Text Play: Pokemon Xenoverse #34

Hello, and welcome back to the Eldiw Region! This is entry number 34 in my Text Play of Pokémon Xenoverse!

Now, as usual, I'd like to warn you of something. I will be heavily spoiling this game.

As such, I would like to recommend that you play the game for yourself first before you read this Text Play. You can download the game right here. And with that out of the way, let's do this.

Last time, we completed the exploration of Hypelion City and prepared a new team to take on the Hypelion City Gym and its leader, the musical sensation known as Wallace Daddy. We added Swirlix and Avalugg to his team to help counter some of Wally's Pokémon. 

Before we enter the gym, we can talk to this lady right here in front of the building. She asks us this question.

It's interesting that she mentions Instagram. More on this later.

Once we enter the Gym, we meet a friend of ours.

Yeah, it's that fanboy of ours. He tells us something we already know: Wallace Daddy is a Sound-type specialist. Yeah, that's why we've been building a team to counter him. He points out the QR code on the ground as shown in the screenshot. Remember when that lady asked us if we follow Wallace Daddy on Instagram? Well, that's why. If you scan this code with your smartphone, you can go to Wallace Daddy's Instagram page. The page contains hints on how to get through the gym.

I admit, I'm a bit...mixed on this idea. I happily give kudos to this idea simply because of its uniqueness. It's a form of puzzle-solving I have not seen in a Pokémon game before, fan-made or official. Also, it does make sense here as Wallace Daddy is also a musical performer. Not to mention he also has his own record label and fashion line. It makes sense he'd have a strong social media presence. I can imagine that all Gym Leaders do have such a presence to a degree, but Wallace would really emphasize it.

At the same time, I worry this will add a bit of unnecessary difficulty. I mean, think about it. Not everyone has Instagram. Also, not everyone has a smartphone. For example, I don't own one. But thankfully, I think the game makers did keep that in mind, as the fanboy mentions that you can also get hints by talking to people in the gym.

That's good to hear. So, since we can still find hints in the gym by talking to people, let's do so. The main room we enter into has a whole ton of people in it, including a bunch of maids. One of them was this hipster dude that made me chuckle.

Buddy, I suggest listening to the Wild Guns soundtrack. That'll upgrade you to 16-bit in no time! Anyway, the man we are looking for is right here.

Yup, this dude playing wallflower in the corner. This guy is a big-time fan of ol' Wally Daddy, and he's got two tickets for something called the Rock Room. We need that ticket to progress further into the Gym. Roy will test us to see if we're worthy of the ticket. And how does he plan to do that? Well, it's a Pokémon game, what do you think?

Exactly, a Pokémon battle.

(Hip Hop) Roy
1st Pokemon: Wigglytuff (Lv. 42) - Defeated by Palossand

Defeating him shows our worthiness, and he rewards us with the Rock Ticket. Rock Room, here we come! 

Roy there isn't too broken up about it. In fact, he thinks we'll give Wally a challenge. Oh, we intend to, Roy-boy.

To get to the Rock Room, we take the elevator down. Same place it's always been. Once we arrive, our fanboy is there to meet us. 

He warns us that there is a big audience in this room, as there's a rock show going on here. To get the next ticket, we need to get through the audience. If we get caught in the crowd and get confused on where to go next, just press "R" and security will help us. We should also talk to the lady in the screenshot.

I'm sure she's exaggerating. There's no way the crowd can be that dense...Yeah, this is a hint here. 

HOLY HECK. I'm worried we may have to call a fire marshal. How are we going to get our butts through this crowd?!

Luckily, there is a way. Remember when that woman said we'd need the strength of a Hercurcules to get through the crowd? Well, she just revealed to us the solution to this puzzle. Time to whip out the PokeWES.

Yup, we need to use the Herculeum H to get through the audience by literally shoving people aside. That is going to be the hard part for me to document here. But I'm going to try, gawdangit! Okay, first we start here.

