215 Hours- Monster Hunter Freedom Unite - Review

215 hours. That's how long it took me to clear this game's main quest mode. I had to really hold back from writing this review prematurely. There is so much to say about this game, and I really had to reign my emotions in until the end and reserve judgement. The entire monster hunter series is a cult favorite, and will generate mixed emotions in whoever gets involved with it.

 I have to start by stating that this game is the definitive fraternity adventure RPG. I've covered reviews on fraternity games in the past on this blog, and my opinion has lightened over time with those games, which has been well documented. To reiterate, fraternity games are usually series that require foreknowledge in order to navigate through the universe. Armored Core was one of the other types that I reviews. To start off, I must say, it was hard to make it to the end of the game for various reasons, and I felt myself both appreciative at times and disgusted with the game. Monster Hunter is both the realized dream of all gamers, and a mountain of issues. I'll start by breaking down the insane depth the best way I can. I know fanatics of the series will scoff at me for this.

 Gameplay wise, Monster Hunter has been called an action adventure, especially due to the lack of character stat building. However, it is very much an adventure RPG. In this game, you create a male or female character with attributes of your choosing and your own name. Your class of combat type is up to your preference, but still open for being adapted throughout the game. I must say the depth of character creation was more than adequate, and that was refreshingly new for this type of game. You have the following weapon types- Great Swords, Long Swords, Sword and Shield, Hammer, Bowgun, Gunlance, and Dual Swords. These also have subdivisions in the select classes. As far as levels of quests, you start with performing quests for the village elder in preparation to take on quests for the village's guild in the future. These quests more than prepare you. You have armor sets that are designed based on the hides, and remains  you harvest from monsters in the field, which are quite extensive, and the ores and items you procure from the field in various settings and location.

  The armor sets also have levels, and will depend on the rarity and complexity of the items used to forge it, which become available as the depth of the quest increases. One person put it very well when he said that the difference between this game and so many other RPG's is that rather than the character leveling up, the game is based on player skill and the evolution and leveling up of the person playing. That is extremely true about this game, and what makes it fascinating in its intent. I had to get into the gameplay first because that is where the heart of the greatness and nonsense lies. Of the weapon types I mentioned, there are various elemental inclinations for some of them. You have the standard elements of fire, water, ice, thunder, poison, and dragon type. The monsters you face will have susceptibilities to various elements. Also, many weapons have no affinity to an element and just do raw damage. Hammers specifically, are weapons engendered towards this. Besides these elements, you have various skills that can be added to weapons and armor that increase other combat and non-combat skills.

   In this game, every little thing comes into consideration. Your character has a stamina gauge, health gauge, and weapon sharpness gauge. There is a scale uploaded online that shows the many factors that calculated into the damage dealt for a weapon. The sharpness contributes, as well as the area of the enemy, the affinity of the weapon, the element, and the weapon type itself. It is very deep, and not something you can calculate on your own mid battle. The armor sets are designed to be completed for attribute boosts. A particular monster will have abilities that can translate in some way to an armor set if you complete one by building each part of the particular monster armor type. For instance, one of the monsters is a Blangonga. His particular armor set, when completed will include- for a blademaster- A Blango Helm, Blango Plate, Blango Vambraces, Blango Greaves, and Blango Tasset. Once the set is complete, the abilities and drawbacks will take effect when the set is worn. This particular set gives you immunity to cold.

  In this game the character is affected by hunger, temperature, fear, tremors, multiple blows, repeated use of a weapon, as well as poison, sleep, burning, freezing, blinding, and other effects. You have to take into consideration, where you are going, and what monster types are present. In the early parts of the game, you will be on location at a snowy mountain range with cliffs and snow elemental monsters. Amazingly, falling is not an issue in this game. You can actually jump from any height without care, other than the animation of slowly standing from a crouch at the end. Being in the cold affects your stamina negatively, unless you have a hot drink, and vice versa, in the heat, your health is affected without a cold drink. Regardless, over time, you character will lose stamina, to the point of being almost unable to move. This can be sped up, by being unprotected in the cold for long, or exertion for extended periods. This can only be remedied by sustenance. This can come in the form of rations, which can only be provided by the guild and elders, depending on the conditions of the mission, or by hunting creatures for raw meat, which must then be cooked by the player, either in the field on a barbeque set, or at home, ordered through your kitchen.

 You will usually be given enough rations to last through your missions in the early outset of the game. In the later stages you will receive delayed supplies, which include rations and a map of the area, or you will receive nothing until you complete the quest, which requires your own preparation of supplies. Of the many weapon types, I particularly started with the dual swords when I saw the speed of the weapons. However, this is where things begin to explode. Everything in this game has an animation. Your character moves excessively slow. Even when using the dual swords, which are the fastest weapons in the game, you will be open for attacks after combinations, when sheathing and unsheathing your sword, and at various other times. To heal in this game, you must consume potions, and elixirs. Your character has a long, and elaborate animation that he does while throwing back the drink, that makes it almost impossible to do during battle at times. Some of the monsters are so fast, that you will simply need to be in another area to heal. When eating a steak, your character goes through the entire motions of eating, swallowing and rubbing his stomach before being able to move again. When drinking a health potion, he gulps the potion, swallows, and then flexes in a cocky pose before continuing. You can't do anything to shorten this.  He also has the ability to rest at the landing site of each mission, where there is a bed and also containers with guild supplies and a collection box for mission items. You only recover the maximum of your current health and stamina threshold. So if your stamina is deathly low at max at that point, you will only recover what it is. Eating is the only way to regain the maximum threshold, which is done in levels according to how substantial your meal is.

 To assist you in combat, you also have bombs that can be crafted from supplies you get in the field. In this game, you can fish, catch bugs in nets, mine, and dig in mounds and hills, as well as harvest from plants and wildlife. The items you receive, and creatures you catch can be used to either cook at home, or build and fuse items. Using an alchemy system, you can combine and craft items and ores. This is not spoon fed to you. There are endless combinations that you have to find, or go on the internet to learn. As you learn them, your character logs them in his book. You can combine materials to make gunpowder, bomb material, and several other catalysts. You can then build flash bombs, smoke bombs, sonic bombs, poison bombs pitfall traps and stun traps using the materials fused with animal parts you carve from monsters. Depending on the monster, it may be weak to certain types of bombs or traps. I hope you understand at this point, all I'm telling you is merely skimming the surface as a what they call a "newbie" player. There are endless more circumstances- some I'm forgetting.


