shinryuuchan

Alright, I have a few games that I'd like to get rid of, and I wanted to check with you guys to see if you wanted any before I post them on eBay. I'm pretty flexible about prices, honestly, so go ahead and make offers if you're interested. I just need to pare down my library before next year. :3 I take Paypal, and shipping through Priority Mail would probably be about five dollars or so. I could send it through slower services, too, but I almost always will track packages somehow. Sorry about that, but I like to make sure they arrive safely.

Games in Japanese

[PSP] Tales of Rebirth- $25
A fun entry in the Tales series (one that Namdai never brought over here *shakes fist*), slightly used (some light scratches on the UMD case), with the manual and box.

[PSP] Tales of the World Radiant Mythology 2- $30
The sequel to the first Radiant Mythology, obviously, with more cameos and party members, three more character classes and much better customisation options. Manual and box included; disc and UMD case are in pretty good condition, though the case has some light scratches.

[PSP] Musou Orochi: Maou Sairin- Free to a good home if you pay shipping (so I guess it's not really free...)
A very good port of the second Musou Orochi/Warriors Orochi game. Have fun learning military kanji on a tiny screen while beating the crap out of thousands of peons! :3 It's free because I broke the UMD case (pried it apart), so while it actually still works very well and looks fine, I don't really want to actually charge for it.

Games in English

[PSP] Tales of Eternia- $20
This is the European release (again, the US never got this port), is fully translated into English (the US' PS1 translation and voice acting). The UMD case has a bit of wear and a few scratches; the disc looks fine. The manual and box are included.

[DS] Etrian Odyssey 2- $10
Used, with manual and box included, all in good condition. I do have a game in progress on the card. It's a dungeon-crawler where you draw your own map of the dungeon, which is actually surprisingly addictive. It's also kind of hard in a grind-happy way.

[DS] Knights in the Nightmare, Artbook and CD included- $45
I actually have two brand new copies of this game, both still sealed and with their very nice artbooks. It's a danmaku-SRPG. Really. It's awesome. Shipping might get a bit more expensive, but probably not by much.

I may add more later.

Definites:
Ace Attorney: Investigations
Final Fantasy XIII
SSM Multi Raid 2
Star Ocean 4: International
Edit: Dammit, how did I forget Sangokuren Senki?
Son of Edit: Holy shit, 8925 yen?! That's ridiculous! ...B-but there's Cao Cao being all moe and kind of sexy and what the shit, man?
Revenge of Edit: Also Sakura Taisen V

Maybe:
Golden Sun 3
Estopolis

Geez, nothing to buy this whole holiday season but hardware, and a huge number of early birthday presents from Japan next year. What the hell? At least there aren't any more HaruToki games I want... (Yet... )

In other news, I've rejoined the Exalted group for a new campaign, and I am the crazy cat lady. I may also work for Greenpeace for a while.

Does anyone know of a place to get PC otome games besides Himeya, or is that the only importer of Japanese PC games who might stock them?

Persona 3 Portable sold over 100,000 copies! This is awesome news; maybe with enough whining begging petitioning, Atlus will release it overseas.

FFXIII may see an earlier overseas release than previously expected. I wouldn't hold Squenix to it, but cannot deny that a release before April would be totally frickin' sweet.

I really need to stop restarting games just to be OCD about names. (This is the third and final time I've restarted HaruToki 3, dammit.) 蒼海龍敏 is my heroine's name, and that is how it shall remain. I kind of wish I had a game where the characters actually call the MC by her (player-generated; i.e. not predetermined) name just so I could hear how the family name should be pronounced. :/ It is a stupid name, I know, but I like it a lot. The radicals and meanings make me happy. ^_^ <--- is a dooooork

It's amazing how a good LP will make one crave playing a game from one's youth. I'm looking at you, Spyros 1 and 3. Man, so glad those were released on PSN, because holy crap I love them to death (and couldn't find my copy of 3 ;_;).

Kitties are still happy, I'm still crazy, but I'm actually getting closer to buying a PS3. So yay for that, at least. Hard almond nougat from Spain is amazing. That is all.

If you do order from YesAsia, beware the foreign fee (in my case, about US$2) that some banks may charge. I'm pretty sure I've never had it with Play-Asia, and I suspect that it's because I used Paypal with them rather than paying straight through my card. Luckily, YesAsia does use Paypal, but if you don't use PP, just a heads up.

Yeah, so as you probably know, I've left school for this year and will be trying to figure out how to be an adult in the interim. (I will try my best to come back for graduation.) I just didn't feel ready and whoops hi there, resurrected anxiety problem. *sigh* So I'm looking for a job for EXP and have decided to try and translate all of HaruToki 3 and its fandiscs. Wheee! (Good heavens I hope I can figure out how to extract the scripts because holy shite there are a lot of conversations and if I have to transcribe them all, it will take forever. D:) Should be good practise, I hope (and hey, maybe I could use it to apply for translating jobs). Anyway, you aren't here to hear me whine about real life, so here's some whining about video games instead.

Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3- I've been playing more HaruToki 3 (in fact, I actually started over with my real birthday rather than 20 March; more on that later) and have decided that of the four endings I've gotten so far, Kagetoki's normal ending is easily my favourite. X3 I'm kind of glad that I accidentally ended up with him on my first playthrough, as he's really sweet and actually very smart despite being a coward, and it's so nice to not have a typical white-knight-rescues-princess-type romance (which is what Kurou's normal ending is* :/). On the other hand, I think liking him so much just strengthens my suspicion that I love pathetic men in games. *eyes Atsumori, Liu Xuande and Jiang Boyue* I guess it's like how men like moe characters? (Except that I hate the fact that men like moe characters? :/) Ah, well.

I'm going after Benkei (same time loop as Kagetoki's normal ending), Saku and probably Atsumori (all normal endings rather than Izayoiki ones, as I need all the normal endings to unlock the ultra-secret [not really] character) next, after which I'll get started on the other guys' stories.

The reason I started over was that in order to get that secret character's ending, I have to kick his ass. Solo. On HARD. (Yes, this game's Hard is still very easy, but that's because magic is stupidly overpowered. You can't use magic all alone, and I'd rather not have to reload a bajillion times after getting twelve other normal endings.) As he is a very hard-hitting Metal-type, it would have been a truly terrible idea to try beating him with a Wood-type (which is the element granted by setting the MC's birthday to 20 March). You do get a skill that greatly increases the MC's resistance to her element's weakness, but I've still heard of people with maxed-out Wood MCs getting horribly beaten multiple times. My real birthday gives me a Fire-elemental MC, who does tons of damage against Metal. On the one hand, now I won't be able to just spam Attack on the final boss for all of the paths I've taken, and there are several bits where I won't have a Wood character (and I would almost always have the Fire-type Hakuryuu anyway); on the other hand, I won't die in one hit against the secret character.

