Chaos

My impression was a tad more morbid than these others. I thought "Hmm, shooting star, Death. Hmm." My process went along with the sadness of leaving life, etc, what-have-you, and Death, always on the move, never resting to keep the ebb and flow of life moving, doesn't stop for anything. Now, my idea is that someone is watching Death enjoy the irony of a shooting star, signifying someone's wish. What good is a wish, you'll just die in the end. The person thinks this and remembers their life. And hence the quote, "Did I dream it?"

*raises hand* The Three Kingdoms era was in the second century, not the first. >_>; Eh. Looks like someone beat me to posting up a Sanguozi RPG. Damn. I might look into this. Depends how well it's recieved.

Tch. Depends on the game. Dynasty Warriors and Dynasty Warriors 2 were almost too generic to count...but Dian Wei was a monster. Dynasty Warriors 3. Ah. How I love this game. The voices are pretty good, not utterly horrible. I'd have to tie up characters in this one. Gan Ning, Zhao Zilong, Lu Bu, Cao Cao, and Xu Huang. Those would be my top five. Gan Ning because his moveset can do up to seven hits if you start your string with someone who is in the air, due to his spin at the end. His charge moves are fast, he has decent arrow attack/defense, and his Musou is easily the deadliest in the game if you know how to use it. Zhao Zilong is a simply stellar character; he has one of the widest movesets in the game, fairly good charge attacks [C4 through 6 are monsters against generals] and gets the fire element with the Fierce Dragon. Lu Bu. Hmm. You cannot argue with Fengxian. He is a monster, the only character able to max out all of his stats with his fourth and maxed items. He has superior attack, defense, life, Musou, and arrow defense. His C1 makes him almost invincible, all you have to do is spam it and hope there are no archers around to break your stance. His moveset is absolutely insane, and covers as much ground as Zhao Zilong's. His charge attacks are murderous, except for his C5, which can be a little tricky to combo into. His true Musou is one of the few in DW3 that is actually useful. Cao Cao. Wrath of Heaven. Death Element. C6. Enough said. Moveset is pretty good, but his Musou could be better. Only average stats, though. =/ Xu Huang is a monster, too. His moveset covers insane area, he is pretty fast for having such a huge axe, and does astounding damage. His Musou absolutely slaughters. It's a grounder, it's fast, and covers 360 degrees. Pure insanity. Plus he has one of the best voices ever. Really matched the face with the voice. Dynasty Warriors 4. Ah. Changed some things, some better, some worse. My favorite character in this game is, once again, tied, but only three. Lu Bu, Gan Ning, and Ma Chao. Lu Bu. How do you improve upon perfection? Make it do more damage. Lu Bu, once again, can max out all stats. His charge attacks are absolutely insane. His throw for C1 can kill subgenerals on Hard mode. Insane. His C2 juggles excellently and can become an infinite if you time it all right. His C3...like Xu Huang's Musou without wasting energy. Tch. Insane. Too bad his Musou is only average. Gan Ning, what have they done to you?! You used to be a hardass killer! Now you're a crazy party guy with a watered down Musou! Now, don't get me wrong, Xingba is still a murderer, but he was weakened considerably. His charge attacks came out fast and hard, but his C4 was slowed down and he takes a step forward instead of lunging. =/ Ah, finally, Ma Chao gets the recognition he deserves. He was pretty good in DW3, but the lack of an attack boost on his fourth weapon and considering how much horse combat sucked in 3, he was ranked less in terms of "uuberness." But now, Mengqi, Ma Chao the Superior, has become God on a horse. Max him out, put a level 20 Tiger Amulet, level 20 Horned Helm, and whatever other ones you want, stick him on Shadow Runner, and watch people flee at your very name. Incredible. Dynasty Warriors 5...arguably my favorite of the series, with DW3 in close second. It also has the most of my tied favorite characters. In order; Gan Ning, Lu Bu, Zhao Zilong, Xiahou Dun, Ma Chao, Guan Ping, Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, Lu Meng. Whew. Gan Ning is overpowered. Only two damage off from max on his final weapon, Light weight, and absurd stats. His charge attacks come out lightning-quick, especially his all-important C5. His Musou combines the power of his DW3 counterpart and the speed of his DW4 one. Easily a Top Tier character. Lu Bu is even better than his DW4 version. His stomp is now chained in with his super-deadly C1, not just a lame taunt. His moveset is still devastating, his charge attacks are still insane, he can still top out his stats, and his Musou has a shockwave at the end of the regular one. The only thing that keeps him under Gan Ning is his weapon speed of Medium. =/ Zhao Zilong is once again a very good character. He has above average everything. He has no serious flaws. There is nothing else you can say. He is, yes, godly, but he is not divine like Xingba or Fengxian or Mengqi. Xiahou Dun, ah, my favorite Wei character. Instrumental to Cao Cao's kingdom historically and in the novel, here, in the game, he gets his due. Quick attacks, wide coverage, and his True Musou is incredible. Ma Chao. ...They made him even stronger... Oh. My. God. This title combines his DW3 ground fighting power and his horse fighting from 4. Insanity, here, too. Jeez. Guan Ping is new, but he makes up for that by being awesome. Light final weapon, awesome charge attacks, Musou, and great stats. His true Musou's finisher can kill generals on four star stages on Hard mode. One slam, poof, dead. Crazy. Xu Huang. ...Wow. Overpowered. Same goodness of his DW4 moveset, and his Musou is better than his DW3 one, even though he JUGGLES WITH IT! BLASPHEMY! Zhang Liao and Lu Meng. These two tie, in my opinion. Zhang Liao is more balanced out, and Lu Meng is more defensive, but Lu Meng's moveset is much deadlier because, it covers more area, and his Musou is quicker and has a longer finish. But Zhang Liao has the cape uniform, and can do the whole "This looks like a job for Zhang Liao" and be Liaoman, so he's cooler. Rofl. Monster, by the way, Zhou Tai, Ma Chao, and Pang De all attack to the right side when on a horse, not the left.

