Tetsuya Nomura design of Golbez and Paladin Cecil.
So here we've got Paladin Cecil and Golbez. Let me just say that Cecil looks AMAZING drawn in Nomura's style... Obviously the characters from FFI to FFVI are going to look a lot more like their Amano art though, since he created them, whereas Nomura had nothing to do with designing these characters. The characters from FFVII - FFX so far all have Amano elements, but seem to still retain a lot of their designs from Nomura's official ones that appeared in the games. But seriously, this drawing of Cecil has completely exceeded my expectations. I absolutely cannot wait to see what Bartz, Terra, and Cloud will look like when they are finally revealed. Golbez looks pretty good too, but Cecil completely steals the show here. THIS is how FFIV should of been remade... enough of those crappy DS graphics, I'm sorry to DS fans but I really hate the art style they used for FFIV DS, which is why I have been really undecided on whether or not I want to bother with it (I currently am just sticking with the GBA version, which is an enhanced version of the original 2D game). I seriously think that FFIV is too much of a dark/serious game to be taken seriously in crummy 3D graphics. I know that sounds dumb considering it was a 2D SNES game, but seriously, the potential this game has for a really realistic remake is almost limitless... FFIV has one of the best storylines in the entire franchise, no joke... especially for a 17 year old RPG. Not to mention the fact that it actually has a really cool main character who is a bit older than most of the heroes from the other games, and RPGs in general for that matter. The only main character who is older than Cecil (20) is Cloud Strife (21).
Anyways, Cecil is one of my favourite Final Fantasy characters from the entire franchise, and I think he is easily one of the best leading heroes too... so I'm glad to see him getting the star treatment here, he really looks awesome.
Tetsuya Nomura design of Dark Knight Cecil.
We've also got Dark Knight Cecil, who also looks extremely badass, and stays extremely true to his original amano design. Since this is how Cecil begins FFIV I figure that this will be his default form in Dissidia. In a way it is a little disappointing because it goes against the story mode where Cecil redeems himself and becomes a holy/light warrior and rids himself of his past of darkness, but I suppose Dark Knight Cecil is simply too much of a badass to not be in this game, and plenty of people are also fans of this form of Cecil too. I figure that he will change into Paladin Cecil during his Ex Mode, which is basically a transformation that each character can activate to become more powerful once they meet certain conditions.
The only other thing I can think of is that maybe Cecil will be able to switch freely between Dark Knight and Paladin form, kind of like Zelda/Shiek in Super Smash Bros. (notice the little switcheroo icon in the Dark Knight picture). But if he can do this, it would make me wonder what the hell his Ex Mode would be.
For example, Kefka will transform into his god form (hasn't been confirmed, but it's pretty obvious), and Jecht transforms into his Braska's Final Aeon form for his Ex Mode (this has already been confirmed in screenshots).
And just for a comparison shot, here is some official artwork by Yoshitaka Amano from when FFIV was first in development 17 years ago.
Yoshitaka Amano artwork of Paladin and Dark Knight Cecil.
I must say, even though I am a huge fan of Amano's artwork (probably more than most people would understand, I think his art is absolutely amazing, but a lot of people simply don't "get" it) I actually like Nomura's version of Cecil a lot more. Anyway, some Dark Knight brother vs. brother action is going to be pretty fucking cool once this game finally comes out.
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Well this is awkward. 3 blog posts in less than 2 days after going approximately 2 weeks straight without posting anything at all.
Regardless, I've been incredibly tempted to start playing World of Warcraft again since my initial runthrough of the game kind of got screwed over by my computer deciding to shit the bed. Problem is, I'm not really in a position to be spending money on a monthly subscription to a video game. Which essentially begs the question, why are you even considering wasting your time playing an mmorpg when you don't even have a job? I guess the realization is that I lead a sad life, but then again, no one can deny that video games > life. Moving onwards...
I've been kind of "shopping around" for a free-to-play MMO for a while now, but to be brutally honest they all looked like crap. Basically they looked like inferior versions of World of Warcraft and other popular MMOs currently out there. I actually don't even remember how the HELL I stumbled across this game in the first place, but somehow during my incessant browsing of the interwebz I came across this "Perfect World" game. I'm not really sure why I was so drawn to this game, maybe it was the name? The artwork? I don't know, but it just looked like one of the first free MMOs that didn't look like a complete utter failure, and it also has a lot of LOL value on the absurdity meter.
You see, this game comes from China, and those asian countries really seem to like their MMOs for some reason. Anyways this game has a lot of completely, utterly, retardedly awesome things going for it.
