More musings about DJMax Technika Tune

2012/12/302013/02/20 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

DJMax Technika Tune - ASS — Not a result I see often

No idea how I managed to get 8 breaks on First Kiss but I did.

Anyway, I’ve been periodically doing bitchfests on Twitter about the location of the Fever button. It’s rather annoying to try and activate it during quick tunes and especially if you’re only playing with the game with your right index finger. (This excludes Pop & Club Mixing patterns since they require 2 hands … although I suppose some folks with long fingers and insane reflexes could manage some tunes with one hand.) For a while, I had my left hand wrapped around the Vita with the index finger poised to hit Fever when it was ready. Sadly, this caused me to break some times and I’d still magically miss the thing too. If only the button were a big larger.

I received a tweet this early morning that stated Fever could be activated with the O button as well. That’s great, I suppose, but it’s still kind of inconvenient, especially playing Pop Mixing with the default touchscreen + touchpad setting. It would have been great if Neowiz/Pentavision let us map the Fever to whatever button we wanted. Heck, it would have been even more awesome if the Fever button was right in the MIDDLE of the play area so the player could easily treat it like part of a note pattern.

In my quest to find a way to access the Fever button easier, I tried several different ways of holding the Vita like attempting to play the game with my thumbs instead. This made Pop very difficult since I had to re-adjust the hold every time I had to hit the touchpad. This resulted in a lot of breaks. Things might be easier if I had giant man hands though. 😛 In the end. I started practicing playing with my left and right index fingers with the Vita sitting on a flat surface. I changed the play style to touchscreen only as well. I think, with more practice, this will be a good way to play the game. And with two hands going, it’s much easier to tap the on-screen Fever button.

Honestly, I haven’t checked out many gameplay videos. If I did, then maybe I can figure out a play style that’s right for me.

Anyway, at this point in time, I’m 5 levels away from 50. Apparently, all tracks are unlocked once the player reaches that level. The last track that I’m waiting for is SigNalize. Hope the pattern’s fun.

Hmmm. I’m going to randomly list some tunes I wouldn’t mind seeing as DLC. I’m not a Technika player so all these will be from DJM Online, Trilogy, and Portable. XD:

Whiteblue
Carmen Toreador
Csikos Post
Perseus Remix [this was in DJMax Online China]
Aurora Borealis
Feel [how did this not make the cut for the initial tracks included with the game?]
Grid System
Dancin’ Planet
Space Of Soul
So Much In Love
Get Out
Ventilator
DARK ENVY
NB Rangers Returns
Enemy Storm
NB Ranger
Girlz [okay, so this is from Ray]
Stop
Dear My Lady
IF
Funky People
Cherokee
Brave It Out
Minus 3
Squeeze
Memoirs
Syriana
Showtime

All right I’ll stop now. :3 I wonder if they’ll do packs like DJMax Ray? >:/

[Tiny Farm] Toy Village Screenshot

2012/12/272013/02/17 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

It even has a cheesy candy cane border! XD Click on the image for a larger version (1310 x 648)!

Still want the snow globe thing but the damnable sock keeps churning out dice. >:( — Still want the snow globe thing but the damnable sock keeps churning out dice. 😡

I didn’t notice the Christmas Duck turned away when I took the screencap. I also didn’t realize I accidentally turned the Club Card to stand perpendicular to the other one. 9__9 Since I didn’t get anything during the 7-day draw, I suppose all the decorations and stuff that’s littered around the village are fine. I really wish the sock would lay off on the dice. I think I got 7 total but sold 2 of them (for 30 Gold each. Yay. >_>).

Oh yeah, it took 5 tries to get a Christmas Duck. All previous Present Boxes gave me the damn ugly donkey. Com2uS seriously needs to stop creating butt-ugly animals. Maybe when I’m bored enough, I’ll make a list of my favourite animals.

Man, things are getting so expensive in the game now. My barn costs 90,000+ gold for additional slots and most upgrades start at 200,000 gold now. I don’t bother doing calculation to see which animals or crops give me the best returns so I guess it just means more waiting for me. :B Using Bells to expand things is out of the question too because it’s infinitely faster to get Gold than those things.

