Stuff I Does Be Playings

Legion is in full swing, 7.1 is out ALREADY, there’s a new raid coming next week, and all is looking rosy.

But there are other games in the world, other things to play and other worlds to experience, so let’s have a look at those!

Street Fighter V

I’m not playing online much with this game yet, instead I’m primarily playing against the boyfriend and his plethora of favourites. He favours Laura, Karin and Nash, relatively fragile but speedy and strong characters, whereas I am currently favouring Rainbow Mika, Urien and Cammy. Mika is all about getting you in the corner and making you guess her next move. Guess wrong and she’s gonna murder you. Urien’s all about those heavy hits and Aegis Reflector setups, as well as being fabulous in a thong. Cammy is more like the bf’s characters in that she’s fast and packs a hefty punch, but can’t take too many hits due to her low health.

99% of the reason I play as Urien is because if you hold 3 specific buttons as the fight loads, he starts the match by BURNING ALL HIS CLOTHES OFF. Why would you NOT play as him?!

King of Fighters XIV

Another fighting game, this time by SNK, KoF14 features considerably more playable characters than SFV and thus it was initially difficult to choose a favourite.

But then I played as Hein.

The fabulous German butler of Geese Howard (yes, he’s alive again somehow) who seemingly has the power to create hugely powerful gravitational fields, and is prone to a bit of posing, and we all know Panda Steve loves posing.

The combo system is a lot more complex in KoF14 (though simpler than previous games in the series) and a lot of characters have rather daunting commands (I struggle particularly with double half-circles so much), but at least they removed Geese Howard’s infamous “pretzel” command for his Raging Storm.

He’s also delightfully Engrishy and loves to counterattack every damn move you ever do, same as he’s always been. PREDICTABO!

Civilization 6

In the two weeks it has been out, I’ve sunk 32 hours into this game, and do bear in mind I’ve not only raided Emerald Nightmare a few times, but I was on holiday in Newquay for about a week, so that cut my potential playtime down a bit.

Put short, this game is FANTASTIC. I’ve not worked out all the little quirks yet with districts and whatnot but I’m slowly getting used to them, and the wanton aggressiveness and flip-floppy nature of the AI is still entertaining to me (though to be fair it always has been, it makes shit INTERESTING!). You’ll be pleased to know Gandhi is still an absolute wanknoodle who shouldn’t be trusted as far as you can SPIT him, let alone throw him.

I’ve enjoyed playing as Japan and China. I’ve always tended to gravitate towards the Asian civs in these games (Korea, Arabia and China in V for instance) for some reason, but we can probably add Rome to the “Steve Likes Playing As” table too, if only because it means I’m not up against him.

Rome is terrifying.

But you know who isn’t?

In Civ 6 Gandhi is a dick, but Gilgamesh is my bro for life. pic.twitter.com/2et0Vjgwh7

— Panda Steve has got the taste! 🐼 (@ItsPandaSteve) November 3, 2016

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Promises Promises

In the face of a renewed interest in Civilization V and the newly released Street Fighter V, what can World of Warcraft do to compete?

The answer is of course “bears in wrestling outfits”

I mean, WoW has no masked wrestler class (missing a trick there, sweeties) and I can’t denounce and declare war on Thunder Bluff or something.

(Saying that, I downloaded some World of Warcraft-based Civilization mods, so I may give those a whirl, and you may see me do just that)

Well, love is in the air apparently, despite Valentine’s Day being long-gone, and with it we all get x chances at the Love Rocket every day. Naturally, it has not dropped for me or anybody I know, but I saw some random on Trade Chat brag about getting it so I can’t do the whole “IT DOESN’T EXIST” schtick that I could do for, say, Elegon’s or Yogg-Saron’s mounts.

Also I’m still raiding every Thursday. so I guess there’s still that going for it! We’re up to heroic Socrethar and Xhul’horac. We’ve killed them both, but we’re not consistent with them like we are the preceding six bosses. Practice makes perfect, though.

WoW also has pandas going for it. Pandas are LOVELY.

I’ve gotten to the point where I am generally unenthusiastic about writing about Legion stuff in a second-hand manner. I want to actually PLAY it, to feel what the new Demonology is like, so I can write about it and give you my impressions, but I cannot, alas. Way I see it, shit goes in two directions:

1. I get into beta. Yay! I then regale you with Warlocky goodness;
2. I don’t get into beta. Oh well! I’ll still post stuff but it will be nowhere near as detailed, or enthusiastic.

