Retro Blog: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

As we approach the year 2011, I would like to give out one more blog dedicated to one of my most favorite games out there: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

It has been a misunderstood game for many years, always overshadowed towards other Zelda games, especially Ocarina of Time, sitting pretty much as the other core game which is sort of a black sheep, like The Adventure of Link. A very small deadline was issued by Nintendo of Japan to release this side story of a game, and thus, the game's developing process was only merely a year, which is astonishing considering what the fans have gotten out of this entry.

But, as it seems to be happening, people have gotten over "that specific system" that accompanied the game's gameplay and finally begin to understand what the game really is about, besides that intimidating system. What few Zelda fans would had instantly admitted back in 2000, I was one of them who always knew that Majora's Mask is a vast improvement over Ocarina of Time and remains one of the best titles in the series. And with GameFAQ's poll of the decade ending and declaring MM as the number 1 game of the decade, people will really reconsider pushing the game away.

Majora's Mask's story begins once Young Link's treasured possessions of Epona and the Ocarina of Time get stolen by the Skull Kid, who then runs back towards his newly found home (I guess), the world of Termina, where things aren't ever what they appear to be. As Link is turned into a Deku, the madness of the game can finally begin. You are informed of an enormous disaster, literally, the moon is about to fall down on this strange world in roughly 3 days. And there is nothing anyone can do about it. Anyone, but Link himself, who has mastered the trick of manipulating time through the Ocarina, who he now must reclaim as the first step.

But that is just the beginning. Once you have obtained the important item, the game bombards you with available side quests, so much that I could picture the whole game even without it's impressive dungeons, but alas, the game has got to be linear somewhere. From protecting a farm from aliens to delivering mail to helping a couple to giving a mysterious hand some paper that is widely interpreted as a "toilet issue", it is one of the strong points for liking this game. The side quests are as they say, not needed to complete the game and its main quest, but you will be missing out on so much joy and yes, even emotion scenes by doing few or heck even none of the side quests, that you will probably have only experienced Majora's Mask for about 45%.

Yes, in Zelda games, the dungeons define the gameplay the franchise is so loved for, but in the case of Majora's Mask ,the sidequests really define the game itself as well next to the dungeons! This is one of the very few games where I wanted to collect and obtain everything. To do any action needed in order to get all of the rewards, and not just those intriguing masks, but also the emotions that connect Termina's characters with each other.

You see, the game really is about heavy emotions such as sadness and panic and fear. Because of the game's unorthodox system in both its story and enhanced gameplay from OoT, it becomes a much more personal appreciation to feel for these characters. The Song of Healing in particular is well used for some sections of the game. Really, the Termina citizens all have their own story to tell, while dealing with the end of their world from above.

Helping you out during this pretty long quest are special masks, that each have their own distinctive ability from others, such as transformation masks, community masks, a mask making you invisible or even a mask that will explode your own face. A large portion of them are linked to the side quests and thus are entirely optional. However, they surely and truly add to the game's overall enjoyment.

Lastly of note is of course the time tystem itself, which many gamers were confused and annoyed about. The moon will crash in 3 days, resulting in an instant game over, unless you travel back in time with the Ocarina of Time. What does this mean regarding progress? Well, you will have to travel a lot back in order to be able to restore Termina from this disaster, getting further by overcoming the dungeons and helping the giants, the gods of Termina, out. And that unfortunately will not be able in merely 3 days, unless you beat this game before and know it like the back of your hand.

Items will be lost, including Rupees and other things when you travel back to day 1. Key items will not be lost however, so that you won't have to redo the many actions of this game. Songs also still play an essential part in Majora's Mask. The Song of Healing for example heals people from bad emotions and The Song of Time lets you of course travel back in time, but it surprisingly also lets time slow down or speed it up, making up for very interesting ways of venturing through the game.

The soundtrack is very nice, Clock Town and Clock Tower's themes are instantly familiar and other songs represent their location or character well. A variation of a certain song plays in the game's 4 main areas outside Clock Town, but each of them are well done. Ikana Canyon's theme in particular is amazingly effective for it's coming of warning feeling it gets upon me, and the dungeon songs are very different from each other, yet at the same time they are special that grow with the time the more you listen to them.

The difficulty is just the way I like it. Termina and the dungeons are filled with enemies(where as Ocarina of Time had much fewer), the bosses are no walkovers, the dungeons themselves can make you think carefully of your available options(especially Stone Tower) and shockingly the mini bosses can be truly challenging! Yes, even those fights which generally are disregarded towards actual bosses in video games are a threat to be catious of!

And as said before, the game plays with dark themes, including negative emotions, creepy effects and the connections the characters have with events. There even is an incredible exciting theory floating around on the internet about why Termina was doomed and about what the Stone Tower Temple and other locations really mean vaguely, as in symbolism and mythology, that it is neatly added towards Zelda's overall lore. Luckily I happen to still have the link towards this theory, and here it is:

http://www.zeldauniverse.net/articles/the-message-of-majoras-mask/

And that is pretty much how I feel about Majora's Mask. The game's weird scenarios, original gameplay systems and touching yet saddening storyline make it my second favorite Zelda game. There probably won't be another game as mystifying or engrossing or even mature as the way Nintendo did with this.

Rating: 9.3

Let us hope that Skyward Sword will not only have increased difficulty from the recent Zelda titles, but it will also have a distinctive feature from other titles.

Lastly, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year.

The Challenge Aspect

I demand value from my bought games. I might have skipped several games over the years in my collection that were never beaten by me, but now that I have decided to beat every single game in my collection as a challenging but thrilling goal, none are left untouched in order to obtain value.

Several ways are there to approach these buried games from my childhood period. There's my usual, all-around veteran gaming approach towards them. To be more precise, that means simply going through them, reading the level and enemy patterns, dying uncountable times in the process and then profit from them, or to gain that victory feeling if you will.

But when Flok comes back to flawed classic games such as Blaster Master, I need to rethink of my strategy here drastically. That game has no navigation, will crush you with some unforgiving bosses and the worst news is that continues are limited.