Someone complained in a review at the Play Store that things that require Bells are far too expensive. I agree but I think it’s only natural that Com2uS jacks up the prices of those things since this is an ad-free game so the only way they’re making money are through Tapjoy and players willing to spend money on it. $:\$ At any rate, they replied to the review and said that they may look into re-adjusting the prices. Here’s hoping that they do.

Android · games · iOS

[Tiny Farm] Christmas Promotion

2012/12/222013/02/06 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

8 days left to get the Christmas animals~! Took me a few tries to get the third Christmas Egg. :3

Tiny Farm Christmas 2012 Promo — I was hoping to get the sheep first but ….

I got this instead. 😦

The objective is recurring meaning that once you finish getting 3 Christmas Eggs, you’ll get the same objective again afterwards. I guess it’ll go on until you obtain all three Christmas animals? I’m not sure since I just started on the second one.

As for breeding Talking Animals, you just need to breed tier 2 + tier 3 animals or a tier 3 + tier 3.

Tiny Farm Tiers~ — In this example, Tier 2 is a Brown Bighorn Sheep and Tier 3 is a Black Bighorn Sheep. Breeding the Brown and Black one or Black and Black will get you a Talking Bighorn Sheep.

However, not all animal types have Talking variants! Check your collection to see which ones do. See the screenshot below for an example~!

Tiny Farm - Look for Talking animals! — Talking animals that can be obtained will have a silhouette in the Tier 1 box in the Level 2 Collection without a “Coming Soon” over it.

games · photo · PS Vita · PSP · Windows

My DJMax Collection (plus thoughts on Technika Tune)

2012/12/192013/02/05 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

Just had my DJMax Technika Tune LE delivered today. Paid an arm and a leg for it, no thanks to the UPS Brokerage and their INSANE fees. I used to constantly blame the Canadian customs and government for the additional import cost but it turns out the culprit for the excessive charges comes from the broker. Anyway~ Here are some photos of the set. :3 They’re all kind of blurry here because WordPress resizes them to fit the blog’s theme/style. You can click on them for larger, crispier, & clearer versions (except the one with the open game case).

Clockwise, from top left: artbook, wrist strap + screen cleaner, game + card case, soundtrack, Vita slipcase

As a bonus, here’s my current DJMax collection. XD There were a few that I didn’t buy since they were either way too expensive and/or hard to find (like the Portable and Portable 2 ones), or just had stuff that I didn’t care about. I think DJMax Trilogy LE came with a mug or something goofy like that. Oh yeah, these are all pre-orders too so I got them all at retail price. :3

Haha. I didn't realize that DJMax Trilogy was upside down until I was cropping the photo. XD — Haha. I didn’t realize that DJMax Trilogy was upside down until I was cropping the photo. XD

I have an unopened copy of Fever in The Crew Edition LE because I bought the game first before PM Studios decided to sell the limited edition. The shiny silver thing between the Technika Tune LE and Trilogy is the DJMax Technika Exclusive Collection soundtrack. Bought it on a whim even though I never played the arcade game before. In fact, Technika Tune is the first time I played a game in the Technika series.

DJMax Portable Black Square: Quattra Edition has tape on its cover because either Play Asia or the people putting together the thing slashed it. I know for certain that it wasn’t me since the box itself was no where near the opening flaps of the shipping box that it came in.

Man, between all the limited and special editions here, I have 3 or 4 Platinum Crew cards. ^^ I’ve never used them before either. :3

DJMax Hot Tunes LE. I decided to open up the box again since I had the game on my shelf for the longest time. I forgot how extravagant and over-the-top this design was. — DJMax Hot Tunes LE. I decided to open up the box again since I had the game on my shelf for the longest time and wanted to put it away. I forgot how extravagant and over-the-top this design was.

Hot Tunes had one of the best looking DJMax limited editions, IMO.

Now about Technika Tune itself~~ it’s pretty fun! Only played about 4 songs in Freestyle (on Easy XD) though. I’m gonna need a lot more practice with this game since I’m bombing here and there on 2 – 3-star stages and might not move out of Easy difficulty for a while. ^^; (Bombing = breaking quite a bit. My lowest rating has been a C but I mostly get B’s and A’s)

I just switched it to Normal to see how different it will be in terms of judgement and if note patterns change. I have a feeling I’ll be putting it back onto Easy though.

