Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, Halo, Dead or Alive, Persona 4, Under-night, Blazblue, Street Fighter and Tekken. They belong to their current owners that are Rooster Teeth, Microsoft Studios, Koei Tecmo, Atlus, Ecole Software, Arc System, Capcom and Bandai Namco.
IG: *IG appears* Hey guys, I'm back. Look, I know I been off the radar for a year now, so sorry about that.
Ragna: Where the hell were you?
IG: Blame my brother. He made me picked 4 classes, and I passed 3 of them. The 4th class I barely pass. He just makes college harder for me.
Ruby: So, excited about Cross Tag Battle?
IG: Died when ArcSys announced the DLC WAY freaking early. Plus, Team RWBY is just overglorified guest characters. Yang and Blake are sadly proof of that. Still not convince to get the game, even with those two being free. Also, Ark pussying out for not giving Vita owners here in the States physical copies of Under-night.
RWBY: WHAT!?
Hyde: Well I can't blame you on that. I had to read lots of angry fans for the Vita not having physical copies. Digital copies are good, but it does eat up memory.
Yu: So what have you been doing lately?
IG: Got Xbox Live for the first time in 10 years. Shocking, I know. Still with the 360, sadly. Played some games over Live, as well my opinions being changed with certain games. Been playing and collecting games I want. Even though I was sorta in a spending spree.
Ragna: Damn. Did you recovered at least?
IG: Sorta now. Though I was playing Dead or Alive, my first 3-D fighting game. Specifically the 3rd, 4th and 5th game. Yes, the fifth game as well.
Yosuke: *Goes through his collection and finds something naughty* WHAT?! DOAX2?! Holy-! *Has a burrito shove down his throat and thrown out the window*
RWBY, Ragna, Yu and Hyde: *looks at me* Really?
IG: Guilty as charged. Though in my defense, from reading from reviews that can see through fan-service, there is more to the gameplay. They even compared to its sequel, DOAX3, has a bit less content compare to X2. Plus, can you survive that behemoth of a waterslide?
Everyone: … touche.
IG: Besides, I liked the series very much. DOA3 is the game that got me into the franchise. Just wish I can get DOA1&2U. Until then, I have the third to fifth game, the spin off, and the anthology for the 3DS. Would be cool to play ALL five main games on my 360.
Ragna: Damn, must be cool to play a game that has fan-service everywhere for the chicks.
IG: Guilty as charged when I was a kid. Now I grown out of it. Mostly.
Yang: Pretty cool that you admitted that.
Ruby: Sooo, which characters are your favorites?
IG: That's easy. Even as a kid, Jann Lee caught my eyes. A badass dude that saw Bruce Lee movies, and grew up in the slums and became a bodyguard. Plus his hairstyle was cool as a kid, and it still is.
Weiss: And for the female half?
IG: I was hook at Kasumi in the beginning, but then she wasn't my main. That soon went to Lei Fang. A Chinese girls, that went through a couple of hairstyles herself, that fights in heels AND in a dress? That is one chick you do not want to mess.
Blake: So what you been doing for the meantime?
IG: To rubbed to ArcSys, and Capcom as well, that you can make characters unlockables without DLC bullshit.
Weiss: Didn't they do that for DOA5 Last Round?
IG: *shrugs* I know. The only ones that I see being DLC is Mai and Naotora if we're talking Last Round specifically since you get all but those two. The one you're referring to is the DOA5 Ultimate where Raidou, Honoka, Marie Rose, and Nyotengu are lock behind DLC. Anyway, I played DOA3 and got Ein, which was very easy. Just score high on survival mode with Hayate and put the name EIN. And I got all the characters for DOA4. And holy shit was that hard!
Ruby: Language!
IG: It doesn't matter if I give a shit if you die!
*Everyone looks like me with wide eyes*
IG: Sorry about that. Just that I was happy about that pride and accomplishment.
Hyde: It can't be that bad.
IG: Maybe. I do think Unlimited Hazama is cheap on Vanilla Continuum Shift, even on Normal Difficulty. And less said about I-NO in vanilla GGXX, even on Novice, the better. But the AI in DOA4 will kick your ass if you're a newbie, or in my case, not responding quick enough to counter or screwing up the combo. The AI has a sick reading input.
Yu and Weiss: Why not play on Easy?
IG: *being sarcastic* Oh Ha, HA, HA! Wish I knew to do that.
Blake: You're being sarcastic.
IG: Thank you for noticing it. Team Ninja, for whatever reason, did NOT put an Easy difficulty on the game. It only has Normal, Hard, and Super Hard difficulty. And even then, Normal can be a challenge.
Yang: Oh come one, how bad can it be?
*The entire cast of the 4 franchise saw how brutal DOA4 AI was as I played Bass in my recent venture on Time Attack. And getting my ass handed to me by Leon. 10 minutes later before I finally won. Everyone looks at me with surprised eyes.*
IG: Now you all wonder why this took me 3 years to completely unlock all characters and costumes.
Raquel: It took you three years to finally beaten the game. Well seeing such video of utter defeat, I can see why. Losing motivation is hard to regain back.
Yosuke: It can't be that hard, right?
IG: Let's see, Yosuke. Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate, in order to get all 3 characters that is Bayman, Hitomi, and Bankotsubo the Tengu. You need to do multiple runs. Beat story as Leon to get Bayman. Do the same with Ein, but you also need a save data of DOA3 to get Hitomi. And clear story mode with ALL characters in that mode to get Tengu. All on Normal, by the way.
Sho: Still, doesn't seem to challenging.
IG: *looks at him with wicked eyes* Oh no, Sho. For you see! DOA4 was murderous for me. To get Leon, beat it as Zack. Play as Hitomi to get Ein. Clear story with Eliot to get Gen. Beat it with ALL characters on story mode to get Helena. Then clear BOTH story AND time attack modes with ALL CHARACTERS, default and unlocks, to get Tengu again. Add to the fact that DOA4 kicked my ass with my mains when I started, as well playing those that I never bothered, would be chore.
Ragna: Jesus Christ, that's insane. I think that is way worse than unlocking Noel's Mu form.
Noel: I wasn't that hard.
Tsubaki: I think he's referring to how to get you originally, Noel. *Noel blushes in embarrassment.*
Naoto: Now I see why the franchise took a break between 4 and 5.
Yosuke: Damn, that is insane. All to get five characters in a game with no easy mode.
Carmine: Wait a minute. Wasn't there one more character for DOA4?
Hazama: Yea, I heard about that. There are 22 characters, but why you showed us 21?
IG: *Smirks* Ah, so some of you heard it. Well, let me give you guys context. *Shows Halo 3 multiplayer and shows one armor that is choice number five for the Shoulders, Chest and Helmet.* This is the Hayabusa armor. Claim all hidden skulls on Campaign, even the bullshit Catch and IWHBYD, to unlock the whole armor. The skulls a bit tricky and can only be found in Normal to Legendary difficulty. Pretty cool, right?
Kagura: It does seem pretty badass. A super soldier in a ninja style armor.
Bang: I, Bang Shishigami, approve of this!
Blake: So it's a ninja power armor? Was it use for cosmetic purpose? *Get's deadpan faces from EVERYONE. Making her to blush in embarrassment.*
IG: Well I'm here to tell that Halo got this armor due to a proposition Team Ninja propose to Bungie, who at the time was the developer and in charge of Halo.
* Everyone was stunned upon hearing that. That is something no one saw coming. So Halo got this armor from a secret collaboration? Who knew.*
IG: The collaboration was simple, really. Bungie gets the Hayabusa armor, and the Katana chest. *Shows picture with thee-fourths of the Hayabusa's with Katana. Which is really the Hayabusa chest with a katana on the back.* And Team Ninja gets a character from Halo to appear in DOA4 and play as. And an added bonus, Bungie also offered to sweeten the deal by having more to their guest character. A stage to play on, the Halo 2 Theme, along with an Easter Egg on Gambler's Paradise with marines on Warthogs driving by. *They also saw he wasn't kidding when they saw the space station and Halo's Warthogs driving by with marines on it. Even on the turret was operable by the gunner while the rider had his gun out.*
IG: And I finally got her. Nicole-458.
*Showed them montages of Nicole kicking ass. Including my run beating Alpha-152 on Time Attack mode in a new record at 4:33:38. Placed in… 22278th place.*
Makoto: Wow, you got her? How?
IG: Funny enough, she is the second to last character to get. Beat Story with Helena and you get her.
Kanji: Seems easy enough.
Rise: So does that make her the first Halo character in a fighting game?
IG: Yep she is. Originally Team Ninja wanted the man, the myth, the legend himself, Master Chief, in the game. Non-canon, of course.
*Everyone had their eyes widen at that.*
Chie: Damn, how come that never happened?
IG: Well guess why Bungie didn't wanted to do it? You wanna know why?
Everyone: Why?
IG: Because it would ruined the canon of Halo, Bungie said. Their words, not mine. Looks like we know where EA got that excuse.
Everyone: WHAT?!
Jin: That, is the idiotic thing I ever heard.
Yang: Of all time.
Ruby: Why would Bungie pull the canon card, even though Team Ninja wouldn't mind making it non-canon?
IG: Well you do have to look at the time. Halo 2 was out in 2004. Halo 3 wouldn't be out until 2007. But DOA4 was out in the very tail end 2005 as a late launch title for the 360. So, in a way, I can see why. Still stupid though. But hey, better than EA's bullshit.