Why should I then enter into hardcore mode, also known as taking it all like a man, going into game overs one after another like it's nothing, starting all over from the beginning again. Why should I go frustrated over a game progress moment such as finding a random crucial key item in a random location, or expect to understand a game's consistency and/or design when I can use walkthroughs, tips from players and best of all the mighty save state function found in emulators in order to perform better?

There was a time when I felt that using walkthroughs, advice and savestates was a direct insult to the given games. But now that the game industry is filled with interesting games to play and that my personal life gets busier and busier, it really feels like time has shrank at the present and thus, things should speed up.

It doesn't mean that the experience nor the difficulty of games will go away for me while using these helpful methods, I actually still acknowledge and respect these factors as I normally would with for example an easy game. That is why I am pleased to tell you that I am glad that emulators and walkthroughs exist in order to beat these hard as hell games such as Blaster Master.

I am also glad to know that the challenge aspect although has become easier sort of, still exists, especially when looking at NES and SNES titles. In the end, in order to accomplish that victory feeling essentially, it will have to be you yourself who will need to deliver the final blow in a video game.

Symphony of Science Appreciation

What the title said. Melodysheep, a YouTube user has created several auto tuned songs for his developing project already: Symphony of Science.

Each song has a collection of famous scientists, philosophers and other deep thinkers giving speeches or interesting quotes while their voices are auto tuned and music plays in the background. Each song represents a different message for us as well, such as A Wave of Reason is about scepticism, while A Glorious Dawn is about exploration. My personal favorite is We Are All Connected, but all of them are remarkable.

Symphony of Science is a huge success on YouTube, and I just wanted to say that I like many others really appreciate these songs for their positive energy, inspiration and overall effectiveness. A link awaits below. Spread the word about this project, and come visit http://www.symphonyofscience.com/forum as well to discuss and to suggest about it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/melodysheep

Retro Blog: F-Zero GX

For nostalgia's sake, I'd like to post about things from the past, generally 5 years or older. The first entry will be about F-Zero GX, a futuristic sequel to older titles such as F-Zero and F-Zero X for the SNES and N64.

Like any title, they are fastpaced racing games that are fun to play, especially F-Zero GX for me, which made me like the franchise more than say, Mario Kart, and unfortunately, we haven't seen a new title in years.

A rich cast of different characters with their respective cars await you inside this difficult game, giving us variety not only in likes and dislikes, but also in gameplay itself. I said difficult because Story Mode is especially a nightmare on harder difficulties and will guarantee let you retry for hundreds of times on certain chapters.

To accompany these characters, very specific songs embody their nature. It's one of the reasons that I really enjoyed playing this a lot with friends in the past. Not to mention the hidden video clips each of them have, sometimes to give us comedy, sometimes just for awesomeness.

The race courses of the game speak for themselves, at times you travel in a long tunnel with hazards, at other times you are going down several slopes and race on 3 very straightforward paths (your choice) in order to win. Like the rest of the game, the courses are varied and categorized into difficulty, and luckily there's plenty to pick from.

There is also a few customization options and gimmicks here and there (interviews come to mind) , but what F-Zero GX primarily is about is to enjoy the races. It doesn't have a random generating course like in F-Zero X but it certainly is a challenging game with lots of things to do if you have delved interest for it.

Sure, Nintendo is doing an excellent job with it's other franchises such as Kirby and Donkey Kong currently to bring them gloriously back with great games, and I know that Nintendo hasn't forgottten about F-Zero at all, but still, it doesn't hurt to say that I would like to see a new title once again, either for the Wii or even the 3DS.

To get to the point: where's mah sequel?

The Emerald Isle

Phew, what an active vacation i've just experienced! Just came back from Ireland, where I participated and observed Larry Tatum's Open International Kenpo Karate Championships. That's one name to call it, but we also call it an L.K.K.A. organisation. To be honest, this trip had it's ups and downs.

Let's just start from the beginning, with a large group of fourteen we went to this international tournament not just to show our techniques and forms, but to also enter seminars from Black Belt users and of course to enjoy some of Dublin, where we resided in the Green Isle Hotel. Our flight went well as well as transportation towards Schiphol and the hotel. After scouting out the area and packaging our stuff out, us seniors had our first seminar from the grand master himself, Larry Tatum. A bit unexpected, because from what I recall, other seminars were planned instead of this. However this was a unique moment to watch and listen to this legend for 2 hours.

On friday we basically had nothing to do regarding the tournament for the whole day except for the evening, so we went on a bus trip towards the centrum of Ireland's capital. Lucky for us it was the majority of the time a sunny day, unfortunately the bus trip itself was not good for the stomach for some of us including myself. Then we explored Dublin's spots and shops and we noticed the very expensive prize these people labeled onto their products. I guess Ireland really is in dire need of help.

After heading back to the hotel we experienced another seminar of Larry himself, however this time it only lasted for 30 minutes. After that, a 2 hour seminar of a certain Black Belt named Joseph would follow, going deeply into the subject "Gun disarm" or just basically weapon disarming. After hearing from the others that this was too tough to follow (and a good chance of hurting yourself) , most of us followed a private seminar by Kevin Mills instead, known for his Sublevel 4 lessons.

Saturday was the first big day for the juniors, and the amount of children present was so unexpected that instead of being finished around 13:00 PM, the tournament lasted late until 21:00 PM. Inbetween performing the things we exercised about generally speaking, both juniors and seniors in our group had to wait at least for an hour before we were able to go to the next division. So, while the juniors were participating, us seniors could only watch, support and record the things that were happening. Tiresome at some moments, I felt lazy.

That evening, some of us decided to eat in the hotel's restaurant. Well that sucked, I cannot describe it more precise than that. We had to wait for an hour after ordering our meals, but not before we witnessed that an individual and after that two others of our group managed to get their food before us, and one of them even had the same meal I ordered, all of that in a time span of 15 minutes. Turns out that the kitchen was very confused, the waiters did not communicate and both of them were slow moving. And by the way, the next day we went with the whole group this time, giving it another chance, but they foolishly served us our meals first while we clearly stated that we wanted to order drinks, very amateuristic.

