Late night gaming

      As you can tell by the times that I write all my posts I am one hell of a late night person. I usually stay up until at least 3 am everyday that I work late nights. On my days off I stay up till 2 am, and other times I don't go to bed until 4 or a 5 am. I keep late hours and that's just the way I like it. If I ever get a more organized job or a another part time job to earn more cash I would have to change my schedule drastically and go to bed much earlier. Anyways, this post is about the games I play late at night. There are some nights where I just write and watch videos and don't play any games at all. Sometimes I'm just too tired and I watch anime (thank god for crunchyroll). But when I force myself to game I never regret it. It's always a blast.
     I used to play a lot of games on my 3ds XL in the past before I fell asleep. I played a lot of Smash 3ds, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and Xenoblade Chronicles (I'm really feeling it!). I might go back to playing Mh4U and Xenoblade at some point after I finish Fire Emblem Fates. I even used to play Mario Kart 8 on my Wii U gamepad before bed sometimes. It's a super fun game and I like playing against people in Japan and Europe.
     Lately I've been playing a lot  of Heroes of the Storm at like 2 in the morning. Its such a fun game and I don't always get the time to play it during the day before work. Game queues are usually super fast even at 2 in the morning and it gives me the chance to earn that in game gold (from completing quests) so I can get more heroes. In addition, I've been playing a lot of Fire Emblem Fates Conquest. I'm on Ch.10 right now and the story is just getting interesting. I would say the whole story as of right now is very convoluted and that perhaps Awakening had a better story-line. However, I never played Awakening but my brother does own it so I can play it whenever. Sometimes when I'm done playing a few Heroes games I'll play some Starcraft II for a bit. Lastly, my other go-to late night gaming session game is Diablo III Reaper of Souls. This game has the perfect evil atmosphere for late night sessions.I definitely want to get back into playing Monster Hunter at some point. It's like the perfect handheld multiplayer rpg and I really want Monster Hunter X to come out in America at some point (its only out in Japan). What games do you play late at night? Have you ever played horror games at night with the lights turned off? That seems like a great idea for a twitch stream. Stay classy readers. And stay gaming.

Fire Emblem Fates

      This was one hellova week for gamers. We got Street Fighter V, Fire Emblem Fates, and lots of games like the Division going online in beta for all users. I've certainly been enjoying Street Fighter V. Its become one of my favorite games and I actually get the combos and play-style of the game, a first for me in playing Street Fighter or any fighting games other than smash. It's so fun when you finally figure a game out. It's like taking an electronic apart, and messing around with all the parts, and crews and bolts, then you put it back together again.
      Now onto Fire Emblem. FE Fates just came out and there's two different versions; Conquest and Birthright. Conquest is about going with your adopted family and Birthright is about fighting with your real family. Both family's royals all have blood of dragons but you (Corrin, who's also in smash 4) can actually turn into a dragon and fuck shit up. Both families are at war. The real family are cool samurai type warriors and people who have tribes. The adopted family is more of a rich, evil, and war mongering than the other side. I gotta say that upon playing the game for like two hours that its an amazing game. I bought Conquest with a digital download for Birthright half off. So I only spend like $60 for both games, not too shabby. It was interesting because I couldn't just use the digital download code on the eShop. Instead I had to get past Chapter 6 and then go to this area where you can download dlc. I had to put the code in there. Very odd. That means that in order to play Birthright I would have to create a new file and then get past Chapter 6 again and then choose the option to go with my real family. Then the system will recognize that I have Birthright data installed and let me choose that option. Before that option would've been grayed out for me. A little weird that Nintendo's doing it like that but hey it makes you have to play the beginning of the game before you make a decision to play the other side.
      Games like this just aren't made that much anymore. By that I mean great rpg's on handheld devices. This is the first Fire Emblem game that I've ever played so I was new to the whole combat experience. However, I did remember that Fire Emblem on Super Nintendo had this same fighting style mechanic with a square grid and turn-based combat. Basically Nintendo never changed Fire Emblem and its always been a beloved series. I've always liked Fire Emblem as a kid because of Marth and Roy in Melee. Plus I swear that my brother and I had a Fire Emblem game on the Gamecube at one point. This game is like XCOM if it was more like Game of Thrones. The game-play is super tight and the fighting animations look polished on the 3DS. This is probably one of the best looking games on the 3DS. There are a lot of cut scenes in between chapters and you can really see the beauty of the game in those animations. I'm definitely happy with this game and I know I'll be playing it a lot. This might actually get me back into playing my 3DS. Ever since I got my Wii U I've just been playing on that and my PC. It would be cool to get back into playing the 3DS and finishing Xenoblade Chronicles and learning how to play better in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.If you have a 3DS do yourself a favor and buy this game!

