This is the new Saiunkoku novel that deals with the aftermath of Volume 18.

DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED

This is really a true ending to Saiunkoku that is both dark and what I honestly expected when I was reading the original novels. (I am glad that the author chose to do it the way she did because at the end of the day Saiunkoku Monogatari was a love romance for girls.

The stories are
"Bones of Snow" (Yuushun)
"Body of Frost" (Ouki)
"Mask of  Northern Wind" (Anju)
"Heart of Ice" (Ryuuki)
"Wind Flower" (Black Sen and Shi Shou)
"The Night of Destiny" (Reishin, Kijin, Hishou)

Bones of Snow
Dealt with Yuushin's beginning and ending.

Yuushin was lying about his illness once again and he was actually very ill at the end of novel 18. 2 Years after Ouki leaves the court,  Kaiyu (super handsome old man) and Shi Shou  (Purple sen) have left the story. (Wind Flower deals with Shi Shou's departure)

Sai Shou becomes a government official.

Youshuu becomes of head of the Brown Providence.

The story deals with why Yuushin's leg ceased to work and about who he was originally and how he met the people who made him who he became (Senka, Ouki, Ensei)

Yuushin's death makes him the first and only person in Ryuuki's reign to hold his position.

Body of Frost 
This dealt with Ouki's ending. He was the main character near the end and he lived a long time but it was sad to see Ryou Ou die before him. 10 years after he left the court and Yuushin died Anju takes care of Ouki as he passes on.

Senka and Ouki's relationship was the highlight in my opinion. It showed just how powerful the relationship of Anju Senka and Ouki.

It also revealed that Senka's death was not from the curse (illness) from Seiran's mother

Mask of  Northern Wind (Anju) 

This deals with Anju and his time before he disappeared after Ouki's death.
It goes about some things like how he was part of Senka and Shi Shou's plot to eliminate the nobles

Anju was also the person who raised Kochou and the reason why she was in love with him (this was revealed in one of the later novels about where the information was leaking from)

Heart of Ice (Ryuuki)
Deals with the happier times of Ryuuki, Shuurei and Riou and Shuurei's final days as a pregnant mother.

Too lazy to write about the last 2 right now.
Wind Flower (Black Sen and Shi Shou)
The Night of Destiny (Reishin, Kijin, Hishou)

Still hoping that she'll do one final full gaiden with the drama CD and cover the other people and their happy ending because this one was so dark.  I don't mind the darkness of this gaiden but honestly I want to see the growth of the people that got left behind as the series went on. At the very least it showed Ryuuki and Shuurei but it felt meh to me.

I want to see the growth and aftermath of Eigetsu, Kourin, Kokujun, Shunki, Seiga, Kouyuu, Seiran,  Sera, and the children. (Reishin's child, Yuushin's child, Shuurei's child)

Labels:


wrote at
1:36 PM
on
Jun 16, 2012
Currently, this is my favorite show of the year based purely on it's pilot.
Awake is about a man who is stuck between 2 realities; one where his wife died and one where his son died.
Little things differ between the realities and those little differences make the whole difference.

If the writers can play this storyline up in between the various cases, this will be my favorite new procedural with  Person of Interest and Alcatraz.

I'm worried that it will be considered too dark of a story that it won't get a full run. I really sincerely hope it gets a full run and a good audience because, I felt the despair of the main actor and his hope so beautiful.

Essentially, the series is about choosing between 2 people you loved and 2 alternate realities.

I hope this is successful. While I cannot see this continuing more than 2-3 seasons,  1 to dwell on the realities and uncover what happened, 1-2 to try to unite the two realities or to kill off one, it could have an amazing 2-3 seasons. (Please do not bring some new romance in the alternative world or somekinda bullshit)

I really hope they work on the main character more than Person of Interest.

While this series is a procedural, I feel the procedural part should be more filler and the main part should be about the detective. The most interesting parts in Person of Interest is learning about Michael Emerson, and I suspect that Awake is going to be the same. Based purely on the pilot, it was the detective's psycological journey that made me interested in the story. The case was interesting but not that interesting. BD Wong was also really really nice to see again

Labels:


wrote at
5:54 PM
on
Feb 18, 2012
Saiunkoku Monogatari Curtain Call was a special 80 page set for people who collected 80 points from Beans. (I'm not sure what this is but I'm assuming it's for people who purchased 80 points worth of other novels)

The first story is "Hana no Ato" which is a story about giving flowers and spending time with a special someone. It's a story with the former Kokurou, aka Ouki's big sister (aka Tsuyuri) , Ouki, Riou, and Ryouou. It also explains the origins of Ryuuki's otedama (bean juggling bag).

On the way home from a special event, Ouki, Riou, and Ryouou find a tree that has buds for the first time in 50 years. There is a saying about that tree and the story is about going back in time and learning about the former Kokurou and her relationship with Ouki with whom she was enemies for most of her life. the main characters are Ouki and Tsuyuri but the story also features Riou, Ryouou, Shouka, Jyuusan Hime, Ryuuki, Jin, Shuuei, Kouyou, Sera, Shuurei, and Ensei.