So, on sunday the senior events happened, and that is when I did Long Form 2 in front of 3 referees including Romano, our own master, and my score was roughly a 7.6. I was content, but that's all I entered into for this year's tournament. Next time however, I will definitely try to enter more events including freestyling, which is a competitive form of fighting where you must gather points from your opponent to win. Also, our group managed to get 7 golden medals from various divisions, which is amazingly well done.

That evening, we had the traditional Brotherhood Dinner event, where everyone from every country would dine and dance together. Well, that was enjoyable, but what I only mentioned once up until now is that pretty much on every official day, there were massive delays. For example, we had to be gathered by 8 PM sharp for this event. We could finally enter the conference room at 21:15 PM. And at the beginning of the junior events, we had to all wait for an extra 30 minutes before the juniors were being called out to their destinations.

And then there is Patrick Kennedy himself, who by now has become a 10th degree Black Belt and also hosted this whole tournament on behalf of Larry Tatum. With all respect towards that degree achievement, everyone from our group noticed Pat's very, very stressful personality to control everything in the tournament, and that feeling already started at thursday evening.

I will only give out 2 examples of Pat's moments, but trust me, there were many more. First one happened during the senior events, where another Dutch group of Kenpo Karate fighters had a Self Defence performance for 3 referees (including yet again Romano) . There was only 1 attacker for the performance available though. After it was done, Pat interfered with it and said that according to the rules (I presume Irish rules) it is forbidden to only use 1 attacker and thus these two fighters were instantly disqualified. Which resulted into what you could call a cold chaotic moment of discussions and anger levels. The two Dutch fighters permanently left the tournament on their own, calling it a joke, while other Dutch fighters including from our own group could not believe what they just experienced.

Eventually, ALL of the other people in the tournament (not just limited to Dutch persons) were able to continue to do their performances that were different from the rule Pat mentioned: that it is necessary to use atleast 3 persons as attackers in Self Defence. Where as in the Netherlands that rule does not exist.

Second example is before we could enter the conference room to dine, Pat tried to talk to everyone in the reception room. After a second time, people were quieting down but small talk was still happening. And at the third time, Pat literally said that he would wait in the conference room itself for 5 minutes before returning in order for the people to start listening to him. Jesus, did that really happen? Yes it did. Really, thinking about it now, Pat kind of looks like Tourette Guy (YouTube that), just a coincidence heh, no offense.

Despite the low points of this trip, I had a very enjoyable time with my group, constantly laughing about many things, had fun with the tournament and it was exciting to see plus now I have also been to Ireland. Next year, Spain will be the location, but personally I still have to think if I will go to that one, since it is coming pretty fast in may already.

End of an Era

The original story known as the Saw franchise has now ended according to it's latest title, Saw 3D (2010). From the very beginning, back in 2004, after watching part 1 with intrigue and amazement, and after confirming that it's sequel was just as qualified as the original, I never could wait for another entry next year.

Indeed, the modus operandi behind the Saw franchise has always been the strongest point for me to watch them, besides the clever twists. And then of course, the brutally crafted traps from each part. After giving it some thought once upon a time, I always classified each Saw movie as thriller first, horror second.

Because the movies really are generally speaking about living out your life, overcoming the mistakes you have done and be reborn, through unspeakable horror of symbolising traps. Controversial decisions have been made by the serie's characters, but more onto that later. Now I know that the franchise is largely despised by many types of persons, such as veteran horror fans, critics who only look at the acting parts, sequel whiners as in "a trilogy is enough"(well done on the daring decision to continue the story beyond Saw III!) and the retarded ones that labeled this as "torture porn". That's like combining golf with porn in a random movie and call it a golf porn movie. Really's because that's what it's about apparently, EXCEPT there is no porn to be found in the Saw movies! No one jacks off to these traps. Reminds me of another moronic quote, ah yes, "Get a life", but enough about humanity's unstoppable word diseases that have been accepted into society.

But the movies never really lowered my interest for them, even if Saw V is the weakest one, they all have several or more connections towards each other, and because of that the whole plot was well thought out in most cases. And we have been through a lot actually, just try out a Saw marathon sometime, will you be able to keep up with the clues, the motivations for each character, the deadly victims and their traps and then be able to talk about plot holes? Sure, there are certainly plot holes, just look at the associated Saw forum boards on the internet, but imaginations do not limit ourselves towards thinking about the circumstances of each scene hmm? What I mean is that sometimes the writers would not be able to think about every alternate solution towards the situation, and I can see why.

Why? Because have you seen some of these traps? And what the human mind and Trial and Error bring to the table considering them? That's right, some of these characters were panicking so much, that is why they kept making mistakes even when they were being tested. Just to bring out an example, Bobby could had used his jeans to lessen the damage in his final test, but consider then that you were him himself, and you've just been through a twisted revival sequence, listening carefully each time to what Billy the doll had to say regarding instructions, and then you see your wife screaming in front of you, and the time keeps ticking. Yeah, consider that just for a moment.

The serie has seen plenty of interesting characters in my opinion. John Kramer, otherwise known as Jigsaw was of course the best character, especially when listening to him in Saw II, my personal favorite. And you know what? It was a good decision by the writers to diverse Jigsaw's accomplices so much from each other. Amanda was a short living one who messed up all of her own designed traps(if I remember clearly) and had even failed her own test in Saw III, Hoffman was on a personal ruthless crusade to judge everyone be it with Jigsaw's methods or by his own, murdering behaviour, in order to never get caught. I believe he really was ready to go on a massacre after killing Jill and already leaving a bloodbath behind in both Saw VI and 3D(by the way, I prefer to call it VII or 7), all because of his sister's death.

And then there is the one person shrouded the most in mystery after being one of the earliest survivors of Jigsaw. Dr.Gordon lives. The truth is out. And in his final scenes in Saw 3D, it is clear that Jigsaw's legacy will live, beyond the story, as he and his fellow "pig men" show us that the copycats won't die as long as the motivation for doing this madness exists. They will try to assimilate him and his ideals as precise as possible. He ends the story just in time, and we see flashbacks of confirmed theories that the doctor was in fact helping Jigsaw in medical courses all along.