I'm still waiting for my copy of Unmei no Labyrinth. That said, YesAsia is awesome: free shipping (even their Express shipping is cheaper than Play-Asia's, IIRC), a tendency to price otome games a bit (sometimes much) cheaper than Play-Asia, and the fact that if your pre-ordered item's price goes up between when you order it and the actual release date, you don't pay the difference (which may be normal, I dunno). The only problems are that they won't always be cheaper, and you can't return games at all (normally, anyway).

Sangokuren Senki- Oh hey, Kongming's seiyuu is up. He's played by Sugita Tomokazu, who I only really know for being Dias Flac in SO2: Second Evolution, but he's also Kyon from Haruhi, Ragna from BlazBlue, and Gintoki from Gintama. I...don't really know what to think, as I only know him for being a fairly deep-voiced cold guy and a lazy (if badass) bum, and Kongming...doesn't really fit either template. (He's more the extremely polite, hardworking and occasionally sociopathic Magnificent Bastard, and I really do think that Onosaka Masaya got that across perfectly.) I suppose it's possible he's to be a relaxed "brotherly" character (going only by his character art and the fact that he helps the heroine out when she arrives in the past), so it'll be interesting to see how that turns out.

Final Fantasy XIII- Squenix recently revealed who gets Bahamut as their summon. Her (!) name is Oerba Yun Fang, and she wields a double-ended spear (!!) which can transform into a sanjiegun (!!!). AND she has dark short hair and wears blue (no pink dresses YES) and has an Australian accent and is basically just made of awesome. She is essentially the character I've always wanted a JRPG to have, just flirty (and without armour, but who cares, nobody in the party seems to give two shits about armour anyway). I'm not really sure if she's to be a main character (though screenshots suggest she is at least playable) as she works for the enemy organisation Sanctum (at least at first).

Now I don't know who I think I love more, Sazh or Fang. :/ Honestly this looks like the most interesting FF party in YEARS, so there's nobody I really hate yet (even Vanille and Hope could be cool...right? Right?).

I should probably pick up Persona 3 PSP at some point, but honestly, I just like P4 and its characters better, so I think I'll wait. Doesn't really matter, I guess, as I'm kind of broke. Eheheh.



*HEY, LOOK, SEVERE SPOILERS FOR HARUTOKI 3!

NO, SERIOUSLY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

FINE, SEE IF I CARE. DON'T COME CRYING TO ME.

On the other hand, you do save both of them (really all of your party) from dying as the MC can time-travel, but still. Kagetoki using Hakuryuu's scale to successfully bluff Minamoto no Yoritomo into rescinding Kurou's "traitor" status AND get him to stop using the Kajiwara siblings' mother as a hostage (thus ending Yoritomo's blackmailing Kagetoki into being an assassin) was his totally awesome Crowning Moment of, well, Awesome.

Kurou's, on the other hand, was very predictable: Yoritomo has Masako kidnap the MC in the hopes of luring Kurou into trying to rescue her and getting himself killed. :/ I was very disappointed, to say the least. And he doesn't really seem to be much less of a chivalrous misogynist (not to mention his brother-con issues, though he gets over those a bit better, what with Yoritomo trying to kill him and all). *sigh* At least he warms up a bit, and he does accept the MC's fighting ability and persistence, but overall I've found I'm not terribly fond of the Seiryuu pair. Pity.

SPOILERS OVER YAY!

...and they just announced the seiyuu as well as a tentative release month (February 2010 noooo. :x).

SO here's the breakdown (for some reason they're all called their style names, hence their "normal" names in parentheses; Japanese pronunciations of the style names follow since that's presumably how they'll refer to one another):

SHU-HAN!
Miki Shinichirou as (Liu Bei) Xuande/Gentoku- Mr. Main Character. He's Arikawa Masaomi in HaruToki3 (as well as every other Ten no Seiryuu) as well as (coincidentally and hilariously) Sephiroth in Ehrgeiz, an old Square fighting game with FFVII characters thrown in. He's also, apparently, Kojiro/James in Pokemon.

HOSHI SOUICHIROU as (Zhang Fei) Yide/Yokutoku- Oh gently caress it's you! I love you forever you are MINE. Sorry Mengde, you'll have to wait your own damn turn. Quick recap: Butz, Taira no Atsumori, Sengoku BASARA's Sanada Yukimura, Fate Linegod. Oh hells yes.

Sakurai Takahiro as Guan Yu Yunchang/Unchou- Ahaha it's Cloud. I find this assignment hilarious given Cao Cao's voice actor and the possibility of totally fanon YunchangxMengde. O dears, this may be fun. Also: Suzaku from Code Geass (YUZAKUUUUU~!), Dragon Shiryuu from Saint Seiya, and Jonathan Charlotte! "No Purobureemu" Morris.

Ishida Akira as (Zhao Yun) Zilong/Shiryuu- This guy is in EVERYTHING. WHYYYYY. Seriously, though, almost every otome game involves him somewhere, and characters voiced by him seem to become favourites very quickly. (He's the damn Wakamoto Norio of dating sims!) He's Ridvan in HaruToki3, as well as the other two Chi no Genbu in the first two HaruToki games. OH HEY his was the original voice of Ashton Anchors! He's also Kuja in Dissidia, Rid in Tales of Eternia and...Takenaka Hanbei in Sengoku BASARA. Huh. He's popping up a lot lately (Hanbei, I mean).

Funnily enough, they don't seem to have given Kongming a voice actor yet. I wonder if he even gets one...?

CAO WEI!
Morikawa Toshiyuki as (Cao Cao) Mengde/Moutoku- Sephirooooooth (post-Ehrgeiz). Also every quote and CG I see of him sets off a giant Rape Alarum (tm) in my head. And I'm still taking him on first. Can't wait! X3 NEVER MIND, ZHANG FEI GETS PRECEDENCE.

Takemoto Eiji as (Xun Yu) Wenruo/Bunjaku- Ishida. Freaking. Mitsunari. Also promo Edgeworth. (For those of you who don't know him, he's a strategist under Cao Cao. He's also pretty freakin' sweet in terms of his INT stat and recommended a whole bunch of talented men to Cao Cao. Mmmmm, strategy is sexy highly attractive.)

Those other dudes!
Morikubo Shoutarou as (Sun Quan) Zhongmou/Chuubou- Hmmm, he's Yousuke from Persona 4 and...Kadaj? He's been in a lot of stuff, it's just I don't know them.　He seems a bit swaggery. (He says "Ore-sama" and the like.) Interesting.

