Ending B

Woooosh!

Today, Lost Winds... err... LostWinds (I've seen it spelled both ways) comes out for the Wii on its WiiWare channel. This is fairly big news because it is the first title released on exclusively for WiiWare. I've tried to investigate further, but since it just came out, there's not a whole lot about it.

I did, however, find a preview for it on IGN

It looks okay, neither good nor bad. I'll think I'll wait a bit to see the buzz on this game. Hopefully, it's the start of something awesome.

Like at least one member of the "Ending B" squad, I too am looking forward to the release of the new Harvest Moon games. In addition to the DS version, I'm looking forward to the Wii version as well.

I can't wait to do chores with my Wiimote!

While waiting for the new Harvest Moon games, I decided to do a quick retrospective of the Harvest Moon games I've played, mostly concentrating on one of my favorite aspects, the dating scene! Why is that my favorite?... I really don't know, but here we go anyway!

My favorite chickie-poos from different Harvest Moons (from left to right): Ann, Popuri, Dia, Muffy, and Gina

Harvest Moon (Original), Ann: Though the SNES was the first in the series, it wasn't the first one that I played. Since it's first in the series, however, I shall start here. Ann turned out to be the most interesting to me because she was the ONLY girl in the game who was NOT girlie (which is odd because I usually like the girlie-girls). Not only that, but she was the only one who seemed to have an interesting hobby, inventing!

Harvest Moon 64, Popuri: As it turns out, Popuri is probably one of my favorite bachelorette in the entire series. She is the nicest out of all the girls (which is saying something because 4 out of 5 of the HM64 version are really nice). She's girlie, loves flowers, but she is also adventurous. She loves the outdoors and climbing mountains. Best of all, when my character married her, she ACTUALLY HELPS OUT WITH THE FARM WORK!!! (she crates eggs and waters the plants. How kick ass is that?)

Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland, Dia: Dia was fun, as the shy quiet daughter of a rich family. I actually don't know much about her, because I stopped playing once I found out there was no dating aspect to this game. I did make friends with her before that realization, and she seemed nice (at least).

Harvest Moon DS, Muffy: Muffy is the barmaid of the village, and is fairly shallow when it comes to presents (jewelry, wine, other expensive things). Despite that, she's a sweetheart, and that's what really counts. She doesn't like to cook, but she'll cook only for you if you marry her (awww, that's kinda nice).

Harvest Moon: Magical Melody, Gina: There were a few important choices I had to make when courting in this game. Some girls needed to be unlocked/move into town, and each person in the game makes a short noise when you talk to them. I decided that I wanted to "marry" a girl who wasn't a native to the town and who's talking noise was tolerable. Gina fit that bill perfectly. She moves in as a registered nurse and gives a soft chuckle when you talk to her. Plus, she loves Coral, making her VERY easy to impress.

Recently, I've purchased Harvest Moon: Boy and Girl for the PSP. I have the same choices as in Harvest Moon 64, so I'm leaning towards Popuri again. I'm also thinking about playing the girl version as well... though I have no idea who I'd court for that... (awkward)

Ah, the wonders of RPGs, we begin anew, we are given quests, and we kill monsters in completion of those quests. When we can hold no more, we head back to town and sell our loot, possibly buying new equipment and items in the process.

This is the premise behind Progress Quest, a wonderful game which takes all that to it's most basic form, and you don't even have to be there!

Wow your friends as you tell them of epic adventures that you took part in, and all the phat lewtz that you accomplished in your travels! Of course, they don't have to know that you didn't do any of that work yourself, but this is no different from all the bots in the heyday of Diablo II. And like Diablo II, you can play online or offline, but know that if you want to be recorded in the annals of time, that you should play online if you can, lest you be seen as some kind of exploiter.

Super Mario World + a bunch of anime and game music = wat

Between February 1, 2007 and July 29th, 2008, there are 545 days. That's how long it apparently takes Natsume to translate Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. Ridiculous! I mean, it wouldn't be so bad if I knew that Nastume was using this time to perfect the dialogue and iron out any bugs, but we all know it simply isn't true. Harvest Moon games have traditionally been pretty buggy and poorly translated. Despite this, I keep getting addicted to them.

I thought about watching some grass grow while I waited, but I didn't want to spoil myself for when the game finally gets released.

I'm currently playing through Lost in Blue on my DS and imagining how this game would feel with a farm to run. Both games start out the same, shipwrecked on a deserted island, but where Lost in Blue focuses on rescue, Island of Happiness focuses on relocation. In fact, instead of trying to get off the island in the new Harvest Moon, you try to get people to come to you and build a town. While I don't really know how much control you'll have over the town, this game is getting close to one of my other addictions, SimCity. One day someone will make a Harvest Moon / SimCity crossover and I'll never see the light of day again.