That sounds like a “get me in or else” but it really isn’t. I’m content to wait until SEPTEMBER (lest we forget my release date prediction), but it leaves me with not much to write about. Thankfully, as you have seen I can make “not much” stretch out for MILES! Lists! Theories! Wants and desires! Heck, maybe I’ll even dust off the old creative writing part of my brain. Not used it in, oh, 12 years, mind.

In OTHER GAME news:

• The Aztecs are a grave annoyance and they ALWAYS START RIGHT NEXT TO ME;
• Rainbow Mika is AMAZING in Street Fighter V! Like, everything I’d hoped she would be;
• Screw the Aztecs. And the wonder-stealing Austrians;
• Screw you too, backstabby Carthage and the WEIRDLY AGGRESSIVE Japanese;
• No really, they’re always killing literally anything near them, I don’t even know WHY;
• MUSCLE SPIRIT!

 

Omnia Mutantur

The next couple of weeks promises to be one of many changes. An exciting time, to be sure.

The boyfriend and I are moving out of our current place, after our landlord decided to hike our rent by 20%. We spent last week looking at places, we found somewhere we like, we paid the bond and we’re waiting to sign the contract. We start moving our stuff next week.

The place we’re moving to is mostly unfurnished (there’s kitchen appliances and that’s about it), which means we’re gonna spend the next few months living on a tiny budget, while the rest of our pay goes on furniture. I’m cool with this though; I can get enough food to last me over week for about £10-£12, because I shop dirt cheap. This DOES mean though that my plan of buying a nice mic to do a possible podcast with will have to be put on hold, at least for now. Sad face.

Still, this means we can accumulate ACTUAL FURNITURE. Furniture that is ours, and we don’t have to leave when we move out! The beginnings of the rest of our lives.

I’ve sold a number of my books too, in the name of downsizing. Stuff I haven’t read in years, and don’t plan on doing again. I expected to get less than £20, I ended up getting over £65! Flabbergasted, I was.

Other changes? Altogether more frivolous.

Lunchi has changed her transmog temporarily, to keep things fresh and interesting. Amusingly, her item level (from 2 normal runs of 9 bosses, and one round of Mythic dungeons) is now higher than that of my Heroic-raiding Warlock. What?

Shokei the Warlock will still be my main going into Legion, but like I’ve stated before, I want my Monk to keep up with her, artifact/item level-wise. Monk is, in short, the most fun melee DPS in the game to me, and I want to continue playing her. Brewmasters make powerful and deadly tanks for soloing too, so that adds an extra dimension of fun to her. I can solo things with Lunchi that I can barely even attempt on Shokei.

Street Fighter V comes out next month, and while I am very excited at the thought of playing as R. Mika and Zangief, one character has ended up growing on me. When he was first announced, Necalli didn’t interest me very much, but the more I’ve seen of him (usually through YouTube replays, I don’t have the beta!), the more I’ve wanted to play as him as well. His two “forms” seem to play rather differently from one-another; they have the same moves, but the moves themselves have slightly different properties, so mastering Necalli means mastering two characters! Kinda reminds me of Gen, one of my favourite Street Fighter IV characters!

Anyway, that’s all from me. Keep feelin’ fascination!

Zangief, Красный Циклон

I’m writing this while waiting for things to spawn in World of Warcraft (both rares AND news, ho ho ho), but if you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed me being obsessed with Zangief from Street Fighter the past few days. Well, Zangief, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, which I’ve been watching recently. I figured I’d do a post dedicated to his glory!

Zangief first appeared in Street Fighter 2, and of course represents Russia, or the Soviet Union as it was back then. His primary aim is to fight for the glory of Mother Russia! He’s fearless, he’s proud of his magnificent muscles, he’s tactically astute in a fight (contrary to his appearance as a muscle-bound brute), but also contrary to his appearance (I mean, look at that picture above!) he’s good-humoured and rather gentle in nature. His story in Street Fighter 4 was all about him trying to win the admiration of his young fans who were starting to think he (and wrestling itself!) couldn’t stand up against other forms of martial arts!

His initial concept wasn’t too far from what he ended up becoming, though he had a different name (Vodka Gobalsky), a tattoo, and black vest-top. He kept the scars, the muscles, the facial hair and the mohawk, and his name was changed to be a reference to Victor Zangiev, a Russian wrestler who primarily wrestled in Japan.

It was rumoured that Zangief was gay, as his Street Fighter II profile claimed he dislikes “beautiful young women,” and in IV he refers to Akuma as “kinda cute,” (like a pug apparently) but nothing has ever been officially stated on this. It could just be that he prefers older women, and perhaps “cute” was a mistranslation of some sort.

