PIT STOP: Hiatus & Future Plans.

     Hey y'all.

    Just letting everyone know we will not have a Dungeon Diving/ Week of Darkest Dungeon II for this week and next week.

    I am currently focusing all my energy on my family for this week with us suffering a personal loss recently. After we process this I will be taking a much needed vacation with my wife and family and we won't be doing any updates during that time either.

    When we come back, we will do Week of Darkest Dungeon II but take into account the 2 missing weeks so instead of Week 4 it will be Week 6 since I might still be playing it when I can.

    Also by the time I get back I should have Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and hopefully the game will run much more smoother on my console of choice, the Steam Deck. I am patient tho because I have other things on my plate.

Thumbnail from when I used to stream.

Until then.

AV

Week 3 of Darkest Dungeon II: Deja Coup

     Welcome to Week 3 of Dungeon Diving; our ongoing exploration of Darkest Dungeon II. This blog is written chronologically and basic summarizes my thoughts and experiences as I play Darkest Dungeon II. Now I know this is going up on Thursday but I have come to realize my Wednesday are actually pretty busy mainly due to Bible Study which I attend every Wednesday. However Bible Study is taking a break as of this Wednesday so I might have more time now however that might be up in the air as well. More about that in the WHAT'S NEW section at the end. On that note, let's Dive.

Wednesday

- Started off a new week with a pretty good runs however they both feel apart near the end against Leviathan and then hitting a Oblivion Ingress into the Collector.

- Collector is such a rough fight without an back-end damage dealers (Future Phil: This will become a re-occurring theme of this week)

- Re-reading my previous blog I realized that I had Occultist as my Number 4 position and that makes so much more sense.

- Daemon Pull is so in-disposable.

- Since the deck is always stacked against you I have taken to quitting and restarting when I use Inn items that are supposed to get rid of quirks and they do not do it. Like 67% and I can't get rid of Anemic. C'mon game.

- At first I was annoyed they re-purposed the Cannon boss from Darkest Dungeon as a random encounter boss. However I realize it thankfully is nowhere near as tough as it was in DD and most of the time you get a cool item when you beat it that strengthens your stage wagon.

- Whilst he is a cool character, Leper really sucks if he gets moved out of position 1 or 2. He already has the built in weakness of being blind 80% of the time and he has no way to big damage to the back-end. If he could at least move forward 2 spaces (something he was able to do in DD) it would be so much better if he is pushed out of position 1 or 2.

Thursday

- I think it might be time to make a change, team Power Creep (the MVP team of my last blog) just is struggling a lot. Either that or I might change the time positions.

- New team has a built in name, Deja Coup (hence the name of this blog). Also it is nice to bring back the ol' Jestal team aka Jester/ Vestal. Deja Coup is made up of Vestal/Jester/Duelist/Man-at-Arms

- This team is built to deal with stress it appears, they did not struggle at all with it and I think it is mainly due to Jester.

- Team was doing good until we made the mistake of taking on the Shambler and MaA died. 3 on 4 for area's final node was too hard. Pretty much made a rule if I lose a character I will just abandon the run.

- Beginning to notice a annoying trend, the final area always have tons of road hazards and most of the time I find myself getting ambushed at the worst time.

- Resentment boss seems much more do-able now. Lost Jester but we able to beat it.

- I must admit when Deja Coup work, they work well. It really is a testament that all characters work so well together, well with the exception of Leper.

- Denial is much more beat-able with any team as long as we stock some debuffing items for the back-end. Also note to stock a lot of holy water to get rid of all the debuffs it puts on me.

- The Profane Scroll wants you to run a front row Vestal... haha... no.

Friday

- Understand speed and being able to move before the enemy is super important especially when it comes to using items.

- Getting ambushed by the Antiquarian and being able to smack her around the globe was a good feeling. Like call an ambulance but not for me!

We used to be friends... a long time ago.

- Realizing Duelist potential is really nice especially her dying so much on me in the early days using her.

- After a nearly flawless run Deja Coup falls apart against Resentment due to... you guess, lack of back-row damage. I must have got lucky in a previous run because it felt inflating it's front 'lung' which was much easier to hit but  this time it was mainly the harder to reach back one.

- Really need to think out my routes better, sure pleasing the squad is good and all but running a Stress Relieving team means I can get rid of small ticks of stress much easier. Saying this because following their 'requests' keeps leading me down hazard roads and Cannon ambushes yay *sarcasm*.

- Starting to notice a weird trend, everything I try a new team they do well for a couple runs but subsequent runs things fall apart a lot faster. Weird that.

- Vestal is a key component of Deja Coup, not only is she the healer of the team she is also our main consistent back-row damage dealer. A lot of folks say she was nerfed and she is no longer brain damage hit heal every turn character now she is much more nuance and about setting up consecrations.

- Going back to a previous post, I am required to kill the boss of this area and characters are telling me to go a separate patch. Trolling I tell you.

- After a good run with so many close calls we lose Duelist simply because we forgot to equip MaA with his 'Bellow' ability to hit the back row of the Sleeping General lair boss. SMH.

- I must say, previous DD was fixated on killing you with Stress and Heart Attacks, DD II is more everyone does a million Damage Over Time (DOT) effects every attack. Going to try running a Resistant (RES) stage wagon build to counter it.

- I feel the run after losing to DOT is a apology run aka a run where the game just throw good items at you. I already have 4 pieces of Road Gear for my anti-DOT station wagon.

- Realizing that Combat Items are basically free attacks and not just healing is changing my game approach a lot.

- Apology run is going well. Time to stock up on my own DOT items for the final boss.

- Wow. Despite having a amazing run up till the boss, we barely win with only MaA surviving. Going to change his name to MVP.

- I did not re-equip Duelist's Coup De Grace for her back-row damage so it was on me.

Saturday

-  Also worthwhile  noting that my anti-DOT team still had good/ great relationships at the end.

- I do enjoy a good Daemon Pull as mentioned above. Clearing bodies whilst getting the enemy in front of the front line damage dealers with Combo status? Chef Kiss.

- After a particularly bad run that ended with a Warlock ambush I think I am done for today. Going to play some anime fighters instead.

Sunday

- I am a private person so I will not go too much into it but today was a really sad day for me. Definitely a break night.

Monday

- The Grand Slam achievement requires you to beat all the confessional bosses without losing anyone. It really is one of the hardest things to pull off for sure.

- Nothing beats turning around tons of negative affinities to positives one.

- Still trying to get the Grand Slam, I have been quitting as soon as I lost a character. I really do not like replacing characters at the Inn because they always come in with no affinities and seem to have bad traits off the bat.

- Was hesitating pulling the trigger on completing the Altar of Hope but now I see you can use excess candles to either try to either pull good items before a run (rarely happens) or re-roll quirks. Pretty good because some quirks are game breaking aka Head Injury (50% chance of being Dazed) or the Yips (15% of being Blinded).

- New squad is 'Pulling Flames' with Occ/Due/Run/Lep with Duelist using the Instructice class. Trying something different with her.

Tuesday

- Had the most insane run, arrived at Act 1 boss and instantly got hammered by DOT and more and everyone was on Death's Door by Round 3. However we also inflicted tons of DOT on the boss and somehow we still won and not just won, everyone survived! A insane moment which I wished I recorded.

- After this epic win, I proceed into the game without equipping my winning team with memories. Realizing I missed up I quit before reaching the Inn and I lost everyone. After this hard earned win I messed up big time. I am such a dummy.

- 'Monarch' class Leper is supposed to do big damage against Cosmic foes and they appear a lot in the game so I thought this was a great idea, however his regular damage blows and he still has all Leper's normal flaws. Unless they buff this class in the next update, I do not think I will ever use it again.

- Pulling Flames is losing points for me. Struggle bus and all the seats are filled. Giving it one more try before moving on.

- Yeah this team lacks a lot. Occultist tries to heal Leper and instead bleeds him and he dies. I need a more consistent healer? Maybe Plague Doctor? Besides I do not need Daemon Pull if Plague Doctor can clear bodies and Runaway can put Combo tokens for Leper.