Suwabe Junichi as (Zhou Yu) Gongjin/Koukin- He's, uhh, Seymour in FFX. He's also Tseng, if anybody cares...? Heh, I already know who to punch in the face. I will even take Sun Quan's path if it'll mean I get to off the smarmy drama queen. Closet rapist ala Benkei, perhaps? It's interesting to note that Suwabe was Gan Ning in the (really terrible-looking, though I've never seen it) Koutetsu Sangokushi. So he seems to be a person who gets assigned to...completely different characters that happen to be in the same kingdom. Ooohkay. (At least, I assume Gan Ning is still the awesome brawler he usually is. However, in a show where Liu Bei has a pink afro, Zhuge Liang appears to fight for Wu and has a relationship with Lu Xun of all people [the f***!?], well, for all I know Ningning's the shouta healer with a possessed teddy bear. That calls forth evil spirits with its haunted bells.) If you're into Fate/Stay Night, he's Archer, manly man's trope-namer of GAR.

Why no more in Wu or Wei!? I WANTS MAH ZIMING AND WENYUAN. And why is Xiahou Dun not sexy? (In other words, I wonder how far this goes, timeline-wise...?)

I don't even care that it's the world's most generic seiyuu list (these guys are in everythi~ng), I don't even care that there's probably no epic commanding of troops (although that would be just too awesome for this frail mortal plane), I really want this game.

So some Gundams I need want to get:

September
ODA NOBUNAGA (1,050 yen)
Sanada Yukimura (630 yen)

October
JIANG WEI (630 yen)

November
Date Masamune (630 yen)

December
Probably Yue Jin (630 yen)
Probably Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1,050 yen) (Apparently he has a "Mecha Lizard" with which he can combine. WHAT THAT IS JUST TOO AWESOME.)
...And the hilarious Sima clan combo mech. Because it is so stupid that it bends space-time around to become awesome. (3,990 yen)

...DAMNIT BANDAI. Holy shite that's 8610 yen in BB Gundams already not counting two other BB sets and a MG I need to get. I just keep having to push that giant order back further and further... (If anyone would like to order with me to [hopefully] save a bit of money with shipping, lemme know. Hobby Search's EMS is ridiculously, blazingly fast. I plan to make my first order right after the release of Jiang Wei.)

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. (Slight FFXIII spoilers...? I think...? Also spoilers for FFVII if you've been dead/otherwise unconscious the past few years.)

I cannot freakin' wait for FFXIII. Lightning looks like an awesome protagonist. I know she's not the only main but she is pretty badass, which is...kind of a first in FF. I really can't think of any others except maybe Paine, Faris, Celes to some extent and Quistis (for the first part of FFVIII, anyway). Ludicrously powerful? Yeah, sure, Rinoa fits the bill with her freakishly high stats (she does more damage than the main man when comparing just normal, non-crit hits/magic, which I've always found hilarious, and her Limit Breaks at least have a good chance of being useful as all hell if you don't teach her all the moves available, what with the multi-enemy-hitting potential of Wishing Star and the, well, invincibility of Invisible Moon), but is kinda typically RPG Main Heroine-ish storywise. The FFV ladies also get the chance to be stupidly broken, but since it's FFV, that's kind of par for the course. (Have I mentioned how much I love FFV yet? X3) Okay, so it's not quite so unprecedented, but either way, none of them can be seen as the leads of their respective games, thus Lightning is unique. And awesome.

SHPOILERSH (Watch out, kitsunewings, you may not want to read the next paragraph!)

Thank Heaven the schoolgirl gets to have a really massive spoiler dropped on her 'cause I'm pretty sure I'll hate her. (LOL I'M SHALLOW AND HATE STEREOTYPICALLY DESIGNED WEAK FEMALES LOL /inanity) By the heavens I hope she doesn't linger like Aerith, though I'm sure I'll not be so lucky, since she looks like a major plotpoint. *sigh* However, I have decided that Sazh is the best character in forever. Not only does he keep a chicobo in his hair, he passes his afro on to his son, who presumably keeps, I dunno, an egg in his. (Though either chicobos grow fast or this world's breed is a strange one. FFVIII and FFIX both had adorable chicobos that came up to about the characters' knees, and I think Bobby Corwen's egg was pretty huge.)

SHPOILERSH OVER (I hope.)

Maaaan, at least it looks amazing, idiotic design choices for the summons aside. (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, SHIVA AND CARBUNCLE. I do want to see Bahamut in action, though. JETPACK DRAGON KING FOR THE WIN.) The fast-paced battle system sounds like a lot of fun after the plodding slugfights of FFX. Hopefully it'll take some of the good aspects of FFX-2's. Haven't been this excited for FF since the latter. X3

Also, SO4 has been announced for PS3 with upgrades (like SEVERAL LANGUAGE OPTIONS, gently caress YES), so I can actually get it without having to save up for TWO freaking systems. On the other hand, it may be the last Star Ocean, which is too bad, but I can keep loving and watching tri-Ace because they made two of my favourite series ever and I know they can program some of the best battle systems in JRPGs. Even if they can't tell stories worth a damn. That said, gently caress them for remaking SO:BS...for mobile phones. IN JAPAN ONLY.

JIANG WEI HAS A NEW COSTUME IN THE MUSOU OROCHI Z CONTENT. 'Tis quite heartening. I'm in the middle of unlocking the other rejects' 4th costumes as well. Sengoku Musou 3 has some promising character designs as well as some truly awful ones (Mitsunariiiii~! *shakesfist*). I'm still not sure why they felt the need to bring in Tachibana what's-his-face Muneshige, as Ginchiyo was about twenty kinds of awesome all by herself. Also Takenaka Hanbei, "the Zhuge Liang of the the Sengoku era," is a friggin' shouta with what appears to be a DOOM COMPASS. Sengoku BASARA 3 is coming to the West as itself (with a hilariously ugly Mitsunari and a grown-up Tokugawa Ieyasu)! *glee!* THE WEST NEEDS MORE NOBUNAGA. I DEMAND HIM. (I do like that Sakura Taisen V features him in his stereotypical Demon King mode. Invading America. This game also includes a cowboy samurai lady, steampunk mecha, and Suganuma Hisayoshi, soooo, uuuhhhh, yeah, can't wait for this.)

Haha misspelling options gives me potions and can you tell I've been lurking in the Something Awful forums too long?



...PS: SOUL SILVER FOREVER.

Note: The following is based on the Japanese version, so some, especially Squall, apparently, have been adjusted quite a bit. Also, many are still at fairly low (~15) levels, and presumably many get better once they've learned all their moves, but I've played quite a bit with each of the Cosmos crew and already have obnoxious opinions of them! Yay. I will try to update once I get some time in with the villains.

COSMOS WARRIORS

Butz!- Really tiny moveset compared to most of the other characters, but all his Brave attacks combine various Cosmos heroes' moves AND grant various tiny bonuses (bonii?) just for equipping them, which can be very handy when you don't have many CP or accessories. He's got a pretty good running speed, can equip damn near everything, and has very mobile, useful Brave attacks. He could really use some more Brave->HP attacks, mind you, and his HP attacks aren't great (except at the beginning, when Wind Shear rocks everyone's socks...like a hurricane *dies*), but Goblin Punch is incredibly helpful (and fantastically emasculating to those who get hit by it). Plus, y'know, it's almost like having an extremely adorable, sweet, and ridiculously stupid puppy who can dual-wield greatswords.

