Monday, January 26, 2009

Blog post #68

I had to work late on Friday to monitor some students taking a standardized English test. That meant I had to take the next train than usual. The trains in my town run very infrequently… maybe only once every hour. The test ended and it was already getting dangerously close to the time when the next train would be leaving. If I missed that one I wouldn’t make it to Tokyo until 2 hours after I usually get there. I went home and changed my clothes extremely fast and grabbed my backpack. When I got to the train station I parked as fast as I could (which was pretty half ass) and made a dash for the stairs to go up to the train platform. I made it just as the train pulled up.

On the way to Tokyo on the train, I watched Snakes On A Plane on my PSP, it was my first time seeing the movie. All I have to say about that movie is LOL!

When I arrived in Shinjuku, I went to Sportsland to check what time the G3 ranbat would start tomorrow. Start time was 2:30. No one was really playing at Sportsland so I headed to Vegas. It was pretty packed and a good amount of well known players were there. It’s the first time I saw Osaka B in a while too which was cool. Matt was already there when I got there. Rod would be busy all weekend doing something else. For whatever reason, I kept a record of every single game I played Friday night at Vegas, and here it is!

3 wins vs Jam

1 win vs Millia

Same Millia rematches me and I lose

I moved to a new cab which was between Osaka B and Matt. Got a win against a Chipp.

Matt was playing against the same Millia I was fighting before after that. I told him if he wins Ill give him a snus but he lost 3 times. For a while no one was playing me after I beat the Chipp so I told him I would handle the Millia and told him to just play my game vs the computer on the other cab. I then beat the Millia player. Now I was stuck with an interesting situation.. I had a credit in both cabs. For a while, no one played me again so I was just playing against the computer on both cabs at the same time. I guess you could say I was double Fausting (pun intended). After beating the computer like 2 matches on each cab, an Anji challenged me on one of the cabs. I started playing against him and then a Slayer challenged me on the other cab. I had 2 rounds won vs the Anji and just needed one more and then maybe I would have time to make a comeback vs the Slayer who was beating my other defenseless Faust. I sorta got too anxious and lost the next round vs Anji, and by then it was too late for the other Faust. Too bad. I then proceeded to beat Anji so from then I just played the one credit.

I then beat the Anji one more time

Got 2 wins vs Sol

1 win vs Eddie

1 more win vs Chipp

Then Nakamura got on the cab and beat me twice in a row.

I played him one more time and perfected him during round 2. He then answered with a perfect of his own in round 3, but then I counter perfected him AGAIN in round 4 for the win.

Then Osaka B got on and beat me twice but they were both super close.

Then I won vs Slayer

Won vs Venom

Won vs Sol

Won vs Anji

Then lost twice to Sol

Then beat pumpkin Ky 3 times (this guy whos always there who uses Orange Ky)

I finally ended the evening by beating Matt 6 times in a row, though hes getting harder to beat. I see improvement in him.

After that the 2 of us got some food and headed to Current. It wasn’t so packed tonight. There was just the usual Current staff working, about 10 people from Cirque de Soleil, SPG Chris, and Bosch. Matt and I sat and talked with Chris for a while and stayed for maybe like 2 beers and then we decided to just go to GODZ.

GODZ was a little more lively. A good crowd was there for GODZ. We mostly just requested lots of metal and stuff and drank more. There was this young couple there and the one guys girlfriend was really drunk and being really flirty and we sorta talked with them for a bit. The dude was saying he was in some band and was having a concert on Sunday and said he would put us on the guest list to go see it but I didn’t really want to go and was gonna go to a Blazblue tourney anyway. I think he was just talking out of his ass in any case. After GODZ closed at 5 we all went our separate ways to go sleep.. my way being the manga kissa.

Saturday I woke up and didn’t even eat, I just wanted to get lots of practice before the ranbat. I went to Vegas and not a single person was playing GG. I then went to Sportsland and a couple guys were playing so I just stayed there the rest of the time before the tournament. I kept a log of all my casuals before the ranbat at Sportsland as well… and here it is!

I started by playing some pink Slayer for 8 games in a row and the score was 7-1 in my favor.

Won 2 vs Jam

Lost 2 vs Johnny

Won 5 vs Johnny

Won 1 vs Ky

Lost 1 vs Venom

Won 1 vs Venom

Won 1 vs Johnny

Won 1 vs Jam

Won 1 vs Johnny

Lost 3 in a row to I-no and they were all like by a pixel. This guy was good though.

I played him again and won 1.