Tch. Forget Nightmare. Siegfried is where it's AT, baby! No, really, Nightmare's third outfit and his Soul Calibur. Above-average attack power, defense, life, good speed, and HEALTH RECOVERS. People always say Nightmare is slow, but when I see them play, they don't know how to fight with him. If you use his moves right his is a devastating monster. If you use his moves right AND you perfect his timing, he is an unstoppable killing machine. I mean it. I have literally gone over sixty three-round matches before without losing a single match before. Go over to a friend's house, invite some people over, pop in the game, and have a blast. I'm not going to lie. Nightmare is cheap. Has the longest reach aside from Ivy and Link, is as powerful as Astaroth, and can match almost anyone in terms of speed if you use the right attacks. He also has an instant block and can guard break on more than half of his combos. Add to that his insane reach and he can deflect people's attacks before they even get near him. Even with his Joke Weapon he is a serious threat. Kilik, Raphael, Taki, Maxi? Please. He can match any of their combos with a K > Sidestep strafe > A-A-B [hold]. That puts you in his lower stance, where you can either hit A and do a low leg sweep that can't be guarded against from a standing position, hit B and do a lancing stab that's almost impossible to guard/deflect, or do forward B and do an overhead somesaulting slam which can break most weapons' guards. He can easily outdamage the likes of Astaroth, Necrid, Berserker, and Cervantes because of his comboing abilities, whereas you'll be lucky to get off four hits with those fools. His only real match would be Ivy or a good Kilik/Seung Mina or Mitsurugi with Masamune, but even then, you can't continuously attack, and deflects can be disasterous in a high-skill fight. Nightmare lives up to his name, I assure you. PS: Godel, yeah, Yunsung may have a smart mouth on him, but just watching those splits makes my eyes water.

[quote name='r2vq']-_- Now that it's comprehendable, didn't King Piccolo come to Earth after the Dragon Balls were made? In fact I thought they were made by Kami-sama, who of course co-existed at the same time as King Piccolo or Piccolo, with rememberance of his old planet Namek. *shrugs*-ArV[/quote] Technically Piccolo Daimu did come to Earth after the Dragon Balls, but that's because Kami had to cleanse his soul before becoming God. But neither Kami nor Piccolo remember their life on Nameksei. [quote name='Unborn Lord Xion']I have noticed that Gohan has 25% of the vote in the poll, and wish to ask why. Why is Gohan most important? Is it just because you want to be different? Is it because you misread it and thought it said Goku? Or do you have an actual reason. If the latter is true, please, step up and tell me why.[/quote] Some people argue over Gohan's importance to the series because of his accomplishments against Cell and later Buu, and fathering Pan, even though I consider GT an abomination. Plus there is the fact that without Gohan, Vegita would have killed Kakarot during the fight on Earth, and Gohan saved Dende on Nameksei. Gohan also stalled against Furiza in his second from, and even matched his power during Gohan's little outburst. [quote name='Wingman']Why can't there be any halfbreed Saiyian females( there all males and i want to see a SSJ female). Just wandering.[/quote] It's not that there can't be any halfbreed female Saiya-jins, just that there [i]weren't.[/i] And females cannot go Super Saiya-jin at all, regardless of their heritage. [quote name='kabapu']someone (can't remember who) at the top of this post claims that the saiyans first came to earth because of goku. i'd like to dispute tis. they came because of the dragon balls, meeting goku was largely a co-incidence[/quote] *points* U PHAIL *cough* Ahem. No, sorry, Radditz first came to Earth to look for Kakarot, and heard of the Dragon Balls just before his death, which Vegita and Nappa overheard. [quote name='kabapu']heh. seems like someone agrees with me. after all. kamesennin taught them all the kamehameha. cell wouldn't have been nearly as strong if he didn't have the cells that gave him access to that.[/quote] ...Simply knowing a technique doesn't make you any stronger. The Kamehameha simply focuses energy as opposed to just unleashing a wave of it. It doesn't make anyone physically stronger. To the main topic at hand, no individual character is "the most important." There rarely is in animes. The Dragon Ball series is a quest through live with friends and trying to survive trials and tribulations. Each character supports some other character in many ways, some more complicated than others. Sure, Kakarot might be the main hero, but without Buruma he would have been living in the mountains his whole life. Without Muten Roshi Kakarot would never have learned true martial arts, or met Kuririn. Without King Piccolo, Kakarot would not have advanced as much as he did. So on and so forth. But if I had to pick a single, particular one, I would say Kami-sama. Without him coming to Earth, there would be no a) Dragon Balls and thus Buruma would not go on her quest and meet Kakarot, and, subsequently by both logic and chronological order, b) no Black Star balls and no DBGT. So there.

