Shirou’s whole split-up the group tactic was a long round-about plan to take Ryouko and some others hostage. I guess that’s what happens when you have all the time in the world to plot something sitting in a barely lit room all day.

Reiko’s actions were not the least bit surprising, though she did manage to exploit Ryouko’s trust quite well.

I hope the upcoming episodes start to get the ball rolling in both story and fighting (can never have enough neko-neko glove action thank you very much). There was a pinch of character development in the beginning with Ryouko’s girly fantasy dream still flashing back every time she looked at Ryoushi, cute, but sadly the episode did not go further into it.

Ookami-san – 10 is a post from: Typenights

Really impressed with Boa Hancock’s fighting abilities, as I didn’t expect her to fight as well as she does in mêlée combat. She didn’t just stand there and turn people into stone, but actually jumped into the fray of the battle and unleashed a storm of kicks rendering anyone she touched into crumbling rock, a pretty flashy way of showing off her powers instead of launching the usual pink-heart projectiles at people.

Loved the sound used for when Kuma is forming his bomb.

Wonder what Doflamingo’s powers are.

One Piece – 464 is a post from: Typenights

Thus far Saeko has played a somewhat stereotypical character, though her innocent dialogue at times a strong contrast to the disciplined and matured attitude she predominately presents. Underneath all of it though a dark secret has resurfaced to haunt her again.

Clearing an escape path through a group of undead, Saeko comes upon a couple of zombie children. With a simple glance of the young zombies, Saeko is suddenly frozen in place. Sensing something wrong, Takashi quickly comes to her rescue and blows their heads off without hesitation.

Finding safety and rest in an abandoned shrine, Saeko discloses to Takashi why she had frozen up earlier. Saeko loves to fight, on an orgasmic level at that, this quality of hers being with her for a long time. She tells him of an event four years ago when a stranger molested her. Training sword at hand and knowing she had the upper hand, she lured him in with full intention of inflicting as much damage as possible and loving every single moment of it, in the end killing him in self-defense the cops had just assumed.

It is this guilty pleasure and event in her life she believes taints her. She had mentioned to Takashi that she had loved someone before, but was unable to go forward with it as she believed her true self was not pure enough for something such as love. The zombie infestation has further exacerbated the problem. When looking at the zombie children, sword in hand and a smile on her face, she saw that she was becoming that person of four years ago.

Ironically enough it’s heavily implied the two kind of do it on the spot anyway (two horny high schoolers all alone in a shrine, what do you expect), so throw those morals about not deserving love out the window! Though knowing Takashi, he probably backed out.

As for the massive amount of boob groping in the morning, I have no idea. Enjoyed it for what it was and just sat back and let it do its thing. Whatever Takashi managed to say to urge her to fight just flew over my head; I mean he was squeezing that thing hard! Getting Saeko to fight when she lost the will to do so just involves molesting her to get the juices flowing (if you know what I mean … ho ho ho … what a classy show right?).

Highschool of the Dead – 09 is a post from: Typenights

I’m more surprised the story didn’t take the opposite direction with Shirayuki Himeno having some resentment of her own towards Ringo and her mother. Himeno is just too kind of a person and too mature of a big sister to hold a grudge, so good for her. Taking care of a bunch of kids leaves no time to dwell on the matter anyway. I’m more curious why Himeno did not approach Ringo about it earlier. She probably did not know Ringo was her half-sister then perhaps?

Ookami-san despite having so-so episodes at times does have a good track for ending them on a happy note, this time Himeno awarded a scholarship thanks to Ringo selling herself to the perverted Director of the school. She is like 16 right?

Finally, the Prince in Shining Armor Ryoushi setting up for a kiss only for Ryouko to wake up from her dream shortly after is of notable mention. No! I still can’t picture these two together just yet.

Ookami-san – 09 is a post from: Typenights

Purgatory seems to exist in the magical world of Naruto Shippuden as Kakashi and his father were able to settle their issues while they had the opportunity. In doing so, both were finally able to move on.

With Nagato passing on, I feel sad for Konan as she becomes the last survivor of her group. I expected at least some tears as Yahiko and Nagato were her life, and with both gone she is all alone. Anyone else see the pattern of the female of the group outliving the guys? Same thing happened with Tsunade as she outlived both Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Anyway, I suppose entrusting Yahiko and Nagato’s shared belief unto our spiky, yellow-haired hero can keep Konan’s spirit up. I wish Konan’s character had been explored a bit more throughout this arc, but transforming into paper isn’t the most fascinating of abilities to keep one’s interest.

Though I expected it to be cheesy, I still liked the scene as the exhausted Naruto, carried on Kakashi’s back, is greeted to a roaring Konoha crowd. Finally some acceptance and respect from these people who had made his childhood miserable!

Oh no! Here come the crappy filler episodes next week?