Humans get a mount at level 30: It's a giant flying sword. Yes, you surf around on a giant fucking sword in the sky. You can also opt to fly around in the sky on a giant glowing sword whilst completely naked except for your underwear while simultaneously holding a female player-character in your arms who is also naked, zooming across the game doing this. INTENSE SHIT. No seriously... I'm not joking. I mean like, how often do you see that in a game? Pretty fucking cool. That's something you could put on the back of a game box as a selling point: - FEEL THE BREEZE: FLY AROUND NAKED ON A GIANT FLYING SWORD WITH YOUR VIRTUAL GIRLFRIEND. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AGREES, GOTY.
The "Winged-Elves" which I am currently playing as, can fly from the very beginning of the game. Yeah, they have wings, so the very moment you get in the game you can just slap down the F6 button and start flying all over the fucking place. Pretty cool. It's also neat because you don't have to trudge through billion of enemies just to get anywhere, you can just kind of be like LOL TOO BAD I CAN FLY and be on your merry way. This unfortunately does not last forever though, as I was flying to "BAMBOO VILLAGE" I encountered giant wasps and mini-dragons floating in mid-air above BAMBOO VILLAGE seemingly waiting to tear me a new one.
So yeah... this game is pretty neat, the sad part is that this game is a hell of a lot better than Hellgate: London, A.K.A.: FAIL GAME IS FAIL and I didn't have to pay a cent for it.
Oh yeah, the character customization is fucking INSANE. I mean seriously, the character customization in this game is absurd. You can pretty much customize every specific detail of the character, nose bridge height, eye depth, arm thickness, waste size, head size, I mean seriously there are all these crazy minor details that you can alter to make your character look so fucking retarded it isn't even funny. NO SERIOUSLY. I don't think you will understand unless you actually see it, and I was fortunate enough to come across one of the most absurd looking "elves" I have ever seen in a video game, running amoke amongst everyone elses "normal" looking elves.
Seriously, get a load of this dude, his name was STENCH
MAGIKARP MAN.
(You can't really tell from this screenshot (well unless you look at his portrait) but his head is extremely elongated from front to back like the body of a fish).
I've basically dubbed this guy "magikarp man" since he looks like a human body with a magikarp for a head, it was pretty hilarious to randomly stumble across this guy.
Anyway, don't have much else to say, other than that it has still been your typical MMO so far, go kill a bunch of this, collect a bunch of that, et cetera. It seems to have quite a few interesting things lying in wait after I get a few more levels though (I'm only level 5) so I'll be looking forward to see what else this game has to offer. Hopefully this game stays enjoyable since I don't really have too much else on my plate that I feel like playing right now, and I've been in serious need of a game that I can just waste my life away in. I don't really know the reason why, but I actually WANT a game that will waste my time, something I can just sort of drift-off and lose myself in. It's working so far, so for that I am glad. I will leave you a picture of my awesome FU MANCHU winged-elf dude. I was actually originally going to try and make him look like a wraith (Stargate Atlantis) (hence the hair and the fu manchu), but I wasn't really feeling the shades of green I was getting for the skin, and I kind of just ditched that idea without really even thinking about it. I'll probably try and make a wraith again at some point though, just to see how close I can get to the actual thing.
The only game I've ever seen where you can play as a guy with angel wings, wings coming out of his head, a fu manchu, weird eye make-up, and an authentic-looking chinese robe... and fly. Also mini-dragon things hovering randomly in space.
I think these pictures pretty much speak for themselves really.
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Blunt blog title, I know. I need to cut back on the f-bombs. Anyways, so I waste $25 on a taxi today going out to meet my driving instructor for a 12:30 lesson. I get there at 12:15, stand around listening to my ipod for 15 minutes, BAM, no fucking teacher. WTF. So I wait... wait... wait... 12:55 PM. ................................. so I'm like really fucking mad right so I kind of stand around thinking FUCK because I didn't have another taxi to come get me until 2 PM and I really didn't want to stand there for an HOUR because it is fucking HOT OUTSIDE and I was bored as shit. Anyways I stand near the highway and see if I can spot a taxi driving by, which I did... so I called that and got one to pick me up. So then kind of like an angry alcoholic I stormed into the grocery store and bought a bunch of junk food because I usually like consuming this type of crap as a way of "rewarding" myself when I'm mad. Sad? probably, but I didn't care.
So then I get home at 1:15, and call the people and I'm like DOOD DOUBLE YOU TEA EFF WAT HAPPEN TO 12:30????? and my driving teachers wife is like LOLZ NUB U NEVA HAD A LESSON TODAY, IT'S TOMORROW AT 3:30, AND THEN WEDNESDAY AT 3:30. And I'm just like WHAT THE FUCK to myself thinking then why the FUCK do I have 12:30 written down for today and tuesday, nothing about 3:30 or wednesday on my fucking calendar.