Zidane- Excellent moveset, probably one of the best in the game. Right now his HP attacks are a bit slow, but at least they're usable. He's also quite mobile, and his EX mode is ridiculously hard to hit. On a completely-gameplay-unrelated note, I love watching him, Butz and Squall dork around.

Tina- Y'know, I really have gotten to enjoy playing as her. While she's extremely slow, both while moving and attacking, she does a TON of damage when she does hit and is pretty decent at punishing enemies for messing up. She also Guard Crushes like crazy.

Cloud- Quite slow, but powerful enough to make up for it. I honestly don't think he's as sluggish as one might think, and that huge sword does give him some range.

Squall- Funnily enough, even though the NA edition really buffed him competitively (or so I've been told), he just feels so much better at the beginning in the JP version. He's got great Brave attacks; though they're very short-ranged, they're quick and pretty strong. His HP attacks, on the other hand, are slow and predictable as all hell. (They are generally either extended charges, completely horizontal or completely vertical.) Despite this, his EX Mode and Burst are very cool and powerful, as well as easy to pull off. His EX Mode basically makes him playable.

Tiida- Actually, despite his undisputed position as the most annoying character in the game (and, honestly, any game in which he appears, which is impressive when you consider that most of them featured Rikku), he's got a very useful moveset and speed to boot. A lot of his Chase attacks are really oddly timed, though, as he tends to evade right before/after actually hitting the opponent.

Onyo~n Knight- Lulu here is very, VERY fast on the ground, and some of his moves in the JP version seem to have longer ranges, making him not quite as useless as in the NA one. Ground attacks are still really bad. My gosh but they suck. Ludicrously short range AND YOU STAGGER IF ONE OF THEM IN PARTICULAR MISSES. WHOOPEE.

Cecil- I really don't like playing as him. I can't really put my finger on it. More to come. (?)

Firion- STRAIGHT. ****ING. ARROW. Oh, and only one other HP attack. Damn he's terrible. Brave moves are decent and have plenty of range, but most are slow or have a lag at the beginning/end.

Warrior of ****ing Light- Okay, so WoL obviously still sucks and I hate him forever. He's level 31 and still has generally useless moves. Terrible mobility on most attacks, as well as really slow HP attacks, mean that he almost never hits unless the AI is shorting out. It's quite likely that he just doesn't fit my style, but why then do Squall and Cloud, both also melee-oriented fighters with big swords, feel so much better and less awkward to play?

Freaking HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE Warrior of Light and his lousy moveset. By the Five Directional Beasties, I hope he gets better at high levels. He's worse than Firion at this level (6). I know that's really early in his development, but he had to fight Sephiroth as his second boss and it was awkward and terrible because straight-line, slow, short-range moves SUCK. (HI THERE SHIELD OF LIGHT. GO DIE IN A FIRE, PLEASE.) His range is terrible except for the Red Fang Brave projectile (which has pretty decent homing and range properties but is fairly slow) and the Dayflash ground HP move (which has the whole straight-line and slow issues). Fast attackers like Sephy and Jecht really suck to fight against. He's a bit better to start out with in the NA version, with a nice attack that chains into Rune Blade, but it's not enough to really make him fun.

On the other hand, I've gotten a lot better with Tina; she really doesn't suck nearly as much as I thought she would, she just takes a bit of time to learn to play, as she's got quite a distinct play style among the Cosmos corps. (And for some reason, my Terra is level 12 with a D [up from H] rank on my Friend Card. O_o I didn't think I played her quite that well.)

Now for some differences I've noticed between the two versions of the game that I've played (besides the nerfing of the Butz). Squall didn't seem too different from the NA version from what I played; still had terrible early HP attacks, pretty good short range Brave combos and No. Freaking. Range. Also, vertically oriented attacks that are ridiculously easy to mess up, I hate you. Onion Knight's Thundara and Comet (aka the adorably-named Puchi Meteo) aren't quite as atrocious in the JP version, having longer range.

The NA version seems to have anti-aliasing measures in place that the Japanese version does not. I could be wrong of course; I'm not really good with technical issues, but the edges of the character models do seem more jagged in the JP version. I wonder why they removed some of the icons, though. The JP version has four more unlockable. I definitely love that the NA version has Free Air Dash available for everyone from the get-go. Grinding for the first few levels in the JP version features battles that are just sooooo slooooow. Another small detail that I appreciate the NA version for including concerns the labeling of cutscenes in the Museum. In the JP version, the Museum doesn't tell one whose campaign any particular cutscene belongs to (which is quite frustrating unless one makes/finds a guide), while the NA version does.

Incidentally, I have no idea why people whined about the original tutorial being too long. I finished mine in about twenty minutes in BOTH versions; it only takes about twelve if you skip the cutscenes and know what you're doing. The only things I noticed that were cut were simply explanatory speech windows. No extra cutscenes or enemies. In fact, I think the NA version has a LONGER tutorial because there are two of them. Whenever one starts a new game, one must immediately play an unskippable three-battle tutorial that is not present in the JP version as well as the normal one. (It makes getting a specific Friend Card colour a right pain.) Sooooo yeah. I dunno.



HWAHAHA RANK C BUTZ AND RANK B BARTZ. FEAR THE POWER OF ADORKABLE STUPIDITY.

Dammit Squenix. They SEVERELY decreased the range of both Paladin Force and Goblin PAUNCH. (Seriously, they're down by like a third of their range; they used to hit about halfway across the damn screen.) YES. THEY DECREASED HIS RANGE ON HIS ONLY GOOD HP ATTACKS, ONE OF WHICH IS NOT AVAILABLE MOST OF THE TIME. FUCK. I assume Cecil took a small hit as well, but still... It's not like the Butz was ever going to be top-tier anyway. No need to hate on FFV any more... ;_; (At least Exdeath is still probably deity-of-choice tier.)

...I need to go kill Tiida some more. Maybe that'll help. (What am I saying, it ALWAYS helps.) And hey, I hear Squall's actually usable now. Sweet. (I've only tried him out on the NA version, and he had no range most of the time, so those cool combos of his were useless. I'd assume he gets WAY better at higher levels. Apparently he's downright poor in the JP version; I'll confirm after I've gotten some playtime with him while training for his Destiny Odyssey.)

Dissidia is tons of fun, really. :3 I may have to pick another main to train as a backup *shakes fist*, but the extensive customisation options and crazy shit going on most of the time really make the game worth playing if you're a fan of FF. (Best battle system since FFX-2? Hells yeah. Let's see what you can do, FFXIII.) Not to mention the vast amount of trivia fanservice. And Dave Wittenberg, you amazing man, you make the best Kefka EVER. ("I'm afraid the mouse is SMACK!...dab in the middle of enemy territory.") Bravo Squenix, very nice job on some of the VAs. Definitely kudos for Wittenburg, Lowenthal and Bosch (shut up, I know he can do good work; he makes a fantastic Adachi in P4, par example).

