The General Random Thoughts and Conversation Thread.

[Amazing_Grace]

An e-friend from another forum actually decided to burn his old works today. Says he doesn't actually feel bad about it and the whole thing feels to him kinda... poetic.

I know people who have done that.
I think, for me, the pure nostalgia factor that comes from looking at old works is enough to convince me not to burn most of them.

[DeviantProtagonist]

Feeling spirited today, as it is Mothers Day. There's not much I can say other than while I've many slumps in life, I grew onwards and I'm grateful for my mom bringing me to this earth, setting my behavior straight and then some. Kind of gives you goosebumps to reflect on so much, but we'll be opting to visit my sister's grave pretty soon. Peaceful vibes all-around.

[Naryoril]

I received the Takashi alto C and double alto C ocarinas i ordered 6 weeks ago. They sound so beautiful and clear, on the low as well as the high notes. They require quite a lot of breath, which i prefer, and the double ocarina is much better balanced and has a better hole placement than my focalink ensemble double.

It's love at first sight, or rather first... hearing.

[Cael K.]

Apparently, any time I choose to main a female character in a fighting game, the writers make sure that she goes through the worst stuff in the game. I'm like three for three, and was very close to four for four, out of almost all the fighting games that I've cared to play in the last few years. Ugh...

[Amazing_Grace]

Feeling spirited today, as it is Mothers Day. There's not much I can say other than while I've many slumps in life, I grew onwards and I'm grateful for my mom bringing me to this earth, setting my behavior straight and then some. Kind of gives you goosebumps to reflect on so much, but we'll be opting to visit my sister's grave pretty soon. Peaceful vibes all-around.

Moms are just the best things in the world. Right next to dads.

I received the Takashi alto C and double alto C ocarinas i ordered 6 weeks ago. They sound so beautiful and clear, on the low as well as the high notes. They require quite a lot of breath, which i prefer, and the double ocarina is much better balanced and has a better hole placement than my focalink ensemble double.

It's love at first sight, or rather first... hearing.

That sounds awesome. Are you thinking of recording any covers with them? I'd love to hear some.

Apparently, any time I choose to main a female character in a fighting game, the writers make sure that she goes through the worst stuff in the game. I'm like three for three, and was very close to four for four, out of almost all the fighting games that I've cared to play in the last few years. Ugh...

I DEMAND WOMAN RIGHTS BLARG

That sounds sucky. I've had pretty good luck in the stories of fighting games. Then again, the only ones I've ever played that actually have story are Dead or Alive: Dimensions and King of Fighters...XI, right?

[MetalPredat0r]

Apparently, any time I choose to main a female character in a fighting game, the writers make sure that she goes through the worst stuff in the game. I'm like three for three, and was very close to four for four, out of almost all the fighting games that I've cared to play in the last few years. Ugh...

Who are these characters in particular?

That sounds sucky. I've had pretty good luck in the stories of fighting games. Then again, the only ones I've ever played that actually have story are Dead or Alive: Dimensions and King of Fighters...XI, right?

It is XI, from what you've told me. I played DOA:D's story and found it laughable, tbh. Only fighting games I've played that nailed story were Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice.

[Eury]

Fighting games story?
The series that got it best was Soul Calibur and they really dropped the dang ball in IV and more so in V.
They are either barebones (Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter) or ridiculous (BlazBlue and Mortal Kombat)

I used to be a big MK hater, but the past 2 games have really embarrassed all their peers and rivals in terms of sheer content and the games feeling less "icky" to play.

Apparently, any time I choose to main a female character in a fighting game, the writers make sure that she goes through the worst stuff in the game. I'm like three for three, and was very close to four for four, out of almost all the fighting games that I've cared to play in the last few years. Ugh...

In a recent game?

I normally main girls too. Cammy, Eileen, Hitomi, Seung Mina (RIP in Peace ;_;)and now Cassie Cage.

[altuixde]

The US dollar to Japanese yen exchange rate seems really good right now (good for Americans, at least). It's been about the same since December... but it didn't occur to me until now that maybe I should import some stuff.

[Cael K.]

In a recent game?

I've come to realize this after a friend and I blew through storytime in Xrd last night. All we wanted was to unlock a character, and when we thought about the time we spent watching it all, even blowing past as much of it as we could... we could've forked over the monetary equivalent of a can of soup and that would have been better.

Who are these characters in particular?

Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter 4 - Rose, who dies a lot in her endings.
Blazblue - Tsubaki was my instant main the moment I saw Continuum Shift. And she goes psycho.
Xrd Sign - Elphelt. No one really knows what happens to her, but yeah. Worst luck in the game.
Persona 4 - My almost four for four, I almost picked Labrys, who eventually gets a good ending. I mained Yuu in P4U.

I played a bit of Mahvel, but that doesn't really count.

[Naryoril]

That sounds awesome. Are you thinking of recording any covers with them? I'd love to hear some.

I probably will, but i don't really feel confident, although i have been practicing Aoi Tori for quite a while now. But if i really want to make a serious recording, i'd want to do it with a backing track, which makes things much harder (your tempo really needs to be correct, which isn't all that important if you are just playing for yourself). Years ago, before i made a break with playing ocarina because learning japanese (kanji in particular) took a huge junk of my free time, i also practiced relations, i don't think it should be all that hard to get into that one again. I also want to practice yakusoku.