Either way, whether he is or he isn’t, he’s rather popular with a section of gay fans due to his appearance as a “bear,” i.e. masculine, hairy and large (either muscular or fat!). Personally, I kinda think it’d be cool if he was as here we have a powerful, confident, utterly MANLY character that would help to dispel the stereotype of gay people being feminine and passive. Even if he’s NOT, it won’t stop me liking him. He fits firmly into the sphere of “men I think are fuckin’ HOT” after all, but it’s not just aesthetics that makes him appeal to me. It’s how he plays too.

Everything is better with spinning.

Zangief is the archetypal “grappler” character. His effective range is “in your damn face” and if he’s outside that range, he will be doing his damnedest to get in it. He hits like a truck, but he takes effort to be able to do so and “zoning” characters (those that use projectiles and long-ranged normal/special attacks to keep opponents at a distance they are not effective at) have the easiest time against him.

That being said, he does have tools to deal with them. His Spinning Lariat moves let projectiles pass through him, his Banishing Flat when timed right can absorb projectiles, and his EX Flying Power Bomb can absorb a single hit. He’s all about timing your advance then destroying your opponents when you get close. His command throws have no startup, meaning if you’re in range and grounded/not otherwise throw invincible when he performs them, you’re gonna be eating a LOT of damage, and as you see in the video above, you’re not even safe in the air.

So there we go. He’s strong, he’s hot, he’s damn bloody effective, he’s patriotic and he cares for his fans, and I am extremely excited that I get to carry on playing as him when Street Fighter V comes out next year.

Quadruple Game Action Woo

Metal Gear Solid V

We’re not Diamond Dogs anymore. We’re Pink Octopus.

And Snake’s having a rest, and I’ve replaced him with Frantic Wolf, a prisoner I rescued a while back. Badass lady!

MGSV is a remarkable game. It’s light on the nonsensical story, which is usually half the reason to buy a Metal Gear Solid game in the first place, but it instead gives you these gigantic sandboxes to wreak havoc in. My favourite tactic is to go in sneaky with my tranquilizer pistol, then if things get hairy? Silenced assault rifle and a rocket launcher. Boom.

Things tend to get hairy now that the enemies seem to all be wearing helmets. Bastards.

I love games that are open world. Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, GTA and now MGS. There are some aspects of the game I’m not a huge fan of (Quiet’s an AWESOME character, but her skimpiness and the loose, silly reason for it are a bit of an err, especially when you unlock an outfit for her that COVERS HER UP. Kojima, just admit you wanted sexy T&A, it’s fine, we’ve had the cameras rolling over Snake’s sculpted ass for years and it was fine then), but the game as a whole is just an abolute masterpiece.

And I’m only 14% done, what the actual frig.

Street Fighter V

I’m very excited for R. Mika. She was one of my favourites from Alpha 3, and her return is a massive source of happiness for me.

One of my other favourites has been announced today too, Karin!

She’s looking grown up! She looks all business like, and of course the OHOHOHO laugh is back. Her older appearance gives me hope that we’ll see a Sakura who’s dressed appropriately for her age (i.e. not in school uniform. Unless her story is that she’s abominably stupid and has been held back until her mid 20’s?), and means the game itself is slightly less of a sausage-fest.

Not that I’m opposed to sausage-fests, per se, but I do like badass ladies in my fighting games too.

World of Warcraft

Any Legion news yet? Nope? Okay then.

I get that they’re probably waiting for Blizzcon, but leaving 3 months between the reveal and follow-up information risks people just not caring when the news actually DOES roll in.

I’m dangerously close to that precipice. I have MGSV, FFXIV and various other games to play, Disgaea 5 and Street Fighter V to look forward to. I don’t foresee me doing much in WoW bar Thursday raiding for the foreseeable, and having nothing to look forward to bar minimal details from Gamescom (that may not even feature in Legion, let’s be honest, because it’s sometimes easy to confuse ambition with ability; just look at how garrisons turned out, look at the lack of Path of the Titans, dance studio, or even the Abyssal Maw instance which would have resolved the Neptulon storyline) isn’t giving me much hope.

I still love my Pandaren though. They are amazing. They may be the only thing keeping me there, frankly.

Final Fantasy XIV

I’ve hit level 46, I have no more storyline quests until I hit level 49, so I’d better bugger off and grind some levequests and FATEs.