- Yep. P.D was the missing link. Being able to heal multiple DOTs is invaluable as well.

- Stress seems to be this teams biggest weakness. Anti-stress stage wagon?

- Team was doing great until we reached the boss. DOTs do not harm the back lungs so the Seething Sigh boss just keeps wiping us out. I need to re-think my teams to include someone like Highway Man, Crusader or Grave Robber who can actually hit the back row.

WHAT'S NEXT

    Another week, another blog. However as I mentioned in my Sunday entry, my family has had a pretty bad tragedy and I might be taking some time off from writing this blog. I might come back next week but do not be surprised if we do not have a blog next week because I will be pretty busy with family obligations. 

    I am still playing Darkest Dungeon II tho so I will eventually return to this. Till next time.

AV

Week 2 of Darkest Dungeon II: Power Creep

     Welcome to Week 2 of Darkest Dungeon II or as we are going to call it, 'Dungeon Diving'. This will be an ongoing blog discussing our experience with the game. It is presented chronologically and normally updated every Wednesday. Now I said normally because Wednesday has come and gone and yes, I do know today is Friday lol.

    It was a pretty busy week so I am only now getting around to writing this blog. This will discuss my experience with the game up until the Wednesday. We are now deep in the game so this will be much more extensive than the previous one. With the house keeping out of the way. Let's Dive.

Wednesday

- Was pretty busy today ( which might be a re-occurring theme lol in hindsight) but I was able to squeeze in some late night gaming.

- Decided to try out Duelist, the new character introduced in Darkest Dungeon II specially the DLC update 'The Binding Blade'. She reminds me of Shield Breaker in design with how she moves back and forward.

- I do have slight beef that beating the game with a character allows you to add 'memories' which are persistent character buffs and also the traits the characters picked up in their previous run but you do not keep any of the relics/ items you obtained. I know it is probably balanced so you need to start over but obtaining a really cool item and having to start over again to get it again is a pain.

- Turns out Plague Doctor/ Grave Robber/ Duelist/ Highway Man has some sauce. They steam rolled the Denial boss with no issues, funny enough I was actually going to retire earlier in the same run because they were all not fans of each other and relationships are important in DD II.

- Rage Quitted on the Foetor boss, 'Harvest Child'. I was stuck in a loop where everyone was constant eating and tanking all my character relations.

- Ambushed by the Antiquarian. Funny how they made her into a mini-boss in this one after being the best way to farm for resources in the original. Thankfully she is not that hard and once you kill her bodyguards she became red paste.

Thursday

- Had a pretty awful run where I had to fight the lair boss and I was sent down a path with multiple road hazards. Ended up getting ambushed and than the fire breathing minions keep pelting me and watched as every member succumbed to it.

- Need a break after that B.S

- The B.S ramped up for the subsequent run too specifically on the final node before the Inn. First my Duelist gets one shotted when One Shot Protection aka Death's Door should exist. Then it was just my Man of Arms and he kept missing not only his attack which would have healed him but also would have killed the Cosmic Evangelist. I just wanted to get to the Inn and I would have cashed out but nope.

- This team of Vestal/ Crusader/ Duelist/ Man of Arms is fun but sometimes it is a struggle.

- Duelist being made of paper is the real issue here, even with health buffs and trinkets she gets sneezed on and she is at half health.

Friday

- Team 'Locked On' aka Occultist/ Crusader/ Highway Man/ Man at Arms is cooking now. Defeated the Denial without an issue.

- Break Night. I occasionally like to take a night off from gaming as anyone who followed my 'Learning AF' know. Just rested tonight and did not play much at all.

Saturday

- Saturdays are a mixed bag for me. Either a lot happens or nothing happens at all. This was a nothing happened at all one.

Sunday

- I skipped my normal Sunday afternoon nap to get wrecked by the second confessional boss 'Resentment'. It was a decent run until we lost my Occultist and had to replace him with a 'rookie' Plague Doctor. Occultist really was the engine and without him it was a struggle.

Monday

- Getting frustrated now, started a new run and my first encounter was the now infamous Warlord mini-boss. My team was super weak with no good equipment and we got destroyed.

- I think it is because we are constantly trying to clear the second confessional boss because the game is much harder now. Having a lot more bad runs compared to good ones.

- Thinking part of the frustration is me trying to use Locked On no matter what. Think I might do some experimenting with some other teams/ combos.

- Occultist/ Crusade/ Duelist/ Leaper is not working. Crusader wants to use Holy Lance from rank 3 but when he does that combined with Duelist moving forward as well Leaper ends up in Rank 3 with nothing to do. Wasting a move on just getting into position without buffing or hurting the opposing team is not a good strat.

- Thinking of re-visting this team with Man at Arms instead. MaA can at least get from the back ranks to the front with his Hold the Line skill

- Just realized, have I been calling him Man of Arms/ MoA instead of his proper name which is Man At Arms in previous blogs. My bad. I'll try to use MaA going forward.

- Wiped out in the third act again due to Duelist's health. I am okay with it because this team felt really frustrating to play with.

- Switching to MaA was the best idea, he fits so much better in this team. Occultist/ Leaper is still a great team but they need a stable 2 and 3 position to work and not dancers aka character whom like to move back and forward a lot.

- Prime dancer characters are Jester, Highway Man, Grave Robber and now the Duelist.

- LOL we need to talk about the prizes some of these Lair bosses give out, The Lair boss gave out the book for the Tangle which I was currently already in, why would I need a book for a area I am already in and can not use?

- Also speaking of loot, some of the character specific trinkets draw-backs are so bad I rather use strong no character trinkets instead. The MaA trinket I keep getting asks him to be rank 2 instead of 1 which he never is and if he is at 1 he gets punished for it.

This Trinket is Booty.

- Okay, so it appears you can go back to areas you have already beaten? I guess that was the point of getting a Tangle book within the Tangle.

Tuesday

- Thinking my new team, 'Power Creep' nicknamed after the term people use when new DLC characters replaced previous characters by doing what they do but better might be the one. Occultist/ Crusade/ Duelist/ MaA made short work of the Leviathan lair boss. Most of the times we walk away from boss battles barely alive but this was dominance, pure and simple.

- 'Power Creep' did it. We finally dusted the Obsessions confession boss on our second try. Looked up a strat that told me to stack all the debuffs on MaA to tank it and boss folded. 2 more confessional bosses to go.

- Hah, as our narrator loves to remind us, overconfidence is most insidious killer. We tried to keep going and felt we could take on Chirurgeon mini-boss in a Ambition run and whole team is quickly wiped out cause we were under-levelled. Back to start I guess.

- I do like how certain 'Quirks' make more sense in DD II, DD had some really annoying ones which also made no sense and removed so much player agency.

- DD II has kept Darkest Dungeon tradition of focusing on a poor character when they are already falling apart. Combined that with a no health Duelist and well, game over man, game over.

WHAT'S NEXT

    So again apologies for the lateness of this blog, I will try to keep it most consistent like how I did with my 'Learning AF'. Also I know I keep promising an impressions blog about DD II but I am too busy playing it so its hard to crave out the time I can to write it. At this point we might be just putting it all into Darkest Dungeon II eventual RAVE (which I know I'll give it one).

    Next blog we will explore more specifically with my brand new team which I've really enjoy using and finding the missing piece of the puzzle I needed to use the Duelist the way I want to use her. Spoiler: she is a amped up Crusader spamming Holy Lance lol. Till then.

AV

    

Week 1 of Darkest Dungeon II: Burn Bright

     Welcome to Dungeon Diving! Our ongoing blog about our Darkest Dungeon II. Similar to the style I employed for my Learning Anime Fighters, this will be a chronological 'diary' of my thoughts whilst playing the game. I will have a much longer and detailed impressions videos later this week but right now we will be talking about mostly my gut reactions whilst playing the game. This blog is designed to be ongoing and I will update it every Wednesday.