We have to keep in mind something here. You see how the individual audience members are facing different directions? That's meant to indicate the way they can be moved. For example, if an audience member is facing right, they can only be moved to the right. Those green-and-brown squares in the audience are cushions, and the black hourglass-looking things are tables. They are solid obstacles. 

The first thing we do is push the guy in the orange hoodie all the way to that black table. This will allow us to push the guy in the green shirt downwards, like so.

From there, we can push the guy in the red shirt to the right, and then push down another orange hoodie guy, like so. 

Next, we push the guy in the black cap to the right until he is directly in front of the girl in the black hat, like this. 

Now, we are able to go around those two audience members. 

Next, we push the guy in the green shirt to the right, like so.

Now, we have to push the guy with the backpack upwards, like so.

Now, we move the guy in the orange hoodie (quite a few of them here) to the right, like this.

Next, we push the blue-haired guy to the right, like this. 

Then we push a Backpack Guy upwards, like this. 

Next, we push Red Shirt Guy to the left, like this.

Right above us is a blonde girl, and we push her upwards, like this.

Next, we push hoodie guy up, like this.

Finally, you push the guy in the black beanie to the left, like this.

And there we go! The way to the stage is clear! Now we have to talk to the band members. The band is called the "Roggenrola". I presume they're on Wally Daddy's label. Talk to the bassist.

Tina here (her name and her being a bassist is a nod to Tina Weymouth, bassist of the Talking Heads) is the woman you have to battle to get the next ticket.

(Bassist) Tina
1st Pokemon: Kricketune (Lv. 40) - Defeated by Trishout
2nd Pokemon: Bremand (Lv. 42) - Defeated by Harrowk. Her Bremand is weak to Electric-type attacks. 

She then tells us Jimmy (the guitarist) has the ticket. Screw you, lady! So, yeah. Now we have to go to see Jimmy. He's the one with the blond mohawk.

I'm guessing he's named after Jimmy Page, guitarist of Led Zeppelin. 

Guitarist Jimmy
1st Pokemon: Arbok (Lv. 40) - Defeated by Palossand.
2nd Pokemon: Bremand (Lv. 42) -Defeated by Palossand. His Bremand is weak to Ground-type attacks, so Bulldoze took care of him, mixed with a bit of Giga Drain.

Upon beating him, he reveals Dave the Drummer has the ticket. This is ridiculous. 

I mean, I get that the game wants me to battle the whole band? So, why not do it like a gauntlet match? Have Tina be like "I got the key, but you gotta battle the entire band first." I mean, that would make more sense. So, yeah. We have to go to Dave.

If you don't get the reference, he's named after Dave Grohl, drummer of Nirvana and later lead singer and guitarist of Foo Fighters.

Drummer Dave.
1st Pokemon: Loudred (Lv. 40) - Defeated by Palossand and Harrowk.
2nd Pokemon: Bremand (Lv. 42) - Defeated by Harrowk with Sky Attack. 

He doesn't have the Ticket either! So we have to go to Freddie the singer.

Yeah, based on his name and pose, it's not hard to figure out who he is referencing.

Frontman Freddie
1st Pokemon:  Bandeon (Lv. 42) - Defeated by Trishout
2nd Pokemon: Bremand (Lv. 42) - Defeated by Harrowk. His variant is weak to Electric-type attacks.

Beating him gets you the Dance Ticket. And I'm afraid that's where we'll have to stop for the month. Between the grinding and other real life stuff, I didn't have the time to dedicate to this game I would have liked. Still, we did make progress. 👍 Join me next time when we hopeflly conqueer the Dance Room! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

May your day be filled with fun, frights, and lots of candy!

RPG Maker WITH Launch Trailer, My Thoughts

National Cat Day

 Happy National Cat Day!

National Cat Day was created in 2005 by Colleen Paige. An expert on cats and lifestyle, she founded this day to help raise awareness of issues around cat care, mainly the promotion of spaying/neutering them to help keep down the population of feral strays, as well as promoting the adoption of cats. Aftar all, cats were found to be the second most popular pet in the US in 2017. 

