after it is a joke and an embarrassment. It being the only Bleach game to ever grace the PlayStation makes me more than upset, so I reluctantly play it just because it's Bleach. they could've done a lot better, but even so, the gameplay enjoyment is there for barely a few hours if you're patient I guess. Oichi's gameplay of nightmares: Bird bae from OP: She keeps me sane: Phew, now over to you! Remember to keep videos wrapped in a spoiler and feel free to expand and discuss on points from others and your own. Enjoy, and happy gaming/discussing.

Belated as hell, how dare I. See videos to accompany explanations in the spoilers. For those who are already familiar with the terms, scroll to the bottom of the post for the introduction of the thread. Guide: Doujin: Doujin Music can be defined as non-official self-published Japanese works which can be derivative works, or completely original creations. (source: reddit/wiki) Vocaloid: You either love it or hate it, no explication surely needed on this one. It's a singing voice synthesizer for those who may be unfamiliar. Please make note that Vocaloids and Utauloids are different; the latter can be made by anyone, usually of low quality while the Vocaloid is the official, company named unit WITH a voice bank. Examples can be seen below. Utaite: Utaite (歌い手) is a Japanese term for people who cover previously released songs and post them on Nico Nico Douga (and/or YouTube) under the "utattemita" category. The term is unique to Nico Nico Douga singers, making it different from Kashu (歌手), which means "singer" in general. Please note this can be on English/Youtube based accounts and singers too, usually termed as a Youtaite. Also something to bring up is collaborations, and can be very popular ships in the fandom if they partner up often/sound complimentary (check the very bottom video under the cut). Touhou bring ups are allowed too. Any such subgenres/related musical work that is done independently can be mentioned! Use this thread to post or discuss anything relevant to this kind of music, be it either Japanese, English, or even outside of both (see vocaloid SeeU, Korean). Happy listening. To start off, some questions~ What are your guys' favourites in any/all sections? Any particular songs that stand out even when listening to a variety of different people covering it? Any albums you've recently discovered, or love to repeat? Favourite producers? Favourite singers? Favourite releases? Any ones that are major you like, such as Piko and nano? My favourite producers I've already inserted above and that's supercell's ryo (absolute bias of mine when it comes to Japanese music) and DECO*27. I've dug into Vocaloid producers quite a lot recently but no other producers can top these two for me. I've only ever focused on the popular lot of Vocaloids (never came across Utauloids until finding information to make this thread), meaning Hatsune Miku, Luka Megurine, and Gumi Megpoid mainly. Most of the Vocaloid songs I've already linked above and the ones I'll go back to and spam, I'm not much of a seeker for any more since I've got plenty to continue to enjoy, with Vocaloids and covers. My Utaite library is continuously expanding, but again, it's with the bigger names (Hanatan, Soraru). This is usually because of trying to locate every possibly cover of my favourite Vocaloid songs (Pierrot, No Logic). Not much of a fan of the Youtaites from what I've heard (supposedly super popular miku-tan goes through one ear and out the other for me). Will go into more detail with albums and such some time soon!

fking beautiful

ok that was a lot better than I was expecting unlike: You've hurt me deeply people.

Really like what I'm hearing. Thank god for random YouTube strolling proving valuable.

No idea wtf this is but I need to buy it asap. Loving the whole sound. Really fun, and I now have my paws on their mini album!

Tried to get into the new British TV show said to be the next 'Misfits' called 'The Aliens' but the whole set up sounds ludicrous and unappealing. I tried fifteen minutes and had to watch something else on Channel 4 because I didn't find myself hooked in immediately like the suggested similar masterpiece of a show that is 'Misfits'. First thing we learn about these "aliens" is that they look like us but the main problem is that they sell their hair (which is how we know they're aliens: it turns green when lit on fire) as the drugs we already have in existence. Yeah... I'm not buying it... I don't know why I find that so dumb. Or maybe I'm not getting the humor. On a better ending note, I had watched Graham Norton's 'Ah-So Graham Norton: Secret Life of Japan', focusing on the younger Irish comedian and presenter Norton travelling in Japan. I've only seen the 'Ah-So Graham Norton' episode but there seems to be 12 episodes in total and only this one legally available but I'm totally digging into this one more. You can find the episode below on YT which I hadn't stumbled on there but on Channel 4 (yes I reverted to watching this after the fail that was 'The Aliens'). He might be more of a sarcastic twat then than now, but it was an entertaining watch. Nothing like having to accept Japan as the pervy, sexual beasts that they are with websites focused on uploading videos of a group of men fondling a sleeping woman on a crowded train, and seeing kid shops with a porn section right besides it.

I'm continously refreshing Amazon until I see the special edition of Fire Emblem Fates come up. I'm so scared to be too late, seeing it out of stock, but I have NEVER wanted a pre order/special edition so badly in my life. The wait for it to be available has been painful, but the worst thing is so this, I just need to pre order it before I see 'unavailable'. Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasssseee.

I'm bloody dancing on the ceiling.