My morning began with helping a friend obtain a Wii. Due to work, she could not purchase one of our local Circuit City's Wii's right when the store opened because as Wii all know, Wii's don't last very long on the shelf. While standing in line waiting to buy the Wii, I noticed that they had copies of the latest installment of the popular Mario Kart series, Mario Kart Wii. Ever since I received a copy of Super Mario Kart for Christmas in 1992, I've been hooked. Knowing I would pick this game up eventually and not having bought a video game in quite a while, I decided to pick it up for myself. I've played about 6 Grand Prix's so far and my overall consensus so far is this: It's good. Not ZOMFG THIS GAME IS THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD but definitely good. Without further delay, I'll start.

Control Schemes- The first thing you'll notice is that the game comes with a new accessory- The Wii Wheel. Shaped like a steering wheel, it allows you to play Mario Kart Wii as if you were driving a car. The wheel also has a spot in the middle for the Wii Remote to plug in. There is also an enlarged "B" button on the back of the wheel because the back of the wheel covers the Wii Remote's "B" button. The wheel is not required to play the game. You can play it by rotating the Wii Remote like a steering wheel, connecting a nunchuck to a Wii Remote and using it to steer, a Gamecube controller or a Classic controller. So far, I have only played it with the Wii Wheel and Solo Wii Remote. I prefer the Wii Wheel. I feel that the sensitivity of the steering is a bit too high and the wheel helps compensate for this. While using the solo Wii Remote, there were a few times when I tried making a sharp turn and ended up making a 180 instead. While making the same turns with the wheel, I made them with relative ease. The game is still playable with a solo Wii Remote but more enjoyable with the Wii Wheel. Nonetheless, I still find myself occasionally having trouble staying on the road even when using the Wii Wheel.

Drivers- All of the classics are here: Mario, Luigi, Toad, ect. The game starts out by only letting you choose between 12 characters but the more Cups’ you win and the better you do in them, more characters become unlocked. Drivers have their strengths and weaknesses, as does each kart. Some are better at handling while others are faster.

Levels- Mario Kart Wii offers 8 cups to choose from. From what I can gather, 4 of them are comprised of entirely new levels where you'll race through such places as a mall, a ski resort and an abandoned mine. The other 4 are made up of levels from previous Mario Kart games with updated graphics for the Wii.

Game play- The main objective is to still race around throwing stuff at each other and try to collect as many points as possible. Each course is still 3 laps around and contains speed boosters, item boxes and numerous obstacles...stuff any Mario Kart player should be familiar with. I've heard from a few spots on the internets (mostly /v/) that the difficulty has increased since Double Dash. Based on what I know about the game, I have a few theories in hand. The first is one of the most noticeable differences in the game. There are 12 racers competing instead of the usual 8 (OK, Double Dash technically had 16). This means that there are now 4 more opponents racing against you and 4 more opponents eager to dish out whatever they can throw at you, which they will with no hesitation. You thought the blue shells and lightning bolts were annoying in Mario Kart 64 and Double Dash? You'll be sure to encounter more than you'd like to here. Speaking of items, this leads me to my second observation. While in 1st place you'll usually get only 1 of 4 items- 1 green shell, 1 fake item box, 1 banana peel, or 3 banana peels. No mushrooms, triple shells of any kind, or red shells. The practice of diminishing the quality of items with increasing your position is no new idea, but the developers certainly stepped it up a notch in Mario Kart Wii. Fortunately, this applies to the A.I. characters too so once they move their way up into 1st place, they won't stay there for long. My final observation comes from a previous paragraph. While playing with the Wii Wheel or a solo Wii Remote, it is more difficult to control yourself. So while you're busy trying to dodge shells and bananas and other drivers, you're also trying to just stay on the road. Also important to note about the difficulty it that is really starts to show in the 100cc circuit, at least, if you're familiar with Mario Kart. 50cc is still easy.

WiFi- Like Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Mario Kart Wii can also be played online. Only vs. and battle are accessible online. I haven't tried it out yet but I hear lag is minimal.

Toad Brigade- No mention of them. I am hurt. The crazy island people from Super Mario Sunshine are still present in the award ceremony but the Toad Brigade? No mention whatsoever.

Bottom line: I'm glad I bought Mario Kart Wii. It's fun and I want to unlock the other levels and characters. Who knows? Maybe the Toad Brigade will have their own level or their spaceship can be unlocked!