The majority of people might have disliked this all, but I am sure that this era of torture will be missed, primarily because of it's storyline few have acknowledged to be so fascinating throughout the whole deal. It will never be a series for everyone however, knowing that we are dealing with an extreme bloody series with plenty of suspense, controversial moments, mind blowing twists, creepy dolls and a great story most of all. It is definitely, definitely my favorite horror series.

Hello Zepp. Goodbye Dr.Gordon.

Let's go criticize the game industry

This is actually an old blog of mine I wrote back at IGN.com, but because their new blog system fails by removing my old ones (lucky enough I backed them up), I decided to bring back some of those old blogs for a second time in here. Enjoy.

"We are currently in a spoiled game industry. Long time gamers can no longer catch that special feeling they have for their personal favorite video games from the past. Casual new entering gamers are enjoying a whole wide new world with games such as Brain Training and Wii Fit, socializing and interacting with them in an intelligent way. Game reviewers keep saying the same critic points for so many laughable video game attempts from game developers that their rivalry is starting to show. All the while MMORPG's and electronic tournaments are dominating on a global scale and single players are slowly being pushed back for multiplayer games...

But not every personal favorite video game has to be from the past. Make no mistake, that very special feeling can still be real during this period. It's just that as a child, your imagination and fascination were much larger than now, so it is quite hard to find one again. You will just have to use the right resources and your own opinion to discover a great game once again. As an example I admire the game Killer 7 for it's very large concept of risk involved. That game truly has a special meaning for me, as it is a grand show of original elements blended in with a great style which never bored me, instantly making Grasshopper Manufacture one of my favorite game developers these days. That only applies to me though, because Killer 7 is truly a love it or hate it game, because of the very unusual presentation.

The wave of new casual gamers is of course fantastic, growing the user base of the game industry to even larger amounts. Gaming is slowly starting to show the other side of the coin. One side is the close minded cult following, the other side is the mainstream of "blockbusting" games, concepts which are designed for the masses. Like Yin and Yang, a person can blend through both sides exchanging through his/her life. A critic point is that in this age, too many casual friendly video games are being made. But let's be honest with this, has there even been made too much before? I don't think so. So let it glide through our lives, and see what the future holds for us.

Game reviews are either intriguing written, or copy pasted shamelessly and with no motivation. I keep noticing myself that many gamers want to see their favorite classic game once again in this age, but then slapped with a different title. Many, many want to see another, or better said, the next Symphony of the Night or the next Ocarina of Time, if you know what I mean. I believe that too many are close minded about this. They do not accept Twilight Princess or Dawn of Sorrow as the next champion, instead, they feel that they are inferior, not giving the same satisfaction as their preceded ones.

Being a "victim" of this means that the game industry itself is also a "victim". People are greedy, that's for sure. They want more more more, almost perfect like games, and game developers are engulfed with stress to combat the question for more. A good example of hungering the gamers is the genre known as Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Personally I am definitely not a fan of it, to each his own, but this might be the best example I can give to keep having the MMORPG gamers satisfied. Developers keep updating with patches, offering new content and fixing up bugs to keep things running smooth in the massive server worlds. It definitely is a different way of playing each time something new is released.

Should such a spoiled gift such as that be made for every other game genre as well? I definitely do not think so, because then, the developers and perhaps also the gamers will constantly search for the perfect, balanced and fun game, which will never happen, as there are too many factors interfering. For some genres, such as the Fighter, I can see it happen. Tweaking Ryu's moves a bit in order to flow better with other street fighters, buffing up Chun Li's throw, little things like that. On second thought, popular competitive games could be even more great with patches. But not single player games. I strongly believe that single players should remain what they present, other than offering downloadable content. A remake of a single player game is an exception, but please developers, do not start patching up single player games, it might shatter someone's memories of that particular game for sure.

Which brings me to the criticize on the Game Industry. Right now, Hardcore gamers are sick of the average sequels, the many ripoffs, the pointless movie to game adaptions and the worthless crap I won't even mention. The game industry is definitely spammed full with these kind of games, which is sad to see. So what can we make out of all of this?

We are spoiled.

We have experienced so many different video games already, that it keeps getting harder and harder to find a true gem. We want more, we want originality, but most of all, we want to have good old fun. Innovation and originality are not the only things developers can use to make a game GotY material. With clever thinking, looking at the market, one can also use other "weapons", such as using a combination of genres, or reviving an old serie, which is the case for Mega Man 9.

Ironically, the concept of reviving something in the movie industry is completely screwed up at this moment, because of the fact that EVERY MOVIE gets remade these days. Everyone, except for newcomers notices this. But this is not the right blog to talk about that industry.

So in overall, I hope to see that the game industry will keep surprising us with it's potential to make true entertainment, despite having many negative games on sale. True entertainment means something different for everyone, but we can all relate to it."

Farewell, the Power to be Independent

Confusing title? Well, I just heard that my bosses at Mastervolt have decided to end the contract because of insufficient knowledge available for electrical engineering still after working there for 2 months. It's sad and too bad to know that I lack that knowledge to keep up with my colleagues, because they invested too much time into me trying to understand all these tasks while their own work was on hold.

Not that I was a bad worker at all, because they praised me for my personality plus my swift and hard working way of getting the products "done" each day. It's just that too much time was constantly used everytime a new task was waiting in front of me, delaying everyone else from their own work. Indeed, "the Power to be Independent" (Mastervolt's slogan) was missing for me.

I feel sad...but hope never dies. I know that I can instantly roll back in temporarily towards my old job as a crew trainer at McDonalds, and that there is a certain IT company that was stubborn enough to keep sending job offerings while knowing that I had a job already. Well, atleast the 2 weeks that are coming up are still being paid by Mastervolt, so I have got time to let this awkward feeling disappear and to instantly jump into a new direction once again.

It's just a job after all, and all else that comes around that is taken for granted. It will all be okay once again, as I will continue to fight.

How to make Resident Evil 6

Capcom, do us a favour and go back to the good old moments of eerie stuff found at the retro Resident Evils. After you are done doing your thing with Resident Evil: The Mercenaries as an expanded Mercenaries game as well as Resident Evil: Revelations for fixing up some questions in the plot after 5, please consider going back to scary games for the franchise once again. It is the only thing truly missing from Resident Evil these days.

What you should do:

Bring back the genuine moments of "something is not right", such as a hanging random Umbrella researcher back at the residence in Resident Evil Remake or hell, plenty of other moments from that game. What has entirely been missing from Resident Evil 5 has been any scary moments at all, other than the gross out moments from Las Plagas enemies, if you can still call it gross out after playing 4 already (who by the way atleast had 1 area that was kind of intense, where the Regenerators await).

Maybe it's the fixed background camerawork that should return at points in Resident Evil 6, in order to provide creepy spots towards us and the characters. The gameplay however is very well done, as many others have already copied the over the shoulder perspective in the past years. So, to summarize, keep the gameplay intact with here and there some new things to offer, but bring back the horror.

What you shouldn't do:

Rely on the Umbrella storyline, or remnants of that oncemore. Umbrella's story ended with 4's introduction, and the leftovers of that company have been dealt with. All that remains are sold viruses throughout other organizations and a certain Alex Wesker, who has just been in time created before the end of 5. I wouldn't care less about an Alex Wesker at the moment, but the viruses such as T and G can provide plenty of storylines on their own by the people who abuse it.

Reboot the story in the same way like 4 did, but go beyond the main cast. Instead, introduce two new main characters like 2 did and just go on with that, maybe have one unlockable character after beating the game or in an extra mode but stop bringing back everyone from the dead, like you already did with Barry Burton and Rebecca Chambers. Not that they are truly dead, but you get my point.

Instead, start out fresh, bring back the horror, remain from getting repetitive and unleash survival horror with scarce amounts of supplies once again. The gameplay is there, however the experience will definitely weaken if you decide to go predictable once again Capcom.

Top Ten Horror Movies

It's been a while since my last blog, but this weekend I will update with 2 new entries, this is one of them. Top lists are most of the time interesting to read, given that the entries in them are well placed, even though this is all strictly opinion related. Atleast I hope so, I wouldn't want to think that someone was forced to place this over the other because of the mainstream opinion.

Anyway, starting with my top ten current horror movies in order, I can say that the words "favorite" and "best"  mean the same to me contrary to popular belief that they differ. So this list really is my "favorite" as well as my "best" list. Some of these movies are definitly not recommended to everyone on this planet.

10-Hellraiser (1987)/I had a hard time deciding on the tenth spot on this list since several other titles were also fighting for it, but I gotta say that although part II is highly enjoyable as well, the original movie really has nothing going wrong about it. Hellraiser is a very original horror movie, using a sadism/masochism theme to explain the weird story to the viewer. It involves beings called Cenobites, which state themselves as "Demons to some, angels to others", who can be summoned by the one who is able to control the puzzle box that can give you either pleasure or pain. The horror scenes are bloody and sickening at first sight. There are also effective nightmare scenes to watch, and there is a creepy revenge plot playing as well. Perhaps the true creep of this movie is really Frank Cotton himself, and not the Cenobites who are just tools and bound by the puzzle box. Be sure to check this one out, it's bloody magic is hard to resist.

9-The Devils (1971)/Powerful controversial movie, a hidden but nasty gem with great dialogue scenes and an interesting conflict between religion and politics. Beware, some bizarre mind fuck horror scenes are found inside, usually involving sex and torture, not necessarily together. Similar movies are Caligula (1979) and Salò (1975), but The Devils easily has more to offer than just shock and awe. Be sure to watch the widescreen version, as I have been told that other versions are inferior.

8-A Serbian Film (2010)/This most recent entry is what you may have known already from an earlier post, the most extreme horror movie I have seen yet. With a ton of different kinds of horrifying scenes happening, each time actually getting more worse than before, A Serbian Film is filled with moments which would either offend and disgust the viewer or satisfy and mind blow those which have been looking for one of the most gruesome films of cinema yet. From what I have seen in shocking cinema atleast, and I already have seen the majority of the most notorious ones. Again, be extremely warned when you decide to watch this. It definitely is not a walk in the park, it's not suited for work and many will be negative upon having seen it all from beginning to end. Determined to achieve cult status for sure.

7-The Evil Dead (1981)/Respect to Sam Raimi to have made this incredible horror movie with such a low budget, the most interesting trivia in my mind once I had seen this "ride". The trilogy's other parts have plenty of comedy parts, but the original is actually horrific, with the exception of a few funny moments. The Evil Dead is very intense, especially in it's camera work and special effects. It has a simple but enjoyable plot involving a book of the dead. It is also one of the goriest movies out there, especially for the 80's. The suspense and fear are well presented because of the effective point of view fast movements and the well placed jump moments. The evil beings are not zombies, but possessed demons in my opinion. The only scene which still strikes me as odd is the "tree rape" scene, but other than that The Evil Dead is everything most of the horror fans can ask for, it truly is a great enjoyable horror movie.

6-Martyrs (2008)/Another very nasty movie, and the best French horror movie I have seen yet, Martyrs is classified as a torture based movie,but also as a disturbed revenge plot, so it's split up in two parts actually. Eventually it becomes clear after the gruesome deaths of many characters that there exists a hidden organization with the belief that it is possible to witness a glimpse of the after-life by performing on nearly to death tortured ones, changing them into true martyrs or, witnesses of the other side. Some of these scenes are difficult to watch and hear, such as when the metal head gets lifted or of course how could I forget, the endless beating on a tortured one by a macho, macho man. Surprisingly Martyrs ends with a twist ending, giving us many possibilities as to why the head of the organization suicides and what was it that the victim whispered into her. It certainly is a scary thought however that maybe, somewhere in this crazy world, there are still underground lairs to be found below family houses where torturers are active. What an experimenting cult of horror.   

5-Braindead (1993)/The ultimate king of gore, so ultimate it is even hilarious and silly at times. As the most over the top horror film out there, there is a lot, A LOT of memorable bloody scenes to enjoy. These zombies are so unusual that the weird behaviour they show are spontaneously also laughable, like the disgusting but funny ear scene, or the flying baby in the park etc. . The plot starts out slow and typical minus some poorly made "rat monkey" in a cage somewhere. There's a guy constantly taking care of his mother, and then there's a typical girl the guy falls in love with, but then the amazing line of "Your mother ate my dog!" happens and from there on, things get crazier and crazier and literally non stop until the whole house is soaked with blood, organs and limbs from a whole party event. You have got to see this movie to believe the reviews people have made for this. It's kind of a shame that there never has been a gorier movie made yet, but oh well, it never hurts to rewatch this another time!

4-The Thing (1982)/An amazing piece of work, a great remake (unlike the gazillion poor ones these days) , a thinking man's story, a clever theme playing of never knowing for sure who to trust and an intriguing, isolated location of cold dread. Also one of the most simple yet effective main themes playing, The Thing is often paralled to Alien (1979) for both being science fiction horror classics. It features a shape shifting monster of abomination, from a crunching belly to a walking head spider to an undescribable horrific monster that fucks up the whole blood analysis scene, The Thing has awesome special effects to behold, so much better than pretty much any CGI gore or blood. And the plot is just great for a horror movie, kind of similar to The Shining (1980) in it's basic setting. You can just feel the tension and unease of the characters, as they try to understand what they are dealing with.

3-Black Christmas (1974)/The best slasher movie out there because of it's great atmosphere, creepy effects, silent killings and disturbing ending. There are countless of slasher movies out there, each more bloodier than others, but none can compare to one of the earliest ones released, again, from what I have seen so far. It's such a great feat to know perfectly well that the silent killer is hiding in the attic for us viewers while the victims have no clue until near the end that the disturbing calls are coming from inside the house (!). Black Christmas isn't gory in any way, but it definitely is one of the most satisfying, chilling horror movies out there with an excellent ending, never knowing for sure who Billy is and most of all why.

2-The Exorcist (1973)/Minus the somewhat outdated voice of the speaking demon inside Regan, this classic horror movie easily stands on the very top of showing us very shocking scenes from the seventies in brutal and disturbing ways. If you are a believer in religion, thumbs up, this movie might be an instant nightmare for you. I have only seen this once so far, but there are so many scary things awaiting inside for you (given that you haven't read spoilers about it) that it's pretty much impossible to be prepared for this unless your mind is at some other place. And not just the same old tricks, nooo, there's plenty of things to be found, including fast flashing scenes of a creepy face, a masturbating blood crucifix scene, the calm before the storm scenes (in particular when the exorcist faces the Pazuzu statue in Iraq), creepy hospital scenes and my favorite, the spider walk from the stairs scene. The Exorcist deserves all the respect it gets for being one of the scariest movies out there, miles above the majority. That goes for many of us.

1-Eraserhead (1977)/However if we are talking about a concrete looking nightmare captured on film, look no further than Eraserhead, my controversial number 1 spot. No doubt are there viewers of the movie that were not engulfed by it nor was it scary, but hey, I cannot lie to myself now. I honestly can say that back in 2006 with my headphone on, this movie had me grasped around it's finger because of the dreadful atmosphere, the bizarre situations and disturbing horror effects and sounds. Nothing makes sense at first, however I have read through very in depth several theories as to what it all means. All I can say for now is that I was frozen to fear, really, whenever Henry Spencer looked into a dark spot and I would never expect what would happen next. I strongly urge you to watch this truly horrific movie alone in the dark, with a big headphone and the volume up in order to be sucked inside in perhaps David Lynch's most messed up realm he has created yet before he went on to create other great movies such as The Elephant Man (1980) and Mulholland Drive (2001). Eraserhead is my personal best horror movie, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind to eventually come across a superior horror movie.
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And there you have it, my top ten current list of horror movies. Some honorable mentions I can give by the way are À l'intérieur (2007), [REC] (2007), The Shining (1980), Ebola Syndrome (1996) and The Entity (1981).

Let us see how the next decade will pack up for the horror genre of cinema.

Tribute to One Piece

As a big Anime fan of TV series, most of them available have been shamelessly similar to others, as they tend to simply copy traditional visualisations of the Japanese based cartoons. Over the top emotional responses, big eyes, the most strangest stories possible and everyone seems to swallow it all up. I'm talking very general in here. Honestly, most of the series aren't even worth watching because once you have seen a popular one, most of the time you will have seen plenty and plenty of similar ones in the past or future.

A few selected have been able to touch me with joy, respect and other positive feelings though. Some honorable mentions are Hajime no Ippo (great motivating story about strength) , Texhnolyze (dystopian science fiction about prosthesis and has a dark story) , Legend of the Galactic Heroes (if you want a genuine epic story, look no further) and my second favorite Anime, Monster (the most brilliant and darkest thriller that never let go of me).

But the one and only currently airing series that has practically never lost it's magic during it's countless episodes is One Piece, one of if not the most famous Anime in Japan available. As to why it is my favorite Anime I have seen so far, there are many reasons for that which I am about to describe, but it is most of all about an enormous story that if possible, I would had probably very much liked to live in.

With countless of background story, mysteries, twists and lore, One Piece already has a lot to offer before even beginning on the rest of it's awesomeness. The series tends to have a natural flow of eagerness towards me because either it is busy laughing my ass out, or it's thrilling me with the craziest and entertaining fights, or it's using drama and introductions to remind us that the situations have depth to them plus the story has to carry on and cannot hang too long onto the already established things.

Humor is nothing new in One Piece, as each episode almost ALWAYS has atleast one funny joke for the viewer to enjoy. And that is something really impressive, considering the vast amount of episodes and situations already available. Some of the oldest music from the earlier airings of the Anime are now, like ten years later, STILL playing, and it is still effective to listen to. The opening songs are sometimes very effective and make me excited for the current arc (a temporary storyline that is split up into smaller sections).

Perhaps the best thing about One Piece are it's countless interesting characters. From a lovable, strong protagonist team to the best villains I have ever witnessed in Anime, to the even more countless characters that only appear briefly or until an arc is over, literally, One Piece has atleast one character for everyone to enjoy. I could probably talk hours already about each famous character and their development, but I am moving on now to explain more about why I love this series.