Then the woman is like "we never deleted you because we have a record of who was in what place, even if they are deleted if that is what you are thinking". And I was kind of like what the fuck? Because I never said anything about them doing it on purpose, so why would you act like I did if I never said anything about it in the first place? Seemed kind of suspicious to me. Anyway I was just kind of like fine whatever tomorrow and wednesday at 3:30. Little do they know I am fucking deducting that $50 from the taxi fair from what I owe them for the lessons because that is fucking bullshit, I KNOW 100% I scheduled it for 12:30 on monday and tuesday, and I even have someone who was standing RIGHT BESIDE ME when I made that phone call to prove it, and I already asked them if I was right or if I was just hallucinating, and they said it was 12:30.
Anyways I am not really mad just really fucking irritated because I HATE wasting my time for no fucking reason. Nothing pisses me off more than when I make 100% concrete plans to do something and someone fucks everything up or just doesn't show up.
The afformentioned rant was brought to you by:
P.S. for some stupid fucking reason every god damn version of the official music video is disabled for embedding on youtube, so this retarded video has to suffice. God fucking damn it. 10 Comments
WRAITH HIVE SHIP IS HAILING US SIR. OPEN A CHANNEL. WE ARE RECEIVING A DATA BURST.
MAIN SCREEN TURN ON, AS THE PICTURES KEEP THE CHUGGING APON YOUR SCREED.
RAMBO
Awesome movie, WAY better than I thought it was going to be.
FINAL FANTASY VIII
...whatever
Seriously though, this game is still fucking amazing. Just started playing it again, 7 hours into it. I'm pretty sure this is basically my favourite game ever.
TREVOR LINDEN
December 17th is "Trevor Linden Night" at GM Place. In a perfect world it would of been December 16th because he wore #16... but they don't have a game that day.
Anyway, the Canucks are officially retiring #16, raising it into the rafters of GM Place where it will remain until the end of time along with Stan Smyl's #12, the first number to be retired since 1991 (and it's only the second one is 38 years). This will definitely be a night to remember, trying to get tickets to this game, but that may prove difficult. If I don't end up being able to go, I will still be able to watch the celebration on HD cable. Regardless, FUCKING MARKED ON THE CALENDAR, this is going to be a NIGHT TO REMEMBER. Linden officially makes history on this day, epic shit.
New Dissidia: Final Fantasy trailer, epic shit, Kefka finally revealed, insane clowns ftw. My most anticipated game with a release date... (December 18th) the North American release will still be a while after that though.
Long story short: I was having a discussion on the Dissidia: Final Fantasy GameFAQs message board about Exdeath from Final Fantasy V being an underappreciated villain. Some people brought up that his name was terribly unoriginal which could have contributed to this. All you really need to know about Exdeath is that he was basically created from evil being placed into a tree, and he turned into an evil tree. Yes, Exdeath is an evil tree.
Angeli said:
"I like him okay, even though his name is funny... Mostly for the Tree thing though, because no matter how much we hear about Enuo and the powers of darkness, my friends and I stick by our original idea of why Ex-death is a villain: ---- *Evil tree morphs into armored mage thing. Ex-death Yawns and streaches arms upward.*
<Ex-death> Hmaaaaaa....?
*Pause* *Wiggles feet*
<Ex-death> Wait a second... Where are the life-giving roots that connect me to loving mother earth?
*pats chest and torso, now shaking with frustration*
<Ex-Death> Where is the hard Bark that protects me from the damaging elements?
*Lifts hands to face, now vibrating with rage*
<Ex-Death> WHERE... ARE.... MY... BRAAAAAAAANCHEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!! AHGAGBBNAGHAHAH!!! *Is now insane*
<Ex-Death> Bahahahah!!! If I can't be a treeeee... Then NO-ONE CAN!! .......BE.....ANYTHING?!!!! *goes off to cause mayhem* ----
But... that's just us I guess..."
Pretty much the best player-created explanation behind the origin of a video game villain ever. 6 Comments
It will get a 2 hour movie... but still, what the FUCK SciFi? Seriously FUCK YOU.
I am too pissed off to say anything else, but I fucking hate how these stupid American channels only give a fuck about live ratings from the US when Stargate is popular in other countries too. Plus SciFi is retarded airing new episodes of a show on friday nights at 10 PM, it's pretty fail. I am sure the entire country has nothing better to do than sit and wait until 10 PM roles around on a friday night.
Seriously, what the fuck. The follow images sum up how I feel right now.
Fuck you SciFi.
Even Jesus thinks you guys are a bunch of douche bags.
*sigh*
P.S. This is why I love Giant Bomb, because if I was making a post like this on GameSpot it would have to be something like:
"SciFi you are a bunch of meanies! I'm going to steal your lunch money and stomp on your flowers, et cetera." Even then I would probably get a 3 days suspension.