It explains why Ouki didn't know Shouka was Kokurou and shows a potential romance for Kouyuu and Sera Hime (Kurou's low teen daughter) Sera Hime has liked Kouyuu for a long time. (I believe she's 13-14 while Kouyuu is 25-26)

The 2nd story is "Ikeru Yuuhi, Noroi no Kanoke wo Hashirasu"
This one was a complete comedy with almost the entire cast. It's a story about everyone being drawn into the huge event of Reishin promising on meeting Shuurei.

Anju makes a bet about it with Yuushun and Kouki and the entire government is drawn into this intense battle. Anju bets that Reishin will meet Shuurei and bets on a one day kingship (Yuushun promises to lock Ryuuki away himself) Yuushun bets that Reishin will not meet Shuurei and Anju will listen whatever Yuuhi wants. So the people who want to help Reishin can't help him because they do not want Anju to be a 1 day king.

Reishin sets a date with Shuurei at a Dango shop (the same one where Yuri and Kou Kijin met) but the dango stores are closed using the might of various families.
Reishin is basically thwarted everyway he goes at which point his former subbordinates come and help. He's then stuffed into a casket by someone else. Seiga is freaked out when he comes to do something. and finally when he's about to meet Shuurei, Yuushun comes and asks him out to dinner which Reishin can't say no to.

Pretty much everyone shows up except for the people in Brown Providence.

PS Reishin doesn't meet Shuurei. Anju wins though because Shuurei meets Kurou
PPS One day Kingship sucks for Anju who is forced to work hard while Ryuuki takes a break in the closet.

Translated from this this this and this
I really really want to read these :(

PS apparently there will be no more Gaidens. I hope this isn't true and she writes another 2-3 stories and releases Curtain Call as a Bunko. Preferably with a short and sweet romantic story with Shuurei and Ryuuki when Shuurei finally gives in to him. The ending of 18 had a short and sweet romantic part but knowing now that Shuurei's life ends so short, I kinda want something where Ryuuki finally truely wins Shuurei. Could also just take the short novels from the DVDs once the DVDs stop selling well enough and just add it to a bunko.

PS: I keep mistaking the names of Yuushun and Ouki, I think I caught them all but Any Yuuhi is Yuushun and any Ouri is Ouki

Labels:


wrote at
11:44 AM
on
Dec 3, 2011
The Good
Go read Kindle propaganda here. It's mostly accurate.
Even though it's not an MP3 player it plays music which is nice because it's one less device to carry. I don't need some massively multifunctional machine. I'd get an ipad or a laptop or something for that. I can see why people are happy about color but I don't really need color from Nook.

The Bad
PDF reading. They need some sort of PDF reformating program or an easier way to navigate PDFs that you had to enhance the size on to read. (I know it's not a PDF reader but it's terrible unless you reformat the file)

The 5 button navigation system is awkward
Browser is pretty slow but it's not a multiuse device so I guess it's okay.
Collections Management is awkward.

What I want for Kindle
I want some sort of SharePod like program that allows me to do all the collection making on my computer. I really really hate making collections on the Kindle. That 5 button scroll thing is awkward at best. The reason why I prefer a SharePod over iTunes is because SharePod is something that you could put on your iPod and use anywhere on any computer without involving someone else's Library. I want it for my personal documents not my Kindle books which I know I can synch from the web.

Edited for Kindle Collections Manager. This is still in beta and requires an install but overall it's made my experience with collection making a million times easier. Wish it'd identify Mangle created folders as well.

Japanese Ebooks at Amazon JP or Amazon.com. Right now I basically have to go to 3-4 different E-book stores for manga and novels. and try to find one that is reformatable. XMDF is not reformatable. Kindle doesn't do terribly good with EPUB. If Amazon could consolidate the E-book format in Japan it'd make me so happy.

DEAR AMAZON, SELL JAPANESE E-BOOKS.

More formats and better conversion tools.
While I do buy most of my stuff from Amazon, the Japan situation has made it really difficult for me to format everything. I want the Kindle to read EPUB .BOOK XMDF


What I'm enjoying using the Kindle for
English Novels. Durr. Amazon.com

Japanese Novels on Kindle. I love reading in Japanese. I know that Amazon will have a hellish time accessing the Japanese market (given how restrictive the publishers seem to be) so for now I am sticking to Aozora Bunko and some of the less legal sources. A 400yen book goes for about 10-12 dollars in the US if you have to actually order it, (from Japan; in a US bookstore it is much much less.)

Manga
I use Mangle. Sometimes it degrades the images a bit too much but overall it makes the formatting process a lot easier and maintains enough quality. The Kindle however will not carry that many manga. There are plenty of sources for manga on the web. I use Kyoto Music City and Winny Club. Guide to Mangle.

Formatting Japanese for Kindle
The Kindle 3 can read Japanese natively but most Aozora Bunko and text format novels have (rubi) markings which make reading like that hard. Converting them to PDF is really easy with Aopii.

For Novels with Aozora Bunko markings
For straight up Aozora Bunko, there is a free service here that will make your Bunko into a readable format for Kindle.

For some less legal novels.
Use Microsoft AppLocale if you are too lazy to set your region to Japanese for the text file. Set the encoding to UTF-8. If you have set your region to Japan, you probably don't have to change encoding.
Use Aopii PNG to encode the text file with the rubi correctly inputted or use Aopii PDF.
Both Aopii use Java RE. Aopii is a .JAR file
For the PDF version you will need to download and use a different font, the default option doesn't work. for my American Windows XP. I used IPA Font Mincho.

