Super Saiyan Showdown

This week's post is dedicated to this week's match between Sean "Goku" Schemmel and Chris "Vegeta" Sabat on Dragon Ball FighterZ.

For those who don't know, a few weeks ago there was an episode of Dragon Ball Super airing on Toonami that featured Vegeta and a clone of Vegeta, which excited Chris Sabat enough to tweet about the "Sweet Vegeta Action!"which in turn prompted Sean Schemmel to point out "it's just fake Vegeta, not real Vegeta" which led to a Twitter war that within 24 hours escalated to a full challenge for the voice actors to play Dragon Ball FighterZ against each other and settle once and for all who is the better Saiyan, a challenge which was supported by Funimation and Bandai Namco to make it a full ESport event streamed this past thursday night on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and Funimation. I watched it on YouTube, and unfortunately, they decided to time it for night on the west coast with little regard for the sleep needs of east coast viewers, and even worse, they had a lead up of other players on the game making the main event not until midnight eastern standard time. But I made the sacrifice to stay up and watch it and it was amazing.

First off, Chris Sabat comes out wearign a #TeamVegeta shirt like he's a pro fighter ready to win, then Sean Schemmel comes out wearing Goku glasses saying "Kamehame-hi!" Right away it is clear Chris Sabat is here to win and Sean Schemmel may be ready to play, but nowhere near the over 9000 of Chris Sabat. Then they got to the actual match...

Dragon Ball FighterZ allows players to have three fighters on their team, Chris Sabat chose his characters, Vegeta, Piccolo and Yamcha, while Sean Schemmel chose his characters, Super Saiyan Goku, Super Saiyan Blue Goku, and Goku Black. Sean tried to psych out Chris by using Trunks in one round, but it did not work. It was supposed to be best two out of three,but they went five rounds and Chris really won each of them, although he let Sean win the last one, but just barely. It was brutal, like setting the game to easy mode and playing with your best character. I have played a few Dragon Ball Z games and I know what an ass-whooping looks like on one of these games, Chris gave Sean an ass-whooping, HARD. In the first four rounds, Chris only lost a fraction of a health bar from one character while Sean's entire roster got slammed. For the last round it looked like Sean might have had a chance when he brought Chris down to just Vegeta at half health, but then Chris beat two out of Sean's three characters without taking any damage and it came down to a really tight finish, so Chris didn't even make the easy match easy. I'm not sure which was more humiliating, when Chris started playing with only one hand and still beat Sean or when he won using Yamcha to beat Goku. Oh wait I know, it was when Sean stated complaining that his "buttons weren't working" dude, you do that when you're playing at home, not when you're playing in a pro exhibition match in front of a bunch of fans both in the arena and at home with the streamers.

They are talkign about a rematch which I think would be great, I mean, anytime we can gt these two together for Chris to beat Sean-I mean for them to play Dragon Ball for us-it is great entertainment. For now, Chris Sabat is the undisputed champion Super Saiyan with the belt to prove it, and I'm sure he will show it to you if you ask.

Final Fantasy World Building: Orders of the Church of Eight Spirits

As I have mentioned before, I have been toying with the idea of redeeming Final Fantasy Spirits Within with a sequel taking place a thousand years later. To that end I have been doing some world building and I came up with th concept of the Church of Eight Spirits.  In order to end the Phantom War, the waves of eight spirits were used to stop the phantoms. Humans were one of the few species to survive so when life came back, and so they were among the few to remain unchanged after the rebirth, at least mostly. Eventually, some people developed psychokinetic abilities that most people simply called magic. Males can control electricity and heat energy, both raising it as fire and reducing it as ice, and these powers are known as Black Magic. Females can enhance healing and generate protective force fields, and these powers are known as White Magic. Some of the females who can use White Magic can specialize their force fields to take the form of Eidolons which, regardless of the user, always take the same eight forms, Carbuncle, Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Leviathan, Titan, Sylph and Bahamut. From this, the Church of Eight Spirits was born, believing that the Eidolons are the same eight spirits which saved the world during the Phantom War. The Church of Eight Spirits is divided into orders to organize the magic users.

