Shin Megami Tensei Imagine II: Simon's Quest

So the teaser/countdown site for Second Wave is up, with "Chain of Curse" being the subtitle.
Now, while I'm extremely excited to actually see new content getting churned out, I can't help but think one thing upon looking at everything so far; it looks like a freaking Castlevania game.

Here's the logo for Chain of Curse:


...and here's a typical Castlevania logo:

Looks oddly similar, doesn't it? Also, for some strange reason, the shadowy-demon looming over the city looks like Dracula from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest...

Good-old 8-bit Drac:

...mystery antagonist(?):

And stepping beyond the Castlevania comparisons, this whole image seems to draw inspiration from the cult film Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis (or it's animated rendition, Doomed Megalopolis):

Anyway, I'm not really complaining; it's nice to see that they're still making new content for this game. I find it ironic it all seems a little bit cliche`, but that's forgivable. I think what I miss most about SMT games were the mild cyberpunk-esque undertones of the first two Shin Megami Tensei titles... we seem to be deviating from that more and more as time progresses. I think that's what was a major letdown for me with Nocturne, which ended up being a good game in it's own right... it just lacked the grittiness of the original games.

Long story short, if you end up becoming cursed, and having to collect, oh I don't know... General Gotoh's body parts that have been scattered all over Tokyo, and the only way to remove the curse is to collect all his body parts, summon him from the dead and kill him again... Konami is getting a phonecall.

/endrant

DE -> US Merger?

Well, welcome to the beginning of the end for the US server.

Today Aeria announced the closure of the German server of Imagine (final date of service 12/21). All players are given the option for up to 3 of their characters (above level 15) to be transferred to the US server of "Megatem." As far as their equipment goes, I'm unsure... but I'm assuming they get the whole nine yards in transferring.

That being said, upon visiting the DE forums... pretty much no one knows what they're talking about. Clown Mace is apparently the end-game weapon for mages, even though I've seen DE server videos with bare-minimum a Spear of Dutchaf... but who uses fire in Ichi Gold anyway? They recommend learning Medical Sciences. People also seem to be okay with the sales of in-game items in the item mall. Sadly, that means Cursebringers, Deathbringers, and Vision Dream of Darkness (the in-game extra Tokisada drops that no US player has obtained) will all become (even more) vanity than they were before. All said items were available via the DE item mall or tiered spending promos (hell they even made a promo where tiers included Dromi and Gleipnir...).

I'm not sure what version of the game they're running at the moment (as it seems they're not on the same patch as us; no mention of Regal Presence on the forums, and everyone seems to think Magic Control is useless), so I can't really fairly judge their characters against ours. However, they do have not only one, but two servers to observe and learn from. Considering one of those servers' forums are merely a few clicks from their own, it's hard to come up with enough excuses for being uneducated.

So be prepared for slightly more retardation in the near future. I know there's a group of elitists over there that are surely going to transfer, so let's have some lulz with them (^-^

(P.S. Ragequit over <3)

/ragequit

So I rage quit Grand Fantasia. The game is a lot of fun, but when you're stuck being alone as a squishy mage playing pretty much the only class that can't solo efficiently, you tend to fall behind everyone really fast. Either that or I'm the only person who's slept in the past 3 days... like, level 30+ already, are you serious? Sorry, I don't find collecting batshit (literally)/deer skins/whatever for hours on end by myself to be fun in the least. The one time we actually DID do a dungeon we didn't even finish it. If people are actually willing to work together in Open Beta, I'll go back... if it's just gonna be the same shit that's happened over the last three days then no thanks.

I've also decided to take a hiatus from Megaten. I'm just overall fed up with the drama and everyone asking for Mudoon/Beiji-Weng/whatever. I recognize I put up a trade thread for them, but I just really have no motivation whatsoever to do trifusions. I can't work on my alt in peace, so there's no point in even logging in. Maybe once Celu Gold/Subway/Ueno Snake are implemented I'll go back. And who knows, I might take a break for a few days, it might be a few weeks. I'll see how I feel in the near future. If it goes into long-term I'll pass off clanmaster to someone who I feel is fit for the role. Don't waste your time asking for any of my stuff either... if I die then it all goes with me :P

In the meantime I'll start writing/recording some new songs (I just got LSDJ! Go go chiptunes!) and play Ghostbusters for PC.

Brb~

Pink Hair~

'Nuff Said

Enter Rhuki

So for all intents and purposes... Royce is now my semi-retired main. I still plan to PvP with her regularly, but as opposed to sitting around in Babel complaining how there's nothing to do in Megaten (and rather than doing the sane thing and play some other game that gets updated more often/isn't a money pit), I decided to pick up one of my alts. For those who remember Rhuki from a previous post, she was a hybrid melee/enhancer.

...everyone in this damn game wants to be a melee/enhancer. So after debating for some time on what direction to head in, and with the arrival of the new imbalanced crystals, I've decided to make Rhuki into a Regal DD. Melee is overall just a boring class to me, and the build I'm doing now is the original build I'd planned for Royce with a couple modifications. I had Class 3 Regal on Royce the day the PvP patch hit back in June (as I'd even pre-statted the character just for this), but it required me to lethe Enhancement. However I found out quickly that I lost my solo-ability in this form, which was my main goal from the beginning. After having a moral dilemna of either starting all over again or lething Regal and going back to my old build, 2 hours later that day I had Enhancement again... and even then I didn't have the necessary amount of Int to solo anymore. Eventually I hourglassed (again) and found my sweet spot again. Overall I don't regret any of the events that took place, as this all paved the way for my final build that got me all the way to 93.