For XMDF Format Novels
XMDF is Sharp's format for E-books and is also the most popular format for E-books in Japan. Unfortunately or as expected, Amazon does not support this format. Neither does Calibre. There are users in Japan however who made some guides to how to convert XMDF to an image format (I then use Mangle to condense it a little more.) Hopefully, someone will make a program that would streamline this process a bit more.
  1. Download ブンコビューア for viewing XMDF files on Windows PC
  2. Download AutoHotkey or UWSC and create a script to take screenshots and save them to a folder. (See here or here for UWSC scripts. personally, the 2nd script was easier to use and customize.)
  3. Trimming. I use Ralpha for trimming. You can use your own programs or use the Linux script from the above link  (I don't really know much about Linux so I don't know if that method is faster or more effective.)
  4. Further formatting using Mangle to reduce size and greyscale it better. You can also convert the folder to PDF if you want but I'm perfectly fine with Mangle folders.
The entire process takes around 15-20 minutes for a thin Bunko book according to one of the guides.

Other thoughts. 

I was reading Ｊコミ and was thinking, why don't/can't Japanese artists whose works aren't published anymore take advantage of Kindle Direct Publishing. It's not limited to just Kindle because the software reads on iPad, IPod, PC, so forth which makes it superior to the .book format I keep encountering or the T-time formats.

While Amazon takes 30% royalties, having something on Amazon would be great publicity for older works that publishers aren't publishing anymore to receive more revenue. It just makes more sense to me than the advertisement revenue via JComi. If they made a good Japanese platform they could easily tap into the thousands of doujinshi manga artists for whom paper format is more expensive than digital format.
    Links
    Kindle Store
    Blog Kindle is also pretty informative for other hacks.
    青Ｐ Aopii for formatting Aozora Bunko formatted texts into images with correct rubi
    Mangle for formatting images
    Instapaper for reformatting webpages for reading on Kindle
    星空文庫 Hoshizora Bunko
    青空文庫 Aozora Bunko
    Project Gutenberg English version of Aozora Bunko

    Labels: ,


    wrote at
    8:31 AM
    on
    Sep 23, 2011

    I finally finished reading Saiunkoku 17 and 18 and I must say that while it was expected that everything would end happily ever after I didn't expect it to end that way based on how dark the story had gotten. It really seemed like there was no way out to get to the ending that was promised in Volume 1. It was obvious that Shuurei would somehow survive and that Ryuuki would win somehow but I really did not see how it would happen so when it did happen it was nice.

    One thing I disliked is that almost everyone survives. It is a shoujo light novel so it was obvious that at least Shuurei would survive but people like Anju I couldn't see surviving but somehow did. I did want something from Sakujun more even though he was dead. (He helps Shuurei escape from Anju in volume 18 as a corpse and that's pretty much it) What I did like is that it ended the same way that it began. The storyline got darker and darker and darker throughout 13-17 but 18 brought it back to humor and romance.