After that I went to go register for the tournament. MIU was there again to run things. Shoot was also there working but he was just walking around doing typical work like switching out dirty ash trays, pushing in stools, and wiping down screens. He told me he will focus on BB for SBO this year.

I played a few more casuals after registering. I lost once to a May player (I hate May), then I lost to Zero once, then I lost to Mitsurugi once. After that I rematched Zero and not only did I beat him, but I did so without losing any rounds and I ended his small 14 win streak. I beat some other guy and then he rematched me and I lost but it felt nice to at least get a win on him.

Around this time they switched 2 of the cabs onto event mode freelplay and the tournament would start shortly. Some dude was talking with me a bit and gave me props for beating Zero. Shortly after, the tournament started. Lots of big name players were there once again and there was once again something like 80 entrants. Brackets were also once again created by everyone randomly drawing numbers. A few noteworthy matches I saw during the first round were…

Karun vs Mitsurugi. This was the very first match of the tournament. Not only did Karun win, but he did so without losing a round and got a perfect on round 2. Poor Mitsurugi got 2nd place last time and this time hes out first round.

Tsu (the Eddie I lost to last time) lost his first match to some unknown Ky. Also, Mugen fought Zero first round and Mugen won!

It was now time for my first match. I was to face a Johnny player named Maruyo. I beat him pretty well the first round. 2nd round I had a good lead and eventually he had a pixel of life left. He fought back pretty hard and started to get a comeback on me and got me down to a pixel as well. With 3 seconds left on the clock, I squeezed in a jumping HS and took the game.

After that I saw Takare (the Eddie who won the Inaka tournament last weekend) play against the same Ky who beat Tsu and this time Takare won. It went down to round 3 but Takare took it with a perfect.

My next match was once again vs a Johnny player. This time his name was Johnnyo. I won the first round. The 2nd round was pretty close but he ended up taking it. He started to play completely differently and I was a little thrown off. For the 3rd round, I think I pretty much just stayed in the air too much and was playing too defensive. I should have been more aggressive and tried to rush him from the ground a bit more. I ended up losing and that was it for me. Another match where I really felt like I could have won it but just didn’t play that well. Tough shit for me.

After that I just played casuals for a while and was once again a bit pissed at myself but I tried to shrug it off. I didn’t keep a record of any more casuals at this point but I won a few and lost a few. Eventually people started to clear out and I noticed the tournament was over. I checked who won and the winner was Karun!

At this point I was getting really hungry. Matt said he was gonna come soon but I had no idea when and I didn’t eat all day so I just headed to Wendys for a quick meal and picked up a cigar on the way.

After eating I headed to Vegas. At this point, everyone from Sportsland had moved to Vegas and there were even more players there that didn’t even go to the ranbat! Matt showed up soon after too. Baim and Ririko were there and we were talking with them for a little bit. I also talked to Kawin (spikey haired Potemkin) and he said that hes teaming with Inoue this year for SBO.

We played against lots of good players. For a while I was going really even with Takare’s Eddie, pretty much going back and forth. Eventually he started to pull away and was getting a big streak vs lots of people including Matt and Ririko. Eventually Matt beat him! I also played Kazuki a lot and was getting really close but didn’t beat him. Zero must have been out for blood after his first round tourney loss cuz he ended up beasting the shit out of everyone and Vegas and got a 43 win streak. He eventually lost to Ain’s Ky (the guy who looks like Japanese Floe). When I talked with Ririko for a bit, I asked her if she had an SBO team yet. She said not yet. I asked her if she wanted to team up sometime and she said ok. Not sure if its gonna happen or not but we will see. I also asked Baim why she didn’t go to the ranbat and she said she was too busy shopping for clothes LOL. Towards the end of our time playing, I played a few games vs Ririko but I couldn’t beat her. I hadn’t fought Bridget in forever and her Bridget is really good. It was getting late and I had been playing all day. Also Matt was pretty hungry so we decided to go head out. On the way out I said bye to Ririko and told her sorry for not playing good vs her.

Matt and I stopped at an Izakaya for some food and a few beers before heading to Current. This time Current had a little better of a crowd with a decent amount of regulars there but it wasn’t like crazy packed. Antii was there with his girlfriend and it was cool to drink with him cuz I hadn’t seen him in a while. Also Heidi, Ja, Mu, Rina, and Hibiki showed up. Mogi and Sushi were working the bar. Tonight was actually Matts birthday. There was no big party but Sushi told me that since its Matts birthday, I could DJ for most of the night! Sweet! Matt likes a lot of the stuff I usually play so he said he wanted me to DJ. I got on pretty soon after arriving. Here was my first set list.

