I literally craved for more Type-moon crossovers, so I stumbled upon this 2005 dōjin PC game by Werk called Battle Moon Wars, where apparently, heroes and villains alike from various Type-moon franchises (mainly Fate, Tsukihime and Kara No Kyoukai) would be chop-sued together for an awesome super-deformed RPG experience!

“Take the three major facets of the Nasuverse: Tsukihime, Fate/stay night and Kara no Kyoukai. Then mix them together into a Massive Multiplayer Crossover, and add a duo of original characters on top. Through four acts, what starts as a not-so simple maidnapping explodes into a new Grail War, as one by one, a mysterious enemy is bringing back defeated villains from Nasuverse past, with shiny new power boosts to boot.” -TVTropes.org

Saber to Kohaku: “I ask of you…Art though my Master?”

Upon starting a new game, you’ll get to choose among two original characters: Takumi, specializing in melee combat (high HP & strength, and far moving distance) and Haruna, who can attack from afar (low HP & average strength, and has little coverage when moving around). They both work for Shin’i, an organization that uses magitek and prevents the supernatural from preying on humans, as well as encourage cooperation and co-existence between the neutral supernaturals. You’ll be seeing the story in their point of view as they interact with the various NasuVerse characters.

The Super Route (Takumi) would deal more on Shingetsutan Tsukihime, while the Real Route (Haruna) would be more Fate/Stay Night – Heaven’s Feel Route. But after finishing the game, you can start a New Game Plus where you can carry over your powered-up characters, and get the most out of both stories.

The game mostly switches between character dialogues super-imposed on locational backgrounds to progress the story, and the actual turn-based battles themselves, which are very reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics. The plot is pretty nice, the writers were able to come up with a story where all the concepts from the different franchises come fluidly together.

Just like Final Fantasy Tactics and chess, the battles will always be on a map/game board where you’ll control several characters with different abilities, and can only move a certain limited distance per turn. To win, each battle has a certain condition for you to achieve, but most of the time you’re just gonna have to kill ‘em all.

The math done for character stats, skills attacks, and the level up system are actually pretty good. Attack, damage taken, and chances of evasion would depend on the stats and distance of the two characters involved – which can be augmented by casting a spirit skill before moving and attacking (which is always crucial). The percentage of success of both characters can be seen before starting the battle so they’ve pretty much saved you the time for computing lol.

Before starting the battle, there’s an on/off switch for the animation so you can turn it off if you get tired of seeing the characters perform their special moves already. But I recommend watching everyone’s moves at least once. I mean, the graphics aren’t HD or anything, but it’s still fun since I’ve totally drowned myself in Type-moon that much. XD

After every battle will be an intermission scene where you can upgrade your characters through BP (Stats & Weapons) and FP Points (Skills & Abilities), as well as stat-boosting items.

Well anyway, I’ve still got to finish this game myself. So much for playing PS3 – I’m actually choosing this crappy sprite-based game first over finishing COD: MW3, Resident Evil 5, Catherine and Final Fantasy XIII-2! :3

Shiki & Shiki Mystic Eyes of Death Perception Combination Attack WTF!!! XD

Here are selected shots from me during the pre-nup. Only a few will make it to the final photo album, and the rest would be Rod’s. Pictures were taken at Freedom Park and La Cocina de Tita Moning, Malacanang, Manila last January 26, 2012.

To see more from this event, click here.

Whilst trap in a black hole reading deep within the uncharted territories of Type-Moon’s Wikia, I encountered some shocking information regarding our dear servant Saber, Arturia Pendragon – that she actually has a son, Mordred, and that she was the one who fathered him! Weird, huh? And wait, how did that happen again?

Fate/Zero ED: Saber, killing her son, Mordred, in the Battle of Camlann

In the legend, it’s supposed to be that way (since King Arthur is male d’oh), but I was thinking there were gonna be some other gender changes as well with FSN’s cast so everything would fall into place. Apparently, Type-Moon stuck with the original story and temporarily made her a dude instead.

Long story short, Arturia’s sister Morgan le Fay turned her to a pseudo-male via Merlin’s magic and extracted seeds from him/her. With that she would raise a child (Mordred) that would eventually lay destruction to the empire King Arthur has built. Later on, Mordred grew up to be an anonymous fine knight for the king, only to be constantly rejected by his father after revealing the truth – which resulted to a serious daddy complex for him. His hatred grew, and eventually was able to convince the Kingdom to turn their back on the King, and serve him instead.