    Plot line Spoilers:
    Volume 17 was all about Ruka, fixing the locust problem and getting everything set up for Ryuuki vs Ouki
    • Shuurei figures out the 2nd boss, where the money, the steel, was going. it's Anju. The money went to bribing the Kou Family. The steel went to Ouki's property where he got some steel workers from the Red Clan building weapons.
    • Ruka, Uu, Shuuei, Ouki fix the locust problem using a virus against the locusts and Uu uses the last of his life force to make sure that the locusts die. 
    • Seiran and so forth help Ouki to help Ryuuki. (Killing Ouki would kill Ryuuki politically even more so than letting him take the crown.)
    • Shuurei sacrifices the little time she has left to help Ruka fix the holy objects.  When Ruka is killed by kyonshi Sakujun and the balance of the world goes array. Ruka Uu, the girl who caused Ruka's death, Eiki all willingly turn their spirits into human pillars. Uu and Ruka were 2 halves of a single artifact because of how long Ruka had lived and protected the world. 
    • The Hyou family is completely opened to the world, helping the weak and supporting everyone.
    • The mirror is fixed by Karin. (Karin's husband is the human vessel for Hekisen). (Creating the mirror did not kill the creator, that was bullshit that someone thought up and all the creators suicided because they would never admit that they weren't good enough to die for their art)
    • Shuurei goes to rest in a casket. She'll have 1 day more to live and only when she and the person she gives the key to want her to will she awake. If she stays asleep she can live 10 more years in sleep.
    Volume 18 was about Ryuuki. Shuurei spent 90% of the novel sleeping while Ryuuki began giving up things to protect them.
    • Ryuuki learns from Shou Taishi that his responsibility was to last 3 years as King. He was manipulated to make it easier for Ouki to become King
    • Ryuuki still believes of Yuushin's betrayal but decides to escape the castle before more people on Ouki's side try to kill Yuushin.
    • Ryuuki gives up one of his swords to a stranger while escaping for helping him because he doesn't need the sword. This is direct contrast to Ouki who gave everything up except for his sword and armor because he still needed them.
    • Ouki takes control of the government and fixes up a lot of the problems. He uses many of the plans that Ryuuki and Yuushun made but couldn't announce because of the backlash that was going on against Ryuuki.
    • Ryuuki spends the next few months with sleeping Shuurei, Shuuei, Shouka so forth. Shuurei is protected by Hien, Riou's mother and Ouki's daughter who was the last body for Ruka. Hien was dying in childbirth when Ruka put her into stasis in hopes that someday she would be able to be fixed. With Ruka dying Hien uses the last of her time to work towards helping Shuurei.
    • At this point Ryuuki's basically fucked. The 6 ministers are not on his side and are helping Ouki fix the government. The Ran providence locks up the governor as sick and the rest of the government is taken over by Ouki's supporters. The White and Black Providences are angry at the Red Providence who was hiding food when the locust problem occurred. They are also pissed off at Ryuuki who failed to help them. The Yellow family has been accepting bribes from Ouki and in general always sides with the winning side. The Heki Governor is missing from the earthquakes and Heki people in general are not terribly interested in war.
    • Shuurei is stolen using Sakujun (who was turned into a Kyonshi by Anju who is his older brother) and used against Ryuuki. Ryuuki decides to not try and save her.
    • Ryuuki and Ouki meet at a battlefield and have a duel. Ryuuki arrived with just Shuuei, Ouki with 50,000 troops.
    • Shuurei wakes up and rushes to Ryuuki's side with the help of her old friends at the government. Rou Ensei is who she trusted with the 2nd key.
    • Ryuuki and Ouki duel.
    • Suddenly a village in Ouki's territory rises in flames (due to Anju's plotting)
    • Ryuuki offers Ouki his head to save Ouki's troops from death. He can't stop them as a King but his head can.
    • Yuushin arrives with the support of White/Black/Yellow families. He was gonna betray Ryuuki if he hadn't run away to protect Yuushun's life. Because that would be what a normal guy would do and if Ryuuki was just average then Ouki is better for everyone. However, because Ryuuki follows through with his beliefs and sacrifices everything to protect it, Yuushun sides with Ryuuki and Ouki loses the battle.
    • When Ryuuki escaped the castle Yuushin asked Haku Raien to give Ryuuki his sword. This sword giving was intended as Haku Raien's personal loyalty to the king but was in reality, the White providence pledging to the king. The Black providence was given laxatives in the guise of medicine that would make them stronger. They pledged loyalty for the cure and are now honor bound. Kouyou somehow convinces the yellow clan but gets lost in the north. The Brown/Red/Blue families also come and Ouki loses
    • Ryuuki makes sure Ouki doesn't commit suicide and gives Ouki, Bakuya which he accepts and pledges loyalty to Ryuuki. On a side note, his general was a legendary fighter from the Black clan.
    • Shuurei is shot by an arrow. (this is cliffhanger)
    • The 7 Sen meet and mourn the death of one of their members and most of them pledge not to meddle with things for at least another 100 years. Everything went to plan and the Black Sen's love still didn't show up, Purple just lost. Yellow doesn't want to have more work saving lives, Heki has a son and wants his son to live a nice life, Sa doesn't really care much, Byakuya completely fell for a human.
    Epilogue
    • Shuurei survives using the life force that was being tapped from her via Kyonshi Sakujun. (her life was being used to reanimate Sakujun) Hien, Ruka, and Shusui were basically sucking back her life force back into Shuurei. She's given just a little more time.
    • Ryuuki proposes to Shuurei but is rejected publically for the 100th time. (In the background Yuushun says that Shuurei is better as an official for the country and Shuurei's old friends all petition against the king.)
    • Reishin, Yuushin become parents. (As a side note, Yuushin wasn't dying but pretending to die because it's safer. His wish was to become a good person. He likes siding with idiots because he doesn't have to think much) Yuushin decides to never side with the King when it becomes matters of women and love after being beaten up by his wife who hid her pregnancy from him.
    • Jin and Shuuei are given the chance to return Jin to Shiba family if they defeat White General who is the current owner of one of the Shiba family's old family heirloom sword that they lost 100 years ago. Juusan hime says she'll consider Jin when he defeats the White General. Juusan Hime privately gives up on Ryuuki whom she was quietly in love with. Jin is made the vice minister of Military division.
    • The entire Ouki taking over thing is summed up as Ouki getting pissed off at the king and going to pick him up from the Red Providence. Ryuuki makes Riou his son. Ouki laments of Riou's lack of luck in fathers. 
    • Shuurei is given a job like Seiga that allows her to visit the world of Saiunkoku over 3-4 years. Ryuuki allows it and says she'll always come back, everyone will come back. They have a very sweet moment. Shouka overhears things and is reminded of Shuurei's mother and his own romance. It'll take a while to get married.
     True Epilogue
    • Ryuuki's reign truly begins in Jyouchi 5. His reign is noted for having no wars and for cleaning up after the 100 years war. Much like his father was compared to Sougen, he is compared to Soushuu. He's also famed for having only 1 wife. 
    • At age 32, he marries Kou Shuurei. At that point she was a famous official but she gives up her official status and accepts Ryuuki's proposal. 
    • This is also the year when a new girl passes the examinations. This new girl is Shuuran from the Brown Providence and also becomes the first Female Prime Minister of Saiunkoku.
    • Ryuuki's reign is famed for a period when women were exceptionally famous. Hyou Shusui advanced schooling, Kou Yuri conducted a lot of charity and raised the quality of life throughout saiunkoku. Shuuran governed well. Ran Jyuusanhime was famed in the military while Heki Karin was famed in the arts. Sai Rin became the minister of crafts while being the wife of the Prime Minister.
    • Kou Shuurei is one of the most famous because her life was not too long.. The year after her marriage, Kou Shuurei died in childbirth at age 30. She died saying "my just a little more time ended" Few records of her life remain leading to her legendary status.
    • Shi Ryuuki immediately made Riou his successor but Riou gave up his succession right to Shuurei's daughter who lives 70 years as a rare Queen. Riou becomes prime minister after Tei Yuushun Kei Yuuri and Ri Kouyu and restarts the tradition of Hyou family in the government.
    • Shuurei's daughter is one of the rare Queens of Saiunkoku's history (asides from the ancient queens) and was said to closely resemble her mother.
      It's nice to figure out was what except I still have no clue who was the human vessel for the Black Sen
      • Purple - Shi Shou (Who ends up being the big bad in a way)
      • Red - Bara Hime (Shuurei's mom, she officially dies)
      • Blue - Ran Ryuuren (Shuuei's Younger brother with the flute)
      • Yellow - Kou you (Shuurei's doctor)
      • Brown - Sa Nan (Ensei's training master)
      • Heki - Ourou Jun (Heki Karin's Husband)
      • White - Byakuya (To Eigetsu's other personality)
      • Black - Anju? (Perhaps he didn't even have a human vessel)