Orders of Mages

Summoners - The highest order, ascended from White Mages, they summon the Eidolons largely for ceremony to remind people the power of the spirits, though occasionally for combat if necessary. The first is always Carbuncle, Bahamut is the last they learn and the rest develop in between according to the summoner. They lead the church and through the church lead the people.

White Mages - All Summoners start as White Mages, but not all become Summoners. They serve the church by helping people, protecting the weak and healing the sick, and through their good deeds strengthen the community and thus faith in the church.

Black Mages - The primary known group of males capable of Black Magic, they traditionally used their abilities to help others by operating technology and fighting wild beasts that would threaten humanity. However, over time they realized that they cannot ascend to Summoners and will always be second rate, or at least feel that way. Then came the prophecy of the Blue Mage, an ascended Black Mage with power equal to or even greater than the Summoners. This belief splintered the Black Mages and the primary branch left the Church to build their own culture around nine hundred years after the Phantom War.

Red Mages - A splinter group from the Black Mages, they tend to have limited magic abilities, sometimes limited to just one spell, and supplement their magic by learning to fight with swords. After the Black Mages separated from the Church, the Red Mages remained loyal to the church, some mistrust the Red Mages, but the mercy of the White Mages who witnessed their valiant efforts to defend the Church has assured them a place within the Church, even if it is at the bottom.

Blue Mages - Ascended Black Mages with unknown power, they may not even exist at all, but if they do, they are the most powerul and dangerous people in the world.

Dark Knights - Red Mages who sided with the Black Mages and joined them in exile to support their new order.

Orders of Warriors

Dragoons - The highest order of Knights, they prove themselves through a sacred trial though they have no magic of their own, they have proven themslves worthy of fighting by the side of the mages and protect the people from monsters as well as protecting the Church from heretics. They are known for wielding spears or lances and wearing distinctive draconian armor.

Onion Knights - The standard knights that protect the general populace and train those who intend to become Dragoons. Theere are some career Onion Knights who watch over the initiates, but it is largely composed of anyone who demonstrates will and prowess.

 Monks - A reclusive group within the Church of Eight Spirits that don't have any magic but have dedicated themselves to protecting the crystal quarters of the meteor that triggered the Phantom War. They seem certain that the crystals have some power of their own, but nobody knows what it is if this is true.

Guilds

Hunters - There are those who have no magic, choose not to join the knights, and yet are still brave enough to fight the wild beasts that threaten humanity. These freelancers tend to join the Guild of Hunters to get support from allies, even if it is just a fresh weapon.

Bards - Entertainers who learn about music and seem to add little if anything to the world, and yet in there songs are the secrets of the past most have forgotten but should have remembered.

Thieves - As everyone else fights for their lives, these rogues collect what gets left behind, whether this is good or bad depends on who's asking.

Tamers - The most ruthless of all, these are the people who learn to tame the most dangerous wild monsters and use them to hunt other monsters. The danger of what they do makes them the one Guild that had to go into exile with the Black Mages and the Dark Knights.

Black Clover and the Saiyan Showdown

So there's a new show on Toonami, and after four episodes, I guess I'll say something about it. I do like the show, or at least the premise and energy behind it, but it is very slow to open, although I suppose 7th Moon opens slow too, so I shouldn't judge.

Black Clover takes place in the Clover Kingdom where everybody can use magic and basically it takes the place of technology so people use it to handle just about everything and one's life is decided by what magic one is capable of, and the highest honor is to prove oneself worthy of becoming a Magic Knight, the kingdom's military. This situation is particularly hard on Asta, the only person in the entire kingdom who actually does not have any magic at all, and sadly has the most ambition and heart of anyone. It would be nice to say his attitude makes up for his lack of ability, but in this case, it doesn't quite work, at least not until he gets his grimoire and his unique power of an anti-magic sword which levels the field for him because when he fights his sword cancels out any magic and reduces his opponent to having to fight as powerless as him, but since he's actually developed physical strength to make up for his lack of magic he usually has the advantage at this point. Four episodes in and this has only been relevant twice, Asta hasn't even figured out exactly how his power works, he's just excited he got a grimoire. Everybody thinks he's a loser, until he proves himself in a surprise move, but then they think it's just a stroke of luck, everybody except Yuno, his lifelong friend and rival. Yuno is the polar opposite of Asta, he is a prodigy of wind magic and everybody is sure he's going to be the next Wizard King, but Yuno sees something in Asta and knows better than to count him out. Their rivalry is pretty friendly, they grew up together and respect each other, but Yuno has realized that no matter how little anyone thinks of Asta, no matter how hopeless he may seem, he's the most likely to beat him for Wizard King and they have to give it their all to decide which one it will be.