I watched this movie today (technically yesterday but I haven't gone to bed yet so screw that) called MOON CHILD starring Gackt. If you don't know who Gackt is well all you need to know is that he is another Japanese musician that I am extremely fond of. Regardless, I had been kind of intrigued by this movie for a while and I finally decided to watch it. I was mostly a little skeptical because I figured this was just some fanservice movie made for fangirls to salivate over, but thankfully that is NOT the case.
Anyways, the basis plot of the movie that I am about to tell you sounds absolutely ridiculous, so just keep that in mind before you read it. Basically this movie takes place in the near future in a fictional city in mainland China. Some economical collapse that is never really fully explained occurs in Japan and a bunch of people wind up immigrating to China. So the story follows Gackt's character Sho who starts the movie as an orphan street kid who steals for a living. He then winds up finding this random hobo-esque dude in the street somewhere who starts to get burned by the sun, so he decides to save him. Yep, turns out this random dude is a vampire. After he saves him some gangster guy that he stole from at the beginning of the movie comes to beat the shit out of some kids, but winds up getting his own ass kicked by this vampire dude. Instead of being scared by him Sho smiles at him disturbingly... fast forward a decade or so later and Sho is now a young man who is best friends with this immortal vampire dude.
So yeah, I told you guys the basic plot of this movie sounds kind of dumb... but it is actually pretty good I thought. Basically Sho grew up as a street kid so he earns a living by busting up gang hideouts with his vampire friend Kei, after their mutual friend Toshi randomely delivers drugged pizza. The movie starts out kind of non-serious and even hilarious (at certain parts) at first, but shit quickly hits the fan and it turns into a pretty serious gangster/drama/relationship film that actually has some pretty sad/touching moments that I wasn't really expecting.
I watched the movie spliced up slightly because I had to do some other crap during the day, so I am probably going to watch it again tomorrow (today) in 1 sitting and try to get a better feel for the movie. It wasn't the GREATEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN, but I thought it was a pretty good movie, especially considering the fact that it was written by Gackt himself, who pretty much had absolutely no movie experience whatsoever when he came up with this movie.
That being said, you don't really need to be a fan of Gackt or Hyde (plays the vampire, lead signer from L'Arc～en～ciel) to like this movie, but it would probably make you like it a bit better if you are familiar with at least one of them. But if you don't mind watching foreign movies then you might like this, since it has a fairly decent mixture of action/story/character scenes... and I also think it has some good messages in it too... not the mention that the theme song to this movie is awesome.
The band I was talking about in my last blog is the band Moi dix Mois. It is the solo project of ex-MALICE MIZER guitarist Mana. If you are wondering, the band name is French, and is pronounced "mwah dee mwah".
HARDCORE.
So yeah you've probably figured out by now that this is a Japanese band, and yes they mostly sing in Japanese, but there are some English vocals occasionally. I've posted some videos but if you do not like metal or languages not in English you will probably want to kill yourself after listening to this.
These videos are all with the current vocalist (they've had two).
In my never-ending quest for awesome music I have recently come across several new bands. One of which I seem to have developed quite the obsession with over the past few days.
Kudos to anyone who actually knows who this is, and for those who don't, I will let you judge how high this ranks on the disturb-o-meter yourselves.
oh noes.
psychomode is excluded from eligibility.
I would post more than just this but I haven't really had much time to come online over the past few days because I just moved into a new house... but I felt like posting something. So if you will excuse me, I think I will go pass out now.
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Seeing as I am a fairly huge MK buff, I have come across quite a bit of information in the wake of Comic Con '08. Several new characters have been announced, which is really cool; Jax, The Joker, Kitana, and The Green Lantern... more on them later. I haven't really given any concrete thoughts on this game since it was announced, other than simply saying I think it looks a lot better than I original thought, and I that I really want to play it.
So feel free to join me in my jouney as I obsess over the Mortal Kombat side of the game in the first of two parts, the second being my analysis of the DC Universe characters.
Known Mortal Kombat Characters
Sub-Zero
Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Sub-Zero is my favourite MK character, so naturally I was already excited from the beginning when he was shown alongside Batman for the initial teaser. I like how they kept his new costume design traditional, instead of going back to that armour design he had for MK: Deception. It was a cool design, but it doesn't didn't really fit Sub-Zero... I've always known Sub-Zero as a ninja with his traditional black and blue ninja suit... so it is good to see them continuing with that for his new design.
I also love what they did with Sub-Zero's special moves, so lets take a look at what he has so far in MK vs. DC Universe.
Special Moves
Iceball: This is the traditional Sub-Zero projectile. The updated version of it in MK vs. DC Universe looks sweet.