        Labels:


        wrote at
        6:06 PM
        on
        Aug 28, 2011
        Oswald for Prez?
        I've been catching up with Torchwood: Miracle Day and I'm sad to say that it's somewhat of a disappointment. The premise is interesting; people cease to die, but I feel that the series could do what it's doing so far in 2 episodes rather than 5.  I'm starting to think that what I liked so much about of Children of Earth was precisely because of the budget. By condensing the series the way they did, they made each moment have that much more impact.


        More of her less Esther
        I really like Russel T Davies stories (I miss them on Dr Who) but I also think that Torchwood would have benefited from less fillers, less filler characters, and less filler material. Oswald needs to have more interesting moments or cease to appear as much.

         In my mind, his moments would be the execution, running from fear of the mob to the police, talking on the TV, Jack and Oswald. Any other moments really aren't interesting with him, including the screencap I have here even tho it was a Jack and Oswald moment the first was enough.

        Jack Jack Jack I miss Ianto.
        Esther needs to go. She's boring and she brings nothing to the table, her role can be filled by Gwen or any other girl and it can be filled better. At best she'll serve as a "whistle blower" like the girl in season 3.

        More Jack and Gwen. Rex is just not interesting compared to Gwen or Jack.. I understand his importance and that he's needed for the series but he's starting to annoy me. I want to see more of Jack and the effects on him killing Ianto and his grandson in Children of Earth

        Less moving around. I do not see the point of moving back and forth from Cardiff to California. If the American public can't appreciate Cardiff then move to California and stay there and if UK can't appreciate California then tough because Starz is a US cable network which is probably funding a large part of Torchwood.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        8:56 AM
        on
        Aug 6, 2011

        Completion time: 76 minutes
        Recommended class(es): Assassin/Ninja with Wood Rush
        Soloable: Yes
        EXP, Drops, and Gold analysis

        Overview: This is almost identical to the Four-Tower Build, except with one extra tower and slightly lower-level Freeze towers.

        Wood rush (or shortened as Log) will completely stop monsters in their tracks if they are in range of a Freeze tower level 5 or greater. So to take advantage of this, a second freeze tower is placed. Level 5 is efficient enough for the Log effect to work, but higher level towers will target more monsters.

        A down-side to this build is that Log will freeze the monsters fairly spread out, which takes longer for the Gaias to knock them out, but you will have plenty of TP to continue buffing them for as long as you need.

        Hit the jump for detailed tactics.

        Read more »

        Labels: , , ,


        wrote at
        11:48 AM
        on
        May 9, 2011

        Completion time: 70 minutes
        Recommended class(es): Warrior with level 5-10 Stun Hammer/Stumblebum, Wizard
        Soloable: Yes

        Overview: This is a very relaxing build, as the build only needs four towers in all; you can set up your main offense very quickly, leaving you to do whatever you want while you wait (be it AFK, or just mess around with the extra TP). It's also a stress-free build in terms of TP; you will not have to worry about not having enough TP to keep buffing your towers.

        This build is also really good for collecting gold and drops, as all monsters will be killed in concentrated areas.

        This build does not work very well with ninjas because their Wood Rush skill won't stop much with only one Freeze tower. A slightly modified version of this build works much better for ninjas (demo'd here).

        Hit the jump for detailed tactics.

        Read more »

        Labels: , , ,


        wrote at
        9:58 PM
        on
        Apr 29, 2011
        It is renewed for a 2nd season yes!