Wednesday

- I finally got Runaway's first memory unlocked. I have been playing this game for at least 3-4 days now and every time I tried to unlock her memory to get more of her skills and I kept failing. I even had to look up a video online to get an idea on how to beat it, it was that annoying.

- Fortunately Runaway's default skill set is actually pretty good and I got pretty far with just using that. As the brand new character to the Darkest Dungeon franchise I like what she brings to the table.

- I was playing this game originally with a controller which is possible but I have defaulted back to Mouse and Keyboard (M&K). There is just so many menus to navigate and constant need to figure our what moves do what and how this token affects me that doing it with a controller just wasn't doing it for me. I exclusively playing the original DD with M&K as well so that makes sense.

- Damn. I thought had a good team and everyone had good relationships and then I got destroyed by the Denial boss. I really thought I was onto something too.

Thursday

- Okay, I've found a better team lol.

- Got to the second boss, Resentment. I was focusing on it's core but it turns out its 'lungs' should be the focus. Good to know.

- Realizing I do not need to fix my wagon for the final run up to the mountain is saving me time and currency. I can focus on getting a final item instead.

- All the lair bosses aka the big bads of the region have some nasty tricks to ruin your run. I thought the easiest one was the one in the Foetor and even that thing has teeth.

Friday

- I wish there was a way to sell unwanted items, so many times I'll be a couple currency short at the Hoarder/ Hospital but I have tons of items I would love to get rid of. Just throwing stuff away is so wasteful. Sure this is a hold-over from DD but man I wished they consider changing it.

- I have beaten the first boss Denial so many times now, the second boss, Resentment however? Not so much. It feels doable tho.

Saturday

- I think I've found my go to team. It is Occultist/ Highway Man (HWM)/ Grave Robber/ Man of Arms (MoA). I have taken to calling them 'Target Locked'

Sunday

- Looking at my Darkest Dungeon wallpaper for the original game and I realize I do miss some of the original classes. Surprisingly the character I miss the most is the Arbalest/ Musketeer. DD 2 has so many annoying backline enemies which are hard to reach with most of the cast.

- Thank goodness Occultist has his 'Daemon Pull' skill which brings them close to the front ranks. When I have teams with out him I actually miss that ability so much.

- I finally beat Resentment with team 'Target Locked' I was right, focus on the lungs, interchanging with attacks on its core. Did not even lose a squad member.

- Having the same team get wiped out on the first boss in a Obsession run is very humbling tho lol.

Monday

- Tried to take down the Shambler mini-boss with Target Locked and lost the whole team except Man of Arms. Tried to complete the objectives to at least get some extra candles and the next area is another alter to Shambler and this time I can't reject fighting it. WTF man.

- This game is so addictive. I constantly tell myself I am going to play something else but I keep coming back.

- Yoooo you can get rid of positive traits at the hospital too? LOL I forgot that was a thing.

Tuesday

- Getting jumped by the Collector mini-boss after a long lair boss fight is dirty pool Red Hook. I need you guys to know that.

- Okay, did I accidentally turn on hard mode? New run, first boss is the Warlord mini-boss and my time is not strong enough for that. This is some b-s.

- Occultist 'Anamnesis' skill might not be worth it. You need two 'Unchecked Power' tokens and be in position 1 or 2. This might work for front row Occultist but who runs that combo?

- 'Obsession' is tough as well and it has 2 stages. I was having a great run and even took down Fanatics' pretty easily. Also it appears on later runs you have to fight more back to back battles to get to the boss.

WHAT'S NEXT

    So on that note, we are done with our first Darkest Dungeon II ongoing blog. I think we will be here for awhile because right now we are loving DD II. I have other team combos to try, other characters to learn and at least 3 more major bosses to conquer.

    Also we still have the upcoming Kingdom update still coming soon as well. Check back in next Wednesday for another installment of 'Dungeon Diving'.

    AV

Week 14: Learning AF- All Good Things (Finale)

     Welcome to Learning AF (Anime Fighters), this was an ongoing blog about me picking up and learning anime fighters and leverless controllers. As the title states tho this will be our last blog about this topic.

    During the previous week; I play next to no anime fighters at all and I currently aiming to still play and compete in them, especially Under Night In-Birth 2 but I think the learning period is over and now my blogs will be about just playing the games. I'll still post updates especially when these anime games drop new characters, Beatrix in Granblue for example will get a blog later this week for example.

    Do not forget this blog is done chronologically. We will discuss more about the future in the WHAT'S NEXT section below, with the introduction done, lets get started.

Monday

- Break Night

- However now I playing Darkest Dungeon II more seriously I have finally beaten the first boss Denial. I also found a team I like a lot.

Tuesday

- Darkest Dungeon II is so addictive it looks like my previous blog talking about slowing down is coming true.

Wednesday

- It was a good run but I think we might stop our ongoing blog series in the next blog.

- I think I might do a blog about Beatrix in Granblue Fantasy Rising tho. She looks fun and has tons of combo possibilities.

- To replace the gap in my content stopping this blog will create we will starting a new blog later this week called 'Dungeon Diving' which of course will focus on Darkest Dungeon II.

Thursday

- Got a preview of Nen Master who looks sick and I can always play more DNF Duel. Speaking of DLC and new characters, I got to say not enough credit is given to UNI2 for selling a character pass for the 3 upcoming DLC characters for FREE if you purchase the game (including the regular game) before a certain date.

Friday

- I would like to take this time to thank the folks who have read this blog. I appreciate you sharing my Learning Anime Fighters time.

Saturday

- Break Night

Sunday

- We will be continuing our Anime Fighters journey especially with UNI2. I brought a brand new arcade stick (Eclipse) after all and I will be doing dedicated PIT STOPS when new DLC characters come out but this will be our last Learning AF blog and for it to be ongoing for 14 weeks was an achievement which I am proud of.

WHAT'S NEXT:

    I've think I've said my piece above but again, thank you for following along. My next big thing will be 'Dungeon Diving' which will be an ongoing Darkest Dungeon II blog. We will have blogs dedicated to the upcoming DLC characters for the Anime Fighters I play as well.

    AV

Week 13: Learning AF- The Fall Off

    Welcome to another Learning AF (Anime Fighters) blog. We have now reached Week 13 of this ongoing series of me picking up and learning Anime fighting games. This week however is bit scarce because it was another busy week for yours truly and I have been playing other games as well (more on those later).

    We will be making a decision soon but before we get there let drop into a new week of Learning AF.

Monday

- I have completed all of Blazblue Central Fiction (BBCF) tutorial. Some good information and it was helpful but also nowhere near as deep as UNI's ones. UNI seems to have the best tutorial when it comes to game depth even tho I will say, sometimes it gets really deep for a beginner.

- After finishing the tutorial I decide to pick my main and I always had one in mind for this game, which is Hazama. Regular readers of this blog know I like Hazama and he was actually # 5 in my top 5 favorite video game characters LIST. Peep that here. LIST

- His combo trials are definitely unique, some hold over concepts from BBTAG (where I used him) but also some new stuff having to cancel his 214x attacks because 214x puts you in a stance.

- Similar to how BBTAG only gave me ideas how UNI combos work and not the whole concept, it did not prepare me for how in-depth BB combos are.

- After completing Hazama's normal combos, harder combos became unlocked. Interesting.

- It looks like I grossly underestimated how hard BBCF combos are. Spent hours working on one hard Hazama combo and it does not even look that hard on paper. Sheesh

Tuesday

- Played nothing but Tainted Grail Conquest today. I really wanted to get the true ending. I also wanted to get my RAVE out and normally I do not do my RANT or RAVE until I've completed the game to my satisfaction. Turns out my OCD-ness of completion extends to everything in gaming not just fighters.

Wednesday

- After what felt like a lifetime I finally pulled off Seth's 5-7 in UNI2. I kept putting it together like a puzzle and it finally clicked. Also the hard part with 214B,214A,214[A]7 only started working because I stopped putting pauses in it. You just need to do it back to back, no pauses.

- Does this mean I can do all the other combos that involve this ender? I hope so because this is the last hurdle I need to cl_r (lol) if I want to start using Seth seriously.

