After waiting for an eternity and a half, I got Class of Heroes 2 because I loved the original Class of Heroes, and therefore decided to tell everyone what I thought of it, not that anyone cares because I doubt anyone but the ones hardcore to the max will even care about this.

I lost sleep playing this, I tell you, so here's what I think of it so far:

It's very similar to the original Class of Heroes (think 'Etrian Odyssey goes to academy and becomes much better', since this is better than Etrian Odyssey in every way because I saw so and I have the final word here!), but there are some changes, namely:

- Gaijinworks were better localizationers than Atlus, so the 'pow!' and 'swoosh!' in battles is in English this time

- The 2D graphics are better

- It's much, much cuter

- There's more focus on the characters and story than in the original Class of Heroes

- Olive (the human girl you meet at the start, I'll add) is cute. Did I say that already?

- The dungeons are more complex, not as square-by-square as the original game

Hand-holding in this game is pretty much non-existent. Unlike the original game, which was unbeatably hard already, this game doesn't even have lessons where you learn about fighting and stuff. You're thrust straight into quests and requests with no tutorial of any sort. The digital manual is on the Gaijinworks website, so if you're getting this game read this first or this game will be most likely unplayable for you. 

http://www.gaijinworks.com/game-help/class-of-heroes-2/class-of-heroes-2-game-manual/

The gameplay is pretty much identical to the original game. The Valkyrie race has been removed ( ) and replaced with Celestians, which are basically the same thing, and of course I made myself a Celestian The races have different affinity for each other - gnomes get along with everyone except Diablos who don't get along with anyone except themselves - which is explained in the manual so you have to take this into account when arranging your party. Only then can you actually survive in the dungeons.

So all in all, it's cute, funny, and fun for hardcore, hardcore to the max gamers. And all in all it's another brick in the wall... of the PSP's awesomeness! I don't think a lot of people will buy this, but if you're interested and have the patience of a ninja then definitely do. With all the effort Gaijinworks and MonkeyPaw put into its localization it definitely deserves it.

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This is not the only thing Nintendo used to do in the mid 80's that they are still doing now. Since Mario was such a hit Nintendo decided early on to put Mario into any game to help sell it. Even other companies could do this. 

This practice was done constantly. For every one authentic Mario game there was Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race or Mario Paint. Instead of just simply making a racing game, or a paint game Mario was slapped on the cover and in the game so it would sell more. The only  purpose mario has in these games is to help sales. Nintendo still does this today. Here is some food for thought. Would Super Mario Sunshine have been a lesser game if Mario was not in it? If, instead of Mario there was a new character that they created with the same gameplay and visual style. A platformer with a squirt gun thingy, why not make it a new character? Simple, Mario sells more. That is the only reason.

Or how about Super Mario Galaxy? A fantastic game, but why Mario? Could this great game not have been a perfect opportunity to introduce a new character and world? Does anyone honestly believe that the game improved because it was Mario, that it would have been a lesser game had the character not wore the red hat?

Finally it seems that Nintendo will even borrow levels in their future releases. I recently saw this image posted and feel it does a very good job of showing the recycled material. 

This practice of reusing levels has been done since VS. Super Mario Bros. reused levels in 1986 and here is Nintendo still doing the exact same thing. Reusing levels and characters is not done to save money but instead done to reduce risk. By rehashing a great game that everyone enjoyed there is little risk that it will not be liked a second time around. This is no different than the yearly sequels we see today from other companies. It's very risky to put millions of dollars into a game that might flop from a business standpoint but it must be done or the short term goals will prevent any long term viability

The fact is that Galaxy and Sunshine were great games and would have sold well without Mario. It is commonly understood that the quality of Nintendo products is top notch but they are simply too afraid of trying something new when they can just stick Mario on the cover. This fear is why there have been over 10 Mario Parties. This is why they are reusing levels from old games decades later. Nintendo is too old and stuck in its ways to change. Once faced with financial hardships they do the opposite of what is needed. They slink back even farther into the mindset of sticking with what sells instead of innovating. They begin to tell scary camp fire stories of creating new experiences with new characters. It's not too late for them, but they need a bigger wake up call than one bad year.