Their last battle is shown on the 21st episode of Fate/Stay Night, where Saber pierces this unknown soldier, and then later on show’s a face similar to Saber’s, and then calls her ‘father.’ Really, it was a very confusing scene when I first saw it, but didn’t do research afterwards. I thought that the subbing group just made an error or something. LOL.

Why did Mordred look like Saber, you ask? It is said that like Irisviel Von Einsbern, he is a homunculus. As Type-Moon explains it, a homunculus is a creature given birth through Alchemy by the combining of human genetic material with several special substances and making the resulting embryo develop without the use of a womb.

Anyway, that’s the Nasuverse for ya.

Here’s a video of the scene from where that picture is taken:

Ever since I became interested in video production, I’ve always dreamed to have my own high-tier equipment, hoping that I would be more inspired when doing projects. Problem was, our family was barely keeping up even with its basic monthly expenses, so we really couldn’t afford such gadgets.

In 2009, I saved up cash and bought a 2nd hand Panasonic DVD-camcorder via Sulit, which I used whenever I had student clients doing a school project. That was the start of my campaign.

Next upgrade would be mid-2011, when a good friend sold to me his Canon 550D via post-dated check (so I had time to save up), bundled up with an 85mm 1.8 and camera bag, at a very ridiculously low price. This was my ticket to also explore photography. What I got weren’t really high-tier when compared to those from the professional category, but it is for me since it’s good enough to take 24p cinematic videos in 1080p resolution. “With just that you could already start doing wedding and corporate videos!” is what I said to myself.

After those initial investments, I thought it’s time to upgrade a little more so I can improve the quality of service I can provide for my clients. Like what a Mr. Francis Kong said in his talk “If you don’t treat yourself well, you don’t grow, you don’t improve, how can you treat your customers well?” With that line I was able to stray away from spending for luxuries and short-term pleasures. I was burning up to expand my venture!

Anyway, here’s a list of what I’ve bought and their quick reviews! :3

CANON 50mm 1.8
Store & Price: Mayer Photo, 4000 PHP
Use: Portrait lens that’s very sharp and works wonders in low light conditions. Not to mention affordable!

18-55mm 3.5-5.6 vs 50mm 1.8

RODE VIDEOMIC
Store & Price: PinoyVideomaker Site via Sol Galang, 6500 PHP
Use: Camera-mounted shotgun microphone with integrated shock mount, outputs studio-quality audio via 3.5mm jack and operates on 9V battery. Works better if Auto-Gain Control function of the camera is turned off via 3rd party software Magic Lantern.

BENRO VIDEO TRIPOD KH-25
Store & Price: Mayer Photo, 5000 PHP
Use: Fluid head  metal tripod perfect for video panning and tilting, has quick-release plate, height ranges from 712mm to 1515mm, can carry up to 5kg, and weighs 3.3kg.

YSEN LED VIDEO LIGHT KH-105S
Store & Price: Mayer Photo, 3000 PHP
Use: If the lens can’t keep up with poor lighting situation when shooting either photo or video, use this strong LED light. Also good for making your subjects cast shadows.

Without LED Light vs With LED Light

MERLIN BK-2 BRACKET
Store & Price: Avenue Photo Equipment, 950 PHP
Use: Grip for DSLR camera with three hotshoe mounts (LED light, microphone, etc.)

REPLACEMENT BATTERY FOR CANON 550D
Store & Price: Tayhua Trading Corp., 500 PHP
Use: Self-explanatory.

.45x WIDE ANGLE ADAPTER FOR 58mm FILTER DIAMETER LENS
Store & Price: Watson Photo Shop, 1800 PHP
Use: Emulates the function of a wide angle lens and expands the perspective the lens is attached to can usually capture, mostly used in landscape and scenery photography. On the bad side, since it’s just an adapter, your pictures will be prone to flare and ghosting.

18-55mm without Lens Adapter vs With Lens Adapter

MACRO LENS FROM WIDE ANGLE ADAPTER
Use: Also comes with the .45x wide angle adapter, you can remove the wide lens but keep the macro lens attached, to focus subjects with your current lens that you usually can’t when too close. Sample is below.

18-55mm without Macro lens vs With Macro lens

TRANSCEND 16GB CLASS 10 SD CARD
Store & Price: CDR-King, 1200 PHP
Use: Class 10 SD cards are needed to prevent buffer overruns when recording high-definition video.

CDR-KING MICRO FIBER CLOTH
Store & Price: CDR-King, 100 PHP
Use: Cleaning cloth for sensitive parts of the lens.

REPLACEMENT LENS HOOD FOR 18-55mm
Store & Price: Tayhua Trading Corp., 400 PHP
Use: Prevent flare from external light sources which can seriously degrade the image quality of photographic lenses.