Anyway, I just finished up all my expertise for this build today. I hope to be near-fully soul-stoned and taroted by Friday, and somewhere around level 80ish (I'm level 74 already, so that's no huge task). I'll have to adjust to being reliant on an Enhancer, but I have a feeling this build will be a lot of fun. Wish me luck!

Also, Grand Fantasia Closed Beta starts this evening. A handful of us from Destiny will be giving this game a test run. If it proves to be enjoyable then we'll expand Destiny's horizons into this game as well. I'm somewhat torn between what class I'd like to play at the moment; either Paladin, Necromancer or Wizard. I'm 90% sure I'll end up being a Wizard or Necromancer (because let's face it, being a mage is fun D:), but I wanna try out all the classes I'm interested in before the Open Beta begins. Hope to see some of you all in the world of Saphael!

You Know How I Know You're Gay?

This is your PvP demon.

Also, after tonight's inc-fest in PvP, I feel the need to post this. I have no shame in posting a picture of myself dead (since it doesn't happen that often anyway).

So for all the incense accusations being thrown around, please focus your attention to the top left corner. Don't assume that ZOMGZ EVERYONE IS ON INCENSE!!!11!!one11!eleventy!1 The only reason I keep incense in my inventory at this point is for ridiculous matches like the ones held tonight; and to be completely honest none of you are even worth wasting it on. You're not only making yourself look like an incredible douche-turd when you incense, but you're ruining the game for those of us who have a little something called pride.

Not that this will accomplish a damn thing, but Lielle found this link tonight, and I feel the need to share it as well:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/incensemegaten/

EDIT: I have also started the Megaten PvP Alliance in hopes of the community working together.

In the words of Royce: "Megi-BBQ"

So I started PvPing this week, and today I decided it'd be fun to whore PvP up a tad.
It seems I've already carved a name for myself with some people. As seen below.



Now, I'm sure as all of you know, DG666 is level 93, can self pulse probably better than me, and in some cases incenses. In my case, I'm level 73, with pretty good gears but a low self-pulse and I only have 7.3 DM. Now, this guy says, my Hex+(Ardal) pulsed Megidos do more than hers?
Wow really, that's just a huge ego-boost for me.

After awhile my Megidos sporadically decreased in damage, due to me running around solo with my 50% pulses lulz. As seen below that was a godsend to some.



All in all, I'm having fun and being called out for incense gives me a hard on. Please keep saying it <3

Random Thoughts....

So, not much amazingly new in the world of Megaten this week. I've been making the level 93 demons at the moment; Wu Kong is broken as all hell and I want like 9000 of them, Beiji-Weng is oogly and underwhelming... but Mudoon is pretty cool (and his SS will be too!). Gonna make Phantom tonight, I'm sure he'll be nothing to write about, but I want him regardless.

Fail FCs are fail this week; more Anti-Demon sets (what is this, the third reissue? fourth?) and some guns that no one needs. My money is on Abyss Mystery Box this week in Item Mall, or something else will get thrown in there to make up for sales. GM Xandamere is once again on the Megaten team (what a relief, we have a voice of reason again), so be sure to welcome him back here. For those who care about fashion, Theena and iBleach started the Mega FC Blog, which covers all of the in-game apparal. LoveGuardian has started a blog as well. As most can recall, I was a little hard on him in a recent post. It seems as though he's seen the error in his recent behavior and is trying to overcome his newfound reputation. I know how hard it is overcoming an ego problem, much less admitting to being somewhat of an arrogant ass, so LG if you read this-- you have a clean slate with me.

New GS applications are up, as is the feedback thread (which as always starts out as brown-nosing... and quickly turns to defecating on one another). I really truly don't care who gets it... as long as they're helpful with the newer players in Home III and spend less time in Babel. I've been asked numerous times if I plan to run for GS; the answer is still no. Yes, I have considered it, but truth of the matter is I'm just not cut out to deal with medial tasks like filing behavior reports. If I only had to do dungeon runs, help plan events and occasionally help with player's problems I'd be fine. I love helping people out when they're willing to actually listen and absorb what's to be learned, but the people on our server are somewhat... irritating?
tl;dr-- I could be a good GS if I wanted to, I just would rather do something else with my time.

I'm starting back to the PvP grind tonight (Go Chaos!), so hope to see some of you all in there ;o

Will Farm Plasma For Level 93!

How many people can say they hit the level cap in Babel?

After a long, stressful and monotonous weekend, I have finally achieved another one of my goals: Hitting the level cap. I wanted to make it special, so I got to 99.99% running Ichi Golds (had to skip a few Jikos <_<), and finished off my final 00.01% by doing my daily Plasma Farming quest that Nyarlothotep gives me. Finally finished everything off at 2am (some even stayed up until 5am for the celebration), and got a good night's rest. I'd like to thank my wonderful clan members and all my friends for their support over the past 3 days, and for the awesome celebration you planned; collecting all those fireworks isn't easy!
(Edit: btw, I started out Friday at only 40.35% LOOOOL)

I'd also like to pay tribute to two people who I will never be able to thank enough, Finella and Xay. Without Finella's plethora of knowledge and pursuit of demystifying IMAGINE, and Xay's mentor-like encouragement and inspiration, I would never have made it this far. Thank you both for everything. I'm sure you're both out there inspiring others and kicking ass in other MMOs.

Next Stop: Blaze of Ambition