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The first is my favorite JRPG series, Suikoden. I've played III, IV, and V multiple times and still enjoy them (that's right, someone enjoyed IV lol). The first Suikoden isn't that bad either even though it's an old PS1 game. I think there's a lot left to be explored in the world of Suikoden. Suikoden V introduced the southern continent with the Queendom of Falena but the New Armes Kingdom and Nagarea Theocracy are still left unexplored. Even some places addressed in other games are still largely left alone, Camaro Free Knights, Zexen Confederacy, Gaien Dukedom and even the Holy Harmonia Kingdom are mostly left alone. There's probably even more that could be done with the lore of Suikoden. I always loved the turn-based combat and the way it was setup in pairs (or formations in V). The strategic battles (Naval battles in IV or RTS battles in V) were always a fun way to break up the gameplay sequences. The games always had a cool cast of characters with the 108 Stars of Destiny and it was always enjoyable to try and recruit them all. I just wish Konami hadn't abandoned the series after V (and don't you dare count Tierkreis, that doesn't count even though it was a pretty good RPG on the DS). I wish it'd come back but have literally zero expectations of it happening...(Here's a cool map of the Suikoden world http://images.ngamexp.com/6/0000006093.jpg)

The next series' is Dynasty Tactics and Kessen. Or rather, I wish Koei would get back to it's roots with historical strategy games set during the Three Kingdoms Era in China or Warring States Period in Japan. Dynasty Tactics is like chess on steroids, cocaine, and also jacked up on energy drinks. There's so much strategy in the games, trying to setup Tactic Combos require a lot of foresight and one little slip-up throws everything awry. Kessen is an even better strategy series from Koei, especially with the first and second games. (The third game was only strategy in name, it was a lot more like an action game than anything else. Still wasn't a terrible game though). I've spent so much time playing through the two games with their cool setting and strong real-time strategy gameplay. Unfortunately Tecmo-Koei is only interested in action games now with multiple Musou series now (Shin Sangoku, Sengoku, Kaizoku, and Hokuto) and games like Ninja Gaiden.

The next is Onimusha which personally I always thought was cooler than DMC. I don't know if it was the setting (I don't think it was because I really like 3 which was partially set in France). It was a little more strategic which was something that I really liked about it. The games were just a lot of fun and combat was varied with the different weapons your characters had. I didn't really get into Dawn of Dreams but I think I didn't really give it much of a chance back in the day and want to play it again soon. For some reason I actually think Capcom could bring the series back. They always seem to be doing crazy things that I wasn't really expecting lol

The others aren't really series I would like to see brought back but are games that I wish would have gotten a sequel of some sort. The first is MS Saga which is a Gundam RPG. The game itself really wasn't anything that special and I doubt if many people even took notice of it's existence at the time. The thing I truly love about the game is the customization involved in equipping the Mobile Suits for the characters. The story and combat could've been improved (a lot) but an RPG with Mobile Suits was a really cool idea for me.

Another game is Legaia 2 Duel Saga. I don't know how many of you played the game but it had one of the most inventive battle systems I've ever seen. Fighting wasn't just "Attack" or "Magic -> Fire" or whatever. You fought with directional button inputs and stringing together a chain of attacks. So an attack would be like "Down, Up, Left, Left, Up, Right" and you'd attack six times in the corresponding directions. Beyond that you couldn't use "Up" attacks on short enemies or "Down" attacks on flying enemies. Along with that the game included Arts which were used by putting together certain chains of attacks (and no, you didn't have to memorize any of them). It was such an interesting battle system with some really intense/epic boss battles. It was a really awesome RPG that I only finished recently and I'd love to see another game with the same combat.

Feel free to share some of the series you miss from back in the day or whatever if you want

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1.A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.

2.A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

3.A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside. dont try this with kids

4.You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day than in any other weather.

5.The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in Jello.

6.The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."

7.Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F.

8.A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to a royal birth in Great Britain.

9.Mushroom clouds can be created by any huge explosion; they aren't specific to atomic blasts.

10.G-rated family films earn more money than any other rated films; however, only 4% of Hollywood's output is G-rated.

11.a foosball table has 11 players on each team.