Naruto Shippuden – 175 is a post from: Typenights

By all means you do not need to have played the original Starcraft and know the well established story of the original to thoroughly enjoy Starcraft 2. You’ll soon be familiar with all the characters and the back story, to the point you can’t wait to hear what each character has to say next after you’ve completed each mission. Everyone has excellent dialogue exchanges among one another and the game features superb voice acting to back it all up.

Starcraft 2 uses a hub style system in which you simply click a character when you’re not on a mission, and an in-game cut-scene will take place advancing the story, new dialogue options added on after each successful mission you complete. The system works very well, streamlining the process of how the game unfolds the story before you.

The story itself is pretty self-contained, though getting a bit too vast in its lore at times as it delves into mumbo-jumbo prophecy nonsense and an overseeing force from left-field I really could have done without, but overall a highly satisfying story none the less. Good ending to boot, well in my opinion. Don’t forget this is only one-third of the original story-line they have planned out, as the Zerg and Protoss stories have yet to be explored. Knowing Blizzard though, it’s going to take another couple of years till we get to play those campaigns.

RTS (Real Time Strategy) is a very intimidating genre of the videogame industry, and by all means it really is (you’re fooling yourself if you don’t think it is – some people even have a hard time on casual mode for crying out loud!) but Starcraft 2 does a really good job in making the game accessible by providing the incredibly easy casual mode option. No fret if you can’t keep track of a million things at once, casual mode eases the pain! Though it dumbs down the game to a level I think negates a lot of the hard work Blizzard did in designing the single player campaign, it gives players a chance of beating the game with their sanity and hair intact.

Getting into Starcraft 2 itself, this is without a doubt your bread and butter Real Time Strategy game. While other games have separated themselves from the template of what Starcraft 1 had established, Starcraft 2 remains loyal to both itself and its many fans that have played it for … well … forever, and it still works. Sure there are minor refinements here and there and overall improvements in usability and accessibility, but Starcraft 2 remains down to its core the same game its original laid down 12 years ago.

Starcraft 2 down to its basics simply involves building up your economy by collecting minerals and vespene gas, building units, and completing the mission objectives. It’s everything in between that really shines.

Blizzard has done a fantastic job in making sure every mission is unique, having you carry out a variety of mission objectives within each mission, everything from: stopping a well defended run-away train, defending your base from a continuous onslaught of infested Terrans during the night and heading out in the safety of the day, to racing against the clock as the map is gradually consumed by a wall of flames, requiring you to move your base every couple of minutes into enemy territory.

Starcraft 2′s campaign was structured so that each mission introduces you to a new unit, whether it be the always entertaining to use tank, the one-time use Diamond Back (seriously you don’t need this unit outside of the mission it’s introduced in), cloaked Banshees, or the fun hit-and-run reapers (you don’t need these either outside of the mission their involved in). The design of the game keeps you on your toes as you progressively figure out which units counter what, which unit is best to use in this and that situation, and which combination of units you just like to play with. The combination of different objectives and a new unit in each mission really helps to make sure you don’t feel as though you’re doing the same thing over and over as you play through the game’s 29 missions.

You can take part in missions in any order you wish as they are made available to you. What mission you tackle on first does play a role in how easy later missions become, as sometimes in one play through of the campaign you may not have so and so unit to use in your army because haven’t played that mission yet to get them.

As you progress further and further into the campaign, you’re given Protoss and Zerg tech trees, where you can alter and enhance how the single player campaign plays. For example you can choose an upgrade that allows you to build two SCVs a time, have your mechanical units regenerate health, or even mind-control Zerg units if you wish.

In addition, as you earn credits via mission objectives and relic turn-ins, you are given access to the Armory where you can upgrade each new unit you acquire as you please, making them more efficient and unlocking new abilities for them. The combination of the Zerg / Protoss tech trees and Armory upgrades establish that sense of being a commander furthermore, allocating your limited resources (though it’s unlimited once you figure it out) to which units you like using the most.

I’m just going to comment that the game can screw you over in the last mission if you choose the “wrong upgrade”. I’ll just comment that choosing to go up against air in the last mission when you have Psi-emitters is a recipe for disaster and will lead to much, much frustration. By all means it’s still possible to beat, if you’re a masochist.

If you want to get the most value out of the single player campaign (and in the process unlock the multitude of in-game portraits), I highly suggest you strive to get all the achievements the game has to offer. In all honesty, Starcraft 2 is pretty damn short if you decide to just breeze through it, even worse if you just give up on yourself and choose the casual mode difficulty. Hell there’s even an achievement to beat the game in less than 8 hours! That’s only one hour more than what a simple guest pass account gives you! Now, before you think to yourselves achievements are lame (to which I do agree), achievements in this game help strengthen the experience of the campaign itself. Achievements help you to get better, think smarter, and actually appreciate the level designs and encounters more so than if you were playing on an easier difficulty setting as your units would steamroll anything the game would throw at you.

