All right, today I feel like talking about my main site’s (Devil’s Lair) history and the pros and cons of being the owner, admin and webmaster.

Devil’s Lair has been around since early August 2005. It’s a Devil May Cry 3 fansite. I made it out of a random whim after finding out for the first time how to capture game footage from a PS2. Of course, that wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t a DMC3 freak whose obsession surpasses all others. =) The site started out with only two main ‘content’, downloads of the OST and the cutscenes. I thank Tyrone for the OST since he was the one who agreed to share half the cost, cos’ at that time the OST was nowhere to be found on the net. So thanks Tyrone.

So, since there was no site that offered the DMC3 OST just yet, I thought it would be great to be the first on the web to do it, and so I did. The cutscene downloads are even more rare, so Devil’s Lair earned it very first ‘recognition’ through that, just that, really.

Soon I added more content, like boss strategies and a picture gallery, and then to game info like weapons and moves etc. And so there’s more content, but dude the site looked hella ugly. I mean, when I ‘designed’ that (you can’t even call it design), I barely used one gram of effort. I must say it’s the ugliest website I’ve ever made since I learnt html. Yeah. It’s THAT bad. O_o Like this:

It was around that time when I was looking to buy my own web server since geocities has too many restrictions and it’s just a pain in the ass. I looked around for a couple days and boom, I decided to do it with bluehost.com. I’ve never regretted since. At that time, it had about 4GB web space and 150GB bandwidth, I think. It was more than enough for my site at that point. And so I paid $166 for 2 years’ worth at once and finally moved the site over to my very own server and domain, devils-lair.org. Just for your info tho’, bluehost has upgraded itself for bout 3 times so far and currently it has 50GB web space and 999GB bandwidth. =) Told you it rocks.

Well, now that I’ve gotten what I need, it’s time to redesign the site! I couldn’t stand looking at that crap knowing that it’s getting quite a number of visitors a day, so I redesigned it. Actually, now that I think of it I actually redesigned it before I got my server, but heck, they all ended the same way. So anyway, I redesigned it and gave it a color theme, which was supposed to be red and blue (for Dante and Vergil, duhz!) tho’ it turned out to be more purple and blue. I was quite pleased with that one… for about 11 months. That 11 months was when the site got more and more popular, and I didn’t even think it would be that ‘successful’. There aren’t many Devil May Cry fansites around with the actual game content, so I suppose that’s probably why.

Anyway, now that everything was good and new, I decided to create a forum to promote and encourage interaction between the visitors themselves and me. The tagboard wasn’t doing that well then, so a forum might do it… might. I hate forums, I still do. Big ones are full of assholes and smartasses and dumbasses, small ones are… er… I didn’t know any. Plus, forums are quite the commitment sometimes unless it’s in your nature to love reading and posting and trying to catch up with new posts everyday.

And so the forum was established and the first 2 months was the best and most memorable. That was when the first I dunno… 30 people joined. All of them were awesome and nice, amongst them were the first 4 girls and a number of guys. Everyone started getting to know one another and it was just… peaceful. The drama came a while after that, and that’s when reality kicked in. Smartasses, dumbasses, assholes, jerks, trolls, flamers, retards, bastards and bitches have to come around at some point. It’s inevitable. It wasn’t all that bad at first, but after the first one the next ones came pretty quickly, but of cos they’re all banned and yada yada yada… Everything goes back to normal after that… until the next ass comes in. History always repeats itself, and I keep having to do the same shitty job of dealing with them and getting insulted and accused and all the other possible crap. *Sigh* Drama drama drama. Most of the banned people just can’t get enough of trying to come back in too, cos’ they figured they can’t live their lives without having to scream and wail and cry and yell with the most offensive and insulting remarks at the one who banned them, me. Geez, no wonder life is hard, or sad, or… meh. Those people can just kiss my ass =)

And then time zoomed by (not really) and it was the end of September 2006. Some people were commenting on the tagboard that the site looked awesome, or nice, or something, and I told them “Er, I think it’s O…K….” BUT! That’s when it finally came to me. The site really does look BAD, I thought, again. LOL. All of a sudden I couldn’t stand looking at that…crap. I felt like emergency measures must be taken or I’ll end up hating and ripping the site apart. LOL. So, that Sunday I stayed up redesigning the site for the 2nd time. It took a day to complete the design, and 6 days to recreate all the pages in the site, which was about 120+ of them. That, was the busiest week I’ve ever had in my life, if I remember correctly. LOL. I like the new look of the site, everyone else said they like it too, that it’s a ton better than the previous design. So yeah, right now I’m satisfied =) but who knows how long it’ll be before the same redesign urge comes to me again. XD