Yukiko: True. So does that mean the Arbiter in Killer Instinct of 2013 is the second Halo character to appear as a fighter?
IG: Basically. Though at least Arbiter can get away since he does hold attributes to the Elites. Even the costumes are from previous games like in Reach and Halo 4. Nicole, though, was left to obscurity. She had not gotten any attention since '05, and it's sad really. Only recently that many people gave some attention to her, dubbing her as the "Forgotten Spartan". The only time her popularity sorta risen was Haloid by Monty himself.
*That surprised them, especially Team RWBY. He then showed them Haloid and jaw dropping it is. Though the ending showed, at least how Monty visualize, how Nicole would look like without her armor.*
Everyone: Wow.
IG: To be honest, I didn't see the ending till much, MUCH later. And like some people, didn't knew it was Monty who made it. All I cared was a Metroid and Halo crossover at the time. But even then, many people assumed it was Master Chief and not Nicole.
Teddy: Was there any costumes for her without her suit? *Was about to get beaten up until I saved him*
IG: Nope. Plus, I just finished getting all the costumes for all of them. But bloody hell I finally got all of them.
Naoto: Were they that hard?
IG: Better than the "costumes" from you guys. *This everyone irked by him.* Besides, some of them did asked a lot for one characters. Thankfully you either play on Story or Time Attack to get them. Sadly multiple times per costume on the default setting.
Makoto: Was it worth it?
IG: YES! IT WAS! *Everyone flinched back.* "After all those years of drug dealing, oppression, and stealing Best Buy televisions," I finally 100% completed DOA4!
Everyone: … … … … *finally registering on what he said* Wait, what?!
Adachi: Wait a minute. That line is from Max Dood's bonus video for Street Fighter Alpha 3. The Dramatic Battle one where him plays as Ryu and Ken saying that.
IG: Good eyes and ears, Adachi. Yep, that quote was by him. Though I don't know if he did any of those, and I sure as shit won't do those either. Just my take on it.
Ragna: So why mention her?
IG: *Smirks maliciously.* Story idea for a fanfiction, and payback to ArcSys. So be prepare, everyone. Y'all may end in the hospital after this. Whether be a strong hook or roundhouse kick from a 1000 lb armored woman. Or a sticky grenade hold. Or heck, even decompression.
*Everyone gulps, now hating ArcSys even more for fucking up with BBCTB. Yes, the Beta is doing good, but there is that part of the fans that left the hype train once the DLC bullshit was expose. Blake and Yang also hate it, whether they became free or not, it doesn't matter! Team RWBY sticks together! But looks like their first fighting game outing will be separated sadly.*
IG: Besides, I was thinking over this and came to one shocking conclusion. Despite Capcom's faults in Street Fighter X Tekken, they did it better. *Everyone for BBCTB were shocked.* I mean, look at it? The base game for consoles and PC is 38 characters. That's 19 teams in total. Yet the Base game for BBCTB will only have 20 characters day one; 22 if you count Yang and Blake. Yet with the DLC, SFxT has 50 characters while BBCTB has 40. Now if we add in the exclusives for the PS3 and Vita, they also had Kuro, Bad Box Art Megaman, Pac-Man, Cole from Infamous, and Toro. That's 55 characters, with models of other characters from both franchises in the background that if they were playable, the numbers would be in the 60s and 70s if Capcom went through the deal. You guys, with potential DLC after the cast finally join in, have what, about 50 in the end?
Tsubaki: Well, that was dark.
Hazama/Terumi, Carmine, Adachi, Sho: And you guys said we were dark…
IG: Well I did see a video explaining why they do it. Since let's be honest, how can anyone see a fighting game getting a sequel if the story progress a little or adding in a few new characters? I watched a video on it on Youtube that explains in good detail. I can see one reason is the dedication due to the fighting game's complexity. Where it's your games, KI, Tekken, DOA, or Skullgirls, it doesn't matter. Each of those games have a complex fighting level that is unique to them. Tell me, can you sell that to the masses like they can master the game within a few hours, even though that is a lie unless you're veteran and the game improved a few mechanics?
Everyone: … no.
IG: So can I see that reason why to charge us. I don't like it, but that is one sad reality we live in.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yea, I'm back. And I'm still salty about the early announcement on what ArcSys did to BBTCB. And I stand by on what I said for SFxT. I, by no means, defending that game to my heart's content. Even I see the mistakes Capcom make. I just want to point out some positives in the game in compare to another. Yet in turns of characters, they win over ArcSys.
And those who like sprite base, I don't blame any of you. Just that since I played a lot of fighting games, and admittedly being a beginner, I see enough graphics to just be numb. Just make a lot of characters playable, have an arcade mode at least, maybe some training and trial modes, with some mission mode, and I'll be a happy camper.