Update 1.08

     Life has been good. I'm getting good hours at work, making that extra bread. As ZZ Top sing, "Just got payed, got me a pocket full of change", I think that every week when I get my check. As a customer at my work likes to say every time I see him, "Life is good". Usually when I say that to customers they usually say, "It's better than the alternative". It seems rather drab to say that but I get it almost every day. Here's an update on what's been up lately. 
      For one thing I've been doing my usual schedule at work working until 1 in the morning. So I've been having long nights, staying up until 3 or later. Most of the time I'm just listening to free jazz, writing for this blog, and looking up things online like email, games, and twitch streams. It's a super fun night life. At the end of the night before I go to bed I play Wii U (Mario Kart & Smash), and sometimes 3DS (Xenoblade, Monster Hunter, & Smash). I would say the best part is just listening to the music. There's something about listening to jazz that just gets me inspired. Jazz has become my favorite style of music. I would say I'm not even really a fan of metal anymore. Although I am impressed by Animals as Leader's Tosin Abasi, he is a beast guitar player. I wouldn't become better than him even if I was practicing 4 hours a day. Which leads me to my next point.
     Today I had my guitar lesson with my teacher. It had been about 2 weeks since we last had a lesson so it was a good return to learning. We jammed on John Denver's Country Road, jammed a funky blues, improvised over Four on Six, and started playing a bit of Billie's Bounce by Charlie Parker. I couldn't quite sight read it that good but I'll get there. I haven't been putting in a lot of time on the guitar but I have been playing here and there. Its hard to devote time to the guitar with all the new gaming stuff on the horizon, especially next month with Xenoblade Chronicles X, Starcraft II Legacy of the Void, and Starwars Battlefront 3 coming out. I'm going to have to start a practice schedule every day in order to keep up with my lessons. No point in taking lessons if I'm not practicing everyday. But I digress. Let's talk about games!
      Gaming has been great lately. There was a new patch in Smash, patch 1.1.2, which adds the Super Mario Maker stage and the Pirate stage from Wind Waker. They're both pretty cool. I really like the Super Mario Maker stage but I don't see it becoming viable for tournaments, although the omega version of the stage looks just fine for that purpose. Nintendo also balanced some of the characters again. Every time they do this its like Smash is becoming a different game, which is good and bad in a way. It's good because we get to experience buffs and nerfs to certain characters but sometimes its good when a game is done and completed and there doesn't have to be anymore updates. We live in an era in gaming where everything needs to be updated. Its a blessing and a curse.
     Not only was there a patch for Smash but there was a big patch for Heroes of the Storm, another one of my favorite games at the moment. They added some balance updates for the characters but they also added a new hero, Lieutenant Morales, the Medic from Starcraft Broodwar. That ain't even the best part of this story folks. They added a skin that makes Morales look like the Apothecary from Warhammer 40k's Dawn of War series! That's it at the top. I don't know how Blizzard got the licensing to do something like that but its arguably the best skin in the game. So in total now I have the Novazon Nova skin, Medic Uther, and the Apothecary Morales. Not too shabby.
     Lastly, as I sit here listening to free jazz I'm reminded that this is suppose to be a blog about music. But in some ways it has transcended music and has become an almost personal blog, something that I did not intend nor think think was possible because I always thought writing about my life and what I do was super boring and that nobody would want to read about that. And somehow I was wrong because the blog has been getting lots of views, every month, and every day. Thanks for reading folks! I will eventually make a return to writing more about music-particularly free jazz, which is mostly what I'm listening to these days. Au revoir.