Oh right, I also created a chatroom in IRC a few months before that. That was probably somewhere in June or July. There’re never more than a couple people in there, which is fine cos’ I get to know those few better. It was entirely peaceful in there too, until one day this dude randomly and all of a sudden said “Shut the fuck up, CaT!” even though I wasn’t even in there chatting cos’ I was playing the PS2 o_O. Weird people never stop coming, do they. Even to this day, he’s still the only one who’s been banned from the chatroom. LOL. What a retard.

And so the site is currently doing pretty well, I think. It’s got an average 400-500 hits a day, which I think is good enough for my ambitions. LOL. So far I’ve held a fanart contest and I host a good number of other fanart, fan-made videos and fanfictions contributed by visitors and site regulars. Recently I’m also hosting someone else’s DMC3 game tournament and stuff like that. It’s fun, really. Call me a nerd, or a geek, or better yet, otaku, but I’m lovin’ it. =D

I’ve got my family over in the forum, tho’ one or two lurk only in the tagboard. And no one can argue with me about me being stupid as to consider these people I’ve never met in person as family. It’s a community, I run it, and they are practically my people, regardless if I’ve met them or not The asses don’t count, of course, but the rest do. Devil’s Lair is my life at home, and it’s what I do that I enjoy the most, so it’s important to me, and the people involved are my family. =) Denying that would be the same as denying my life. Lastly, peace out folks! ^__^

DUN DUN DUNN!!! Okay… a few things happened this past weekend and I was supposed to write and update this blog on Monday but I got really tired, lazy and sick and so that didn't happened until today. O_o… So er, I shall start with my online friend who came aa~ll the way down here to Eugene from Canada.

I first met him online on IRC about 2 years ago when I was checking out random channels whose names I merely guessed. He was (still is) a Japanese learner too so we talked quite some bit. There were some points we never talked for a long time but he's easily contactable so we could easily talk anytime again.

Two months ago when we were chatting, he asked if I've reformatted my computer cos' it's so messed up as I've told him what happened when it was virus-ed. He sort of sighed (I think?) and said that he'd come down and help me fix it. Of course, I thought he was joking but who knows he meant real. O_o' He said he just bought a new car with GPS so he wanted a long ride to test it. So 2 months later, he came down here and I saw him for real! OMG! XD. He's a very nice and friendly, easy to talk to guy. It was really nice having him around.

Anyway, so he helped me reformat my old computer and while 'rebuilding' it, I thought that I should get a DVD burner and a new capture card, and since he has a COSTCO card, we went there together to shop. So okay, we found no DVD burners nor capture cards but we walked by this really slick computer on display. It's an HP Pavilion Slimline model and it totally caught my eye.

We looked at the specs together and he concluded that that is a good computer especially for its price ($830) and what I do. It includes an already built in DVD burner, TV tuner card and a 19-inch flat panel LCD monitor as well. I've always wanted a flat panel monitor so that was one of its biggest 'attractions' to me, not to mention now I don't have to buy the DVD burner and capture card separately. The CPU itself also really small; it's 1/3 the size of a typical one, which means it'll be easy for me to move around if I ever have to move out of this country one day. As for specs, it's got 2GHz (of ??), 200GB hard drive space, 1GB ram with dual processors. It also has a firewire port which I thought doesn't exist on 99% of the PCs I've seen out there, so dude, that's a computer FOR ME right there.

I was still debating whether to get it though, but Kylon convinced me that it's worth it so I ended up buying it. >_<!! And so he helped me set it up and even set a network between my new and old computer and that was cool, although at the moment I have my old one turned off. Oh right! I named my new computer after him too! Well, his other nickname – Kylon à Kyon. Mwahahaha! And since the new one is Kyon, I renamed the old one Haruhi. =D And I suppose only people who have seen Suzumiya Haruhi will make any sense out of this (even though I don't watch it myself), but heck, I love that Kyon name. It's too cute.)