- [BBCF] so when this game says a combo is hard, it actually means it is hard. It took me a long time to finally get Hazama's hard # 1 combo.

- One thing I do not like about Hazama's combo involving aerial B, aerial C into more aerial C is the lack of 'hit stun' the moves do. I feel like I got to mash it out but at the same time I can not visually tell when to do the double jump. I feel like I am barely touching the opponent when I am hitting buttons like mad.

- These BBCF Hazama combos feel like they are beyond me right now.

- Completed Es' normal combo challenges. Let's see if her hard ones are like Hazama's.

- Okay Es' hard combo challenges are much easier and doable. I guess Hazama is another high execution monster ala Seth. Why do I always gravitate to the hard characters to learn.

- Completed 8-10 of Es' hard combos. I guess Hazama was not the best character to start with lol.

Thursday

- UNICLR time. Gordeau feels similar to his UNI2 version. Like other character his UNICLR combos have less emphasis on dashing attacks. Also slight charge is back but I feel it is not really a charge at all. I feel the point of the slight charge is to stop you from doing 2 hit 2C.

- 100% Gordy's trials. Feels good I still have some execution.

- Looks like all the dash combos was saved for Phonon cause they are back... in spades.

- All of Phonon's 5-x series require charged 236[B] and 2C, delay 3C which I am used to thanks to UNI2. She however has one that involves one hit of her Force Function (BC) cancelled into her 22A which I am not used too.

- Pulled off a Force Function (FF) 1 hit into 22A combo in 4-12. This one does not require exactly one hit of the FF but it does require good timing with the falling aerial 236A, this needs to be done with a slight delay after 22A.

- Okay the FF combos are easier to do now. The science comes down to delaying the 4B as long as possible.

- 4-2 was a weird one. Normal aerial 2[B] is the ender into the ground series but this one required you to aerial 2[B] into aerial B, aerial 236A. You really got to hit the aerial B early. No delay.

- 12 out of 15 so far for Phonon. Her 4-3 is alluding me. I guess it is true that combos that start off Assault have more severe hit stun scaling because the opponent kept dropping out of it at random places but especially near the end.

- I knew I was not crazy, UNI2 has no combos involving FF into 22A. I wonder if they are still viable or they have been pushed out for 236[B] combos instead.

Friday

- Phonon's 4-3 completed. Precision is need because as noted before hit stun is very short with this one.

- 13 out of 18 combos for his 4-x series and 3 out of 4 for his 5-x series with Hyde on my first night with him. The combos I am struggling with most involve 22x into 3B into delayed 236x

- Speaking 236x, you need to do it twice for the follow ups to come out, unlike UNI2 where you can simply do 236x,6x. Now like Seth you need to do it quickly.

Saturday

- 4-7 now done. It says delay and delay it meant. 3B DELAY 623B lol.

- 4-10 done as well.  For something that looks simple, you really need to time the last 3 hits.

- 5-3 done. I remembered a similar combo in UNI2 with the fireball cancel into a beam. UNICLR's motion is slightly harder tho requiring 646 instead of just 46. On that notes all of Hyde's 5-x series are done.

- 4-3 done. Another combo which look simple at first and just required more precise timing. I am also happy none of Hyde's combos require the dash B combo which frustrated me to no end in UNI2.

- The last 2 combos are variants of his wall bounce into 3B delay 236B,236A which I know I will eventually get.

- Phonon's 4-15 done. I was getting so close the previous day but today I locked in and everything just feel into place.

- For some reason Phonon's 4-14 combo just was not working for me. The 2A,C (2 hits), delay 4B, FF (1 hit), 22A was refusing to come out no matter how much I delayed the 4B.

- Remembering I can do FF (1 hit), 22A off 2C better, I decided to do 2A,C (1 hit),2C, delay 4B, FF (1 hit), 22A instead and the simple change of putting the extra 2C helped me do it. Phonon's combo trials in UNICLR are completed!

- Now we are pretty much done with Tainted Grail Conquest. Check out the RAVE review. RAVE. I decided to finally start Darkest Dungeon II as my new rest/ break night game.

Sunday

- Break Night

- I have been putting off starting Darkest Dungeon II for weeks now as regular readers of this blog know. I have no idea why. After I started it I was hooked again and now I am really enjoying myself.

WHATS NEXT

    So now the title should make sense to you. I have really fallen off with my Anime Fighters to the point where I might actually be ending this ongoing blog soon.  This blog used to take FOREVER to write because I had so much to discuss but now it just I did this combo, I did that combo. This blog originally started as me wanting to learn Anime Fighters and using my Leverless controller MidNite and now I mostly do combo trials and I do not use MidNite at all.

    I am really not 'Learning' it anymore and whilst I do want to still play it competitively I also feel I will not do as well in it as say a certain 3D fighter and well personally I do not want to do that.

    I think I will see how this week goes but if I continue to loose interest next weeks Learning AF might be our last one. Not to be a Debbie Downer tho, I will still play UNI2 at least for fun and I intended to play some Blazblue Central Fiction and do its story mode at least.

    This blog might soon go back to its original focus. Speaking of, I will probably drop a impression video for Darkest Dungeon II later this week. Till next time.

AV

RAVE: Tainted Grail Conquest

     To the sound of a death march, you triumphally strike down the tree's (!!) arms and it crumbles to the ground. To your awe and dismay, it becomes a 'lost soul' and proceed to strike you back even harder and your character collapses to the ground. DEAD. All your progress lost. You sigh. You nod. You say 'One more run'.

    While the above paragraph describes a boss battle in 'Tainted Grail Conquest', it also describes many roguelikes/ roguelites specifically deck building roguelites and the appeal they hold for some people like me. Going up against nearly unsurmountable odds however as you play the game you improve yourself and your deck of action cards, then those odds become less unsurmountable but doable and before you know it, you are now steamrolling bosses with the strongest deck imaginable and nothing beats that feeling when you have that 'God' run where you feel un-touchable.

    For the people who mostly visit this blog for it 'Learning Anime Fighters' series of blogs, welcome! The main core of this channel is a series of blog/ reviews which we call RANTS and RAVES. RANTS are reserved for things we do not like, like atrocious tracers (not artist) like Greg Land and believe it or not those are rather uncommon. I try not to be a 'hate baiter' or a 'reaction farmer' it is just not in my nature. If anything, a large portion of my reviews are normally RAVES. RAVES are stuff I really enjoy, whether it be a TV show, a musical artist or in most cases, a video game. In today's case, it is 'Tainted Grail Conquest' a deck building roguelite made by the team at Questline for publisher Awaken Realms. Also note; this is not our first time discussing this game on our blog. I previous did my impression blog about it which can be found here. Tainted Grail Conquest Impressions.

    That impressions blog was written when I had a bit of time in the game but now after 58 hrs we have beaten the game and rolled the true ending and credits and I feel it deserves to be praised so here is my RAVE review for it.

    The origins of this game, Tainted Grail Conquest, was it was originally designed to be a mode in the main game 'Tainted Grail The Fall of Avalon' however the more they worked on it, they realized it could become a full game so they completed Conquest first and got it out there whilst they worked on finishing The Fall of Avalon. Speaking of The Fall of Avalon is out now and if you are into First Person RPGs ala Skyrim I would recommend checking it out. It looks interesting however First Person RPGs are not my thing however deck building roguelites definitely are. The world and lore of Tainted Grail is also based on a board game by Krzyztof Piskorski titled the same as the main line game. He is also a part of the developers of the game 'Awaken Realms', a indie Polish company.

    The game itself is designed like many deck builders. You start with a paltry deck with a couple decent cards but nothing crazy. However the more you play the game the more cards you unlock and if you are doing side-quests (which this game has in spades) you can unlock even better cards. You also open the door for more classes spread out between fighters, archers and summoners. Funny story through. Even tho there are many classes (9 in total) I have only used one my entirely playthrough. I fully intend to go back in and try some other classes but the one class I used, the default one, was the one best suited to my playstyle.