Anyway, that’s everything. My next goal would be getting a camera stabilizer, slider, wide angle/fish-eye and zoom lens. But I guess that’ll be after a long while. I still have my monthly bills and everyday expenses to cover >.<

Thanks for listening to my rants! Minsan lang naman :D

What’s amazing is that Nasu-sama was able to come up with this masterpiece when he was still in high school! And then he and Takeuchi Takashi formed Typemoon after. Little is revealed regarding the other characters, but I’ll share with you guys anyway what I’ve dug up so far. Here goes!

The original story is famously known for its gender-switched protagonists where the master is female, and servant Saber, male. I guess this is how it’s really supposed to be (considering that Saber IS King Arthur), but this setup probably posed a number of problems when it was being transposed to an eroge visual novel. It would be so weird if the player assumes the role of a female, and be constantly done by the other protagonists, antagonists and even the supporting characters. Reverse-eroge, perhaps?! Lol.

Let’s start with Sajyou Ayaka (above), the archetype of Emiya Shirou and the master of Saber. It is revealed that her father and older sister both died in the Holy Grail War eight years ago, and is now forced to participate in the upcoming war. Unlike Shirou, she comes from a line of Magi, but is mediocre in it, therefore developing a complex against her genius older sister. But like Shirou, she gets pursued by Lancer and is saved by Saber after.

Next up, Saber! Also identified as King Arthur Pendragon of legend, but is completely different from his counterpart, Arturia Pendragon. He seems to be happy-go-lucky and playful around his master, Ayaka, and isn’t plagued by the troubles brought by his past. The female Saber, on the other hand, is always dead serious, stiff, and couldn’t get a joke or two. Their relationship is similar to that of Rin Tohsaka and Archer’s.

Reiroukan Misaya is the counterpart of Rin Tohsaka, and is the master of Lancer. Like in today’s Fate/Stay Night, she goes to the same school as Ayaka. Not much is known about her, except that she really wants to kill the protagonist, and that she herself gets killed sometime in the war due to a curse, making Lancer valid to form a contract with a new master.

Lancer in Fate/Prototype pretty much plays the same role: tracking down the protagonist to kill him/her, which then leads to the summoning of servant Saber. Sometime during the war, his Master Misaya would die due to a curse. He will later form a contract with the protagonist Ayaka, who at the time lost her servant to Berserker’s master. He would then fight both Berserker and a corrupted Saber, while Ayaka will face the master of Berserker to reclaim her command seals.

Archer is the archetype of Gilgamesh and his master is a president of a skyscraper that overlooks the city. Unlike his counterpart, he does not refer to other people as ‘mongrels’ but he still thinks of himself as the strongest servant around, even though his class is just third among the Holy Grail Servants – Saber being first. He falls in love with Ayaka at first sight, and considers Saber to be his love rival. Unlike in the series, Gilgamesh falls in love with Saber and tried to kill Emiya numerous times.

The one who assumes the evil role of Kotomine Kirei is Sancraid Phahn. Possibly a current or previous member of Assembly of the 8th Sacrament. Participating in the War under the direction of Templars under a false name, due to his notoriety. Unlike the sacrastic Kirei, he mostly appears quiet and calm, but sometimes switches to his psychotic and obsessed personality when the evil around is rampant. In the story, he gets to steal Saber from Ayaka, using him against her and the other servants.

Sajyou Manaka is Saber’s master in the previous holy grail war, and is Ayaka’s older sister. Her role is similar to that of Emiya Kiritsugu, but not quite. She is dead crazy over Saber (She stated that him killing her only made her more yandere for him.) Upon winning the last Holy Grail War eight years ago, she gets killed by Saber upon discovering that she had been offering sacrifices to the grail, her father and Ayaka included. Just in the nick of time, Saber was able to save Ayaka, and then threw Manaka’s corpse into the Grail, without knowing that it would resurrect her. She gets to participate in the next war, summoning from the Beast class. Her obsession over Saber pretty much reminds me of Caster.

So I guess that’s the gist of it. I didn’t enumerate all the details and comparisons between this one and Fate/Stay Night, because it would take forever and we would be constantly jumping from one topic to another. Just go to Typemoon’s Wikia if you want to know the full details :D

Sadly, there are no current plans to develop any more pieces of media based on the concept. Let’s just wait and see!

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Release Date: 3/20/2012
Platform: PS3 / XBOX360 / PC

Summary: Taking place during RE2 and RE3 in Raccoon City, the player will assume the role of a USS (Umbrella Secret Service) agent, hired to eliminate survivors and any evidence that would expose Umbrella’s illegal activities. You will be mostly fronted with two opposing factors: the city’s Spec-Ops team, who on the other hand, aims to uncover the truth behind the company, and of course the flesh-hungry zombies/bio-organic weapons.