Edit:

Adding some thoughts about the game~~

I do like this game quite a bit! I gotta say that it’s more fun than DJMax Portable 3. 😛
Mostly playing on Star Mixing mode until I get my reflexes up a bit more. I tried Pop Mixing and failed the first stage. XD Played it again and go through 3 stages. Had to set the difficulty on Easy though. .___.;
I find myself using one finger only. Also, I’ve set it so that it’s only on touchscreen and the time line comes from the left.
Some tunes have distracting videos. For example, I Want You just flashes at some point and unless you’re familiar enough with the pattern, you may end up mistiming some things cuz the time line becomes hard to see.
The hand DOES block notes so it’s always good to glance ahead a little if possible.
Really wish they’d get rid of the stupid “Thanks for playing” splashscreen after completing a mixing mode. I KNOW it’s supposed to emulate arcade style gameplay but bleh. I guess that’s what Freestyle is for.
Fucking hell. I wish the goddamn Fever button wasn’t at the top right corner. Would worked better in the center or something.
Ugh. Forever is another one that suffers from the time line that blends in with the video. 9__9
Grr. Ghost is one of my fave songs but I can’t do well in it. .___. Same with Ruti’n.

Edit #2 (Dec 20th):

More babblings!

Getting better at the game now. Managed to pull off some full combos (with Anti Break 3 … but even with it equipped, it doesn’t need to kick in at times ^_^v) and some S and S+ ranks in Star Mixing and Freestyle (Star ones, of course). Currently trying to get a higher combo in Freestyle. I went back to Easy difficulty to ensure a better chance of maintaining a combo. XD
Almost 100%.
Spammed the hell out of Facebook last night to see what kind of exclusive items I can get. Turns out it’s some Fever +40% and EXP +40% consumable items. Looks like you can spam FB like 15 or so times? But because I did it like midnight – 1 AM, I won’t be able to post any more updates until tomorrow. XD
Stocking up on consumable items via spamming Facebook status updates. XD
Pop Mixing is pretty fun! I think I like the touchscreen + touchpad gameplay. I just kind of suck at it at the moment. 😀
I just realized that I officially own some Kara tunes now. ^^; The only song I heard from them before was Jumping and that was from the Japanese version of Just Dance Wii. Actually, I think they may have another song or two on that but I never cared about it. I even bought the Japanese single of Jumping off iTunes JP. I like Step and Lupin now after hearing them so much in Technika Tune. ^^; I guess I’ll look for the singles to hear them in their entirety.
Managed this on Easy difficulty. I think I would have gotten a game over in Ghost if it were on Normal.
Pop Mixing. Ghost almost did me in.

Android · games · Kairosoft

The Pyraplex: Gold Medal Pyramid

2012/12/172013/02/03 koukoupuffs2 Comments

Not an optimal triangle but it did the job. Got 88 points total for this hideous thing.

There’s 5 Capstones on it because one of the requests was to stick that specific amount onto the pyramid. BTW, Capstones aren’t necessary for the annual review.

This just goes to show that you don’t need a perfect triangle to get the 80 points required. What you’re striving for is lots of amenities and decent symmetry. For the latter, as long as the left and right sides of the Center are fairly even, the reviewer will throw lots of points at you.

My results were as follows:

Shape: 10

Amenities: 38

Aesthetics: 40

Obviously, if I didn’t have that vertical part jutting out near the top, I would have scored better on the shape. 😛

Don’t forget to check out AdeptGamer for tips and a guide~!

annoyances · games · iOS · stupidity

Theatrhythm iOS: A New Decrescendo for Square Enix

2012/12/132013/01/17 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

After the fiasco with Demons’ Score, Square Enix remains undeterred and decides to, once again, put their hands into consumers’ wallets by publishing yet another freemium title that requires in-app purchases in order to get the most out of it. This time, however, it seems like the IAP model is the same across the board so Japanese players are also subject to the madness.

One main difference with Theatrhythm is that, unlike Demons’ Score, it’s a port of the $30 US 3DS game. I’m not going to go into detail about the changes since you can read about them at Joystiq but I WILL write about the sheer insanity of the pricing scheme.