Humans and cats have a very long relationship. It was originally believed that humans started domesticating the cat during the era of Ancient Egypt. After all, cats were venerated by their culture, and even mummified on death like pharaohs were. But there has been evidence discovered in Cyprus that indicates that humans may have actually done so as early as the Neolithic era.

Cats are fascinating animals. They are crepuscular critters, and the word cat may come from Latin or a Germanic language. And despite their domestication, cats are still very capable of living out in the wild. Most breeds of cat love jumping up on high places. It's believed that this behavior may allow cats to better ambush prey and survey its territory. Yeah, cats are social animals, but they prefer hunting alone. They also prefer drinking alone. No wait, that's George Thorogood. 

As someone who has owned numerous cats over the years, I have to say there is no greater pleasure than having one. Give yours a lot of love today and every day!

International Animation Day

Love Hurts Trailer, My Thoughts

One should never judge a book by its cover. That is especially true for one Marvin Gable. At first glance, he may seem like a sweet kindly realtor. But it turns he as...a past. A brutal past. One that is now coming back to haunt him. That's the basis for the upcoming film Love Hurts. Directed by Jonathan Eusebio, Love Hurts (🎵Love scars...love wounds...🎵) is an action/comedy stars Ke Huy Quan as the previously mentioned Marvin Gable, and it also stars Ariana DeBose, Rhys Darby, Daniel Wu, Sean Astin and NFL player Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch. Let's look at the trailer!

I don't know about all of you, but Marvin seems like a perfectly nice normal guy.

Congrats on winning Realtor of the Year award, Marvin!

"...stop becoming who I wanted to be." ...yeah, that's not ominous.

"Marvin, we want the beer money! Where's the beer money?!"

"You just gonna leave me here out on the side of the road?!"

Wait, they did want money?! Oh, that makes sense. We all want money.

Looks like Marshawn is learning who the real Beast Mode is, ha ha! 😂

I'm normally not into Celine Dion's music, but it works here. It really does.

Hey Beast Mode, Ke Huy Quan is Vietnamese. Ninjas are Japanese!

Yeah, Marvin? I think you are going to have to hurt a LOT of people.

Oh, Marvin's fine. The other dude won't be, though.

I like that dude's Stetson hat. I want that Stetson.

HOW DO YOU MISS SHOOTING SOMEONE THAT CLOSE?!

Well, I think this sounds like a fun little movie. It's really neat seeing Mr. Quan get this career renaissance, what between this, Loki, EEAAO, and all. I do wish they found a way to have him appear in the last Indiana Jones movie. I think I'll be giving this a look! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!

World Lemur Day

 Today is World Lemur Day!

Lemurs are primates native to the island of Madagascar. Its climate has allowed the lemur to evolve in a variety of ways. In fact, there are one hundred species of lemurs.

I know! This has allowed lemurs to fill many ecological niches on the island. In fact, the smallest primate in the world is a lemur: the mouse lemur, which only weighs a little over an ounce. Lemurs tend to be nocturnal and reside in trees. They tend to feed on leaves and fruits. Lemurs have a low metabolic rate and can hibernate.

Lemurs used to live all over Madagascar, but human settlement has reduced their natural range, and sadly, they are very endangered as a result of it. But there is hope. The Lemur Conservation Foundation, the Duke Lemur Center, among others, are working to help preserve these critters to be appreciated by future generations.

Wolfpack #10 (May 1989)

It's that time again! It's time to join the Wolfpack in their greatest battle against the Nine! Last time, the Pack found themselves helping the Nine keep the city from falling into chaos. So, what happens next for our scrappy street fighters? Let's find out in Wolfpack #10!

The cover is a Ron Wilson and Chris Ivy piece. It's pretty cool, but it is a bit spoilery. You'll see what I mean.

"Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know"
Writer: John Figueroa
Penciler: Ron Wilson
Inker: Chris Ivy
Colorist: Christie Scheele (credited as "Max Scheele")
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Editor: Terry Kavanagh
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins, naturally, in the South Bronx. We look in on a man sitting on a stoop, scraping a pocketknife on the stone stair. As the man sharpens his blade, he starts thinking about the past.