Hey all, frustrated programmer Ed here. Not a very long post here, but I just read an interesting article about freeware independent games. Some of these games were made by RPGMaker (and one looks curiously like Suikoden 2).

Indie Games

You know, one of these days, I'll code something useful for this site, but you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to model a 3d object and get it to animate correctly.

Clannad is, um ... weird. There is no way a town could have this many crazy people in it.

Anime characters are rather blunt

As the title states, I'm not dead, just been kind of distracted lately. A friend of mine came to visit for the last two weeks before heading off to join the Navy. Don't worry, we sang In the Navy plenty of times to the guy. But, now I have to study for exams which are this week.

Fortunately, not all is lost. I've been getting plenty of gaming in with Lost in Blue for the DS. Quick review: highly repetitive, yet highly addictive. It's fun, but its mostly just to tide me over until the next Harvest Moon game comes out. I've also been doing some reading. I finished I Am Legend and A Wizard of Earthsea. More quick reviews: both books are pretty short but enjoyable. I love the Earthsea series, this is my second time reading it, and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick fantasy read.

Rumor: Lost in Blue 4 to take place in Earthsea (Image Source: ursulakleguin.com)

As for the website itself, I've been slowly working on the next feature which should be done in the next week or two. As always, feel free to send any comments about the site to eric@endingb.net.

I just finished watching 23 episodes of Clannad, an anime done by the same people who brought us Air, Kanon, and Haruhi. The series is 24 episodes, but the final episode is actually episode 22, and there are two extras after. So I feel okay trying to review this now.

Don't look so sad kids, this will be fun... right?

Like it's sister series...es (I don't know the plural of "series"), Kanon and Air, the Clannad anime is based off of a PC dating sim released in Japan only. With that said, the story is set up like a dating sim, something you may have to get past (AKA all the girls heart the main character). If you can get past that, then you've got a good series.

Tomoya, the Emo Kid Hero

Clannad's main character, Tomoya, is from the ever so creative genre of "Whiney Emo Kid with a Heart of Gold". That's never been done before, right? I'm not going to lie, I found Tomoya to be one of the weakest links in the whole series. Like most anime main characters, his mom is dead and he hates his dad for basically abandoning him (Well, I'd hate his dad too). He used to play basketball, but his dad permanently/accidentally injured Tomoya's shoulder while drunk. Since then, Tomoya has gotten a reputation as a delinquent.

Nagisa, AKA "Right Choice Girl"

The main female character, also known as the girl your supposed to pick in these dating sims is Nagisa. If her nickname wasn't "Right Choice Girl", she'd probably be "Chronically Ill Girl". She missed her final year of high school due to illness, and has to come back one year later. The first person that she meets is Tomoya (she is also the first person he meets) and she clings to him as the only person she knows in school. Nagisa's prime interest in going back to school is to revive the drama club, which was shut down while she was gone due to a lack of members.

Ryou (who is not in the opening credits as a possible date) and Kyou, AKA "Short Fused Girl"

The twins, Ryou and Kyou, are a few of Tomoya's friends (there is Sunuhara, but that guy is a douche, so I chose not to talk about him). Ryou and Kyou, as it turns out, don't get much screen time, which is too bad because I thought they had the ability to be interesting characters.

Tomoyo, AKA "Kicking Girl"

Tomoyo is a second year student who wants to become student council president. Like Ryou and Kyou, she doesn't get much story time. She does get a story arc, however, though it's only two episodes long.

Kotomi, AKA "Socially Akward Girl"

I really liked Kotomi. She's doesn't know how to handle situations with other people. She hangs out in the library, reading books all the time. She takes an instant liking to the main character (as proper form in dating sims). She has a fairly lengthy story arc and it’s not only interesting and touching, but it’s really the only ending that has closure.

Fuuko, AKA "Ghost Girl"

Fuuko is the spirit of a girl who was put in a coma during her first year of high-school (normally, this would be a spoiler, but you find this out within three episodes). Fuuko is cute and determined, and only refers to herself in the third person. Fuuko has the longest story arc in the show, 10 episodes total. However, afterwards, she appears almost at random. Fuuko’s story arc also suffers from never becoming resolved.

THOUGHTS

Awww... that's kinda nice.

To be honest, I was disapointed in this series. It lacked the magical feeling that Air and Kanon had. It ended fairly suddenly, and left a lot unresolved (Fuuko's story, Kyou and Tomoyo's story-lines had no substance, etc.) HOWEVER, I found out at the end of the last episode I watched there is going to be a season two, which will hopefully address the concerns.