Squenix graciously includes a whopping total of 2 musical tracks: One-Winged Angel from FFVII and Zanarkand from FFX. If you want more you must pay either $1.99 for individual tracks or $4.99 for 4-song bundles. Note that the store menu for songs includes tunes that are NOT among the bundles so if you want all music from each series, you’re looking at at least $7 US for each one. Multiply by that 13 titiles + 1 FFT track, 1 FFX-2 track, 1 FF: CC track, 2 Advent Children tracks + 1 from Type-0 , and 1 FFXIII-2 and you’re at $98 US.

In contrast, $30 US on 3DS will get you over 70 tracks. Of course, if you factor in the DLC, which cost 99 cents each, it’ll probably be another $50 US. But still, it’s not hard to see that the better deal is on the Nintendo system.

The iOS version also keeps a few of the unlockable 3DS characters out of reach by placing them as IAP with a price tag of $2.99 slapped onto each one.

Here’s a brief overview of what you’ll find at the store.

Note (added 11:08 PM EST):

Here’s the story behind the screenshots: I downloaded the game from the Japanese App Store because I thought it wasn’t available in the Canadian one. I also thought the prices reflected in the in-game shop were the actual localized prices. It turns out that the IAP amounts were simply conversions of the yen prices. I didn’t realize that apps now do this because I’ve purchased things from within Taiko no Tatsujin+ and Puzzle & Dragons before and they always displayed in yen prices.

I might replace the screenshots later.

Songs – $1.99 $0.99 Each:

Not listing all 59 of them but tracks like Dancing Mad, which is a normal unlockable tune in the 3DS version, is among the list.

Theatrhythm iOS - Some tracks from the Songs IAP menu — Theatrhythm iOS – Some tracks from the Songs IAP menu

Song Bundles – $4.99 $2.99 Each:

FFI Basic Bundle:

Battle, Main Theme, Mt. Gulg, Matoya’s Cave

FFII Basic Bundle:

Battle Theme 1, Battle Theme 2, Main Theme, Tower of the Magi

FFIII Basic Bundle:

Battle 1, Battle 2, Eternal Wind, Crystal Cave

FFIV Basic Bundle:

Battle 1, Battle With The Four Fiends, Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV, Within the Giant

FFV Basic Bundle:

Battle 1, Battle at the Big Bridge, Four hearts, Mambo de Chocobo

FFVI Basic Bundle:

Battle, The Decisive Battle, Terra’s Theme, Searching for Friends

FFVII Basic Bundle:

Let the Battles Begin!, Fight On!, Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII, Cosmo Canyon

FFVIII Basic Bundle:

The Man with the Machine Gun, The Extreme, Blue Fields, Ride On

FFIX Basic Bundle:

Battle 1, The Final Battle, Over the Hill, Dark City Treno

FFX Basic Bundle:

Battle Theme. Fight with Seymour, Mi’hen Highroad, Movement in Green

FFXI Basic Bundle:

Battle Theme, Awakening, Ronfaure, The Sanctuary of Zi’Tah

FFXII Basic Bundle:

Clash of Swords, Esper Battle, Giza Plains, The Dalmasca Estersand

FFXIII Basic Bundle:

Saber’s Edge, Fighting Fate, The Sunleth Waterscape, March of the Dreadnoughts

Characters – $2.99 $1.99 Each:

There are some that you won't find in the 3DS version. — There are some that you won’t find in the 3DS version.

There are 25 in total so far. iOS exclusive characters include:

Celes from FFVI
Tifa from FFVII
Rinoa from FFVIII
Garnet from FFIX
Auron from FFX
Balthier from FFXII
Hope from FFXIII
Serah from FFXIII-2
Ramza from Final Fantasy Tactics
Cosmos from FF series

Since the game is stupid unstable on my iPod touch 4G, I can’t even play any stages. However, even if I could, I’d be stuck playing Zanarkand forever since aside from avoiding One-Winged Angel like a plague, I wouldn’t bother spending any money to get more tracks. After all, it’ll only encourage Square Enix to continue with their idiotic gouging on this platform.