The man recalls the first time he killed someone. The victim was a 15-year-old Brooklynite during a gang rumble in Bedford Park. When he pulled the knife out of the kid, the man claims it was the first time he felt...alive. He sees the modern gangs as a joke, nothing more than glorified posses full of wannabe-"Scarfaces". One guy has something to say about this man's fashion sense.

"You got a problem with my sweet headband, punk?!"

As shown in the panel, the man compliments the knife-holder's clothes, they just make him look like a refugee from The Warriors. The knife-wielder shows how he feels about the compliment by stabbing the green cap-wearer in the stomach. 

He notices a bunch of kids nearby, realizing they saw everything. He wants them to come with him before the police show up. The boys flee, one remarking he just wanted some crack. Wanted to get his brain good and fried.

The man throws his knife, managing to hit one of the fleeing boys in the back of the leg. The man offers to help him. He just has to take his hand...

...and we transition to the Wolfpack, our heroes busy training.

"Can't catch me, I'm Sam the Slippery Man!" 

Sharon's been recovering very well over the past couple months. Slippery Sam is showing off his skills, his specialty being able to slip in and out of situations. He's feeling a bit cocky. After all, nobody can supposedly touch him. It's why they call him "Slippery" Sam, after all. However, even the best escape artists can be caught, as Wheels shows with the help of a bit of rope.

The group get a visit from Inspector Cassidy. It turns out he has some information for them. He gives them a small stone with an engraving on it.

"Cute rock, Cassidy. What's the point?"

Yeah, the art doesn't show it very well. What the little rock is supposed to have on it is a symbol. In particular, the logo of an old gang called the Wizards. Five years earlier, the police took them down, including their leader, a man named Christian. He's the man we saw earlier. Cassidy worked on the case that brought them down. Christian murdered his partner at the time and also raped the partner's wife. Christian got off on the charge thanks to a technicality, but he did do time for the rape. Five years, to be exact. Now he's out, and Cassidy wants the Pack to watch him. Christian is not a man who will stay out of trouble (as clearly shown earlier), and Cassidy (for perfectly understandable reasons) has a personal issue with him. As for Christian, what is he up to now?

Christian is not a fan of child labor laws.

Yup, he's rebuilding his old gang. The Wolfpack are outside his building. They watch Christian leave with his new Wizards. One of them decides that "this is dumb, I'm leaving".

Christian is understanding of his objection, but he wants to make sure the kid can't talk...so he cuts the kid's tongue off. Christian then loads the injured kid into a van and drives off.

A horrified Sam pursues the van. He leaps on top of the van. Christian hears him land and asks one of his new Wizards to hand him the gun he kept in the glove compartment. Sam tries to get the injured kid out of the van, but Christian ends that attempt with a shot to the chest. 

Unfortunately for Sam, he did not have his bulletproof vest.

He then has his new Wizards shove the injured Sam and the tongueless kid out of the van. The rest of the Pack manages to catch up to the two injured boys. Sam's last words are pleading with Rafael to get him out of the street as he has no desire to die in the street. 

Nearby, Christian is celebrating at a bar with his new gang. Sure, most of them are kids, but he doesn't care. The cops arrive to pick him up, but Christian is not worried. As far as he's concerned, they got nothing on him. He's also too busy feeling alive. The old days are back, baby!

That night, the Pack are still dealing with Sam's death. They all knew the risks of their activities. After all, they were fighting dangerous people. Rafael vows to kill Christian for what he's done. An eye for an eye and all that. Wheels objects to this. After all, do they have the right to take a life like that? There's also something else that Wheels does not bring up. Killing Christian won't undo Sam's death. 

Inspector Cassidy then arrives, saying he'll have to live with Sam's death. He then tells the Pack to let the courts handle Christian. He had to tell Sam's parents he's dead, he doesn't want to tell the rest of their families they're all in jail on a murder rap. Sharon warns him that if Christian isn't jailed, the Wolfpack will deal with him. 