Slide: Another traditional Sub-Zero move. I never really liked Sub-Zero's "Cold Shoulder" move that replaced the slide in Deadly Alliance. It served its purpose, and was good for catching people off-guard, but it just didn't feel like a Sub-Zero move. They actually gave his slide move to the new character Frost, and I believe tried to pass it off as some sort of novice move or something or other. Thankfully the slide has returned in MK vs. DCU, and looks to have some new snazzy graphical effects as well. It doesn't look like you can actually slide under the opponent and launch them into the air anymore like it used to, but we'll have to wait and see.
Freeze-Counter: I'm not sure what the official name for this move is going to end up being, but it looks like the successor to the Ice Clone move. Instead of creating an ice clone of himself and jumping backwards in hopes of having your opponent touch it, Sub-Zero actually freezes himself. What happens is if you freeze yourself and then an opponent tries to attack you they will become frozen, and then Sub-Zero will jump down from above and attack with his Kori Blade. Looks like a really nice replacement to the Ice Clone move, that actually makes sense to replace it with. This move also looks like a much better way of catching your opponent off-guard as well.
Ice Nugget: This is one of Sub-Zero's new moves that looks really sweet. Normally I'm not really a big fan of projectile variations that simply just shoot up to the top of the screen and come down onto the opponent, because they usually miss and leave you open to attack. This move doesn't function like that though. What Sub-Zero does, is he shoots an ice beam diagonally upwards into the air above where his opponent is standing. This creates a giant block of ice above their head that comes crashing down on them and shatters on the ground. The thing that I like best about this move is that you can use it against hovering opponents, like when Superman floats up into the sky, you can use it against him to counter any of the moves he is about to use. So this definitely looks like a cool move that I'm excited to try out for myself. Ice Teleport: Sub-Zero has NEVER had a teleport move before, so I was actually a little surprised to see him given this move. The only problem I have with it is that in last gen's 3D MK games I never really found teleport moves very useful with any of the characters that actually had them. This is because whenever you use one the opponent automatically turns to face you and they can instantly block any attacks you try to throw. So for a skilled player, using teleport moves against them is kind of pointless, unless they finish with an attack, like Scorpion's Teleport Punch move. Fortunately it looks like they may have changed it so that your opponent doesn't automatically switch to face you instantly after using a teleport move, so they might actually serve some use for attacking, other than just confusing your opponent slightly.
Fatality
I haven't seen Sub-Zero's fatality yet, but I am going to assume that with the T rating, Sub-Zero's Spine Rip fatality will NOT be returning in MK vs. DCU. My prediction is that they will give him some sort of freeze fatality similar to a few other ones he has had... where he will freeze the opponent and then they explode into chunks of ice or something.
Final Thoughts
Ed Boon has stated that he doesn't think they are even finished with Sub-Zero yet, so he may get 1 more move before the game ships, which is cool. He already has quite a few, but since Sub-Zero is my favourite character I say the more the better. He also said that they are considering making him invulnerable to Superman's freeze breath, which I wouldn't have a problem with. Superman looks to have a ton of really powerful moves, and freezing Sub-Zero just seems a little weird since he is a master of ice powers.
Scorpion
Scorpion in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe I will admit that when I first started playing Mortal Kombat back with the old 2D games, Scorpion was originally my favourite character out of the bunch. He was still even my favourite character when Deadly Alliance came out. I don't know exactly where, why, or how, but somewhere in between Deadly Alliance and Deception, I became a massive Sub-Zero fan and have never looked back since. Obviously Scorpion is still one of my favourite MK characters, but he definitely comes second to Sub-Zero now.
Anyway, I must say that as with Sub-Zero, I love the updated look based on his traditional costume. Deception had some really neat designs for some of the returning characters, but some of them felt like they took a few liberties that just went a little too far off what fans loved. However, Scorpion I think probably had the best updated costume in Deception out of any of the characters.
I might be missing a few things, but this is what I know about Sub-Zero so far in MK vs. DCU.
Special Moves
Blood Spear: The traditional Scorpion move, just wouldn't be Scorpion of Mortal Kombat without this attack. Nothing more really needs to be said, this move is awesome. The only thing though, is that in recent games there has been a significant lag time with this move if the opponent blocks it, that leaves you open to attack for a long period of time. I think this is fine, but they should probably reduce it a bit, as it feels kind of restrictive when you can't do anything for a second or two after your opponent blocks it.
Hellfire Punch: Another popular Scorpion move which I have caught during some gameplay footage. Glad they have continued to bring back the traditional moves, instead of the kick variation they had of this move in Deception. Although they did replace the kick with the punch in Armageddon as well. This is a great move because it is a teleport move and instantly connects with a powerful blow too.
Hellfire: This was a new special move that first appeared in Deadly Alliance. Scorpion summons flames from the depths of hell under his opponent. This is a decent move but I never really used it too much when I played as Scorpion, but it looks a bit better in the new game.
Flames: I don't really know what else to call this. It functions exactly like Blanka's move from Street Fighter II. Looks like an awesome new move though.