12.Most Dominoes Toppled in 30 Seconds 52

13highest score in game freeway fury 572,862

14.logest home run in wii sports 649

15.highest score on game curveball 34,445 points

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So this is going to be a pretty long blog entry. I was inspired to do this based on boogie2988's video and how are stories about gaming are remarkably similar. Boogie I don't know if you will ever see this, but if you do a huge shout out to you, I love your videos, keep on making them and best of luck in everything you do.

One lovely monday morning I was sitting in math class. I was quite tired-I had stayed up late the previous night in World of Warcraft doing some raiding and dungeoneering and was just tired. I finished all my math work early and was getting started on my homework (luckily I managed to do the classwork well despite my tiredness, I don't let gaming interfere with acedemic success). Whilst doing my homework in class, I had baout 10 minutes or so, I yawned and closed my eyes for just a minute to collect my thoughts.

While I was doing this, the wench across from me, who I have really not gotten along with in the past (think popular, wears-way-too-much-makeup-drama-addicted type) looks at me and goes "Xandoom, why the hell are you so tired?". I open my eyes and look up to see who was talking, see who it is, mumble something about playing WoW late at night, then return to bed. She says "you were playing video games?" I look up and say "yes, that's what I do every day, leave me alone)". Unfortunately, this wench decided that this was a topic that she needed to pursue.

I mumble answers to her questions-eventually I get her to leave me alone. But to her- she just couldn't fathom how I could spend my nights hunched in front of my computer in my room-it just didn't compute. I shrugged off the incident as some idiot who was bored in math class being forced to talk to me.

However, to my dismay, incidents like these started occuring more frequently with different people. I was quite bored of it all-after all, I don't really like many of the people asking the questions, I generally keep to myself and a small group of friends.

I've never been to a school dance. Out of my 14 years of living, I have never once been to a school dance or a school party (that wasn't mandatory, even then I would sometimes feign illness). I just don't like the people, I don't act how they act like idiots, how they spread germs by touching and kissing, how they are just crazy and emotional. I would generally just schedule WoW raids to be that night and make an excuse.

But I think people started to realize just how much time I spent gaming-hence the reason for the awkward social interactions concerning my habits. And the fact that I had to bring my alienware to school to take notes on didn't help. I was bombarded with questions, and eventually came to be pitied-here I was, a socially awkward gaming addict who had very little friends, no wench to call his girlfriend, and spent most of his time wholed up in his room gaming.

Some might argue that gaming is bad for me. As I said, I am pretty anti-social to much of my grade, I spend FAR too much time gaming, and I don't go to parties or dances.

But to me, it's the opposite. I haven't made stupid decisions, I don't get drunk or high or spread germs, I don't talk like an idiot and pretend it's the end of the world when my silly 8th grade adolescent relationship ends. And because of this, I game. I enjoy gaming, it's what I like to do. I don't enjoy sports or dating. So if I cna go play football, or I can game, I'll game because I enjoy gaming.

I've also meant some of the greatest people I have met over gaming. I've been in many World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, Rift, and TOR guilds where I get to know people over the years, where we genuinely care about each other and have fun adventuring in fantasy lands. I've met some of my best friends playing Dungeons and Dragons. I've met so many interesting people, people I care about, over gaming, and these people I would never have met if it weren't for gaming.

I have so many fond memories of playing with my World of Warcraft guild on Friday Nights-of playing with my DnD groups. These are all people who share my common interests, who love to explore fantasy lands and adventure with me-who want to fight monsters and demons and space pirates rather than sit around and play spin the bottle.

So when people ask me if I waste my life gaming-no I waste my life talking with people like you. I'm the happiest I've ever been adventuring in Azeroth, not partying. And this has allowed me to see the idiotic things my generation does and not partake in them. So all in all, gaming has saved me,and provided a good sourc eof friends and companionship. Gaming has helped me get through some tough times and has been there when I've been the happiest I've been.

When someone asks me why I game so much, I just shrug it off and say I'm an addict. I don't want to deal with them. But I always have been, and always will be- a gamer. I look forward to what the future holds both in the real world and fantasy lands.