        To be absolutely honest, I haven't read the books. I have them but I never got around to reading them. I'm now fighting the burning burning urge to go gorge them all up based on the 1st episode of the HBO tv series. (Is there a way to get HBO Go without a cable provider? )

        Sean Bean was kinda there kinda not in regards to my interest. He has a lot of kids and is turning into a hot old man king character. The 5 people who really stole my interest in the premiere were the Queen/her Brother, the blond prince/princess, the Queen's dwarf brother.

        The princess probably has a long journey to make to becoming a stronger woman. I look forward to seeing her take that journey. Preferably, she'll knock her douchebag brother down on her way. The Queen seems rather sterotypical but I enjoy characters like hers.

        The actor who played the dwarf brother just simply stole every scene he was in. He was funny and sinister at the same time.
        Waiting for next week.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        7:12 PM
        on
        Apr 19, 2011
        Rokko - Level 52-53 Priest, Level 54 Assassin
        Total Time  71 Minutes
        EXP Gain =  60.03% [House Buff, Channel, 2x Serverwide EXP, 40% EXP Pot]
        Gold Gain =  44.6377 Gold
        Soul Gain = 176
        Armor Enchant Dust 120
        Weapon Enchant Dust 35
        2x10 Gaia, 2x8 Freezing, 1x8 Gaia
        Time 01-10  8 minutes [4.57%,  0.6958 Gold]
        Time 11-20  10 minutes [9.31%, 3.6464 Gold]
        Time 21-30  10 minutes [10.67%,  5.9829 Gold] 
        Time 31-40  13 minutes [13.67%,  11.9686 Gold]
        Time 41-48  30 minutes [21.74%,  22.3335 Gold]


        Thoughts:
        Fast and Loots were compact. This build works well with Log and an assassin.

        2nd run with Lightning instead of the level 8 Gaia came out much faster, checking times against exp rates. House buff was active until round 50
        2x10 Gaia 1x7 Freezing 8x10 Lightning
        45-46 2 minutes [2.34%]
        46-47 2 minutes [2.14%]
        47-48 3 minutes [2.36%]
        48-49 3 minutes [2.20%]
        49-50 5 minutes [1.88%] (House buff wore off sometime here.)

        Thoughts: When house buff runs out just leave, time is better spent rebuilding for the next run once house buffs disappear. In this build it generally goes to level 49-50 with house buffs.

        Labels: , ,


        wrote at
        1:56 PM
        on
        Apr 13, 2011
        Congrats to Dick Wolf for managing to revamp the series back to it's origins.

        It's not great as in Sam Waterston, Jerry Orbach, and Jesse L. Martin; but it's better than the disaster that was the first 8 episodes. The series is now actually about the crime rather than about LA. To be honest, LA is not the same as the character that was NYC and it never will be. While NYC was a character in the original L&O, I don't think LA needs to be a character for L&OLA as much as it was for L&O.

        First episode from last night, killing off Skeet Ulrich. This felt like a bad idea, but it opened the way for Alfred Molina, who I think was much more interesting as a detective. I wish Corey Stoll and Skeet Ulrich's character could be added and divided by 2 because I love Corey Stoll but Skeet Ulrich was the more interesting of the detectives. I will miss seeing his wife. Much like seeing Elliot Stabler's family, it adds more of a human touch to the detectives. The rest of the people who were lost I really won't miss considering I can't even remember who they are.

        One thing that was great was seeing Alana de la Garza back. Now they need to get rid of Terrence Howard and get Linus Roache back (or someone better than Terrence Howard). While I would love seeing Sam Waterston as well, I feel that he should remain in NYC much like S. Epatha Merkerson and the older L&O people. I would want Linus Roache's character to remain in NYC too but I just loved the Law side of L&O throughout the ending of the mothership that if they could get him to come or better yet revive L&O somehow....

        I liked the majority of the 2nd episode last night. The guest star was fabulous. He's the FBI agent from White Collar, Christopher Misiano. It was amazing seeing his gut-wrenching acting as a survivor of a family killing. Especially, because he seems so natural cop in White Collar. I felt there were a bit too many twists and turns but in the end, it was nice seeing Alfred Molina interrogate and law prevail. The thing I like about L&O is that the cops don't always win like most other procedurals. That makes the wins and the losses seem that much more rewarding. I did however want to know more about the criminal in this case because it was an interesting leap from a decorated FBI agent to a rapist and murderer.

        I checked TV by the numbers and it appears LOLA has stumbled. I really hope it's because the east coast was hot on Monday because I think LOLA deserves a 2nd look from fans of L&O. If they can keep up and improve upon it more, it's a wonderful show.

        PS: Bring back Corey Stoll's moustache.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        11:13 AM
        on
        Apr 12, 2011
        Rokko - Level 51 Priest
        Total Time 61 Minutes
        EXP Gain =  36.2% [House Buff, Resting EXP, Channel, 2x Serverwide EXP]
        Gold Gain = 57.5719 Gold
        Soul Gain = 189
        Armor Enchant Dust 184
        Weapon Enchant Dust 70


        Time 01-10  13 minutes [3.94%, 0.637 Gold]
        Time 11-20  9 minutes [6.76%, 4.5125 Gold]
        Time 21-30  9 minutes [8.35%, 14.6883 Gold] *
        Time 31-40  13 minutes [8.31%, 15.7522 Gold]*
        Time 41-48  17 minutes [8.84%, 22.0219 Gold]

        * I missed the 30 round and recorded at the beginning of 32 so Gold/EXP is off.