I think the main thing we need to remember is that people are rarely objective these days. Back fifty years ago a reporter would say the facts, and then give the editorial with something like "In this writer's opinion..." Nowadays, you have a board of directors that literally tell the reporters how they will write the news. Furthermore, in my opinion, the media has no business in war, or half of the political world for that matter. Take World War II and Vietnam for example. In World War II, once America got in the war, there were reports done when major offensives or mass troop movements went under way, and the occasional film reel of soldiers at camp before a movie. The reports were maybe five minutes long, and basically skimmed the information. Cut, clean, and dry. Now, suddenly, in the span of fifteen years, we learn something. We always knew we had our rights, and used them, but we suddenly felt the urge to abuse them. Photographers were sent overseas by the bucketful and constantly filmed the war. We were constantly shoved information, casualty lists, troop movement, what-have-you. Now, Vietnam was a righeous war, even more so than World War II simply because it was Japan and not Nazi Germany that bombed Pearl Harbor, yet we still deployed in the European Theatre. Vietnam was about protecting a free country and stopping the spread of the Communist War machine. Keep in mind this was also near the height of the Cold War hostilities. So we have American troops and volunteer civilians out in the field fighting against an unconditional foe, one that disappears into the crowd, and uses subversive tactics to attack the enemy. We now have dead American soldiers with their pictures on the front page of the newspaper. Sad, but they signed up for war. We will miss them. Oh, look, South Vietnamese children were killed by a Viet Cong suicide bomber. How terrible. Gasp. What's this? A dead American reporter?! BLASPHEMY! The soldiers should be protecting them! It doesn't matter if he's a non-com, the enemy doesn't give a ****! Stop the presses, we must slant everything because we are in danger now! And that's how the protests started piling up. Reporters in the field felt scorn because they were no longer on holiday, but rather in the middle of a [b]****ing war.[/b] So they wrote home about how American soldiers shot at children carrying assault rifles. So they wrote home about how American soldiers bombed a village suspected of housing North Vietnamese regulars. Not about how if an American soldier was found with a serrated bayonet on his rifle he had his nose and ears cut off with the bayonet and then shot. Not how captured American soldiers in prison camps had to dig graves for their fallen comrades and if they grew too tired they were buried alive. Or the deplorable conditions the soldiers endured night and day in the name of freedom. Or the fiendish acts of cowardice bombing the Viet Cong regularly ran. Freedom of the press, right? Tch. Bloodseeker, you make a big deal about wanting to know what kind of person would give up their freedom of speech and press, but don't you know? We never had it. We can say and do as we like, yes, but it's not a free pass. For instance, you can't scream out "Fire!" in a crowded theater and expect to get off scot-free. You can't say "I'm gonna kill that lying bastard," about someone and not run the risk of being arrested. Same for "freedom" of the press. You can't print out false information, that would be libel. People always assume that because it says "right" we can do whatever. In fact, it's almost the exact opposite. Yes, we CAN say or write out something, but we run the chance of having it bite us back. People take what we have for granted. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a strong advocate of individual's rights. Right to one's words, right to a firearm, right to smoke a goddamn cigarette. I abhor censorship. It's this new-age crap that makes society so prone to mishap these days. Either it is someone so sheltered that they crumble under pressure because they haven't lived in the real-freaking-world before or someone cowardly to say they went on a thirty-seven person killing spree because they watched too many cartoons and played Grand Theft Auto III. Please, spare me. Okay, so we can't smoke in the whole restuarant. Fine. We'll sit in the back corner. No? Okay, we'll go outside. ...You're kidding me. SCREW YOU, EPA! ...I guess I'll go to space and smoke. ...Oh, you're joking with me. Space is a vacuum, carbon monoxide can't even spread there! Rrrg. It's the population today. Parents don't set down enough guidelines. "Oh, he's just expressing himself." "Honey, Johnny's expressing himself all over the walls." It's the Flower-Child parents. Free love, wig out, try some acid! I mean, don't get me wrong, have a good time in life, but when you have a *$#@ing kid, shape up. Curse around them, spank them, Hell, grow some brass ones and have your kid cut his own switch. I had to do it more than a few times, but do you see me in a bell tower with a rifle? No. A little discipline goes a long way. Believe me, I know from experience. But, we can't do much about that, now can we, if we have bleeding heart liberals controlling the media. Take the recent [url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/27/news_6128170.html]Kanagawa[/url] incident. Kids today have no respect, so what does the general public do? BLAME THE GAMING INDUSTRY! MOVIES TOO! TV BAD! RRR. Point in case, [url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/22/news_6128015.html]Nancy Grace[/url] says a game is "training kids to kill cops." No, you halfwit ignoramus. It's a [b]GAME.[/b] Only a dumb prick such as yourself would assume because you [i]can[/i] kill a cop in a [i]game[/i] that you're going to run out in the street with a Tec-9 blazin'. Gah. I apologize for the rant, but the media just gets me so very mad. I'm tired of hearing anti-war protests. I'm tired of hearing the abortion crap. I'm tired of hearing the gay marriage crap. I'm tired of hearing the oil crap. Oil. Another thing about the war. So what if we DID go over there for oil? If it lowers the cost of YOUR lifestyles and takes out a very potent threat at the same time I don't see you complaining. Argh. All the news is about how three more Americans died today in the war on terror. Well, you know what? Those three, and the three before them, and the three before those, and so on, died so your *** could live an peace here. Those three died so that people in other countries could have a chance of living a half-decent life. You people make me sick. Someone has the courage to go to war and fight for their country and beliefs, and all you do is spit in his or her face with this "unjust occupation" crap. You don't deserve to live in this country. Fly your *** out to Iraq and protest there. See how well the Marines treat you. If you manage to survive that, do you think the insurgents will give a **** just how strongly you oppose the war? No. They'll cut your ****ing head off for being American, and then the world will be a better place. Really, though, I do apologize for the severity of my gusto. And Bloodseeker, restricted rights on the media would mean less information being broadcasted. That means we know less. The less WE know, the less THEY protest. Besides, that was only just over one thousand people. Just because fifty percent or twenty-three percent of those polled say one thing doesn't mean the whole country will. You have to take into account location, age, lifestyles, income bracket, life experiences... Can't base everything on statistics. =)