I like the setting, but I realized the premise was a little too familiar, a little too Naruto and Sasuke, or even too Goku and Vegeta. It wasn't until now that I noticed the trope of best vs the worst rivalry, but I noticed this one may have a different take on it. I may be reading too much into what I think is foreshadowing, but Black Clover began with a story about the Wizard King who defeated a demon, and then Asta gets the original Wizard King's grimoire while Asta gets the five leaf clover grimoire in which the fifth leaf is said to hold the devil. Perhaps it's nothing, but I have this nagging feeling that Asta will release the power of the demon and the friendly rivalry will end up re-enacting the ancient battle. I could be wrong, but in either case getting to watch their parallel journeys may be interesting enough to be worth watching so I'm sticking with it.

Speaking of rivalries, a big battle is coming up, the battle Dragon Ball fans have been waiting for since the American television premiere, Goku vs Vegeta, by which I mean voice actors Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabbat. So last weekend there was an episode of Dragon Ball Super premiering on Toonami which featured two Vegetas and Chris "@VoiceOfVegeta" Sabbat was hyping it on twitter as is his obligation as a voice actor, and now beyond a shadow of a doubt an absolute nerd level EXPERT. Then Sean Schemmel, the voice of Goku, decided to tease and taunt him on twitter and it escalated, literally overnight. The first post was on Saturday night, by Sunday evening, Chris had issued an official challenge to take on Sean in a game of "Dragon Ball Fighter Z" where they will play as their respective characters, simultaneously asking Funimation and Bandai, their employers behind the english dub of the game, to get behind this as an esport event. Fans went for it and Funimation decided it was cool enough they were in for it and now it has been announced that January 25, the fight will happen and it will be streamed on YouTube, Twitch, Funimation and wherever else they can get someone to agree to back this up. So I will be watching along with the rest of the fandom while two voice actors play a video game to decide who is better, Gok or Vegeta. All I want to know is will there be epic trash talking in character?

Final Fantasy XV Episode Ignis

Episode Ignis, the last of the DLC regarding Noctis party members, came out a few weeks ago, but I got busy and did not hav time to play until now. I managed to play through it in a couple hours, or rather I should say, the canon part of it, but I'll get to that later. This DLC provides the least out of the three timewise, and yet, it still was the most fun. Part of this is gameplay, it is the only one that allows the use of magic, although the elements are mechanically just covers for different attack methods, single, multiple, and ranged, and you also get a hokshot for one part which allows Ignis to move like Noctis, so it often feels more like the original game than the other two did. The other thing that made this episode better was relevance to the story overall, it takes place immediately after Noctis fights Leviathan, and by immediately, I mean Titan is still fighting Leviathan and the whole place is a disaster area like the last hours of a hurricane when you're pretty sure you can trust the weatherman who says it's almost over, but each minute could be your last. Ignis is looking for Noctis and ends up working with Ravus who wants to protect his sister, but he's too late and seeks vengance on Noctis and Ignis at the last moment. The only part that matters is finding out how Ignis went blind, which you should have been able to guess from the trailer is that he tried to use the Ring of Lucii against Ardyn and it burned his eyes because he wasn't the King. It is important because it does make that part of the story alittle different, when I first played through, I assumed Ignis got blasted in the face by either the Leviathan or the Niflheim troops and that it was ultimately Noctis fault for dragging him into this, but now we know that Ignis willingly did something stupid to save Noctis and did it to himself, so it's a little less sorrow and sympathy and more admiration to rise to the occassion knowing he'd have to pay a price and being stoic enough to not blame anyone for it and just keep fighting. I mean, he stays in the fight for ten years including going solo and basically becoming the zatoichi, Ignis may be a posh Britishesque foodie, but all in all, he is the most badass motherfucker in the group. In fact, as the only one who doesn't go through a whiny phase, and he can use magic, I'm going to say he's actually far more badass than Noctis and Gladiolus combined, and don't even get me started on Prompto. I respect all of them, but Ignis is the best.