Edit at 10:35 PM EST:

Square Enix lowered the prices for all categories? Now singles cost $0.99, Bundles are $2.99, and Characters are $1.99. So the new total will be $147.03:

Singles: $58.41

Bundles: $38.87

Characters: $49.75

I do wonder about something though — when I originally got the game, it was off the Japanese App Store because I thought it wasn’t out in the Canadian one. Could it be that the yen prices were auto-converted to Canadian because a single is ¥170 which is like $1.99 Canadian. However, the bundles are ¥450 which comes out to $5.28 Canadian. (Conversions are done with http://xe.com/). I suppose Apple’s got its own conversion thing going. Weirdness.

Oh well, the zany overall price still remains but it’s no longer near the $250 mark. 😛

Android · games

Puzzle & Dragons Android

2012/12/132013/01/16 koukoupuffs2 Comments

Updated on December 20th:

GungHo finally got the message. The game now works on rooted devices … like mine! 😀 Time to change my 1-star review~!

Updated on December 13th:

So the game was released about 3 days ago on the Play Store for Canada and the US (and maybe other countries as well?) … but it’s been pulled since? At least it doesn’t show up if you do a search for it. Anyway, here’s the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.gungho.padEN

Seriously, developers need to learn that not everyone with root goes around cheating in games. I mean, the iOS one runs fine with jailbreak mainly cuz it’s impossible to cheat their IAP system. I suppose GungHo has yet to figure out how to do that with the Play Store?

Anyway, I hope they’ll ditch the dumbass anti-root scheme and maybe then, I’ll figure out if it’s my Galaxy Tab 10.1 or root that’s preventing the game from running. I use OTA RootKeeper to temporarily “un-root” my Tab but it still does the black screen thing. :V

Original post from September 18th [Japanese version]:

I don’t see it at the Play Store just yet but Gung Ho’s saying it’s out. ^^ (Edit: Oh, I think it won’t be available until later today. Something about 4 PM Japan Time? D:) 8 days of gifts and perks~! http://mobile.gungho.jp/news/pad/and_cp.html

Here is the list of currently supported devices: http://mobile.gungho.jp/news/pad/and_taiou.html They’re hoping to add more as time goes on.

Famitsu coverage: http://app.famitsu.com/20120918_92463/

Edit: While the Galaxy Tab 10.1 isn’t listed as a supported device, I’m going to see if it’s possible to download it for the tablet. I honestly feel that the game is a lot more fun during the beginning when money and monster experience isn’t much of an issue so I’m going to play the ‘Droid one for a bit (if I can).

Edit #2: Doesn’ t load on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. :B Here’s the direct link to the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.gungho.pad

Android · games · iOS

[Tiny Farm] Golden Eggs!

2012/12/072013/01/06 koukoupuffs2 Comments

I’m unsure if any kind of penguins can lay the Golden Egg but I used Brows Penguins. One is a Crimson Brows Penguin at level 27 and the other is a Purple Brows Penguin at level 34.

Incidentally, I highly recommend NOT giving love to any sort of eggs at a neighbour’s farm since there are animals that give much higher XP. For example, the Spring Flower Deer gives 87 XP.

Android · games · iOS · Kairosoft

Will Kairosoft bring Game Dev Story 2 PC to mobile devices?

2012/12/042012/12/30 koukoupuffs2 Comments

Probably not because they already did.

The text next to the screenshot reads that "this latest work has been released as an app for DoCoMo" — The text next to the screenshot reads that “this latest work has been released as an app for DoCoMo”

It then goes on to give a super brief description of the game, and underneath it, there’s mention that it’s also on Android and iOS.

This isn’t to say that they won’t do a new version of GDS exclusively for mobile but since they already made a simplified version of GDS2 PC, I kind of doubt they’ll release it again with all the original content.

