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Miza - Trying Human

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:48:48 +0100

It wasn’t too long ago when I stumbled upon an interesting webcomic called Trying Human while surfing Google, researching on UFOs. I was tempted to click on the link, and what I found was a treasure trove of awesomeness. I couldn’t stop reading it, and didn’t stop until there was nothing left to read.

Let me give you the run down without spoiling too much for anyone. Trying Human is the creative child of Emy Bitner and is about two different species of aliens (Greys and Reptilians) and their relationships with humans (romantic and non). You have the Greys, which are the most common alien species that are actually recorded by abductees. They’re the most commonly recognized icon when one thinks of an alien and they’re emotionless. In Trying Human though, there are four Greys. EBE1, Shade (who is the only female Grey in the story), Tone, and the adorable and peculiar Hue. See, Hue is different from the other Greys because he actually has the personality and emotions of a human. Well, Hue falls in love with a young human girl named Rose who is regularly abducted by the Greys. Rose isn’t aware of this until it hits her like a brick to the face when she wakes up while in the Greys’ ship. Hue’s only friend is Quazky. A funny, and smelly Reptoid who actually helps Hue get a Trying Human Circuit so that he can disguise himself as a human and go to Earth and spend time with Rose.

There are four main Reptilians in the story so far. There is Quazky, Gracelis (Draconian elite female), Magnus (Draconian brute of a fellow), and Longus (A Reptoid who lives and works on Earth… And he’s gay <3). All the Reptilians use Trying Human Circuits so that they can walk among humans and also visit Earth to hunt for their dinner, human and animal alike.

The humans in Trying Human are also very interesting (I’ll just name the main, main ones). There’s Dr. Glasner who’s an old, creepy scientist who works at a base in Nevada (wink wink, nudge nudge) and has a love of putting things he loves into glass tubes (inside joke…). There’s Phillis who was an interpreter in the 1940s for the government until an incident occurred and now she’s in a tube. She and EBE1 also have a deep love for each other. There’s Walter, a young security guard who works at the base that Phillis and Dr. Glasner work in and who has feelings for Phillis. Then in the present day, Dr. Glasner’s still there. Roger, Rose’s boyfriend goes to work with the Majestic 12 and Dr. Glasner at the base and can never speak to Rose or anyone on the outside ever again. Roger is introduced to what he thought never existed, ALIENS. 8, a member of the Majestic 12, shows a great deal of “interest” (most of it sexual) for Roger, and also has something going down with Dr. Glasner (and possibly a lot of other guys at the base). There’s Don, a cute, young gay boy who finds himself being loved on by a Reptilian (<3). And now we finally get down to Rose. She’s a sweet, down to Earth kind of girl who just ends up all mixed up in a world that she didn’t want anything to do with. And let’s face it, she does feel something for Hue.

All in all, I really love this webcomic. I’m very selective on which comics I read, and honestly, this is the only one that I REALLY check regularly when it’s updated. (I also watch the livestream of the drawings and am a fan on facebook). If you like aliens, conspiracies, and interspecies romance, this is the webcomic for you. (OR if you just like any of the above, you might like it as well. Doesn’t have to be all.)

On the webcomic meter, I give it a:

10/10

Adell - Demon's Souls

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:10:36 +0100

Demon’s Souls. This game is hard as shit, and will kick you every chance it gets. But that’s what makes it great. Honestly, I could NOT play this game at first. I wanted to run in screaming, killing everything like in AC2 (review coming soon). I soon learned that combat works in a much more dodgy manner. You have more success baiting and stabbing then running around all crazy. You CAN do that method, but only if ya have the gear/experience to do it.

You start off in the Nexus (home base) and go to 5 different worlds, each with a different theme. I’ve gone through this game at least a dozen times on five different character. When you beat the game, you restart with all your equips and items in a setting called New Game+ (NG+). Usually, having all your awesome stuff makes a game easier. It doesn’t help unless you know what you’re doing. The game bumps up the difficulty slightly and keeps throwing sucker punches. Let’s just say NG++++ isn’t exactly a cake walk in 5-2.