Got me some ninja-specific gear though, so that’s nice.

GOTTA GO NOW. GOTTA GRIND.

Street Fighter V: Characters I’d Love to See!

Street Fighter V was announced a while back, with 3 characters officially announced so far!

Of course, we have Ryu:

In the same trailer, we saw Chun Li as well:

And marking his first appearance since Street Fighter Alpha 3 back in 1998, Charlie!

At the end of Charlie’s announcement trailer, there was a brief teaser implying M. Bison would appear in the game too, taking the count so far to 4.

Street Fighter V is slated for release in Spring of next year, so there’s plenty of time for more characters to be revealed, and plenty of time for speculation!

I’m going to list a few characters I would like to see in the next installment of my favourite fighting game series! I’m going to list 1 character each from Street Fighter 1, 2, Alpha, 3, 4, and Street Fighter X Tekken, and how likely they are to actually make an appearance!

From Street Fighter 1: Geki

Geki made his debut in the first Street Fighter game way back in 1987, and hasn’t appeared since! Very little information is known about him, mainly due to the lack of story in the first game, and his lack of appearances since.

Likelihood: very, very unlikely. The whole claw-wielding thing has since been taken over by Vega, and the ninja aspect hijacked by Guy and Ibuki. It’d be nice for him to make an appearance though, get some story and let him into the modern era!

Street Fighter 2: Ken

Ken technically made his debut in the first game, but back then he was just a palette swap of Ryu. In 2 and beyond, he was fleshed out more as his own character, and is probably as iconic a Street Fighter character as Ryu and Chun Li themselves.

Trained alongside Ryu under Gouken, he witnessed the latter’s (not quite) death at the hands of Akuma, tried to avenge him and was knocked out in one hit. Oops.

Likelihood: In fairness, I was surprised he wasn’t revealed alongside Ryu instead of Chun Li. I’m be 99% sure he’ll be in V!

Street Fighter Alpha: Sakura

 

The young girl who idolises Ryu, and learnt his fighting style by watching it on TV! Street Fighter V is apparently set after Street Fighter IV (and maybe even after III), so it’d be interesting to see how her fighting style evolves as she gets older! It’d also be nice for her to not be wearing the damn school uniform!

It’s said that for her young age, she possesses incredible potential (seeing as she learnt to project energy from her hands by WATCHING SOMEONE ON TV. Someone who trained for YEARS to do that), and it’d be awesome to see that potential fulfilled in V.

Likelihood: 75%. She’s a popular character, but even though she has a variant style, Capcom might not want so many shoto-style characters this time around.

Street Fighter 3: Alex

Conceived as the main character of Street Fighter 3, Alex is a professional wrestler and kickboxer with traits alluding to Hulk Hogan! His fighting style is pretty unique, featuring many powerful grapples and surprising speed to dash about the place.

Alex seeks revenge for a brutal beatdown Gill, the final boss of SFIII, gave to his close friend Tom, then later went travelling where he encountered Ryu. Ryu handed his ass to him, but they maintain a friendly rivalry!

Likelihood: 50%. He’s a much-demanded character with a dedicated fan base, but more focus seems to be given to Dudley, Makoto, and Ibuki, other characters from III.

Street Fighter 4: Juri

Making her debut in Super Street Fighter 4, Juri is a South Korean taekwondo practitioner whose father was a lawyer trying to bring down Shadaloo, the criminal organization belonging to M. Bison. She, along with her family, were kidnapped, and during this time she lost her parents and the use of her left eye.

Fast forward several years, and you get a bionically-enhanced psychotic woman obsessed with inflicting pain on her opponents. Her story in Super Street Fighter 4 ends with her murdering Seth, her old boss, and taking over S.I.N., the weapons division of Shadaloo, with the intent of eventually taking down Bison.

Likelihood: She’s been built up as a potential major villain of the series, it’d be exciting to see her in V, see where her story takes her, and with Bison confirmed, Juri looks more likely. 80%

Street Fighter X Tekken: Poison

Although she debuted as a character in the Final Fight games, she joined Guy and Cody in the Street Fighter games in the crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken, and later joined the Ultra Street Fighter 4 cast.

I’ve already gone into reasons why I love her. She’s an ass-kicking trans dominatrix wrestling manager with a penchant for kicking people in the junk. What’s not to love?

Likelihood: I’m gonna be optimistic here and say 75%. She was a much-demanded character among fans, she’s got an interesting past, and she’s MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER SHE HAS TO BE IN IT.

Um, sorry about that.