 On your quest, you have a comrade known as a Felyne assisting you. At this time, I'll back track to give you an idea. You start the game as a hero who was out on a quest to retrieve some items. In your journey, you ran into a creature know as the Tigrex, who was feared by many. He almost kills you, and you are found and rescued by villagers who bring you back to town. They narrowly escape themselves. You wind up in Pokke Village, where you are nursed back to health. The village is inhabited by little cat people known as Felynes as well as humans. You are given a house, and are allowed to hire Felynes to help you get on your feet, by working in the kitchen at your house. One of the Felynes will be your partner on hunting quests. You can hire additional replacements for him, but you really won't use the reserve in the beginning of the game, because he won't be as powerful. When at home, you can have them train in the meantime between quests, and learn abilities. They have limited attack and defense, but can learn to heal you, attack, throw bombs, raise your stats, and also distract the monster during combat to give you windows to attack or flee if need be. The village elder wants you to prove yourself and complete quests to assist and save the town to prove you are hero. Then you can be of use to the guild.

  When I mentioned the genre before. The fact is that it is stat based to a degree. You have certain weapon types, and items that can raise your attack or defense in combat. You also have certain elixirs that can fortify your stamina limitlessly for a period of time. All of these must be synthesized by you. The gems I mentioned earlier also must be fused and build by the town weapon smith by gathering certain rare items. These gems slightly raise a sea of different abilities. If you have a armor set like the Blango mentioned, you have a weakness to fire. You can fuse a Crimson gem several times if you have the supplies needed and attach them to the limited slots on the different pieces of armor to try to nullify that weakness a bit. You have many skills, such as Reckless Abandon, which raises a weapons affinity to increase critical hits, or the Earplug skill which increases resistance to monster screams. You also have quake resistance which gives resistance to the quakes a monster can generate when slamming the ground, which freezes your character when it happens. All of these skill attempt to nullify the many issues you will face in and out of combat.

 Now that the groundwork is set, lets get into where they lose control. In this game, the monsters move very fast. Some of them are slow, but overall, your character is overly human. It brought to mind when I played Lost Planet on the Xbox 360, and how slow the character moved while being chased and gunned down. It feels very intimidating and overwhelming to be either evading a monster in an open field, or trying to conserve stamina while journeying across a mountain map. Every step your character takes is ridiculously small. You hold the right shoulder button to run, but this rapidly pulls down your stamina, and if done excessively, it will begin to lower your stamina threshold. Some weapons, such as the hammer and dual swords, rely on stamina to attack with what are called spirit charge combos and specials. The hammer has 2 levels of charge which allow you to execute a double pound attack, or spinning combo special. The dual swords have a spirit gauge combo that switches the character to a hyper mode and allows customized combos. All of that depends on stamina threshold, so failure to conserve stamina can make a battle almost impossible. At times in the game, it feels like the character moves slower to assist the already difficult monster boss.


  When you are knocked down, there is yet another animation of your character gathering his wits, and slowly getting up. This animation feels like it has no place in this game, as often the boss has several combination attacks that he can execute which often translate to what I call a death combo. It feels like a movie of losing when this happens. You have 3 lives in most missions, but when you continue from the landing base, you lose all stat enhancements, and also have to find the boss again. In this game, the boss monsters can flee if they are being overwhelmed, and as I said, they move fast. So many times, you will be chasing them around an enormous map, hoping they haven't found someplace to rest and heal. The game does offer some assistance in that area. Using paintberries which you can grow in your farm, you can make paintballs by combining it with other ingredients. You will often be supplied with paintballs by the guild on your quest in the early missions. This can be thrown at the boss to mark it for tracking, if you manage to hit it. You also have psychserum, which is a drink that gives you temporary ESP, allowing you to sense the monster's location. Neither last long. The serum lets you know for a few seconds, assuming he doesn't move, and the paintball is rubbed off after a few minutes. Many times, you will be frantically running around the map, looking for the monster, wasting stamina in the process. This gets very interesting when facing monsters that hide in the water or in the very vast sands of the desert, which requires sonic bombs to force them up.

  The game has many elder quests to complete. When I completed the village elder quests, I assumed I had arrived, only to find that the Felyne elder was above her and had quests of her own. You will spend so many hours hunting to gather materials to make just a single component of an item. Each piece of armor or equipment, requires many different ores and monster parts. And you need several samples of each, meaning you will be fighting very dangerous monsters several times to gather them. The other issue with this is that, it is all based on probability. There is a small percentage chance of rare item drops when facing these monsters. If you fight it, and prevail, and don't get the item, you have to go back and fight them again, with all used items lost to you. This made it very tedious to complete armor sets. In the village, there is a Pokke Farm, where for a price of Pokke Points, you  can purchase land to plant your farm, construct a bee hive and modify it over time, set up and build mining points, construct and renovate a fishing pier to fish, and harvest bugs. All of this took a very long time to build, but was needed to harvest the many ores I needed. There is also a worker named Trenya on the farm, who is an adventurer. He will journey to many locations that you've visited, on his own and bring back what he finds, for a fee. This too is probability based, and you will find that you blow through you points with no worthy catch returned by Trenya often. The only way to get those points is to go on gathering quests and find materials that the farm's owner desires.