    Despite only using one class through, I enjoyed every moment of this game except in the middle where I felt I hit a wall. Each run was ending in failure and I can now correct myself from my impression blog where I said a boss stayed dead after you slay them. I was wrong. I think I was confused because sometimes you get a different boss and the game also said 'Slay the second beast' so I thought I did not have to slay the first beast again but like all roguelites, when you die, your game progression is completely reset and any bosses you had beaten need to be beaten again. This middle was where a bit of frustration kick in but I realized I was just not building my deck correctly with the best possible cards. Slight spoiler: some of the best cards are locked behind NPCs side quests. There is one specific card that once I realized its potential became my go-to starter card and well, I started completing runs after runs because of it. Speaking of, yes, in a flip on the tried and true formula roguelite, Tainted Grail Conquest has full-on RPG lite meta progression side quests. You talk to the person and they give you a long set of tasks and at the end you can 'save' that NPC. As mentioned, these are meta progressing so they persist between runs thankfully so once you find a certain item you do not need to seek it out again, just need to give it to the right person. I also say thankfully because like all roguelites the 'map' does change between runs so a certain person you might need or a location you need to visit does not show up in this run and you need to do another one and hope for the best. This, I will not lie got a bit maddening especially when you just need to met a certain NPC one more time to complete their task and the RNG won't roll you the 'map' where they are available.

    Saving these NPCs are also part of the game story and to get the 'true' ending you need to save them all and fight the 'true' boss. Speaking of 'true' boss, if you have played 'Slay the Spire' (aka THE deck building roguelite) this final boss concept is something you might be familiar with.

    

    The gameplay itself is done well. Instead of a pre-determined path where you make decisions on which forks to take like most deckbuilding roguelites, each of the 3 randomly generated areas allow you to free roam to an extent. During your free roaming you will encounter NPCs, enemies (which you fight in the conventional turn based deck building style) and events. The game surprisingly gives you a lot of freedom. You start the area and you want to run straight to the boss? Go for it. You see the NPC you need to help but they are being blocked by an enemy? Go behind the enemy and you can still talk to the NPC without even having to beat the monsters. I found this was really helpful in my early runs when I was not as strong but after awhile I became so OP I would purposely trigger battles just so I could get more loot. Speaking of loot; it is plentiful. Of course you have gold but at the beginning and at the end of every boss battle you get to spend some time in the 'village'/ hub you have filled with main line NPCs like the blacksmith or the candle maker (more on that in a bit) and whilst those NPCs use the gold, each of them also accept a unique currency exclusive to them. Give them enough of this currency and you can get more candles when you start your run or more weapon slots or item slots. This progression is also kept between runs as well so building a better village also makes you stronger in the long run as well. This unique, almost base building aspect is what really kept me coming back to Conquest. Helping these poor souls out and helping them deal with their own demons and getting rewarded for it became a enjoyable gameplay loop. Another big part of the loot is 'Runestones', these special stones which you can slot into your weapon or your armor can change your playstyle from a little to a lot. At first I dismissed these are fluff but overtime and as I got better runestones I realize they are pretty key to winning certain battles so do not ignore them like I did and use them correctly.

    I mentioned candles before right? If we are still discussing gameplay, then we must talk about the 'Wyrdness'. The wyrdness is how Conquest conceals the map. The more you traverse the maps, the more the wyrdness creeps in, the more it effects the game. Of course, there is the obvious ones like you can not see in front of you and there is nothing but a strange haze obscuring your vision literally but wydrness also triggers certain 'bad' cards to enter your deck and these are never a good thing. Bad cards can be like giving the opponent a barrier aka a shield before you can actually hit them or you do less damage or have less energy to play cards, crappy things. So you want to keep the wyrdness away so you use a limited commodity item called 'Wyrdcandles'. These special items help keep the wyrdness at bay and having high light from the wyrdcandles can actually cause good cards to show up in your deck too as opposed to the bad ones. You can also see your enemies clearly and what events/ NPCs they are guarding. Generally, it is a good idea to always have high light from Wyrdcandles but no all things are done in the light and some random encounters, important encounters mind you can only be done when you have no light and wandering in the wyrdness. It is a unique concept, similar to how torches work in 'Darkest Dungeon' and I like how they implemented it... most of the time.

    Outside of the gameplay, the game itself is rather well polished for a smaller studio. Most of the main line NPCs are fully voiced for all their dialogue and even some of the lesser character in the map have voice lines too. The soundtrack is suitably moody with an occasional hard rock, almost chanty vibe. I'll share a track with you all below that best shows that.

    The graphics of the main game are passable. Nothing ground breaking but still it is not bad. The art of the cards are nice however with some really good illustrations and effort put into it. However I did have a couple issues with slow down during the game which got progressive worst during longer runs and at one point the game completely crashed on me. One of the biggest causes for the slow down is whether you 'stun' enemies for some reason that special effect always made my frame rate tank for a couple minutes. Whilst not always game breaking, it did get annoying after awhile and with the game 'completed' I do not see any performance patches coming anytime to fix it so keep that in mind. The interface is intuitive in-game and the games has multiple modes like 'Endless Power' and 'Endless Misery' as well. I muck around in 'Endless Power' and it seem its was a stripped down/ streamlined version of the game with nothing but back to back battles and no need to progress the story. I think it would be fun to muck around in but since the story/ RPG elements was the appeal of the game for me I bet I would get bored after awhile.

Pick a card mon ami

    Overall, this is a good game and a good time especially if you love this genre like I do. The game's core structure is solid based on many of the genres tried and true tropes of turn based, knowing what the enemy's intentions are and planning ahead with your deck. The storyline is compelling enough to keep you going with a good cast of characters to help and fight for. The sound design is pretty good and it looks fine. A bit rough in places but it is not horrible. Other then the slowdown/ tanking frame rates after certain actions it runs well too. It is not a masterpiece but I had a great time and I see myself still playing even through I have now completed the game. This 'tainted grail' is actually not bad for you at all and therefore gets a RAVE from me.

AV

P.S this game is currently on sale at gog.com for only $9.99 (50% off) as of the posting of this blog.

Week 12: Learning AF- Gloomy Invitation

     Welcome to another week of Learning Anime Fighters! This is an ongoing blog where we discuss learning Anime Fighters (AF). This week is a little bit spare due to two reasons. One, we are now a week after our first major offline tournament so I did not need to train as hard for it. Two, I was super busy this week and I just got tired and went to bed early a lot, late night being my main gaming time.

    Related to this, is this week's blog is probably going to be much shorter compared to my previous ones. Are we winding down? Maybe. Or I could just hit a slump for a week and maybe I'll be back at this week. I guess we shall see. However this onward to this week.

Monday

- Since the tournament is done I've decided to jump back into UNICLR and started with Hilda's trials.

- Hilda us so much work but her UNICLR trials do feel much easier compared to her UNI2 stuff which is par for course for the more harder characters (Seth/Bya/Chaos) that I have done so far.

- UNICLR's Seth's 4-8 and 4-10 done. I'm finally beginning to understand the delay necessary for his 623x attack which really makes these combos so much easier.

- Add 4-13. The delay just makes sense now.

- With 4-2 I realize I should start with my back to the wall so the wall bounce part becomes easier to pull off and that worked.

- 4-15 done. Actually one of the easier ones once I got the timing for 214[B], FF Kick down.

- I have actually completed the last Seth trial's in UNI2 so I realized I just need to do 4-16 and 5-2 and 5-3 and I'll be done with Seth's trials in UNICLR and that blows my mind.

- 4-17 done. Noticing the 214[C] after Cast Veil Off (CVO) needs to be timed compared to UNI2 where I can just do it. Good to know.

- 4-18 done. Since I did it in UNI2 I knew the UNICLR one could be done.

Tuesday

- UNICLR's Seth 5-2 done. Really came down to delaying the FF Kick considerably. 2 more to go!

- 5-3 done. Just like 5-2 you got to delay FF Kick.