Thanks for reading everyone,and may your blade never dull

-Xandoom

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A friend of mine told me of the event and I decided to go with him and his friend. It was my first time on one, so I didn't know what to expect out of it. There's only one thing I can say about it now: "It was epic".~ :3

First of all, my friends collect mangas so we went to the manga stand soon after getting to the place. There they got loooooooooooooooooooooooooooots of them and I decided to get some for me as well. Since I don't really have much money and all that, I only got:

Fairy Tail volume 1

Kimi ni Todoke volume 1

Chrno Crusade volume 1

I really like what I got though. Even though I've already read FT a looooooooooooooong time ago, it was still epic to read the Brazilian version (even more because of some extra references it had [which the scanlated one doesn't])

There was also a gaming stand with mostly fighting games (Marvel vs Capcom 3, Street Fighter IV, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mortal Kombat), but I didn't even play anything. xD

There were some "mini-stores" besides the manga one too. In those stores, there were DVDs/Blu-rays, keychains, necklaces, "teddy kumas" (), hats and other things like that.

From those I didn't resist buying:

Gray's necklace (not exactly like the pic's [one day I'll post a picture of me using it])

Happy "hattish thing" (not really like that, mine is cuter IMO. :3 I'll post a photo of me using it someday)

Both from Fairy Tail. ^^

There were also special thematic rooms (like the Pokemon room and the Yu-Gi-Oh! one for people to play the TCGs [and the DS Pokemon games]) and an RPG stand (though I don't understand anything about those things xD).

Some of the best moments in the festival were the cosplay contest and the band show though. ^^ There were some really interesting cosplays (and some really impressive "theatric presentations" by those people [like the Soul Calibur one which had a nice "wrestling-like" touch to it]) and the band did some really nice songs (Digimon 1's opening, a song from Bleach and some others, though the moment the crowd went wild was when the band did "Pegasus Fantasy" [Saint Seiya]). ^^

Now, on a more gaming-related note, I'm now playing Okami (PS2), Final Fantasy X (PS2), Final Fantasy XII (PS2), Dragon Quest IX (DS), etc....

Oh, talking about games, my mom said she'll give me a Wii on my birthday this year. I'm really Happy (aye) for it, since it's what I've been wishing for. I'll finally be able to play Kirby and more Kirby and ,uh, what does the Wii have? J/k xD I already have my list of must-have games including Kirby (of course), but that's not the only one, Tales of Symphonia (which will probably be hard to get    ), Fragile, Xenoblade Chronicles, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Mario Galaxy, etc... are also on the list. Also, I plan on getting a Wii with some accessories on it that will let me play GC games (since Tales of Symphonia is my biggest reason to want a Wii).

It's interesting how despite how much I've talked about it before, she has never really had that much interest on it. It took a fellow teacher who owns one to make her wish one. At least she had a good point when said it was because her friend did own the thing, so she knew it better than I did (ouch! >_>' ).

And, uh, that's it.~ ^^

(*) Phoenix (*) ~ "Although we may defeat our enemies, the Mages of Fairy Tail would never take their lives!" (Juvia Lockser)

P.S.: None of the pictures are mine. Rights go to respective owners. Please do tell me if any of them doesn't work properly.

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One of the latest memes on the internet sprouted from one of the most popular video game releases of 2011; The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. A casual comment spoken by various town guards is, " I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee." It comes up frequently enough, and is quirky enough, that it caught on as a meme. In the past two months, endless spin-offs and remixes of the phrase have surfaced.

Earlier this week, a blogger on Tech in Asia posted an article about the use of the phrase by Chinese speakers on the internet, and how that culture has adapted the meme to their own current events. As a language learning company, our ears perked up at this concept. Maybe the complaint that the meme is being overused would disappear if it were… in German? Russian?

When you're learning a language, having fun with it is a big step in the right direction. And so here we present some additional translations from our language team for when you take an arrow in the knee. We've included both the original sentence, and a handy fill in the blank version for whatever it isyouused to do.

