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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sword Girls Online Collectible Card Game



Alteil U.S. is gone and doesn't appear to be coming back. I'm still hoping my three year investment would resurface. But, in order to pass the time, I decided to look for a free to play online collectible card game (CCG) that would serve as Alteil's temporary replacement.

I was still hoping I would find a Robotech / Macross type of CCG, but alas, there seems to be no market for it... else there would have been one already.

Sword Girls, on the other hand, appeals to the hormones of young boys. You'll understand this as you see the vivid images portrayed in the cards.

The game play is similar to Alteil where two players go head-to-head and try to destroy each other's Character, one of the three types of cards in the game (the other two are Followers and Spells). The Character is the "LIFE" representation of the player, and different Characters will have different "LIFE" sizes. Some can have 30 life (or SP for Alteil fans), while others only have 20 SP. Some Characters have abilities that affect its Followers (or Units) at the beginning of the turn. The player who goes first during turns is also randomly determined, just like Alteil.

There are five slots surrounding the Character so you can play a maximum of five cards per turn. Unfortunately, there is no Range concept in Sword Girls. But some abilities will affect certain slots, so positioning your Followers is still key. The card's Size will determine how many you can play in a turn. A player is given a maximum playable size of 10. So as long as the sum of all card sizes you are playing during the turn is less than or equal to 10, you can play all of these. (Two 5-sized cards, Three 3-sized cards and a 1-sized card, Five 2-sized cards... I hope you get the idea.)

Spells are laid out just like units, but take effect first before any unit can attack. The thing I hate is that your units randomly attack the enemies units. There seems to be no sense of focus, where you can concentrate your attacks on bringing down a single unit first. (Perhaps this changes as you get better cards in the game, but I'm only at the beginner stage.) Still, the objective of the game is to get the opponent's Character down to zero life.

And like Alteil, there are also spells which remove units from the playing field. Once the opponent's units are gone, your units or Followers are free to attack the opponent's Character.

This game is playable for "free players". It has different types of quests where you can play against the game's AI and win different cards, depending on the quest. You can use these cards, (Materials and Accessories) to create new cards, which is reminiscent of crafting in Star Ocean. (I was even able to create a Rare card after only playing the game for three days. But the game has double and triple rares and to create these, you would need to have multiple rares, uncommon, and common cards, so I don't know how long it will take to create these cards.) You can also buy tokens, which is the "gran" or money for Sword Girls. They offer booster packs and even random single cards.

So if you miss Alteil and want to play a decent CCG, then Sword Girls could be the game for you. With an iterative card crafting system and new quests being introduced every season, I think it will take a really long time for a player to reach the "plateau".

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Revolution TV Series 2012


Spoiler Alert: Watch the show before reading on!!!

What would happen in a world where electricity or power no longer exists? This interesting question is answered by the new TV Series entitled Revolution. The TV show introduces us to a lot of interesting characters and will certainly revolve around the reason why global power went out as it takes us on the adventure of these actors.

The girl archer central in the poster is the daughter of a scientist who probably knows the reasons behind the power loss event. The guy standing with her at the center is her uncle, an ex military. Think of him as Rambo with swords instead of machine guns - a one man army who knows how to kill. The two of them are in search of the girl archer's younger asthmatic brother (2nd from the right - guy wearing a white shirt). The curly blonde (1st from the left) is the girl archer's step - mom who has a medical background. The chubby nerd (3rd from the left) is a former Google employee who's carrying the USB key which may contain a clue to the massive power outage. It was given to him by girl archer's dad before he died.

The guy in a trench coat (1st from the right) is a former loans analyst, a walking lie detector, and troop leader  of the henchmen who took the girl archer's brother.

Boy archer (3rd from the right) was part of the henchmen that wanted to capture the Rambo uncle, but in the end, he saves girl archer from one of the bad guys who was about to kill her. So he seems like a bad guy that might later on become a good guy since he has a thing for girl archer.

And finally, the last character in the poster was an algebra teacher (2nd from the left). But she has a secret - she has access to what appears to be a really old computer with DOS like communication capabilities. And she is shown communicating with someone else at the end of the show.

General Monroe, (not on the poster) appears to be the main villain in the show since all bad guys serve him. They enlist under his militia by branding their right arms with an encircled letter M. He wants the global power back so that he can manufacture weapons like tanks so that he can overthrow the other militias running a muck and become the supreme ruler of the continent. (At least that's how Rambo uncle explains it.)

I think I'm hooked. It has a LOST feel to it, and I hope it can continue to entertain, and not get its audience lost.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Alphas Season 2 Episode 7




Spoiler Alert: Watch the episode first before reading on.
Alphas had a pretty interesting villain this week. The villain was able to control people, including people with alpha abilities. If you are familiar with Star Trek TNG, think Borg Queen being able to control all the drones in the hive. The catch was that the villain had to physically come in contact with each individual it plans to integrate into the hive.
And the villain was not really a bad guy. He was a social outcast, and he simply wanted to have friends. Near the end, there is a scene where he wants a girl to love him, but realizes that since she is under his influence, the love is not genuine. And instead of taking advantage, he agrees to cooperate with the members of Dr. Rosen's team. (I can't really call them the Alphas team since alphas is similar to the term mutant for those familiar with X-men comics. But maybe Dr. Rosen's team needs a catchy nickname - good alphas maybe - yelch)
It is not clear how season 2's main villain, Stanton Parish, - a Wolverine like alpha without the claws - who has fast healing powers and has been around for centuries (or at least a very long time), was able to control the kid with borg queen like abilities. The kid integrated him first, and then he started taking control over the drones, taking them away from the kid. Is it all a matter of will power? If that's the case, why can't other people - drones who have been integrated into the kid's hive, take over? Aren't there individuals with stronger will power than the kid? Or does Stanton Parish have more hidden abilities.
While the season tends to mimic team Professor X vs. team Magneto, I hope this TV series can keep exploring fresh hero/villain ideas. Stop showing mutants with powers we're already familiar with. Gary is pretty original since there was no internet at the golden age of comic books. But there are simply too many Nina-type characters on the show. Mind control must be a sought after ability.
The tv show started out well by introducing new mutant characters and abilities that haven't really been explored well in comic books. I remember an earlier episode in Season 1 where the villain they were trying to catch had the ability to take advantage of random events. But for some time, the show started becoming stale exploring the same stuff that X-men or Heroes have already gone through. Even Stanton Parish is a repeat of Heroes villain Adam Monroe (David Anders). This hive episode made me appreciate Alphas again. So I'll tune in as long as its fresh and interesting.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Guitar Chords for John Mayer's Edge of Desire


If you want to sing songs of John Mayer with a guitar, you know how difficult it can be to learn John Mayer's guitart tabs (which is why he's so talented). But for those in a rush to learn the song and perform the song, below is my attempt at placing the right chords for "Edge of Desire". I hope you enjoy it. (Note: only portions of the entire song have been included so that the reader may get a feel of the chord arrangement.)

Stanza Pattern
A Asus - A - Asus
Young and full of running
D Dsus - D - Dsus
Tell me where has that taken me?
Bm7 - Bm7sus - E - Esus - E
Just a great figure eight
A - Asus - A
or a tiny infinity?
Chorus
Bm7 E A - Asus - A - Asus
Don't say a word, just come over and lie here with me
Bm7 E A - Asus - A - Asus
'Cause I'm just about to set fire to everything I see
Bm7 E A - Asus - A - Asus
I want you so bad, I'll go back on the things I believe
Bm7 E A - Asus - A
There I just said it,I'm scared you'll forget about me

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