I have to say, for being a "skeleton," this is fairly detailed. I like the attention you paid towards a more historically accurate setup of the hierarchy as opposed to "u r teh siticen u cna vote wtflol" or some crap. I see a couple of problems, first off, and maybe it's just me, but I'm finding a very definite lack of plot. You hinted at a coup at the beginning but kind of drifted off into the description with leaving only an impression. Second thing, you mentioned the army not coming into much focus. That right there is a major problem. Unless you have more experienced and veteran writers, you'll find yourself run into the ground with no much happening and possible stalling out. Then again, there is always turmoil in a political struggle, and, who knows, there might be some assassination attempts or whatever. Third problem relates to numbers. You mentioned this being a series, and let me tell you, as someone who has tried his part in a good deal of successional stories, you have to really press the issue to keep a series rolling. Plus, often times, you find yourself running ahead of plans just to make sure things keep interesting. What could be a great idea in your head ends up translating badly on paper because people don't know what to look forward to. In either case, this seems pretty interesting... I'll be keeping an eye out.

[QUOTE=r2vq]Though, I have to ask... if he's going to [b]Afghanistan[/b], why is the title War in [b]Iraq[/b]? -ArV[/QUOTE] Because it's all desert and desolate mountains. It's like one big sandbox for the criminally insane. I think the "war" was actually pretty good...even though right now it's more of an occupation, but hey, who cares for specifics, right? A shame we didn't do this the FIRST time around, back in the 1940's, but that's a different subject. I personally support the "war" and even though a lot of people protest it, they neglect the fact that our economy has more or less shapened up some since it has began. I just wish they'd go ahead and nuke the damn place so I can be freed from those idiotic protesters. It's like the old Vietnam rallies, only these make LESS sense.

How did I found this board? Well, it began many moons ago when, under the inclination of a wild idea to adopt an alias persona titled "Adam" and, shelling out copious funds, payed exceedingly high server charges and worked HTMagic and put together an anime-based site that would later spiral into history. *pokes fun at awkward grammar in title* Eh. Friend showed me the main page of OtakuBoards.com and I decided to sign up when I got home. Been here for like four or so years now, and for some reason, the death threats haven't stopped yet. =( I wonder why? [spoiler]Teehee.[/spoiler]

Saw a seagull hit with a fishing line's weight once. My brother cast out, seagull happened to be drifting by, and kapow. All of a sudden the bird just spills from the air and flutters around in the water before hauling ***. Seen a guy get kicked right in the nuts by a cow while trying to light farts once. It was pretty funny, even if it was lame. *shrug* But the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life, that I can recall, is probably [url=http://artillerie.250free.com/PedestrianPingPong.mpg]Pedestrian Ping Pong [610kb].[/url] EDIT 2: Grr. Damned 250free. Either copy/paste URL or Save Target As... to see it. EDIT 3: Or not. It apparently doesn't want to work now. ...I'll figure something out.