  As far as mechanics, there too I had issues. When in battle, many times, I would throw a precious flash bomb into a monster's face, only for him to charge through it and kill me. Many times, a monster would lunge in a desperation attack and kill me after I clearly dodged the attack. Many times, I found myself close to winning a fight, and then pinned under a monster's body like a glitch, unable to move, while he charged up a killing spin attack. This was infuriating, and this was probably one of the toughest games I have ever played due to that. I must say, that along the journey, I lost a Vita system due to the rage this game induced. The bosses in this game have what is called a rage mode. When agitated or hurt, they will go crazy, and get stronger and faster. They become absolute nightmares in that mode. One crucial thing to take note of is the armor sets. As hard as it may be, you must construct armor sets that suit the level of the enemies your are facing, or you will find yourself in one hit kill scenarios. The game was actually designed for multiple players to cooperated and play together. I played solo, and I feel that the game overly punishes you for doing so. Many of these gamers online who cheese about the game, have a group of butt buddies they frequent the missions with, which makes a world of the difference. I beat bosses that people have given up on with help. That in itself makes me very proud. And when you think the pattern has been set, here comes the mix up. There are enemies in this game called Elder Dragons, and Colossal Monsters. Elder Dragons are high level monsters that have too much HP to take out in the normal 50 minute quest. They have to be battled and survived across several quests and terrains in order to take down.

  The colossal monsters, as I call them, are super huge monsters that you will tackle alone at a fort built by the town. This mission is to either take down the monster, or simple prevent him from destroying the fort and invading the town. You have several areas with  vantage points, blockades, and weapons set up to assist you, as well as a  final defense at the town wall. These missions were always tense, but also fun, and not as unfair as the usual bosses, yet equally epic.


  With all of that said, my journey has finally reached a point of completion. I must say, this is a game that is the wish of every gamer from childhood on. We all want a game that immerses you, challenges you, and never gets stale. This is a game where every decision is heavy, and every quest and objective feel meaningful. However flawed the execution, the premise of the game is absolutely amazing. I didn't spend the typical 215 hours of other RPG's. Every hour and minute was spent working tirelessly, and dangerously toward bettering my equipment and tackling epic monsters. Every victory I had, made me pound my chest uncontrollably in victory, because it was that big of a deal. Every day, I rushed home or into my pocket, to play more of this addictive game.

 As far as asthetics go, this game shines even brighter there. I played this game on my Vita, and I must highly recommend that for all gamers. The game supports Dolby Digital Surround, and it makes great use of it. The sound is intense and epic. Not only is the music beautiful and varied, but the sound effects and roars of the monsters even shocked those who listened nearby as I played. I honestly loved the music. I found myself picking up my trumpet and learning along as the many bright compositions played in the game.

  The scenery is magnificent. As I stated, the worlds you venture out into are enormous. And they are not fillers. They are well put together. This game holds up so well over time. I kept thinking to myself that I would love to have seen what it would have looked like if it were a Vita game. Rainbows, waterfalls, beaches, shorelines, jungle foliage, trees, swamp and marsh, volcanic ash and magma, all look amazingly rendered and alive. All the smoke and ice crystals and mist and snow are almost tangible. There was even a time in the rainy forest where the light reflected off of the puddles of water, and it honestly didn't look like a PSP game. It was very current gen. And all of these settings change, such as the conditions and the time of day, making certain spots on the map accessible at times. This makes my initial reservations at having just the one hub town, disappear. This game is beautiful. This is the kind of world you always wanted to escape into as a child.

 When I first heard about this game, it was many years ago  after high school. Some friends were playing it, but I felt it was a Pokemon kind of game. The idea of fighting monsters seemed weird to me. I truly regret waiting to jump in. This is an RPG that was way overdue. This game is an absolute perfect 10/10

The Beast-Season 4- Episode 2- The Art of Jokatech

Just stopping in to update via blog, what's going on these days. It's been quite a while, but there are a few projects in the works.

Jokatech Podcast- Episode 16- Support Spotify

This is an important  petition for all artists, and to all listeners. Stay tuned for updates. I will have more material up on Spotify shortly, and more of my album reviews posted. I will also be posting a review of a game soon.

1 Review -http://ventsmagazine.com/2016/10/14/cd-review-jokatechs-self-titled-ep/

Another Review http://newsroom.indiemunity.com/2016/09/jokatech-standing-still-symphony/

Current Minds

 This is specifically to address how hypocrisy has stifled the entertainment industry. I want to focus on particularly the handheld gaming market. I own a PS Vita. I originally didn't subscribe to the system, because I thought it was a rash release, and I appreciated what was an exploding PSP library and system at the time. However, Sony specifically tailored the system to complaints that the fans levied against them concerning the PSP. Fans cried that while the psp was beautiful, it had a screen that was too small, and lacked a second analog, making it useless to them.

   I saw designs from Sony leaked early on that depicted a PSP Go-type model with a second analog nub. It looked very sheik and cool. But one thing that I kept discussing with people before the Vita even launched, was the fact that amazing gaming has existed both handheld and on home consoles, long before Sony released the dual shock expansion for their Playstation system. My question to them was why we were acting brand new, and like the PSP was not an amazing console from top to bottom. Yet, on the other hand, when I looked at the rhetoric for Nintendo's handheld joke that was the DS, it was like being in another universe. Still to this day, you will find people who loathe Sony's handhelds and praise Nintendo's as having better games, graphics, and  controls. In fact, from the first Nintendo handheld, I have seen praise lobbed at them for being technically great. You have to be retarded not to be aware that the PS Vita is light-years more powerful than the 3DS. They are held to different standards. I own both, and while the 3DS churns out kiddie gimmick after kiddie gimmick, Sony pushes their library with variety and depth, and gets vilified for it.


  This is what has killed the industry. And this trickles over to everything. In today's society, good is rarely seen as that, and whatever is loudest and most mundane, wins. Because of this, a lot of great projects, have been scrapped. Particularly a mech suit game that I was very interested in, was cancelled due to both lack of support, and Sony shutting down the project by force.

 Also, a lot of the games coming out reflect how androgynous society is becoming. I've never seen more gender meshing games than there are today. Of course, it's sacrilege to speak against that, but whatever. Anyway, they also wanted a bigger screen right. Well now, all you hear are reviews that bash the Vita for it's undersized screen, and lack of dual-screens like the DS. When I read these reviews, it really feels like they are being controlled and filtered by a pro-Nintendo entity. How big do you want your handheld to be. Would you walk around with a brick the size of the Wii U? Also, every time something is ported to the Vita from console or vice-versa, you hear about the so-called limitations hindering how high they would like to rank the game. Last time I checked, the Vita was a gem of a handheld capable of reproducing and exceeding PS3 games, and rendering and cross-playing PS4 games. When did that become not good enough as far as power? And if that's the case, how is it the all you hear about the 3DS is how amazing the games look and are?