Smash 4 Review

     Let me say first of all that this is going to be a biased review. I've always held the Smash games in high regard since I was a little kid. It all started when I began playing Smash64 at a tender age, and then when I got older in high school I was a hardcore Melee player, challenging myself against my younger brother and best friends. I was a Fox main of course, and I still am to this day in Smash 4. Anyways, let's get started with the review.
     Let's talk about what's great about this game first. First, the characters are all here in this game. Everyone from the classic games are here plus some new characters. The ones that stand out in this game are Megaman, Sonic, Ryu, Shulk (my first main character) and Zero Suit Samus because they weren't in previous Smash games. Sheik, Diddy Kong, Luigi, Rosalina, Pikachu, and Fox all stand out because they seem super high-tier, at least in my opinion. The coolest thing about this game is that the characters are all from our favorite well known games. Who would have thought that we would get Ryu from Streetfighter in a Smash game, that's crazy! Which leads me to my second point.
     Smash 4 is getting updates, patches, and new characters added through the Nintendo eShop. Every once in a while the game is patched in some ways, characters get nerfed, and other characters get buffed, changing the game every few months. Although players were dominating tournaments with Diddy Kong not too long, he has been nerfed and become weaker, albeit only a little bit weaker. He's still a beast. Because of the patches and tweaks to the game certain characters become more viable to use in online gameplay and tournaments if you're more of a pro player. Nintendo is doing the fans to this game justice by even giving us the chance to submit our favorite picks for characters that can be added to the game, characters that aren't even necessarily from Nintendo games-people like Shantae, Shovel Knight, and Banjo Kazooie. Thanks Nintendo!
     Now, let's discuss the gameplay mechanics. This can go either way for people. Personally I think the meta and mechanics of this game are solid but Nintendo feels the need to change it every now and then. One thing that is hard to figure out as a beginner is the hit boxes and when characters are invincible for semi-seconds, like when they are rolling around and getting up from the ledge. Honestly I think rolling in this game is terrible and gets old, especially when you're fighting fast characters (Sonic) online in For Glory (ranked matches). A lot of people actually hate how effective rolling is in this game. But at the same time if you roll around too much, a smart player can figure out where you're going to be and punish it, so it goes both ways.
     Now for the bad. The only bad thing I can say about this game and the Nintendo network in general is that it lags-alot. I have great high speed internet through my parents' AT&T U-Verse and I've never had any problems playing any games online on my pc, like ever. But for some reason whenever I play For Glory on my 3DS I always inevitably run into some kind of lag. Sometimes its just a slight lag that I can deal with. Other times the lag is so bad that the game pauses for like 2 minutes straight before returning, or just disconnecting everyone in the game. This is something I think Nintendo has to work on because I've seen people stream Smash 4 on the Wii-U and they've had the same problems. The best way to play Smash has always been to play local in the same room, seems like that's the only way to play this game without having lag. I can't even imagine doing tournaments online in this game because of lag. That's really the only thing I can say that I dislike about this game. Other than that I dislike the 3DS version because the c-stick and directional movement buttons start to get wonky after only 6 months of use in my case.
     Lastly, I'm going to pick up a Wii-U and try this game out on there instead, hopefully with better results. I've become a pretty good Fox player but I only play him and want to learn how to use other characters, mainly Shulk and Zero Suit Samus. I give this game a prodigious 9.5 out of 10. This is one of the greatest games of our time. I can compare it Melee, Final Fantasy 7, and Starcraft II in terms of how great it is, at least to me. It's really that great folks. Pick this game up anyway you can, there's no telling how big or how long this game will last. The community is pretty big online and I'm in some facebook groups that post about tournaments happening every week in SoCal. It's a great community and I'm glad to be apart of it.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Street Fighter IV Ultra, and Other Cool Stuff