I find it amazing that so many people claim that anger is their strongest emotions when it's something so impossibly miniscule in a relative matter. Someone says something unfavorable to you, you get mad, and all of a sudden when you act upon your impulses you decide hate is the deepest thing you will feel? Please. I know what I've done in my life, and I know what I've seen, and I can fully say that my [i]wrath[/i] is my strongest emotion, but I know my anger isn't too bad. I mean, I have a Hell of a temper and I can do some very inhuman things, but what my [i]wrath[/i] brings me is so much more vibrant. I am a very vain person. I had some things happen to me at a young age and I, apparently, resent the world for it, on a subconscious level. I, personally, think it's because I still have to see the reason for my wrath on an almost weekly basis. This, along with more life experiences, a lot of which I'm not too proud of, has lead me to be a very shallow person. I'm not emotionless, and my emotions are, in fact, very vivid, but mostly negative. I've been in relationships where I've cared for a girlfriend a great deal more than I'd rather admit, one in particular even though that's a different story for a different time, but I've never been so naive to believe I was in [i]love.[/i] I know what love is, and I know I don't have it. Love is suffering, submission, exposing yourself, revealing faults, and sacrifice. You have to turn yourself inside-out to be with another person and connect. Humans, by nature, shelter ourselves because we're insecure creatures. Even the most open and friendly person has secrets and horrors. It's a fact of life. So before someone else claims love or hate as their strongest emotion, think, please. You can feel anger or passion or sorrow, but you don't know absolute ANYTHING until you live it for more than a few years. Sara, if I may single you out, made a great point of saying "possesion/love," even if you didn't mean to prove anyone's point, you kind of did. >_>;

This stems from one of Tim O'Brien's works where he related his experiences in war to his daughter. I think it was "Ambush," but I'm having a hard time remembering. How I got this from a story about a man's regret for killing someone I'm not even sure [i]I[/i] know. I'd like to thank your interest in the piece, but at the same time you shouldn't ever be scared to put your own work up. If you have something to express, then don't hesitate to do so.

This is based off yet another story I read. I know it's a little campy, but I think it does justice. Eh. Read it. You might like it [but probably not]. [size=1][u][b]Mine and Mine Alone[/b][/u] You are mine. And Mine alone. I trekked the world for you. I passed the skies for you. I walked the soil raw for you. Because you are mine. And Mine alone. Many fought for you. But did not know you. Yet they fought for you. And You are mine. And Mine alone. I will fight for you. I will kill for you. I will live for you. Because you are mine. And Mine alone. Blackened air and wild despair will not keep me from you. Strewn and sharp barbs buried in olive green garbs are what I face for you. Evils of the world come down from yonder high to duel those that would do and die. Keep me close and warm me tight I will struggle through spite. They will claim me with a cast-iron ball And I will not see you grow tall. Red-hot blaze. Shellshock daze. Frenzied haze. The pin shrill Scraping the metal grille Gunpowder no longer fill But instead make it all still. But you were mine. And Mine alone.[/size]

*raises hand* I have to wonder, what [i]is[/i] the deal with the morbid obsession with watching subs exclusively? Certain animes done by certain companies, yeah, I can understand liking that one over the dub...but refusing any kind of dub at all? Personally, I like both in some cases. I'm not picky. With very few exceptions, I'm almost split halfway down the middle. Sure, I have qualms about some anime dubs, and I have to admit I LOATHE fansubs, but otherwise, no. In fact, some animes are BETTER than the originals in my opinion. But I guess it's just because I use my head and I'm not jaded. *shrug* By the way, QuincyArcher, it seems like you have more of a problem with the voice INFLICTION, not the actual acting. If that's the case, you need to blame the script writers, not the actors. Granted, there are some characters that shouldn't have a certain voice [Gluttony from FMA. Grah.] and in those cases the original actors might be the way to go, but not that many dubs, at least in my book, are horrid. Or maybe you just have high standards. Heh.