- 4-16 done. As the last one this really felt like the most technical especially when it came down to the timing. The micro-walk after 214C into the 6C, small delay Veil Off (VO) is really the hardest part.

- On that note we are completely done with Seth in UNICLR. This is something I thought I could have never done. Seth in UNI2 is a different beast but this has motivated me to keep at it.

- Akatsuki's 5-2 done. Just really need to train my muscle memory to do aerial B,C,A which felt foreign to my fingers.

- Speaking of buttons: My button layout for all anime games might be a bit unique and is set up thus. A,B,A+B,A+D on my top row, C,D,B+C,A+B+C on the bottom row. The back four buttons can be changed around but I will not compromise on the placement on my A,B,C,D as a box. This is a rollover from my Marvel and KOF days.

- Turns out Akat's 4-7 can be done without the re-jump 2C. You can just do 2C after the neutral aerial C. Make it so much easier.

- This is not possible in UNI2, you need to do the re-jump 2C. However the UNI2 starts with 2A,2A whilst UNICLR's variant is 2A,2B so maybe the 2A,2B has less hit-stun? Testing needed.

Wednesday

-  Akat's 4-12 is done as well. Used the same strat above and did the aerial 2C after the neutral aerial C. This is way is sooo much easier.

- 4-5 done. Such a strange combo and nowhere near optimal. Really had to get used to delaying the jumping A,B as the opponent was descending but early enough to have time to do the dashing B.

- 100% Akatsuki in both games now. Feels good.

- The only characters I have picked up in UNICLR and I have no 100% yet are Merkava, Hilda and Bya. 8 100% out of 11 characters is pretty impressive.

- Turns out you CAN do the UNICLR combo with 2A,2B,C,6C in UNI2 and do not need to do the re-jump to get aerial 2C. So 2A,2B does have less hit stun. Nice to know.

- This will probably be a short 'Learning AF' week. I have been getting really sleep come Midnight. I've actually been doing most of my combo trials during the day.

- I have also fully embraced 'Tainted Grail Conquest' this week and been playing a lot of that too. This is good because literally in my last Learning AF blog we were discussing me getting stuck and frustrated.

Thursday

- UNI2's Seth harder Tiger Knee (TK) 623x combos still feel out of my reach.  214B,214A,214[A],7 combos especially. However I originally thought I could do do any of Seth's advanced combos and look at us now. I will keep at it.

Friday

- Making progress with the above combo. I think I understand when to do the 214B now and I found a guide that explains you need to do it early and I agree. It actually needs to be done as soon as the input the TK 623B and you do the 214B as he vanishes.

- I can do a variant of this combo off 2C (2 hit), 214[C] combo now. I also found out that surprisingly 2C is safe for a sweep so that is a good hit confirm combo starter.

- Spent a good portion of my afternoon working on Seth's hard combos and got no success. Bruv it should not be this hard.

- I did finally beat Tainted Grail Conquest tho. Turns out I just need better cards and a better approach to certain battles. A RAVE for it will probably be coming soon.

- I am thinking of not wasting a whole afternoon again. I think I'll put a limit on how many times I can fail the Seth combos and than move on to Blazblue Central Fiction or go do some UNICLR characters I have not complete/ started.

- Speaking of, looks like Linne in UNICLR has the infamous 2369 air fireball combos I have heard about. Ironic that UNICLR has the harder combos for once not the other way around cause UNI2 definitely did not have any combos like that.

- Also to make her even harder is she still has her aerial 6[C] combos which anyone who reads this blog know I can not stand doing. Akatsuki's combos with aerial 6[C]... *shudder*

This is my new most hated move. Move aside Akat's aerial 6[C]

Saturday

- Break Night. Spent a good portion of my day helping at my church for a Mother's Day luncheon. Was super tired at the end of the day and just wanted rest.

Sunday

- Break Night. It was Mother's day and I was exhausted at the end of the night again. This weekend was a real bust for any video games LOL.

WHAT'S NEXT

    Now I've finally beaten Tainted Grail Conquest, I think I might actually start playing Darkest Dungeon 2. I do not know why I've been putting it off and the wild thing is I did the same for the original Darkest Dungeon and I ended up loving it. Hopefully the same thing will happen with DD2.

    Anime Fighters-wise, I think I'll focus mostly on UNICLR this week with some BB: Central Fiction thrown in. I can justify it by saying I ain't entering a UNI2 tournament soon so I can play what I like.

    I know this week was shorter but I still have a drive to get better at AF so we will not be stopping anytime soon.

AV

    

Week 11: Learning AF- Transgressing Convict

    Welcome to Week 11 of Learning Anime Fighters (AF). This week we focus on mostly Uni-Night In Birth 2 as we prepare for our first offline tournament. Do we do well or do we reconsider everything and quit this journey? Stay tuned for the answers.

    Also again apologies for the last weeks blog with the random formatting. I figure out what cause the issue and even through it could not be fixed in post, we can make sure it does not happen again.

Monday

- Tournament Week! Time to buckle down and focus on UNI2!

- Knowing my OCD nature when it comes to completing trials, I will try my best to worry about Seth, Yuzu and Vatista's trials next week.

- My OCD-ness kicked in. That did not last long lol. I had to keep at it with Seth's UNICLR trials and it paid off. 5-1 is done.

- I am able to do slightly better with Seth on 2P side and got 4-14 with the VO (Veil Off) set up. This is the first combo I am able to pull off in his 4-x combo trials. UNICLR has 2 sets of veteran combos, one are labelled as 4-x and 5-x. The 5-x mainly focused on specialize enders. Merkava's 5-x series all focus on ending his combos with his 22C super/ set up for example.

- Going back to UNI2 but still using Seth. I noticed UNI2 actually does look better than UNICLR now I looking closer. I can do his advanced combos but his expert/ veteran combos are much harder.

- SPOILERS: Finished Seth's story mode. A trooper to the end and protected Linne. Speaking of, is that an older Linne in his ending? Hmm (P.S It is!).

- I also got the 6 endings achievement thanks to Seth's one.

Tuesday

- AAANNDD I'm back on UNICLR. I told you I have an OCD tendency when it comes to completing trials. However this was worth it because I finally got Seth's 4-1. It really came down to delaying the FreeFall Kick (FF Kick) (2+A+B,6A) after the 214[B] hits.

- Londreika being the new character in UNICLR actually has some of the easier combos. He also does not have any 5-x series.

- After struggling so much with Seth, I got all of Londreika's combos in one session. Wild.

- I've also noticed Lond's B in delay 2C into 214A combos are so much easier in UNICLR.

- Yep, definitely harder in UNI2. Lond's combos involve delay 214B, delay 2C and 214[A] for his combo enders. Thankfully his final combos involving Cast Veil Off (CVO) aren't that hard tho in either versions.

- UNICLR Seth's 4-7 is done. I am finally getting the hang of it. I just need to stop missing 623B into 623A.

- As soon as I completed 4-7 I knew I could do 4-9 as well. Since their are next to no-one discussing how to do it, here is my science to it.

- A) FF Kick (2AB,6A) needs to be timed. After the initial hit, wait a second and time it with the falling body of your opponent. This will give you the lowest launch for the kick, perfect for combos.

- B) Aerial 6C needs to be done clean after holding 8 after the kick hits. This is to buffered during the jump cancel window. After it hits smoothly do 236B slight pause 214A. The 214A is done a second after the orb leaves his hand.

- C) 623B, 623A also needs perfect timing. Wait for Seth to complete the 623B animation and faces towards the opponent before inputting the 623A.

- Final tips: Clean inputs and correct timing are so important. Doing it too fast will cause the follow up attacks to be eaten.

- 4-11 done. On a roll now. This one requires no delay on the FF Kick.

- I also noticed this combo is not possible in UNI2 or at least any combo trial has not shown it.

- 4-12 done too. Feeling accomplished tonight.

- Bit intimidated by his 632146 throw aka Transgressing Convict ( now shown as TC also the name of the blog heh). How does one get it come out so fast?

- 4-4 done. A unique a take on a UNI2 combo but instead of letting the orb hit, walk, 6C you instead do dash jump 6C instead. Seems a bit harder for no reason.