This third-person shooter will feature an offline single-player campaign mode and co-op up to 4 players via splitscreen, and a multiplayer online mode where everyone around the world can go trigger-happy against each other or versus AI. Also, Capcom revealed “Heroes Mode” where players can get to choose among classic RE heroes and villains as their characters when online. Pretty awesome, huh? I’m definitely going to get this game!

Resident Evil: Revelations
Release Date: 1/27/2012
Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Summary: Set in 2005, the game reveals the untold story between RE4 and RE5, having the original RE characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as the main protagonists.

‘In 2005, bio-terrorists Il Veltro reappeared and threatened the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) with infecting approximately one fifth of the Earth’s oceans with the T-Abyss virus, a marine virus derived from the deadly T-virus. As a demonstration of their power, they hijacked the ocean liner SS Queen Zenobia and caused a viral outbreak aboard the ship. BSAA agents Chris Redfield and Jessica Sherawat were sent to investigate, but contact was lost with both agents during the mission. The BSAA then assigned Jill Valentine and Parker Luciani to locate the missing agents and sent them to their last known location.’ (Wikipedia)

Resident Evil 6
Release Date: 11/20/2012
Platform: PS3 / XBOX360 / PC

Summary: It has been 10 years since the Raccoon City incident, and the US President decides to reveal the truth to the people with the hopes of restraining the current resurgence of bio-terrorist activities in the country. Raccoon City survivor Leon S. Kennedy accompanies him, but is then faced with a dire situation when the the office suffers a bioterrorist attack, and is forced to kill a president infected beyond recognition.

At the same time, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) member Chris Redfield arrives in China, itself under threat of a bioterrorist attack. With no country safe from these attacks and the ensuing outbreaks, the entire world’s population is united by a common fear that there is no hope left.

Resident Evil: Retribution
Release Date: 9/14/2012

Film Synopsis: Alice is captured by Umbrella and awakens in the heart of their operation facility; as she moves further in the complex, more of her past is unveiled and she continues to hunt for those responsible for the outbreak. Her quest takes her and her newfound allies from Tokyo to New York, Washington D.C. and Moscow. After a “mind-blowing” revelation, she is forced to rethink everything she once thought to be true.

Resident Evil: Damnation
Release Date: 2012 TBA

Film Synopsis: Not much has been revealed about Damnation yet, but it is the sequel to the 3D movie ‘Resident Evil: Degeneration’, and is planned for a release in 2012. The story will revolve around bio-organic weapons used in the European warzone,and will see the return of Leon S. Kennedy as the protagonist.

Here are the trailers:

RE Operation Racoon City

RE Revelations

RE6

RE Retribution

RE Damnation

Guitars, Synth, Drum Tracks by me
Bass by James Uy

Musig Rigs used:
Zoom G2.1u, Ibanez guitars, Washburn bass, M-Audio Oxygen-61, CD-R King Webcam

Software used:
Cyberlink PowerDirector 9, Adobe Premiere CS5, Fruity Loops 10, ToonTrack ezDrummer, Kontakt 4, Massive

Ranma 1/2 Live Action Tailer

The main difference of Actress Again from the other installments of Melty Blood (Re-Act, Act Cadenza) is that each character has three different fighting styles: Crescent-Moon, Half-Moon and Full Moon. Aside from that, there are also additional characters that aren’t present in the other games. All characters also have a different storyline and ending.

Of those characters that have been added, I’ve been pretty particular with my all time favorite, Ryougi Shiki from Kara No Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners, and the super bad-ass Archetype: Earth, the third form of Arcueid Brunestud (Shingetsutan Tsukihime), being in her True Ancestor princess appearance. Until the 1.07 release, she just only used the sprite of the regular Arcueid. Now she gets her own character sprite, moves and supers!

There hasn’t been any news for an English patch, but I’m hoping for the best. After all, each and every Melty Blood, Fate and Tsukihime game have been translated, be it a visual novel or fighting game. Any way, there’s a possibility so let’s keep our eyes peeled!

Regarding Net Play, I have no idea how to do it yet. But if anyone who’s reading this knows how to do it, I’m all ears! I was able to do it awhile back with Act Cadenza using some third party applications I found on a forum, but I can’t remember how anymore. Lol.

Anyway, here’s the link to the game if you want to try it out! If you like it, BUY IT AND SUPPORT TYPE-MOON.
Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code 1.07 for PC

Here are more screens I took: