Chardo's Headquarters

Dont you sometimes get that feeling that your ideals and expressions change completely over the years? I often feel that when I see my old posts and cant help but feel "did I type this piece of shit?" well, it often feels like that for me, so have pretty much decided to re-write most of my posts these days, bear with me.

Raw has been, is, and probably will be my lifetime project, as the supposed writer and guionist I am, its the "Big story" I have been improving for about 10 years, we all have these kind of projects we like to talk about every now and then, as I have grew up, I always end up talking about these "small worlds" we have with fellow internet and real-life friends, and really get inspired by doing so, so in this section, I humbly type what my world is about, and hopefully someday it will be a real game, comic, or just a story you may stumble upon, that is why I start here, so someday this stops being just dreams and someday turns into something real.

Introduction:

Its hot, its dark, its full of fire and industrial technology, its the underground world of RAW, a dirty and violent place where freaky rusted technology and fighting meet, gigantic caverns, deep tunnels made of rusted steel, abandoned factories, invading plagues of fungy and giant spiders, its like living in a post-apocaliptic nightmare world.

feel like getting out of this world? too bad, getting to the surface means going through a thick shell of hard stone never pierced before, or more like, the technology to pierce that ceiling is too expensive and obsolete, anyways, who wants to go to the surface? there are not even records left of people going to the surface, people have lived underground THAT long, its just general history: that one of the many human space colonies once settled to this giganted piece of rock thousands of years ago.

time to get sad? not really, the civilization in RAW is not a depressing, dying one, in fact, humans are as hot-blooded and strong willed as ever, they are just adjusted to a different environment than other civilizations, life here consists of the willing of the strongests, in general, people make a living from finding whatever resources they can, moving convoys, there are so many unknown human colonies and convoys lost in the underground world, that you never really know what you will find the next day from drifting in some tunnel, there are also, settled amazingly huge metropolies, what you could call the "normal people" the lifes of these can relate to how we normally live, they have internet, and good transportation.

Raw takes place in a special region, called "El matadero" this one, is probably one of the most violent regions in the entire planet, apart from the fact it is on a much lower level, reaching the core of the planet, making it a very hot place, the people here only live from 2 ways, stealing or bounty hunting, the first kill and steal whatever they feel like, while the other do a living by keeping a watch from the killers and stealers, usually by killing them.

its a complete outlaw area, full of bounty hunter clans and warzones, even crazier, there is a law that if an outlaw with a bounty, kills another head bounty, his own bounty gets "paid" the exact amount of the person he killed, resulting in every important person in the area being a possible "target" for the safety of another.

most of these bounty and outlaw clans seek either survival or wealth, its a never ending cycle of killing and being killed, but even in this horrible region, spawned from an underground civilization, there is a very interesting clan in particular.

a clan with objetives that would even look ridiculous for normal, people from the cities, this clan seeks to go to the surface, what this humanity has forgotten, to find out what is left of that place.

as far as I have told you, RAW sounds like some sort of Sci-fi themed star wars movie of sorts, except, the focus on this story is different from most stories.

first of all, this story doesnt seek an "end" a conclusion, something like this clan finding the surface and THE END AND SO ON HUMANS FOUND A BETTER PATH, I want to create a world were many stories can come up, a world that can do more than just a "cool story".

settled that, RAW is inspired on delivering Hardcore, speedy and intelligent Fights, some inspired on the so hated shounen-manga genre, introducing freaky characters with interesting battle styles and catchy skills, fighting in interesting industrial ruins and caves in fact you can compare RAW to games like metal gear or guilty gear (Raw could turn out to be a game) where you are introduced these interesting enemies or situations for yourself to defeat, RAW is a combination of the fighting in guilty gear and the adventure feeling and twists of metal gear, in a different, post-apocaliptic underground setting.

so mainly, the story is about this clan seeking a way to go to the surface, while it tries to survive from the many other killers and situations that take place in "el matadero".

Shitstorm incoming, Im doing this because Ironically, Ps3 is the console right now that has the most games I want for it, its basically an upgrade for ps2 fans, before you go commenting about how much 599$ is (its actually about 459$ though) let me explain why I decided to buy a Big black Meat roaster.

The list

1.- BlazBlue

Blazblue is an indirtect sequel to guilty gear which takes place about 10 years afterwards, You can notice a graphical 2D improvement from previous Arc system games in this one, from the high-resolution screenshots, its still not as gorgeous looking as one would expect from the ps3, but its an improvement anyways from a dying and loved genre, its also the gameplay which defines these games, and Arc systems has managed to keep the Guilty gear gameplay balanced for about 4 years, so I trust them in this game.

2.- Disgaea 3

The amount of content this game seems to have is monstrous, its seems to be taking Jrpg tactic gameplay to a different level, the anime chibi designs also look better than ever, while the internet has lately been blaming Disgaea as "NIS grindan games" Im the kind of guy who doesnt really focus on this, while the game lets you level up to unimaginable levels, I like to beat each following stage with the lowest grinding possible, exploiting the characters skills and distribution to the best, Disgaea 3 looks much more amazing than Disgaea 2 ever did back in the ps2.

3.- Tales of Vesperia

its a TALES game., While I dont know much from this, Im a hardcore follower of the series because barely any of them has dissapointed me at all, I have avoided the "badly recommended" ones like Legendia or Innocence (they werent even designed by the original studio) but I still plan to test this one.

4.- Metal gear 4

Quite possibly the most anticipated Metal gear after how amazing MG3 turned out to be.

5.- Devil may cry 4

Its out for the XBOX360 too, but I dont plan on getting one.

6.- UT3

I dont have computer powerful enough to play this, Unreal tournament series have been always my favorite First person shooter games, for their blindingly fast gameplay, stunning catchy techno themes and inspiring, epic stage designs, I always considered UT games as what first person shooters can manage to be when taken to extreme levels, They are fast and easy to play, unlike the slowdown floaty dissapointment that Halo always was to me, I never liked halo, not for its popularity, but for the fact it felt, Slow.

7.- Resident evil 5

Its an improved RES 4 from first looks, whats not to like.

8.- Orange box

Same reason as UT3, I want to play this so bad, yet Im really happy with my current laptop and its obscure, easy to run japanese games (Tohou, cave story, Melty blood) to spend on a more powerful computer, so a Ps3 with Orange is the way to go.

8 games is more than enough, The wii only has 4 games ( Smash brawl, Metroid corruption, Oboro murasama yotouden and No more heroes) and the X-box only has 3, Bioshock (Devil may cry 3 and Tales of vesperia are also coming out for it).

I am not really posting this to start a console war, I personally dont hate any of the 3 consoles, I already have a wii (THE ONLY FUCKING REASON IS BRAWL) and I often go to a friends house who has a 360 just to play Call of duty 4 , Im just stating an interesting fact, that there are people out there that just want a ps3 because of its games, and doesnt give a damn about online play, Blue rays or how much success is doing to the market.

Anyways, I dont feel like spending on a powerful computer just to play Orangebox/UT3, I can get them for ps3 AND get Disgaea 3/Blazblue/Metalgear4 too, its just the most logical investment.

4 years ago I got into the phenomenon that is naruto, and watched pretty much all that needed to be seen in naruto (1-130) it was an entertaining, good series, with nice openings and endings, the series surprised me by its bigger than usual, cast of side characters, their fighting styles and motivations, a good example is shikamaru.

What really got me in the series, was how originally entertaining and exciting could a fight be, which is a particular aspect of shounen manga, pretty much all the fight they had from episodes 14-20 (Zabuza & Haku) which had everything I wanted in a fight, original concepts, nice artwork, sad stories, rivarly between sasuke and naruto, and manly deaths

its after this where the series start to turn into your classic, shounen shit hole, where shitloads of characters will pull off their techniques in a slow fashion, for 30 or so episodes.

Pretty much the reasons I hate naruto so much are 3.

1.- Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi, all of them are non-interesting characters I hate, each time I look at them, I feel the urgue of other characters taking the spotlight so the series recover its light, Shikamaru and Rock-lee, are much better designed characters I wouldnt mind watching for lots of episodes.

2.- In a series with so many characters, its bound to get boring after some point, because each one needs development and a proper battle, I just dont have the patience to watch a serious Ino match, and I hope the author of Naruto (Kishimoto) doesnt pull another one with this supposed "heroine".

3.- The manga drawings are going from bad to worse, its more than enough to pick one of the first volumes and compare them to the bland, fat looking drawings we are getting in the so acclaimed "second part", it doesnt help the fact that the manga runs slower than ever, with about 10 or so chapters for a battle to end, it used to go around 3 or so chapters back in the day, the same is happening to the anime, never had it been so slow and dragged.

after watching 130 episodes of naruto, I had the feel to watch more, I couldnt do this because the fillers in the anime wouldnt fucking end, (I think they there 70 or something).

that is enough for any fan of the series to grow tired, even today, naruto doesnt feel the same at all, even without fillers, each episode is just full of those "2 minutes music playback with no talk and just stares at all" moments, that up to this point I cant stand at all.

Its when I start to realize, about everything in naruto is really shit, its not comical (the humour is just too kiddy), its way too slow, and it takes itself way TOO seriously, Kishimoto just draws serious people talking about jutsus, with no focus on anything else at all, he tries to over complicate characters with way too much aspects (I dont even know what the hell sasuke is anymore, he can turn in a seal monster, supposedly has magenkyou sharingan or something, fused with orochimaru, can use chidori in all his body).

he is way too overpowered, TOO overpowered, like he came from a fanfiction by a little kid, I just cant stand seeing so much episodes of such a bad character, in what is supposed to be "the most popular current shounen manga".

You know what? Im tired, seriously, of a show that solely focuses on these dragged battles I dont care.

Im a VERY big fan of battles in anime, but when they are done quickly and right, also, an anime shouldnt focus so much on these, you must have more psichological aim in your series, while I cant really explain this as deep as I want, I recommend to read jojos bizarre adventure, or even air gear to know what I mean, these series, usually try to express their best in a single chapter, not just "seriousness and popular characters" while these series are also extremely long, the amount of interesting material they provide are more than enough, you often can get tired of reading 10 followed chapters in these mangas, but they feel like a breeze in naruto, this is really bad, you can notice when a manga lacks content and when it doesnt, well, there is also other shounen manga over there apart from naruto that has turned into complete, utter shit, but I wont say its name, you know which one it is.

So, I have barely updated these months for unknown reasons, I waited to play more games and watch more anime, suddenly I realized I have a LOT to talk about, so better start soon, First I will start with something I have wished to do in a LONG time, a deeply thought list of my top 5 favorite games of all time, in no particular order, There are many more I love, but these are the most symbolic of them all, I also made a list of honorable mentions at the end of course.

1.- Starcraft

I have been playing this since it was released, so it means its around 8 years, It NEVER gets boring at all, its just the kind of game that has ALWAYS been there since ever, the game I play whenever someone comes to my house, even to this year, I still cant decide which is my favorite race (though the one I play the best with is protoss), just got into it since the announcement of Starcraft 2, in which I plan to use zerg this time, and ONLY zerg, I plan to use zerg so much to the point I think achieve a higher level of skill, I just dont want to be obliterated this time by my friends.

(Favorite unit, Lurkers)

2.- Ragnarok online

This has to be here, even If I dont play it that much, it has consumed so much of My life it deserves to be here, since that day in 2k3 I made an archer, I still get to play RO each summer vacation each year, the strongest MvP was baphomet, the newest city was Juno, oh god, the days. There is just something about the music, the sprites and how easy to customize the status are, also how fast you can level if you know how, its pretty simple and not as complex as WoW wants to be, just make your build, get cards, the end, you can do it alone if you want, also Im pretty sure its one of the MMOs with more dungeons out there, teh quantity is just monstruous.

(Favorite class, Rogues)

3.- Guilty gear XX

I doubt there will ever be a fighting game as fun, well done and original as this one, its characters are just epic amongst anything, and anywhere close to typical, the gameplay is so thight and frequently gets updated with new versions that focus solely on rebalancing the characters, Its THE ONLY Fighting game I have confidence to beat anyone with, and I hope I cant at least go to one serious tournament of it in my life.

(Favorite characters, A.B.A and Zappa)

4.- Tales of Destiny Remake

The best Rpg I have ever played, the tales series are just my favorites out there, though you have to be a inporter and translate japanese to play the BEST ones, I also love Tales of Rebirth and Destiny 2, but Destiny remake is the most complete of them all, this game is so deep, fun and well done it made me forget Square-enix and its FF rehashes forever, Tales series are the only for me.

Favorite character, Leon, (Dual sword baby)

5.- Shounen Jump Ultimate stars

99 Hours of gameplay, I reached them about 5 months ago, I bought it 6 months ago, and I STILL play this, it is the BEST Portable fighter ever, and its combo system is so fun to experiment with, about 40-50 playable characters, and about 100 or so STRIKERS to test your combos with, I have spent hours just browsing and testing decks, and even MORE killing random people Online, even better it has made me interested in so many mangas I didnt know at all before I bought it, these include Neuro, HxH, Busou Renkin, D-Gray man and Gintama.

I have a bunch of decks, but my favorite is 5-Laughter Franky (one piece) 3-Int Mello (Death note) and 6-Power Allen (D-gray man), Challenge me if you want, I have beaten sennas, trunks, Raohs, even Dio infinite hackers with this deck, you also dont want to ever face my Solo Kazuki deck, that guy is immortal.

Favorite character, (5 Coma franky + 3 Coma Mello)

Finally here is a list of honorable mentions, games I love too:

- Metal combat (the sequel to Battle clash, that super scope snes game)
- Metal Slug series
- Megaman Zero series (GBA)
- Neogeo battle colosseum
- Melty blood cadenza
- Street fighter Third strike
- Phantasmagorian of flower view (Tohou)
- Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
- Smash Melee

2D fighters are my favorite genre since ever, they are the most addicting, competitive and time-killing games, Honestly, If I was offered to chose between a 2D fighter or a Free ps3, I would pick the fighter, Even if the ps3 came with a Free Wii.

Im so glad to see that this Genre is still alive and well in Japan, With Snk planning to do a completely remade 2D kof, the announcemtent of "Immaterial and missing power 2" (doujin fighter about tohou) and the following 2 games, 2007 is definitely a good year for us 2D fighter fans.

The first game Im gonna mention, its called Akatsuki Blitzkampf, which definitely takes a different aim than most doujin fighters do, it doesnt want to be a guilty gear copy like most of them, and has an ambientation/characters resembling 2nd World war nazys with electric martial arts among other guys, (think about the bad guys from Metal gear 3), yeah you read that right.

I mean, there is a guy called Elektrosoldat in the game, Rofl, this is a thousand times better than the usual anime girl spam or martial arts you see in fighters, freaking badass.

The game has a pretty hardcore soundtrack, and very old-school style battles with fast proyectiles and short but effective combos, while it doesnt look that gorgeous in animation as melty blood, its a pretty solid and fast game, it includes a special defense which works like the parry system.

I say, a pretty Badass, solid game.

The second one is the more popular, Big Bang beat, Made by the guys who did Melty blood (YAHOO), its a more anime styled fighter, based on some obscure hentai game (hey, Melty blood its based on tsukihime too), this one also features amazing animation and flashy looking combos, with a much more improved combo system and bars, Its pretty awesome looking and the music and presentation are pure win.

While some characters look pretty stereotypical, they look cool enough to deliver, my favorite is the boxing guy, he just looks ready to kick some ass, there is also this guy called seita who yells adds OTOKO to most of his attacks(Otoko means man), pretty manly, other guys are the classic school punk with a wood sword, kind of resembles Johnny, Daigo the Bruce lee impersonator (WHOOO DURAGOOON FAIAAAAA), and the classic crazy guy with knifes that screams like hell.