[EMS] 18 years of Rayque!

I hope you've brought your gokiburi hoi hoi plus today, because you should've brought the whole damn aisle.

Today is day 6576, the 30th of September - which means I've been playing EMS daily for 18 years now!

As promised in last year's blogpost, I'd like to take the opportunity to continue the evaluation about the state of EMS. In particular, this year is very important historically as it's the point of equilibrium where EMS has been as long under its current management of Nexon US as it has under Nexon EU. The contrast between these two nine year tenures is concerning at times, and while I would love to write a more in-depth post I just don't have enough time for that.

However, what I can do for today's blogpost is to write a concise evaluation that probably communicates the point a lot better than something of the length of last month's blogpost. Besides, a more casual conversation like this might be a good palette cleanser after all that raw data. I can always revisit certain topics that we'll discuss today in a future post. With a more casual approach to this blogpost, I'm also just going to be yapping in a less organized, impromptu matter.

So, I'll just rip the band-aid off by addressing the Shrelephant in the room: EMS has not been performing well under the current management of Nexon US. You'd be hard pressed to find people who would disagree with this statement. 

I do believe this is a well-understood fact, but what is not is how damaging Nexon US and its community has been to EMS. Understandably not the prettiest topic to discuss, but it is unavoidable in today's topic given we'll discuss how little EMS has recovered from the migration purge and why that is. Understand that this topic is nuanced but I'll try my best to write it as best as I can within the week I've given myself. To my surprise, this wasn't the type of blogpost I was expecting to write because I was saving it for an autopsy whenever EMS kicks the bucket - yet here we are.

[EMS] 6th Job - The first three waves

6th Job is everything a new Job Advancement should strive to be. Learning from 5th Job's shortcomings, it recaptures the impact that both 3rd and 4th Job had during their heyday. Not only are the new skills splendid, the new mechanics and utilization of the updated game engine advances the game(play) in many ways the Destiny revamp couldn't.

In today's blogpost, we'll discuss the impact that 6th Job has and examine the many new skills we're given. Similar to 5th Job, 6th Job is an ongoing work in progress as new skills and updates are released in batches. Thus, this blogpost can only cover the first three skill waves but I'll continue to write for future updates to 6th Job as I have done with 5th.

As always, I've tried to be as comprehensive as possible. Writing this blogpost took a few months and a bit more effort than I expected. It's obviously not as long as the nightmarish behemoth that was the Destiny blogpost, but it's the long promised sequel to it. But first, as is the tradition: before we dive into the subject, it's time for another history lesson.

[EMS/LEGO] New skills, new parts, Donkey Kong Bananza!

Hi guys! It's time for this month's news roundup.

The first round of Hyper Burning is pretty much done in less than three weeks. Marksman is already Level 253, so two more level ups for it to be ready for Union Champions. The next round of Hyper Burning should be available after that.

The new skills are also out, and they're great. Of course I'll have the 6th Job blogpost out somewhere next month, and for the time being I'm doing the usual dissection before I'll add their chapters to the current draft. Seeing how busy I've been lately, I'm expecting to have it published late August. The sooner the better, as the lineup of the next blogposts are pretty much locked at this point... There's a lot of work to be done, in particular next year's Galidor blogpost.

Speaking of LEGO: new parts have arrived! The majority of which are the new joint pieces I've talked about in the past few months. As I'm trying to get the 6th Job blogpost out as soon as possible, I haven't been able to build a lot with 'm, but they are promising. As always, it'll take a couple of weeks to see if these are of any help for the Ouroboros project.

Last but not least, Donkey Kong Bananza has been out for a week now! It's wonderful. Comparisons with Super Mario Odyssey are inevitable... but gameplay-wise Bananza is an improvement over its predecessor. You might be surprised to hear that I initially was not planning to get it, but the contagious speculation about its story and the fact that I had a good time with Odyssey won me over. Though after reaching the 100% completion rate I feel that Bananza's greatest moments were too sparse and that Odyssey handled a lot of things better. For that reason I'm genuinely curious to see how Bananza will age and what fans of the collect-a-thon genre have to say. If you're planning to own a Switch 2, I'd say you can't go wrong with this one. Despite my nitpicks, it's been fun and worth my time. I certainly have no regrets.

If you don't mind, I'll get back to work. I'll see you guys again next post!

[EMS] Level 288!

Ding! Time to catch up. I hit Level 288 at the end of last month and with the abundance of EXP rewards from current events, I'm already past 20%. There's going to be a lot of Advanced EXP Vouchers starting July, which is another big boost. I should also note that I now have four Eternal equips and all the important Pitched Boss accessories. What's left are the more expensive ones like Mitra's Rage and the Limbo/Baldrix Eternal equips for which I'll be saving up for the time being, as these continue to drop in price. I have a bunch of (Additional) Potential to get to Legendary again...