The series has done very succesfully so far by being as original as possible with each new arc appearing, and the world of pirates keeps growing as we continue to watch this beyond epic voyage of romance happening. Unlike famous Animes such as Naruto or Bleach, One Piece never shows bad repetitiveness and fillers (filler ins exclusively for the Anime in order to give the creator of the Manga more time to continue the story) are very rarely unwatchable. It also is leaps beyond them with originality and unlike them, it seems that One Piece has only just started regarding it's huge story to tell.

It's a sad fact that an English translation raped the magic of One Piece to the West, by changing and censoring A LOT of stuff, cutting away entire arcs and making stupid replacements instead. Fortunately, the Japanese version will always be available and if you are curious to start watching this giant series then by all means watch the original version from the start. Get through the introduction episodes and arcs, and once you have arrived around say, Episode 99, then you should be able to start really appreciating it. (beware of spoilers constantly though)

One Piece deserves all of the praise it is getting for making a wonderful fantasy tale about the age of pirates, and I will definitely keep watching this amazing series and let myself get engulfed by all of it.

Metroid: Other M

We are dealing with a serious mixed bag here. Nintendo and Tecmo have delivered a new take for the Metroid franchise, but not all things are an improvement over the incredible Prime trilogy or the classic side scrolling 2D action platformers.

There is lots to say about Other M, and as I kept playing, both positive and negative thoughts remained in my mind. First, the good stuff:

+A variety of gameplay, obviously because of the different perspectives, including first person shooting, 2,5D and 3D action and least of all a 3rd person over the shoulder view. I said least of all because this mode is only viewed when Samus refuses to speed up. I suppose it is included to feel some kind of suspense towards the current situation, but I could had lived without it. But the rest of the different modes are good entries, giving us a bit of both Prime and classic gameplay (In 3D mostly though).

+It plays fast and smoothly. You gotta get used a bit to the controls and the responses towards each action but eventually I could get the hang out of it and control the gameplay.

+Cutscenes are impressive, well designed and fancy visuals.

Then, the bad stuff:

-Although I have no problem that there is no longer an isolation feeling, just like with Corruption mostly, the story and the direction it takes is ultimately just not interesting. It feels like someone thought it was needed to keep the player interested with familiar stereotypic characters and typical science fiction dialogue to support the game. Yes, the cut scenes are pretty as well as the voice cast, but believe it or not, Metroid never really needed to go steps beyond just logging in reports made by Samus herself in older games. Still, a nice try, but if you're gonna make a story around Samus's latest adventure, might as well make something thrilling out of it.

-The dodge system is your best friend in Other M. It's so good that is is abuseable in ridiculous ways. The 3D gameplay suffers from this system because it is always rewarding to get to those invincible moments of dodging and jumping on a creature in order to blast it to death.

-The authorization excuse of not being able to use late game advantages for Samus is at first cleverly introduced, but then becomes stupid. A good example is when Samus refuses to use the Varia Suit in the heat based stage until Adam allows it. As minor as this whining is, it still does count.

-Forgettable enemies and environments. Yes, some classic creatures return (I honestly forgot their specific names) but it is most of all bland stuff. Plus the locations felt very generic, none stood out for me.

-Stupid sudden moments when Samus forces you to scout the area in first person and then randomly find a spot where her scan visor activates. This was not executed in an exciting manner, in fact, I miss that great scan visor from the Prime trilogy. Not that it's needed for a Metroid game, but if you are gonna use that visor, might as well share the content of each scanned object.

-Proceeding through the game can be confusing, because the backgrounds are often blurred as to how to manoeuvre using Samus's jumps and morph ball. Some of the bomb blasts in the game also felt far too hidden for me.

-I really, really missed the ambience music here. For crying out loud, where was the good music Nintendo!?

Strangely, Other M reminds me of Star Fox Adventures on the Nintendo Gamecube, for they are both a new take for each franchise and both have dissapointed me. Unfortunately to say that but it is true. It's really sad that Other M has become my least liked Metroid game yet (I am not taking Hunters into consideration because I instantly disliked it the moment I played that demo years ago) , what a shame, after so many excellent titles, it seemed that the franchise would always be strong. But sometimes, too much chance can hurt the overall game.

EDIT: After beating the game plus that extra mission, not much has changed from what I already percieved positively and negatively. There are some returning bosses such as the inevitable Ridley, but also a cloned Queen Metroid, Nightmare and even Phantoon, but it's sad that they were reused in this poor title. It truly is a dissapointing game for me. Let's hope that Nintendo will notice the critic points surrounding the title and for example give us a great 2D Metroid title again, with Metroid Dread as most likely the canditate.

The Venus Project

Fellow internet surfers, meet The Venus Project during your busy lives.

Shortly summarized, it is a future envision project headed by the veteran social engineer Jacque Fresco along with partner Roxanne Meadows. I met both of them during the World Lecture Tour on the 26th of June 2010. It was a very hot day and me and a buddy of mine went to Eindhoven to attend the lecture which lasted for approximately 3 hours. I even filmed a good part of Jacque's message, surely inspiring the audience which was intriguely listening to a man thinking outside of the box.

What is it about? It's about the successor of the current monetary economy, a resource-based economy. If you still don't understand what I am talking about, I suggest that you follow http://www.thevenusproject.com/ and http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/, read the information there, and especially be sure to view Zeitgeist (2007) and Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008) for further clarification. In order to cleanse the world from poverty, war, crime and corruption in the biggest way imaginable, we must destroy the monetary system, share the resources and needs as a common heritage for all the world's people in order for humanity, nature and technology to co-exist in an equilibrium state for a long time.

Fresco goes in great depth explaining his vision and theories, handling out great examples about all sorts of topics, religion and politics being the "bad ones" and science and technology being the "good ones" basically in present time. The Venus Project isn't an utopia, but it sure as hell does smack the monetary system hard, speaking of the benefits it could bring. Politics for example are although well presented and logical currently, in the long run I would rather have it removed and instead let science take over for dealing with problems they understand, perhaps even at this very moment, if it was possible.

It will be very difficult and very time consuming to let this become reality, since enormous amounts of preparations and consequences must be dealt with. But there is no doubt in my mind though that I would prefer this future period of time instead of the rich, the middle and the poor classes, and all of the evil it brings with it, roughly speaking of the monetary system.