On that note: does anyone have an off vocals version of Aoi Tori, relations or Yakusoku?

In the meantime you can take a look at this piano/ocarina duet cover of yakusoku: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwTgWcaVNg

As for my own recordings that have nothing to do with im@s, i have 2 i can offer, but i made them more to fiddle around a bit with reverb and i made a mistakes in both of them and they don't have backing tracks:
Cosmo Canyon from FFVII, played on a Noble Alto F
Fields of Athenry an Irish ballad, played on a Rotter ZFan Alto C.

[MetalPredat0r]

Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter 4 - Rose, who dies a lot in her endings.
Blazblue - Tsubaki was my instant main the moment I saw Continuum Shift. And she goes psycho.
Xrd Sign - Elphelt. No one really knows what happens to her, but yeah. Worst luck in the game.
Persona 4 - My almost four for four, I almost picked Labrys, who eventually gets a good ending. I mained Yuu in P4U.

Rose doesn't  really die, though. Her endings don't go well, but she usually ends up fine. Her endings in SFIV were sour, but watching them with Guy's ending makes it better.

But I do agree that Tsubaki goes apesh*t and it doesn't end well for her in CS.

[Ivan The Mouse]

Play Girlfriend Beta makes me feel like I'm wasting my time on something I don't need to do, but I love it.

[Chihayaa]

The US dollar to Japanese yen exchange rate seems really good right now (good for Americans, at least). It's been about the same since December... but it didn't occur to me until now that maybe I should import some stuff.

Oh, wow. Glad I'm not the only one to notice this! I was looking on AmiAmi and CDJapan and the exchange rates have been really nice lately.
Speaking of CDJapan, I honestly wish more Japanese anime releases came with English subtitles. Even if the total price of all volumes is extremely high, it'll probably be less exhausting since volumes are released every other month or so. Plus, I just like the look and feel of better packaging than the standard blue cases lol.

[Cael K.]

Rose doesn't  really die, though. Her endings don't go well, but she usually ends up fine. Her endings in SFIV were sour, but watching them with Guy's ending makes it better.

... Eh, maybe I'm remembering things wrong, but it's like I go through Arcade mode just to do it, and I get rewarded with the game telling me I didn't actually win, and usually that I got my doors kicked in while I was at it. It only took like five or six appearances for her to get a good ending of any kind. I was surprised nothing bad happened to her at the end of Ultra.

But meh. I kinda notice in fighting games that even though I really like being an infighter, I tend to abuse pokes if I have them, and that's probably 'cause of Rose. Heck, when I tried picking up Gouken, I was poking a lot with him too - I was playing him the same way I played Rose. It probably helps that the fighting game friend I have mainly plays grapplers. Infighting, you need to know frames and matchups to do any good, so the learning curve is a little steep.

[Amazing_Grace]

Play Girlfriend Beta makes me feel like I'm wasting my time on something I don't need to do, but I love it.

Me with otome games. I have no idea why I play them because it's not like I even want a boyfriend, let alone a fake one, and let alone a fake one that SPRINGS SURPRISE DETAILED SEX ON YOU FOR NO REASON LIKE EXCUSE ME NO, THIS GAME IS RATED 12+ WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO TWELVE-YEAR-OLDS *rant end for now*.
I'm just so intrigued by the prospect of choices affecting story and all that, I guess.

I probably will, but i don't really feel confident, although i have been practicing Aoi Tori for quite a while now. But if i really want to make a serious recording, i'd want to do it with a backing track, which makes things much harder (your tempo really needs to be correct, which isn't all that important if you are just playing for yourself). Years ago, before i made a break with playing ocarina because learning japanese (kanji in particular) took a huge junk of my free time, i also practiced relations, i don't think it should be all that hard to get into that one again. I also want to practice yakusoku.

On that note: does anyone have an off vocals version of Aoi Tori, relations or Yakusoku?

In the meantime you can take a look at this piano/ocarina duet cover of yakusoku: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwTgWcaVNg

As for my own recordings that have nothing to do with im@s, i have 2 i can offer, but i made them more to fiddle around a bit with reverb and i made a mistakes in both of them and they don't have backing tracks:
Cosmo Canyon from FFVII, played on a Noble Alto F
Fields of Athenry an Irish ballad, played on a Rotter ZFan Alto C.

Those still sound pretty good! Maybe I'm just easily impressed, but I liked them.
I do look forward to hearing you perform iM@S one day.

As for off-vocals, you can usually find them on Nico Nico Douga. I'd give links, but...NND is blocked on my laptop. Just like literally EVERYTHING ELSE. I'm surprised my mom hasn't found this place yet. That'll be a sad day.
You can even go onto YouTube, look for people who have covered the song you want, and check their description. Sometimes, these people give a link to the off-vocal they used to cover the song.

It is XI, from what you've told me. I played DOA:D's story and found it laughable, tbh. Only fighting games I've played that nailed story were Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice.

Honestly, I had no idea what was going on in DOA:D either. It was my very first 3DS fighting game, and I was excited by the prospect of 3D, but the whole thing was kind of "what?" throughout.
I wish Tekken 3D had a story mode. It has a movie, but that's not the same at all.