  The other day, one Youtuber I follow was raving about Dragon's Quest for the 3DS, and how amazing it looks. You never hear negative talk, or even mentions of limitations with 3DS titles, yet it is laughable to hold one of their games next to a Vita title, if you have 2 eyes and 2 brain cells. My issue is that there is a separate standard for trash these days. Being better far from guarantees success now, due to backwards and retarded logic being so prevalent.


  In the movie industry, eclectic ideas are frowned upon and feared, so those films either won't see the light of day, or will tank. People want simple and mindless films. One of the best recent movies I've watched, is Miles Ahead- an independent film by and starring Don Cheadle, who I have immense respect for. If you even read the interviews, you will be amazed that the film even left the ground, with all of the opposition and discouragement that he faced getting it funded and supported. There are also stigmas he had to  contend with, being that he needed a white co-star in order to push it at all.

  The movie- Miles Ahead, is artistic, crafty, deep, and beautiful. None of that appeals to society today. The reason The Revenant won the Academy Award is because it played to the crowd. No matter how dumb people get, they will always understand basic emotion. That film deserved an award based on the job he did doing the simple nothings like breathing and looking. He did it brilliantly, and the videography was transcendent, so they brought it all together. But as far as script writing, ,there was none. Plot didn't really exist. It was how the story was told. But I would give more credit to a film like Miles Ahead, which blends those techniques with deep dialogue and personality. Yet, Miles Ahead was one step away from being straight to DVD.


  Whether game or movie, or music, the releases today are trash. And the few indie gems we get are bashed by the insane. Getting back to the Vita, I have never heard more complaints about controls for games than I'm hearing now. This makes me scratch my head, because Sony specifically tailored the Vita to the complaints of the fans. These people cried that if only the PSP had just a second analog it would be perfect. So Sony added a second analog stick for the Call of Duty psychopaths,and threw in a front and rear touch screen. Somehow, that has translated to less, and you have to read these reviews for yourself to see how stupid they sound. You can't please people that are self-destructively retarded, but in the name of money, the industry tries, to its own detriment.

New Art Pieces by Jason K. Addae

These are some new pieces that I have completed, although I feel like that word never applies to me. I've been and am still in the ozaarks right now working on some things, and my next project is already in the works, but won't be released for quite some time. As more album reviews come in for Standing Still Symphony X, I will upload them. From now on, I'll refer to that album as SSSX.
Here are the pieces. Sorry. I am having scanning issues, so I'm doing my best to work on the quality of reproductions.

Bizzaa

 Drip

 Foudup

 Behind the Clothe and Thorns

Police Officer Nightmare

I just had a nightmare last night from the perspective of a police officer. It was weird. To set the scene, it took place in modern times, but it felt like a throwback at the same time. I was one of a group of police officers who were friends in our late 30's, partying at my apartment. We were there only briefly, and on duty, as we were in uniform. I don't know how that worked. Anyway, we were dancing to 70's style funk music and getting down. We were making some noise and commotion, so the neighbor underneath my apartment was knocking on the ceiling. He was an older guy who was a retired officer himself. As we finished up and made our way down the stairs, he was standing outside his apartment door. He pulled me aside at the staircase and said something to the effect of, "You guys are always making so much racket. I don't know why you don't just retire from your position and chill out doing something else...." I think he meant to serve in a different capacity. We were patrol officers or something. Those words were haunting.

 Shortly after, we were called to an area to respond to a minimal threat situation. Apparently, some locals were being harassed by two guys. I don't think weapons were mentioned. When we got the area, officers were already there. The thing is that some of us had on vests, and I was one of them. It turned out that it was two twin brothers, who were anti-police, and probably instigated the call on purpose. After the commanding officer began briefing, a shot fired from the distance. There were about 8 of us there at the time. I think 2 officers were inside the building. We dropped down and looked around the area, but saw no one.Whoever was shooting was moving from spot to spot. The shots continued to fire shortly after and were being aimed with precision. The officers without vests were struck. We were firing shots just to get time to get a better look, but still saw no one. More officers were struck, and the ones wearing vests were being shot in the head, as if the assailants were using scoped rifles. I was hit in the upper chest, and the last thing I saw was the two twin brothers closing in with machine guns to finish the unit off.

  I saw the scene play like 2 more times from the vantage point of the shooters, and it was terrifying. It makes you see how much danger officers have to deal with...

Experimental Music and its nature

Originally, I was going to do a podcast on this, but with so little time to record one, and a lot on my mind, I had to just get to writing.

 As some may know, I have a new record that is getting reviewed by some outlets, called, "Standing Still Symphony X." Over the years, I think to some people it's become sort of redundant hearing me address new projects and endeavors. In reality, from PR executives, I've been notified that I haven't done enough footwork. So I definitely have not been excessive. I think part of the issue has been that I reach out to mainly a group of people who have either worked with me or lived around me, and often times that can blight the reception of your work.

 I wanted to record this record for a long time. And before that, I was disgusted with the idea of it. You see, it has a couple of phases. It took me a while to understand experimental music, and then it took another period of time for me to get the confidence to perform it. As a matter of fact, in the review that I got from No Depression, he really did a good job of pointing out a lot of things that I didn't really realize about myself. I really gained a new respect for the art of reviewing material to be honest. It also got me to thinking... I started writing earlier today when I was reading the review, and I find that there are a couple of constants I've noticed in the critiques. This is what I wrote:



  "Experiment -the title and theme of many of my works, though it remained a stranger for so long. We all put on costumes. We all wear something. When we're naked, we can't be anybody else. We are then our flawed essence. Experimental music isn't what's only for some people. Vulnerability and honesty are. It's spacial music where we can't hide, and in a world of costumes and assumptions, it's hardly welcome.."


 After all of this time, I realize why I love this kind of music, and the fact that it was my destination all along. I personally think it is a genre that anyone can do. What comes out is what will be different. Experimental music is bare naked music. So many people and artists rely on hiding behind conventional structure. The truth is that experimental music does not lack structure- the artist has to create his own. I really like the way the critic brought out the point. In fact, he said things in there that I still can't put in my own words. I urge people to check it out. I think the review from No Depression is the review that the mainstream audience needs to see. In so many ways, the minute that I made this album, I said to myself that this is the album version of me. That is exactly what it is.