Updated on December 13th:

There IS, however, a fan-translation in the works which you can find here: http://adeptgamer.com/forum/threads/game-dev-story-2-translation.301/ In fact, it’s the same one that was at Kairospot. Why the move? Well, hang onto your seat because here’s the mindblowing story: http://adeptgamer.com/forum/threads/kairospot-gamerspot.78 To be precise, the fan translator ended up bringing his work over to AdeptGamer.

annoyances · life · shopping · stupidity

Toys R Us needs to learn what a confirmation e-mail is

2012/12/012012/12/27 koukoupuffsLeave a comment

I purchased a lovely red and black 3DS XL on Black Friday from the Toys R Us Canada Website. Then, in my infinite wisdom, I decided that I was too impatient and went out on Saturday morning to get it directly from the brick and mortar store. I figure, since I can return the one I got from online once it arrives, things should be fine, right? (I’ll be out the shipping costs but that’s besides the point. :E)

So after receiving the package yesterday, I got all the paperwork together and headed to the store this morning.

Here’s what you’re supposed to bring as noted in the shipping e-mail and on the packing slip as well:

Easy Returns: You can return an item in any of our store locations across Canada or return directly to our warehouse. Simply follow the steps below for instructions on our return process:

Visit a Toys“R”Us/Babies“R”Us Store

1. Please pack the product in its original packaging.

2. Bring a copy of your packing slip.

3. Bring a copy of your confirmation email.

I brought all of this but was denied a refund back onto my MasterCard. Why? Because the confirmation e-mail I brought wasn’t the one they needed. It was supposed to show the credit card number on it.

I thought for a bit and wondered if I missed an e-mail because the order confirmation one sure didn’t have anything about what card I used or the card number.

Anyway, in my infinite wisdom again and since a line was forming, I opted for the store credit. So now, I am out $200 on my credit card. I suppose I could use all of that for Christmas shopping but I never meant my budget to be that high this year. 😛

Once I got back home, I doubled checked every damn e-mail I got from Toys R Us. NOTHING had a credit card number on it.

Hell, here it is. Sorry for the size but it was the only way to show it on a single page. (It can be enlarged a bit if it’s clicked on though.):

Then I decided to log into my account at the Toys R Us Website.

THERE IT WAS. This is what they’re looking for:

Hey, Toys R Us, this Webpage doesn't count as a fucking confirmation E-MAIL. — Hey, Toys R Us, this doesn’t count as a fucking confirmation E-MAIL.

Under Payment Method, it shows the card + last 4 digits. But as the caption reads, THIS IS NOT A CONFIRMATION E-MAIL. It’s a fucking order status on the fucking WEBSITE. If you want people to bring this, you should explicitly state so.

What’s even MORE hilarious is that their Returns & Warranty page under their Help section says the same thing as the information at the bottom of the shipping e-mail but with the added note in the parentheses:

Returning to a Toys”R”Us/Babies”R”Us Store
To avoid paying shipping to return the item you can bring your purchase to the nearest Toys”R”Us/Babies”R”Us Store. Please bring the following items with you:

a. Packing slip

b. Confirmation email (This is used to confirm original method of payment)

c. Please pack the product in its original packaging

I didn’t check this earlier but if I did, I may have been scratching my head and wondering how they could confirm my method of payment without it being listed and I would have did more investigation. But hey, maybe they could check via order number or something? Who am I to argue what’s written there?

However, the point still stands that they’re looking for a bloody confirmation e-mail. And why the fuck the payment info isn’t listed in the order confirmation in the first place is beyond me. Maybe it is in the US?

At any rate, I shot off a letter of complaint to them and requested to have my store credit reversed and put back on my MasterCard. Yeah, you can argue that it should be common sense to show something that indicated how the purchased was paid but I followed their instructions to the T and it shouldn’t be my responsibility to hunt down missing information for their convenience. I thought all they would have needed was an order number to verify in the system or something. Well, they wanted the confirmation e-mail and they fucking got it.

Edit: Since I requested that they change the wording in the return policy regarding the term “confirmation e-mail”, here’s a screencapped version of the instructions in case it’s changed at some point.

Edit #2: This is gold. Customer service has reading comprehension issues.

Here’s the message I sent via the “Contact Us” form as quoted by the service agent that replied a few hours after I sent:

Here is the reply. Note that utterly unhelpful it is. On top of that, it’s clear that they just use generic replies:

Thanks for completely ignoring my issue. Gonna reply to it soon.

	a.	Packing slip
	b.	Confirmation email (This is used to confirm original method of payment)
	c.	Please pack the product in its original packaging