Symphony X – The Edge of Forever

Children of Bodom – Silent Night Bodom Night

Alice Cooper – It Rained All Night

Sonata Arctica – My Land (live)

Minstry – N.W.O. (request)

Dream Theater – Lines in the Sand (live)
Dragonforce – My Spirit Will Go On

Hardcore Superstar – Wildboys (request)

Pink Floyd – Welcome to the Machine

Metallica – Disposable Heroes

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away

ACDC – If You Want Blood, You Got It

The Darkness – One Way Ticket (request)

Sonata Arctica – Replica (live) (request)

After that, Sushi told me to take a break and he DJed for a little bit. During this time I smoked my cigar and talked with some people for a bit. After a little while, I was on again and DJed till the end of the night. Heres my 2nd set.

Mr. Big – Mr. Gone

System of a Down – Question (request)

Led Zeppelin – Misty Mountain Hop

Judas Priest – Electric Eye

Iron Maiden – 2 minutes to Midnight

Jimi Hendrix – Foxy

Kansas – On the Other side

Rush – Bastille Day

Edguy – Hair Force One

John Mayer – Gravity (request)

Children of Bodom – Are you Dead Yet? (request)

Queen – I want it All

Muse – Stockholm Syndrome

Buckcherry – Sorry (request)

Megadeth – Hanger 18

Alice Cooper – Lost in America

Megadeth – Washington is Next

Symphony X – A Winter’s Dream (pts 1 and 2)

Skid Row – 18 and Life (request)

Dream Theater – Prophets of War

Focus – Hocus Pocus (request)

Mariya Takeuchi – Koi no Arashi (request)

Tom Petty – Don’t Do Me Like That

Boston – Forplay / Longtime

Loudness – Crazy Doctor (request)

Queen – Fat Bottom Girls (request but I almost played it earlier)

Iron Maiden – Run To the Hills (request)

ACDC – It’s a Long Way to the Top if You Wanna Rock and Roll

After saying goodbye to everyone, Matt, Heidi, and I left and headed for PSY to drink some more. PSY was pretty packed. Lots of people, including me, bought Matt a shot. I had one too. He didn’t pass out but he did throw up. I didnt see it happen but he said he did and I dont really doubt it haha. We drank till closing, got some drunken food and then we both went to sleep at the manga kissa.

We woke up the next day and Matt had to leave cuz he had to take care of some business, so I headed to Alpha Station by myself to enter the Blazblue tournament. There were a lot of people there for it. I think about maybe 40 people entered. Tons of top well known GG players were there. This was a 2 on 2 tournament. I didn’t have a partner but they took a few single people and then matched them up with partners through random number drawing. I got paired up with a Noel player named Serisawa. He plays as Millia in GG. I played only maybe like 3 games of BB casuals before the tournament started. This was the first time I played BB all weekend. I wanted to play yesterday but the GG comp was too insane and I never got around to it. Ive probly only played like 5 games of BB other than these within like the whole last month so I was pretty rusty to say the least. I didn’t win any of my casual matches but they were all against good players, such as HH’s Rachel. The level of shit people are doing in this game now is just crazy. I don’t even know whats going on sometimes haha. Before the tournament started, there were tons of people waiting to play casuals after a while, so I didn’t have much chance to play much. My partner, Serisawa played a game of GG against a Baiken player who speaks good English that I met before sometime last year. He lost to him and then it made me wanna play, so I got on the cab and played some GG. I beat him and then he rematched me and I lost. Karun started playing GG casuals too on the cab next to me. I ended up playing a few more games of GG cuz I kept winning vs some Sol and then it was time to start BB.

Our first match was against ABEGEN (Tager) and Kiro (Arakune). Kiro being the same yellow Faust player ive posted about many times before. A pretty rough team to have to fight first round. I won RPS vs ABEGEN and chose our side. Serisawa told me to go first. It was me vs ABEGEN. I held out pretty ok for a little but in the end I ended up losing. I pretty much just forgot about like half the options I have and should have played a lot more before the tournament. After the match in retrospect I can think of so many things I could have done that I just completely forgot about. Cant really say I played very well but I also cant say im surprised. Up next, Serisawa went against Kiro. It went down to the last round but he ended up taking out Arakune! Next was Serisawa vs ABEGEN. Serisawa did a really great job and took a round but ABEGEN’s Tager was just too much and we got eliminated first round. I wasn’t the least bit upset, but I did feel bad for Serisawa cuz I didn’t play so hot. He wasn’t upset at all though.