- 7/18 combos done. I started with just 1 or 2. The rest of these combos seem really hard tho. Going to take a break and actually play UNI2 and see if any of these skills translates over.

- Speaking of UNI2, I have hit 200 hrs playing time on Steam tonight. WILD.

- Since double orbs are no longer a thing in UNI2, you now need to learn aerial TK 623x series for the big damage. What a pain.

Wednesday

- UNICLR Seth's 4-6 done. Dash B into 214[B] was also a execution wall but I think I am getting it. The progress I am making is good but most of this is in UNICLR not UNI2.

- 4-5 done. Took a minute to get used to how FF Kick works with a wall in front of you. Also rare use of aerial 236A instead of 236B orb set up. The game also says dash B needs to be 1 hit but you can get 2 and the game won't freak out... unlike say... Merkava. Not bitter at all LOL.

- Started Akatsuki's combo trials. He has definitely kept his quirkiness. I guess being a guest character he kept the combo concepts from his game.

- I am very happy he does not have any combos that involve aerial 6[C]. Regular readers of this blog know how much I loathe that move.

- He still kept his re-jump aerial 2C combos tho which are still a pain to pull off.

- Almost done with Akat, the aforementioned aerial 2C combos and a wacky one that involved combo-ing from aerial 2C.

Thursday

- Noticed that with Enkidu's combos you can substitute 4C for 4[C] to make it much easier and it does more damage.

- 2 combos left for Enkidu. He was already not a hard character to pick up but his combos are much easier compared to UNI2. Not one of his combos involve dash B nor the special delay needed to get extra height on 623x kicks.

- All done with Enkidu. Saw at Texas Showdown a Enkidu player did pretty well so I am happy they are some high level play with someone who folks call low tier.

- Slowly realizing how deliberate Byakayu is. You really need to time his multiple presses correctly. Noticed this in UNICLR and UNI2.

- Pushing folks to the corner then doing the combo really helps with my Bya timing. Now I am done with 4-2 and 4-15. 11 more to go.

- I've also realized the timing for his aerial 6C, delay C is SOOO long. Like you can literally make a sandwich and then hit the C.

- 4-7 done. You really need to mash the A as fast as possible during 236A,4A,A,A.

- 4-8 done. Interestingly if you use the corner you do need to get exactly 8 hits with the dash C therefore you can 9 hits and the wall bounce and you can still do it.

- Compared to UNI2 the dash C combo trial is so much easier.

- We on a roll again. 4-9 done.

- 4-11 is a variation with the dash B into his rekka series. I am happy cause doing the same ender was getting boring.

- 4-12 another variation using 3[C]. Again, happy they are throwing in more differences.

- A different combo that Bya does in UNICLR that he does not do in UNI2 is aerial 2[C] into aerial 214[B],B,B combos. I finally figure out the timing and the secret is timing the aerial 2[C] just as the web breaks. 4-4 done.

- I thought for a minute the 5-x series was going to be hard but all but 5-2 is done. Only 3 combos until I am done with Bya's trials, something I have not been able to do in UNI2.

Friday

- Pre Cincy Clash day. Promised myself to not play UNICLR today and focus on UNI2 since that's the game being played.

- Completed Seth's 5-3. I got the final sequence down now, I just need to learn the timing for FF Kick, 2, 623B and I understand now to time as the opponent's body is about to hit the ground. If anything the demo is a bit misleading and this one should have been the one with delay C. You can get good damage off 632146/ TC throw if you have chain shift it appears.

- I think I understand the mechanics behind FF Kick into TC. You just buffer the whole motion during the 6C animation. As a King main in Tekken, buffering is something I can do.

- I can't believe it. Literally less than a week ago I was going to give up on Seth but reading my words in my pre-blog and then the actual blog I instead decided to double down on my efforts. Today I completed 5-15, arguably one of his harder trials.

- Since 5-15 was doable, 5-14 was much easier too. I realized with 214[C] after CVO needs to wait a bit so the opponent is directly above Seth's head for the C ver. of TC.

- Now to master his TK 623x combos and I might actually use Seth in UNI2.

Saturday

- D-DAY!

- I entered my first UNI2 tournament and I lost spectacularly.

This is a marker to say I will do better.

- I knew I would not do well with this being my first tournament and all but I figured I had to just dive in and have a sink or swim mentality.

- I went 0-2 and the irony was my first match was against a Wagner main. I knew I would use Wagner too since I did not want to do too much in my first tournament and Wagner is my comfortable main. I still instead to eventually bust out Kaguya and one day, Seth tho.

- My second match was against an Enkidu main. This also went badly but I did take a round at least. I had some goals and I did fulfill them tho.

- First was to use shield properly and not get GRD broken. I only got GRD broken once which was good.

- Second was to break a couple throws and I did that.

- Third was to get a hit confirm into a bread and butter and that's where I failed. I went for C, into aerial [C] and the aerial [C] did not come out.

- Anyhow, it is a start and I am motivated to do better. I think I am now ready to play online and even attend some offline casuals.

- I also had a great time at the Spot aka Wing Champ after with some Tekken homies. All in all, a good tournament experience. Hopefully come next Cincy Clash (it is bi-monthly event) I might actually win a set.

Sunday

- It has been a long week so you know I was ready for break night.

WHAT'S NEXT

    On that note; we have reached the end of this week. I really enjoyed playing UNI2 offline but I do have some gripes in hindsight. First was I was not able to play any casuals. There was next to no casual stations and every time I went to set up my own set-up and hopefully get folks to play with me I had to watch some Tekken 8 matches. I wanted to support my homie and brotha from anotha mother Mr. J who got 3rd in the Tekken tournament and congrats to him but I felt I hurt my own chance to make UNI2 friends/ rivals. I think that is why I am determined to make it to a offline casual night at Arcade Legacy so I am focus purely on UNI2 and get some games in.

    Second is of course I was not able to fulfill promises I made to myself. Darkest Dungeon 2 remains un-played and I have not written a RAVE for Tainted Grail yet cause I have not beaten it. Yes, I am stuck in Tainted Grail and it is a combination of not being to play it and getting to the point where the game is too challenging.

    With no tournament hanging over head I think this week we will refocus and stay on UNI2 of course but UNICLR is still fun to muck around in. I will play some online games in UNI2 and get some achievements I needed anyway. However I will play my other games too and not let them fall to the wayside like I've been doing.

Week 10: Learning AF- Cl-r as Rain

     [The blog formatting is a bit off this week. I think I know why. Either way, sorry for the random paragraph breaks. I've to go back in and edit it but to no avail.]

Welcome to Week 10 of Learning Anime Fighters (AF). This is an ongoing blog about me picking up anime fighting games.

This week is actually a big achievement because this is our 10th week of this ongoing blog and even I am surprised how much time I have dedicated to it. The good news is I do not see me stopping it anytime soon so we will keep going as I hope to get better at these games.

We had a pretty big week too because we picked up a new (old) game which pretty much took up all my time but we will come back to that. On that note; lets go.

Monday

- I doubt myself again. I was thinking because certain combos were once easier with my Hori Marvel 3 stick due to its weight, I hooked it back up. Turns out I am so familiar with Eclipse (my new Qanba stick) that my old stick felt foreign to me and I was not able to have any success despite the change back. I have decided to just focus on Eclipse since it'll be my main 'stick' going forward.

- Finally got Seth's 5-2 done a whole week later and my first expert combo with him. Can only go up from here lol.

- It looks like Millic (a Korean artist who I now I understand does lo-fi hip hop) helps me concentrate. Able to pull off Seth's 5-1. I realize the secret to getting 214[C] is ignore the delay and just hold it down as soon as the aerial 214A hits. Thanks demo assist as always.

- From 5-1 to 5-13. I knew I could do it because it was a variation of 5-1 but with a EX move attached. Getting the FF Kick (aka aerial 2AB,6A) is slowly becoming more ingrained.