[size=1]For an entire minute, stunned silence was the only response Demos could offer. It was something he had suspected at one point in his life, but never fully entertained as a possibility, to say nothing of being the reality. Thoughts passed through his mind like a freight train, one barreling down the other until the animated human within him kick started a denial process, one of the more common traits that limit sentience. "Bullshit. I have to call bullshit on you there, old man. My father might have been in league with you for some time, but he was not your side product. No, I have his life and times stored in my memory banks, all of it in chronological order and with substantial side affects that carried through to the outside world!" Demos concluded his rebuttal with a balled fist held to chest level and directed at Wily. The hologram smirked, and silently walked through a work desk to it's left and began lifelessly circling the Elite Squadron's commander. "If I can simulate human sentience, what makes you think I can't forge memories?" The snide, prideful tone echoed through a speaker on the projector device and left the room cold in the wake of the logical truth it illuminated. Seeing Demos falter under his own doubt and no doubt raking through his CPU for solid evidence, Wily continued his gloat. "The answer to my problems with Megaman became clear when Bass rebelled and put a stop to King, my latest attempt in domination. It was something Protoman had revealed to Bass, and to me, while I stared down the buster barrel of both my monumental accomplishment and mistake. Bass fought only because he chose to, because he knew he was strong, because he wanted to prove himself to all. "Protoman said that Megaman might be weaker, or not as deadly, or not as bloodthirsty, but was stronger because he fought to protect those he loved and cherished. Bass, of course, the ever-stoic antihero, said he needed no one to help him, just him and his strength. I understood this, of course, because this was the ninth time Rock had managed to foil me. So I instantly came to a revelation. "I made Levia half-heartedly, but even so he turned out to be a marvelous success. I hadn't really tried to make non-combatant units before, but I suppose if you do anything long enough you can just glide through something similar. He was a reploid, of sorts, perhaps a reference point to the modern standard. He had a predominant fixture towards the affectionate side of the human mind. I designed him so. I figured if Thomas built his children with love, so must I. "Everything about him was artificial, Demos. Your misery belies your acceptance. He was grafted with artificial skin, hair, teeth, everything. I preprogrammed him to do everything in order to fool any careful eyes. I didn't even have to command him to make up his reasons for making you and your brother. In his mind, he sought only to make me happy, as any good son would for his father, and to make me happy, he would have to make you happy. You, as you are now, were what I originally demanded for. He issued the DRAKE commands on his own, but it helped. It was a significant excuse to hack into your mainframe and suppress your old memories, of when you fought by my side and your brother's side." At this, Demos, beyond bewildered, gained a moment of clarity and opened his mouth to ask a question, but Wily was one step ahead. "No, not Chaos or Havoc, or Zero. Bass. You had a fairly substantial relationship with him, even though he was on my black list. Hmph. I guess some things never change; my sons are all rogues. Even Levia began to grow increasingly distrustful towards the end. But, when it came down to the finale, he pulled through. He made many upgrades to you both, filled you two with something to fight for. "Yes, though you may not remember it, you fought with Rock many times, but eventually broke off the engagements due to Bass' reasoning for hating me. This is what prompted the DRAKE project, as I mentioned earlier. You did exceptionally well, I might add, for not being a seasoned combat unit like Megaman. He often needed help from that mutt and Protoman, and once you even stopped at Bass' request. You can imagine my disappointment." It was then that Demos muttered a vehement curse to Wily, showing that through the devastation he underwent, he was still the same rash hothead. Wily smiled to himself and continued. "The end of this story comes to a close with my death. This is an underground lab, as you can see, in northern Siberia. My main lab, along with half of the fucking world, you see, blew apart when Zero went on his rampage. I acted quickly, seeing the fight through thermal satellite feed, and transferred myself here via teleporter. Downloading my brainwave patterns and memories, my body essentially withered under having my brain fully picked apart by decrypting lasers, but I knew my time had come. So I basically existed here, in this fully stocked and functional lab, with almost no outside connection to the world. "When Zero did attack again, I had made up my mind that I wanted revenge. I contacted Levia through a secure radio transmission from within here, and informed him of the changes. He suggested separating you from your brother to prevent Zero from destroying you two at such an early stage. While it was also a brilliant idea, I could see the good doctor had grown far too attached. I can understand appreciating one?s work, but he carried it too far. "And later Zero, blinded as the carrier of the pure strain Wily Virus, came and demolished Levia's lab, as I?m sure you fully well remember." Demos nodded, now crossing his arms over his chest tightly and standing fully erect, a detached look crossing his face as he absorbed this all. He put up a brave front, but, secretly, inside, he was devastated. "So that brings us here, my boy. Your body has begun increasing power output as a reaction to believing it is under the TITAN operating system, and, without my help, will eventually overflow and your reactor will meltdown. A fusion generator, coupled with the radioactive ion power core for the Fox-III buster, both melting down at the same time could have the same effects as a small nuclear accident. There's no telling how much damage it might do," Wily's persona cooed, still circling his creation. "You need my help. I'm the only one who knows the specifics of the TITAN project well enough to actually modify you...and, as much as I hate to say it, I need your help as well." Demos' eyes shot wide and he turned swiftly to face the hologram, which now stopped its trek. "You need ME?" Demos shouted, half in disbelief. "You have a lot of shittin' nerve, you know that? But what in the Hell could you need my help with?" At this, Wily?s image grew dark, his eyelids narrowing, his brow furrowing. "Zero. I want Zero. He disobeyed me, went insane, caused my death and destroyed all of my plans, all of my hard work... He even failed at passing on the Wily Virus to the world," the projection said, not quite catching the full meaning of his son's slight smirk and incredulous scoff. Nonetheless, he continued, "He is a failure at all he does and he must pay for his crimes. Bring him to me, either alive or with his neural net in one piece." ------ Havoc continued his ever-vigilant effort to pilot the HAPC with the utmost care, and, for the most part, he mimicked his brother?s control and skill with the vehicle, though he had a tendency to favor the right shoulder, but that was a simple swordsman trait. The night had crept up upon him, and he overlaid a thermal imagery scan over live feed, just as a precaution to make sure there were no threats hidden in the darkness. "Or any deer crossing the roadway," Havoc muttered to himself wryly. Warlock?s eyes flickered up to Havoc, staring almost coldly for a second before returning to his endless gaze at the panel before him. He had taken up Proteus' position for the time being while the younger reploid collected himself, but sat in a quiet, secluded manner, not saying much or doing much. Both the visual readings and various sonar devices showed an all clear, and he allowed himself the luxury of the silence. Havoc had earlier rummaged through the weapon holds earlier while Iota made a decent job of getting them started on the long stretch of highway that seemed to span endlessly over the sand. He had found that the two bays segregated the types of weapons between, basically, humans and reploids. The foremost one contained a variety of firearms, projectile weapons, and close-range support. That included submachine guns to mounted anti-personnel to explosive anti-armor to an arrangement of swords, daggers, and throwing knives. The side door leading into the next bay was like crossing through a lapse in time; everything seemed futuristic, even in the current world of modern wonders. Small devices marked as ion destabilizers were small generators the size of a warped and oblong marble that were to be inserted in various ports or held, if need be, on a reploid?s body. By enhancing and projecting a reploid?s energy signature, it created a barrier that, for a short amount of time, distorted the air with a thin-yet-durable energy lining that deflected plasma and pure energy bolts without strain on energy supply. The destabilizer simply amplified the power being used by a small heat convection turbine and miniature transformer. Another marvel was a rail cannon that not only used electromagnetic power to send small mineral projectiles at supersonic speeds, but also to condense minute elemental particles in the air into a storage well within the butt of the rifle-like device so that an ammo cache is not always necessary. Though not always infallible, it did service very nicely, and had received excellent marks in testing. Though technically a manual weapon, it was a tad unwieldy and thus favored for Hunter use mainly. There were many other types of almost foreign weaponry, like a gravitational cannon which stored electrical charges to draw or repel air currents, and was a favorite among assault units for attacking fortified positions and mass units of enemies. Or the dubbed "Swift Bolt," a carbine which housed a small positively-charged hydrogen cell wafer and ran an electric current through the core; the result was a long-range taser which, almost instantly on colliding with a target, dispersed the charge through the hydrogen molecules carried in the bolt, resulting in a dense explosion. Havoc suddenly snapped from his thoughts and gazed hard at the wrap-around screen around his head. He tossed his neck slightly, moving some of the slate-gray hair from impeding his view; he saw the dim shape of the road turning off to the Aquaduct. It started out as a manmade cement valley with slanted, sloped wall, just shy of seventy-five foot drop to the one-hundred and fifty meter wide ravine that ran for another three miles to the huge, gaping piping that represented the service entrance to the network of tunnels and sewers below. "Warlock, arm the main turret. This just screams 'ambush.'"[/size]