        Thoughts:
        - I only got to level 48 with this setup. I can't seem to figure out how to get to 50 with minimal freezing/stunning. Perhaps a hybrid between Gaia and Lightning would work? 48 is however pretty good for almost no freezing and stunning from my priest.
        - Loot is scattered a lot more than in the Gaia runs so I lost a bunch of loot although, I did try hard to pick up all the dusts.

        Labels: , ,


        wrote at
        11:16 AM
        on
        Apr 11, 2011
        Arka - Level 60 Sorcerer, Level 61 Overlord
        Total Time 88 minutes
        EXP Gain = 41.18% [House Buff, Resting EXP, Channel, 2x Serverwide EXP]
        Gold Gain = 54.1637 Gold (Approx 108.3274 with 2 characters)
        Soul Gain = 205
        Armor Enchant Dust 97 (Approx 194 with 2 characters)
        Weapon Enchant Dust 23 (Approx 46 with 2 characters)

        Time 01-10 14 minutes [2.48%, 0.764 Gold]
        Time 11-20 8/9 minutes [7.87% 3.5256 Gold]*
        Time 21-30 10 minutes [6.13% 9.624 5Gold]*
        Time 31-40 19 minutes [10.55% 15.178 Gold]
        Time 41-50 36 minutes [13.82% 23.4253 Gold]

         *Approximate I was AFK for the round 20 mark I counted the beginning of round 23 as 20 and guesstimated the first 3 rounds of 20 were around a minute each.

        Thoughts:
        - The Lower 3 towers were not doing much, however Tactical Point limitations lead to those numbers
        - Gold was not picked up as religiously as in the case of Rokko F7. It is very possible that the gold count would be higher in this however because of how involving it was post round 40 picking up gold was simply too hard.
        - If the last 10 rounds actually takes 36 minutes even with some optimization, it would be better to simply restart and do the first 30 levels again in the approximately same amount of time and sacrifice some Gold because the last 10 rounds are extremely involving for the player.

        Labels: , ,


        wrote at
        9:50 PM
        on
        Apr 9, 2011
        What the Borgias lacks in super hot famous male lead (Jeremy Irons is no Jonathan Rhys Meyers) it definitely makes up with a gorgeous backplot and one of the most interesting families in history. I hope, this is a success and they can revert back to England and consider Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, or the Medicis, perhaps Louis the 14th, or Catherine 1 or 2.

        First impressions is that Jeremy Irons was bored. The whole incest power hungry is there but not quite there. It's not as powerful as I expected it to be. I wanted some stronger acting for Cesare and stronger for Alexander VI. Both seemed weaker to their female counterparts who were not at all the strongest actresses.

        Throughout the pilot what interested me the most was Lucretia, I know the basic plot of the rise and demise of the Borgias and Lucretia is one of the most interesting person in their history. Was she a normal girl abused by her brother and her father for politics? Or is she just as poisonous as the rest of her family. The Borgias appears to have taken the former rather than the later but the actress shows potential for a poisonous black widow as well.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        3:39 PM
        on
        Mar 31, 2011
        Rokko - Level 57 Warlock
        Total Time 83 minutes
        EXP Gain = 25.66% [House Buff, Resting EXP, Channel]
        Gold Gain = 87.2340 Gold
        Soul Gain = 204
        Armor Enchant Dust 234
        Weapon Enchant Dust 64

        Time 01-10 21 minutes [1.74%, 1.4172 Gold]
        Time 11-20 14 minutes [3.54% 5.4958 Gold]
        Time 21-30 08 minutes [4.6% 12.6210 Gold]
        Time 31-40 13 minutes [6.68% 24.6606 Gold]
        Time 41-50 26 minutes [9.11% 43.0394 Gold]



        The bottom 3 towers were put up first followed by the 3rd Level 8 or 9Earth tower and the 2nd level 6 Freezing tower with the 2 extra level 3-4 Freezing towers going up for stalling at the level 50.

        Labels: , ,


        wrote at
        9:06 AM
        on
        Mar 28, 2011
        Camelot is a new series that I watched this week.
        I'm still rather mixed in feelings about this series because while it includes me love for legends, kings, wizards, and so forth. The 2 main characters are as far as the pilot are wooden to me.

        I don't see anything new in the characters, I don't see any potential differences from the original roles in the legend and maybe that's exactly what they are going for, but to me that feels lacking.

        I've read the books and I've watched other adaptions, so what I want is something that gives me a little something different. It'd be interesting to have a blond haired blue eyed angelic looking Morgana instead of the always dark evil queen image Morgana.

        The other Arthurian TV show I watch, Merlin may have a tiny tiny budget compared to this and the main characters may not be the most attractive people (oh Merlin and Gwen) but the characters just feel so much more alive. Maybe I'm being too harsh after viewing just one episode and I'm sure the characters will flesh out more but the pilot leaves me wondering if it's going to be worth it to watch another episode. (which I probably will. I generally watch at least 2-3 episodes to see the direction a show is going before dropping it)

        There's about 2-3 scenes that make the series worth it. Eva Green telling King Lot to "say my name" in bed which was honestly hot and pulling the Sword of Mars out of the stone.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        7:04 PM
        on
        Mar 6, 2011
        My weekly softcore porn series is back and it's fun as the first season.