- Linne's 5-9 is done. I have no idea but my hands keep doing other things after the jump C. I had to train it to go immediately into 214A,mash B. One more to go for her.

- Got Vatista's easier trials done, now I have 8 out of 9 advance and 13 out of 13 expert left.

- Wow. Maybe it is doable? Just finished all of Vatista's advance combos in one session.

- Watched all the demos for her expert combos and now I have lost all confidence. So much plinking and reverse charges. This is going to be a pain.

- Almost done. We now have 12 Seths, 1 Linne, 3 Carmine, 15 Yuzu, 13 for Vat, 3 for Bya, 7 for Chaos and 2 for Mika left to go. All Expert trials and sitting at 94.5% clear overall.

Tuesday

- Bya's 5-7 done. Really need helped with the timing for the descending C, here came in 'demo assist'and I got it after practicing just the ender.

- Back to Rising and the final 3.

- Anre done. LOL little girls are not my cup of tea and little guys are even less. However it does surprise me how much easier one of his combos with his install super is in this one. In the previous version that combo had me pulling my hair out.

- Zooey done. First I love her Link (from Zelda) inspired color and it matches so well. Her last combo was nice with using her dragon and aerial U's into a juggle. Her and Dragon Knight from DNF Duel seem like long lost sisters too.

- Seox (who's name sounds nothing like I thought it would) is done and that's the whole GBVR cast for now. I'm low key happy he didn't have a similar trial like in the original where you need to get over 15 and 25 hits to get a pass. His combos were actually pretty straight forward.

- Now all combo trials are done I think I'll start doing story content. I do enjoy the game but UNI 2 is getting all my focus.

- Hardest combos belonged to Vasaraga, Narmaya and surprisingly that one Gran combo.

- SPOILERS FOR UNI2: Wagner's ending was surprisingly bittersweet. After being so cocky and looking down on folks, she really just wanted to protect her people and sacrificed herself for the greater good.

- Chaos' 5-5 makes sense to me now and I figured out why I need to hold the B in the air. Now if I can actually get the delay 214B,623[B] to connect. Holding B keeps Arzi close to Chaos so the combo does not push the opponent out further.

- I spent a good portion of an hour trying to do 5-5 and got close a couple times but no cigar. I practice 5-7 for 2 mins at the most and got it. WTF.

Wednesday

- As I've been going through everyone's combos I forgot just how much fun Kuon is to play. Boy has a tool kit for days.

- No surprise that as the final boss Kuon has a conversation with everyone in story mode. Some deep lore was dropped for sure.

- WOOT my Under Night In-Birth: Exe: Late [Cl-r] hereby called UNICLR collecter's edition for the PS4 has arrived and boy did it come packed with some goodies.

- Included as you see above is the game itself for the PS4, a Londreicka keychain, a rather nice art book with some sweet illustrations and the music of UNICLR. Irony is the CD does not work on my computer nor my PS4 because neither have CD drives. I guess I'll keep listening to the tunes on the internet.

- Also new game = more combo trials. This could be a good thing or a bad thing lol.

- Started Wagner's trials. So far she has some unique routes the new one does not use.

- All done with Wagner's trials. Some unique concepts but they felt a bit easier than UNI2 ones.

E.G only two trials that include using her dashing C in the middle of her air combos.

- Also; have to get used to the 'tactics' section being at the end and not the beginning and using

the touch pad on the PS4 to reset the neutral. I typically use the 'share' button on my Steam deck

but it turns out hitting that will just cause the PS share menu.

- Note to self; change Steam deck to R3 since I do not use it as much on my PS4 so accidentally

pushes won't constant bring up the share menu.

- Merkava feels similar but at the same time different. His combos are not as hard with almost

no 66B,66C combos and only one combo involving his air fireball.

- A lot of combos teaching you how to set up his 22C super tho, interesting.

- Looks like none of Seth's combos have his TK 623x move. Does not make him any easier to use

tho. Still messing up aerial 6C

Thursday

- I think I might honestly try to main Seth and Chaos. I am never scared of execution barriers (I main Akira in Virtua Figher for example) and I like boths game plan. Plus Chaos might be the first puppet character I actually want to use.

- Tonight was my 16th wedding anniversary so no gaming for me.

Friday

- Working through Waldstein's combo trials in UNICL. His 4-15 requires almost perfect usage of his

meter or his ABC super just does not come out.

- All Waldstein's combos done. This time around, I had to get used to dashing B and timing aerial

assault after his aerial 6C wall bounces. Waldstein still is so much fun to play no matter the edition.

- I've noticed a lot of combos in UNCLR involved wall bouncing into Veil Off (VO) no follow up. Wonder if that used to be a tactic. I am used to VO being used like a cancel into other combos ala UNI2.

- Chaos is combo trials are much easier in UNICLR. Actually cleared a lot of his combos in one night.

Only thing that throws me off are the classic 22x cancels and a concept I've never done in terms of

aerial 214B,623B,2C as a combo ender.

- He only has one combo which forces a switch side where UNI2 has tons of those combos. I bet Chaos'

mains had to adjust to that concept when they first picked him in UNI2.

- Watching JP Seths plays in EVO Japan and they pilot him so well it makes me envious. He is such a beast.

- I only have 5 combos left before I complete all of Chaos' trials. LOL if I could have this success

in UNI2 where I want to use him.

- 2 more to go. I think I can do it next time I try.

- Speaking of EVO Japan; no UNI2 announcements but they are working on a new balance patch for Melty Blood: Type Lumina? Need to check that out so I can see if I can main 2 anime games. Also thankfully I did not dive too deep into MBTL so I won't be too affected by nerfs to characters I use.

Saturday

- Listening to the UNI2 Evo Japan commentary; I heard VO is faster in UNI2 compared to UNICLR.

Maybe that is why UNICLR focuses on wall bounce into VO combos?

- Completed ALL of Chaos' combo trials in UNICLR. Now if I could only do that in UNI2. Some of the

last combos required some specific timing but nothing as crazy as UNI2's stuff.

- Eltum feels similar but also different. She has combos that require a whiff aerial A after her aerial [C]. Taking time to get used to it.

- Eltnum feels much easier much like everyone else. Being used to her combo structure from UNI2

helps a lot of course.

- Elt-done all over again. She had one very unique combo which involved OTG with a delayed charge

[C] but most of her combos were much easier. Thankfully no [B+C] 1 hit cancel cause that drove me

nuts in UNI2. With Kaguya being a UNI2 addition, I might main Eltnum along with Wagner.

- Seth of course and Merkava are only combo trials I have not completed after picking them up.

Overall I think the UNICLR combos are a bit easier then UNI2.

Sunday

- Even tho Sunday is normally break night, I felt like getting some more UNCLR in.

- LOL ever since getting UNICLR on my PS4 I have rarely played my Steam Deck. Never thought I would see the day. Eclipse is of course compatible with my PS4 which is nice as well.

- Looks like I am finally understanding Merkava's dash 2C after his 66C timing again. Since I completed all his trials in UNI2 I figured I could do them in UNICLR too.

- 2 more to go and one of them is a classic got to count the hits before you hit A+B+C combo which drives me nuts. Right now I am getting no success even mashing it out.

- Seth requires so much hard work but I am remembering what folks have said previously about him not being a character you can pick up even after practicing for weeks on end so I'll keep at it. I eventually got some expert combos in UNI2 so I know I can get some in UNCLR as well.

WHAT'S NEXT

Well this week got overtaken by UNCLR did it not? I looked back on my plans for this week and I did next to none of them. Heck I even started ignoring my UNI2 game plan and I actually have a my first tournament for it this weekend. Speaking of, you know we will definitely discuss that in next weeks blog.

I will definitely not let the new shiny thing distract me too much this week and keep my eye on the prize. I know I will probably go 0-2 in the tournament but I least want to feel like I did the best I could. I also hope to find some like minded UNI players to pick their brains. I am seeing this tournament more of a learning experience than anything.

I also fully intend on starting Darkest Dungeon 2 before it falls into my backlog of look at but never played which has happened to a couple of the games I have bought over the years.

AV