This will have to be a toss-up between Syphon Filter [the original] and Dynasty Warriors 5. Syphon Filter was on the secret Hard difficulty, and using only the Silenced Nine millimeter pistol. I had a royal time during the ruins chasing down those damned scientists. Word to the wise; .45 > Gabe's face. Dynasty Warriors 5. Great game. Lots of fun. But you have to be careful. On a dare, playing as a near-base Diao Chan with her level 1 weapon [for those of you who don't know, a woman with very crappy stats, movement speed, and moveset.], I fought at Hu Lao Gate on Chaos mode...and attacked Lu Bu head on. Let me put this in perspective for those of you who have not played a Dynasty Warriors game. Lu Bu is the baddest mofo in the entire game. At Hu Lao Gate he doesn't get a power up. He doesn't get two. He doesn't get three, or four, or five. He gets SIX. The first is the standard "uuber guy" aura. The second is the stage-specific aura, which doubles an enemy's natural abilities right off the bat. This is for when a certain historic event is recreated, such as Zhang Fei's stand at Nanyang or Ma Chao's charge at Tong Pass. The third is an Attack x2 after you start fighting him for about twenty seconds. The fourth is a Defense x2, sometime after the Attack x2. These both restore after they wear off, so he pretty much continually has it. The fifth is that he can use the Kakusei powerup. This is similar to, oh, I don't know, Super Saiya-jin 2. His BASE stats double. Attack, defense, movement speed, attack speed, all of it. They TRIPLE. So this is, so far, tripled stats for being on Chaos difficulty, the badass double, the stage-specific double, the attack times two, the defense times two, and the Kakusei. That's seventy-two times his base starting stats. BUT! Hold on! That's not even the end of it. Eventually, if you get him down to about 1/4 of his life, he HEALS. THE *********** BASTARD HEALS! He gets back around 2/5 of his life! GODDAMNIT WHY CAN'T HE JUST DIE?! [Needless to say, I died in .37654 hits. Took me over thirty tries to finally beat him down. And I got a level 3 Lightweight Evolution Attack-able weapon with very high stats for attack, defense, and Musou from Lu Bu's drop. :D PWN.]