The translation is also very well done, though I've noticed a few phrases that, while accurate, sound funny in English when they don't in Japanese. (I.e. Bartz' "I'll protect...everyone." vs Butz' "Ore ga...mamorunda!" Trust me, it sounds better/much less awkward in Japanese in this case.) It may have to do more with the delivery, so I'm not too picky about this point, since the NA voices are generally pretty good and sound a lot like their JP counterparts. The Accomplishments' titles are also awesome; they have jokes and puns that simply aren't in the JP version (they just list the general conditions rather than have fun with the names, though that's helpful if you don't know much Japanese, I suppose).

(No I'm not actually going to give up the Butz. He's still really fun to play.)

If you're curious (and I doubt it because MY BIASES ARE OBVIOUS): FFVII=FFVIII>FFV=FFX-2>FFVI=FFIX>>>>>FFX>>>>>FFXI.
In other words: the first ones I played that just so happen to have some of my favourite casts and plots>awesome job systems that made up for "meh" (if fun and well-translated) storylines>old-school(ish) goodness with lovable characters>>>>>the jock main character never actually existed and thank the heavens for that so why did we have to watch him dork around with a bland-ass badly-voiced cast for eighty hours OH BUT WAIT AURON WAS IN IT SO IT WAS OKAY and I guess the system was fun if slow as molasses>>>>>the bastard child of FF, who will soon have its own little clone in FFXIV.

(Just on hearsay as I either haven't gotten very far in or have never played any of these ones: FFXII=FFIV>FFIII>FFI>FFII.)

It's great to be back and seeing everyone. (If you're reading this, please tell me which rooms you live in [possibly through e-mail or a messaging system] so I can come bother visit you!) :D 'Twas an uneventful summer, but a good one. Mostly just been watching and waiting for games. Planning on getting a PS3 Slim eventually, for FFXIII and...other games. Which definitely do not involve prettied-up versions of famous ancient generals. No sirree.

Games Update:
Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 Izayoiki Aizouban: Finished both of Kurou's paths, and I must say that his Izayoiki ending is pretty funny, inasmuch as it draws on the legend that Yoshitsune did not commit seppuku but instead escaped to Mongolia, where he became known as Genghis Khan. Yeah, really. It was decently awesome. So now I'm off to get either Kagetoki or Benkei, after which I'll try to get Saku's ending so she can be happy again. OH and Unmei no Meikyuu (to which I'm quite looking forward) is coming out for the PSP this October. As is...

...A remake/port of Persona 3 FES, with the option to choose a female main character, with Social Links and even Igor's assistant changing appropriately. *Glee!* I wish they'd chosen to remake P4 instead (or, y'know, develop a new Persona), but hey, getting to date the guys (or rather, Junpei) and finally being able to CONTROL YOUR DAMN PARTY MEMBERS easily justify a pre-order.

Warriors Orochi 2 is having some release issues, as KOEI seem to have decided releasing it on the same day as Dissidia was a terrible plan. Of course, they didn't announce anything, not even on the day WO2 was supposed to be released and wasn't. Bastards. Still, the MOZ content and dual-language option are too tempting to pass up. I know, I am ashamed.

SCREW YOU KOEI, YOU MADE MR. BUNNYEARS BUREAUCRAT INTO SAN FROM MONONOKE HIME. AND THEN YOU MADE OLD MAN UJIYASU HOT. WHAT THE HELL.

I will probably get both versions of Dissidia eventually. I know I have a Japanese copy on its way, but as they've apparently added quite a decent amount of content for the NA release, I have to put that on my wish list. :/ It's sad that I'd forgotten how much I love this series and why. Makes me want to go back and play V-IX and X-2 all over again. Butz (who is MINE :3) is AMAZING in this game so far. He's thick as a damn brick (about villians who'd just discussed their eeevil plans well within earshot: "I wonder what they're talking about? ^____^" as well as the LOOK AT MY SHINY ISN'T IT AWESOME!???1!!111 moment which gets Zidane kidnaped. O_o), but he's also adorable, fast and super versatile. Just my type. :3
EDIT: Nevermind, I've got the NA version. Didn't take long for me to give in... THIS BODES NOT WELL.

Seiyuu of note in Dissidia:
Wakamoto goshdurn Norio as Chaos (AKA DAIROKUTENMAOU, ODA NOBUNAGA as well as lots of other awesome crazy people)
Hoshi Souichirou as Butz (also played: Star Ocean 3's MC Fate Linegod, Sengoku BASARA's Sanada Yukimura, Taira no Atsumori in Harutoki 3, and Keele Zeibel from Tales of Eternia)
Ishikawa Hideo as Squall (also played, and I'm serious: Sengoku Musou 2's Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Yes, the tiny squeaky flirtatious one. He was also the single most redemptive aspect of FFX, Auron.)
Midorikawa Hikaru as Firion (also played: Akechi Mitsuhide in both the Sengoku Musou series and Kessen 3, Sanada Akihiko in Persona 3, Leon Magnus in Tales of Destiny, and Marth in SSBB)
Morita Masakazu as Tidus (ugh, but he was also Claire Stanfield AKA Vino in Baccano! as well as Maeda Keiji in SB and Pang De in SSM4)
Lots of awesome seiyuu involved.

Jiang Wei Gundam will FINALLY be released in October, with a much nicer redesign, just after the double-whammy of Sanada Yukimura and ODA NOBUNAGA. X33333

So yeah, see title of post. I went and stayed with a couple of friends from the Exalted game I attended last year, met their awesome, awesome friends, and basically geeked out all over the BCC while losing my voice to laughter. Disorganization XIII and the fan parodies were but two of the highlights (albeit the most awesome ones that were not Gunpla, cosplay and/or directly perpetrated by friends).

Speaking of which, the opportunities to flaunt my capitalist leanings also paid off greatly: along with Ma Chao and Xiahou "what the hell Bandai I just made a toy chainwhip-sword" Dun, I bought my very first "real" Gunpla kits, both Master Grade (1/100 scale): Shin Musha Gundam and Destiny Gundam: Extreme Blast Mode. They are super epic and super pretty (the main sword has a pink beam and is LAVENDER for f**** sakes, to say nothing of the wings) respectively. I am almost halfway done with Destiny EBM DONE with Destiny Gundam: E.B.M. and am really pleased with the results. I love these kits SO MUCH. They feed my OCD like nothing else in ages...!