The next day, Christian is on trial. He ends up being let off due to a lack of evidence against him. SO much for the courts, I guess. The surviving members of the Pack witness his release and agree that he's a dead man. 

Christian is in need of some money.

As such, he decides to go hold up a gas station. He and his gang do so, but the station's attendant is not in the mood to play bank to the gang.

"AW, GAWD! GAS TASTES TERRIBLE!" 

He sprays Christian and the Wizards with gasoline. The cops arrive. One of the Wizards, freaked out, fires Christian's gun, the sparks causing the gas station to explode.

Christian somehow survives it, but I can imagine his ears would be ringing from it. All the other Wizards are toasted. He returns to his clubhouse, only to find the Wolfpack waiting for him. He knows what the Pack wants, and he's ready for them. 

He whips out his gun, but Rafael's feet are faster than his trigger finger. With one kick, the martial artist sends Christian flying out the window. Christian's "clubhouse" was on the top floor of a three-story building. So yeah, the landing is going to hurt.

It turns out Christian managed to survive that, too. 

"...how am I not dead?!" 

Yeah. He's alive. Almost every bone in his body is broken, but he's alive. Christian knows that the Pack will be coming down to finish him off. He always chose how he lived, so he will choose how he dies. I can imagine he also wants to deny the Wolfpack the chance to say they took him out. He lights a match and sets himself aflame. He was covered in gasoline thanks to the attendant blasting him with it earlier. As he burns and dies, he repeats his narration from the beginning about the first person he ever killed, and how it made him feel alive. I think the idea here is that he's feeling euphoria. I don't know.

Later on, Inspector Cassidy is at the scene. One cop remarks that the neighborhood is becoming a war zone. He's clearly new in town because it's been pretty much one already. The cop remarks that things are getting worse, but Cassidy has a feeling things are going to get better and better.

Three of the Wolfpack meet up on Rafael's rooftop. Sharon is at home, still dealing with Sam's death. Slag can live with Christian's death, as he brought it on himself. And also, Rafael didn't kill him, he immolated himself. Rafael is torn up about it (presumably, as the art doesn't do a great job differentiating the characters at a distance), and wonders where the line is. Cassidy comes by to visit them. He advises that the Pack must draw it for themselves. After all, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. 

The next day, the Pack prepare for Sam's funeral. The whole neighborhood is there to say goodbye to him. The Pack say goodbye to their comrade, the narration providing a quote from Richard III.

If there is a weak issue of the maxiseries, then in my opinion, it's this one. And it's mainly because of Sam's death. My issue with Sam's death here is a similar problem I had with Margo Damian getting killed off in the Eternals maxi-series I looked at in the past. Much like with Margo, I feel that I never really got to form an emotional bond towards Sam. I did feel sad for the other members of the Pack when they mourned him, but that's because they got to spend time with him and bond with him. 

Also, another annoying thing about Sam's death is remember when his dad's hardware store got wrecked in the graphic novel? We never learn if it ever got fixed up. Also, we never see Sam's dad at the funeral. Cassidy does mention Sam's parents, as in plural, so he likely has a mother. She's not seen here. 

I do get why the creators went with this direction. I really do. Being in the Wolfpack is dangerous. These kids are risking their lives. I understand the intention, but I felt the execution was lousy here. Mainly because we never really get to know Sam over the course of the series. 

Also, I would like to talk about Christian. The comic clearly wants to portray him as especially sociopathic and vicious, but I'm really not buying it. What I mean by that is that he doesn't seem to be, in my opinion anyway, any more ruthless or monstrous than any of the other criminal figures the Wolfpack has encountered in previous issues of the maxiseries or the graphic novel. We're supposed to get this idea that he's from an older time, a time when the gangs were presumably worse than they are now. But again, having read previous issues and the graphic novel, I do think it makes him come off as delusional. 

All in all, I say this was the one issue I did not really enjoy reading that much. If you really want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback Wolfpack: The Complete Collection. Thanks for reading this blog entry! See you next time!