Foot Grab: I am also not sure what this move is called, but Scorpion slides across the ground, grabs his opponents feet with his, and then slams them on the ground from side to side.
Fatality
So far scorpion only appears to have his "Breathe Fire" fatality, in which he removes his mask and spews out flames. Looks pretty good, but hopefully the characters will have at least 2 fatalities each.
Final Thoughts
It seems like Scorpion's special moves list is completed, but I am not sure if the foot grab is an actual special move, or just some sort of common special move thing. Anyway, Scorpion looks pretty good so far, but I am a little surprised that his Backflip Kick hasn't returned yet, which was in all of the previous 3 MK games.
Sonya Blade
Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe It would appear as if the MK team is mostly focusing on bringing back classic MK characters, and Sonya fits right in with that theme. From what I have seen of Sonya in action she looks like she has MASSIVELY improved since the previous generation's trilogy of games. She is also really the first time Sonya has been updated since Deadly Alliance, because in Armageddon they just brought back exactly how she was in Deadly Alliance (She did not appear in Deception).
Even though she looks a bit manly in the face (something I think they could probably touch up on) I like this design for Sonya much more than her Deadly Alliance design. Sonya is supposed to be a really tough Special Forces character so I think this design gives that description some much-needed enforcement.
Special Moves
Energy Rings: A classic Sonya projectile move that has not been seen in MK for ages. One of the things I have noticed with Sonya is recent games is that she seemed to be lacking a good projectile attack, and this looks to improve that. It also helps that this move appears to be combo-able so you can do two of them in quick succession. It is one of the few special moves I have seen that uses this combo thing Ed Boon has been talking about, where you can do two of the same move really fast.
Inverted Bicycle Kick: Yet again, another classic move that has been lost in the depths of time. Thankfully the MK team seem intent on bringing back classic GOOD special moves, instead of medeocre replacements which they have done with a few characters recently. This is basically a vertically upwards variation of Liu Kang's bicycle kick, and is a great move.
Kiss of Death: The last move I have noticed from Sonya's arsenal in the gameplay videos that I have seen. This is a move Sonya has had since the first MK game, but was originally a fatality. It turned into a regular move in Deadly Alliance and has stuck ever since. I'm glad to see that they brought it back, because it is a useful move that is also one of Sonya's unique moves as well.
Fatality
Fitting with the classic theme on the MK side I am going to take the liberty of assuming that Sonya is going to have her Kiss of Death fatality back as well. I am not sure exactly how it will work, but I can't really think of anything else that they would try to replace it with.
Final Thoughts
Kano, Sonya's nemesis as he appeared in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin MonksI think they have made some SERIOUS improvements with Sonya, and I am glad to see that. She looks like a much better character so far than she has been in the last few MKgames. Also like I have said before, I really like her new design, it makes her look like a way tougher character who can actually beat the crap out of guys like Kano for a living, unlike her Deadly Alliance design.
Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Shang Tsung like everyone else has had a classic re-design, harkening back to his MKII days, which is arguably Shang Tsung's most popular design. It would be pretty neat if they included his original MK1 design, but who knows. I am definitely glad that they went back to this design for Shang Tsung. His special moves also seem to have gone back to his more classic moves as well, ditching the newer ones he had in Deadly Alliance.
Special Moves
Flaming Skulls: One of Shang Tsung's original moves that was replaced by regular fireballs in Deadly Alliance, is once again returning in favour of the same move that replaced it. This kind of begs the question why you would replace a flaming skull projectile with just a regular fireball, downgrading much? Anyways, this move looks really cool and also appears to be combo-able like Sonya's Energy Rings attack.
Upward Flaming Skull: A new move for Shang Tsung, that is a variation of several different moves that have appeared throughout the recent 3D games. He shoots a fireball into the air off screen, that then comes back down on top of the opponent wherever they are standing. These moves weren't that hard to dodge in the previous games though, but we shall see how it will eventually turn out. They can be useful for kind of catching your opponent off guard though.
Teleport: My memory of Armageddon is a little hazy, but I cannot remember if Shang Tsung had a teleport move in that game. I didn't really use Shang Tsung too much in Armageddon, but I did use him occasionally in Deadly Alliance. However, it has been so long since I have played Deadly Alliance that my memory fails to remember if he had a teleport move. Regardless, it seems only natural to give him a teleport move, and this one functions where Shang Tsung sinks into what looks like a lava pit in the ground and comes out of the ground in a similar fashion behind his opponent. For a sorcerer like Shang Tsung it's good to have some trickery stuff going on.
Switch Places: A new move for Shang Tsung that fits the sorcerer trickery thing that I like, could be an interesting move combined with the teleport to really confuse the enemy, and maybe get in some combos too. I like where they are going with this.