After losing, I ended up playing some more GG while the tournament was still going on. With the tournament going there were only 2 cabs for BB casuals and LOTS of people waiting to play. Some people were playing GG but not enough to where you had to wait long. I played a lot of games vs Serisawa and went undefeated against his Millia. At this point I had an 8 win streak and during our next game, suddenly the game just froze! LOL! I think ive only seen that happen once in my whole time in Japan. Not even sure why cuz all I was doing was standing punch and Millia was just starting to run forward. In any case, eventually the guy unfroze the machine and I played some more games. After some games with various people, eventually there was this one orange ABA player there and he and I ended up playing against eachother for maybe between 1 and 2 hours! I don’t remember the final score of our set but we were going back and forth and I think maybe he got like 1 or 2 more wins than me. He was a smart player, nailed all his big combos, had good footsies, and was good at baiting safeguards. After our last game together, I got up and went to talk to him. I told him I was gonna go get some food cuz I didn’t eat yet all day. I thanked him for the good games and told him he was strong. He told me I was too. I asked him if he had an SBO team yet and he said no. I asked him if he wanted to team up sometime and he said he would be happy to. We exchanged cellphone info. He goes by the handle “Ni”. Ive never heard of him before, but hes a solid player so I would be glad to have him on my team.

After that, I headed to Sukiya and got some food. When I came back, the tournament was over. I checked who won and the winning team was Dio (Carl) and Isa (Arakune). The 2nd place team was ANG (Carl) and TEN (Jin). I checked how far ABEGEN/Kifa got and they lost far into the tournament to ANG and TEN. After getting back from eating I wanted to play more BB. I played casuals for maybe an hour and a half. I won my first game of casuals vs a Tager player 3 rounds straight. I started to remember to use all the stuff I forgot to use earlier and it made a big difference. Then this one beastly purple Litchi player just fucked me up a few times and got a streak vs a bunch of people. I don’t even know how to block a lot of her stuff still. Probably one of the match ups I have the most trouble with in the game at this point. I played a against a few other various people here and there. I came really close to beating Megane Jin. I was also watching FAB play and it dawned on me that FAB IS Tager! If you took FAB and gave him Tagers body and a slightly bulkier face, he would look JUST LIKE FAB! They both have like the same hair and glasses. I just found that a little amusing. It was getting late and I pretty much had to start heading out. I said goodbye to my partner from the tournament and headed out.

This weekend made me realize that tons of people already have SBO teams decided on. I realized I need to start looking now so that by the time April roles around, I have lots of options to team with. Im gonna try to make an effort to find good players without teams from now on. I also realized I need to start playing more BB. I honestly don’t think im gonna bother trying to get into SBO for BB since I really think im too far behind in the game, but I don’t wanna get too rusty at it since I do like the game. Focusing on GG is a much better idea. If there happens to be a BB qual that’s going on that doesn’t overlap with the time id be playing in a GG qual then by all means I will enter just for the hell of it though since its singles anyway and I don’t have to worry about a team.

Plans for next weekend are still up in the air. Im sure that games and drinking will be involved somehow though :P

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have my team... I will see you there :D

ElvenShadow said...

Whos your team? Prucha and who?

Famous Power said...

Don't feel too bad about Johnnyo. At least you lost to a solid player! He is like one of the only guys that was good with Johnny in slash and didn't quit him when AC came out lol.

Nice ass blog this time! Sounds like I missed out on some crazy action. Good to see with the announcement of SBO GG that it isn't dying out at all. You didn't find out who the i-no was that you lost to, did you? Remember the color he used?Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this weekend is good for tomoko, and I'm a little busy too, but the next week we can definitely BOTH go!! I'm stoked!!

ElvenShadow said...

OH really? I never heard of Johnnyo before but good to know hes a well respected player at least. Ill get him next time.

The I-no I played in casuals before the tournament used the blue color with the pinkish hair. Dont know his name, I didnt talk to him.

Thats a shame about this weekend. We can reschedule it for another time. I dont think the weekend after is the greatest choice cuz its the final G3 ranbats and I sorta wanna go. Ill let you know when another good weekend comes up. It also sorta depends on Ryoko's work schedule too so that she can go skiing with us. Looks like ill just go to Tokyo this weekend instead, but im gonna bring Ryoko with me on Friday night so if you can make it out to Current you should come and bring Tomoko.

perfectsword said...

Yeah, "Jonio" is one of the best Johnny's around now; he's not quite at BLEED's level but he's certainly up there. I would have LOVED to see you fight him

perfectsword said...

Jonio is one of the best Johnny's around right now; he is indeed well-known and respected among JO players.