Hyper Burning is going effortless. I should have my Marksman done somewhere in July. There's another burning at the end of this event, so I'll probably use that to get my Bowmaster to Level 260. After that, the only Union Champion left to burn is my Wind Breaker as I haven't quite decided yet who'll be my sixth. I've been leaning towards Paladin, which might not be ideal but it'll do the job. Especially with all the skill and knowledge I have. It certainly is a very safe bet...

I'm not really participating in the Challenge World because our version is quite abysmal. I can't be arsed to grind for weeks as I also don't even have character slots for it. What I am doing however is casually working on a Sia for its Skill Link and on-grid Union effect. It's already Level 210+ without much effort, so for the remainder of the Challenge World event I'll be coasting. Ya know, it would've been nice if we knew in advance whether we'll get the Kaling pass.

But forget about all of that: it's time to talk about the juicy news. The silver lining in not doing well means my insomnia is at an all-time high. With so many restless hours I've been speeding through the 6th Job blogpost as it's nearly done. The only chapters left to write are the new skills that'll arrive next month. Give it the usual 2 weeks of in-game testing and by that time, it's already late July. Until then, I'll be finalizing everything else. The 6th Job blogpost is pretty much locked for an August release. I'll give a better estimate on which week I'm expecting to publish it in the next blogpost.

I was also given the opportunity to own a Switch 2 a month earlier than planned, so I took it. I believe it's the first time I've actually bought a console in its release week. Not gonna lie, from the perspective of someone who's sunk years in MKDS: Mario Kart World is a bit all over the place. It's been a reality check and a reminder why the series is struggling to recover from MK Wii's legacy. Don't get me wrong, on a technical level the game's quite the achievement. Loading times are non-existent, the attention to detail is meticulous. The racing experience's both effortless and comfy. But on the other hand, free roam is quite barren and its façade crumbles after some playtime. The game then also becomes a completionist's nightmare as all of the modern Mario Kart issues accumulates into a frustrating experience trying to tackle its final challenges. It's where the game falls apart as winning races becomes a grind for hours, fishing for that one lucky run. No matter how well prepared and skilled you are, the homestretch will take away your agency. Going from F-Zero (G)X on Master Difficulty to this has certainly been a whiplash. Donkey Kong Bananza on the other hand looks to be in good hands. I'm looking forward to play that one next month, and I'll probably share my thoughts then.

Now, what about my thoughts on Cyber Shadow, as I've now played it? It's great. In fact, I'd like to save the topic for its own blogpost as there's a lot of good stuff to talk about. Kudos to its sole developer; he really understands what made the NES Ninja Gaiden trilogy tick and it's clear to see the inspirations he got from some of the other works he's played.

But that's it for today as I'll get back to work on that 6th Job blogpost - I'll Sia guys again next post!

[EMS] Hyper Burning #7!

Another Level 260 character done; this be my eighth mule past Level 250. It'll be my second Union Champion, once that's out. Next up is Marksman, and moving forward we should have Hyper Burning Max to make this process easier.

Usually I would maximize the event's duration and reach 260 towards the end, but due to recent circumstances I opted to sacrifice some of the EXP rewards that would've gone on my main. Quite frankly, I haven't been doing well lately as setbacks keep piling up faster than I'm able to manage them. Things continue to get worse, and this leads me to be less harsh on myself by softening the grind. I have to preserve myself for the long and arduous road ahead, y'know.

That said, with all of these Hyper Burnings in the past couple of years, I'm now two burnings away from reaching 9500 Union. Level 288 guaranteed within two weeks; I'm still on schedule for Level 290 this year. I now have time to work on that 6th Job blogpost again, as I've wrapped up the building session for Ouroboros. Conclusion? None worked; going back to the build developed by James Bruton. Unfortunately, translating this into LEGO requires* up to 48 of the new clutch joints, which aren't available from LEGO's store until later this year. I aint paying those current Bricklink prices.

*To give you an idea: I've built several prototype legs this year (without clutch joints) to determine the viability of James Bruton's build in LEGO. Leg frames (without decoration) can easily weigh 1 kg, and they're going to have to carry a tremendous amount of weight. Technic turntables can work, but they necessitate a large amount of connectors and pins, all of which adds weak points to the frame. These become a liability with the speed and weight of the model. The new joints simplifies the build process and requires less parts. In doing so, it provides a much sturdier and compact frame.

Anyway, next month is the Summer update reveal for KMS; I'm looking forward to that. Also, by then I should have my copy of Cyber Shadow so I can finally play that one. It can't be worse than last year's ninja game, right? Right!?

That's it for today - I'll see you guys again next post!