     The other day me and my friends hung out and naturally we ended up going to Gamestop on my suggestion. My original idea was to pick up Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for the new 3ds xl but I also had Street Fighter IV for Xbox360 in mind. My friend told me that the Ultra version is better and comes with like 44 characters in the game. I had to get it. We went back to my friends pad and played the game and it was super cool. It has a bunch of characters that I don't really know about but I can always learn more or play the arcade mode to get an idea of who and what kind of people the characters all are. Some of the characters look really cool and interesting. A lot of the female characters have sexy outfits too. I'm a beginner at fighting games so I tend to stick with Ryu, the original classic Street Fighter character. But I also love Chun-Li, she's pretty cool with her kicks of fury. There's literally so many characters to learn how to play, and thankfully the combo list is right within the game and easy to get to. I'm such a novice at fighting games but I really want to learn. Think about owning people online in Street Fighter, it would be amazing. But right now, I know if I tried to play online I would get annihilated.
     Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is a completely different kind of game. It's an action rpg but some of the stats and abilities you can get on gear make a lot more difference than say just upgrading your equipment for better defense or damage like in most rpgs. Today I played a lot with my brother, just doing easy star one quests, getting to level 6. It was pretty fun, probably the most fun I've had playing my 3ds since I got Super Smash Brothers. I'm tempted to try playing the game online right away but I don't want to completely suck and waste my time. So I'll learn more about the game and play solo and just do local play with my brother until I learn the game a bit more. There are so many different kinds of monsters, it's really crazy. There are so many bosses as well. The bosses are all tough motherfuckers man! In fact, out of all the quests me and my brother did today, we ended up only doing one boss fight and it was tough. Right now, I have my character, named Figuero (my name if I was a dark lord of the Sith) uses a 2-handed katana that does hella damage. It's a pretty good weapon but because its 2-handed its slow, but thankfully it hits hard. Interestingly enough, every time I watch streamers play this game on twitch, usually everyone in the party is using 2-handers. Maybe 2-handers are just the best weapons in the game? Not really sure but my brother is using a sickle and shield because with the shield you can block attacks. With a 2-hander you can't block unfortunately but you can still dodge roll to get out of the way of attacks. Another great thing about this game is the fact that its not just a great multiplayer game that you can play online on the 3ds. It also has a great single player campaign as well. There's actually stories and stuff and its such an old school style rpg that you actually have to read everything! I'm so used to just hearing the characters say stuff than reading. It is refreshing to actually read stuff in games again. Reminds me of when I was a kid, playing games like Final Fantasy and Xenogears, my two personal favorites from when I was young. I can see myself putting in a lot of time into Monster Hunter, especially once I start playing it online.
     During the same day I picked up those two games we also stopped at the local record shop. They have this deal where you buy 10 CD's you get a free CD that's $7.99 or less. My friend got Slayer's Reign in Blood so I was able to use that as credit for my 10th CD, thus earning myself a free CD. So I got this album by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny called Question and Answer, which I believe is an old Ornette Coleman song. The album features Dave Holland on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. Haven't listened to it yet but judging from the song titles like All The Things You Are and Question and Answer, this is more of a traditional jazz album.
     And lastly, if that wasn't enough we also went to Goodwill. We looked around and my friend got this Pokemon book that has information on tons of different Pokemon for 50 cents. I myself got a shirt with a cartoon looking guy playing bass, and it says jazz bass New Orleans on it. In addition, I got an Angry Birds shirt. Both of these shirts were purple, the colour of swag. It was a fun day. As I walked into my house, my friends were blasting Slayer-Angel of Death. Good times man.