So it appears Bandai has determined my hobby for the next few months at least. It does not help that not only is the God Gundam that I wanted a Master Grade rather than a Perfect Grade (i.e. it's not nearly as large, expensive or fancy, but it is very nice), but Bandai has just released a an Emperor Cao Cao set with Xu Huang and Cao Pi, as well as a dragon-transforming Kongming, with G-Gundam-based Nanman units arriving next month. And that's not all, ohhhh nooo; they will release full-scale versions of the Zhang Fei and Guan Yu SD models and then the Sengokuden chibi fury with Sanada Yukimura and ODA ****ING NOBUNAGA! HELLS! YES!

I should probably start watching some of the shows besides G soon. Suggestions?

So today started out shitty, then got better and better as the day wore on and ended up being awesome. My dad hates it when I'm always in my room asleep/playing video games/on the internet and started really badgering me about it. So basically I ended up having a good cry, made plans to volunteer for helping getting kitties and doggies adopted, and also now have a job. O_O I know. Buuuuttt, it may mean that I can finally get that PS3 I've been wanting for some time now. Also I will have monies for Otakon! :3 To top it all off, I made tuna tataki for the first time ever and it ended up being really good. Even my parents (who are very good cooks) liked it. X3

Also awesome: Knights in the Nightmare. I've told a couple of you about it, but it's really an excellent (if weird as hell) game by Sting (an even more innovative JRPG developer than Atlus). It is a bullet-hell SRPG. Yes, really. Trust me, it pulls off the combination very well; Sting's work really results in a supremely fun-to-play and creative RPG. I can't explain it at all; the mechanics are so unlike anything I've ever seen before in either a danmaku game or a JRPG. Aesthetically, it features sprite graphics with gorgeous backgrounds and art, and lovely music that really reminds me of Valkyrie Profile's high-energy themes (edit: also, strangely enough, Castlevania's) for some reason, though the digitised sound (both quality and instrumentation) may be iffy for some. I'd highly recommend at least checking it out, though it won't be to everyone's taste. I think there's a demo if you can get to a Nintendo (wi-fi? dunno, never used it, sorry) hotspot. Play the tutorials (yes all of them) if you do end up buying it. No joke, just do it.

Also also awesome: Yggdra Union's soundtrack! I'd never heard all the sortie themes before (because I sucked hardcore at that game and was also OCD about getting all the items, which will drive one mad), and they're all short but incredibly fun, up there with Valkyrie Profile's as some of my favourite battle themes. (Roswell's and Russell's are the best sortie themes ever THE END. Also good: Imperial Army Admirals' theme, Cruz' [Suganuma Hisayoshiii~!] theme, Milanor's theme.) Yggdra Union (also by Sting) is itself a very good game, and if you're good at strategy, well worth the trouble to understand the complicated mechanics. Dragonlover58, I might need to borrow your GBA copy when we get back. :3 Edit: Oooops. Scratch that. XP

Some things I've learned today:

-Liu Bei Xuande was, in fact, historically made of awesome. Whatthehellguysmymindhasbeenblown. He was a decent commander, a genuinely nice guy, knew how to get along with people and was actually completely terrible at being a douchebag (unlike some OTHER rulers we could name *coughcoughMengdecoughcough*).

-Sun Quan is totally deserving of the complete lack of interest in his affairs. :( He had a page-and-a-half-long bio on Kongming.net and didn't seem to even realise a lot of what went on. (I.e. Lu Meng executed Guan Yu without actually informing his ruler of this. Oh, Mengmeng. You were a card and I love you so. X3) And he wasn't even at Yi Ling (a smart move, I guess, but he really did next to nothing and I'm sad because I was starting to like him). Poor guy.

-Cao Cao was literally given the title "The Man."

-Guo Jia was Sima Yi's former life. Or something. Seriously, Guo "The Man's Man" Jia has the exact same face and clothing style in the Sangokushi Senki/Dynasty Tactics games as SSM's Sima Zhongda. KOEI JUST GIVE US A MUSOU GUO JIA ALREADY!

Here is your daily dose of cute for the day, HaruToki 3 style (helps to know of Azumanga Daiou):
Angry Benkei is angry. And yeah, Nozomi really is that awesome. On a related note, I am such a huge sucker for chibi!Hakuryuu and Antoku. And OMG Yasuhira with a puppy~!

Edit: Oh gosh, there's more~!
Persona 4 time! It has some spoilers, but nothing big as far as I know.

If anyone finds any more, let me know! (It's kind of hard to search for them, as most are permutations of the game/anime name+Azumanga Daiou squished together.) There is a Persona 3 version, but it wasn't quite as well done in my opinion. I'll post it if someone wants it, though.

Sooo, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 with Izayoiki Aizouban hits so many of my happy buttons that it's kind of ridiculous. (Why did I not check this game out earlier!?)

Things I love about this game:
-It's an otome fantasy RPG! I've been looking for a game like this forever! (Because straight visual novels are boring, most of them are for guys who like women with big breasts and no brain, and the typical school setting bores me to tears.)
-The party is almost fully comprised of hot guys.
-Many of said hot guys are also super epic fictionalised historical figures.
-You can save said hot historical figures from dying horrible deaths and then get together with them. (I can't be the only one who fantasises about that, right? Right!?)
-And they all have long hair. (Kurou/Yoshitune~!) Except Yuzuru, who I call Stalker-kun, but whatever, he's smart, nice (to the main character) and knows how to cook. However, he's kind of like certain terriers in that he cannot tolerate other guys so much as looking at the main character. So I guess he's kind of creepy, really. But I like him anyway. :P (Edit: Kajiwara Kagetoki also has short hair, and I believe he is the only member of the cast with an exposed midriff. He also has a magical gun. Go figure.)
-Thar be dragons!
-The dragon who joins the party starts out as the most adorable little kid EVER. (I should probably note that kid-dragon is played by none other than Pikachu specialist Ootani Ikue.)
-And then he grows up and becomes another hot guy who still manages to be absolutely adorable. Like, kitten-rank adorable.
-The heroine, unlike SO MANY other otome game protagonists, is made of awesome, has guts, and learns Minamoto no (Kurou) Yoshitune's sword style. From his Tengu teacher! (If I'm going to be a Mary Sue and get together with cute guys, then damn straight I want to be a badass and save the world while doing so.)
-Which means she doesn't sit in the back hoping her Hachiyou (the hot-guy-guardian-squad) will protect her helpless miko ass. (Unlike the older games, where I think you also get kidnaped and have to be rescued.)
-Her best friend figure is also really likeable, even though she fights with just a fan and cannot hit for more than a pittance of physical damage. (Her magic, on the other hand... :3)
-The guys are a lot of fun, and Kurou/Yoshitune's "blushing face" is adorable.
-The 2D sprites are gorgeous. So are the CGs and character designs.
-The boss battle theme is amazing.
-There's a Hard Mode available at any time from the Options menu. (It's a bit too easy otherwise.)
-Lots of abilities/stats to level.
-I can make names that have kanji with cool meanings that are also puns. ("Dragon" + "Cleverness" = ???)