I'd like to take this time to point out that Kojima is infamous for pulling stunts on us with confusing the point at hand. Granted, the teaser was friggin' awesome, but we can't take anything serious at this point. Hell, PS3 isn't expected until at least Q2 '06, and we're gonna try and discuss what this game will bring to an established series of misleading teasers? Don't get me wrong, I was very pleased to hear that, once more Hideo went back on his word and is forging ahead with the MGS series, but I've decided to stop wasting energy on speculation when I know that it could be the day before the launch date and Kojima would tell us something new and completely fabricated. It's all sales, sure, and it can be fun to discuss it, but, for pity's sake, don't assume this game will be "Rambo-like," or something equally off the wall. [Then again, I just hope they have a shotgun in it again. :D And that we can have some Raikov-torturing minigame.]

Learning a new language for more than ninty percent of the population will be difficult, just for the sheer fact that it's a change of pace. Think about it, what comes with a new language? New letters, new words, new sounds, different articulation, different language rules. Not only that, but the first language that we learn is usually very deeply impressed into our minds. Think about if you've ever seen, say, a native-born Chinese person get mad or excited when they talk. More than likely they either rattled off or had certain words or phrases in Chinese because that's what he or she knew best. It's not a matter of it being hard to learn a new language, it's a matter of our brains resisting change. It's something foriegn you're trying to jam into your brain stem and you automatically want to compare it to your native tongue. It's just the habit you gain through instinct, through subconscious wiring. [On a side note, Spanish and German are incredibly easy. Teehee.]

A hero and a leader are very similar, if you take it in bare facts. Both are, by definition, charismatic, strong-willed, have the ability to, well, lead, and generally have some fantastic ability to overcome adversity. So what seperates them? A hero has to die to become one.

Hmm. I only have one question; Since when did the American public decide sex was "bad"? We have all of these preventative measures and "Just Say No" type campaigns, but what happened to the good ol' fashioned sit-down? What happened to the "The little man doesn't go out in the rain without a coat on" analogy? The birds and the bees? Sex, aside from being fun, is also a productive way of advancing the human race. [Duh.] When have we decided it's the most deplorable act known to all sentient thought? Abstinence, as far as I have seen, only leads to sex-craved and near-psychotically horny kids. However, if the local corner store has a spot for Mr. Trojan or Good-Buddy Lifestyles, and young teens use common sense, I think we'd have less problems as far as unplanned pregnancies. Plus if we introduce the blasphemous sin early in life and show it as an act of love and not wanton smut it loses part of the appeal of actually being 'wrong,' especially since us daring teens just do things out of spite. Really though, the world has gone to Hell. They're trying to pass laws that make lowrider jeans illegal for sh**'s sake. What in the bluehell is wrong with people? Sex = good. Good =/= common sense. Unwanted child = idiot who didn't know to pull out. *sighs*

[quote name='vegeta rocker']Not to preach or anything but its God's will that stuff like that not go on. Anybody i know who has gone against god in this way has had a lot of trouble. It just isn't meant to happen. That's my opinion.[/quote] Sorry, but I just have to comment on this. Yet, at the same time, God gave us free will, according to the Bible and related preachings. Also, God has also sworn to never act upon the mortal realm again after the Great Flood until the end of our time. So, I don't think he's going around smiting the girl next door for diggin' on her older brother. "OMG U PHAIL"

[QUOTE=Havokio][COLOR=Indigo]It should be illegal, whether or not it's the immediate family, or distant relatives. But it also shouldn't. Why? Adam and Eve. I'm not religious, but I read the bible. Eve was made from Adam. They bore children, and they bore children. If any of this is true at all, then aren't we all byproducts of incest? On a scientific standpoint, we were also byproducts of incest. If so, then we are all commiting incest when having sex with ANYONE. So, if we use this technicality, then having sex would be illegal. So, yes in normal terms, no in technical.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] You should be slapped for using a metaphorical, illogical, and whimsical STORY for your basis on this discussion. On topic, incest, when dealing with immediate and somewhat distant blood relations, should be illegal, for the simple fact that it not only can supply the world with physically and mentally handicapped offspring, but can also further the advance of sexually transmitted diseases. But when you have a very distant cousin or you are related to someone through marriage, I don't necessarily agree with it, but I wouldn't specifically complain. As long as it doesn't have any possible and dire harm to the outside population, I could care less.

Passover. Yes. Let's celebrate the miasmic slaughter of hoards of Egyptian boys. Horray. [Though I'm not much better, I plan on having a party on August sixth.] And I'm posting basically to explain the reason for Passover. ...But I don't feel like going into detail. On topic, I'm not doing anything special. Just school, chillin', and probably going on a little drinking purge this weekend.

Not too bad, Annie. A little...foreboding, but I like it. The subject matter is very mature, and I'm glad you're showing enough class to flesh it out in thick detail. Keep up the solid work.

To those of you who say the Dynasty Warriors series is hard... ...You need to either work on your timing skills or spend more than five minutes playing the game. Maybe even put the game on Easy. But if you're saying a simple Private or Major is as strong as Zhao Zilong, Lu Bu, Ma Chao, etc., then you're insane. If you perhaps spent the time to level up characters you might stand a chance? *sighs* I think I'd have to say the crappiest game I EVER played would be... E.T. for Atari 2600. I can't even go into the amount of horror this game gave me. It just... [Superman 64 in close second.]