Soul Steal: This is a move Shang Tsung gained in Deadly Alliance, which actually replenished a small portion of his health when used. This move was clearly inspired by his classic soul stealing fatality. I am curious to see if it will still replenish his health in MK vs. DCU though.
Fatality
As I have said before, with the classic feel that this game seems to be going for on the Mortal Kombat side, I am going to take the liberty of assuming that Shang Tsung will have some variation of his Soultaker fatality where he consumes his opponent's soul. Nothing too gory, that seems like it fits in with the T rating, and the character as well.
Final Thoughts
I like what I have seen with Shang Tsung so far, but it still would be nice to maybe get some limited form of shape-shifting in here. They probably won't have it due to it probably being fairly complicated to code for, and then the loading and what not. This was a vary popular ability Shang Tsung has had, but who knows, there is a slight possibility we may see it make a come back. Shang Tsung did have this ability in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks though, which was cool to see him use when you fought against him, but you couldn't actually play as Shang Tsung in any of the game modes.
Recently Announced Mortal Kombat Characters
Liu Kang
Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Right off the bat I have to say that I LOVE Liu Kang's new design for several reasons. First of all, they did not make him a zombie this time. When Liu Kang originally died in the opening movie to Deadly Alliance I will admit that I was extremely shocked that this had happened. Liu Kang was the champion of Mortal Kombat and Earthrealm's saviour on numerous occasions. So killing off Liu Kang at first seemed like a good plot device, because technically no one is really ever dead in Mortal Kombat. Liu Kang however, was the first character to have been killed and then later brought back as a zombie. I remember a lot of people were a little disgruntled with Zombie Liu Kang in Deception and Armageddon (although he did have a regular human alternate costume, his storyline still revolved around the zombie version).
Anyways, it is nice to see Liu Kang get the respect he deserves and back to kick some seriously ASS. I also love the new Mortal Kombat champion belt they gave him, which definitely suits him since he IS the champion of the original Mortal Kombat tournament. As far as I know there has been no gameplay footage of Liu Kang yet though, so we will have to wait and see what is in store for him. That being said, I am going to take a stab at what his special moves will probably look like.
Special Moves
Flying Kick: This is a pretty standard move, but it has been a Liu Kang classic for so long I would be surprised if it finally got axed. Basically Liu Kang jumps into the air and flies towards his enemy kicking them, and they go flying. I fully expect this move to return, but maybe they will add some twist to it to make it more exciting. Flying Bicycle Kick: Liu Kang just would not be Liu Kang without the Flying Bicycle Kick which has been a staple in Liu Kang's arsenal since it was first introduced. Basically he flies towards his opponent kicking them repeatedly in a bike pedaling motion. This move is hilarious, annoying as crap, and just a classic move. Expect this move to return 100%.
Dragon Fire: One of Liu Kang's original moves, where he shoots a dragon fireball at his opponent. In Deception and Armageddon he could also do a crouching version of this projectile attack. I fully expect the regular version of this move to return, but I am not sure about the crouching version.
Fatality
I am going to predict that Liu Kang's Shaolin Uppercut fatality will be making a come back in this game. It will probably not be a very brutal move as for the whole T rating thing, it will probably be the same as the original version where he launches them up into the air and they slam into the ground defeated.
Final Thoughts
His design is excellent, and I expect the listed moves to return, but hopefully they will freshen Liu Kang up with a couple new moves that fit his style. I will be looking forward to seeing what they come up with for Liu Kang.
Jax Briggs
Jax Briggs in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Jax was just recently announced at Comic Con 2008, but has not yet been shown in-game. There also is no render released for him yet, which is why I have his Deadly Alliance design on display. I watched a video that I will embed at the bottom of this blog post where they announced the four new characters at Comic Con, and people actually kind of "awwwed" in disappointment when Jax was the first character announced which sort of pissed me off a bit. Yes I realize Jax probably isn't very popular with comic book fans, but he is a fairly noteworthy and popular character in the Mortal Kombat franchise. From the render that they posted on the screen it looks like Jax will be going back to his Mortal Kombat 3 look. Granted he hasn't changed a ton since then, he didn't look like he had the shades, the hat, or the gun & ammo.
Anyway, I will take a stab at his movelist as well.
Special Moves
Ground Pound: If I am not mistaken, Jax has had his Ground Pound move in every single Mortal Kombat game he has appeared in so far. As you can tell by the name he slams the ground to cause damage to his opponent and stuns them briefly as well. If this move doesn't return I will be extremely surprised.
Piston Punches: This is a new move that Jax received in Deadly Alliance, and also carried over into his Armageddon appearance. (Although almost every character who wasn't in Deception but was in Deadly Alliance was the EXACT same in Armageddon). This is a pretty good move, and can actually be kind of cheap too. Jax moves forward while throwing a punch of rapid punches with his bionic arms.