This is why reviews are so important

I have another review in, but it's very important itself. In fact, the critic made me really think about a lot of things. The way he did his analysis, I saw things about myself differently. Also, it reminded me how important it is for perspectives like his to be told. A lot of people browse by my stuff, and most just glance and move at times, but this here review, I sincerely urge you all to read. It will be more informative than just hearing about me from me.

http://nodepression.com/album-review/jokatech-standing-still-symphony-x

Jokatech Falls Flat On His Face in New Endeavor....

Alot of people think that my whole obsession is having my ego stroked and getting praise however possible. However, if you actually take time to get to know me and what I'm about, you'd know that is far from the truth. I set out to break boundaries, and I only wish to take all those who know of me, or are new to my work, on that journey with me. That's what it's always been about.

My new record, "Standing Still Symphony X," was briefly preceeded by "Standing Still Symphony," which was accompanied by 2 additional tracks. The album was an experimental foray, where I was determined to take risks. Albums like this also call for patience on behalf of the listener and the performer. It even took Miles several decades to dare to step into that territory, for the same reasons. You invite, and will receive backlash for that genre most times. And it's understandable. Because any true artist will tell you, as will I, that the aim is to get a reaction from the listener. What reaction is not the point. Just a genuine feeling.

  I give you the good and the bad. My first 2 records reviewed, received a 4/5, and a 3.5/5 respectively. That was the Magnum Opus series. But for years, I have always been afraid to abandon structure in my music, and stop being safe. Listening to old artists and new ones lately, who dare to do it, I really felt obligated to give myself that chance, whatever happened. Thus came the SSSX album. This album received a 1/5 by the first of several review sources. It may get high marks in the near future, but the reason I am most proud of this review, is because it evoked the most response from the critics. I've been asking friends and associates for some time to check out the material for themselves. When you read the review, you may laugh. But, it should make you wonder what he heard. I invite you to take a listen to the full album on my soundcloud. Be prepared to be toyed with and challenged, as the critics were. In fact, on their page, they invite listeners to agree or disagree with their analysis. But none of that can happen without a listen. The album is up for sale, but it's up on my soundcloud free of charge to listen, and on spotify. The full album is only on Soundcloud right now.


Without further ado, here is the link:
http://www.musicemissions.com/artists/albums/index.php?album_id=18732

Jokatech Podcast Episode 14- Oh My

Jokatech Podcast - Episode 14- Oh My

Standing Still Symphony- Album

This is a link to my latest album - Standing Still Symphony. It is also on Spotify.
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jokatech2

Lebron on being the GOAT

This is a loaded topic- Is Lebron the GOAT. I thought it was unfair to  have the discussion after less than 10 seasons, but now with 13 in and the body of work he has put down, endearing many in the process, I believe it is now an intriguing debate. For the record, this is the comment I made on the First Take discussion board, following Stephen A Smith's rant.


I agree strongly with Stephen A Smith on so many points, yet there is a part of me that resents his notions, as well as the ignorant rhetoric below. I am the biggest Kobe fan, and one of the biggest Jordan fans. Normally, I would make each point that he made myself tack for tack. However, when I stepped back recently and really looked at Big Bro Lebron's career, it feels ignorant to ignore 2 key facts. 1. He is hands down, a better all around player than Kobe or Jordan ever were. 2. Neither of them really had singular impact that Lebron had on the league in his career, partially due to that. Really think about that last point. If you remove all emotion from your analysis, you have to realize that regardless of where you rank him, it's stupid at this point, especially with this last finals performance, to refuse to put him in the conversation. Bottom line, what is your preference? What it comes down to for me is that you were never concerned that Kobe or Jordan could hand out 15 assists while putting up 40 on any given night at will. You were never concerned that they could slice your defense up, or drop down and play with their back to the rim at any given moment at will. With Lebron you were. It's the same difference between Steph and Lebron. If Steph had 3 rings for 3 finals, I would still take Lebron, because I take championships with a grain of salt. There are athletically imposing player in Lebron's way to those titles. Mike was usually on another level athletically during his reign. I'll debate that all night, but I will always take a 1 man team over a guy who shines in a few areas. Lebron is the greatest 1 man team we have ever seen. Whether he is the greatest, I'm not set on that yet, as I still put Jordan there in most arguments, but he certainly has his case being made.

Super Mario 64- Long Awaited Review of a Classic

 Just look at this box art. There is so much I can say, and yet it's hard to think of just one at a time. It was 1996. The Super Nintendo was in full swing, as was the newly launched Sega Saturn, the Playstation, The Genesis, and even the older consoles of the 8 bit era.  In other words, it was as golden as the golden era could be. I remember at that time I was transitioning to a new school and a new environment. I was 11, and my family and I had moved to the Bronx. I had to make all new friends, but I soon fit right in. Me and a few friends would trade Gameboy games and talk about the latest Super Nintendo games, reading the game magazines together. In those days, the internet was scarce to non-existent. But we didn't care, because it wasn't necessary.

  Super Mario RPG came out the same year. I remember taking my time and playing through that game when I got it. I loved it, and all of the content they packed into that cartridge. When it comes to Mario 64, when it came out, I was aware, due to friends at the time having copies. They had it, but they never seemed to play it much. There was only one friend of mine, who was a year younger than I, who played the game thoroughly  and would convey his frustration to me during the time he was working on the game.  I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but I remember reading the Nintendo Power magazine which detailed the game heavily. That's where I saw the most of the game actually. I remember being blown away by all of the moves that Mario had.

 A couple of years later, I had Nintendo 64 myself. Oddly enough, I never got the chance or mind to purchase Mario 64. I don't know why to this day. I had every wrestling game I could want, and a few FPS's. But if I recall correctly, I didn't have a long run with my 64. Shortly after I acquired the 64, I used it as a trade in to get my Sega Dreamcast. I don't regret that, but I wish I had gotten a 64 back sooner. I ended up getting a Gamecube when it came out, and I played and beat Super Mario Sunshine, which was a spiritual successor to Mario 64. I loved that game, and still do, but I always resented how they got away from the combat controls and gameplay of the 64 game.