        I'm a huge fan of the 2 leads Lucy Lawless and John Hannah who make this show amazingly fun to watch. I actually hate the blood and gore parts and the excessive sex parts but watching Lucy Lawless being (I don't know what to call that character other than) a conniving (lesbian) bitch and John Hannah being so utterly assholish makes this show so much fun to watch. This season Lucretia gets an even bigger bitch to have lesbian relationships with. The fact that it's Lila from Dexter season 2 makes it so sweet as I literally just ran through Dexter eps til the end of season 2 last week. The character may not actually be a bitch but I just have this image of crazy bitch in my mind from Dexter and Sparticus has so far not had many "nice" people from the ruling class.

        I heard that the original actor for Sparticus has cancer and that's the reason for this show but I'm honestly happy they did it because my favorite characters Lucretia and Bartiatus are dead at the end of season 1 of Blood and Sand and I'm not quiet sure how interesting war will be and the eventual death of Oenomaus (who dies early on and Crixus will feel as well as how the original bitch of Blood and Sand Ilithyia will come in to play. (With twisted luck she'll be pregnant by Sparticus and make me laugh so hard)


        This guy I think is supposed to become the first champion of Capua. The fact that he's not Crixus tells me that Crixus will show up around episode 4 and kill him at episode 6. RIP Gannicus, your death is inevitable, but until then I'll oogle your 6 pack.

        PS Apparently he's a general in the Sparticus uprising. It'll be interesting to see Oenomaus and him work out their differences.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        7:07 PM
        on
        Jan 22, 2011
        Medium was one of those TV shows that I don't know anyone who watched other than myself, but come Fridays I found myself watching parts and bits of it and throughout the years I came to love watching the family grow. So watching the finale after 7 years was expected but bittersweet. This wasn't a show that I watched religiously every week but more of a comfort food show I dropped by on maybe once or twice every month. Seeing it gone is bittersweet but shows can't go on forever.


        The finale was horrible and well expectantly so.
        I knew they were going to kill off Joe or Alison when the producer said he was going to burn down everything and close the story completely. What I didn't expect was the sadness that came when Joe dying so early on in the remainder of Alison's life. The hope of Joe being alive in Mexico which turned out false made me sad even though I knew it was gonna happen. That stuff only happens as Joe put it, only in dreams. Even so a part of me wanted it to be true or false much like Alison's death in last season's finale (which was wonderful as well)


        The end result of Alison living her life to the fullest and being rewarded for it with Joe waiting was, however, satisfying especially because Alison and Joe's marriage was one I look at with envy. In the world of divorces, affairs, and abusive relationships, their marriage was full of ups and downs but in the end you knew that they loved each other dearly and probably would have become one of those grandpa grandma couples you see on cruises dancing away for their 60th anniversary.

        Medium was a silly story but it did family better than any other series I've watched.
        I'll miss it and I hope the best of luck to the fabulous cast of that series.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        6:28 PM
        on
        Because I'm very lazy and don't feel like coding something to do this I just made a spreadsheet which requires much less effort on my part.

        http://tinyurl.com/hugelmedals

        How to use
        Go to the Formulas Tab



         For TOTAL EXP input
        "=sum("
        and click the base or job exp tab to highlight the level you want to get medals up to.*

        or simply manually input the sum located on the lower right corner when you highlight the cells

        *For example, if you want level 1-80 you highlight 1-79.

        Medal formula is basically TOTAL EXP/(PER MEDAL*BM%)
        where BM% is either 150%, 200%, or 300%.

        For PER MEDAL use the chart to input the correct per medal for your base level.
        If someone is using the online spreadsheet just download it and use it on your own computer.

        Based on iROwiki's Base EXP Chart / Job EXP Chart / Hugel mini Games Pages

        Labels:


        wrote at
        11:10 AM
        on
        Dec 19, 2010
        This episode was amazingly fun and christmasy
        It's a pity that Eureka isn't back until next year but I really enjoyed this treat!

        Spoilers ahead

        The episode was told as a flashback to children who were upset that they were being snowed in.

        The story begins with an unidentified flying object coming flying/crashing down into Eureka. Leave it to the guys at Eureka to scientifically create the things that make Santa so magical. The sled was created by someone who disappeared in the past few seasons but is still my favorite crazy man, Taggart!


        Taggart decided to start the study of Santa; Santalogy. This sounded suspiciously similar to Scientology which made me chuckle a little, but it's just his accent. To do so he created a gun which shrinks and expands presents to solve the problem of carrying so many gifts on his sled


        He even gave a gift to Jack, a holographic trio of carollers which were activated every time he said Christmas. Meanwhile in the lab, a scientist was trying to take his hydrogen crystallization project home for the holidays and was stopped by Joe



        It turns out this crystal turned into a kind of hydrogen bomb because of the gun that Taggart made which was used to create a perfect fruit cake by Vincent caused the entire town to shrink.



        In the end they use both guns to shrink the now huge crystal to a size they can carry and explode it above the town using Taggart's sled.




        The scientist is hinted to being Santa himself bringing a different kind of Santa to the TV screen.

        Labels:


        wrote at
        9:31 PM
        on
        Dec 8, 2010