New Super Smash Brothers dlc

     So three new characters were introduced in the Super Smash Brothers dlc on June 14 at 8 am. They are Roy (from Fire Emblem), Lucas (from EarthBound or some game called Mother2), and Ryu from Streetfighter. Those are the characters from left to the right in the picture. All great characters with unique play styles that add much needed depth to this already great title. I play Super Smash on the new 3DS XL and it sure is fun playing with my friends on it. My friends just have the regular 3DS and we played a ton of matches today with the new characters. In fact, as soon as I got to my friends house I bought and downloaded these three new characters online through his wifi (pronounced weefee) connection. Roy and Lucas were $3.99 but for some reason Ryu was $5.99. Me and my friend were talking about how its such a rip off that Nintendo makes you buy these characters. Back in my day kids we had a Gamecube and played Super Smash Brothers Melee, and you could unlock every single character in the game by playing the game and completing objectives, and there was no online play or downloadable content. They have Mewtwo as another dlc character, but I already bought him a long time ago. Funny though, I never really liked his play-style and never played him because he seems to be more of a defensive character, and I'm more of a fast action offensive type Super Smash player. My main initially started as Shulk, because I bought Xenoblade with my 3ds xl, but today I really found out that my main is going to be Fox. My friend today said that 'you're crazy with Fox', and that I was super cheap haha. We played a ton of games today, testing out these new characters on each other. I would have to say that out of these three new characters I find Ryu to be the best. For one thing, he's from Streetfighter, which is just super cool. Since when does Nintendo and Streetfighter lie in the same bed together? Also, Ryu has his haduken ability as his special B-move. And his side-B is a nice spinning tornado kick. In addition, his regular punches and kicks have a lot of strength and gravitas. He really is the Tireless Wanderer. Lastly, I have to add that he has this special punch that can stun people when its fully charged and hits them dead on. Its kind of like Zero Suit Samus' stun gun, but way more powerful stun, and can KO people when they're at high percentage. I like Roy too because he's from Fire Emblem and my brothers were both super into Fire Emblem, but I just don't like how Roy's sword has such a short length, he's the opposite of Marth, but he's more powerful in his attacks, especially his flaming sword move. I just find Roy's sword length to be so short that its hard to hit people without getting super close. He's still a great character though, I just have to play him more. Lucas seems to be pretty cool as well. He looks like Ness but his moves work a little bit differently. I'll have to play him more to really understand how he works, because when I played him today I kind of didn't know what I was doing. Anyways, these three characters add a lot more depth to the game, especially in online play. I was playing 2v2 battles and I came across a team that both played Ryu, and they were just impossible to beat. I fought against a lot of Roy's in online play as well. So everyone already has the characters. Open your wallets and download these characters if you're a Smash player. You won't regret it. I'll definitely be playing more because of these new characters. For a while, I hadn't really been playing. But when I hang out with my friends we always end up playing our 3d's and playing 3 players versus each other. 3 player versus matches are pretty insane, and they are highly skill-based, especially because we don't play with items, all skill. To find out more information about these characters check these links out.
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Roy
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Lucas
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Ryu

Nintendo 3DS XL, Xenoblade, and Super Smash Brothers

    

      I threw down some serious cash on a brand new 3DS XL. I'd been wanting to play the new Super Smash Brothers for 3DS for sometime. I kept asking my brother if I could just use his 3DS and play Super Smash Brothers on it but he kept saying no! I got my own 3DS XL last week. In addition to the hand-held system I picked up the Nintendo jrpg Xenoblade Chronicles. So, right after I bought it I couldn't wait to try it out so instead of going home I went to Starbucks and configured it and put in Xenoblade. Super Smash Brothers I ordered through the mail so it didn't come until late that night. Anyways, the 3D options in Xenoblade looked terrific. It looks like Wii-U graphics (at best) and at worst PS2 graphics. I'm actually really happy with the system and what it offers. So far I haven't played too much of Xenoblade but I have been playing the heck out of Super Smash Brothers. I must have unlocked all the characters in one day, it was super quick. But the best part of it all is that Super Smash is an online game. I can fight people across the world in four player free for all, two on two teams, and 1 on 1 matches with two stock (lives). I only play For Glory, where all your wins and losses count and get added up and recorded. I have found that the best players always have Japanese names.

     My favorite character is Shulk, the main character from Xenoblade. He has this sword, called the Monado, that has these special abilities that you can use with. You just tap a button and the sword can change colors, giving you different abilities. In addition, Shulk has a powerful counter where he blocks an attack and hits the enemy twice afterwards with the Monado. Other characters I like are Fox from Starfox, Donkey Kong, Marth from Fire Emblem, Lucina from Fire Emblem, and Captain Falcon. The game has plenty of characters so you really can't get bored. Also, this is the kind of fighting game that is very easy to get good at. The combos are easy to learn unlike games like the new Mortal Kombat X. So far, I'm loving it. I hope soon I will be able to 1v1 my mates. Xenoblade is a great game too, just haven't found the time to invest in a jrgp, been working too many nights. The story in Xenoblade seems stellar. These robot type alien gods fought and now the world is completely fucked. Overall the system is solid and my brother has a ton of games I can play on it too.  

     Lastly, you have to put into account that the 3DS XL is completely brand new and just came out a short time ago. It's pretty much the exact same thing as the 3DS except bigger for bigger hands like mines. It just makes pushing the buttons easy and it doesn't hurt to have a slightly bigger screen to look at as well. Also, this just in: Local man really feeling it.