 By the time I got around to really considering Mario 64 again, I was into emulators, and determined to get a rom of it on my handheld. Eventually I did, and not long ago, I began the playthrough of the game. What really blew me away, is that even on a reproduced rom, the visuals are stunning to this day. They hold up extremely well, and are lush and vibrant with every bright scene in the game. This is something that others don't agree with, but that is the honest truth. This generation is full of tech snobs, who look at anything 4K and down, as ugly and inferior. That blows my mind. If you take Perfect Dark from the 64's final few games, and Black, which was a late Xbox release, under no circumstances are those games anything less than beautiful. If you look at Assassin's Creed Brotherhood on Xbox 360, how can you say that it's so ugly to look at, that it's unplayable? That's what these tech heads say. I guarantee you, you will be stunned by how Mario 64 holds up, if you take the game for what it is. I  was actually super shocked by how many varied worlds there are in this game. They're all lush, bright, and don't cheat you on area size. They all have tons of secret areas and objectives. I was playing through this game for quite some time, and put in dozens of hours. I could have put in twice as much. That's how huge this game is.

 I don't like the fact that whenever you start the game, you're outside the castle and have to go inside, all the way back to the dungeon or world you were working on. The game was actually super frustrating to play. I'm not sure how much of that is to blame on the PSP controls that I played it with. I honestly think the mechanics for Mario in this game, are about the stupidest I have ever seen. He moves like a friggin tank. Areas that require intricate movement in tight spaces, will have you dying randomly or having to sweat bullets while you crawl with Mario at -200 mph! There were some jump sequences in the game, where after carefully doing everything correctly, Mario would jolt additionally, as if he had turrets syndrome, and throw himself off of a ledge, ending the entire level. This often happened on stages that were already extremely long and dangerous. This frustration is where all my issues lie with the game, along with the idiotic camera, that positions itself to worsen whatever situation you are in. There are areas of the game where you are over a deadly cliff, and need to see where you are going. Not only will the camera zoom in and away from where you need to see, but it will flip, as you gingerly try to navigate a turn, causing you to throw yourself to your death.

  In all honestly, that's what made me eager to get to the end. I loved the game, the beauty of it all, and the depth of the adventure, but I can't see anyone having the patience to collect all 120 stars without sacrificing a system. Once I had the minimum of 70 stars, I bolted for the last fight with Bowser, which was insanely difficult as well. In each Bowser fight, you have to get him by the tail and throw him into one of the spiked bombs hanging around the stage. The timing you have to use to swing him into the spikes doesn't exist. At least it doesn't in the version I played. Bowser spins way too eratically and jerky to time the swing. In fact when he was lined up for it, my game wouldn't even have that instance within a frame, so I had to guess which time to let go. It took forever, and at one point, I had to resort to save states to get through this game. I hated doing that, but without it, I would have blasted the system.

 All in all, I'm glad I played and beat the game. It holds a special place in history, and this year marks its 20 year anniversary.  Better late than never. I would rate this game a 8/10

New Art Piece- Phases and Changes

I had a beautiful discussion with a fellow artist today that I won't forget. Not a whole lot was said. I picked up some pointers on shading and positioning of 3 dimensional art. But what I really loved about it was the atomosphere of the place and the stressing of the importance to break boundaries. It's so important to push the limits and then break them concerning any artistic idea you may have, regardless of the difficulty or time consumption in doing so. I had a few ideas, and this is one of them

Jokatech Podcast : Episode 13 - Win Lose or Draw

This is a podcast concerning some of the inconsistencies in sports and general, particularly boxing match decisions.

Muhammad Ali- Tribute

Not to be over the top, but I hope this inspires whoever listens to put passion into what you do.

https://soundcloud.com/jokatech/brother-muhammad-tszss

UFC 199- Pathetic

Once again, I called it. And not because the events were obvious on paper, but because reading the outworking of the fight game has become much like anticipating a WWE script. I couldn't care less about the outcome of Faber vs Cruz. I like Cruz a lot, and I knew Faber was on the downside of his career, so there was no need to manipulate anything in that match.

 However, in the title fight between Bisping and Rockhold, I called the outcome way before the weigh in, and I knew it didn't make any sense, but that it was going to be a Bisping win by UD or KO. I knew it, even when I watched interviews about how his kids even thought he was going to lose. In the end, it's all about a betting game. The odds don't get much wider than they do in that kind of a fight. Bisping has always been a fighter I followed and admired from a basic stand point. But in reality, his days of being at the top level are several years, and KO losses behind him. He was submitted by the same Rockhold he beat tonight, and KO'd by Henderson and Belfort. While those were suspect losses due to PED usage, his body has taken a toll over his career.

  He was even KO'd mid fight in his ridiculous win versus Silva earlier this year. Anyone with fight knowledge would know that Weidman would annihilate Bisping right now. And Anderson would probably kill him in a rematch. Rockhold was on a tear, showing himself to be at the top of the division after leveling Weidman. He also took shots from Weidman in their first fight that showed he was the real deal, before stopping Chris Weidman brutally. Under no sky, does Bisping possess the offensive power or output to wobble or hurt Luke Rockhold. But Bisping has been lobbying for a title for over 10 years. His career is looming towards being the "could have been" story. He had to lift the belt for that, and more importantly for the millions who bet money on him beforehand. Even to watch the KO was comical. It's like watching a tiny kid play fighting with their dad and knocking him down and out with their infantile fists. The way Luke crumbled and went completely out cold in the 1st round against a Bisping who has never been able to severely hurt fighters, even when landing clean, looked so beyond staged. This is a guy who has never been able to generate stopping power. He struggled to stop an over the hill Cung Le, and couldn't put Anderson in trouble even behind a full-bodied right hand. Luke actually kept his hands down and tried to look rocked by the softest left hooks you will ever see, after missing a right hand. Bisping couldn't even look sharp enough to be convincing in this win. It was pathetic.