And now for the bad, the alterante ending. I didn't play through it because I read about and it sounds stupid. In the alternate ending, Ignis chooses to go with Ardyn rather than fighting him at Altissia, which leads to him sacrificing himself to save Noctis leading to an ending in which Noctis doesn't die and gets to live as King. What bothers me about this ending is from what I read, Noctis is able to resurrect Ignis, which makes me wonder, if he can do that, why Ignis and not Lunafreya? It is nice to see a happier ending where Noctis survives, but it I detect too many plot holes to enjoy it. I know some people will say there are plenty of plot holes in the story already so why worry about this one, but as a writer myself, I find there is a significant difference between plot holes that serve to move the story along, and plot holes that contradict everything just to give us a new and different ending that is arguably better than the original. I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but it's bullshit.

Also there's supposed to be a new update to the main game in which you can now switch between the characters. Basically, now that they have released the individual episodes with a specialized interface for all four, they are alowing you to use them all in the main story. This is good and bad, good because I like that it's in the game, bad because it sucks that the game has been out long enough for the game to have already been finished before this mechanic was available. I guess it would be fun to play through again, and I can understand giving some players a chance to experience the story with the exclusive perspective of Noctis, but seriously, this is the sort of thing that should have been in the intial release of the game. Did they actually need more time to implement this, or did they just want to screw with us for a year?

Don't forget that the Assassin's Festival is almost over and it really makes me want to go to a Renaissance Fair and cosplay as an Assassin and respond to everyone who asks me what I'm doing by simply saying "Nothign is true, everything is permitted." I really think this should lead to a full game about the Legendary Assassin of Lestallum back when the power of the meteor was first being harnessed and reveal the Assassin was actually the Wanderer, a former King of Lucis.

Hundreds of years ago, while the Wanderer was still a prince, there was unrest in Lestallum and there was possibility of a peasant uprising. The King was busy and did not have time to do more than consult with the nobles of Lestallum, who claimed the concerns were exaggerated. The prince goes to investigate firsthand and is promptly kidnapped by the budding resistance, primarily an Amacita, a Scientia, and an Argentum, the ancestors of Noctis allies who are also the brawn, brains, and heart of the operation respectively. The prince has his doubts about the nobles which are confirmed and he joins the resistance, finding out the nobles will silence him if he tries to do anything overt, he works in secret as the Assassin, while a Dorden and a Ghiranze, ancestors of Vyv and Dino keep up the ruse that he is prisoner. A Teulle, an ancestor of Holly, has figured out how to use the Meteor for power, which could rival the Crystal itself, and while she has good intentions, her research is hijacked by a Besithia and a Tumelt, ancestors of Verstael and Loqi respectively. The Besithia has also abducted the daughter of the Argentum, giving his reason for being part of the resistance. As the Assassin Prince investigate the conspiracy, he finds it spreads across Lucis all the way back to Insomnia where the Tumelt is conspiring to assassinate the King and usurp the throne. The Assassin Prince succeeds in defeating the Tumelt only to discover the true mastermind was Ardyn who was trying to prepare him to be a worthy opponent, but finds him lacking and leaves without a trace. The Prince then sheds his identity as the Assassin and instead becomes the Wanderer, known for his twin blades that will become Royal Arms. Fearing that Ardyn will use his weapons, he makes sure his tomb is near the Titan to be protected by the god until one who is truly worthy comes to claim it, and it is brought by his three friends whose families' destinies will forever be tied to his own.

Toonami is back tonight, don't forget to watch and support 7th Moon joing the lineup!