And so with the help of the computer genius, Kylon my friend, my old computer is revived while I 'get' a new one along with it! Mwahahaha! The new one's doing really well, though it has very very annoying problems with sound recordings. So, thanks Kyon!! I know you don't visit this site but er, just in case, THANKS!! ^_^! *hugs* It was really great having you over, although I must say I'm sorry the weather wasn't at its best, and that you were starting to get sick on the first day, and that this town has nothing for you to do. >_>… *Hides* But hey, thanks again!!

So… a few days after that, I suddenly, yet again, have an urge to do something new, and that is to draw a comic series. O_o'' If you know me well enough you'd be assuming that I'd give up and stop pretty soon after, and that's what I'm thinking too ^^" but still I wanted to give it a try, even if it may not last long.

This comic series is based on the Devil May Cry story and characters, although heavily tweaked and altered for them to fit in a chibi world as chibi 'people' in animal suits or just… chibi animals. XD The main character is Vergil, who is a killer bunny with a bloody katana. He is 95% of the reason why I feel like drawing a comic, because he's just so … irresistible. O_o''' It first started out with these random sketches, in order:

Thanks to Halloween and my random idea of a bunny costume, Vergil the killer bunny is born! And so, now I'm looking at tablets cos' I need one to help me draw the comic faster. I can get it instantly from the UO bookstore but that's like $99.99 and it hurts quite badly inside to spend that much when I can get one at a cheaper price online, especially now that I just spent a ton on my new computer. When it comes to online shopping, eBay is the best place for low prices but I'm not all too keen on dealing with sellers when it comes to electronics, especially when I'm low on patience. So… aarrrgghh!

And oooh!! I haven't finished Okami but I finished the review already. I wrote it about a week ago but I just never got to post it, so here it is:

Graphics
This game is cell shaded and the graphics is made to look like Japanese brush painting. Cos' of this, you can say that the graphics is as unique as the game, and I can assure you that no other game looks closely like this. There is not much detail on the characters, but that shouldn't be a problem cos' this game is made to look 'cartoony'. This game wouldn't be Okami if it were otherwise. The animation is smooth, and running may even feel like gliding. Even just watching Amaterasu (the hero (a wolf) of the game) run eventually makes you feel glad about playing as a wolf.

Story + humor
Basically, the story is about a wolf, the manifestation of the sun god Amaterasu, who's on a journey to save Japan from Orochi, an eight-headed dragon whose seal has been released by someone recently. Legend says that Orochi will select a maiden from a village once every 100 years and the village will have no choice but to sacrifice the maiden if they intend to stay alive. So now, as Amaterasu the wolf, you take off on a long journey and adventure to lift this curse off the people and rid the world of Orochi and its evil. This evil also stains the land with darkness, so you will travel around, purifying and beautifying the place as you go. And since the wolf doesn't talk, a tiny bug-sized wandering artist named Issun sticks with you throughout your journey and does all the talking for you. Issun is also the one responsible for 'teaching' you how to use the celestial brush, which I'll explain more under gameplay. The story is also humorous, and with a refreshing light atmosphere. It has a number of funny parts and the lines are really well written.

Gameplay + level design
The celestial brush is the biggest reason why this game is THE most original of all the games I've ever seen/played. The celestial brush has 13 different techniques and you get them one by one as you progress into the game. Each different technique allows you to perform a unique ability. The first one, for example, is the technique Rejuvenation. It is a technique that enables you to fix things by drawing over what is missing to fix the object, for example a broken bridge. The second technique is Powerslash. It enables you to slice objects and enemies in half just by drawing a straight line across the object. Another one is the power of the sun; by drawing a circle in the sky you can turn night to day. There are many more other unique techniques and you'll be using them for both battle and puzzle solving.

Okay so, this game is action adventure. When you get into battles, you press the square button a few times to attack. When in battle, you can/will also use the celestial brush to damage and kill enemies. You can also escape from battles if you wish. Boss battles require certain interesting strategies using the celestial brush so you will have to master the techniques well. Outside of battle is a vast land (Japan) full for you to explore. The level design is just awesome and trust me, you'd be spending tons of time just exploring and uncovering hidden treasure. There are also a great number of optional/side quests that are usually in the form of mini games. By beating them, you receive 'praise' which is like bonus points that you can use to upgrade yourself (e.g life bar, ink bar). You can also earn praise from feeding animals, purifying the land, etc.