  If you thought his win over Anderson looked ridiculous, this one took the cake. I always saw the talent in Bisping from his early career, but he is at a stage where the field has developed beyond him, and he doesn't have enough left physically to  compete. To see him be gifted a title shot, and then a title fight win like this is just an insult to the entire sport.

New Record in the Works- Standing Still

This is an update on an amazing experience I had working with 3 other musicians on a record that was very enlightening and fun to make. The musicians were Tis I on piano, With Love on the Bass synth, and Sincerely on Drums. It was a great experience

https://soundcloud.com/jokatech/sets/standing-still-symphony

Art Gallery Piece

This is a piece I made at one of the local art galleries with the assistance of the hosts. They were a nice couple. It was a machine someone made with marbles, chutes, brushes and ink paddles. Well designed.

New Poem: Standing Still

Standing Still

There was a tree somewhere

The foliage of which made warriors out of the weak.

We had a lifelong quarrel with the owner of the land there

That we thought at last naught settled but by fire.

He would destroy us if we did not attack.

Some say it can only rouse he to whom it’s given

We can’t understand what we’re told nor will we believe what we’re told.

And when the idiotic prophets told us we’d be thick headed

We laughed at the unborn revelation.

Who could think anything special of the fraudulent thief- the murderous tyrant?

An old man confirmed the truth in half of our hearts

And we brought him along to witness our conquest.

We all want to run them away, but he only wants a piece of the fruit.

He runs ahead, and we warn him of which side to take before shutting the doors.

I see him running as the cavalry arrives,

Yet he stops to stand on a hill.

The foul reaper is amiss,

And one can only wonder what cunning was at play.

The land plundered and the house destroyed,

The heroes are basking in the sun,

And yet, even in bliss, a lingering intuition will always rest there.

The fruit of the tree drips down our chins as the lone wolf begins his charge.

We felt so strong and so free

We can’t understand what we see, nor will we believe.

This so often is the trap of the people.

And there we are, and so it goes

And here is now.

At best, it will all be over soon.

And who could have painted this picture,

That even now in this moment of its fruition, we only half-see?

I wonder at times about the end of it all,

And pray for my happy conclusion.

In this incessant pattern of attack, defend, and confuse,

You rip me into infinite fractions

Until our world here isn’t big enough.

You - the lust for what is great,

But  you- the danger in what is unseen.

Scour the whole planet and you won’t find a soul like me.

I could have said it before.

But everything changed when I began to reach

For what I thought was more.

The tree can make you mighty,

But it can’t make you a man.

Nor can the books and the instilled etiquette.

I think of this as I weather blows that would rend a mountain.

My family suffered from that farmer,

And I suffered from my family,

Often running to cry under this same tree.

I wonder where my words fell.

It’s a mixed rage I feel that’s stranger than a thousand years,

And strong in me,

As the people with me fall,

As if revealing our differences.

What is it all about?

Is it not war and the sword?

The sword and the seed.

Are we not free to run, and yet we choose to engage?

I would hope that the coming generations bend and move for peace,

To look so beautiful like those reeds in the night.

We meet and we marry.

Often we’re afraid to marry when we fall in love.

All around me are lives of contention,

And we think ourselves gentlemen for winning battles-

For standing still.

New Artpieces with More to Come

I'm working on some projects now, in between the chaos of work and maintaining my sports coverage. I'm working on doing performances again as I mentioned earlier and this requires hours upon hours in the woodshed, but I love it. I'm coming up with a lot of rich musical ideas that I can't wait to complete. I wish I could upload some now, but they're still a bit raw. However, in the meantime, I'm continuing to paint and create art pieces. Here are a couple that I just touched up today. They didn't take long, but they keep me sane. LOL

 This piece below is one that is inspired by a song I'm working on and a poem that I wrote. I'll upload the poem as well. The name of the poem is "Standing Still." See if you can spot the illustrations.

Red Dead Redemption: Reviews and Comparisons

 

  This was a game that I didn't expect to get into. I actually got it by chance from a coworker who was getting rid of all of his Xbox 360 games. I knew that it was a Triple A title, but I never thought much of it. Then, I remember hearing a coworker of mine who was a very laid back Radiologist at my old job, talk about how he cried at the end of it. Another friend said the same. This completely caught me off guard, because these weren't those kind of dudes. I decided to get into the game and finish it.

 After I started, I quickly got distracted and disinterested. I had just finished one of the many Assassin's Creed games- as I follow the series. It felt like Red Dead was going to be tedious, so I was hesitant to put time into it. It started really quick story wise. Your wife and son are held hostage by the government in exchange for handing in the outlaws you used to run with. Trying to leave that life behind, you find yourself immersed in it. In a gun fight, you're hurt badly, and the first person who you meet, saves you. It's a farm girl and her father. You get a residence to stay, and opportunities to work around the town and with the farm and local police. I got into a complacent pattern of working the local jobs and got away from the story. Then, months later, I decided that I was going to finish the game.

 In this game, the developers made no apologies. It is literally the wild open west. Early in the game, you venture out into the lush environment, over valleys, through foliage, and mountains, meeting people and wanderers along the way. You can literally wind up mauled to death by mountain lions or wolves if you happen to wind up on foot near them. To be honest, the game could have done this more. I happened to get into a gun fight with a few outlaws one time, and my horse was killed in the process. I tried to make it to the nearest town on foot, and a mountain lion came out of nowhere. I didn't have an arsenal at that time, and wound up getting hit while trying to pull out my firearm. I was killed and got a game over. It was shocking and a bit frustrating, but that very rarely happens in the game, and it could have been done more.

 You can take a bounty on someone and hunt them down, as well as try to break into gang bases and take them out. These battles are always intense. You can also become an arm wrestler or poker player and take on the champions in the several cities. You can also get a job as a horse herder. You chase down the wild steer on horseback, and then lasso them. After getting a hold of them, you hop on their back, and ride them until they are under control and then lure them back to the herder. It's tough, but very rewarding. This as well as herding cows or bringing them out to graze is part of how the game is a real simulation that doesn't try to cater to the gamer.