Sure some of the achievements will have you pulling your hair out, the main culprits the timed achievements, but overall I had fun getting them even if it meant I had to replay the entire campaign on brutal difficultly for the very, very sexy Sarah Kerrigan portrait. I’m telling you I’m a sucker for the unlockable female portraits. If you actually become bald from ripping your hair out though, there are plenty of videos on YouTube to ease the pain and enlighten you on the number of possible strategies available to beating any level of the campaign. In terms of replayability, Starcraft 2 has it.

Just a hint, you can beat the game with literally only marines and medics. There are obvious exceptions, but an upgraded marine / medic combination along with above average control of your units can demolish the game even in Brutal mode.

Starcraft 2’s multiplayer is a different animal altogether. As with any competitive online game, Starcraft 2′s multiplayer takes some serious effort on your part if you want to advance your game and your skills to a higher tier of play. What does that mean? Well it means you have to do some research outside the game, visit the fan-sites for the latest trends, download and watch replays of top-level players to see how they play, their build orders, and their general strategies.

I’m not saying you have to go out and do what I just mentioned, but in reality you will eventually peak in your Bronze/Silver/Gold league, worse yet you’ll probably have a very limited understanding of what you’re even doing in the first place during a multiplayer match. You’re not going to learn anything from your replays if all you do is play against bad players with bad strategies for months on end.

The SC2 community is already huge and growing every day, multiple live streams of matches and tournaments on broadcast every hour of the day. The streams and commentary during matches are really fun to watch, even for non-gamers, so you may want to give it a try, and you’ll gradually learn something, I hope. I’m not going to promise you you’re not going to turn into a huge nerd if you start to like them though. In that regard I would highly recommend Day9’s stream.

Okay, enough of the loathsome elitism, luckily Starcraft 2 has a very good ladder system in place for all practical purposes for the first time Bronze SC2 player, to the top-level Diamond league pro. The game places you in a league (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Diamond) based on your first 5 placement match results. From then on the game will match you with opponents of your skill-level … hopefully. You will be paired up against opponents of higher or lower skill level to make sure you meet a 50% win / loss ratio.

One problem with the Battle.net 2.0 experience is that there are no chat rooms, though Blizzard commented that they are working on it. The multiplayer at times feels quite lonesome despite the “There are 1,000,000 players on Battle.net” statistic on your screen. Matches can go on with players not speaking a single word between each other. Not even the obligatory “gl, hf” (Good luck, have fun) at the beginning of the match. Chat rooms are useful in finding opponents of your skill level to practice with instead of playing against random opponents every time. Chat rooms also help to establish friendships and clans or whatever you want to call them, fostering a sense of community inside the game, not just outside on the message boards.

Since this is the internet after all, don’t be shocked if you come across bad mannered players. Just shrug it off, you lose the moment you try to smack talk a 12-year-old anyways … unless you humiliate them on a live-stream for thousands to watch in a 1v1 game.

Oh, please don’t bother with the 50 practice league games. These games are played under different settings than what real league matches are played with. Trust me, it’s better to just lose your first five placement matches if you’re new and stick yourself in Bronze and get some real practice under real game settings.

Did I mention that all the “cool” units of the single player campaign aren’t included in the multiplayer game for the sake of balance? You liked building that Firebat all the time, or Goliaths during the campaign? Sorry, it’s excluded from multiplayer. No mercenary units, no instant supply depots, and even no medics! Just thought I would mention that as I’m pretty sure most if not all first time Starcraft 2 players will begin their first match not knowing that’s the case.

Overall … Starcraft 2 is a very good game and you like very good games don’t you? So pick up this very good game today!

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Review is a post from: Typenights

As for the episode itself, asides from Kohta and Alice’s ear cringing nursery rhymes, the first half was a test of whether you could pay attention to both what Kohta was saying and the girls changing at the same time. I’m going with no.

The holding-the-fort type of event was pretty good, the ridiculously yet always highly entertaining animated boob physics in full effect being the main highlight. I did think the bullet-time shots where the bullet was casually passing through the flapping breast of Saeko was going a bit over the top, just a tad bit. It just goes to show Takashi should really stick to his trusty bat and ditch the guns altogether as I do not think he understands the concept of friendly fire.

I forgot the point of the group traveling together was to see if their parents are okay. With Takagi’s mom being more than okay herself, it raises the question as to if the others are going to be just as fortunate as Takagi when their opportunity comes.

Rei took a pretty nasty fall off the Humvee, I hope they just brush it off. I’m not all to happy to see her in a cast or something.

I honestly thought Zeke was going to turn into a zombie dog of death when he bit that zombie as its leg was bleeding and all.

Finally, it seems even the US is headed down the crapper, time for some international nukes to solve the problem.

Highschool of the Dead – 08 is a post from: Typenights