Hit the jump to see the blog details…

First of all, the blog is doing better than I expected. I have been incredibly busy lately and missed posting a few times, but I didn’t really expect it to be going so well. I’ll try to keep on my toes and stay on top of things now that I know people are actually reading. See for yourself:

Since the blog was created and records started being kept (2/5/2009), there have been 3090 hits on the page by 1561 different people. The numbers are EXCLUDING bots like search engines and such. These are actual people looking at the website. That alone was shocking…the site is averaging 1100 hits by 442 people per week based on the most recent weeks. I was expecting tens of people per week, not hundreds or hopefully a thousand.

The type of visitors are vast. People are checking out pages on everything from home improvement to gaming to programming to anime. I’m having a hard time reading what is really most popular among you people…no single category is popping out ahead.

We need more comments. I understand the current signup process is a pain. I’ll see what I can do to make it easier. But PLEASE: comment. I want to hear what you have to say.

Spam. While not a concern for visitors since no spam has made it through to the website yet, I’m getting a few spammers per day. Spammers: save both of us the trouble by just not posting here. Your comments will never make it on the site.

Here’s the really strange part….this is what people are searching for on search engines and find my site. On many of the searches, BalaraCo shows up on the first page in Google. Sometimes even results 1-4. Google really seems to like this blog for some reason.

• simplicity of visual basic    (I’m result #1 on Google, even before Microsoft!)
• anime
• money
• shower
• doggie
• simplicity taxes
• bath fitter blogs
• strength in resume
• naruto shippuuden ex3 moves
• dokapon king
• ex-employee comments bath fitter
• alaskan malamute strength
• bank of america wont tell me my balance
• party strength games
• compatibility issues with net 3 5 and net 2 0
• linux resume strengths
• windows
• i hate net
• games rpg review
• and many others

Anything else you want to see?

Anyway, today I’m reviewing the game Dokapon Kingdom for the Nintendo Wii, published by Atlus. Atlus has made many role-playing games (RPGs) and tactics-based games since I was a child, including:

• Many Bomberman games
• The Ogre Battle series
• The Disgaea series
• The Trauma Center series
• Brigandine

Overview

Dokapon Kingdom is a party-style game with many RPG elements. The overall gameplay is very similar to the Mario Party series and plays best when you play with several other people. However, unlike typical party games, Dokapon Kingdom has a story mode that allows a single player or more to work on missions as you play through the game. The main goal in Dokapon Kingdom in story mode is to obtain the highest net worth to appease the Dokapon King. Your net worth is determined by the amount of money you collect and the value of the towns you control. Controlling a town consists of either defeating a boss-style monster in a battle or taking it from another player under certain circumstances.

Read more after the jump…

Gameplay

How do you gain money? The simplest answer is to fight enemies, sell items, or take it from enemies or other players. The King also has several contests to earn money, and usually provides a hefty reward for defeating a “big boss”. Also, accomplishing story-based missions usually nets you some cash. If you make the King happy enough, he may bestow control of a castle to you, which is basically a large town that cannot be taken away (barring the use of a Darkling, see further below).

The game takes place only a weekly basis. Each day of the week is a single turn for each player. The day of the week determines if shops are open, what sales are going, etc. Movement performed each turn via a 6-item spinner (similar to a 6-sided dice). Whatever number the spinner lands on is how many spaces you are required to move, and you cannot move backwards. To purchase items, weapons, or magic, you must land on the appropriate shop. The same is true for capturing a town. There are also a number of spaces to land on, which may give you items, weapons, money, etc. They may also take away things or even weaken your character. “Normal” spaces are the most common type of space and they usually consist of a battle with a random enemy of the current area. Enemies differ in each area, so leaving the Dokapon Castle area in the start of the game is a quick way to a shallow grave. If you land on a normal space that has another player already on it, the players will battle each other. Sometimes landing on a normal space will trigger special events that can help or hurt the player. For instance, anytime the character Weber appears, it’s usually very bad news such as giving you an item that eats one of your items every turn until none are left.

Battles

Battles start by choosing a card, which will randomly let you attack first or second in a turn. On offense, you have 2 options: Attack and Strike. You also have 2 other options for a skill and a magic, for example Pickpocket and Drain. Skills and magics are learned or purchased. On attack, your player launches a normal attack against an enemy. If it hits, it does normal damage. Depending on the speed attribute of the enemy, you may randomly miss at attack.  When using Strike, your player launches a powerful attack against the enemy. All actions are infinite use, so you are free to use any attack without worrying about conserving magic points or whatever.