 Words cannot describe the immensity of the landscape and how beautiful it looks and sounds. The game covers a large area of the Texas area and across the border into Mexico. It feels even bigger than that. The soundtrack is amazing, but feels a bit sparse. I'll never forget the music that plays after you get through an insane battle with Mexican rebels as you come across the border with your Irish friend. After surviving that fight, you get a horse left for you and begin riding to the local town to see a legendary Outlaw for help. The song that plays there is straight out of one of those underrated Indie movies. I wish there was more of that.

  The dialogue of Red Dead is what really won me over more than anything. It is so well written. It's gripping at times, and hilarious at other times, like when the Mexican general talks about the laziness of the Mexican people. I honestly never laugh out loud these days at all. Nothing is funny enough to make me. This game actually had me rolling in laughter several times. That says a lot by itself. You get betrayed several times by people who have no real reason to do so. It's frustrating.

 As the game rounds to a close, what really shocked me was how it was ended. Not to spoil, but the end of the game, to me felt like an epilogue. It was amazing to see the introduction of the automobile though. When you go up against your old gang mate, I thought that was the end of the game. It was certainly deep enough into the game to be. I was surprised how the game dragged on. The scene where you and him square off was gripping, and you go through an insane amount of fighting to get to that point. I was literally exhausted by that point in the game. It didn't see it as something that would make everyone cry, although it could have that effect. But then the game transitions to the hero going back home to his family, and you spend quality time with them, going hunting and a raising cattle. But then drama returns for some weird reason I still don't get. The government who messed you over time and again, finds a reason to come and hunt you down randomly, when you did all then asked months ago. I can only image that it's a money-hungry, bounty issue. Then when his house is attacked, you're in another gun fight, with a different outcome. That's where the end begins. I made the mistake of reading a walkthrough, which mentioned something about revenge. I was still shocked to see the main story like that.

  The actual epilogue of the game, is what gives you closure. It felt bitter sweet. The game still has much to do after the end, and it was a unique title that was worth the wait. One thing that's been on my mind and inspired this review is the fact that there aren't gripping stories these days in movies or games much. I finished Uncharted Golden Abyss for the Vita around the same time, and while it was amazing in many of the same ways, the story premise wasn't like the old classics I love. I remember games like Metal Gear solid  that talked about the issues of nuclear warfare and foreign relations, or  Deus Ex: Human Revolution which talked about the issues of imbalance when good intentions meet with power in the hands of imperfect humans. Games like that meant something, and I wish games like that would still come out. This game isn't a 10 in that regard, as the story is sort of cliche' Western, but it's effort in execution is nothing short of classic.  9/10

Jokatech Podcast: Episode 12- The Chin

Heeere we go!

The Jokatech Podcast: Episode 11 - What it Is

Okay, so I'm sad to hear the news that this month Skip Bayless will be leaving First Take and likely replaced by Max Kellerman. There are a few things that I feel he should discuss one last time. Here is my latest podcast. I'll be uploading another one shortly. I've been busy lately with rehearsing and performing again, as well as writing new compositions.

The Jungle Book- review and reflection

 I just had to write a review about what was a great film in chains. I'll try to explain what that means in this post. The film was the new reiteration of Disney's "The Jungle Book," a film of a Rudyard Kipling work.


 Growing up, I was a fan of the movie. It has always been a favorite of me and my dad. In fact, he used to call me "Mancub" which was the nickname of the main character- Mowgli. In fact, that was a working title of one of my earlier records. In the film, it follows the story of Mowgli as his is found abandoned in the jungle and raised by Bagera the panther and Baloo the bear. As he presents a danger to the jungle in his being a human child, he is eventually cast out by the jungle that raised him. The real tyrant is found to be the Tiger Shere Khan who terrorizes the jungle inhabitants. After standing up to him as a team, Mowgli, Bagera and Baloo defeat him. In the original film, Mowgli eventually chooses to leave for the village to the sadness and relief of his friends.

 This was a Disney film redone by Disney. There are zero excuses for any inaccuracies, and yet, they were right there. And this happens for a reason I've stated years ago. In this film, Mowgli stays in the jungle, and there are moments in the film that have a fan of the original like myself rolling their eyes. The reason this is the case is because The Jungle Book is a true musical film from a jazzy era in Disney history. People know Disney has memorable tunes, but most people forget that they were very authentic. Similar to the movie Aristocats, The Jungle Book was a move that music aficionados  would appreciate. Scatman Crothers did the voice for King Louis the ape, and the entire film was full of rich compositions and stand up and dance jazz tunes.

  2016 has no one like that. I personally would have loved the opportunity to have played King Louis. You can't do a Jungle Book movie right without powerful music being the centerpiece, and music of that caliber has no value today. We live in an auto-tuned, tone deaf, simplistic generation, where people like myself and scatman Crothers are considered either cornballs or useless enigmas. And while people like to wave me off whenever I say things like that, the proof showed in the film. With the technology today, and how nicely the film was made, it could have been even more gripping than the original. But that musical passion wasn't there and left you with a film that was cheesy in spots where it could have shined. Remember, on my first Magnum Opus album, I stated on the final track that today, the definition of connoisseur  has changed? Today, even a company like Disney is guilty of that, when a film that is their own, looks as if they only loosely know about it in reproduction.

  Two of the most memorable scenes in the Jungle Book original, are the scenes where Mowgli is singing with Baloo about the Bear Necessities, and the scene in King Louis' castle where the go to rescue Mowgli after Louis is attempting to learn the secret of making fire. Those scenes are musical and powerful. In this film, as a fan I was expecting the film to catapult off of those scenes, and yet they ended up being very transient. It left an empty feeling in the scenes. There is no longer the mentality in films, for music to be the foundation. And with that thinking, films like this will always underachieve. And what's so frustrating, is that it was beautiful in every other aspect. The acting of the boy was spotty at times, but if the film was more gripping, I feel like that would have been fixed. There were tear-jerker moments in that film that were as amazing and moving as scenes from "The Secret Life of Pi." There were also powerful undertones and messages that could have made this film bigger and more global than the first film by far.

 I really liked the movie a lot, but I would love to have seen it done more passionately. But honestly, given the times we live in, I think it was sadly as good as it possibly could have been. It just reminds me of the eras and great things that have been lost over the years I give the movie a 8.5/10