Things I don't:
-The kanji are really difficult sometimes.
-Speaking of which, it's not fully voiced, which would have been REALLY *eyetwitch* helpful.
-It's a bit too easy so far, and it's a bit silly to assume girls can't play tough RPGs. *Points to Persona 4* Hard mode might fix that, though. (Since it's my first playthrough, I'm just going on Normal for now. And I can see why an otome RPG might be easy, i.e. to make it easier to get all the guys, but come on.)
-Harutoki games, being a rare breed of dating sim/RPG games, will probably never cross the Pacific, which means neither this nor Harutoki 4 (which is apparently really good, even better than 3) will ever get translated officially.
-There's no English info on Izayoiki, so I'm confused as to what the moons do. I could and will use the Japanese guides, but I'd like to have a clearer idea of what's going on in the added cutscenes.
-Using my real birthday would mean that I'm a Fire element. D: So I'm using 20 March (Wood-type) instead.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 is also really good, with a new mini-Gambit-like system in place for allies, and of course the battle system's still fantastic. (Side note: I'd LOVE to see a more modern Star Ocean battle system on the PSP at some point. Newer SO battle systems tend to be slightly less technical and much faster than those of Tales titles, or so it seems to me.) Haven't put much time into it yet, so updates to come, I guess. SSM:MR is still harrrrrddddd at high levels, and some of the DL missions are ridiculous...

I kind of want to get into Sengoku Basara, but the portable titles are both fighting games rather than hack 'n' slash... The anime is wonderful in a really overblown way (six-sword-wielding!? seriously!?), and I know of no other fandom in which it is so ridiculously easy to foe-yay-ship Sanada Yukimura and Date Masamune. The latter of whom is voiced by the same man who plays Xiahou Dun from the SSM series. (In other words, he's voiced probably the two most famous one-eyed men EVER.) Oh, and Oda Nobunaga=Charles zi Britannia and has the ability to summon storm clouds and Dramatic Chanting Music. No joke.

It's awesome.

Alright, so I've just overhauled my LJ for the first time since, oh, maybe ninth or tenth grade. It doesn't matter much, but it does mean I'll be inflicting testing a whole slew of new icons on you all, so yeah. For the record, they're all taken from a comic I read (i.e. they aren't my own art), and some may get text if I can find a way to apply it. (I lack Photoshop, and I haven't any other similar programs. Unless you count Paint. Which you really, really shouldn't.)

Also, if anyone knows a relatively easy way to make an animated .gif a few frames long, please let me know.

Games Update Below (Ye've Been Warned!):

Shin Sangoku Musou Multi Raid is really quite hard if you play single-player (guess who does?) but has a very fun combat system which feels much more fluid than SSM5's. (And anyway, it hasn't been quite as difficult as Castlevania OoE, so if I'm doing alright...) People's movesets feel much more varied, and Kakusei, unlike the old Musou Rage from SSM4, actually affects some moves (i.e. Cao Cao's and Cao Pi's swords emit long-range shockwaves in Kakusei that take elements if applicable) rather than just speeding them up and making it harder for enemies to stunlock the player.

Unfortunately, you can and WILL get stunlocked out the proverbial wazoo even in Kakusei, especially when there're four or so enemy PCs in pretty much permanent Kakusei barreling down on your unfortunate ass. Also Zhang Liao pops up like the accursed immortal groundhog from Hell and/or Caddyshack in one of the downloadable missions... I know this is running off the Monster Hunter co-op craze, but next time, guys, put some balancing factors in there for those of us who don't have friends. (Reminds me of the steep difference in difficulty between Musou Orochis 1 and 2. In MO1 even peons could kick one's maxed out ass if one wasn't careful, whereas in MO2, one could rip an entire legion to shreds in about three minutes.) Luckily, there'll almost certainly be a sequel due to the 219,000 copies sold in Japan in the first week alone. (Source: Kotaku) *hugs Japan, as she'd love to see this excellent-but-somewhat-rough combat system refined*

More random whining: Camera's normally quite good (and now completely controllable!) even at the high speeds at which you and others will be zooming around, but sometimes if you're locked on to someone/thing close but at a different height, it'll go a bit wonky. I'm also still not sure how to deal with some of the larger structures in the boss fights, especially with all the RESPAWNING traps WTF. And, of course, there is still that ever-distressing lack of certain characters. *grumble* Although, hey, at least Meng Huo and maybe Zhu Rong and Da Qiao are coming back, so maybe next time...

Oh, and please give the ladies besides Huang Yue Ying some freakin' armour and give 'em all some decently practical shoes. Most of them have a B-ranked Defence (Zhen Ji doesn't, as well as possibly Diao Chan, though her stats aren't listed so I don't actually know) and they all have really good Movement stats, but it makes no sense at all when most of them don't even wear enough clothing (in DC's case, nothing at all in Kakusei). Fighting (sensibly) does not work that way! D:

Also: Zhuge Liang's Giant Lightsabre WHAT. Panda WHAT. Lu Meng=Mufasa WHAT. (His stats SUCK, though, which is stupid since he's awesome and made of more win than almost anyone else in his kingdom. He, Cheng Pu and Lu Su need to form a club for Unjustifiably Unloved Wubies, with a possible motto of: "We may be older than and not as hot as those popular whippersnappers, but we can kick their, and by extension your, asses." *rants*)

On that note...
Persona 4 is still incredible, and I love every PC in it. This does not happen EVER. It improved on P3 so much it's not even funny, and I love P3!

I've also ordered Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 for my PSP, and my DS is whimpering like a lonely puppy because I haven't played it in ages. This will change once I get my hands on that new Valkyrie Profile game... *imitates userpic*

Comment on this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things with which I associate you. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

Topics: Gundams, Gyakuten Saiban, salmon, blue, and kitties!

GUNDAAAAAAAAMs: Okay, in a nutshell, these are giant mobile suits of armour piloted by humans. (While there are other mobile suits, the term Gundam specifically refers to lead suits and assorted random ones which are usually much more powerful than the mook suits.) Gundam as a horde of TV series and movies named after the mecha tend to be Real Robot giant robot shows which try to explore warfare and its effects on the human psyche. They can be very depressing, especially since the original creator Tomino Yoshiyuki (aka "Kill-'em-all" Tomino) tends to do exactly what it says on his tin. There's also almost always some blond guy trying to drop a space colony on Earth. (Seriously. I've only really seen two series, but one of them from 1995 actually uses this exact plot device, which showed up in the first Gundam series from 1979.)