Why would you ever want to not use Strike since it’s a much more powerful attack? That’s where the defensive options kick in. When on defense, you have 3 options: Defend, Counter, and Give Up. You also have one option for a skill that a character can learn. Defend lowers damage from an Attack. Counter causes a Strike to miss, and counterattacks. Give Up lets you end the battle and take a random “minor” penalty, such as dropping some money and not moving for a turn or two. This design puts both attacker and defender in control of their fate and adds some skill and thought to the battle, not just stats and weapons. If you believe the enemy will attack, then you should probably defend. If you believe the enemy will Strike (powerful attack), then you can Counter to avoid the attack completely and cause damage. This design also allows players to use different strategies. For example, a conservative move would be to choose Counter even if you expect the enemy to attack. Although you may take damage from the attack, a successful Strike might be able to kill your character, so Counter may be the least risky option.

If both players are still alive after attacking and defending, the battle will continue to the next turn. If the player defeats an enemy, he/she gets money, experience, and possibly an item. Experience is used to reach the next level, which increases your stats, teaches new skills, etc. If a player looses a battle, he/she will be teleported back to the Dokapon Castle or last temple visited on the map and be unable to do anything for a few turns. He/She may also drop some or all of his/her money, drop an item or weapon, or have a prank played on him/her (i.e. renaming the player, changing his/her hair style, etc.).

Job Classes

Characters start the game with random stats based on the job class they choose. Warriors generally have high attack and Hit Points (HP), and these stats increase more frequently and by larger amounts than other job classes. Warriors also usually have very low speed and magic guard, which makes them susceptible to magic. Magicians generally have high magic guard and moderate speed, but low attack and defense, but they can carry many spell items compared to other job classes. Thieves have very high speed but are physically weak. However, thieves have the ability to steal items from other players.

As you battle with a player, he/she will increase their job level, which determines their weekly salary and can make new skills available for battle. When somebody fully levels up a job, it becomes mastered. Mastered jobs provide money bonuses, increased stats based on the mastered job, and usually opens up a new job class for that user. Players can switch job classes at any time by landing on the Dokapon Castle.

Darkling Powers

Here’s one of my largest complaints about this game. The catch-up logic is far too overcompensating. If you are ahead of another player, things start to not go your way. If you are behind, it’s not too difficult to start catching up. If you get too far behind, your character starts to hear a dark voice. If so, he/she can land on a “Dark Space” on the map and may a contract with Weber. In exchange for giving up all money, items, and towns, the player gains Darkling powers for 2 weeks. As a Darkling:

• You are nearly impossible to defeat until very late into the game and can usually kill players in 1 attack.
• When you kill another player, you get the option to throw away their money, throw away their items, throw away their weapon, or throw away their shield.
• Killing another player earns many experience points.
• You get anywhere from 2 to 5 spinners per turn, which makes it very easy to go anywhere on the map very quickly.
• You fully heal HP and cure any status ailments when you land on a town that a boss controls.
• Landing on a town controlled by a player or nobody, will summon a boss to the town to take control of the town. This will also earn experience points.
• At the start of every turn, a spinner will appear to earn “Dark Art” points. Dark Arts can be used each turn to close shops, put all players asleep, summon all players to your your position and immediately attack them, summon bosses to all towns to take control of all towns, change all normal spaces to spaces that cause the player to battle you if they land on one, etc. Dark Arts are also the only way I’ve seen to take control of a castle away from a player.
• And more!

Needless to say, if somebody goes Darkling, you’re screwed. In a matter of a few turns, the playing field will be completely leveled or possibly favor the player the player that was behind. This is way too much.

Conclusions

Overall, this is a very good game if you have a few people over, and is still a good game if nobody else is around and you like RPGs. For teens or older players, I would suggest turning off the character voices since they are very cheesy and childlike. I would also love the option to be able to turn off certain types of random events, especially Darkling powers. Other than that, the game is a very solid choice for party and RPG lovers.

Ratings

Visuals: 6/10 (Typical for the Wii, but still reminds me of SNES graphic quality)
Audio: 7/10 (Typical party-style game audio, but annoying dubbing)
Controls: 10/10 (There’s only a few buttons to use and they’re on-screen and obvious. You can use a Wii Remote, Gamecube, or Wii Classic controller)
Gameplay: 9/10 (Very Solid)
Replay Value: 8/10 (Never gets old. This is not a one-play through game)

Total: 40/50 = 80% (B-)

If you are like me and don’t mind the aged graphics and turn off the character voices, this is a great game. If you are concerned about graphics, then you probably aren’t using a Wii anyway.

Next Time

Look forward to my review of Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope for the XBox 360. This prequel of the Star Ocean series is slated to be one of the few, but great RPGs for the XBox 360. With 3 full dual-layer DVDs, it’s bound to make it’s mark. Will it live up to its predecessors?