1. I used to be _______________ like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee.

2. The original: "I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee."

French

The first one is a bit difficult because "J' tais ________" is only correct if the next word describes the actual person. (Ex: I was an adventurer or I was short or I was happy.) However, if you want to say "I used to play" (so, in this case describing a habitual past action), the verb must actually be conjugated in the imperfect. Ex: Je jouais =I used to play. Here is a direct translation:

1. J' tais ________comme vous ,mais puis j'ai pris une fl che au genou.

2. J' tais un aventurier, mais puis j'ai pris une fl che au genou.

Here are two examples:

I used to bake my own pies, but then I took an arrow in the knee.

Je faisais mes propres tartes mais, puis j'ai pris une fl che au genou.

Or, you could express it like this:

Je faisais moi-m me des tartes mais, puis j'ai pris une fl che au genou

(In either case, gender or speaker doesn't matter because it's the action.)

I used to be a language learner like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

J' tais  tudiant de langues mais, puis j'ai pris une fl che au genou

In this case, gender does matter because it's describing the person. In the example, it's masculine. If feminine, it would look like this: J' tais  tudiante

And, if you want to really designate that the "used to" was in the past, one might add the word "autre fois" (In the past).

Portuguese

1. Eu era ______ igual a voc , mas da  eu levei uma flechada no joelho.

2. Eu era aventureiro igual a voc , mas da  eu levei uma flechada no joelho.

Spanish

1. Yo era ______________ como t , pero me hirieron con una flecha en la rodilla.

2. Yo era un aventurero como t , pero me hirieron con una flecha en la rodilla.

Danish

1. Jeg var engang _________ som du, men s  fik jeg en pil i kn et.

2. Jeg var engang en eventyrer som du, men s  fik jeg en pil i kn et.

The translations are not literal, but adapted to a wording that sounds more Danish. (Jeg plejede at…, I used to…, is more used with active verbs, like "I used to swim each Friday".)

Russian

This meme is doing fairly well on the Russian Internet. The full sentence is:

for a male:Я тоже раньше был искателем приключений, как и ты, но потом получил стрелу в колено.

for a female:Я тоже раньше была искательницей приключений, как и ты, но потом получила стрелу в колено.

The translation of the phrase "I used to be___________ like you, but then I took an arrow in the knee" is "Я тоже был/была _________________ как и ты, но потом получил/получила стрелу в колено". (I provided both male/female versions for the verbs)

The Russian meme also has such versions asЯ тоже хотел/хотела…. (I also wanted), including this hilarious one -http://demotivation.me/vfw2rbpab5c7pic.html(I wanted to be a liberal president, but then I took an arrow in the knee)

Swedish

1. Jag brukade vara……….som du, men sen blev jag skjuten i kn et. (but got shot in the knee)

2. Jag brukade vara  ventyrlig som du, men sen blev jag skjuten i kn et.

Irish

1. Bh nn i mo ______________ mar thusa ach ansin bhuail saighead m  sa ghl in.

2. (adventurer: eachtr na )Bh nn i m'eachtr na  mar thusa ach ansin bhuail saighead m  sa ghl in

There's a contraction now, "i'm" instead of "i mo," because of the two vowels. There are actually about half a dozen ways to say this, but I think this pattern is the most straightforward.

German

1. Fr her war ich ______________________ wie du, aber dann schoss ich einen Pfeil ins Knie.

2. Fr her war ich ein Abenteurer wie du, aber dann schoss ich einen Pfeil ins Knie.

Note: In German we say "einen Pfeil schie en" (to shoot an arrow). This, again, expresses who is the agent/doer of the action, which is not the case in this situation.

So, when the speaker 'shot himself in his knee' say "aber dann schoss ich mir einen Pfeil ins Knie". When someone else 'shot an arrow in the speaker's knee', say: "aber dann schoss man mir einen Pfeil ins Knie" (like above). When you do not want to stress whom the speaker 'shot in the knee', say: "aber dann schoss ich einen Pfeil ins Knie" (also the same like above).

Polish

1. Byłem (male)/Byłam (female) __________ jak ty, ale potem dostałem(m)/dostałam(f)strzałkę w kolano.

2. Byłem (male)/Byłam (female)poszukiwaczem przyg d,ale potem ostałem(m)/dostałam(f)strzałkę w kolano.

Now you can tell all your Danish friends about your extreme archery misfortunes. We'll add new translations as we get them. Happy language learning!

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