The only real exception to all the Real Robotness is the "so horrible it's wonderful" G Gundam, which takes (almost) all the hallmarks of typical Gundam (fairly realistic and depressing scenarios, moral ambiguity, generally somewhat practical suits), throws them all out into space, where Master Asia (YES that is in fact his name) kicks them all to very explodey pieces, then replaces everything with stupid shounen awesomeness. (To be fair, the endgame does feature some of the moral ambiguity and plot twists of the more "normal" series, but even then they're trumped by Narm Charm and the Rule of Cool.) There's a ton of really well-designed country-stereotype Gundams, including a Lumber(jack) Gundam from Neo-Canada, Neo-Mexico's Tequila Gundam, and a Mermaid Gundam from Neo-Denmark, and the Neo-American Gundam Maxter is a surfboarding, boxing cowboy suit wearing an American football helm. It would all be kind of offensive if it were at all trying to take itself seriously. Which it isn't. Did I mention that the aforementioned Master Asia's horse has its own mobile suit? And that MA at one point declares, with a perfectly straight face, his intention to become Super Asia? Alright then. Obviously, this series is by far my favourite.

Gundams also constitute an extensive line of plastic models (plamo for short) which are ridiculously fun to put together. Currently, the only actual models I have are many of the SD Sangokuden Gundams, which are teeny chibi-proportioned models based on the excellent classical Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. They are also on crack, with Guan Yu and others actually with beards (Yes, robots with facial hair!), all of them with Chinese-style accoutrements including little bows (like for clothing) and scrolls and yeah I don't know what the designers were on. They're excellently designed, though, I'll say that much.

Gyakuten Saiban: Also known as the Ace Attorney series here in the States, it's colloquially known as "those gay lawyer games."

Salmon: Adorable and incredibly tasty fishies that are also pretty good for you.

Blue:

Kitties!:
To be finished some other time.

I now have a ton of SD Sangokuden Gundams, almost enough for a war of epic proportions. :3

Shu-Han
Liu Bei
Emperor Liu Bei
(Zhuge Liang) Kongming
Zhao Yun
Planning to get: Clear versions of Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, Ma Chao (for my birthday?), Jiang Wei (if he ever gets released). I would definitely buy a Huang Yue Ying to go with Kongming, but I don't think she'll be released.

Cao Wei
Cao Cao (clear version)
Sima Yi (clear version)
Zhang Liao
Want: Just Xiahou Dun at this point, though I would totally buy a Guo Jia model...

Sun Wu
Lu Meng
Want: I don't think there's anyone more I want from this kingdom. Unless a Cheng Pu model pops up. I would buy Sun Shang Xiang if her model weren't so damned expensive (around US$60!).

I really want an Emperor Cao Cao Gundam. If it were anything like the comic's version, it would be the most badass teeny Gundam EVER. If anyone knows an online shop to buy manga from Japan, I'd like to know about it, 'cause I kinda want the official manga. Hilariously, in the little comic inserts that came with my Sima Yi model, the Jiang Wei Gundam was shown at the meeting before attacking Dong Zhuo. Why is this funny? Because the campaign against Dong Zhuo took place in 190, twelve years before Jiang Boyue was even born (fifteen if you're going by the book). I mean, I know this series pretty much tore the historical (or hell, even literary) timeline to pieces before feeding it to blazing transforming tiger statues (it IS in an alternate universe with Gundam actors, after all), but come on.

SSM5 Special is awesome because both of the Shu-Han characters receiving new movesets, Huang Yue Ying and Ma Chao, as well as Cao Wei's Cao Pi, have excellent new movesets.

I was quite apprehensive regarding Ma Chao's switch from good ol' spears to a greatsword, but he swings it so fast (even without a Speed weapon) you almost forget how hefty a weapon it is, especially at higher Renbu levels. He has a wonderful area-of-attack and auto-flame on a lot of his strikes, so I like him a lot. His Special is crap, though.

Yue Ying has a very acrobatic moveset, and she's a bit hard to control when she flips around like a mad-scientist monkey, but she's fun to play as, and I definitely prefer it to her old clonetastic bow actions. While she's VERY short-ranged at lower Renbu levels, with a Range weapon she can slice through tons of enemies and then shoot their faces off with Magic Missiles. :3 Her scythe was cooler, but not by as much as I'd thought, and the crossbow-sword fits her character a lot better. She and her husband are so damned cute together...

Cao Pi's new moveset, however, is probably my favourite. Awesome speed and area-of-attack as well as style make him almost as fun to play as Liu Bei (who is totally broken and really shouldn't be wtf Koei). And thank goodness he's unlocked from the very start, I don't think I'd have been able to unlock him by myself. I haven't gotten any real time in with the other new moveset people, although Ling Tong seems pretty fun so far.

Other Differences:
No deep water/swimming (Ergo no jumping off into the sea at Chi Bi, although I don't know what that means for people like Gan Ning, who has a faster-swimming skill. Frankly I hated swimming since I got lost a lot looking for landing points, and it made me lose Renbu levels if I was training a horse. UPDATE: It seems they got rid of that skill altogether, which is nice, though I'm not sure what they replaced it with.)
No duels from what I can tell (might be wrong on that)
Leaders' Musou Modes are the same length as everyone else's Nevermind, they were the same length before.
New stages: Tong Gate, He Bei, some others I haven't gotten to yet

Shin Sangoku Musou Multi Raid looks awesome, and from what I've played of the demo, it should prove quite entertaining. More on that later after I've gotten some more time in with the demo. Yeah, yep, it's going to be pretty damn sweet, and I have totally pre-ordered it. The demo only seems to cover two three stages, but switching between two different weapons is sweet, and the AI is quite a bit more aggressive than in the normal games. Also, lock-on for the win! People are very floaty, but frankly that comes as no surprise with all the aerial combat, which is awesome what with all the roof-hopping and parkour-ing, and the Kakusei forms are very fun.

I'm still not sure why so far only Liu Bei can double-jump, but it must be either some equipment thing or his high mobility. He maxes both movement and resistance. (Though not Kakusei; Cao Cao is the ruler I was thinking of for Kakusei maxing.) Although I'm now getting an image of Lu Xun trying to set fire to Liu Bei's ridiculous dragon-hair and failing miserably. :3 I'm not sure if the Kakusei stat is one's strength while in Kakusei or the time one gets to stay in it. EDIT: Yue Ying can also double-jump; she has a very high movement rating as well, though it seems that each character gets a special ability, so it could just be innate rather than linked to movement. My only problem so far is that activating the Musou Kakusei seems very awkward with the PSP's button arrangement. Surely there's a better combo than T+X... Whew, nevermind, it's T+O. Also, Yue Ying with Liu Bei's twin swords in Musou Kakusei is fuckin' EPIC. She is so damn cool.

In other news, my Japanese professor recommended that I watch Red Cliffs (the new-ish movie about the Battle of Chi Bi from a slightly more historical POV). I probably won't, since I can't stand Zhou Yu, but it was fun gabbing about the Sangoku era in Japanese. :3

Edit: Added my SSM Multiraid experience.
Edit 2: Struck-through errors, added update on lack of swimming skill thing.