More information: IGN

Immediately, I contacted their live support to see what was going on. I’m thinking they had a technical error or something happened with my account. The customer support representative was very friendly, but immediately told me the account was closed. Closed?! I asked why but they couldn’t give me a answer and told me to call them at a certain number. I asked why I wasn’t told that my account was canceled. Once again, they couldn’t tell me anything and told me to call the number. Screw that. This is ridiculous. Bank of America isn’t worth the time or effort if they can’t even contact me before closing my account for an unknown reason.

More after the jump…

After looking up my issue a little bit, it seems Bank of America is doing this to a lot of people recently. There’s no point in arguing with them over it either…they are legally allowed to close your account at any time and without any notice for any reason, and once it’s in their system as being closed, the representatives just repeat what it says and can’t/won’t help. I found a new card with a much lower rate and better terms and rewards right away and was approved automatically. Nobody needs Bank of America. It’s no wonder the big banks are getting bailed out…they couldn’t care less about anybody, even if it is to their own advantage.

If you still have an account with them, please consider getting a new account, transferring the balance to the new account, and closing the Bank of America account.

Jump…

Here’s Robyn playing Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi:

Here’s me playing Living on a Prayer on the drums:

Here’s Robyn singing Still Alive by GLaDOS from Portal, Doesn’t she sound just like the original singer?

Actually…I don’t *always* love coding. I’m completely coded out right now. I hope I don’t have to see another line of code for a while, but I know that’s not the case. Between work and home, I have been spending a large portion of my waking hours programming. I can’t wait for the weekend. Better yet, hopefully there will be a snow day. I could use the rest.

P.S. International character support via Unicode/UTF-8 should only be used with recent programming languages. I’m trying to do something simple in Visual Basic 6 and it’s ignoring  my Japanese characters. Maybe I should start over and write it in java…

I also paid off one of my student loans today, so that took out another chunk of my checking account. Add my 6-month car insurance payment and the new shower payment that were applied today. I also transferred $3000 to my savings account. When it’s all said and done, I my checking account’s balance dropped around $14,000 in the past 24 hours. I need a drink…

Read  more after the jump…

Robyn and I are looking at other home improvements to make. Here’s what we came up with so far:

1. Add a shower to the bathtub (IN PROGRESS COMPLETE)
2. Rip down the upstairs walls and ceilings (plaster) and rebuild them with dry wall. Fix as needed. Also add a door between the master bedroom and old kitchen, and between the master bedroom and the guest bedroom.
3. Redo the electrical upstairs (currently aluminum wiring). Requires the main box be replaced with a larger, possible higher powered box, or an add-on. This would be best to do along with #2 since the walls being down makes running the wire runs simple and quick.
4. Install hardwood upstairs (Potentially).
5. Remove the green carpet downstairs and replace with new carpet or hardwood (we haven’t decided which yet) bamboo (IN PROGRESS).
6. Repaint the walls downstairs in the computer room.
7. Redo the staircase going down to the basement (it feels like it is going to fall apart).
8. Pour concrete in the basement.
9. Replace flooring in kitchen.

The more I read about replacing the plaster with drywall (#2), the less I want to do it. It doesn’t add  much value to the house and it is VERY messy and expensive. Everybody seems to suggest repairing the plaster as needed, which is simple, or putting the drywall over the plaster. Anybody have any opinions on this?

Anything else that we could/should do to improve the value of the house?

Anyway, we priced out what we wanted and we should hopefully have a brand new shower in the coming month or two.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Microsoft has started pushing out .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 as a high-priority update on Windows Update. They don’t tell you that 3.5 isn’t even already on your system. It’s an “update” for something that probably isn’t even installed on your system. Even though it’s an “update”, they also don’t tell you that it will install .NET Framework 3.5, 2.0 and 2.0 SP2 on your computer if it’s not already there. Taking the paragraph above into consideration, imagine the problems.

Robyn’s work requires .NET 2.0 SP1 t use their AMS 360 software, which is the main application along with email that their employees use. .NET 2.0 SP2 or higher doesn’t work with it and it’s not anything that can be fixed with an update. Imagine her surprise when automatic update wanted to install version 3.5 SP1, and 2.0 SP2. Yeah…thanks Microsoft. Next time you come up with a development framework, build upon the previous version in increments. Don’t allow your existing stuff to crash and burn. There’s a reason people are making a push to Java, and it’s something you could prevent.

Also, bring the real Visual Basic back. VB.NET is a joke. I’m more than willing to adapt to new technologies, but VB.NET??? What were you thinking?