The game has an interesting multiplayer feature in the form of stones. It works like this: if you’re in body form (haven’t been squished and run through yet), you can see blue and deep red markings on the ground. Blue is for summoning other players, red is for pvp. You can also leave messages for others with pre-made words and lines. These are also red, but let’s not touch on that. While in body form, you have more health, but you make more noise which alerts enemies. You can also be invaded by BLACK phantoms, which are other players who’s lone mission in life is to kill you, and make the game harder. (Side note- when you are KILLED in body, the world gets darker, thus harder. So much for a helping hand.) If you defeat them, kudos. If not, better have some Ephemeral Eyes or do some blue phantoming (help other players). There’s way too many details to get into with this game, so I’ll stop here with the small ones.

The combat system is basic, but I suck at describing it. It’s rollan, dodgan, blockan, slashan gaems. Parrying sucks, and it’s kinda gimmicky so don’t use outside regular play. You have a variety of weapons, which include Longswords, fists, hammers, maces, bows, etc. You can use these to find different ways to get through the worlds. For example, instead of rushing the blue knight with a broadsword, you can snipe him off from a safe distance. Lots of possibilities, some better than others. There’s also special weapons that can be made from the souls of bosses; these usually shine above others.

Final assessment- DS is a damn good game. The main drawbacks to it are it’s kinda short, the online can be hella laggy, replay can get stale (unless you’re creative), just lack of things to do at times. Atlus did a great thing by bringing this game to the U.S. and Europe, and I really look forward to a sequel. If you like a challenge, this is the game for you. If not, NSMB is right up ya alley.

8.9/10

(Play 3-1 with headphones on in the dark. Glorious)

Miza - Update

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:07:50 +0100

Two Final Fantasy reviews in one week?!?!?! First FF7: Advent Children Complete by Adell, then FF13 by yours truly. I hope to have it up by then end of this week so I can move on to other games and things. Until then!

Adell - FF7: Advent Children Complete

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:02:06 +0100

I watched (for the third time in my life) FF7:Advent Children. Only difference of this one was it was the blu-ray with some added scenes. Time for an assessment.

This movie felt exactly the same as the other two times I’d seen it. The added scenes made me feel a bit more confused, mostly because it kept insisting on switching to different time frames. I got bored pretty quick, and started to riff the damn thing. It had it coming. The fight scenes were all the same: Cloud runs after/is chased by bad guys, someone he knows appears, and he doesn’t recognize them until five minutes after they show up. It seems all the characters have this problem. In the church fight scene between Loz and Tifa, Loz throws open the doors quite violently. Marlene proceeds to run forward thinking it’s Lightni-I mean Cloud. There’s no way a woman like Cloud could ever throw open doors like that, especially giant church ones.

There are some positive notes. I did enjoy the Hi-def quality, despite being a full CGI film. The blu-ray didn’t give it that horrid effect of looking REALLY fake, like with films such as King Kong. The soundtrack was as good as ever, although I cringe whenever I hear Aerith’s theme. Seriously, you’re dead. Go away. You too, Zack. I made the suggestion Ali Hillis dub Cloud with Lightning’s voice; I wonder if I should run that past her…maybe have Rachel Robinson do Fang for Tifa.

Final bit- If you like FF7, chances are you already got the dvd when it first came out. The blu-ray is worth the 20 bucks if you’re a big fan. If you’re new to the whole series…I don’t know what to tell ya. Go play the PSX game, or do it in chronological order and play Crisis Core first. Or if you’re a big enough weeaboo, just go spend the money. You can’t resist; it’s from Japan, thus superior.

7.3/10

Adell - Pokemon: Bloody Platinum

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:58:58 +0100

Currently playing through Pokemon: Bloody Platinum. I’m trying to get through it at a reasonable rate (playing non-stop), but it’s hard to not explore! I should be done hopefully in a couple weeks; I’ll write a review on it after. This game really is great step in a new direction; it’s made me love Sinnoh all over again! More updates to come soon.