Difficulty
Okami is easy as a whole. If you're new to the adventure type of games like me, you may find trouble or spend more time than usual on puzzle solving and exploration, but battle itself is generally easy. There are some harder annoying enemies but considering you can buy health restoration and other handy battle items for low prices, nothing should stop you for most of the time. However, despite the easy difficulty, this game is A TON of fun. And just to tell you, even though battle is easy, fully completing this game is gonna be HAARD. There are SOOO many little side quests and little things in this game. For example, you can try find ALL the stray beads in this game to get a special reward (I dunno what it is), but I can tell you, finding all these beads is like finding all the cards for Final Fantasy 9.

Music
Music is beautiful. It fits the style of the game and the atmosphere all too well. It really makes u feel "Ahh… Such a beautiful place… I feel... so… free…!" LOL

Heya peeps, I'm back, for a bit. =) Man, the past 2 days I've not been getting enough sleep. Blame FF12 for that. Although, it really should have been Okami but since it pissed me off royally and I decided to take a break from it, I ended up replaying FF12, especially now that the heat is on.

Also, after finishing God of War about a week ago, I wrote a little review on it on paper but was too lazy to type it out and update the site so, finally, here it is:

Graphics
Very nice textures with good level of detail on pretty much everything. Animation during battle is smooth and well done. The pre-rendered CGI cutscenes are very fine, and you can even compare it with Final Fantasy except for maybe the hair, which I don't remember much how it looks like since the main character, Kratos, has none and the villain has flames for hair, and most supporting characters are statues, literally.

Level design
Very nice level designs. It reminds me a A LOT of Prince of Persia with all the platforming like climbing up and down walls/ladders/stairs, ledge jumps, rope swings and frequent puzzles. You will often end up back at a familiar/previous area after proceeding further into the game, which makes me think of how incredible it is to design such an environment.

Story
The story starts in a way that also reminds me of Prince of Persia, Sands of Time. It shows you a apart of the ending where Kratos jumps off a cliff to commit suicide, and then it goes back to the beginning which is "3 weeks ago" where you'll start your game. As you progress into the story, you learn of what Kratos is trying to do and all the why, what and how. There's a lot of killing and gore in the story, but nevertheless it is a good story, though never better than Sands of Time in my opinion. Once in a while, it feels good to be playing as a character who's absolutely violent and brutal to the extreme. LOL

Gameplay
GoW has a good variety of attacks and 4 magic moves. You start off with the Blade of Chaos, which is your only weapon for 70% of the game. It is a long range weapon, enabling you to reach enemies from a decent distance, and perform surround attacks with a spinning move. It is possible to chain different moves together to perform your own unique combo, but you will often find that hard to pull off when enemies keep hitting you while you're in the middle of it. Hitting enemies doesn't actually stun them or stop their attacks, so landing a full combo on them without getting hindered will prove to be quite hard and annoying. You will also most likely form the tendency to stick to 1-2 moves that you favor, and that may inevitably lead to button mashing.

Kratos' 4 magic moves, which he acquires one by one through the game, are very helpful. He has 2 surround-attack, 1 long distance and 1 petrify magic moves. You will probably find yourself sticking with the surround-attack ones since they are stronger and really help you out when you're surrounded, but they also cost more MP. However, you get your MP back pretty easily by killing certain enemies with finishing moves, or simply by opening MP treasure chests that are placed all over the game. Like Devil May Cry, killing enemies give you red orbs and you collect these to upgrade/level up your weapons/magic to increase their attack power and or acquire new moves. There is also the "Rage of Gods" which is like Devil Trigger in DMC. It powers you up for a short time, but I'm not sure if it makes you invincible. Lastly, like Prince of Persia, there is lots of 'platforming' in this game, which includes figuring out how to get from one place to another, jumping from ledge to ledge with accuracy, balancing on beams, and solving occasional puzzles.

Difficulty
This game is generally easy (normal mode) and friendly for all new, average and veteran gamers. Those who may find it too easy can always play the 2 harder modes. The saving and continue system is friendly, and you will never have to replay more than 10 minutes of game if you happen to die.

Music
Music is so epic in this game. It is one of the things you will immediately recognize as great in this game. It’s hard to describe it, but let’s just say it’s is very Lord of the Rings-ish.

When I finish Okami, which I dunno when that'll be, I'll write a review for it. So er... stay tuned? =)