Upon discovering that someone had illustrated and inserted an image of me wearing nothing more than swimwear into the latest game, as well as an image of me wearing Ragna's jacket and little else, I abruptly ended the last entry to have a word with the fine people at both Aksys and Arc System Works. No amount of threatening words nor intimidating actions had any effect on them. Don't they realize that this isn't promotional material on their website, but content in the actual game? Is this how they want the world to remember Blaz Blue by; as a fighting game series trying to become the next Dead or Alive franchise? Why would anyone trouble themselves to draw a picture that is nothing more than a Kaka fondling a very startled Tsubaki's bosom? And the excuses, good Lord, the excuses they used! "It's what the fans want, and by giving them what they want, it will inspire more loyalty from them!" "This isn't the Wii/DS market! This is the 360/PS3 market; a market still dominated by 20-something males hopped up on testosterone!" "But you have really nice legs! We can't let them go to waste!" Such a rank display of sexism left me too angered to do anything else, so I stormed out in disgust. And remember, it's not just me who's suffering; I am positively certain Noel will have a nervous breakdown should she so much as glance at some of the artwork of her that's in the game. And now let this be a lesson to any women who may be reading this; even if you don't possess physical traits that men stereotypically obsess over? They'll just find something else to obsess over. Look at Noel; she has a small bust, and is not very tall either, yet fans are obsessed with her buttocks and abdomen. And don't even remind me of what fans obsess over yours truly. If you dare imagine yourself defiling my visage, do not make it known. Ladies, the sooner you learn this, the better you will be to deal with the sex-obsessed men of the world, and men . . . remember what I warned you about.

"Gulp!"

(A twak-like sound is heard)

"OWWWWW!"

And I would love to meet the genius who came up with Makoto's costume for the actual gameplay sequences. Yes, continue to reinforce the stereotype that game players are perverse young men who could never land a woman in the real world, so they have to play with imaginary ones instead . . . actually, that is a fairly accurate assessment of most game players, now that I think about it.

Now then, where were we? Ah yes, the question for today.

"Hey, brat! Guess who! (Come on, you didn't really expect that I'd open with something as sappy and stupid as 'Dear Rachel,' did you?)

With all those nerfs to your snooty little self, did you really think you could beat me? Really? Ahahahahahaha! No, that's right! You couldn't! That's why you had to gang up on me with Haku and that old fart despite having your so-called 'unlimited' form-you're all so, so WEAK! Admit it, why don't you . . . you little bitch! Admit that you're pathetic!

Super-interestingly yours,

Hazama, head of the NOL Intelligence *wink*

P.S. You better keep your eyes peeled, 'cause I might just destroy the world while you're busy making a clown out of yourself in front of these gnats! Hehehehahahaha! Wouldn't want to miss out on the fun now would ya!"

Yuuki Terumi; how dare you sully my blog with your presence. That's right; I said Terumi; you're not fooling anyone with that alias of Hazama anymore, least of all me.

. . . . .

Which is what I would be saying if you were indeed the genuine article. Next time, try to find a way to hide "Lore of Sin" from the upper left-hand portion of your message; doing so does wonders for impersonating a nihilistic spirit over the world wide web.

As for the question at hand, I have received more than one query on the subject, so I know now that I can't avoid this any longer. Let me explain this so-called "nerfing" (if that's even a word) of my abilities. You see, in the first game, I was holding back most of the time, but even at that, I was still completely dominating the other fighters as is if were child's play. This bored me, so by the timeline of the second game, I held back even more, at an even smaller fraction of my overall power. As a bonus, I now use the Tempest Dahlia ability to compensate, and I can control George XIII with my Silpheed ability now. I understand those who play the game must find it frustrating that you cannot completely dominate . . . oh wait, excuse me, I forgot, I'm speaking to video game players over the internet. Gii, I don't want to make a fool of myself; speak to the game players on their level.

"Um, okay, Princess. (clears throat) You won't be able to, uh, how do you say that? Pawn? Pown? Oh, it's pown! You won't be able to pown people as easily, but with enough practice, even a total noob should be able to at least win a match! All it takes is practice and strategy! You can't just bumrush an opponent; she's not a tank like Hakumen. Ha ha ha! That's a funny and surprisingly apt description of him! Yeah, you can't just rush a foe, you have to hang back and know when-"

-Are you done breathing through your mouth, Gii? Even you can't make this sound convincing. Just let me finish this.

"Phew! Thanks, Princess! That was a lot of tricky jargon there-OWWW!"

Yes. Now then, to play as me, you must be like a conductor for a seventy piece orchestra; you must know when to attack, defend, retreat, and charge, and to be able to do so on the fly, watching and anticipating your opponent's maneuvers while doing so. It isn't easy, but if you can master my technique, you'll find that I am still very formidable, even in my "nerfed" state.

And before I take my leave, I must explain something; in part four of this blog, I said, "Saya must be rolling in her grave right now." Those of you who have played Blaz Blue: Continuum Shift know that this can't be right. Please bear in mind, I was under contractual obligation to not tell you the truth at the time; even if I had to lie, I would do so if that meant not breaking the contract I signed to have this blog published. I make no apologies for my actions. Now if you'll excuse me, I must come up with more plans to chastise the developers for their catering to the lowest common denominator. Until next time, au revoir.

[Special thanks to Lore of Sin for impersonating Hazama/Terumi for this entry. I must admit; you captured his character voice pretty well.]