Single/Double Missile: I'm going to assume that with the retro theme they seem to have going with the MK cast, that Jax will have at least a couple of his old moves make a comeback. This move seems likely to replace his Machine Gun projectile attack from the recent games. Mostly due to the fact that this seems like a prime candidate for the whole special move combo thing some of the other characters have going on.
I'm going to leave it at three for now, even though he has a ton more, because there is also room for them to give Jax some new cool moves, and these seem like the most likely candidates to return to me.
Fatality
Jax's fatalities have always been pretty brutal so I'm not sure what they are planning with him. They will either try and get his Arm Ripper fatality to come back, or they will go for something less gory, but physically brutal. Such as Jax unleashing a fury of brutal punches into his opponent then slamming them into the ground or something.
Final Thoughts
It is too early to tell how Jax will turn out since there has been nothing seen of him so far, but with the right combination of new and classic moves I think he can turn out to be a great character. We will just have to wait and see what they decide to do with Jax's movelist though, because there is a pretty long list of things they can toy with for the new game.
Kitana
Kitana in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Kitana's new design from what I saw appears to be this really cool combination of her classic and Deadly Alliance designs. I am just glad they didn't stick with the purple outfit that was her secondary from Deadly Alliance, and her primary in Armageddon, because I really hated that costume. Anyway, like Jax and Liu Kang there is barely any information about Kitana, but I will take a shot at her moves list anyways.
Special Moves
Fan Toss: This has been a recurring move for Kitana, so naturally I would expect it to return, as ther special moves have always revolved around the use of her fans. This would also be an easily combo-able special move as a projectile too, since Kitana has two fans.
Fan Lift: Like the fan toss, I would be really surprised for this move to be omitted. This has been one of her most useful special moves since she was first introduced to MK, so expect this move to come back as well.
Pretty Kick: A new move given to Kitana in Deadly Alliance, I expect this move to come back because it was pretty useful. It wasn't really like bicycle kick at all, but it was the same type of move in the sense that she flies towards her opponent kicking them a bunch of times. This was a really good move to use after a successful fan lift too.
Fatality
I am going to say that her Kiss of Death fatality will come back in some way (not the same Kiss of Death as Sonya, it is completely different). She basically takes her mask off and kisses the opponent, and then they inflate and explode, or just blow up, or something like that. I'm not sure how they will do it in the new game, but I expect this to come back in some way or another.
Final Thoughts
Kitana was probably one of the best characters from the MKII era if you knew what you were doing, but seems to have gone downhill in the recent games. Hopefully they bring back some of the classic moves and give her some new useful ones as well to get her back on top of her game.
Future Mortal Kombat Character Predictions
Ed Boon has said they will be announcing either two or four more characters at Leipzeg, so I am going to take a guess at who I think will be announced.
Noob Saibot
Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat: Deception The main reason behind why I think Noob Saibot will be announced next is because if you go to Noob.com (Ed Boon's website) all it says on the site is www.noob.com at the top, and then under it, it says "Tobias?"
Well first of all, Tobias no longer works with the MK team, and hasn't for ages. Second of all, Noob Saibat is Boon and Tobias backwords. So the only two words on the site would turn into Noob Saibot.
I also think with the recent revelation that Noob Saibot is actually the original Sub-Zero, which is a plot device that hasn't been revisited since Deception (Armageddon was almost non-existent in the story department outside of Taven and Daegon in Konquest mode) they can make Noob Saibot Sub-Zero's new main nemesis, and make their stories intertwin, since Noob Saibot seems pretty intent of killing his younger brother for some unknown reason.
Raiden
Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance I must say that I really miss Raiden. Raiden has always been one of my favourite Mortal Kombat characters, and it was really cool to see him go it alone against the Deadly Alliance in the opening movie of Deception after everyone else had been defeated. Unfortunately Raiden was defeated, and then the Dragon King was resurrected which just made things worse. Raiden sacrificed himself to try and destroy the Dragon King, but all he ended up doing was killing himself, Quan Chi, and Shang Tsung (the Deadly Alliance).
Afterwards Raiden's godly essence was recollected back at the heavens or something and he was reformed as "Dark Raiden". Ever since then he has been kind of a dick and his appearance also drastically changed.
Mortal Kombat just isn't Mortal Kombat without Raiden, and I hope to god the good Raiden finally comes back, because MK has felt really hollow without him leading the heroes and offering wisdom.
And thus concludes me obsessing over Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. If you managed to get through all that then I salute you good sir, you must share a similar obsession with Mortal Kombat as myself. I will be posting the second part of this representing the DC side at some point but I am not sure when. My knowledge of the DC characters and Universe is also much less than Mortal Kombat though, so expect it to be a lot shorter than this one.
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