Before I forget, I read an interesting comment on a YouTube video that scarcity should not be forgotten before we implement The Venus Project, if humanity allows it to happen someday. I agree, it is atleast one of the many things to consider before starting on this huge ambitious project.

One more thing, if you are interested in upcoming videos regarding The Venus Project and The Zeitgeist Movement, look no further than to expect Zeitgeist: Moving Forward in late 2010 and Earth 2.0, which is coming soon.

Killer 7: The Game Screaming for Originalism

Guaranteed to divide gamers, Killer 7 is the most original game I have played yet which constantly kept me intrigued by it's content.

It's in my top 3 single player games simply because of it's amazing original content unlike anything else out there as far as I know. It really sounds weird when I have played many AAA titles before and after, but the effect Killer 7 lasted on me is still present. Not even Grasshopper Manufacture have or Suda51 has made a greater game since then.

Talking first about the gameplay itself, it won't be one of the most satisfying ones out there, but it's so simply crafted while harmonizing with the surreal craziness of the game's other factors that it just works. As some sort of controllable on-rail first person shooter mixed in with solving unusual tasks while surrounded by strange characters, the game starts confusing and ends much more confusing in the end.

The soundtrack is vastly varied with some very catchy tunes to listen to, with Tecks Mecks, Russian Roulette, Sweet Relief and Election Plot standing on top as my favorite ones. With mixed genres thrown in, you never know what kind of music is coming up next in each of the chapters.

The graphics and sounds being created are so unusual with cel shaded beauty in it's own way and disturbing laughing enemies surpressing your movements. The presentation is just wow, and again, the random factor is highly present. There are so many objects and situations that you will never see again, unless the chance has come to parody something out of Killer 7, but I doubt that.

You see, to really appreciate Killer 7, you must learn to understand the rules of the game, which is heavily emphasized by the story. Killer 7 easily became a work of art after uncovering the difficult symbolism plot. And throwing the word "art" in the game industry is very rare and a big deal because so far, pessimistic critics have denied that art even exist in games. From what I have gathered so far atleast.

However, despite all of this praise, it truly is "One man's trash is another man's treasure". Be very warned that this game might instantly turn your excitement down, but if you're looking for a milestone in originality with a deep plot that can easily compete with deep movie or deep book plots, this is it.

A new direction

Mastervolt, an international company who strives to be the best regarding energy supply. I't's a professional business to work with and I am glad to be a part of it.

It is roughly divided into 3 market sections:

-Maritime energy
-Automotive energy
-Solar energy

Quoting a bit of our profile here now:

"For these market sectors, Mastervolt develops, manufactures and distributes high-quality electrotechnical systems for independent energy supply. With its head office in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and 7 of its own branches worldwide, Mastervolt sells these systems in more than 60 countries throughout the world via a network of distributors and dealers. "

So far, my work inside quality control & repair has been a learning course of electro technology and in addition to logistics which I already was a little familiar with in one of my previous jobs.

Originally I had a job application at Mastervolt for an IT position, but because of lack of knowledge (probably because I have been looking for a full year in the IT industry and the knowledge slowly faded away) they offered me a place at a different department.

It's been 2 busy weeks, and I still need to develop with my new colleagues, but knowing already that this is a relaxing environment where people offer their help and you can walk anywhere in, even inside the CEO's office, to ask something or just to have a talk, I think I am in a good spot.

Time will show how my career will develop, let's hope it will be most of all a positive ride.

A Serbian Film

Starting with a movie review.

My first Serbian movie. I already knew a bit about Serbians from Defense of the Ancients matches, and it seems that history has not been well for the country. As the director has said, this movie carries a message about the current status of Serbia. The movie's cinematography and camera work are surprisingly professional. The writing for this adult story is well done and interesting, and the buildup before all of the disturbance was tempting. I knew nothing of the details, thus increasing the effectiveness of the scenes. After the movie ended, I can safely say that out of my previous viewed shock movies such as Salò (1975) , Nekromantik (1987) or Men Behind the Sun (1988) that this is like an upgraded, renewed, heck, modernized new look at the dark topics of life.

Let me spoil you the disturbing parts eh? Aside from children watching porno and it being a semi pornography movie in general, we've got sodomy, newborn porn, bleed peeing, dick cutting, rough sexual violence, very fucking fast shock scenes, torture, extreme gore including a head sliced off the body, which let blood fly everywhere (And no, not in a ridiculous way like in Kill Bill, but in a creepy way) while the main character continues to be what seems to be the only thing that comes to mind; a fuck rage.

We've also got regurgitating, dick biting, black blood, drug abuse, gay rape, neck breaks, head banging, head smashing, eye rape, cannibalism, harassment, nightmares, child porn, morphing voices and family suicide. Wow, amazing, not to mention the high tension the music accompanies the movie, this has easily become the most shocking movie I have seen yet. And I mean that with full concrete persuasion. Considering the very extreme nature of this movie and the effect it had on me, I cannot justify such a horrific movie with just a passable rating of a 6. No sir, for an extraordinary controversial movie such as this, I am giving it an 8.

If you're one of the hardcore guys like me who have been searching for a truly shocking movie while at the same time not being poorly made such as August Underground's Mordum (2003) or a dull plot such as Aftermath (1994) , then this is it. This is a well made movie with buildup at the beginning, extreme nature with all the juicy details visible, suggestive or not and even a thoughtful plot that might go unnoticed for most viewers because of the vast amount of horror!

In conclusion, this is the ultimate quality shock movie I have seen yet, and I can recommend it to everyone who wants to have seen it all. For the rest of us, for your sanity, mark my words and never, ever see this movie if you are easily offended.

Rating 8.5

- Introduction -

Hello internet, welcome to Flok Factory, where I type in usual blogs and others that come to mind. I decided to use Blogger because http://www.ign.com/ has become sloppy and inconvenient to use as a blog service. Therefore all of the gaming blogs for example will now be displayed here, at this central blog site.

Enjoy my opinion, or give me feedback.

P.S.

Flok is my original nickname in real life, however people around the internet tend to use this name as well before I get the chance to do so. Ergo, I decided to use Flow_Rush as my second general nickname. Just clearing up the possible confusion here.